Stopping his hand with the donut in it just before he puts it in his mouth, Sully then says, “So, you’re the boyfriend Poppy’s mother Alice has been telling me about.”
“Ugggghhhhh, really?” I groan loudly as the firehouse erupts in a loud cheer. I turn to look at Landon who’s standing tall and looking pretty pleased with himself.
“What?” he says to me.
“You don’t have to look so happy about this.” I lift my crutch closest to him and pretend I’m going to stomp on his foot with it. He mouths at me “I dare you”with a smirk on his face, because he knows I never would.
“Well, I was always taught you should never lie. Especially to the authorities,” Landon says as he hands the boxes off to Pointy, who’s still chuckling to himself at what’s happening.
“They aren’t the police, they’re just a group of pain-in-the-ass firefighters who think they’re being funny,” I bark at him, but it’s no use. Landon is in heaven right now, and nothing I say is going to make him correct them. “Don’t you all have work to do or something?” I look around the crew who are all into their second treat from the next box that’s now open. They all shrug their shoulders or shake their heads at me.
“This is way more entertaining than sharpening chainsaw blades,” Pointy calls to me from the middle of the crowd.
“Righto, clear out, you lot. You’ve had your fun. And don’t eat too much, otherwise you know you’ll regret it when the bells go off any minute,” Sully yells at them, and then a collective groan rings out at his comment.
“You just had to say it, didn’t you. That’s just mean, old Cap,” Frenchie, one of the crew, says.
“Hi, Poppy. Good to see you’re up and about.” I hear Captain Glenn’s voice, who’s now the boss here, as he appears fromhis office and starts shooing them away. “You heard Sully, go pretend to do some work while we have visitors, so you don’t make me look bad as the captain of this place,” he says as he walks up to me, giving me a quick hug. “Tell your mom I said hi.” Then he’s gone again, following his crew back to doing what they need to. Being captain of a firehouse carries a lot of responsibility and a high workload. You never see them sitting around in the rec room with the rest of the crew.
Then, as the crew disperses, like the universe was listening, the alarm starts ringing through the firehouse. Not one of them complains, they all just move like clockwork toward the engines.
“Quick, to the side,” I say to Landon as I steer us clear of the doorways. They all pull on their turn-out gear and climb up into the engines as quick as they can.
Within a minute the sirens are on and they’re pulling out of the firehouse and turning right down Porter Street.
“Do you miss it?” Landon whispers in my ear.
“That rush, yes.” It takes me a second to say the next bit. “But doing that inmyfirehouse… no, I don’t miss it for one second,” I reply, low enough that only Landon can hear me. “And that frightens the hell out of me.” I lay my head on his shoulder as he places his arm around me and pulls me closer to offer that little comfort he knows I need after that revelation.
Sully signals for us to follow him toward the rec room to sit and chat. “I hope it wasn’t too out of your way coming here today. I told Alice I would drive out to see you at home, but she insisted a visit to the station would do you some good. I get it, I mean, I bet you’re missing work terribly.”
“Mhmm,” is all I reply, just trying to be polite and not give away how I really feel. I’m thankful he can’t see my face right now. My mother has no idea of my trauma or confusion over the accident and my firehouse. Landon and Autumn are the only two who know as much as I do. I’m sure Adrian knows someof the story, but Landon would’ve only told him enough so he understood about the calls he gets from me at work or why he needs extra time off. Landon’s not the kind of man to share someone else’s secrets.
While Landon pulls out my seat at the rec room table, he comments, “This place is so quiet compared to ten minutes ago.”
“Yeah, it’s usually all or nothing in a firehouse. But it’s good timing for this conversation. It’s not one that I wanted to have with everyone around you, sticking their opinions in where they aren’t needed.” Sully leans across and takes my hand. At the same time, I feel Landon’s hand on my thigh, reassuring me he’s here like he’s anticipating something’s wrong.
“Okay, I’m not sure I like the sound of that.” I start worrying a little but truly have no idea what’s coming.
“I’ll get straight to it, Poppy. Two days ago, we had a woman come into the firehouse who claims she’s your biological mother.”
Loudly gasping, I draw my hands over my mouth. It’s like time’s standing still. Visions of photos my mom shared with me over the years now flash in front of my eyes. Me as a baby in the safe box that’s just over to the side of us on the wall. The dirty, tattered blanket I was wrapped in and a note that sat on top of me in the box.
All it said was:“Please find her a kind home.”
I can still picture the handwriting and the smudges of dirt. It was written on the back of some cardboard packaging from a box of beer. Mom kept it all, and it’s in a box in her attic. As painful as it was to see it the first time, Mom explained it was part of my journey. That’s why she kept everything, knowing one day I deserved to be told the whole truth. She never once considered keeping any secrets from me, and I love her so much for that. I never doubted who I was or where I came from. And part of me always toyed with the idea of trying to find my biological mother,but I always chose not to. Instead, I decided that my birth mom did what she did for her own reasons, and if she wanted to meet me, then one day, she would come looking. I didn’t want to disturb her life if she’d managed to move on and be happy. I’d always had a parent who loved me more than anything, and that was all I needed.
Not in a million years, though, did I believe it would actually happen.
I don’t know what to say. I turn to Landon, hoping he can help me process what I just heard. Instead, he looks as shocked and lost for words as I am.
“Poppy,” Sully says gently, pulling my attention back to him.
“I know this is a lot, and don’t worry, I almost fell off my chair too. Cap called me straight away, asking me to come talk to her. He didn’t know what to do. I told him not to call you or Alice. I wanted to be the one to tell you, since it was me that day who picked you up and cradled your cold little body to my chest until you stopped crying. I was so baffled how someone could abandon such a beautiful little girl, certain in my heart, though, that your dad, a man who was like a brother to me, had sent you to us. To help us all heal, but most of all, to give Alice a reason to live.”
Tears are running down my cheeks, and before I realize what’s happening, Landon picks me up and places me on his lap, wrapping me in his big strong arms. Any question about who Landon is to me is thrown out the window as Sully watches him comfort me.
“There was no way I was letting this woman just turn up in your life until I could speak to you both separately. I owed your father that much.” I nod, acknowledging how grateful I am for everything he has done over my life.
