Who Is My Husband
Scene 13

The three took off in the direction of the noise and yelling. Soon they saw a building that was ablaze. Flames were shooting out of the windows. Lance was there helping with buckets and Reggie and Will were soon rushing with buckets of their own.

Kailee stood there horrified. An empty feeling formed in her stomach as weird flashes entered her mind. A distant memory stirred and poked at her though it stayed buried.

“My baby. Please someone, my little boy is still inside.” A woman frantically wailed from her knees.

Kailee looked over the building. The main door had flames dancing out of it. The back end was smoking but flames hadn’t overtaken it yet. She didn’t even realize her legs were moving but they were. She had run to the other side of the house. She noticed an open window in the back that had thick black clouds escaping from it. With no regard for her own safety, she dove inside. The smoke burned her throat and made her eyes water. She lifted her dress above her nose and mouth as she crawled on the floor. It was hard to see but at least she could breathe a bit better from the floor.

The wood crackled and snapped around her. She could hear pieces of the house collapsing. She could sense that she was running out of time. Under a table at the far corner of the room was a balled-up blanket that looked oddly lumpy. She crawled over towards it and tugged it slightly. She first saw the red hair and then the small frame of a little boy that was hiding underneath it. She quickly grabbed the child and pulled him to her chest. He was unconscious but still breathing. She squeezed her fingers around him tightly and looked around the room. The way she had come in was now covered in flames. But it was still her best option. The front was completely lost to the blazing inferno.

“It’s okay. I’m going to get us out of here.” She coughed out. She lifted the child up and made her way towards the window. The flames almost seemed to be reaching out to her as she made her way to the window. She didn’t have a choice but to leave through here. It was weird though. The fire was hot but as she got closer it didn’t burn her. Even though hot embers had fallen on her from the roof she didn’t feel the burn. Instead, a soft blue emitted from her when the flames bit at her skin. However the same could not be said about the smoke. The thick burning cloud was choking her and making it hard to focus. It burned her chest, throat, nose and eyes. It was the real killer to her right now. The smoke gave her the push she needed. With a resolute resolve she leaped into the flames, making sure to cover the boy with her own body. She dove through the window and felt the hard ground meet her body.

She was immediately gasping for air and coughing the smoke from her lungs. A woman ran over and lifted the boy from her arms as a set of other footsteps hurried over towards her.

“Thank you. Thank you.” The woman cried.

“Get him to the physician.” Another voice called out as they helped her carry the child away.

Kailee pressed her face into the cool grass as her throat and lungs continued to burn. Her stomach was turning with nausea with her violent coughing.

“Damn Kailee.” Lance lifted her body up and carried her farther away from the smoky house.

“What were you thinking?! I turned around and you were gone! Then one of the villagers said a young woman dove inside and….” Reggie snarled as he paced back and forth by Kailee and Lance.

“Look at her. She is covered in soot. How is she?”

Kailee heard another voice from someone close to her. She opened her eyes to see another stranger who she hadn’t met before. And of course, he looked similar but different to Reggie, Lance and Grum. Of course, she wasn’t in any condition to pay attention. She began violently coughing again. She pushed Lance’s arms off of her as she shook her head.

“I’m fine.” She wheezed out. “What about the boy?” She managed to say before she started coughing again.

“She inhaled a good bit of smoke and is dirty but otherwise… surprisingly looks unharmed.” Lance answered the other man as he looked Kailee over.

“Do you need me to fetch the carriage?” The man asked.

“Reggie can get it. We are going to get her home now. Thank you Ty.” Lance said as he continued to look at Kailee.

“Of all the irresponsible mismanaged ideas. You went into a burning building. Are you insane? You could have been killed. Is there a brain in that head of yours? I’m curious?” Reggie continued to snarl at her between clenched teeth.

Kailee lifted her eyes up to him in annoyance. “Wow. So this is how you treat someone you slept with the night before?” Another small coughing fit attacked her as she used her lungs to talk. Lance snickered and then lifted Kailee into his chest.

Reggie stared at her for a moment, unable to speak. He then smirked and shrugged. “I take it that means you won’t be letting me have any snuggles tonight then.”

Kailee smiled and leaned her head into Lance. She felt overwhelmingly tired. “You weren’t good enough for a double dose.”

Reggie chuckled lowly. “I’ll go and see how the boy is doing before we head out. Will rushed over with him and I wanted to talk to him for a minute anyways.”

“I’ll go and check on the boy too.” Ty said and walked away with Reggie.

Lance chuckled again. “I guess we will be fetching the carriage ourselves then.”

“I hope the boy is alright.” Kailee said with a worried look on her face.

Lance cradled her into him gently as he began to walk away. “I’m glad you are alright. You have no idea Kailee… no idea.” He frowned and looked down at her. The loud sound of crashing came from behind him. He stopped and turned around to see the fire had finished the building off. It collapsed as the flames continued to dance over the destruction. “No idea…”

“I’m sorry for worrying you. I just couldn’t help it. I had to help the little boy.” Kailee whispered out lowly so as not to aggravate her throat.

“I should have gone in there after him. I wasn’t thinking. My first thought was just to get the fire under control. You never should have been the one to go in there.” Lance’s voice was quiet as he walked along the dirt path.

“Then you’d be risking your life.” Kailee smiled and looked up at him.

His eyes looked over her soot ridden face. “I would have been fine. It’s you that we almost lost.”

“I’m okay though. My chest hurts a bit. And my throat is on fire but other than that I am okay.” Kailee could see that Lance still wasn’t feeling any better over the issue, so she decided to say the next part. “And… it was a bit weird…” She watched his eyes meet with hers. “The flames weren’t burning me.” She whispered lowly to make sure no one could hear what she said.

“We will talk more about that after we return to Clover estate.” His eyes darted around making sure no one else was near them. “Still… Trey is going to be furious.” Lance all but g*****d out as they reached the carriage. He carried her inside and then gently sat her down. He then took a seat beside her.

Kailee looked over her hand and arms. They were covered with a dark film. “I must look awful.” Kailee chuckled, causing her to cough again.

Lance smiled. “Well if it wasn’t because of a life threatening situation then I would think you looked adorable.”

Kailee gave him an annoyed half smile and shook her head. She could see Reggie stomping towards them. He looked angry. He hopped into the carriage and then told the driver to ride on.

“Is the boy okay?” Kailee asked worriedly.

He raised his eyes up to Kailee. “Yes, he is going to be fine.” His voice was short and terse. His aggravation was evident.

Kailee gnawed on her inner bottom l*p. She was afraid he was angry with her and that was the cause of his attitude. “Are… are you mad at me?” Her voice stammered out quietly.

Reggie looked at her and smiled. “No, I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at myself.” He sighed roughly and ran his hand through his hair. “I’m here to look out for you and protect you. You were under my watch. This shouldn’t have happened.”

“Don’t blame yourself for the actions I decided to take. I did it knowing it was dangerous. You aren’t to blame.” Kailee said in a gentle tone.

“I should have gone after the boy myself.” Reggie said in frustration.

Kailee smiled. “You and Lance think the same way.” She looked over to Lance. “You were just thinking about putting the fire out. There wasn’t a lot of time to think. But everything turned out okay, right?” Her brown eyes turned back to Reggie. “So we don’t have to keep dwelling on this. Everyone is okay.”

Reggie folded his arms over his chest. “We could have lost you today. Just like that, right under our noses.” He squeezed his hands into fists. “Do you have any idea how worried we were?”

She went to answer him but stopped. These men barely knew her so how worried could they be? Were they really worried on her account? Or were they worried because of Trey? She supposed they could have been concerned. After all she would have been concerned over them. There wasn’t really anything she could say. She hated causing a problem for others though.

“I’m sorry that I worried you both.” Kailee said quietly.

Lance lifted his arm and wrapped it around Kailee. “No more jumping into burning buildings. At least not until we figure more things out about yourself.” He then winked at her.

“How about no more jumping into a burning building ever?!” Reggie mumbled out grumpily.

“I’ll try to not make it a habit.” Kailee smiled softly and then leaned herself backwards to rest comfortably. She closed her eyes for a moment and listened to the wheels of the carriage rolling along. The last time she was in a carriage it was because she was on her way to be married. Just a couple days ago she was a completely different person then she was now. She had different worries and thoughts about life.

Kailee has had more excitement in the last couple days then she has had in years. She thought she was going to be living a more mundane life instead it has been nothing like that. And with things still up in the air with herself she had a feeling she wouldn’t be getting bored any time soon.