Chapter 71

Charlie

Five years later

“Ready, Pumpkin?” I asked, standing outside my daughter’s bedroom door.

“Ready, Daddy!”

My little Chlo-monster came bursting out of her room dressed in the clothes I’d had made especially for this day. She had a little pair of blue cargo pants on and a black pair of boots, topped with a navy button-down shirt I’d had a local seamstress embroider with the metro fire service’s logo. It wasn’t strictly a sanctioned thing, but hey, who could look at this cute little face and say no?

“C’mere, baby.” I bent down and plaited her light brown hair back into a regulation hair style, tying it off. “OK, ready to show the others.”

“Ready!”

“Well, look at you, missy!” Millie put her coffee down and came rushing over. “You look amazing.”

“Almost.” Knox stepped forward, his hands behind his back, and Chloe tried to look around him. He shuffled one way, then another, getting her giggling before producing the one thing Chloe really wanted.

“A helmet? Daddy!”

I shot him a dark look as our daughter threw herself at Knox’s legs, hugging him tightly, but he just looked triumphant. Always wanting to go that one step further. I couldn’t really complain, though. We all won in this kind of competition.

“One last thing.” Knox walked out with a backpack, but rather than her usual one that was pink and had flowers all over it, this one looked like the oxygen tanks we used at work. Chloe was fascinated with them and squealed when she saw it, instantly shrugging the backpack on.

“Well,” I leaned over and kissed Millie, “these firefighters better get to school. We’ve got a hard day of fun and fire safety to cover.”

When an outreach activity came up at our daughter’s school, Gareth recommended us for it. He’d taken over as station commander, Brent retiring finally.

“OK, well, play nice with the other kids.” Millie waddled over to the others, giving them kisses too. Her hand rested on her swollen stomach. While we weren’t exactly in a hurry to have another child after Chloe, at some point one thing led to another and here we were, about to do it all again.

“Rest today,” I told her.

“I’ve got those last few invoices to?—”

“Rest today.” I shot her a meaningful look, waiting until she sighed in resignation. “And when I get home, all of the massages.”

“OK, sold. I need to give the new girl a chance to take over things for a bit anyway,” she said. I reached down, hoisting Chloe up onto my hip. She was getting bigger, heavier, and squirmier, but when I held her out to her mother, she smacked a big kiss on Millie’s cheek.

“Bye, Mummy!”

“Bye, darling.”

“OK, Lead Firefighter McDonald,” Knox said in a gruff voice. “Time to report for duty.”

There was nothing like pulling up out the front of a school in a fire truck. The kids all went berserk, running from wherever they were in the schoolyard to press against the fence. Kids called out to us, shouting hello or questions, but then our newest recruit got out. All the spunk seemed to go out of Chloe as the kids then focussed on her.

“Hey.” I dropped down onto one knee. “Chlo, you OK?”

She didn’t answer, looking sideways at the kids, obviously freaked by all this attention. Had we misread the situation? Our daughter was so excited about the idea of coming to school as part of the team, but now…?

“What do I always tell you?” Knox said in a gentle voice. Chloe tilted her head his way, squinting up at him.

“Firefighters are brave,” she said in a decidedly not brave voice.

“And no one is braver than you, Chlo-bear,” Noah said. “You don’t have to go inside in uniform.” He held up her old pink bag. “I’ve got your normal uniform in here. You can get changed and?—”

“No.” She was her mother’s daughter. Nothing kept her down for long, that determined tilt of her chin all Millie. “Let's go, Daddies.”

Our baby girl thrust her hands out and Knox and I took them, leading her inside.

“Which one is your daddy?” one kid asked when we got inside the gate.

Little children were always super blunt, but there was an honesty to it. I admit I paused for a second, Knox and Noah doing the same, as we waited for her to answer.

We’d prepared her for this moment, explaining in simple terms that her family was different to others. Chloe had listened intently, nodding the entire time, but we didn’t really know how other people would respond.

“They all are,” she said, daring the other kid to make a comment.

“Yeah?” The little boy stared at us for a second, then shrugged. “Cool. Wanna play chasey?”

She let us go without a thought, lurching forward and tapping his chest before sprinting off.

“You’re it.”

For a second, all I could do was suck in one breath, then another, watching my daughter run giggling out into the yard. Today would be a good day, I decided, as we all walked towards the admin building, ready to sign in.