Chapter 28

Willow

"I'm going to sneak away for a whisky and cigar with the lads. Alright by you?" Ramsay asked during the band's break. We were all glistening with sweat, and none of us gave a damn. I was officially a convert. I loved cèilidhs.

"Go, enjoy. I'll go help Lia in the kitchen."

Ramsay brushed his lips over mine, and I smiled into his kiss, happy that he had no problem showing affection in public. Whether we were official or not, he wasn't hiding anything from the people of Loren Brae. Humming, I made my way through the crowd to find Sophie and Agnes helping Lia in the kitchen.

"What did you think?" Agnes asked, offering me a small crust of bread with chutney on top.

"Too much fun. I'm going to sweat right through this dress, but I don't even care."

"That's a cèilidh for you." Agnes grinned.

A vision flashed in my mind, and I froze, gripping Agnes's arm.

"Willow? What's wrong?"

It wasn't a psychic vision. It was Calvin. He was trying to get my attention.

"The shop," I gasped. "It's burning. We have to go."

"What?" Sophie exclaimed. "It's on fire?"

"Now, now, now," I shouted, and Lia ran to where keys hung on a hook by the door.

"Brice," Lia shouted. "Go find the men and tell them there's trouble. Let's go, I'll drive."

"I'll call the fire house." Agnes, Sophie, Lia, and I raced out the door and piled into a truck parked near the back door.

"Go, go, go," I shouted, and Lia floored it, racing toward Ramsay's shop.

"How do you know?" Agnes asked.

"Calvin. He can communicate with me. Somehow, he's gotten out, and he's down at the shop."

"Is he in the fire?" Sophie gasped.

"No." Panic gripped me. "But I think someone else is."

"Willow, no," Agnes said.

"I saw it in a vision. Someone gets stuck inside. We have to help."

"But how?" Sophie demanded as we turned the corner up the lane to see flames dancing in the front window of Ramsay's shop. My heart twisted. I was out before Lia had fully stopped the truck. The front door stood open, and I hesitated at the stoop.

"Willow, don't go in! The fire brigade will be here soon."

"I have to. Someone's in there," I insisted.

Smoke billowed from the front door, and I paused, my heart hammering my chest.

"Screw it," I said, and reaching down, I ripped off a swatch of my skirt and tied it around my face. We'd left a fire extinguisher just inside the front and back doors, and I reached for that now as I ducked inside to their shouts of protest.

Acrid smoke burned my eyes, and flames licked up the walls. Crouching, I found the fire extinguisher and pulled the pin, blasting the wall as I stepped forward.

"Help!"

It was faint, but I caught it.

"Hello? Where are you?" I screamed, unleashing another stream of foam at the fire.

"Back here," the voice shouted, and I turned toward the back room, trying to find my way in the smoke and darkness, coughing into the fabric at my mouth. I inched closer, trying to stay low and beneath the smoke, but it burned my eyes. My chest heaved, and I struggled for breath.

It wasn't the fire, I'd been told more than once, it was the smoke that would get you.

I tried to push forward, but the smoke kept billowing from the back room, and I blasted it as much as I could. Dots began to swim in front of my eyes, and I stumbled, dropping to my knees.

"How far back are you?" I screamed. I'd have to crawl.

"God damn it, Willow." Ramsay's shout behind me had me turning, as he scooped me up from the floor and carried me through the flames and smoke back outside.

"No, Ramsay, someone's in there." My body shook with a wracking cough, and I burrowed into his arms, tears running down my face.

"You idiot," Ramsay seethed. "You could have been killed."

"Someone's in there," I insisted, pulling the strip of cloth down as cool air washed over me.

"And that's not for you to take care of," Ramsay shouted at me. I don't think I'd ever seen him so angry before. He put me down, and Sophie wrapped her arms around me. To my utter shock, Ramsay turned and stormed back inside.

"Ramsay, no!" I shouted. I'd made some headway with the fire extinguisher, but not enough to truly brunt the force of the fire. But he was gone, disappearing into the smoke and flames, taking my heart with him.

Seconds felt like eternity as the fire brigade wailed in the background, and my entire body shook as I counted the time. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

Forty-one.

Forty-two.

Forty-three.

"It's too long, it's been too long." I gripped Sophie's arm, tears almost blinding me.

"Shhh, the fire brigade is here. It'll be okay."

The firemen shouted at us to step back, unfurling their hoses, when movement appeared at the door.

"There are two people in there!" I shouted.

Two firemen heard me and changed course, heading toward the front door, when movement showed through the smoke.

My heart caught.

Ramsay stumbled out, a body thrown over his shoulder, and collapsed to his knees outside. Immediately the firefighters converged on him, lifting the body from his shoulders and I broke away from Sophie, racing to his side.

"Ramsay." I crouched, as he doubled over, his body wracked with coughing, and held him as I looked around for the paramedic. "He needs help."

"It's fine," Ramsay gasped, between coughs.

"Smoke inhalation is no joke."

And then a flurry of activity descended around us as paramedics nudged me aside to help Ramsay, the firemen started their hose, and general pandemonium ensued. I was pushed back to the edge of the crowd, and I had to wait, helpless, as the shop burned.

Everything except the sign, it seemed.

Ramsay Kilts.

Would he rebuild?

What did this mean for us?

"It was his brother," Sophie said, joining me, and I gasped, turning to see a sympathetic look in her eyes.

"Andrew did this?"

"That was who he pulled from the fire. Whether he did it or not, I don't know."

"Is he …"

"No, he's not dead. Barely breathing, but not dead."

A bump at my leg caught my attention, and I looked down to see Calvin twining himself among my legs.

"Oh, buddy. You did good." I scooped him up into my arms, and he purred against my neck, nuzzling in. "I'm so glad you weren't hurt."

I had to count my blessings. Calvin was safe, I was safe, and Ramsay would hopefully be fine based on the cursing I'd heard him let loose on the paramedics. His brother had been taken away to the hospital. There wasn't much else to do but watch the firefighters work.

And so I stood there and watched our dreams burn.