Page 19 of Christmas Homecoming Secrets

Bryce couldn’t sleep. He’d almost asked Jade about Mia’s father, but had chickened out at the last minute.

As much as he tried to convince himself that Jade wouldn’t keep such a major thing from him, he simply had to know.

“So, ask her tomorrow,” he muttered and punched his pillow.

Sasha raised her head and eyed him from her bed across the room.

She’d chosen her bed over his after he’d awakened her more than usual.

Funny, how she knew when he was just restless and when he needed her to pull him out of a nightmare.

He shut his eyes, but his mind continued to spin.

Mia was five. But on what end of five? A young five?

Or an about-to-turn-six five? And had she been born when expected or had she been a preemie?

Knowing her due date and her actual birthday would tell him a whole lot.

He was a PI. How hard would it be to find out that kind of information?

Easy peasy. But he didn’t want to do it that way.

It would feel too much like sneaking around behind Jade’s back.

“Because that’s kind of what it would be,” he muttered.

Sasha sighed and lumbered out of the room.

Jade had said she’d met someone while in Charlotte and had even dated the guy long enough to make people wonder if she would marry him. Which meant it was highly likely that Mia wasn’t Bryce’s child.

But the timing of it all just wouldn’t leave him alone.

“Ugh!” He’d rolled out of bed and pulled on his clothes before his eyes landed on the clock.

Almost midnight. He lived barely five minutes away from Jade’s place.

He could be there almost as fast as he could blink.

Sasha returned to the room, leash in her mouth.

She dropped it on the floor and stared at him.

He couldn’t help the short laugh that slipped from him. “You want to go for a run, huh? Or you think I’m the one that needs to?”

Sasha yawned and blinked. He gave her an ear scrub, and she licked his hand. “You’re the best, you know that?” Bryce texted Jade. Are you awake?

While he waited for her to answer, he let Sasha out, then back in.

After fifteen minutes of no answer, he had to assume Jade was sleeping. Which is what he should be doing. He hung the leash back up. “Sorry, girl, my leg’s not feeling so great. We’ll go first thing in the morning, okay?”

He checked his phone again. Still no answer from Jade.

With impatient hands, he undressed and crawled back into bed, promising himself he would bring up the subject of Mia’s parentage first thing on the way to the hospital to question Swift.

Maybe.

Sasha settled back onto her bed with a disgusted huff.

“Sorry, girl.”

She ignored him. He couldn’t say he blamed her.

Five more minutes of tossing and turning and he gave up.

He dressed, grabbed the leash, and found Sasha in the hall.

“Neither one of us is going to get any sleep until I know Jade is okay, so let’s just go check, make sure she’s okay and then maybe we can both get some sleep. That sounds all right to you?”

Sasha bounded to the door.

* * *

Jade blinked out of sleep. Disoriented, confused—and grumpy. The high-pitched beeping reverberated in her brain and she rolled over, trying to block the sounds of the alarm clock, not ready to get up yet.

A loud boom shook her home and sleep fled.

She shot straight up. Mia! She shoved the covers away and stood.

Smoke billowed through her open door and she got a face full.

Her lungs burning and spots dancing before her eyes, she dropped to the floor to find the smoke hadn’t fallen that far yet.

Jade drew in a breath and, on her hands and knees, scrambled down the hall to Mia’s room and found it empty, the bed still made.

Terror shot through her for a brief second before she remembered Mia had wanted to stay with Jessica.

The kids were at her parents’. But were they safe?

Smoke swirled but wasn’t as bad here as it was in the hallway and Jade’s room.

Jade darted into Mia’s bathroom and grabbed a towel. She soaked it with water, then wrapped it around her nose and mouth. A quick look under the cabinet revealed the small fire extinguisher her dad had put there when she’d first moved in.

She snatched it and then headed back into the smoke-filled hall, looking for flames. Nothing yet. She made her way into her small den area. Again, a lot of smoke, but no fire. At the front door, she unlocked the dead bolt and twisted the knob.

Nothing.

With a shaky hand, she pulled harder. Then yanked.

The door refused to budge.

What? She laid her palm flat against it.

Hot—and growing hotter by the second. Her stomach twisted. Sudden flames shot through the bottom and into the room, sending her stumbling backward. With a harsh yell, she pulled the pin on the extinguisher and fired it at the base of the door.

Please, please, please, God, help me.

Another loud boom shook the structure, and she went to her knees, dropping the towel and the extinguisher.

In the kitchen, the wall facing the wooded area out behind her home crackled with bright orange-and-blue fire.

Fear choked her along with the smoke. She snatched the towel back to her face, but it would only work for so long.

She had to get out—or call for help. And warn her parents. Her phone.

Jade spun, ran back to her bedroom and grabbed her cell phone from the end table. Squinting against the haze, she made her way to the window, threw it open and dialed her parents’ number.

“’Lo?”

“My apartment’s on fire. Get Mom and the kids out.”

“What about you?”

“Going to get the ladder and go out the window. My door’s too hot.”

She hung up and dialed 911. Her room was above the detached garage that jutted out below her. The roof of the garage sloped slightly down, but even walking to the end of that, it was a long drop. “Oh Lord, help me.”

“911. What’s your emergency?”

“Darlene? This is Jade. My house is on fire!”

“Sending units now. Can you get out?”

“Working on it.”

“Stay with me.”

Jade darted to the closet, eyes and throat burning, and reached for the emergency fire escape rope ladder.

Her hands fell on empty space. What? Confused, but with no time to figure out where the ladder had disappeared to, she sprinted back to the window and looked down.

The jump probably wouldn’t kill her, but it would hurt.

Her bedroom was on the opposite side of her parents’ house, so she couldn’t see the state of their home.

Where had the fire started? How far had it spread?

She looked back over her shoulder. With her bedroom near the kitchen, the flames had already eaten their way into the hallway, blocking her door, the smoke growing thicker, barreling toward her.

“Jade! Jade! Are you in there?”

“Dad!” He rounded the corner of the house and looked up, his gaze frantic. Bryce appeared behind him. “The ladder’s gone and my door is jammed,” she cried. “I can’t get out!”

“Can you wait for me to get the ladder out of the barn?”

“Yes. Hurry!” Jade swung a leg over the sill and scrambled onto the roof, smoke pouring out after her. She coughed and paused to drag in a lungful of the fresh, cold air.

“I’ve got it,” Bryce said. He took off. In less than a minute, he was back, leaning the tall ladder against the gutter.

“What about your side?” she asked. “Mom and the kids?”

“Already got them out and down near the barn. Fire trucks are on the way.”

“Where’s the cop who’s supposed to be guarding this place?” Bryce called.

Good question.

Bryce held the ladder still, and she stepped out onto the first rung. “Careful!”

Sirens reached her, and she could see flashing red-and-blue lights in the distance. They’d be here within a couple more minutes. The flames licked into her bedroom, and all she could think was that she was so grateful Mia hadn’t been there.

Eyes, lungs, throat burning, she scrambled down the ladder and into Bryce’s waiting arms. He hugged her, then pushed her away while her dad grabbed the ladder.

She checked her parents’ place and saw that the flames had worked their way to the middle of their shared covered walkway, but hadn’t yet reached their house.

“Hurry,” she whispered to the truck not yet there. “Please.”

Her phone squawked, and she lifted it to her ear. Dispatch. She’d forgotten about her. “It’s okay, Darlene, I’m out.”

“Trucks should be there in less than a minute.”

Bryce led her over to the barn, where she found Mia, Jessica, Gage and her mother waiting and watching the flames. Her mother grabbed her in a hug. “I was so scared.”

“I know, Mom, but I’m okay.” Mia reached for Jade, and she swung the child into her arms. Where’s Travis?” she asked. “The officer watching the house?”

Her mother shook her head. “I don’t know.” Tears tracked her dusty cheeks, and she gathered the children closer to her. They all appeared shell-shocked, and Jade’s anger burned hotter than the fire in front of her.

The fire trucks arrived and had hoses going wide open within less than a minute. Please save my parents’ home, Lord, please.