Page 83 of Confessions

“You back-talkin’ me?” Sam asked, lunging a little as he caught John by the collar.

“Let go of him!” Nadine stepped in front of her son as if to use her body as a barrier. “Don’t you dare lay a hand on him,” she warned.

But Sam was suddenly mad at the world. “You’re too easy on the kids. Git out of my way.” He tried to push Nadine aside, but she held her ground.

“You’d better leave.”

“Why?” He rolled back on his heels and smiled sickly. “So you can entertain your rich boyfriend?”

“That’s enough!”

Sam’s glazed eyes narrowed in hatred. “So have you given it to him yet? You always wanted to. Don’t think I didn’t know it. Every time we were in bed, you were thinking about him, imagining that I—”

“Stop it!” she cried, marching to the door and opening it. Cold wind crept in and the fire stoked higher. “Go on, Sam. Go sleep it off.”

“I think I’ll stay here. Too dangerous for me to drive.”

“I’ll call someone.”

“Come on, Nadine. Let me stay. For old times.” His grin turned into a leer and he started for her, but tripped on the edge of the rug. “Goddamn it,” he said, reaching for anything to keep his balance. He stumbled over the coffee table, caught hold of the branch of the tree and grabbed on, but the little Christmas tree was no match for his weight. It toppled to the floor and one branch fell into the fireplace. With a rush of air, the dry needles ignited and flames consumed them.

“Oh, God! Sam, watch out! Boys, get out quick!” Nadine cried, and when her sons stood immobile, she screamed. “Now! Outside, run over to the Thornton’s, have them call the fire department!”

Trying to get free of the tree, Sam was screaming. Both boys took off through the front door and Hershel gave chase. Nadine ran to the kitchen, grabbed the fire extinguisher and started spraying, but it was too late, the fire had caught on the rug and curtains. Flames leapt high in the tree and though Sam was free, his clothes were on fire. He was screaming horribly.

She didn’t hear him arrive, but suddenly Hayden was there, shouting orders, yelling at her to go outside to the lake, kicking at the tree with his boots and dragging a writhing Sam from the conflagration.

Adrenaline pumped through Nadine’s bloodstream, she grabbed a photo album and her purse from a table, and then she, in horror, helped Hayden drag Sam outside, down the rise in the ground, toward the lake. They yanked off his clothes, leaving him in his underwear. His screams filled the night and snow melted on his skin.

Nadine glanced frantically around for her boys in the darkness, but they and the dog had disappeared and her little cottage, her pride and joy, the only possession she held dear had become an inferno and reflected in bloodred shadows on the snow.

“You’re gonna be all right,” Hayden said to Sam.

“Help me. God Almighty, help me.”

“Help’s coming.” Hayden took Nadine’s hand. “Stay with him but give me your keys.”

“My what—?” But she was already digging through her purse. In the distance, she heard the first wail of a siren.

Hayden stripped the keys from her shaking hands and ran toward the house. She screamed at him until she saw him climb into her little Nova, back the car as far from the conflagration as possible and park.

“Oh, God,” she whispered, still searching the night for her children. “John? Bobby? Please, please—” They wouldn’t have run back into the house, would they? Searching for her, the boys wouldn’t have gone into the kitchen through the back door?

Terror squeezed her heart and she heard Sam moan. Dropping to her knees she tried to hold his hand and comfort him, keeping snow against his skin as she searched the darkness.

Hayden jogged back to her as the first window exploded.

“Oh, God—the boys?” she cried.

“They’ll be fine,” he said, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her forehead. “Thank God. Just hang in here. Be strong.” In a second he released her and was bending over Sam. “Help will be here soon.” And for the first time Nadine realized how close Sam had come to death. She heard her children running along the shoreline with the neighbors, and thankfully Jane Thornton, a nurse who worked at the county hospital and lived on the south shore of the lake was with them. She immediately tended to Sam as Nadine gathered her boys close.

Flames shot through the dry roof of the house, flickering red fingers reaching hellishly toward the black night sky, and tears began to fall from Nadine’s eyes. Everything was gone. Everything she’d worked for, every possession she’d held dear.

“You’re safe now,” Hayden whispered into her ear.

“But the cabin—”

“It can be rebuilt.”