Annie Claydon - Firefighter's Christmas Baby

‘Ben...!’ She ran towards the fire engine, screaming above the noise, and he glanced back towards her. ‘Over there, look.’ She pointed to the window and he turned suddenly, making for the house. He’d seen what she had, that the police evacuation had left someone behind.

It appeared that since he’d given Callie no indication that she should move, he expected her to stay where she was. Forget that. Callie tucked the camera into her jacket and followed Ben.

‘Go back. We’ve got it...’ They met on the doorstep. The woman had disappeared from the window and without a second glance at Callie he bent down, flipping open the letterbox to look through it and then calling out.

‘That’s right, my love. Open the door. No... No, don’t sit down. You need to open the door for me.’

Suddenly he puffed out a breath and straightened, turning to Eve, who had arrived at his side. ‘We have an elderly woman sitting on the floor, leaning against the front door. We’ll go in through the window.’

Eve nodded and Ben reached into his pocket, pulling out a window punch. It took one practised movement to break one of the small glass panes in the windows at the front of the house.

‘Callie, I won’t say it again. You’re in the way...’ He didn’t look round as he reached in, slipping the catch and swinging the window open.

‘Since when was a paramedic in the way when you have a possible trauma? You should be getting out of my way.’ Callie resisted the temptation to kick him. Playing along with Ben at the fire station was one thing, but this wasn’t the time or the place.

He turned quickly, a look of shock on his face. Then he took the helmet from Callie’s hand, securing the strap under her chin and snapping down the visor. ‘Put your gloves on. Stay behind me at all times. Eve, stay here and let me know if the fire looks as if it’s coming our way.’

He pushed the net curtains to one side and climbed in, turning to help Callie through the window. She ignored his outstretched hand and followed him. When he led the way through to the hallway, Callie saw an elderly woman sitting on the floor behind the door. Her eyes were closed but her head was upright so she was probably conscious. Callie tapped Ben’s arm to get his attention.

‘Did she fall?’

‘I don’t think so. She just seemed to slide down the wall.’

‘Okay.’ Standing back wasn’t an option now and neither was staying behind him. The house wasn’t on fire and Ben’s skills were of secondary use to her. Callie pushed past him and knelt down beside the woman, taking off her helmet and gloves. She wasn’t used to working with these kinds of constrictions.

‘Hi, I’m Callie, I’m a paramedic from the London Ambulance Service.’

The woman looked up at her with placid blue eyes. It seemed that the urgency of the situation had escaped her, and Callie saw a hearing aid, caught in the white hair that wisped around her face, with the ear mould hanging loose. She was clutching a pair of glasses that looked so grimy that they could only serve to obscure her sight.

Great. No wonder she hadn’t responded when Ben had called through the letter box. Callie gently disentangled the hearing aid, putting it in her pocket. There was no time now to do anything other than make do with what the woman could hear and see.

‘Are you hurt?’ She tipped the woman’s face around, speaking clearly.

‘No, dear.’

‘Have you fallen?’

The woman stared at her, her hand fluttering to her chest. Callie heard Ben close the sitting-room door so that more smoke didn’t blow through the house from the broken window. The smell of burning was everywhere, filtering through every tiny opening from the outside, and Callie knew that the air quality in here wasn’t good.

She felt a light touch on her shoulder. ‘You’re happy to move her?’

Suddenly Ben was deferring to her. Callie’s quick examination had shown no sign of injury and the woman’s debility and confusion might well be as a result of smoke inhalation. On balance, the first priority was to get her into the fresh air.

‘Yes.’

Thankfully, he didn’t waste any time questioning her decision. Ben used his shortwave radio to check with Eve that their exit was still clear and helped Callie get the woman to her feet. Her legs were jerking unsteadily and it was clear that she couldn’t walk.

‘Can you take her?’ She’d be safe in Ben’s strong arms. He nodded, lifting the woman carefully, and Callie scooted out of the way, opening the front door.

Outside, the fire in the yard was almost out, quantities of black smoke replacing the flames. Ben didn’t slacken his pace until he’d reached the cordon, and as a police officer shepherded them through, a woman ran up to them.

‘Mae... Mae, it’s Elaine. Elaine Jacobs...’ The older woman didn’t respond, and the younger one turned to Ben. ‘Bring her to my house. Over there...’

‘Thanks.’ Ben shot a glance at Callie and she nodded. There was nowhere else other than the police car to set Mae down and examine her.

Ben carefully carried his precious burden into the small, neat sitting room, and Mrs Jacobs motioned him towards a long sofa that stretched almost the length of one wall. He put Mae down carefully and turned to Callie.

‘Ambulance?’

‘Yes, thanks.’

‘Okay, I’ll see to it.’ He turned to Mae, giving her a smile, and her gaze followed him out of the room.

‘I’m all right.’ Mae seemed to be addressing no one in particular, and Callie guessed that she was trying to reassure herself as much as anyone else. She touched her hand to catch her attention.

‘I know you are. Just let me make sure, eh?’

CHAPTER FOUR

HOWEVER HARD HE tried to put Callie into a box, she just seemed to spring straight out again. He’d thought her capable of steamrolling over him and his crew if he allowed her to, and then she’d shown herself to be sensitive enough to make a difference to the way Eve saw herself. Ben had tried to limit her to the role of observer, and she’d shown him that she wasn’t just that either.

Perhaps he had trust issues. It made no difference what Callie did, he couldn’t bring himself to trust the warmth that her mere presence sparked in his chest. Maybe he never would truly trust a woman that he was attracted to ever again.

When he knocked on Mrs Jacobs’s front door, he meant to stay on the doorstep, but she wouldn’t have any of it, ushering him inside and telling him that he couldn’t possibly compete with the mess that her two teenagers were capable of making. Callie was kneeling beside Mae, chatting to her, and looked up when he entered the sitting room.

‘Everything all right?’

‘Yes. The fire’s out and we’re making everything safe.’ He trusted his crew. He’d trusted Callie, back at the house, when she’d snapped suddenly into the role of paramedic. Maybe that was what he should remember, rather than the way her smile seemed to plunge his whole world into chaos.

‘The ambulance is on its way?’

‘Yes.’

Mae had turned her gaze up toward them, obviously following their conversation. By the simple expediency of cleaning her glasses and making sure that her hearing aids were seated correctly, Callie had wrought an amazing change in the elderly lady. Ben bent down, smiling at Mae.

‘How are you feeling now?’

‘Callie says I have to go to the hospital...’ Her voice was cracked and hoarse, but it was difficult to tell whether that was the effect of emotion or smoke inhalation. ‘On Christmas Eve...’

‘It’s best to be on the safe side. If it were me, I’d take her advice.’

He heard a sharp intake of breath behind him. Mae’s presence in the room had probably saved him from the humiliation of one of Callie’s put-downs.