“Mom!” He tried to launch himself out of bed, but my mom held him back.
I held up my hands. “No, no, stay in bed, honey.”
I felt Gunner come in behind me, but right now, my focus was only on Tuck. I sat on the edge of Tucker’s bed. He flung himself at me, wrapping his arms around my neck. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
I rubbed his back and held him tightly against me, kissing the top of his head. “No, buddy. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I love you so much. How are you feeling?” I asked as I leaned back and scanned him.
He shrugged. “Tired.”
I crawled into the bed next to Tuck and snuggled in with him. “I’m so happy you’re okay.”
“How did we get out?”
I hesitated, but I couldn’t risk losing him by lying to him again. “Gunner got me and Rattler. He went back in for you, but the roof collapsed and blocked him from your room. He was running around the house to get to your window, but you were already out.”
“How?”
I hesitated, taking a shaky breath. “Shayla was carrying you. I don’t know how yet. She’s in the hospital, but I haven’t had a chance to go see her. You were priority number one, bud.”
“You have to see her, Mom. She’s alone, isn’t she? If we were her family and she’s never been with us. She’s alone.”
“Yeah, buddy, she’s alone.”
“You have to go see her.”
“I will, but I need a little more Tucker time.” I hugged him to my chest. “I’m so glad you’re okay. You have to spend the night at the hospital, just so they can double and triple and quadruple check that you’re fine.”
Tucker rolled his eyes. “Mom! I want to go home.”
Tears welled in my eyes. I wanted to go home too, but that was now impossible. Tuck and I would have our pick of vacant cabins. I knew Gunner would want us at his place and my parents would welcome us with open arms, but none of those places were ours. They weren’t where Tuck had taken his first steps or where he’d swung a stick he was using as a bat and broken a window.
Our house wasn’t standing anymore.
“Me too,” I whispered and tried to perk up my voice. “It’s only one night, and I’ll bet we could convince the nurse that you need ice cream. Pronto!”
Tucker smiled and snuggled more deeply into my chest. I lifted my gaze, meeting Gunner’s and really seeing him for the first time tonight. He looked like hell. He stepped forward, went down to his knees, and grabbed Tucker’s hand.
“Hey, bud,” Gunner said. Tucker maneuvered out of my embrace and held his arms out for Gunner. Gunner hugged him tightly to his chest and rubbed his back over and over.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Tucker said quietly and tears overflowed. “Can we still be best friends?”
“Always, buddy,” Gunner said.
“I thought I was your best friend.” I looked past Gunner’s massive shoulders and saw Colt standing in the doorway, outfitted in his cop uniform and wearing his cop face.
He was here on business.
“You’re both my best friends!”
Colt snorted. “Not how it works.”
Gunner chuckled and ruffled Tuck’s hair. “It works however you want it to, Tuck.” Tuck stuck out his tongue at Colt, who finally cracked a smile.
Colt’s eyes shifted to mine. And I knew my time was up. It was time to talk and get to the bottom of this. “We’ll be back in a few minutes. Stay here with Grams and Pops.”
My dad slid around Colt coming into the room. He leaned down to kiss my cheek and whispered in my ear, “Shayla’s not doing too well.”
I nodded. I needed to see her. I had to. Even if the worst was true, I needed to see her with my own eyes.
Colt stepped into the hallway and stood next to Ridge. Ridge was covered in soot, still in his turnout gear. He smelled of pungent smoke. It had been hell in the house. I hadn’t even been able to make it down the flame-filled hallway, and Ridge did that every day.
He walked into the fire while everyone else was running out.
I walked straight to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. He hugged me back. “Thank fuck you’re okay. Gunner did good.”
I nodded. I knew he did. My man—who had been tortured by fire once, who still had nightmares of fire—had run in for me. And then again for my son. I wasn’t sure how I would handle him leaving; everything felt too big at the moment. Emotion clogged my throat.
I let go of Ridge and returned to Gunner’s side, and I held his waist. He looked down at me, and I finally said the words I should’ve said as soon as he pulled me out. “I love you.”
He kissed me and leaned his forehead against mine. “I love you too. I can’t think about what would’ve happened if I hadn’t gotten you out and if Tucker wasn’t okay.”
“We can’t go there,” I whispered.
“Hate to break this up,” Colt said sarcastically. “But we need to get to the bottom of this.”
“It was definitely arson,” Ridge said. “There was kerosene all over the place and Foster found a can that had been ditched in the bushes. We found a couple of fire alarms in the wreckage. There weren’t any batteries.”
“That can’t be. Those are replaced at least once a quarter in all the cabins, including mine,” I said. They had been replaced maybe a month and a half ago. I’d let the maintenance man in myself, and I’d been there the entire time. I tried to remember if any flashing lights had indicated a working alarm.
“Took them and the tank into the station,” Colt said. “Hopefully, they’ll be able to pull fingerprints. It wasn’t Shayla.”
“How do you know?” Gunner asked. He thought it was her, but something in my gut was telling me it wasn’t. She was trying to turn a corner in her life. It might’ve been bumpy—it wasn’t as easy as I wished it was—but I couldn’t believe this, even with all the threats she’d spouted when she first came back. They’d scared me at the time, making me want to lock Tuck away and keep him from her, but deep down, I knew she wouldn’t cross the line from making a threat to burning down my house and trying to kill us—or even just me.
“She was at the main lodge, sitting on the front steps, writing on some paper when the fire started,” Colt said. “I guess she saw the smoke and ran toward the fire. It wasn’t her.”
I closed my eyes and pressed my lips together, struggling to keep the tears at bay.
“Who was it?” Gunner asked Colt. Then Gunner leaned down, kissing the top of my head, and spoke quietly only to me. “We’ll go see her in a minute. I swear. She saved our boy.” My hand shook as I brought it to my mouth, and my other fisted the back of Gunner’s dirty shirt. We both smelled and were still dirty, but that didn’t matter. None of it mattered. I nodded, gritted my teeth, and returned my focus to Colt and Ridge.
“We don’t know,” Ridge said.
“Someone drugged my son and set my house on fire. The only person with a motive was Shayla, but she saved Tuck! Who the hell did this?”
Colt stepped forward and stared into my eyes. “I will do whatever is necessary to find out. I swear.” He straightened and faced Gunner. “Take care of them.”