The Fireman's Baby(14)

Perhaps he would be mad at her for not thinking about protection, but then again, he hadn't been careful, either. They were equally guilty in this conception, but was he the sort of man who would take responsibility for a young woman in trouble? When she thought once more of his handsome, sculpted body and the way he had spoken and held himself with such utter confidence and conviction in his prowess she wondered how many woman had fallen for his charms and whether she was the first woman to fall pregnant to this man.

It took her a long time to gather the courage to crawl out of the bath, but when she did, she emerged as a woman determined. Laura was not the sort of person to feel sorry for herself and let the world fall apart. Yes, she was afraid. Yes, she was alone, but she was a strong woman who had always managed being alone before. She had been single many times over the years and had still managed to be happy and build a business and find a way to scrape together the money to keep a roof over her head. So she was pregnant. She would find a way to cope still.

***

The next day at the doctor's office confirmed what she already knew, but Laura didn't break down again as she left the clinic and returned slowly home. In fact, her mind was back to its previous way of working: calm, methodical, and level-headed. She didn't let herself give into the panic that tried to curl its fingers around her heart, but began to reasonably ask herself what she needed to do now.

The first thing, of course, was to track down Daniel and tell him the news. Regardless of how he took it, at least they'd be able to make decisions together from then on and that would make it easier. So she went home, took down the address of the local fire station and headed over that Saturday afternoon to find the captain.

She had never been to a fire station before. As she approached, she could see the shutters of the garage open and three fire engines waiting inside with spaces for others which must have been out somewhere extinguishing fires. She entered through those open shutters and tried to find someone to talk to.

To her left she could see the equipment room with its red wire framing, helmets and uniforms all laid out. On the right was the hoist tower where several long hoses were hanging from a tall chimney-like structure to dry and more hoses were lined up in spirals on the ground to be fitted to engines later. Laura took all of this in and then began to step around the engines as she searched for someone to speak with. She could hear voices up ahead and followed them to a large break room beyond the garages where a group of off-duty firemen were gathered eating. She knocked tentatively on the doorframe to get their attention and they looked up at her with interest.

“The reception is that way,” one of the men told her, pointing in the direction she had just come from.

“Actually, I'm looking for someone who works for the department,” Laura told them. “His name is Daniel. He's the captain. He's kind of tall; has blonde hair, brown eyes.”

The fire fighter closest to her nodded in recognition.

“Yeah, we know Dan,” he told her. “But you won't find him here. He's gone with a whole group off to Colorado for the summer to fight the wild fires. Didn't you know?”

Laura felt her heart drop into her stomach and she closed her eyes briefly to steady herself, before opening them again and trying to find another way to reach him instead of panicking because he wasn't here.

“Well, do you have a contact number I could take?” she asked hopefully.

The firemen exchanged glances. A different man spoke to her this time. Laura recognized him as one of the other firefighters who had been there to put out Marie's house.

“You're that woman from that fire we were called to several weeks ago,” he recollected. “Sorry, but you're out of luck. Dan's off the books for the whole summer. You can try calling around the Colorado departments, but he won't be assigned a station as he is here. He could be anywhere and he'll have a different number out of state. I'm sorry, but we can't help you.”

“When will he be back?” Laura asked helplessly.

“It's hard to say,” the fireman shrugged. “It depends on how hot the summer is and how long the fires last. It depends on whether he's giving any training. It depends on whether we need him back here or whether they need him more out there. He could be back in a few weeks, or it could be months, if he makes it back at all.”

“Well, can I give you my number?” Laura persisted. “And will you have him call me when he gets back? My name is Laura. He knows who I am.”

“Look, Miss, I'll hold onto the number, but I don't know how long Dan will be away. If you're looking for a second date, I think you're out of luck,” he apologized.