LITMIR.BIZ

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down toward the center, toward the source of the pain. The pain wouldn’t stop.

      And then suddenly, the heat was gone.

      She was being lowered.

      Grass, there was grass beneath her.

      Desperate, Joanna clawed her way out of the singed fabric enclosure that was still over her head and face. And then it was off, lying in a heap on the ground next to her.

      Gulping in air, Joanna looked around frantically, trying to get her bearings, trying to clear her head of the hallucination that insisted on sticking to her like a second skin.

      She blinked several times, but the man sitting on the front lawn beside her, panting, with the smell of smoke clinging to every surface of his body, didn’t resume his shape.

      Didn’t transform from who she thought she saw to who he really was.

      He stayed the same.

      Was she dead? Was that it? Was that why she was still staring up at Rick Masters?

      There didn’t seem to be any other possible explanation for it.

      Rick dragged air back into his lungs. The house next to Joanna’s was encased in flames. He saw no signs of anyone having escaped. His legs shook as he rose to his feet. He felt her grab his arm, pulling him back.

      He looked at her over his shoulder. “Let go, I’ve got to see if I can get anyone out.”

      “There’s no one there,” she gasped out. “They’re away on vacation.” Her eyes still burned and she squeezed them shut for a moment, then opened them again. He was still there.

      “How about in your house?”

      She thought she shook her head. She wasn’t sure if she did or not. “Nobody.”

      Rick sank down on the ground again. His heart was slamming madly against his chest. “Are you all right?” he demanded.

      He sounded angry. They hadn’t seen one another in eight years and he sounded angry. Why? If anything, she should have been the one who was angry. Angry because he hadn’t come after her the way she’d hoped, prayed that he would.

      But he couldn’t be here. Could he? Was she losing her mind?

      Shaken, her head spinning, she stared at him, still afraid to believe that she wasn’t somehow hallucinating all this.

      “Rick? What are you doing here?”

      The desire to hold her in his arms, to kiss her and make the world back off, was almost overpowering. But it was at odds with the renewed feeling of betrayal that seared through him. He might not have moved on with his life in the full sense of the word, but she obviously had. Moved on, married and was now carrying some other man’s child in her body.

      The sting he felt was unbelievably sharp and deep. Though he’d never talked about it, he’d thought of having children with her. Lots of children. Children with her face and his sense of logic.

      Damn it, Joey, why did you do this to me?

      “I asked you a question,” he said his voice harsh with anger, with hurt. “Are you all right?”

      Her mouth fell open. She wasn’t dead. She was alive. And he was real. He was here. After all this time, he was here. Looking at her the way she never wanted him to look at her. She’d walked out of his life just to avoid that look in his eyes.

      And yet, after all this time, here he was, looking at her as if he hated her.

      She started to say something, and had her breath stolen away before she could utter an intelligible sound. What came out of her mouth was a purely guttural cry.

      Joanna’s eyes widened as her hand flew to her abdomen. The pain she’d been peripherally conscious of intensified, pushing itself to center stage and demanding attention.

      “What? What’s the matter?” On his knees beside her, concern pushed aside his anger.

      Rick strained to hear the sound of sirens approaching, but there was nothing. Not only that, but there didn’t appear to be any activity, or even any lights being turned on from the three other houses on the immediate block.

      Where the hell was everyone? Had he and Joanna just slipped into some private twilight zone of their own?

      Joanna clutched his arm, her nails digging into his flesh, her face drained of all color. She wasn’t answering his question.

      This couldn’t be happening, she thought, frantically Not now. She wasn’t due for another two weeks. The doctor had promised her.

      Promises were meant to be broken.

      The promise between her and Rick had been.

      “The baby,” she gasped, pushing the words out as best she could. “I think the baby’s coming.”

      Two

      Dumbfounded, Rick could only stare at her. “You mean later.”

      She couldn’t be saying what he thought she was saying. Rick looked from her face to her abdomen and then back at her face again. That had to be the panic talking, he decided.

      Joanna could almost feel her knuckles breaking out through her skin as she clenched his wrist.

      “I mean now.” The word rode out on a torrent of pain.

      Crouching beside her, Rick carefully peeled her fingers from his wrist. She’d almost cut off his circulation. “Hang on, the paramedics have got to be getting here soon.”

      Instinctively she knew that they’d never make it in time.

      Joanna shook her head violently from side to side, the pain all but cracking her in half. “Unless they’re invisible and already here…they’re going to be too late.” She looked up at him. God, but life was strange, bringing them together like this, now of all times. “You’re going to have to help me.”

      There were a great many things he’d learned how to do, felt comfortable in undertaking. Delivering a baby was not one of them. “Me?”

      Even with the throbbing sound echoing in her head, Joanna could hear the wariness in Rick’s voice. She couldn’t very well blame him. This wasn’t exactly her idea of ideal circumstances, either.

      “I don’t…like this any better…than…you do, but this baby…is coming…and I need…someone…on the other end.” It was getting more and more difficult for her to talk, to frame complete thoughts. The pain kept snatching away her breath, railroading her mind. Panic was attempting to push its way into her consciousness.

      Desperate, Rick looked over his shoulder at the other three houses on the block. They were all dark. Why hadn’t any lights gone on? Why wasn’t anyone home?

      Where the hell was everyone?

      Where they were didn’t matter. What did matter was that he was here and so was she. And she needed him.

      It occurred to him that for the second time in his life, he hadn’t the slightest idea what to do. And both times had involved Joanna.

      Someone had to be home on the next block. “Hold on,” he told her, beginning to rise to his feet. “I’ll go get help.”

      The death grip tightened on his wrist, yanking him back down to her with a strength he didn’t think she was capable of.

      “You are help…” She raised her eyes to his. “Please.”

      Damn it, she still knew just how to rip into his heart. Even after all this time. Rick knew he had no choice.

      “Okay. I—” He saw her jerk and stiffen, her eyes opening so wide, they looked as if they could fall out at any moment.

      Joanna bit down on her lip so hard, she thought she tasted blood. A scream welled up in her throat, its magnitude nearly matching

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