“River!” her name was called again and she turned to find Ridge darting from the cab of the fire truck. He ran with purpose and River waited to see his reaction to his home caught in a blaze, but she was stunned when he headed directly toward them.
“River,” he repeated. The agony was evident as he slid to his knees in front of her, cradling her face with his hands.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m. . .okay,” she replied as she loosened her hold on his daughter. He looked down at the little girl who was bathed in the headlights of the fire truck and she didn’t appear to have a single scratch on her, to River’s relief.
“Your house is on fire,” she said bluntly, wondering why he wasn’t assisting the crew that were preparing to put out the blaze.
“I don’t care about the house. I care that the woman I love is safe. You’re more important than the house.”
River insisted that she lost her hearing during her fall to the ground; she couldn’t have heard him correctly.
“Wait, you what?”
“I love you, River. The moment the security alarm went off, I knew without a doubt that I loved you. And now that I see you here protecting Delilah, I know that I’m head over heels in love with you.”
“Ridge, I. . .” she whispered.
“You don’t have to say it back. But I do love you,” he repeated as he pressed his lips against hers before pulling back and looking at the flames. “I want to stay with you right now.”
“But they need you. Go, Ridge. We’ll be here when you’re done.” And she realized that it was the truth; she would be there for him. She would wait for him to save the world and help him fasten his cape along the way because she loved him too. “Go!” she insisted as Preston approached. She could wait to tell him, but the fire needed his attention.
He nodded at Preston as the cop reached out to help River and Delilah up from the ground as Ridge made his way toward the back of the house where the crew was setting up.
River thanked Preston for his help then began describing the car that drove off after the attack. He radioed the information to dispatch as the sound of glass breaking pounded in the distance.
In a split second, the back of the house exploded and engulfed the property in flames, but River’s attention was on the man lying on the ground while smoke billowed around him.
“Ridge!” she cried out as the man lay unmoving. Preston held her back as he radioed for EMS assistance. River thought her heart had cracked earlier when she thought the man was going to take Delilah, but watching Ridge lay unmoving in a cloud of ash and smoke while his crew tried to extinguish the house fire, shattered the muscle into hundreds of pieces.
“I need to help him. Please!”
“And he would kill me if I let you anywhere near that fire. So, I’m begging you to stay here.”
“I have to do something.”
“And you are. You’re staying at a safe distance until EMS arrives to look you over and to transport Ridge. You need to keep Delilah calm.”
The little girl recognized her name and looked up from where she had buried herself in River’s neck.
“Mama,” she screeched joyfully.
River pulled her gaze away from Ridge as he was delicately moved onto a stretcher kept strapped to the fire engine and found Delilah staring at something over her shoulder. Not something, someone River acknowledged as she followed the child’s gaze. A woman with dark shaggy hair and pursed lips.
Penny.
Chapter Fifteen
Ridge pried his eyes open, the lids feeling as if they were stuck together with the superglue he used to play with as a kid. The sound of sirens and shouts were muffled around him. He had no idea where he was.
“Son?” a familiar voice called out to him through a tunnel. It took a moment, but he recognized it as his uncle’s voice. He hadn’t seen his uncle in years.
What was he doing in California?
“Uncle Joe?” he managed to mumble. Where ever he was, the smell of smoke was nauseating.
“Well, now, you haven’t called me Uncle Joe since you were a wild teenager.”