The Proposal Read Online Free

angel?”
    She squirmed in his arms. “Oh yes!”
    He climbed onto the rig and sat her down
on the seat. Her hands automatically went to the steering wheel, and she turned
it back and forth, pretending to drive. He blared the horn. “Again, Daddy!” He
grinned and honked it until the rest of the guys in the firehouse were ready to
throttle him.
    Like wispy shadows of fog swirling along rooftops
and skylines, Emma’s mind unveiled another memory just a short year later. She
was at school and sitting on the reading rug. With rapt attention, she listened
to her teacher reading from a book about bears having a Halloween party where
popcorn overflowed their house. The classroom door creaked opened, and Emma
stared in surprise at Granddaddy standing in the doorway. She raced over to
meet him, happily taking his hand. Out in the hallway, he pulled her into his
arms and carried her outside. Grammy stood at the car hugging Nana, Daddy’s
mother. Emma peppered him with questions. “What’s happened, Granddaddy? Why are
you all here in Atlanta? Where’s Mommy and Daddy?”
    For the first time she could ever
remember, Granddaddy had tears in his dark eyes. “Emmie Lou, there was a bad
fire, and your Daddy was trying to save these children. He got them out safely,
but he…” His voice choked off with emotion. “Baby, your Daddy’s gone to live
with the angels.”
    That one statement sent her kicking and
screaming out of his embrace. “No, no, no! Daddy wouldn’t leave me! He’s taking
me to the circus this weekend.” Her fists beat into Granddaddy’s belly. “You
tell the angels to bring Daddy back!” she cried.
    The sound of the ambulance doors rattling open
snapped Emma into another memory. Once again she clutched her mother’s hand
as they weaved in between the tombstones in the cemetery. She had never seen so
many people in all her life. People kept calling her daddy a hero. They sank
down onto one of the velvet chairs under a green tent.  Clinging to her
mother’s side, she jumped with every rifle blast of the Twenty-One gun salute.
Then a man knelt before her mother with a folded flag. He glanced over to Emma
and gave her a sad smile. She would never forget his soulful brown eyes.
    “Ma’am?”
    Emma jolted back into the present. Glancing over her
shoulder, she saw that Patrick’s stretcher had already been taken from the
ambulance. The EMT, who had driven them to the hospital, stood with the
passenger side door opened, beckoning her with his hand. “Here let me help
you.”
    “Thank you,” she murmured. After she hopped down, he
led her through the automatic doors. Pointing down the hallway, he said, “They
took him to room two.”
    She nodded. “Thank you for everything.”
    Emma staggered down the white tiled floor. An
antiseptic smell assaulted her senses. Men and women in blue and green scrubs
hustled between rooms and patients. She gave the nurses station a fleeting
glance before cutting across the hall to where Patrick was. When Emma started
for the door, a nurse blocked her. “No, ma’am.  You can’t go in there. You’ll
have to go to the waiting room.”
    “How is he?”
    “We don’t know anything yet. They’re running tests.”
The nurse gripped Emma’s shoulder. “If you’ll just go have a seat, someone
will—”
    Emma shook her head furiously from side to side.
“Please, let me stay here. I won’t get in the way, I promise. He didn’t want me
to leave him!”
    The nurse took in Emma’s swollen stomach, and her
expression softened. She glanced over her shoulder before sighing. “Okay. Is
there anyone else you should call?”
    Emma had been so consumed by the ghosts of the past
along with Patrick’s condition, she hadn’t even thought of calling Aidan or his
sisters. Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh God, I can’t believe I didn’t call his
children!”
    “It’s okay, honey. I’m sure you’ve had a lot to
process. Why don’t you step right over there?” the nurse