“Have a seat.” Cedar rose, walked to a cooler, grabbed a beer. “Tell us all about it. We watched the coverage on TV, but half the time they’re clueless.”
Jesse took a swig of his brew and told them about his day, from the alarm he’d felt when he’d spotted that first wisp of smoke to his astonishment at seeing Rossiter, Belcourt, and the others alive.
“They could have died of smoke inhalation in there.” Ellie had worked her share of hours in the hospital emergency room and wouldn’t miss a detail like that.
“Belcourt says they covered the opening of the cave with a big woolen blanket his grandpa had on hand. He and Rossiter held it in place until the fire passed.”
Cedar grabbed him another beer. “So, it was your idea to use the snowmaking machines? That’s genius.”
“I’m just glad no one was killed. Are Eric and the others going to be okay?”
“It will be a long haul,” Ellie said. “But, yes, they’ll recover.”
Daisy and Daniel stepped outside, whispering to each other.
“I’ll give him my picture first,” Daisy said.
“We can give him the pictures at the same time,” Daniel was saying.
It was good to see him stand up for himself against his more talkative, outgoing sister.
“Yes, give them to Daddy at the same time.” Ellie lifted a sleeping Dylan from her breast and buttoned her blouse.
Jesse set his beer aside, ready to give the twins his full attention. He hauled them, drawings and all, onto his lap. “First, I want hugs. Here’s my Daisy. Here’s my big boy, Daniel.”
He held them tight, one child in each arm, grateful beyond words that they were safe. “Okay, let’s see what you drew.”
They each held up a sheet of paper with stick-figure drawings that appeared to be him with lots of orange and yellow flames.
“Wow. Look at these! Did the two of you see news about the fire on TV?”
They nodded.
Daniel’s drawing showed stickman Daddy holding what was meant to be a firehose spraying blue water toward a burning tree, a smile on his face.
Jesse studied it, saw a child’s worry. “There were lots of trees that burned down today, but not the ones in our yard. Thank you, Daniel. Good work.”
Daisy’s drawing showed even more fear. This time, Stickman Daddy stood in the center, surrounded by a ring of fire.
“Great job, Daisy. Look, I’m surrounded by fire.” He looked into his little girl’s eyes. “The fire never got close to me. I was very careful. Do you know why I was careful?”
She got a shy little smile, shook her head.
“I had to keep myself safe so that I could come home to you, Daniel, and Dylan.”
Daisy and Daniel looked at each other, doing their twin thing, and smiled.
Cedar stood, got the steaks off the grill. “Who wants steak sauce?”
After supper, Jesse helped Ellie give the kids baths and put them to bed. Dylan was already sleeping in his portable playpen.
Out in the hallway, Jesse caught Ellie around the waist, nuzzled her neck. “How about you and I get in bed—and not sleep.”
Ellie tilted her head to the side, gave him room to play. “We’ll have to be quiet.”
Jesse chuckled. “I hate to break it to you, honey, but I’m not the noisy one.”
Kat pushedGabe back on their bed, straddled him, ran her hands over the hard muscles of his chest, the lamp on the nightstand casting a glow over his skin. Her gaze locked with his as she reached down, took his cock in hand, and guided him inside her.