Before the Storm Read Online Free PDF Page A

chamberlain
    I saw a woman heading toward us from the other side of the
    room. Her face and T-shirt were smeared with soot, her hair
    coated with so much ash I couldn’t have said what color it was.
    Beneath her eyes, two long, clean trails ran down her cheeks.
    She’d had a good cry herself. She smiled now, though, as she took
    both my hands in hers. I recognized the slightly lopsided curve
    of the lips before I did the woman. Robin Carmichael. Emily’s
    mother.
    “Robin!” I said. “Are you all right?”
    “Fine,” she said. “And Andy’s fine, too,” she added quickly,
    knowing those were the words I needed to hear before
    anything else.
    “They won’t let me see—”
    “What about Emily?” Maggie interrupted.
    Robin nodded toward the other side of the waiting area,
    where I spotted Emily curled up on a chair, hugging her knees
    and holding a bloodstained cloth to her forehead.
    “She’s gonna be okay,” Robin said, “but we’re waiting to get
    her seen. She cracked her glasses right in two and got a little
    cut over her eyebrow.” Robin still held my hands and now she
    looked hard into my eyes. “Andy saved Emily’s life.” Her voice
    broke and I felt her grip tighten on my fingers.“He saved a load
    of people tonight, Laurel.”
    “Andy?” Maggie and I said at the same time.
    “Yeah, I know.” Robin clearly shared our amazement. “But
    I swear, it’s the truth.”
    “Mrs. Lockwood?” A woman in blue scrubs stood at the
    entrance to the waiting area.
    “Yes!” I stood up quickly.
    “Come with me.”

    before the storm
    35
    We were ushered into one of the treatment areas I remembered from three years earlier when Andy broke his arm at the
    skating rink. The room had several beds separated by curtains.
    Someone was screaming behind one of the curtains; someone
    else cried. But the curtain was not drawn around Andy’s bed.
    He was bare chested and barefooted, but wearing his now-
    filthy pants. A woman in blue scrubs was bandaging his left
    forearm, and he wore an oxygen cannula below his nose. Andy
    spotted us and leaped off the bed, the gauzy dressing dangling
    from his arm, the cannula snapping off his face.
    “Mom!” he shouted. “There was a big fire and I’m a hero!”
    “Andy!” the nurse called sharply.“I need to finish your arm.”
    Maggie and I pulled Andy into a three-way hug,and I breathed
    in that horrible acrid scent from the fire in great gulps.“Are you
    okay,sweetie?”I asked,still holding him tight.He fidgeted beneath
    my arms,and I knew they’d given him something for the asthma.
    I could tell by the spring-loaded tension in the muscles of his back,
    that’s how well I knew my son. Still, I wouldn’t let go of him.
    Maggie came to her senses first, pulling away from us. “The
    nurse still needs you,Panda Bear,” she said.She lifted his arm and
    I saw the angry red swath that ran from his wrist to the bend of
    his elbow. First degree, I thought with relief. I led him back into
    the cubicle and looked at the nurse as Andy climbed onto the bed.
    “Is that the worst of it?” I asked, pointing to his arm.
    She nodded as she fit the cannula to his nostrils again.
    “Check it tomorrow for blisters. We’ll give you a prescription
    for pain. He’ll be okay, though. He’s a lucky fella.”
    “I made a new friend,” Andy said. “Layla. I saved her.”
    “I’m glad, sweetie.” I dusted ashes from his hair until its
    nutmeg color showed through.

    36
    diane chamberlain
    The nurse carefully taped the gauze to his arm again. “He
    doesn’t seem to feel pain,” she said, looking at me.
    “Not when he’s wired like this.” Maggie boosted herself
    onto the end of the bed.
    “He’ll feel it later.” I remembered the swim meet last year
    when he hit his head on the side of the pool. He swam lap after
    lap, blood trailing behind him, not even aware he was hurt until
    the adrenaline had worn off.
    “Did you hear me, Mom?” Andy said. “I saved