Mabe's Burden (27 page)

She placed a hand on his. “I’m okay. I
promise I’ll think about what you’ve asked. Maybe I will take you
up on your offer, but more importantly I release you from the
burden your father placed upon you. Half of the people you’ve saved
will only return to gambling, buying drugs, or doing something else
equally stupid. They’ll need money from Rocko again. It’s a vicious
cycle for some, and you’ve spent enough of your life trying to
clean up my brother’s messes.”

Tears slipped down his cheeks. His
words caught in his throat. He wasn’t sure his mother was entirely
right. He didn’t feel he’d fulfilled all he could do for his
father, but her sentiments offered him a slight release. He needed
to get to Mabe. He’d worry about the rest later.

“
Thanks, Mom. Please come
with me.”

“
Not tonight. I’ll only slow
you down. I’ll think about what you said though. I
promise.”

She stood, pulling him up with her. She
kissed him, and then shoved him toward the door. “Go. The car’s
waiting out front.”

Aaron grabbed her in a fierce hug.
“Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me.”

She smiled up at him with tears rolling
down her cheeks. “I think I do.”

He grabbed his briefcase and bolted for
the door.

****

Mabe entered the pub before dawn. She
wanted to complete her inventory, to work through her orders before
anyone else could come in to distract her. Besides, she’d been
unable to sleep anyway. She’d read Aaron’s letter over and over
until she’d memorized it. In the wee hours of the morning, she’d
made the decision to call him today. She had no idea what she’d
say, but maybe she’d start with “I’m sorry”. She really hadn’t
given him a chance to even explain why he’d not told her who he
was, going straight for how much it had hurt her. She’d not even
thought about how it might have hurt him. It had taken talking it
over with her sisters to make her see. After a week of sleepless
nights, it was time to do something about the hole in her heart. If
she spoke to Aaron and he didn’t want anything to do with her, at
least she’d be able to heal, to put their relationship behind
her.

She spread her inventory form out
across the bar. She smoothed the long list over the rich mahogany
wood. She glanced up from the list to scan the dining room. She’d
have to call Rocko, too. She’d stalled for a week and come up with
no other alternative. She was at his mercy—whatever the hell it
would be—unless she swallowed her pride and agreed to sell to
Aaron. It truly was her only way out. Even if they couldn’t
reconcile, she knew selling it to him would put the pub she’d
worked so hard for in capable hands.

She planned to tell her sisters her
plan over breakfast. Maybe he’d let her run the place. She hoped
he’d keep Jake along with all the other staff. Some of the changes
Aaron and Mara had talked about would be good for the aging pub,
but she hoped they wouldn’t completely change the atmosphere. The
old place held charm. She’d grown up here, in and among the
patrons, and she liked it.

She turned her attention
back to the list, but was interrupted by a clang from the kitchen.
She glanced at her watch.
Who the hell
would be in the kitchen at four a.m.? Damn it, I’m going to give
them a piece of my mind, coming in here scaring me half to
death
. Slapping her pencil down on the bar,
she swung around, pushing through the kitchen door.

She spotted a man in dark clothes
fooling with something around the gas stove. Without thinking she
shouted at him. “Hey, what in the hell do you think you’re doing?
Get away from there before I call the cops.”

He jerked, swinging around to face her.
She reached for her cell phone, sliding her finger over the screen
to expose the menu. She looked up just as he jerked his head to the
right.

Something hard connected with the base
of her skull. Pain exploded through her head, her vision went
bright white then gray. She squinted her eyes to focus, shook her
head to try to see what the man was doing. He held the skinny black
hose of the propane connection at the base of the stove.
Realization blazed through the fog, but another blow caught her
across the shoulder blades. Agony darkened her vision, and she
slumped to the floor.

Chapter
Twenty-Three

Aaron pulled up to the building just as
the explosion rocked Shenanigans. The force jolted his rental car,
causing him to lose control. He slammed into a sign pole on the
side of the street. The airbag deployed, forcing him back in his
seat. Fortunately, the device kept him from crashing into the
steering column.

Shaking his head to clear
it, he forced open his door.
Oh God, the
pub.
The back half was engulfed in flames.
He glanced around.
Mabe’s car?
The subcompact sat parked at the back door,
covered in flaming bits of rubble.
Oh God,
is she in there? No. No. No. No
. Fear had
him bolting to the front door.

“
Mabe!”

Not wanting to waste another minute, he
rammed his fist through the front pane, undid the deadbolt. The
alarm was already screeching, and the overhead sprinklers had come
on. He slipped on the floor, going down hard on his knees as he
tried to make his way to the burning kitchen.

“
Mabe!” he screamed again.
The kitchen door had been blown into the dining room, and he
couldn’t see for the smoke. He stayed on his sore knees, crawling
through the doorway, feeling his way. Flames roared, the heat
searing his throat, face and arms.

“
Mabe!” Drawing dark smoke
into his lungs, he coughed. He continued to crawl toward the
kitchen. “Are you in here?”

His hand touched something soft. He
squinted at what he thought were a pair of legs right in front of
him. He grabbed hold, pulling his beloved’s limp form toward him.
He stood, reached down, and lifted her into a fireman’s
carry.

“
Mabe!” A voice came from
the opposite end of the kitchen. “Are you in here? I saw your
car.”

“
I’ve got her, Jake,” he
called out. “Get out of here.”

“
Who are you?” he
demanded.

“
It’s Aaron. Let’s meet
outside. I need to get Mabe in the fresh air.”

“
You’re damn right we
will.”

Oh great, I’ll have to deal
with explaining how I had nothing to do with this to everyone in
Monticello. Shit
.

He rushed out of the bar, the fire
belching and roaring behind him. Faint sirens wailed as he hit the
street. He prayed an ambulance was with them.

Once clear of the building, he gently
laid Mabe on the grass across the street. He caught sight of both
sisters running toward him, but his first concern was Mabe. He
looked her over. She was covered in soot, had some first-degree
burns on her hands and arms. The back of her shirt was covered in
blood, so he felt behind her head. Two large lumps had risen at the
base of her skull. Someone had hit her. He gently rolled her back
over, and she moaned.

“
Mabe? Honey? Open your
eyes. Come on baby. It’s me Aaron.”

“
Oh, my God,” Meg squealed,
dropping to her knees beside her sister. She was still wearing her
nightgown. “Is she…?”

“
She’s alive.” He was quick
to reassure her. “But someone knocked her out. She could have a
concussion.”

Jake charged up to him. “What the hell
are you doing here? Did you have something to do with
this?”

Mara had reached the group, and she
grabbed onto Jake’s arm. “Calm down. I’m sure Aaron had nothing to
do with this. He wouldn’t have rescued her if he had. Settle
down.”

Jake glared at her, but when she
nodded, squeezed his arm again, he took a step backward. He glanced
down at his dear friend. I’m going to get the paramedics.” He took
off at a run back toward the pub where the firemen were just
beginning to hose down the building.

Ignoring those around her, Mara knelt,
balled up the shirt she’d been wearing and pillowed her sister’s
head in her lap. She hoped to stop the flow of blood.

“
It blew right when I pulled
up,” Aaron said. “Damn it, I tried to get here first, but I
couldn’t make it. What was she doing in the pub at this
hour?”

Meg shrugged. “I have no idea. She
normally doesn’t go in early. She hasn’t been sleeping though, so
maybe she thought she’d get some work done. Who knows?”

Mabe moaned, moving
slightly.

Mara leaned over her. “Mabe, can you
hear me?”

Her eyes fluttered open. She squinted
at her sister. “W-what happened?”

“
There was an explosion at
the pub. You’ve been hurt. Don’t try to move,” Mara told
her.

“
I saw a man then…someone.”
Mabe’s eyes rolled back in her head. She fainted.

Mara shook her gently.
“Mabe?”

Meg looked first at Mara then at Aaron.
“She’s blacked out again. We need to get her to a
hospital.”

A paramedic came running over, kneeling
beside Mabe. “Let me take a look.”

He examined her, and motioned for his
partner. They transferred her to a stretcher, quickly rolling her
to the waiting ambulance. Aaron followed closely behind. He moved
to climb into the ambulance with her when one paramedic grabbed his
arm.

“
Hold on there. Who are
you?”

“
Um, I’m her….”

“
He’s her boyfriend,” Mara
supplied. “He can ride with her. The rest of us will follow in my
car.”

Aaron offered her a small smile,
gratitude filling his eyes. She nodded at him then turned
around.

“
Come on.” She tugged at Meg
and Jake’s hands, pulling them back up the street.

“
I don’t think that’s a good
idea, Mara,” Jake protested. “We don’t know he wasn’t the one who
blew the place up.”

“
The man is madly in love
with her. He’s not going to blow her up for God’s sake. I’m sure it
was one of Toreni’s goons. The fact Aaron got here when he did
probably saved her life. Otherwise, she might have burned to
death.”

“
I imagine the police will
want to be involved,” Meg commented. Glancing down at her
nightgown-clad body, she sucked in a breath. “Oh, shit. I can’t go
to the hospital like this. Plus, I’ve got to wake up Emma, call the
school. You two go on, and we’ll catch up with you.”

Mara nodded, opening her car door. “Are
you okay to drive?”

She nodded as she climbed to the porch.
“I’m okay. I’ll meet you there.” She ran inside the house, the
screen door slapping shut behind her.

Jake glanced at Mara. “You’re shaking.
You want me to drive?”

She handed him the keys. “Would
you?”

“
Sure. Do you think someone
should stay to talk to the firemen?”

“
We can tell them where
we’ll be. I sure hope we don’t lose the whole damn building. Oh no,
all your stuff was in there.” She looked at him
sympathetically.

“
Ah, don’t worry about it.
It’s just stuff. It can be replaced. I’m just lucky it didn’t blow
me to hell. It’s a sturdy building.”

“
Was,” she commented,
dryly.

“
What?”

“
Was
a sturdy building.”

He sighed. “Yeah.”

They stopped by the nearest fire truck
to give the chief all the information she knew. The fire fighters
almost had the blaze under control, but he promised to call and
keep her informed. The police were just pulling in when they drove
away.

“
Boy, this is going to be a
mess,” he commented.

“
No kidding,” Mara agreed.
“Damn mobster. If I could get my hands around his stinking neck,
I’d squeeze until his fucking eyeballs popped out. I hope Mabe
recognized the man who hit her.”

“
You think she might be in
more danger if she can identify him?”

Mara’s head whipped toward him. “Oh,
shit. I hadn’t thought of that. What are we going to
do?”

“
One thing at a time, New
York. One thing at a time.”

****

Meg woke her daughter, urging her to
throw on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. When she told her why,
Emma raced to get dressed.

“
Why did Shenanigans
explode, Mom? Was there a bomb?”

“
I don’t know, honey.
Here’re your tennis shoes. Just slip them on, so we can get
going.”

Emma tied her shoes, then grabbed a
stuffed animal off her bed.

“
What are you doing with
that?” she asked her daughter.

“
Mr. Monkey Cheeks always
makes me feel better, so maybe he’ll make Aunt Mabe feel better,
too.”

She smiled. “I just bet he will. Come
on, let’s go.”

Meg helped Emma into the car. She ran
around to the driver’s side, climbed in, and backed out of the
driveway. Shenanigans was on the way to the hospital so she slowed
down as they passed. The fire trucks were still there, but the
flames were out. Smoke still rose from the rubble, which used to be
the kitchen. She pulled up to the curb, killing the engine.
Stepping out of the car, she surveyed the damage.