Hearts On Fire Episode 26
Julia noticed a subtle change come over Mark.
He was alert and alive, assured and commanding.
He exuded confidence, calm and reliability.
Watching him now, Julia understood how his neighbour’s son would have admired him.
Mark turned to Jacopo.
“Have you got a phone signal?”
The young man checked his phone, then shook his head.
“It’s the walls. They are old and thick.” He gestured to them. “And no windows.”
Julia saw cogs whirring in Mark’s head as his eyes flitted between the door, the walls and the phone.
“Penny for them?” she asked.
“From the direction of the fire and the speed it was travelling, we can try opening the door after ten minutes.”
“Is that all?” Charlie asked. “I thought we’d be here all night.”
He nodded.
“The danger should have passed, and I can leave to check the situation.”
“Why you?” Debbie asked, her face still white and her voice tremulous.
“Because,” Mark replied with conviction, “I am a firefighter. This is my job.”
Julia beamed at him, and he beamed back.
Mark would be OK, and they both knew it.
“This will be a long ten minutes,” Debbie said, bringing Julia back down to earth.
Debbie needed distracting. They all did.
Julia moved towards a stack of two-litre water bottles.
“I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m parched.”
Suddenly. the light winked out.
“There goes the electricity,” Wizzy said cheerily. “Takes me back to the Seventies. All those power cuts.”
Jacopo turned on his phone’s torch.
“Oh, what fun, Wizzy. It’s just like midnight feasts in the dorm again, isn’t it?” Charlie said. “Have you any tuck, Marianna?”
Julia offered up thanks for the two public schoolgirls.
She turned on her phone light, too, and with Marianna’s help found plastic cups and biscuits.
Soon they all had water and nibbles, and Charlie and Wizzy regaled them with tales of nocturnal antics at their girls’ school.
Julia listened to their stories with delight.
After what seemed like no time at all, Mark stood up.
“Ten minutes have passed. I’m going to open the door carefully.”
Jacopo nodded.
Conversation hushed as everybody watched the door open inch by inch.
Warm air laced with burning oozed in.
The roar of the fire sounded further away.
A new sound was much closer. A spitting sound.
Julia wondered if it might be damaged trees creaking or expanding, but when Mark threw open the door and turned to them with a huge grin, the mystery was solved.
Behind him, fat drops of rain spattered the ground harder and faster with each passing second.
Everyone cheered.
Even Bruno joined in with a series of joyful yips.
Julia rushed to hug Mark, but was beaten by the others, and she had to wait her turn behind the mob.
“Hey, what about me?” Jacopo asked.
He stood with his arms outstretched and a comical grin on his face.
She laughed and hugged him instead.
“Thank you, Jacopo,” she said, and then whispered, “Whatever you said to Mark that first day, it’s been the making of him.”
He whispered back.
“It was a joint effort, don’t you think?”
Julia transferred her gaze to Mark, and once again her eyes connected with his, smouldering and dark.
A thrill fluttered in her chest – romance was in the air.
She didn’t care two hoots for Marianna’s opinion.
Mark peeled himself away from the guests and turned to Jacopo.
“We need to check the house.”
Jacopo nodded, and the two left.
An hour later they all crowded into the kitchen.
Those first raindrops had intensified into a sustained downpour that would quench the fire and make the forests safe once more.
Océane had found an old Primus stove and was making hot drinks.
Charlie, true to form, opted for a stiff gin and tonic.
Just this once, Julia joined her.
“To everyone here,” Julia said, her glass raised in a toast. “Let’s give thanks that everyone, and everything, is safe.”
To be continued…