Lana barely registered the knock that came at the door. She was sprawled stomach-first on the couch, head pillowed in her arms, hot tears coursing down her face as she muffled wrenching sobs.

The knock came again, and she sat up. She scrubbed at her eyes and blinked dully.

She couldn't fathom who might be dropping by for a visit now. Hank was so totally—and completely—gone again that it only vaguely occurred to her the person on her doorstep might be the same person responsible for her current state.

She rose and shuffled to the door like a zombie. She pulled it open, not caring who it was. Or what she might look like. It was call and response: Someone knocked, she answered. Ever the consummate host. Hell, she might as well grab the pitcher of tea and pour drinks.

"Yes?" Her voice cracked despite how hopelessly lubricated everything else felt.

"Lana!" Alex sounded as if she had just discovered a wretched case that was beyond even her ability as a nurse to diagnose. Lana stared, registering her friend's startled face—and the equally disturbed expression of Landon, standing directly behind her friend. "What the hell happened?" Alex demanded.

"Oh, you know." Lana tried to wave off her concerns in the same gesture that waved her visitors in. It was an awkward, almost robotic move. "Same old, same old." How devastatingly true her deflection actually was. "I'm fine now. Really."

"You're not fine!" Alex exclaimed. She grabbed Lana's arm and led her back into the living room as if Lana were a weakened patient of hers and liable to fall over.

Lana wanted to shake her off, to prove that she really was all right on her own, but she couldn't. When she was directed back to the couch, she sat down wearily. When the tea was brought out, she wasn't the one serving it. She could barely keep up with what was happening. Her head swam.

"Hank," Alex said by way of explanation to Landon. "You see? I told you. This is exactly why he bolted."

"The chief would never bolt from anything," Landon argued, though he sounded suddenly uncertain.

Alex sighed—which came out as more of a frustrated growl—and knelt down in front of Lana. "Lana, tell me what happened. Please. We still have time to fix this."

"You can't fix anything, Alex," Lana said bitterly. "Not this time. Please, I know your heart is in the right place. But maybe it's time for me to just let things go."

"How can you say that?" Alex asked incredulously. "Lana, that baby is coming! Even if you and Hank can't settle your differences in time, for your child's sake, you have to . . ."

"Baby?" Landon echoed. Both women looked up at the sharp tone in his voice. His eyes were so round it would have been almost comical . . . but this was Landon. He was as levelheaded as the Alaskan squad got. Fear tugged at Lana's heart suddenly, now that she realized that Alex had just let her secret out. "What baby?"

"I'm pregnant." It was Lana's turn to own the news. The fuzzy world of despair she had mired herself in began to solidify around her. She straightened, still gripping Alex's hand. "Hank is the father."

"You told him?" Alex said.

Lana shook her head. "No. I . . . I kept putting it off, thinking there was a better time. But now . . ."

"You didn't tell him, Lana?" Alex gasped. Lana hated feeling like she was about to lose her only ally in all this, but she nodded an affirmation. Landon sucked in a breath and turned away, raking a hand through his hair.

"No," Lana repeated. "No, I haven't told Hank. If Hank needed to leave, then that's what he had to do. I'm not going to anchor him to a place he hates. It's better this way."

"Lana, you can't really believe that." Landon rounded on her again, and Lana could tell by the tightness of his expression that he was only barely keeping his temper in check. "This isn't just your child. It's Hank's. He has every right to know the full story." His phone buzzed, but he ignored it.

"I didn't want to keep the truth from him!" she exclaimed. Her eyes darted between them. She felt pinned, like a wild animal cornered in a cage it had accidentally stumbled into. "I didn't want to deceive him. But I couldn't stand the thought of him staying out of obligation, trapped in a situation he never wanted!"

"You never gave him a chance to make that decision," Landon said. "You withheld all the information he would need to make that decision."

Lana hung her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the venomous look Alex sent in the firefighter’s direction, but her friend didn't rise to her defense this time. She didn't need to. Landon was right. Lana had tried to navigate the rocky terrain of truth and dishonesty, and she had steered wrong. She had put off telling Hank the truth until it was too late.

Alex wrapped her arms around her, and Lana fell into the offered embrace. She breathed raggedly, quietly, trying to stifle any more displays of her utter despair.

Landon's phone buzzed, and he turned away from them to answer the call. Alex smoothed Lana's hair and murmured to her quietly. Lana wasn't sure what her friend was saying, but she appreciated the gesture.

God, she was tired of feeling alone.

"What is it?" The concern in Alex's voice made Lana raise her head.

Suddenly, she wasn't the immediate center of the drama in the room. Landon's expression was stretched so taut that his clenched muscles caused new shadows to overtake his face.

"That was the Cedar Springs chief," he said. "The storm veered. The heat wave came up from the south, and the winds kicked up and pushed the fire over the firebreak. Just like Hank suspected it would. Damn it."

"What does that mean?" Alex whispered.

"Exactly what you think it means. We have to start evacuating the town. Now." Landon moved toward the door. Lana rose, Alex with her. The women exchanged alarmed looks. "They need all hands on deck."

"Where is the fire now?" Lana asked him.

"It's here. The south side of town. We all need to head north immediately."

"I have to get to the hospital." Alex's own pocket was buzzing now. She looked to Lana, possibly fishing for a signal that Lana understood, and Lana nodded.

"Go," she agreed. "I'm right behind you."

Alex squeezed her hand once more in parting, then released her. Landon held the door open for her, and she ducked beneath his arm with a backward glance. Lana nodded again.

"Get to safety," Landon said. "We'll find you as soon as things settle down." And we'll finish this conversation, his tone seemed to promise.

Lana nodded a third time. As soon as they were gone, she rushed to her room. She started packing.

God, Hank. She couldn't stop the thoughts racing through her mind. I wish you were here. But you aren't. Now it's up to me to look out for myself.

And it's up to me to look out for this baby.