“Kennadee, who’s our patient?” Trip asked, narrowing his shrewd cop eyes. “You’ve gone snow white.”

“Gideon Rasmussen,” she whispered.

“Gideon Rasmussen? He’s one of ours.” Trip stood, his chair sliding back on the flagstones. “I need to call his dad.”

When had Gideon returned to town? Since she now held his medical bag, and there were test samples inside from a patient, it sounded like he planned to stay. She’d heard rumors that some big city doctor had set up a practice in Heartbreak, but she’d had no idea that someone was Gideon Rasmussen.

Granted, she hadn’t been home much in the last few months, working on her training and certification. Plus, Heartbreak didn’t have a lot going on. It was a sleepy town this time of year since tourists didn’t care for the messy break up of spring. She’d had to feed her thriller fix by taking shifts at the fire stations around Fairbanks and North Pole. She’d even done a stint in Nenana. Anything to keep the boredom at bay.

Trip rejoined her. “I hate making those calls. They’re so much worse when you know the people involved.”

“How’d Pete take it?” Pete Rasmussen had been a fixture in her life growing up, too, he being a hockey buddy of her dad’s.

“Not well. I toned down the details. We don’t need him getting in an accident rushing to Fairbanks. All right, give me the play-by-play of what happened.” He sat there with his pen poised to take down her statement.

Kennadee relived her afternoon, sticking to the facts and leaving her swirling emotions out of it.

When she was done, Trip flipped his notebook shut and stood. “Thanks, Kennadee. Do you need a ride back to Heartbreak?”

“No. I’ll find my way home.” She wasn’t going anywhere until she knew Gideon would pull through. “Plus, I’d like to be here for Pete.”

“You’re a good friend, and what you did today was exemplary. I’ll make sure the powers that be are aware of your actions.”

“You don’t need to do that. I’m not after accolades.”

“Which makes what you did that much more heroic.”

She hated praise as she never knew how to take it. Trip must have understood since he left it at that and said his goodbyes. He was headed back to the wreck site where crews were investigating the scene and working on retrieving the Tahoe.

After checking at the nurse’s station and finding out that Gideon was still in surgery, Kennadee caught a shower and borrowed a change of clothes from the adjacent fire station located within walking distance of the hospital. She rushed through getting cleaned up and was back to the hospital within twenty minutes. After a quick trip to the lab to drop off the test samples, she found her dad and Pete Rasmussen pacing in the waiting room.

“Any news?” she asked with bated breath, wondering why her dad had shown up. She should have called him herself.

“No, not yet. They aren’t telling me anything,” Pete said, rubbing the back of his neck, worry lines etched deep in his face. He looked like he’d aged twenty years since she’d seen him last week at his sporting goods store, Heart Bait and Tackle.

“He’ll be okay,” she said, laying a hand on Pete’s arm. “He’s tough just like all you Rasmussens.”

Pete grabbed her in a large bear hug. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you for saving my son’s life. Trip relayed what you did.”

God, she hoped she saved his life and that he didn’t die on the operating table.

Pete released her, obviously overcome with emotion and strode to the other side of the waiting room, wiping at his eyes, his head dipped low on his shoulders

Jack came up to her. “I’ve never been prouder of you, Wild Fire.” He, too, grabbed her in a tight hug using his nickname for her. He’d nicknamed all seven of the Wilde Clan early as babies, and yet each name fit their personalities to a T.

“I saw the accident site,” Jack continued. “They have an army of equipment trying to wench up the vehicle. What are the chances that you were right there when it happened? It’s like you were fated to save him.”

She didn’t know about fated. “I was in the right place at the right time. That’s all.”

“Which is the very definition of fate, Wild Fire,” Jack said.

A doctor wearing blue scrubs, entered the waiting room. “Are you the family of Gideon Rasmussen?”

“Yes,” they all three answered together, standing in a line, holding their breath as they waited to hear.

“I’m Dr. Cooke. He’s in recovery right now. Surgery went well, but he lost a lot of blood and had to have a transfusion. We were able to repair the tear in his spleen and will be closely monitoring him for the next few days. Barring any complications, I believe he’ll make a complete recovery.”

“My son’s a tough bastard,” Pete’s voice broke on the word tough, and Kennadee rubbed his back with assurance she didn’t feel. “When can we see him?”

“As soon as we move him into a room the nurse will come get you. Visitation needs to be kept to a minimum and only one person at a time.”

“What about his blindness?” Kennadee asked.

“Blindness!” Pete exclaimed. “He’s blind? Oh, my God.”

“I’m sorry, Pete,” Kennadee quickly tried to reassure him. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Gideon thinks it’s a temporary condition caused by his concussion or the powder from the air bags.”

“I heard he did a fair job of diagnosing himself in the ambulance,” Dr. Cooke said with a smile. “He’s most likely right. We sometimes see this with blows to the head and also in connection to the deployment of the air bag in accidents. Nothing showed up on the CT scan, and we’ve irrigated the eyes, but we will know more after he wakes up. We have an excellent ophthalmologist who will be in to examine him later today. For now, let’s deal with what we know. We have bandaged his eyes to help speed the recovery and help his anxiety.”

They thanked the doctor and Pete followed him down the hall asking more questions. Kennadee sank into a chair, cradling her injured shoulder, the relief overwhelming. She didn’t know why she felt this way. Helping others had never produced this feeling before, but then she hadn’t known any of them, didn’t have history with them.

Jack sat in the chair next to her and rubbed her back. “You did good.”

“Thanks, Dad.” She straightened not wanting her dad to know how invested she was in Gideon’s condition. “How did you come to be here?”

“I was at Heart Bait and Tackle when Trip called informing Pete about the accident. I didn’t think he should make the drive to Fairbanks on his own.”

“Good call.”

“I’ve also contacted your brothers to collect your truck and drive it here so you have a vehicle. I figured you wouldn’t want to leave right away.”

He’d figured right. She wasn’t about to leave the hospital until she was satisfied that Gideon was completely out of the woods. Which was ridiculous. She hadn’t seen him in like ten years, not since he’d headed down to the lower forty-eight to attend college. Whenever he’d returned for holidays or school break, she was off doing her own thing. Their paths hadn’t crossed in all that time until a mother bear, just out of her winter den with two cubs in tow, had thrown them back together.

Maybe her dad was right and fate had stepped in. She didn’t believe in all that new age stuff, though her sister Catriona did. Catriona was getting ready for her grand opening of Mystic Heart, a business offering stuff like dreamcatchers, homeopathic remedies, crystals and whatnots.

Kennadee preferred to deal with what she could see and touch. Faith in a higher being or power in the universe was hard to swallow. She’d stopped believing in all that when her mother had been taken from her when she’d been seventeen. If there was a God why would he have made her mother—who had never hurt anyone in her life and who had the biggest heart of anyone Kennadee had met—suffer for so many years with leukemia before taking her life and leaving seven children motherless? In her book, that was not her definition of a loving and caring deity. And if it was, she didn’t want any part of it.

“Holy shit, Kennadee,” Ryder said in way of a greeting as he and Dare entered the waiting room. “I can’t believe you were able to save Gideon from what we just witnessed.”

Her twin brothers were three years her junior. They looked more identical now than a week ago as Dare had finally shaved his winter beard. If she didn’t believe spring was here to stay, all she had to do was gauge the length of Dare’s beard. Once he cut it back to stubble, winter was truly over.

“I take it they were able to retrieve the Tahoe,” she said.

“What was left of it,” Dare said.

Jack shuddered next to her. “I hate knowing how much danger you put your life in.”

“I’m fine, Dad. Don’t worry. I’m a trained professional, remember.” One who never should have risked her life for Gideon’s medical bag.

“Any news on Gideon?” Dare asked.

“Pete’s in with him now,” Jack informed them. “Not much we can do at this point. It’s all up to Gideon. I can’t imagine what Pete’s going through.”

“Why don’t you take Dad home.” Kennadee gave Ryder and Dare a pointed look. “And thanks for bringing me my truck. I really appreciate it.” She took the keys Ryder offered and deposited them in her pocket.

“It’s the least we can do for the hero of the hour,” Ryder said, affectionately messing up her hair.

She swatted at him and smoothed her hair back into place. “Get out of here, you two.”

“Come on, Dad,” Dare said, breaking Jack out of his daze.

“Right.” Jack took in his three children. “I don’t think I could go on if I lost one of you. I already lost your mother, and you seven were the only thing that kept me going, but—” his voice broke.

“Come on, Dad, don’t think like that.” Kennadee took him in her arms. “We Wildes are a tough bunch.”

“She’s right,” Dare said. “It doesn’t do any good to entertain what ifs.”

Between him and Kennadee, Jack worried about them the most what with Dare off racing his dogs in the most formidable terrain in the world, in hostile temperatures, in the wild where anything could happen, and Kennadee rushing into burning buildings and smoke jumping into raging wildfires.

“Since we’re in town, let’s head over to the Food Factory,” Ryder suggested.

“There you go, thinking with your stomach,” Jack said, trying for some levity even though it didn’t reach his haunted eyes.

“There’s only two things he does think with, the other being lower than his stomach,” Dare teased.

“All right, you two,” Kennadee stepped in. She never knew what her twin brothers would do—conspire together or break out in a fight. Either way, they needed to get her dad out of here. Hospitals always resurrected memories of their mother, causing him to slide back into depression for a while.

It was about time he started dating.

She made a mental note to talk to Sorene and Catriona about it. Since Jack had meddled in their love lives, she bet they’d like to return the favor.

Ryder slapped her on the shoulder, and she winced, gasping.

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked. “Your shoulder? Did you reinjure it? You did, didn’t you? Why didn’t you say something? We need to find you a doctor, and where the hell is your sling?”

“Dad! Stop, I’m fine. I saw the doctor this morning and he told me I could lose the sling.” But the way her shoulder felt right now, she wished she were wearing it again.

“I want you checked out. Now,” Jack demanded. “I’m not leaving here until you promise me you’ll see the doctor.” He planted his feet and folded his arms across his chest. When her father looked like that, there was no budging him. He also knew that if he got Kennadee to promise, she would keep her word.

“Okay, I promise,” she said through clenched teeth. “Now let Dare and Ryder take you home.”

Jack made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat. “Fine. But you better call me later after you see the doctor.”

“Dad—”

“Don’t ‘Dad’ me. Just do it.”

“Okay, I will.”

“Now was that so hard?” He kissed her forehead. “Be a good girl. I love you.”

“Love you too, Dad.”

Dare gave her a sympathetic look while Ryder smirked. He would find humor in their dad fussing and treating her like a child. But then she was his child.

“Get out of here, you guys.” She blew them a kiss and breathed a sigh of relief when they left her alone. She sank back in her chair, cradling her arm next to her chest.

She only had a few moments alone when Pete appeared.

“He’s asking for his rescuer.”