Hearts on Fire (Book 5: Creek-Harbor)

Prologue // Emma

Have you ever been dealt something that is unexpected, surprising or even disruptive? Because I have, I've spent my whole life being hit in the face with them. And I can list every single one of them.

one: being my teenager parents, who had no business rising a child. My deadbeat dad pretty much ran off, when my mom shown him the positive pregnancy test. And well my mom took of not long after that, I was six months old when she claimed motherhood just wasn't for her, leaving me to be raised by her parents, my grandparents and honestly, it's the best thing she could have ever done for me. That said she pops back into to our lives once or twice every other year, for either money or to tell us about her newest husband.

number two: I would say falling in love with Drew Edwards at fifteen-years old. And now that was unexpected, he wasn't my type at all. He was dark, lost and rough around the edges. But I think that's what attracted me to him, I mean what girl doesn't date a bad boy once in her life.

I think more than anything we bonded over our lack of parents, but like I said he was dark, and he was lost. He liked to block out his pain and his feelings with booze and pills, and high school parties. And it was hard being with him, but loving him was even harder.

(three: that was life changing): Founding myself pregnant at Sixteen-years old, I guess I was really my mother's daughter. When I found out I was terrified that I would just be like my own mother. I was scared that I couldn't handle motherhood and I would run too.

Drew, he said he would be there for us and that he loved me, but he couldn't stay clean or sober enough to raise a child. And I had to make a decision, which was I couldn't have him around my child. So I told him to leave and get sober, grow-up and then come back and be a father. And he left.  Then baby Hunter was born on my seventieth birthday and I wouldn't change anything.

But I think the biggest life changing thing that was dealt to me, that I had to face was when I became a widow a twenty-five. Drew came back into my life when I was nineteen and Hunter was two. He came back grown-up, clean and sober, and was a solider. He told me that he found a purpose in life, he found a home in the army, something he never really had.

And he wanted to be a dad to our son, and I was glad to hear that. The years passed and we fell back in love, had a baby girl and got married. We planned this whole life together, and then one day it was just gone and so was he, my husband, my only love, my children's father. And apart of me was gone too, and almost two years later that curveball is still kicking me in the face.

Because I miss him every day and it's hard to raise two kids on my own, who don't understand why daddy isn't here anymore. And most of the time at least at the beginning, all I wanted to do was stay in bed and cry, wishing the pain and hollowness would just go away. And that he would come back to me, but when you have kids you can't. Because you have to be strong for them, because what you're feeling inside, so are they and they need you more than ever.

But it's hard and eventually over the year or so it became a little easier, I got back to work, my kids smiled at little more but there's was still a hole in our family. If it wasn't for my grandmother, I wouldn't have survived it. She moved in with us, took care of the kids when I couldn't, and gave me an ass-kicking when I needed it.

She told me that even though it hurts and apart of me is now missing, that I had to find a way to start healing, not just for myself but for my kids. And that she knew my pain, which she did she lost her husband, my grandfather just after Hunter was born. But it didn't make it easier, but grams told me that even though Drew wasn't here anymore, that I was still young, and I still had a full life ahead and he wouldn't want me to be sad about living my greatest life, even if he wasn't here to share it with me.

Even after the months passed and eventually a year, people still knew what happened with my husband, people still looked at me with pity and sadness. And every time they saw me, they had to reminded me that I was a widow.

It felt like I couldn't move on, even though I was trying too, even though I felt like breaking down and crying all the time, I just knew that I had to begin trying. And I couldn't do that in Dallas anymore, there were just too many memories, too much pain to ever move on there.

So I begin looking for a new job, and it's like destiny knew I needed a fresh start. Because I found an opening for a paramedic-in charge at a firehouse, which was new to me, but it felt like a calling. And it was in a small-town called Creek-Harbor, which was located in North Carolina away from Dallas.

I interviewed and got the job, and within a few weeks my house was sold, our boxes were packed, and we were on the road towards our fresh start.  Hunter wasn't too pleased with the move, but Cadence was really excited for it.

But the job came differently to my old one, in firehouse they work twenty-four hours on and then twenty-four off. Which at first put me off applying because I have two kids, how was that going to work? Not seeing them for a whole day.

But lucky enough grams said she would come with us. She said we were her family and without us in Dallas she had no reason to stay there. She wanted to be close to us and I'm so grateful that she did, because other than my kids, she's the only real family I have too, and I need her more than ever lately.

And we've been in Creek-Harbor for a few months now, and it was the best decision for my family. I mean it still hurts without Drew here with us, but I think we're healing in our own ways. And a new town, a new start is exactly what we all needed.

And our story is only just beginning in Creek-Harbor.