The Firefighter

Chapter 9 - Alone

Charlotte had moved to the battered women's shelter with her children a few months ago. It was Oliver's intervention in the hospital that fateful day that had given her the resilience to pack up and leave when she knew her husband was out late, drinking again. She wasn't going to wait for him to get home and beat her up again. Her children had flourished at the hidden shelter, being away from the violence that had ruined their lives before.

Once Charlotte had fully recovered at the shelter, she had taken the children and went to stay with her parents on the sheep farm. She'd applied through the courts for a divorce and it had been granted and signed by both parties. She was finally free from her abuser.

Charlotte felt as free as a bird as she watched her children leaving the farm as they grew up until the last one turned 21 and left home too. It felt as if she was experiencing the empty nest syndrome as she remained on the sheep farm, with the work hands. Her parents were elderly and had been admitted to a retirement village to live out their remaining lives. Charlotte visited them often. Sometimes when she was alone in her bed on the sheep farm, she would take out the photo album and think back to the handsome man who had saved her from the fire. It was a distant memory, but the road maps of their lives kept crisscrossing.

She had heard that Oliver's wife, Sue, had died in childbirth. The baby had survived and had been named Jane. Oliver had taken on the role of being a single parent.

Charlotte accepted that living out on the sheep farm meant that she was unlikely to meet anyone new in her twilight years. She loved the sheep farm and her feelings for the land of her forbears ran deep.

The new handyman, Ben's son, Jimmy, had brought home a new girlfriend.

"Hey there, Jimmy, who is your new friend?" Charlotte asked Jimmy.

"Her name is Jane. We met at agricultural school."

"That's wonderful. Are you both coming to the barn dance on Saturday?" she asked.

"Yes," they replied excitedly, in unison.

Charlotte helped Jane to pick out a dress and they had so much fun shopping together. As they went to another handbag shop, Jane mentioned that her dad would be coming to the barn dance on Saturday night.

"That's great, Jane. What's his name?" Charlotte asked.

"Its Oliver. Funny story but he actually used to be a firefighter."

When Charlotte heard that, it sent her heart into a flutter as she wondered whether this Oliver was the same as her Oliver from the fire on the farm. It would have to be some kind of miracle for it to be the same person. She was about to discount the idea when she decided to dress up anyway. Even if it was someone else, this Oliver, she would still like to look her best at the local barn dance. Everyone knew her from her years as a vet in the area and although she had many male friends, after her ex-husband, she had been unwilling to commit to another long-term relationship or marriage. It would have to be someone very special to ask her to marry him, before she even considered it.

The posters for the barn dance went up around the local town, surrounded by all of their farms and she read them and felt excited for the upcoming event.