Chapter 1

Tension raked the inside of her stomach with the prongs of a pitchfork. She gritted her teeth, wheezing and hissing through the small spaces in order to keep her screams from escaping. A quick glance at the clock in the waiting room showed the time. Six p.m. on the dot.

Eight hours since it happened.

Savannah’s back pressed ramrod straight along the back of the slippery plastic bench in the waiting room. The force of her will kept her erect. That, and the knowledge that if she moved one iota, one micron from her position, she’d unleash the storm brewing in her mind.

The click-clack of heels on the marble floor grated on her ears. She shifted her gaze upward to see a woman adorned in a floor-length luxurious black mink coat walking past. The clicking noise came from a pair of white and black polka dot heels with a white bow on the toe. Brightly colored ribbons trailed near the woman’s feet and Savannah saw a number of balloons in her hands. Metallic, gaudy things that seemed garish and out of place on a hospital floor.

“Savvy?”

Savannah jerked at the sound of her nickname. With difficulty, she turned. At the sight of her friends Tisha Gates and Connie Lakeland, a wave of relief washed over her so strong, she almost melted to the ground in a puddle.

“Oh, thank God you’re here!” she cried out and stood. Her body had been held in such a hold of rigidity, her muscles protested at the movement. Nevertheless, she ran clumsily to her friends’ outstretched arms.

“We’re here for you. Whatever you need,” Connie told her. The yellow pencil she wore habitually in her dark red hair was a wonderful, blessed sight. She smoothed Savannah’s hair away from her face.

“Thank you,” Savannah managed to choke out of a throat constricted by gratitude.

“Have you heard from your parents yet?” Tisha’s hazel eyes darkened with concern and worry.

Savannah nodded. “They’re about another hour away. The snowstorm’s making the road difficult.”

“You poor thing.” Connie hugged her again. “Dealing with all of this by yourself.”

“I prayed the entire way here,” Tisha said as she massaged Savannah’s back.

The words acted on Savannah’s frayed emotions like a soothing balm. Slowly her stomach eased of its painful clenching.

“I really appreciate it,” she croaked.

Like she was a child, Tisha and Connie led her back to the uncomfortable bench and sat on either side of her. “Do you want to talk about it?” Tisha rubbed her arm in sympathy.

Savannah grabbed each of their hands and squeezed them in one of her own. She knew they referred to what happened eight hours ago. However, in her thinking, she’d have to start earlier than that. Not eight hours ago, but eighteen months ago when her world hurtled itself into a ballooning ball of catastrophe.

Just as she’d become accustomed to being a successful image consultant, her sister and brother-in-law were killed in a car accident involving a drunk driver. Thinking about the sister she wouldn’t see again this side of Heaven made her breath catch. Fiona’s quiet ivory beauty matched with Bart’s robust mahogany masculinity. Their love for each other had been the stuff of legends, surpassed only by the love for their daughter.

Liliana. Savannah’s eyes drifted shut. A precocious child, they’d celebrated her third birthday last week. Snuffy had lovely caramel skin, a thick wealth of reddish brown hair, and exotic, heavily fringed eyes the color of honey. Her youthful innocence did not negate the effect of losing her parents. It had taken many months for her niece to adjust to a new way of life. With lots of support, Savannah and Liliana eked out a new existence.

As guardian and sole provider of her niece, she’d made the difficult decision of relocating her business from the bustling city of Detroit to the quiet town of Tawas. She’d taken over Bart and Fiona’s home in order to give her niece the continuity of a normal life.

It took time to adjust to small town living, but the residents’ kindness made that easy. She’d made good friends and neighbors in the year that she had lived there. Everything hadn’t been perfect but in the last year, she’d adapted to being a mother for Liliana.

Until eight hours ago.

“The police are still not sure what happened, but a fire broke out at the daycare.” Savannah released their fingers and dragged a hand through her long, unkempt hair. “Somehow, in all the confusion, Liliana and her friend Markita got separated from the rest of the group. One of them fell or something. The other tried to help and the fire caught up to them.”

“Oh no!” Tisha gasped. Connie covered her mouth in shock.

“They both suffered second and third-degree burns.”

“Savvy!” Connie clutched her tightly.

Savannah pressed her lips together to contain the wails. She needed to stay focused, if not calm. “I was at one of the high schools in Detroit, doing a presentation. I usually put my cell phone on vibrate so I can at least hear it ring but I made a mistake and turned the ringer off. I didn’t get the messages until an hour later.”

That nightmarish three-hour drive played in her mind. Fear had taunted her but she fought it back by praying every single mile that passed on the expressway.

“What did the doctor say?” Tisha leaned forward. Her dreadlocks, decorated with a multitude of minute brown beads, made a dull rattle. Savannah couldn’t suppress the thought they sounded like a rattlesnake’s warning hiss. Was it an omen?

“Savvy?” Tisha’s brow furrowed.

Savannah gave herself a mental shake to rid her mind of the morbid fancy.

“When she came in, the doctor told me they needed to hydrate her body. She’s connected to an IV with a saline solution.”

Savannah’s lips trembled and she stopped talking. A scream searched for an exit. She didn’t want to give it voice.

“Ms. Woods?”

The professional, neutral tone of the doctor caught her attention. She stood and raced over to the woman, Tisha and Connie trailing behind her.

“Yes, Dr. Yamaguchi? How is she? Is she going to be all right?”

The doctor’s kind brown eyes landed on her. “So far, her condition is stable. She’s still sleeping right now. But we’re not out of the woods yet.” She extended a hand to a nearby waiting room seat. “I don’t want to unnecessarily upset you but you need to know exactly what we’re dealing with. Do you want to sit down?”

“No, please just tell me what’s going on. Can I see her?”

Dr. Yamaguchi nodded. “You can see her, but only for a few minutes. We’ll be observing her for the next thirty-six hours.”

Savannah’s legs threatened to buckle. “What do you mean?”

As the doctor detailed the extent of the damage done to Liliana’s body from the fire, she thought she might collapse. It was almost too much to bear.

God, give me strength.

When the doctor finished, Savannah asked quietly, “Can I see her now?”

“Of course.” The doctor grabbed her limp hand. “Don’t let what you see in there discourage you. Liliana’s a fighter. And you need to fight with her, too.” The woman squeezed her hand as if trying to infuse her with strength.

Leaving her friends behind, Savannah walked the path alone to Liliana’s room, trepidation tap dancing along her spine. The pristine white floors and colorful walls made the journey there seem like a psychedelic trip. Uniformed hospital staff passed her by, the figures fuzzy and nondescript to her unseeing eyes.

When she arrived at the room, the sight of her niece made Savannah almost fall to her knees. This couldn’t be her beautiful, fun-loving Snuffy. It couldn’t be.

Machines hummed next to the tiny frail body lying in the hospital bed. Snake-like plastic tubes were taped to her nose and mouth. Bandages covered a good portion of her body from her shoulder to legs. The little girl’s chest moved shallowly.

“Snuffy,” Savannah moaned, her legs so weak she barely made it to the side of the bed before crumpling in the chair the nearby nurse had pushed toward her. She wanted to reach out and touch the girl, but the doctor had warned against any contact for the next few days. She could only stare.