Chapter 79. Go Back to Gabore

“Nate? Can you hear me?”

His eyelids fluttered open. His eyes stung and water seeped from the edges.

There was an excited gasp beside him. Suddenly soft hands were cradling his face. At first, he couldn’t see but when he blinked rapidly and the blur cleared he saw Rachel’s tear-streaked face. She was crying and laughing.

“You are alive,” she laughed, kissing his face and hair and his nose and cheeks. He groaned. His skin burned and his chest felt tight. He remembered coughing up smoke and being dragged out of the fire. He remembered Mabel hanging limp in his hands. But what he worried about the most was Rachel’s safety. His hand, though heavy as lead, came up to cradle her face. She kissed his palm and cried.

“Are you okay?” he croaked. “Are you hurt? The baby?”

She shook her head violently. “No I am fine, we are fine. You saved me remember?”

He remembered pushing her outside the burning house. He opened his mouth to speak again but could only cou