Soline thanked Leo for coming. She told him she had kept the clipping because it reminded her that life could begin again after the worst day. When Toby was little, he would point to Leo’s picture, and she would tell him, “That man helped me stay long enough to meet you.”
Leo struggled to speak. To him, the Harren fire had always been a scar, a report, and a memory that returned on certain nights. To Soline, it had been the doorway to motherhood. To Toby, Leo imagined, bringing the man who saved his mom already once, made absolute and total sense. His eyes filled with tears.
A doctor stepped in and gently explained that Soline’s condition had been serious, but not hopeless. The antibiotics were working, her breathing had stabilized, and she was expected to recover. Leo looked at Toby then and understood the child’s mistake. Toby had thought the fireman who saved his mother once might be able to save her again.