As the sun set, Lee and Rosemary sat out in the garden together sipping on cool drinks. Rosemary was gently running her fingers up and down Lee's arm as they sat in happy silence listening to the sound of the crickets and birds chirping. After a while, Rosemary turned to Lee "Sweetheart?"
"Mmmm?"
"Will you try and speak to Mike again? About his plans. You did say that you would try again." Lee studied her face for a few moments before looking away "Do you really think that's a good idea? I already feel bad enough that I've doubted him. I think he knows that I don't believe in him."
"I'm not asking you to talk to him as a reporter. Talk to him as a friend."
"And what if he doesn't want to be my friend?" She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek "There's a reason you are my best friend Lee Coulter. Trust me, Mike will still want to be your friend." Lee nodded. He leant across and kissed Rosemary tenderly, "thank you for being my friend sweetheart. I'm sorry if I've ever let you down." Rosemary moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "No Lee, you haven't ever let me down, you need to stop thinking down on yourself. Love yourself like I do, as this town does." Lee nestled his head into Rosemary's neck and breathed in her smell.
"Did I ever tell you about my first bike?"
"Your motorcycle?" He shook his head "My first pushbike"
"No, I don't think that you did tell me about that."
"My dad taught me and Patrick to ride together. I was older and I think maybe that's why I got the hang of it. One day Patrick fell off and it took him days to try again, it was only Susannah who managed to convince him to try again. I never really understood why it needed someone else to get him going again. I guess in some ways I looked down on him for not being able to get himself going. I understand now that you have helped me back onto my bike." Rosemary looked at him in slight confusion "What do you mean Lee?"
"I mean that when I lost that election, I lost my confidence in myself. I didn't feel like I was of value to anyone. Patrick needed his sister to make him feel confident again, well I needed my wife. I don't know where I'd be without you, Rosie."
"Then it's a good job that I'm not going to let you ever find out." She kissed him and rubbed his chin gently as she gazed into his eyes. "I love you, Lee Coulter"
.
.
.
The next morning Lee and Rosemary walked to the office together with Rosemary's arm linked around his. When they reached the office Lee kissed Rosemary on the cheek. "I'm going to see Mike"
"This early?"
"I'm only going to have morning coffee with him, Rosie, I didn't want to interrupt him in the middle of his work day, he's got a busy day" Rosemary squeezed his hand. "I was hoping that we could finish early today Lee." Lee looked at her in concern "Why? Is everything okay Rosie? She nodded "Everything is fine Lee. I just want to spend the afternoon with you." Lee kissed her gently, "Of course, we can Rosie. I'll see you later."
.
.
.
Mike and Lee sat in the cafe sipping on their coffee when Lee pointed out the window towards the new sign across the road "Looks like you have your new office sorted Mike?" Mike nodded. "So how are you managing Mike? I imagine you're very busy now?"
"Lee, you don't have to pretend to be interested, if this is about having an article to publish then just tell me and I'll be more than happy to answer your questions" Lee looked down at the ground and shook his head sadly "No mike, I'm asking you as a friend. I know I haven't shown it, but I am pleased for you Michael. After Rosemary fell asleep last night I read through your campaign statement again, I've got to admit, there is a lot more to fire safety than I realised."
"It's important Lee. A lot of the time, people just don't realise how important until it's too late." Lee watched a look of sadness cross Mike's face "I understand Michael, but why is it so important to you?"
"I know what happens if it's left too late."
"Do you want to talk about it, Mike?"
"There's isn't much to tell really. I lost someone very important to me in a fire. I've always wondered if that could have been prevented if there had been a firefighting department in the town where I grew up. I guess I don't want anyone here to go through the same thing."
"You've got a big heart mike. This town is lucky to have you as a mayor." Mike looked sad and Lee frowned, he'd only been trying to pay Mike a genuine and heartfelt compliment. "Is everything okay Mike?"
"I just sometimes wonder if I really am cut out for this job. Lee, maybe you should have won." Lee shook his head, "you mustn't think like that Mike, and anyone who hears your motivation behind your campaign would know you only have this town's best interests at heart."
"It can all just be really overwhelming sometimes Lee, I'm not sure I'm used to it."
"I don't think anyone would be used to it, but I know from seeing you work with me and how you have progressed since then that you can do this, you will make a success out of this Mike, you just need to believe in yourself."
"Do you really mean that Lee?" Lee nodded, "Of course I do."
.
.
.
Rosemary was surprised to see the grin on Lee's face as he sauntered into the office after his talk with Mike. He walked over to her desk and kissed her before heading towards his own desk. "How was your chat with Mike?"
"It went well. I was wrong to doubt him. He's got good plans for this town, he just needs some time to find his feet and then I'm sure that we will all be benefiting from our new mayor." Rosemary smiled "you've changed your mind." Lee nodded "well it's like you said, it helps to remember that Mike is our friend, not just someone who beat me in the mayoral campaign."
"Well, I'm glad you see that now. Does this mean you'll write the article about Hope Valleys' new mayor?" Lee shook his head and Rosemary raised a questioning eyebrow. Lee continued "Well I spoke to him this morning as a friend. I genuinely wanted to know as his friend, if I'm going to write an article I want to go and interview him properly, as a reporter. I don't want to mix personal life with work Rosie."
"That's a good idea sweetheart, maybe if you arranged a time to interview him we could also arrange a dinner party and invite Mike?"
"Is this going to be a dinner party or an ambush?" Joked Lee thinking about a previous dinner party between them, Carson and Faith. Rosemary laughed, "well, in all honesty, I wouldn't know whether to invite Faith or Fiona if it were an ambush."
"Faith? I can understand Fiona but faith???" Rosemary held a finger to her lips "silence in the office"
"But…"
"The editor in chief has spoken" Lee frowned again as he made eye contact with his wife before they both grinned. Lee watched his wife for a few moments as she bowed her head over her desk and got lost in the article she had been working on. He smiled to himself as he thought about how lucky he was to have her.
.
.
.
After the dinner party, Lee took a few moments to walk Mike to the door, "thanks for the evening Lee, and Rosemary cooked an amazing meal, I had a really good time"
"We enjoyed it as well Mike. Now before you go I'd like to arrange so I can do an interview with you. For the paper. You raised some really valuable concerns over fire safety and I think more people need to know about it. It's a really good basis for a article."
"How about tomorrow at eleven?" Lee grinned "Okay then! Thanks Mike"
.
.
.
After the interview Lee closed his notebook and shook Mikes hand. "There was one more thing Mike, you told me about the person who you lost in the fire. They were clearly very important to you. Do you mind me asking who it was?"
"My little sister. She was seven when she passed away."
"Same age as Patrick." Mumbled Lee under his breath. "What was that Lee?"
"My little brother Patrick. He died when he was seven. Loosing a younger sibling is horrible." Mike nodded. "It certainly is."
"The family was never the same once Patrick had died."
"Neither was mine. They were all terrified of fire after that. That's why this was so important to me. I don't want our community to have to live with that fear. I want them to feel safe, to know that even if there was a fire the right people would be on hand to deal with it."
"I hope you don't mind me saying Mike, but since you became mayor you don't seem to have done much. Why not?" Mike shrugged "I don't know Lee. I have all of the ideas but not a clue how to put it all into action. I'm not like you and Bill. I'm not a doer." Lee took a sip of his drink and thought for a few moments. "It's okay to ask for help Mike. The sign of a good leader is someone who delegates."
"I know that. I learnt that from you, and I was going to ask you. But because of the newspaper and you not seeming to agree with anything I did I just assumed that you wouldn't want anything to do with it." Lee was slightly taken aback "me?" He questioned and Mike nodded in response. "Yes. You have all the qualities that someone would need to control a fire unit. Please just think about it."
"I'll definitely think about it. But I'll also have to ask what Rosemary thinks."
"Of course"
.
.
.
Lee walked from the saloon back to the office in a thoughtful mood. He was honoured that Mike had asked him and he knew that it was something that would make a very big difference to the town, but he also knew that it was a big responsibility and he still felt that his confidence was slightly knocked by loosing the election. When he got to the office he found it empty.
He frowned, as far as he knew Rosemary didn't have any interviews booked for this morning. He stood in the doorway looking in at the empty office for a few moments before turning back towards the street and as he did so he saw the infirmary door open and his wife step out into the street with a massive smile across her face.
He jogged over to her "Rosie? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine Lee, more than fine actually. I'm…" she cut herself short and Lee looked at her with concern "you're what?"
"I'm fine" she said with a smile as she patted him on the cheek and linked her arm with his before turning in the direction of the office. "Sweetheart, people who are 'fine' don't normally visit the infirmary"
"Well I did think I was coming down with something but Faith has checked me over and I'm fine. Isn't it great?" She giggled and she opened the door to their office. Lee followed after her and gently took hold of her arm "sweetheart, if you haven't been feeling great then maybe it's best to take the rest of the day off?"
"I feel fine honestly Lee."
"Please let me walk you home Rosie." She studied his face and saw his concern so willingly agreed but only after picking up her notepad and saying she'd be working on her next article while sitting on the couch.
.
.
.
Later that evening Lee and Rosemary were sitting on the couch together watching the fire flicker in the log burner. "Rosie?"
"Mmm?"
"I want to talk to you about my interview with Mike earlier."
"Oh! I'm so sorry Lee! I should have asked. I don't know why I've been so brainless recently."
"It's fine Rosie." He smiled as he took her hand in his "well actually it was the conversation that we had after the 'interview'"
"Oh?"
"He wants to set up a team who would step into place if there was ever an fire in the town."
"We'll that's what he said in his mayoral campaign."
"Yeah but the thing is, he doesn't feel that he can lead the team himself."
"So who do you think he will choose?"
"He's asked me." Said Lee with a grin on his face. Rosemary sighed as she saw her husbands happy face and knew what she was going to say next wouldn't go down well. "No Lee."
"No? What do you mean by no?"
"I don't want you doing it. Its dangerous." Lee took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "I understand Rosie. But its more dangerous if we don't have this as a part of our town. Please don't hold me back from doing some good in this town."
"You've already done a lot for the town Lee."
"This is our home Rosie. Don't you think that we owe it everything. Even if it comes at a cost. And besides, when was the last time we had a fire here. There may never be one." She nodded and patted his face gently "I wont stop you. But it does worry me. Can you give me some more time to get used to the idea before you accept." Lee nodded and kissed her "of course"
.
.
.
A couple of weeks later and hope valley summer was in full force. Both Lee and Rosemary enjoyed this time of year immensely and would often take elongated walks from their office back to the row houses. This day was particularly hot and Lee had noticed that Rosemary had been more flustered and on edge than normal and on the emotional side so he suggested that the finished early and took one of their walks.
As they walked arm in arm Lee could still sense the tension that seemed to be radiating from his wife. "Rosie?"
"Yes?"
"Can we talk?"
"About what?"
"About whatever it is that's been bothering you for the last few weeks. You haven't been yourself. If there's a problem then i want to know."
"Im okay Lee. And I'm sorry if I've somehow managed to lead you to think otherwise." Lee stopped walking and turned to face rosemary. "Im sorry Rosie but I'm not buying it. Please talk to me."
"Okay, there is something. I just haven't been sure how to tell you and i don't want it to all come out as one big jumble."
"A jumble is okay Rosie. We can sort it out together." He watched as she took a breath and reassuringly reached out to rub her back. "See the thing is Lee…" She was cut off my a scream from behind them.
"FIRE! FIRE!" They both spun round and saw the clouds of smoke coming from the saloon. They both broke into a run and as they neared the blaze lee shouted out to one of the onlookers "is there anybody still in there?"
"I don't know. Maybe." Lee squeezed Rosie's hand "I'll be right back"
"No! Lee?" She shouted out after him as he ran into the building. She knew what he was thinking and deep down she couldn't have ever expected him to do anything else, but she was still gripped by an intense fear.
Time seemed to disappear as she watched people running out of the building, not one of them being Lee.
After a period of time had elapsed there was a crunch as one of the interior beams seemed to collapse. At this a scream came from Rosemary "Lee? LEE! Where are you?"
As Lee was exiting the building he heard this scream and stumbled towards her before collapsing into her arms.
Faith saw this and rushed over to the emotional Rosemary who was trying to get a response from her husband. "Faith I don't think he's breathing! What's wrong with him?" Faith reached over and felt Lees pulse before leaning over to listen to his breath. "Yes he's breathing, he's just unconscious."
"Why? What's happened to him?"
"I can't say right now Rosemary. We need to get him into the infirmary, let me go and find a couple of men to help me move him." Rosemary nodded and sobbed as she gently stroked Lees cheek. "Please get better Lee. We need you."
.
.
.
That evening passed in a blur for Rosemary the only thing that was clear to her and made real sense to her was the fear she felt at the thought of loosing Lee, she had come close before but this time felt worse. She felt that there was more at stake this time.
Faith had assured her that Lee would be okay but that his body would need to recover from the stress that had been put on it with the lack of oxygen and a head injury presumably caused by the beam collapse. But she still couldn't sleep. Lee needed to be okay.
She sat with his hand in hers when she saw his eyes slowly flicker open. He looked blankly at her for a few moments before a smile spread across his face. "Oh Lee." she sobbed as she leant forwards to embrace him. "Don't you ever do that again Lee Coulter." Lee chuckled. "I will try my hardest sweetheart." He reached out and wiped a tear from her face. "Please don't cry."
"I was just so worried Lee. I thought i was going to loose you. I don't want to ever loose you lee." He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "I know. And you aren't going to loose me."
"I love you Lee." she whispered as she leant in to kiss him. "I love you too Rosie. There is just one thing i need to ask.?"
"Whats that?"
"Who are we?"
"What do you mean?"
"When i collapsed last night, you said 'we need you' who is we?"
Rosemary carefully took Lees hand and placed it on her stomach. "We need you Lee. I need you as my husband and there is someone in here who needs you as their father. Lee smiled as he tried to blink away his tears. "We are going to be parents?"
"We are. Finally" Lee leant forward ignoring the pain and placed a hand either side of her face. He looked into her eyes for a few moments before kissing her tenderly. "I love you so much Rosemary Coulter."