More Than Enough

By Kathryn Shay

After years of abuse, can she overcome her insecurity and put the past behind her...

Trish “Mac” Mackenzie rappels off buildings, saves kids in car accidents and carries victims out of raging fires. But her personal life is a mess. No one else, even the Sisters of Fire, knows the inner Trish, the insecure child and wounded adult, both of them abused.

When kindergarten teacher Nathan Mitchell finds himself drawn to Trish, he begins to see the woman behind the mask. And once he sees her, he’s determined to help her transform herself to the woman she was meant to become. The road to this is rocky, even dangerous with Trish’s crazed partner, but Nathan never once wavers.

Can Trish fight her way out of abuse and insecurity with the Sisters of Fire, a skilled counselor and good-guy Nathan at her side or will she condemn him and herself to misery and loneliness?

Make sure to grab this first novella in the beloved Sisters of Fire Series. As one reviewer said, “Man, this story was emotional...I could totally relate with Mac throughout. Kathryn Shay did a fantastic job at handling this topic with grace & dignity without making it seem unrealistic.” The Power of Three Blog Top 1000 Reviewers

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kathryn Shay
• Release date: Apr 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781939501790

Kathryn Shay

A NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestselling author, Kathryn Shay has been a lifelong writer and teacher. She has written dozens of self-published original romance titles, print books with the Berkley Publishing Group and Harlequin Enterprises and mainstream women’s fiction with Bold Strokes Books. She has won many awards for her work: five RT Book Reviews awards, the Bookseller’s Best Award, Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year and several “Starred Reviews.” One of her firefighter books hit #20 on the NEW YORK TIMES list. Her novels have been serialized in COSMOPOLITAN magazine and featured in USA TODAY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and PEOPLE magazine. There are over ten million copies of her books in print and downloaded online. Reviewers have called her work “emotional and heart-wrenching.”http://www.kathrynshay.comhttp://www.facebook.com/kathrynshayhttp://www.twitter.com/KShayAuthorhttp://www.amazon.com/Kathryn-Shay/e/B000APY3GW/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1463655985&sr=1-2-ent

Book preview

MORE THAN ENOUGH

Sisters of Fire

Book 1

Kathryn Shay

More Than Enough

Copyright © 2021 by Kathryn Shay

All Rights Reserved

Smashwords Edition

Published by Ocean View Books

Cover Design by Shelley Kay at Web Crafters

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the bookseller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Cast of Characters

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Author’s Note

Don’t Miss All of the Sisters of Fire Stories

AT LAST Excerpt

Kathryn Shay’s Experience with Firefighters

About the Author

Cast of Characters

Sisters of Fire:

Firefighter Trish Mac Mackenzie

Lt. Tess DiMarco

Firefighter Annie O’Shea

Lt. Julia JJ Jensen

Battalion Chief Lynn Lucas

Battalion Chief Brooke Cartwright

Significant others:

Nathan Mitchell (Mac)

Rick Franklin (Mac, beginning of book)

Zach Cartwright (Brooke)

Capt. David Ashford (Tess)

Colin O’Shea (Annie)

Derek Wayne, (JJ)

Ken Lucas (Lynne)

Nathan Mitchell, kindergarten teacher, hero of book 1

Adam Mitchell, Nathan’s father

Marcy Mitchell, sister, married to Mac’s brother

Carl Mackenzie, Mac’s brother

Jacob Mackenzie, Mac’s and Nathan’s nephew

Harry Mackenzie, Mac’s and Nathan’s nephew

Mac’s Crew on Truck 1 Group 1 Crystal City Fire Department:

Lt. Ben Benedeski

Firefighter Lou Banks

Firefighter Al Callahan

Firefighter Colin O’Shea

Paramedic Jodi Pearson

Paramedic Bob Anderson, Andy

Other officials:

Fire Chief Joe Redman

Police Chief Ray Lincoln

Dr. Suzanne Blakely, fire department psychologist

Various Battalion Chiefs and Firefighters

Mayor William Madison

Eleanor Parker, mayor’s sister

Chapter 1

A support beam cracked into pieces and took a slow dive to the floor. Its fiery tip clipped Trish Mackenzie in the shoulder. She yelped at the sharp pain that sliced through her upper body.

Her lieutenant, Ben Benedeski, stopped. You okay, Mackenzie? He shouted to be heard over the slap of water at the seat of the blaze somewhere else in the house.

Yeah, hurt like a bitch, though. She shook it off. I'm good to go, Ben.

Mac and the five other members of Group 1 Truck 1 formed a snake of a line on the floor of a two-story building. Their rig, which carried ladders and equipment, had been second-in behind Engine 2, and were assigned to search and rescue.

Fuck, smoke's getting worse, Ben quipped. Mackenzie, you and Banks head upstairs. Me, O’Shea and Callahan will search down here, then go to the basement. Keep watch for each other.

Last month a firefighter had gotten lost in a haze of smoke and heat and dropped his radio. A seasoned smoke eater heard his PASS, Personal Alert Safety System, go off. She’d dragged him out—and got some kind of medal for the rescue.

Along with Al Banks, Mac reached the staircase in this big, fancy house and went up the steps first. As they ascended, the smoke got denser, darker. Stairways were always hard to maneuver when you were almost blind. Slowly, they made their way to the top.

I’ll take first room on the right, all right? Banks suggested.

A long time ago, guys had stopped trying to tell Mac what to do. It had taken a few showdowns, and several incidents to prove herself, but nobody pushed her around anymore. At least at work.

Yep. I’ll go left.

On the second floor, the smoke turned opaque and her breath came fast, more labored as she found an open doorway by feel, crawled inside, halted, listened. Nothing but the sounds of cracking wood and the team dousing the fire. Fire department. Call out.

Again, nothing.

Sliding her hand on the wall, she made her way alongside it. She bumped into what felt like a dresser, swore, but finally she came upon a wooden leg. The foot of a bed. Moving to the side, she knelt up and placed her hands on the mattress. It bounced. Hell. She said into the radio, Got somebody.

I got nada. I’m gonna check the other bedroom down at this end.

Mac hunched over the mattress and found arms. A torso. Legs. Too small for a kid. Then she heard moaning. Shh. Shh. Her voice was tinny through the mask. I'm a firefighter, and I’ll get you out.

She pulled the victim to her and the lady hammer-locked Mac’s neck. Easy, ma’am. You're gonna choke me.

The woman’s arms went slack and she became dead weight. Had she lost consciousness again?

Mac squatted as much as she could and began to feel her way to the door. Banks? she said into the radio.

At the doorway, waiting for ya. She knew he’d be there but they were ordered to constantly check.

When she made it to the opening, he said, I'm here. Reaching out, he attached a rope to the clip on the side of her turnout coat. Want some help with her?

Got it, but I have to stand up straighter.

Lumbering her way down the corridor behind Banks, she’d only taken a few steps, when an explosion rent the air and she stumbled backward. Shit. Even more smoke and its acrid smell.

Stairs are gone, Banks yelled.

"What?"

Gone. I can see in the fire. Into the radio, he barked, Stairs just blew up, Chief. We need direction.

Mac dropped to her knees, settling the woman there.

The battalion chief outside at Incident Command responded in seconds. Keep going right down the second-floor corridor. There’s a window at the end. An aerial’s on site and will be raised immediately.

The woman began to cough. Mac took off her mouthpiece and gave her some air. Just a little. I need it to get you outta here.

Once her SCUBA was back in place, they began the trek past the staircase and down the hall in a black abyss again. Finally, they reached the window. Banks said into his radio, Should we open it now?

Yep. You gotta to get out. The chief’s voice was tight. I alerted the others that we’re ventilating on this side of the structure.

Banks hefted up the window. Already outside it was JJ Jensen, from Rescue 1, and an all-purpose vehicle that went to every fire. Hey, there, Mackenzie. Been here, done this, she joked.

A lifetime ago. One of their first training exercises as a recruit at the fire academy, which they attended together, included a ladder rescue.

She and Banks handed off the woman who slid into JJ’s arms in the bucket.

Mac heard a blare of the vacate horn, then the chief’s voice came over the radio again. Get your crews out of the building, officers. The fire's fully involved.

Mac frowned. We didn’t check the bathrooms.

Too late now.

Briefly, Mac thought about disobeying orders. But the last time she'd done it, she'd gotten reamed out royally.

And Rick had freaked. I heard what you did today. What the fuck is wrong with you?

Plenty was wrong with her.

So, when the aerial came back up, she and Banks both climbed out the window into the bucket. Once on the ground, they removed their facemasks and helmets.

Battalion Chief Corelli came up to her. He'd been her teacher at the academy but in the ten years since she’d graduated, he’d taken a line position. Well, at least you did what you were told.

She faced him squarely. Yes, sir.

Good job on the save. His voice had softened.

It took more than me. Banks did as much as I did.

Nah, you found her, carried her out. Banks was undoing his turnout coat. You had the save.

Colin O’Shea also joined them. He was married to one of Mac’s friends. Worried about you, kiddo. Glad you made it out.

You’re too much of a worrywart, O’Shea. But thanks for the concern.

Benedeski came over, too. Go to the Med Truck and let the paramedics take a look at your shoulder, Mac.

I'm fine.

That timber hit you like a ton of bricks. You might even be burned.

At least she'd have an excuse for the bruises. Her heartbeat escalated. I don’t wanna see the medics. Not today, please.

A white jeep drove up to the fireground. Two people exited it. Tess DiMarco, another friend, who worked on the arson squad, and some new guy strode toward them.

Corelli frowned. Lieutenants, we got a suspicious fire?

Maybe. Tess eyed the building. Apparently, the mayor’s sister is renting here until the builders finish her house. We came right over at his insistence to see if anything was amiss and might concern him and his family.

We're not gonna see anything right away. Corelli nodded to the building. Fire’s really rolling.

Mac stepped out from behind him.

Mac, hi. Tess's smile was always so genuine. Were you inside?

Yeah, it was a total mess.

See anything suspicious? she asked.

The smoke's black. No doors or windows open that I noticed. There was an explosion.

The guy who’d been sent up from the Office of Fire Prevention and Control to help out when the captain of the arson squad, David Ashford, took some furlough, stepped forward. He’d been in Crystal City three months during which Ashford gave end-of-life care to his sick wife, then took another month to grieve.

Chet Braid, this is Trish Mackenzie, one of the best in the department.

Nice to meet you, Mac said.

You, too. Any take on the explosion?

Nope. I had to concentrate on the woman I was carrying. Maybe Banks heard more. He was front man upstairs.

Tess's face lightened. You had a save?

Uh-huh. One of the only times Mac felt good about herself was when she rescued somebody in a fire or with medical treatment.

Super.

Mackenzie. Her lieutenant was still with the group. Go see the medics. That's an order.

Tess linked arms with her. I'll walk over with you. You can run through what you remember.

Now?

Memories are best right after the incident.

Funny, Mac spent most of her adult life trying to forget things. On their way to the medics, Tess interviewed her some more, then thanked her and started away, but stopped. Oh, wait a sec. Will I see you tonight?

Geez, another Sisters of Fire night. During their time at the academy, five female recruits and two women teachers had formed an informal bond and spent time together. Eventually, Tess’s daughter gave them the name Sisters of Fire and it stuck. They’d gotten closer and closer in the ten years since graduation. Is it that time already?

You know it is.

I'll see.

Mac, it's…Diane's birthday. One of the line firefighters doing training at the academy had been called back for an all-hands-on-deck fire and died in it. Her loss had been devastating to the entire department.

Mac didn't say anything.

Annie will be there with the baby. You haven't seen Bridget yet, have you?

Um, no.

I'll pick you up.

Hell, they were constantly doing this…encouraging her to come to these get-togethers. She could handle the ones where they did things, went to a movie or baseball game or did some fun activity, but sitting around, eating and drinking at somebody's house was hard for her.

I can get myself there.

It's at Brooke's.

Yeah.

You'll come?

I'll come.

Those women had become important to her, despite her resistance to them.

They reached the Med Truck. Sorry, Mac, the paramedic on her crew, Jodi Pearson told her. We gotta get this woman to the hospital. Come with us and we’ll check you out.

No thanks, I’m fine. Go ahead.

At least she escaped the medics today unscathed. Maybe the same thing would happen tonight.

* * *

As soon as Mac stepped into her house through the garage, her pulse sped up. It was dim in the entryway of the old Victorian she bought from somebody's relative in the department years ago. The low drone of a TV came from the living room. Taking in a deep breath, she headed down a short hallway and as she got to the kitchen/dining area, she could hear the announcer call a strike. The Yanks were on.

From there, she could see Rick sitting on the couch, his feet propped up on a coffee table, beer in his hand. She wondered how many he’d already had. Today was his day off and those were dangerous times to be around Rick Franklin.

He glanced over his shoulder. Hi, babe.

Hi. She nodded to the TV. Who's winning?

The Yanks. They're beating the crap out of Boston. Come on in.

For a minute. She walked into the living area and he scooted over on the couch. The room smelled like alcohol and was littered with dirty dishes and open bags of chips.

She perched on the arm of the sofa.

Rick held out the beer. Want a sip?

No, thanks. I'm driving.

You going out? His tone was casual. That didn't mean it would stay that way.

Girls night.

He scowled. He was a gorgeous man, with curly black hair and blue eyes that could charm the devil. He also had big muscles. I didn't know that.

We didn't talk about it. They hadn't talked about anything for three days. Since the last incident.

Can't you stay home? He reached out his hand, sans the beer. When she just stared down, he whispered, Mac, I said I was sorry.

Yeah, like the last time.

Which happened six months ago. I got help from that shrink.

She rubbed her shoulder. Not enough, I guess.

His eyes welled with tears. I'm tryin', honey. You said you'd stick by me.

When he woke up the morning after he'd thrown her around the bedroom because she left a light on in the bathroom, he got a look at