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“I know I hurt you.” The words hurt to say. “I’m sorry. I’m sorrier than I know how to explain right now.”

He wheezed again.

I held out my hand. “You don’t have to forgive me. You don’t have to trust me after today. But I need you to trust me for the next two minutes.”

Caldwell looked toward the bedroom door. Smoke drifted into the room.

“We’re going outside,” I continued. “Your moms are waiting. Everyone is getting help.”

He looked at my hand.

“I won’t let go.”

For several seconds, nothing happened. Then his fingers reached toward mine. I closed my hand gently around his.

“That’s it.”

He crawled forward. When his shoulders cleared the bed, I grabbed him under the arms and pulled him the rest of the way.

He tried to stand. His knees collapsed.

I caught him. “Okay. We’re not walking.”

Caldwell clung to my shirt as I picked him up.

At the beginning of summer, I couldn’t have carried a child his size down a hallway without stopping. Now my arms held.

Barely.

His face pressed against my shoulder.

“Keep your eyes closed,” I told him. “Breathe through the cloth.”

I pulled Patty’s damp covering from around my neck and held it over his mouth. He gripped it.

We reached the stairs. Going down with him required more control than strength. My legs trembled. I put one foot on each step and kept a hand against the wall.

Caldwell’s breathing remained rough near my ear.

“I’ve got you.”

He tightened his arms around me.

“I’ve got you,” I repeated.

The words became a promise I intended to keep, even if it was the last promise the family allowed me to make.

Fresh air reached us near the bottom.

Julie appeared in the doorway. “Caldwell!”

He lifted his head. She ran toward us but stopped before entering the remaining smoke. I carried him across the threshold.

Julie reached for him.

Caldwell resisted for half a second, fingers still twisted in my shirt. Then he saw her face and reached toward her. She took him, holding him tightly.

Hilary, who was now conscious but standing with the assistance of another pack member, wrapped both arms around them.