Burning Love

15

I stand at a podium in Station 12, dressed in a pair of black slacks and a polo with the department logo on it. In front of me in rows of chairs are my fellow firefighters along with their closest family members. Everyone is still getting settled in, slowly. I watch as people are still grabbing their appetizers and lemonade. We're 15 minutes behind schedule. My mom smiles at me from the front row. My dad and Owen are on each side of her, Dylan is on her lap.

"Can everyone please find a seat?" I ask over the microphone.

Before too much longer, everyone is settled into a seat. Here goes nothing.

"Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us here tonight. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Hazel Reynolds. I grew up in this firehouse and trained to promote up to a lieutenant in my time here. This station has always been a home to me. That's why it was such an honor for me to be asked to host this presentation tonight. We have a few different awards and announcements to go through so please bare with me." I opened my speech and smiled. I watched as our Chief Mayfield (our battalion chief) made his way up to the little stage and stood to my left.

"I want to congratulate my dad, Captain Adams, on his retirement from the station. Captain Adams has been a fixture of this station since dinosaurs roamed the parking lot out front." I joked and got a chorus of laughs from the group. "I'm just kidding but he has been here all of 30 years. Dad, you have had an amazing career and I'm so excited to see where the next chapter of your life takes you. Hopefully it'll be on the vacation mom always jokes about. All jokes aside, we will miss you around the station. Can you please come to the stage and receive a gift from the department." I announced and waved dad upstage.

He was dressed in his dress blues and he looked so young again. He came up to the stage and shook chief mayfield's hand first and they posed for a photo op for the local newspaper. He came over to me next and wrapped me into a giant hug. I had a tears streaming down my face. Chief Mayfield and I gave him his service plaque and a gift bag. Dad smiled at me before going to his seat again. I could see the tears in his eyes.

Chief Mayfield went through a few awards like "most improved," "fasted training times," etc. After 20 some odd minutes of listening to awards, Chief Mayfield hands me a fancy sealed envelope.

"Now the moment you've all been waiting for. I'm going to let Hazel do the announcing on this once because she's much better at this whole public speaking thing than I am." Mayfield said before turning the mic over to me.

I opened the envelope and watched as all the captain hopefuls stirred in their seats.

"Receiving high marks on his simulation test while also receiving the fastest time, this captain hopeful stood out to everyone on the committee. As someone who has faced so much hardship both before and during his time with the department, this candidate rose above all and beat the odds. He also preformed very well in his leadership evaluations during real life calls. In Chief Mayfield's opinion, this candidate excelled in all aspects and checked off all the boxes for a captain. Please help me in welcoming my husband, Owen Reynolds, to the stage. Or should I call you captain Reynolds now?" I announced.

I watched the excited look on Owen's face as he came up to the stage. He practically ran to where I was standing and pulled me into the biggest hug. Once again, tears were rolling down my cheeks. We hugged before pulling away so that Chief Mayfield pinned him with his Captain pin. I am so proud of my husband. After the awards ceremony was over, those of us from the station hung around to clean up.  I was picking up some chairs when Will's girlfriend walked over to me with a seltzer in her hand. She handed it to me and smiled.

"I bet you're pretty proud of your husband tonight aren't you?" Emily said softly

"Yes I am. It's been a hell of a ride but he's been so amazing for the station and for me for that matter." I said and sipped the drink.