itself was going to take enough trial and error.
“Will you start herding everybody to the back of the room?” she pleaded. “I don’t think I’ll live through much more of this.”
“You’re having a ball.” He leaned down and kissed her, and people began to clap.
“I would like to get away sometime before dark,” she said, smiling up at him.
“Don’t look now, but it’s been dark all afternoon.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I’ll herd. But don’t expect this to end any time soon.”
“They can party until the wee hours, but you and I are leaving once the cake’s been served.”
“Promises, promises.” He winked at Peggy before he left to begin edging people toward the wedding cake.
Megan watched as Niccolo made remarkable progress. At her suggestion, the cake had been set up in the back of the saloon. She had tried to get into the kitchen to make sure everything was ready for cutting and serving it, but she’d been outmaneuvered. There had been a conspiracy all day to keep her as far away from the kitchen as possible.
As if she would try to take over her own reception.
Casey joined them. “That time already? Will you be able to bring Kieran down now?” she asked Peggy.
“Maybe now that he’s had some quiet time. I can’t guarantee he’ll be tantrum free.”
“All two-year-olds have tantrums,” Megan said. “You certainly had your share.”
“You’ve got to get used to the idea that he’s not just any two-year-old, Megan,” Peggy said. “It’s the only way we can help him.”
Megan knew Peggy was right. At first Peggy, too, had struggled to accept her son’s disability, but at last she had made the adjustment. Megan was still rooted firmly in denial. “I love him. I love you. I don’t want to lose either of you.”
Peggy kissed her cheek. “You won’t. Now let me get him.”
“And I’ll help Nick,” Casey said. “He’s managed to get everybody moving. Which was the key to getting them into the back of the room faster, do you think? Cake or champagne?”
Megan was only yards away from Niccolo when the building began to shake. For a moment she thought the band had turned up their amplifiers to grab everyone’s attention. But the sound was more freight train than feedback.
The saloon shook again. A woman screamed, and Megan registered alarm on the faces closest to her. Then, as she saw Niccolo struggling through the crowd in her direction, the building shook once more, the roar grew deafening, and the front facade of the saloon collapsed inward.
The building shook again as more screams erupted. Glassware at the bar shattered and fell to the floor, and a hole the size of a child’s wading pool opened to the left of her head. Debris rained down, followed closely by water. Then both the cacophony and the tremors ceased.
“Megan!” Niccolo reached and grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her. “Are you okay?”
“What—” She realized she couldn’t breathe. She struggled, but her lungs wouldn’t inflate. Her legs felt like rubber bands, and she clung to him and fought for air. People were pushing past her, heading away from the destruction.
“Take it easy. It’s okay.” He smoothed her hair, but his hand trembled.
She caught a breath at last. “What—”
“Tornado,” he said. “It sucked up part of the roof. Damn, we’re idiots. Nobody was listening for tornado warnings. I—”
“Nick!” Casey reached them. “Where’s Jon?”
Niccolo released Megan. “He was in the very back. I’ve got to see what kind of damage was done. I’ve got to find my family.”
Megan started after him. She knew his real mission was to see if anyone had lagged behind and been caught in the collapse. The sight that greeted her nearly tore the breath from her lungs again. The roof over the front quarter of the building had fallen to seal off the entrance completely. What rubble she could see beneath it was waist-high. “Oh, God!”
Casey grabbed her. “Stay away, Megan. For Pete’s sake, don’t get near—”
Jon reached them. “Get in the back with everybody else. Please. It’s safer.”
“What if somebody—” Megan couldn’t finish that thought.
“Most everybody was in the back milling around the cake. If we’re lucky…Just help us get everybody else back there now. We’ll do head counts. Start, would you?”
Megan knew he was right. Thick dust choked the room, and her vision was obscured. But nothing she could see indicated that anyone had been in the extreme front when the wall collapsed.
Casey was already helping people move farther toward the back. Megan saw one of the Brick kids holding his head, but he was walking unaided. One of Marco’s daughters had a scratch on her cheek, but the bleeding didn’t look serious. Niccolo’s mother had her arm around his grandfather and was helping him walk. Megan turned to see Peggy struggling with the door to the apartment, and she remembered that Kieran was upstairs with their aunt.
As she watched, Peggy wrenched open the door, despite the crush of frantic guests, and disappeared into the stairwell. The back of the building seemed secure, but what if the second story wasn’t? What if the upstairs, which camel backed the saloon, had been blown away? The apartment only ran across the back, but what if…
She stumbled forward, helping a great-uncle who seemed unable to find his way. Once she was sure he was heading in the right direction, she made it to the door and started up the stairs.
“Peggy?” She called her sister’s name as she climbed. The stairs seemed secure. Above her, everything looked the way it always did. “Peggy! Aunt Dee!”
The door at the head of the stairwell was open. She made it to the top without incident and found Peggy and her aunt clasped together in a bear hug, Kieran screaming between them.
“Thank God.” She joined them.
“The bedroom’s wrecked,” Deirdre said calmly. “The window exploded. There’s glass everywhere, but Kieran and I were in here.”
“Let’s get downstairs. We can exit through the kitchen door. The front’s a nightmare.”
“No, we can’t get out that way,” Peggy said. “The back door’s blocked.”
Megan knew she wasn’t thinking clearly, but now she was particularly confused. “How do you know? You came straight up here.”
“A tree fell in front of the back door this morning, Megan. Right on top of Nick’s car. We’d pulled his Civic out behind the kitchen door to decorate it, and that old maple toppled right onto his roof. Nobody wanted to tell you until we had to. We didn’t want to spoil—”
“I guess you didn’t.”
“I’m sorry,” Peggy said.
The loss of a car seemed inconsequential at the moment. “Nick’s won’t be the only car in Cleveland to suffer storm damage. Kieran’s okay?”
“Just scared. We’re all scared.” Peggy kissed Kieran’s hair.
“Aunt Dee?”
Deirdre drew herself up straight. “Let’s get downstairs. Did you see your uncle?”
Megan tried to remember if she had seen Uncle Frank. “I didn’t, I’m sorry. But I didn’t see any serious injuries.” She thought of the roof sitting at the front of the saloon and what might be under it. “Nick and Jon were checking when I came upstairs.”