His blue eyes sparkled with anticipation.
Carrie was already pushing her way down the narrow hall from the trailer’s main room to the bedrooms. “Something better, Tyler,” she said over her shoulder. “How do you like trucks?”
“Cool.” The boy grabbed Mike’s hand. “Come on and get Mama. She likes trucks, too.”
At the touch of the small boy’s hand, time telescoped for Mike. He went down on his knees next to him, looking at the boy. He saw so much.
There was more in this moment than a slender child in battered blue jeans and a sweatshirt. For Mike Martin there was a reliving of a very similar scene. In a scary instant he knew what was behind that boy’s wide blue eyes. Here the kid was, trying to get help for the most important person in his world, wanting reassurance that everything would be all right.
For this child it probably would be. Mike looked into his eyes. “We’ll go take care of your mom. It’s going to be okay, Tyler.” How he wished with all his heart that somebody had taken time to say those words years ago, when he’d been the boy in blue jeans.
Of course in his case, any such reassurances would have been a lie. Nothing anybody did that cold morning long ago could have made everything all right again in Mike’s world. For the child in front of him there was still a chance. So for this child, Mike had to fight his horror, his fear, and deal with the situation. He stood up.
“Take me to your mom. Ms. Collins doesn’t know much about babies.”
Tyler looked at him in disbelief. “She’s a girl, isn’t she? I thought they all knew about that stuff.”
Mike shook his head. “That girl knows more about cars than babies. I guess that’s why I’m here,” he told Tyler, only realizing the truth of it as he said it. He’d wondered all morning why he had agreed to drive Carrie out here instead of taking Dogg and going back home the way he should have. Now he knew. Just let me do all right, he said silently.
He looked down at the brave little kid leading him down the hall. It had to be all right, just for him. Mike took a deep breath and pushed through the doorway.
The man Tyler led into the room filled the doorway. Lori felt dwarfed by his presence. He looked calm, though, a lot calmer than Gary would have been in the same situation. “I’m so glad you’re here. It really is a miracle.”
“Not quite.” The red-haired woman in uniform looked at the man and telegraphed something to him silently. “But it looks like what we came for will have to wait.”
Lori laughed nervously. “Yes, it does. Do either of you have any training in catching babies?”
“Mike does. He used to be an EMT. I mean, I’ve had the basics, in theory, but I’ve never used it. Mike?”
The big man nodded, and crossed the small room. “Sure have. Where are we, Mrs. Harper?”
“Lori.” This was no time to be formal. “And I think we’re at the point where I hope you’re either driving an ambulance or you have a radio, Mike.”
The man’s smile was rueful. “Can’t say I can help you either way. But I do have a cellular phone in the truck. What do you say we call the county emergency guys on duty, who have the real ambulance and radio, and try to meet them on the closest main road? Do you think we have enough time for that?”
“I hope so.” Lori struggled to speak while she felt a contraction building. “With Tyler, things were pretty quick, once they started happening, and I expect it will be quick this time, too.”
“What does the doctor say?” The man’s large hands were gentle as he helped her off the bed and into a standing position. Lori wished she could avoid his question.
“Nothing. I haven’t seen one,” Lori admitted. His intake of breath was sharp, and an emotion that could have been fear or anger flashed through his dark eyes. “We moved out here before I knew I was, uh, in the family way, and then Gary had the car all day working in Friedens, and after August I never got around to finding somebody…” She trailed off. How could she tell a stranger that there was no money for a doctor? “Will we all fit in that truck outside? I won’t leave Tyler here.”
“There’s no way we’d leave him,” the woman in uniform said. “Not alone, anyway.” She looked at the man. “I was thinking maybe you and Mrs. Harper ought to go on, and the rest of us will stay here until somebody else can come out and get us.”
The man shook his head. “Won’t work. That dog wouldn’t take a command to stay at a strange place without me. How long has it been since you’ve ridden in the back of a pickup?”
When the woman started to splutter, Mike looked at Lori and winked. It was such a conspiratorial gesture that she had to smile through the wave of pain that threatened to fold her double. “There’s no other choice, Carrie. You and the dog can sit in the back. Me and Lori and Tyler’ll be up front. What do you bet we can make it to the main road in less time than EMS does from their end?”
Lori stifled a gasp as her protector guided her back through the trailer and helped her down from the front door to the hard ground. “Gently, Mike. Hit any bumps wrong and you’re going to have to use those EMT skills yourself, I’m afraid.”
He looked her in the face, all traces of teasing gone now. His dark eyes sparkled with a light that pierced Lori deeper than the pain of the contractions. “I’ll take care of you. Don’t worry.” And somehow, looking into those eyes, she knew he was telling the truth.
Chapter Two
This was the strangest trip to the hospital Lori had ever witnessed, much less been part of. The red-haired woman in uniform and the huge German shepherd—was he really wearing reindeer antlers?—were in the back of the truck. It was cold in the cab because Mike’s car phone handset was out the open back window, so Carrie could talk to the paramedics while Mike navigated the bumpy road.
Mike had apologized for having to put the phone plug in the cigarette lighter for power. “I never remember to charge the battery.”
“Lost the charger, probably,” she heard Carrie mutter from outside. Lori had to stop breathing so fast. If they hit one more bump, Tyler was going to get to meet his new brother or sister up close and personal. Tyler looked so small sitting next to her on the seat, bouncing up and down even though he was belted in.
“Isn’t this cool, Mama?” His eyes shone. From his perspective, it was probably cool. All of Tyler’s passions were involved here: uniformed police officers, big dogs, huge trucks and a man who actually paid attention to him. When she nodded to agree with him, a wave of nausea roared over her.
“Bad move, huh?” Mike looked over at her sharply. How could he drive and keep his eyes on the road yet still monitor how she was feeling?
“Bad move.” She held her head still. Things felt better that way. “How far are we from—”
“Meeting the ambulance crew? Tell us, Carrie.” Mike turned his head toward the open back window.
Carrie spoke into the phone, then leaned toward the open window. “Maybe five minutes. You going to be able to hang on?”
“Sure.” Lori gritted her teeth. She wasn’t sure, but she was going to have to be, for Tyler’s sake, for the baby’s sake, even for the sake of the large man driving the truck. He didn’t look ready to deliver a baby.
The next five minutes seemed more like five hours. Lori would have burst into tears of relief when the yellow ambulance pulled up to the truck, but she lacked the energy. Mike braked and vaulted out of his side of the truck. “Don’t you dare try to get out on your own,” he warned. “Hey, Kenny, Rosa, this lady’s about to have a baby. How about some real quick movement this way?”
Before Lori could say anything, she was on a stretcher pulled up to the cab of the truck. In moments,