Page 40 of Courageous Demands

Your father was so proud of his son.

I want you to have those moments, to hold your own child…

He swallowed nervously and looked at Eileen, the paramedic on site. She pressed her lips together firmly and pointed, giving him a thumbs-down. His mother was not doing well now. Sliding open the minivan door, he smiled at the tiny boy who looked to be under two or three years old.

“Beckett!” Justin barked – and then hesitated as Alec was pulling the boy from the car seat. “Never mind… keep going.”

The boy stared at him with frightened eyes and kept looking back at the vehicle. Alec turned his face back toward him and cupped his face with his glove before biting on the finger and yanking it off as the child smiled briefly and then stared at him again.

“Hey buddy, I’m here for you.”

“Mama?”

“Your mama is seeing someone about an ‘owie,’” he said gently. “Do you see my fingers? Huh, sweetie? Can you grab my finger?”

The boy gave him a nervous smile and grabbed his pointer finger.

“Now squeeze it for me, okay?” Alec instructed, and then made an exaggerated face, causing the child to chuckle as he squeezed. “Owww, you gotta let go now, okay? See? Look at you so big and strong.”

“Mama owie?”

“Mama,” Alec began looking at Eileen working on the woman. “Mama still has an owie, but you and me are going to wait right here for a moment until the police get here. You’re going to like them. I know some of those guys, and they are super-nice, plus they have little kids just like you.”

“Dat?” the little boy asked, touching his mask.

“That’s my face mask to protect me. Do you see my nose?”

“Nose?” the child said, pointing at his own… and shoving part of his finger inside one nostril. Alec chuckled and pulled it away, grinning.

“You’ve got big ol’ hazel eyes like my friend, buddy…” Alec whispered, speaking aloud subconsciously, feeling something in his heart turn over as he realized what he’d said aloud. “Yeah, my girl has big eyes like you, and I like how she looks at me – but that is our secret. Okay?”

“BECKETT!”

Alec heard Justin yell his name and looked over. The police had arrived on site and recognized one of the officers walking toward him. “Let’s go meet Officer Luka, big fella. He’s really funny like me but his nose is bigger and not as good lookin’ as me – but that’s our secret.”

Eileen passed him with the gurney.

“We’re heading to Tyler Memorial – the husband is on the way.”

“Gotcha.”

“Hey there, Beckett. I hear you found a little munchkin?” Officer Luka began easily. He smiled, clapped his hands at the child, and held them out in front of him, and the little boy dove toward him, smiling and putting his finger in his mouth. “Do you have a name?”

“He hasn’t said yet. He keeps asking about his mother.”

“I’ve got it from here, and Justin got a hold of the father. The woman had her cell phone in the cupholder with her ‘ICE’ set up. It’s such a help when their ‘in case of emergency’ contact is set up. It sure makes my life easier.”

“Yeah, I guess it does,” Alec said quietly, a little surprised at the thoughts in his mind right now. Nodding, he moved away from the minivan and took up his spot working with Lance – only to see a man out of the corner of his eye, run forward, grabbing the boy and hugging him, crying painfully.

He really wanted to hear Willow’s voice right now, which surprised him. Usually, when he had a bad moment, he would talk to his mom when he got home – or end up having a few beers and hiding away for a bit to let himself ‘heal.’

When they finally got back to the truck, Alec pulled out his phone and texted Willow.

Hey – hope you are having a good day.

I had fun planting the flowers, and a few kisses on my girl.

Surprised, he saw three dots appear on his screen, indicating that she was texting him back.

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