Page 66 of Mountain Defender

Without hesitation, she reached inside and touched the baby’s leg. It kicked.

“The baby’s alive!”

“Baby? Jesus Christ!” came Bryson’s reply.

“I got it. I can get it out.” She fumbled blindly with buckles she was unfamiliar with but knew fastened at several points.

A woman’s shrill voice had her blood racing with relief. Noise was good. It meant the family members were alive.

“How many people are in the car with you?” Bryson was asking the woman.

“My…baby!”

“Anyone else?” His voice was firm but had a calmness meant to soothe.

Alexia loosened the last buckle and the baby slid into her hand. “I’ve got your baby. He’s all right!”

At least she hoped he was. The little guy was wrapped in a thick blue sleeper, not nearly warm enough for the elements. Alexia cradled him to her chest and whipped her coat off with her free hand to wrap around him.

“That’s it,” Tripp encouraged the woman. “Slide out the window. Watch that glass. I got you.”

Alexia glanced over to see Bryson extracting the driver from the wreckage.

“Is there anyone else in the car with you?” he asked the woman again.

“No. I’m on my way to the babysitter’s… My baby!”

“He’s okay, honey. Just sit down here. I’m going to get you a blanket. Don’t move until we know you’re all right.” He shot Alexia a look and took off at a run for the Humvee and the extra supplies in the back.

Alexia gave her phone a voice command to call 911. The baby started to wail, and she hurried over to the mother with the child, placing him on her chest and draping her coat over the pair of them until Bryson returned with the blanket and a first-aid kit.

“She says they’re the only two people in the vehicle,” she reminded Bryson. “Take one of the blankets and try to edge it under her. The road’s freezing and wet.”

He rolled up the blanket into a long tube and lay it on the ground beside the lady. Then he gently eased it under one side of her body, moved to the other and unrolled it onto the roadway while minimizing movement.

Alexia looked on, impressed by his knowledge. When she unzipped the first-aid bag and pulled out a package of gauze, she felt his eyes on her while she worked to stop the bleeding from a cut on the woman’s forehead.

“Is my baby okay?” the woman asked over and over.

“He looks all right. The car seat did its job. But we’ll let the medics check him out as soon as they arrive,” Bryson told her in a low, calming tone.

“I-I don’t know what happened,” she said.

Alexia looked into her eyes. “You hit some ice. But you’re going to be all right—both of you are.

Bryson exchanged a look with Alexia. “Help is only three minutes out now.”

If they don’t wreck too.

While she staunched the bleeding, Bryson went back to the vehicle in search of a diaper bag or the woman’s purse. He also shut off the engine that they’d left running.

When he returned carrying a bag with blue elephants on it, Alexia said, “Look inside for a pacifier.”

His stare met hers, holding a question in the depths.

“The baby needs soothed, and the momma needs to know he’s okay.” She looked into the woman’s eyes. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yes…”

---