Page 18

"Hey, Buddy." Adam's voice dropped into that particular register he saved for his son. Steady and soft at once. "It's okay. Lie back down."

"Is something happening?" A pause. Then, "Is that the baby?"

"That's the baby," I said. Olivia was whimpering, getting ready to all-out cry. She wanted food.

His head appeared over the back of the seat. His hair was pushed entirely sideways. He had a crease on his cheek from the carseat, and his blue eyes—those unmistakable Beckett blue eyes—were blinking against the glow of the police cruiser's lights outside. His mouth dropped open and his eyes got even wider as he looked at Olivia.

He stared for a long moment. Long enough that I started to wonder what was happening behind those eyes.

Then he looked at me.

"Miss Zoe," he said. He sounded really serious, and I braced.

"Yeah, Buddy?"

"I was really scared for you. I could tell you were really hurting."

Damn!

“I’m so sorry I scared you, Sweetheart.”

“I was happy Dad was with you, but…”

“But what?” I could feel Adam looking at us, but my eyes never left James.

“You were brave and strong. You took care of Olivia. You made her all right.”

“You and your dad helped me.”

“I helped?”

“You sang to me.” Olivia’s whimpers turned into cries.

He gave me a bright smile. “Would it help if I sang to Olivia right now?”

“She’s hungry.”

“I have apple slices.”

I choked back a laugh and looked at Adam for help.

“Zoe is going to feed her. I need you to sit back down and we’ll talk to the police officer when he comes back, okay?”

James gave me one last intense look before turning to his father. “Okey-doke.”

I mouthed the words thank you to Adam, and moved my clothes aside so I could start nursing Olivia. Once she latched onto my nipple, which kind of hurt, she got the most contented look on her face that I could have ever imagined.

Olivia was just finishing up when I heard the ambulance pulling up. Doors opened, I heard another man’s voice and a woman’s voice. The woman came to Adam’s window. Her expression looked serious. “Can you open the back window so I can talk to the patient? I don’t want to open the door if she’s leaning on it, I want to ask her a couple of questions first.”

Adam nodded as the window rolled down. I took a deep breath of the fresh air. It was sharp and heavenly. I had to twist my neck a little to see the woman, since I had been lying against the door. I looked into concerned gray eyes.

“Zoe Avery?” The woman had a calm, no-nonsense expression, like someone who had already been awake for a long time and had made her peace with it. “My name is Karen.”

"Hi, Karen. Just so you know, I’m doing pretty good. I can walk to the ambulance."

"Ma'am, you delivered a baby three and a half hours ago in the back of a pickup truck." She said it pleasantly, the way you'd state a simple fact. "You're not walking."

"I walked to get into this truck."