Baby On The Run. Kate Little

tree, the final impact hard enough to jerk her forward and crunch the bumper, but not quite enough to inflate the air bag.

      Carey twisted in her seat. “Lindsay? Sweetie?”

      Lindsay stared at her wide-eyed, then suddenly started to cry. Her car seat was secure and hadn’t budged an inch out of place. Carey sent up a silent prayer of thanks that they weren’t hurt, then clawed at her seat belt, unfastened it and jumped out.

      She stood knee-deep in snow, pulled open the back door and crawled in the back to comfort Lindsay. She took the baby from her seat and held her close. The feeling of her small, warm body pressed close was a comfort. She realized she was shaking from the shock. Lindsay soon stopped crying and relaxed against Carey’s shoulder.

      Carey took a calming breath and tried to remember what she should do. She leaned over and turned on the emergency flashers. Then she wondered if anyone would see them with her car below the embankment.

      “We need to call for help,” Carey told the baby. “Someone needs to come pull us out of here…wherever here is…”

      She picked up her cell phone from the front seat and dialed 911.

      An operator answered immediately.

      “I’ve had an accident,” Carey began. “My car skidded off the road and hit a tree. I’m alone with a baby. We need some help. Right away…”

      Carey tried to remain calm, but just explaining what had happened made her feel desperate and frightened.

      “How old is your child, ma’am?”

      “Six months, a little girl.”

      “Is anyone hurt? Any bleeding?”

      “No, we’re both fine. Just please, send someone to pick us up. I’m afraid that my daughter is going to get frostbite.”

      “We’ll send help right away. Where are you located?”

      “I… I’m not sure… I got off the highway at the last exit. Then I turned off the exit ramp… The sign said Greenwood…or Greenbriar…” Carey sighed. “I don’t live around here. I was lost and I got off the road to find a gas station…”

      “Okay, miss. I have some idea where you might be. Were you traveling north or south?”

      “I don’t know…” Carey tried hard not to lose her temper.

      “I went right at the stop sign…I think.”

      “Is the car visible from the road…?”

      The connection started to break up. Carey spoke quickly.

      “I don’t know… I…”

      Then the phone went dead.

      Carey stared at the screen. The battery had run down. She hadn’t even realized it was low. She shook it, knowing it wouldn’t help at all. She felt so frustrated, she wanted to scream.

      Good Lord, this couldn’t be happening…

      Had she given the operator enough information to find the car? She could hardly say for sure. It was snowing so hard. The windows of the half-buried car were already coated so that she couldn’t see out.

      It was a holiday. And such a small town. She didn’t think there would be many police or EMS workers on duty tonight to come look for her.

      It might take a long time. It might take…hours.

      What now? Was she stuck here with Lindsay? She couldn’t start walking, not in this snow. And where would she walk to? She hadn’t seen a single house since she’d turned off the highway.

      Or a car or truck passing. She didn’t want to leave Lindsay alone even for a few minutes, while she walked up to the road, but she realized she had to. She could tie her scarf to a tree or set out some other distress signal.

      She pushed down a wave of panic. If they were stranded for hours, what would she do? She didn’t even want to think that far.

      Carey secured Lindsay in her seat again, closed the car and headed up the snow-covered slope toward the road. The hill was steep and she thought it was a miracle the car had made it to the bottom in one piece, without either of them being hurt.

      That was one lucky break.

      She had to tug herself up, pulling on a branch, to get to the road again. Her leather boots with thin soles and heels were not exactly ideal for hiking, but finally, she made it.

      She stood at the shoulder of the road and gasped for air, then gasped with alarm as a man ran toward her through the snow. He was big. Very big. With broad shoulders and long legs. He wore a thick parka with the hood pulled up over his head and knee-high boots.

      Backlit from the headlights of a car parked down the road, his face was obscured and she couldn’t see anything more than his outline.

      Carey felt frozen in place and swallowed hard, hoping he was help and not more trouble.

      When he finally drew closer she could see from the patches on his jacket that he was a police officer and she breathed a deep sigh of relief.

      “Gosh, you got here quickly. I didn’t think the 911 operator even knew where I was. Then my phone went dead and…”

      He stared at her a moment. “I wasn’t sent out to find you. I was just driving home and saw the flashers.”

      Home to his cozy warm house and a family, who was probably waiting for him to celebrate Christmas Eve, she added silently.

      “Thanks for stopping.”

      “No thanks necessary. Are you all right?”

      His voice was deep and even, soothing her ragged nerves.

      He took a step closer, staring down at her. “What happened to your car? Did you skid in the snow?”

      “An animal jumped out from the woods. I guess it was a deer. I turned, trying to avoid it.”

      “Are you traveling alone?”

      A logical question. Though the way he said it and the way he was looking at her now made her swallow hard. Made her feel even more isolated…and lonely.

      “I have my baby with me. She’s down in the car, but she’s fine. I left her for a minute so I could put out a distress signal.”

      The word baby had barely left Carey’s lips and the officer was in motion. He skidded down the hill easily in his heavy boots, taking the last few yards on his side, without a thought for the snow. He reached the car in a few long loping strides and pulled open the door.

      Carey ran behind him. She didn’t come down the hill nearly as gracefully and rode most of the way on her bottom.

      By the time she reached the car, he had Lindsay out of her seat and handed her up to Carey’s waiting arms.

      “She looks okay. You bundled her up well.”

      Then he picked up the extra blanket on the backseat and tucked it around the baby. Carey was surprised. She hadn’t even asked him. It was an unexpected, tender gesture.

      Lindsay was crying, but he didn’t seem to notice. There was something about him, a centered, calm air that seemed as unshakable as a mountain. The complete opposite of how she felt.

      “Need anything from the back?” he asked.

      “That blue baby bag—” she pointed it out “—and the black duffel…and the car seat, too. I guess.”

      He scooped up both heavy bags and slung the straps over his shoulders as if they were empty. Then he picked up the car seat. He locked up the car and they headed back toward the road.

      When they reached the snowy slope, he put the bags down and turned to her. “Let’s leave the bags and seat down here. I’ll come back for them. I’ll hold the baby if