“Well, it’s damn sure not Ricky, Mama, so don’t worry your head over that,” she answered. “I’ve been playing a game, not talking to anyone. The truth of the matter is Ricky said he didn’t like sharing me with other people, so I kind of lost my friends. They all told me he wasn’t a good man, but I didn’t listen, and now I’m out here in the world with no one.”
“That’s not true,” Jesse argued. “You’ve got me and your mama, Poppa and Nana, and Henry. And, honey, you can make new friends or maybe even rekindle old ones if you reach out to them.”
“I was rude to most of them,” Mia admitted.
“It doesn’t take much to apologize and tell them that they were right,” Addy told her.
“Maybe later,” Mia said. “Right now, I’m on level nine of this game, and if I can get to ten, then I’ll be higher than Ricky ever got, and that’s important to me.”
“Well, then get after it,” Jesse chuckled. “Beat him however you can if it makes you feel better.”
Addy could have kissed Jesse right there in front of the elderly couple who were heading out of the store, her daughter, and even God right then. She just kept shoveling banana split into her mouth instead and wishing that it would cool off all the heat that Jesse was causing by sitting so close to her.
* * *
Dark had settled around the county and brought with it a nice cool breeze, taking the temperature down at least ten degrees when they finished eating their ice cream and went back out to the truck. Mia hadn’t even looked up from her game when they drove through Windom.
Addy was staring out the front window without seeing a thing when suddenly she realized that a car was swerving across the yellow line and coming right toward them. “Holy crap!” she squealed.
“What?” Mia dropped her phone, covered her head, and screamed.
Jesse turned the wheel hard to the right, sending Addy and Mia into a hard lean and then whipping them back upright as the truck went nose first into a ditch full of water. The other vehicle grazed the backside of Jesse’s truck and slid, back end first, into the same ditch only a few feet away.
“Is everyone all right?” Jesse’s voice sounded like it was coming from the bottom of a rain barrel.
“I’m fine,” Mia said, “but I can’t find my phone.”
“I’m good. Let’s get out of here and see if those other folks are hurt.” Addy unfastened her seat belt. If she hadn’t braced herself with her hands, her head would have hit the dashboard. Jesse was already out of the truck and knee deep in water when she opened the door.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked.
“I’m good. Go see about those folks,” Addy said.
A loud scream pierced the air, and Jesse disappeared in a blur.
“Mia, get out easy, and be sure nothing hurts or is broken,” Addy cautioned.
Another scream came from the other vehicle and a man’s voice begging Jesse to help him get his wife out of the car first. Adrenaline rushed through Addy’s veins and her nursing training kicked in. She sloshed through the water to the car, found a very pregnant woman lying back in the seat with her hands on her stomach and screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Can you walk?” Addy asked.
“This baby is coming right now,” she yelled.
“But are you hurt?” Addy glanced over her shoulder to be sure that Mia was walking all right and not holding a shoulder or an arm.
“No, but this baby is coming out of me.” The woman reached out through the open window and grabbed Addy’s hand in a death grip.
Jesse and the driver slipped and slid in the mud and water several times before they made it around to the other side of the car. Addy forced the woman to let go of her hand, and then Jesse opened the door. The seat belt was stuck, so Jesse cut it away with his pocketknife, and then he picked the woman up like a baby.
“What can I do?” her husband asked.
“Stay up on the top of the ditch and let me pass her up to you,” Jesse said. “Then we’re going to lay her down flat and call an ambulance. Mia, call 911.”
“No time for an ambulance. I’ve had three kids, and I know when they’re crowning,” the woman said between gasps.
“I’m a nurse, and Jesse is a combat medic. We’ll take care of you until the ambulance gets here,” Addy tried to reassure her.
“I don’t care if you’re Minnie and Mickey Mouse, just help me get this baby out,” the woman said.
“I’m sorry,” her husband said as he took her from Jesse.
Mia reached out and slipped Addy’s phone from her mother’s hip pocket and made the call. “Ambulance is on the way. They said no more than ten minutes. I can help. I’ve pulled calves and delivered alpacas and lambs. What do I do?”
“Give me the lace from the sleeve of your shirt. Is there a dry blanket or shirt anywhere in either vehicle?” Addy asked. “And I need a match or cigarette lighter.”
The husband pulled a lighter from his pocket. “What’s that for?” he asked.
“Give it to me,” Jesse said. “I’ll sterilize my pocketknife with fire.”
“I’m Walter Johnson, and this is my wife, Gloria,” the guy said.
“Mia, would you please grab that blanket out of the backseat of my truck,” Jesse said as he helped the woman out of the car.
She hurried to the truck, brought back the blanket, and spread it out on the grass.
“She’s only been in labor an hour or so. I don’t think…” the husband said.
“Walter, I know when a baby is coming,” Gloria yelled and drew her knees up. “I’m going to push…”
Addy dropped to her knees. “My name is Addison Hall. This is my daughter, Mia, and Jesse is the man who took you out of the car. I’m going to check you right now to see how far you are. If you can keep from pushing for just a few minutes…”
“I can’t,” Gloria huffed.
Addy tried to keep the woman’s dignity as she raised her wet gauze skirt. “You are right. This baby is coming, and it’s time to push, ambulance or no. Take a deep breath with the next contraction and give it all you’ve got. Mia, have you got that string ready for me?”
Mia held it up. “And it’s even dry.”
Gloria sucked in all the air she could and pushed. “Is she here?”
“Not quite. She’s got lots of black hair, though,” Addy answered. “One more, and we’ll see if we can get the shoulders out, then it’ll be easy going.”
Mia knelt beside her mother. “You must love me a lot to have gone through this.”
“Yes, I did, and yes, I do,” Addy said. “I’ve got an arm. And now another one. We’re almost there, Gloria, and I hear sirens.”
“I wanted drugs,” Gloria huffed. “I’ve never done this without drugs.”
“You’re doing great.” Walter kissed her on the forehead. “Just give me one more good one.”
The ambulance came to a screeching halt right beside the two vehicles. The back doors swung open, and the paramedics brought out a stretcher. They shifted Gloria over onto it, and in minutes, had moved her from the ground to inside the back of their vehicle.