Page 3 of Shocking Sapphires
Molly
Dizzy, dazed, and confused, I blinked my eyes open. The blood pounded in my head and my hands shook as I frantically tried to scramble up to my knees.
Miraculously, I didn’t feel hurt, but my only concern was for the precious baby I cradled in my arms.Had I crushed him when I fell?
In an instant, Max was by my side. His eyes were wide with fright as he yelled, “Molly! Are you okay?”
I nodded, but couldn’t seem to find my words. Tipping my head down to check on the bundle in my arms, I was thrilled to see stunned blue eyes blinking up at me. It only took a moment for the loud wail to erupt from his tiny mouth.
“He’s crying. That’s a very good sign,” Dani assured us as she approached and kneeled down by my side. She kept one comforting hand on my shoulder as she used the other to dial 9-1-1 on her phone.
I squeezed my eyes shut with relief that the baby didn’t appear to be injured. When I reopened them, I noticed the back end of the sports car sticking out from Dr. Dalton’s chiropractic office. The entire front half of the car was crumpled and sitting in the ruins of what was, just moments ago, Dr. Dalton’s reception area.
Thankfully, the office had been closed when the car rammed its way through the enormous front window, or numerous patients would have likely been injured.
Staring at the steaming pile of rubble, I said to Max, “We’re okay. Go check on the driver.”
He looked reluctant to leave my side, so I gave him my best stubborn little sister stare until he turned to comply with my request.
I rocked the bundle in my arms back and forth, in a feeble attempt to soothe him, repeating the mantra, “Shh… It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Although I wasn’t sure if I was attempting to calm him or me, it seemed to be working on both of us. His wailing had decreased from infuriated, ear-piercing screeches to mildly annoyed, hiccupping sobs.
Within moments, we heard the wail of approaching sirens. I stared blankly at my brother’s back as he set to work on the crashed vehicle. He yelled status updates back to Dani, which she relayed to the dispatch on the phone, but I wasn’t lucid enough to fully register what either of them were saying.
Before long, the blinding flashing lights of sirens surrounded us. When a uniformed man tried to remove the bundle from my arms, I clamped the baby tighter in my grasp.
“Ma’am, we need to check you and your baby for injuries,” the deep voice informed me in a no-nonsense tone.
I started to tell him the sweet infant wasn’t my baby, but my mouth wouldn’t cooperate. Dani stepped in to efficiently take charge.
She looked me directly in the eyes as she gently took the baby and said, “They need to have a look at him, Molly. They’ll take care of him.”
Her promise came out as a gentle coo. Even though she couldn’t possibly know if her statement was true, her calm and confident demeanor had me trusting her words. I reluctantly loosened my tight grip on the baby.
When his wails escalated, I felt like screaming, “See? He wants me!” But some still-rational part of my brain helped me manage to refrain.
The man kneeling down to assess me was blocking my view of the baby. I tried to lean around to see past him, but he used both hands to steady my shoulders. “Ma’am, we need you to stay still.”
Ignoring him, my eyes frantically searched for the baby. His voice sounded much more understanding when he said, “They’ll take good care of your baby. You have my word on it.”
He sounded so sincere, I found myself looking into his eyes. They were warm and reassuring. At any other time, I might have noticed how handsome the steady, efficient man was, but right now I was too worried to focus on such frivolous notions.
The man continued speaking in a soothing voice as he eased me onto a backboard that was on the ground beside me. “We need to check you out to make sure you aren’t hurt, but we’ll reunite you with your son soon.”
Son.The word swirled around in my head. I’d never really thought about having children, since I didn’t have a steady man in my life. It seemed irresponsible and backwards to start having kids without a father for them. But now that the idea was planted in my head, it was all I could think about.
In the brief moments since I had met the abandoned baby, I’d already fallen head over heels for him. I would do anything in my power to protect him. If that wasn’t a mother’s love, I didn’t know what was.
While I was coming to terms with my new reality––where my heart was consumed by love for a child that I couldn’t protect in this moment, the emergency technicians deftly strapped me onto the gurney and began moving me toward one of the waiting ambulances.
My neck had been placed in a brace, making it impossible to turn my head, so my eyes rolled around in their sockets, searching for my baby.
“Try to stay still,” the handsome E.M.T. advised me.
Seeming to sense what had me so frantic, Dani ran to catch up with us and said, “The baby is safe. He’s riding in another ambulance.”
Grabbing my hand as she jogged beside us, she added, “I’ll go with him, if it will make you feel better.”
