Free Deacon's Touch by Callie Croix Page A

signal when she needed one? She was eventually forced to leave the baby and stand in the middle of the road to get reception.
    "Watch yourself,” Deke said. “That idiot might come back."
    What? She turned to gawk at him, but her call suddenly went through. After telling the operator what had happened, she got the info on the woman's specific condition from Deke and relayed it to the woman. He knew enough that he sounded like a paramedic.
    "I'm standing in the middle of the highway,” she added, “so I'll probably lose you when you I move.” A moment later headlights appeared around the curve and sure enough, as soon as she moved she lost the signal. She stood beside Deke but kept her eyes on the road just in case. “Ambulance is on its way.” The car slowed to a stop beside them, and an elderly man rolled down the window.
    "You folks need any help?"
    "Thanks, but help's on the way,” Deke answered, and the man drove away.
    Handing her the bag of IV fluid to hold, he bandaged up some of the worst of the woman's cuts and then headed around to the back to check the baby. “Let's see what we've got here, little man."
    Extending one brawny arm, he flicked on a pen light and checked the infant's pupils. Jessie held the IV bag, wishing she could help, but he seemed to have everything under control. He handled the baby with an ease that startled her.
    "T-Thomas..."
    At the garbled voice, Jessie looked down to see the mother struggling to turn over in her seat.
    Deke placed a calming hand on her shoulder and kept her in place. “He's okay. He's right here. See him?” He somehow unlocked the car seat from its base and brought the baby closer to her.
    The woman lifted a frail, blood-streaked hand toward her child. “C-can't breathe,” she gasped.
    Jessie knelt beside her and shared a look with Deke. “Probably a collapsed lung,” he told her. “Do you remember what happened?” he asked the woman.
    "No,” she choked. “Was...driving to my...mother's.” The words were wheezy and speaking was obviously a struggle for her.
    "What's your name?” Jessie asked.
    "It's Stacey,” Deke answered. “She lives on one of the neighboring ranches."
    Jessie spared a glance at him. His neighbor lay bleeding on the front seat, but he seemed completely unruffled, in full control of the situation.
    "Trade places with me,” Deke said, climbing into the front so he could place an oxygen mask over the mother's face. “Don't talk for now. You're going to be fine, and the baby's okay. Ambulance will be here in a few minutes."
    Jessie took the woman's hand and gently settled it against the baby's cheek. Stacey's eyes filled with tears, and Jessie felt her own sting. “He's okay,” she reassured the mother. “I think he was mostly upset at having his sleep disturbed.” She looked at Deke. “Can I do anything?"
    He took out a blanket and covered Stacey with it. “Just keep doing what you're doing."
    She stayed beside Stacey with the baby and talked to her until the police came, then the ambulance. Deke briefed the paramedics and helped them load the woman onto a gurney and into the back of the ambulance and handed up the baby in the seat he'd wrestled from the crumpled interior of the truck.
    They pulled away, lights and sirens blaring, and disappeared into the darkness. The police asked her some questions but focused mostly on Deke before leaving. Shivering despite the warm night air, Jessie wrapped her arms around herself and stared after the cruiser. Deke stripped off his latex gloves as he came over and set an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, grateful for the warmth. “You sure she'll be okay?"
    "Yeah. As soon as they get a chest tube in she'll be more comfortable. Then they'll run a CT scan just to be sure she doesn't have a brain bleed, but her GCS score was good, so I wouldn't worry."
    She looked up into his shadowed face. He was so composed, and she felt shaky as hell. She struggled to clamp down on the shivers