Free A Midnight Clear by Hope Ramsay Page B

head felt funny too. I went upstairs and found Raphael and sang “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” ten times.
    At ten thirteen, Mom came in my room and said, “Put on your pajamas. I don’t want any trouble from you.”
    I don’t make trouble. I don’t lie. I decided to put on my pajamas just to make her go away. I like being alone. I turned out the light. I stayed in my bed and counted seconds and minutes.
    Mom opened the door fifty-seven minutes later but she didn’t say anything. I pretended to be asleep.
    At eleven twenty, I got out of bed and put on my blue pants and my white shirt. The hall was dark. I went downstairs. The lights on the tree were still burning, and there was stuff in the stocking.
    I got my coat and mittens and opened the door.
    It was pretty warm outside so I put my mittens in my pocket. Mom doesn’t like it when I lose my mittens. I heard a siren, which made my head feel funny. I don’t like sirens. I don’t like ambulances, especially if they are red.
    I walked to the town square.
    I waited.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    T om Crawford had a quiet Christmas Eve at home in his new one-bedroom condo. He nuked a chicken pot pie and settled in with a good book. It was lonely, but that was okay. He had an important appointment at midnight.
    And not at church either. It would be odd, not going to midnight mass, but Tom had this feeling, down in his gut, that he was supposed to be at the village green at midnight. It was as if fate was pushing him in that direction. He had no doubt that Teri would be there waiting for him, even if she hadn’t called or communicated with him since he’d sent the flowers. And he truly believed that an angel might make an appearance, and who would want to miss that?
    It was absurd to have such unshakable faith. But you couldn’t argue with a determined heart.
    Maybe it was what folks in town said about Savannah Randall and her matchmaking advice. Maybe it was hubris, plain and simple. Maybe it was knowing that guardian angels truly did exist for some children, especially sick children and the ones with big challenges. He didn’t care. He wasn’t into analyzing this. Down where it really mattered, he just knew that Teri and Aiden would be waiting for him at midnight.
    And then, at precisely eleven twenty-five, just as he was getting ready to stroll down to the village green, reality burst his bubble. His pager buzzed with the emergency code that required him to check in immediately or head to the clinic with all due haste. When this code appeared, it meant someone was battling for his or her life. Emergencies didn’t give a crap about a midnight rendezvous or potential angel encounters.
    He swallowed his disappointment and checked in. The dispatcher said it was a motorcycle accident with multiple injuries to the lower extremities and potential head trauma. The EMTs were bringing the patient to the clinic to be stabilized and triaged. If the injuries were severe enough, he would be sent via LifeNet helicopter to the Level 1 trauma center in Columbia. Otherwise, the patient would be sent on to the regional medical center in Orangeburg.
    Tom met the EMTs at the door of the clinic five minutes later.
    “I’m Doctor Crawford. What do we have?” he asked them.
    The lead EMT said, “It’s Elbert. He’s been in a motorcycle accident.”
    “Elbert? Elbert Rhodes?”
    “You know him?”
    “Not personally. What do we have?”
    “Male patient, mid-sixties. He’s got a compound fracture of the right tibia with a lot of debris in the wound. I think it’s probably a Grade III fracture. Possible concussion. Road rash on the right upper quadrant. His BP is sixty over ninety and falling. There may be internal injuries. We started a saline drip. He’s conscious, but confused.”
    Annie Jasper, the on-call RN, came running through the doors and spoke with the EMT. “Matt, oh my God, I heard that Elbert got in an accident,” she said.
    “I’m afraid it’s true. He was making a run