The Mountain Midwife by Laurie Alice Eakes

Author:Laurie Alice Eakes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2015-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

ASHLEY THREW UP her arm to block the light from her eyes. Behind her, Mary Kate gasped, then began to cough uncontrollably, and her son started to cry. Ahead, the truck kept coming, the roar of its engine sounding like floodwaters rushing down the mountain.

Hunter threw the Tahoe in reverse. No one could back up quickly around a curve, not safely. But the truck wasn’t giving ground. Hunter floored the Tahoe backward, wheels skidding on the wet gravel, catching, skidding again. Skidding and sliding. Sliding. The right rear wheel bumped down, spun, stuck. The engine roared. The Tahoe didn’t move.

The truck blew past them with only inches to spare.

Despite the now-idling Tahoe engine and driving rain, the mountain seemed quiet in the wake of the truck’s passing. Even Mary Kate’s coughing had ceased and her son’s crying was no more than weak hiccups.

“I thought,” Hunter said drily, “people gave way to you on the mountain.”

“They always have. But that truck . . .” She closed her eyes and pictured the jacked-up pickup coming toward them.

And saw another vision of another jacked-up pickup speeding toward her. This was on the mountain. That was in her driveway.

“You recognized it?” Hunter asked.

“Maybe.” Ashley turned in her seat. “Are you all right, Mary Kate?”

She nodded. She didn’t sound okay. Her breath wheezed in and out like an asthmatic bellows. If worse came to worst, Ashley could administer oxygen to Mary Kate. She always carried oxygen in her vehicle for when babies needed it after birth. Right now the best thing was to get them out of the mud and into town and the hospital.

Ashley turned back to Hunter. “How do we get out of here?”

“Depends. Do you have a jack?”

“Of course.”

“And something solid like an old rug?”

“I carry kitty litter in the winter but, no, not anything like an old rug.”

“Perhaps we can use some of these rocks to create traction.” He glanced back at Mary Kate. “Sit tight.”

“I can get out if that’ll help.”

“Not on your life.” Ashley reached between the seats and pressed Mary Kate’s hand. “We’ll do fine.”

They all looked out the windows, streaked with water as though they sat beneath a waterfall.

“We could always call Triple A,” Hunter suggested.

Ashley glared at him. “Is that supposed to be funny?”

“No.”

“I thought you’d driven in worse places than this.”

“I have—with at least one other male along.”

“Who is, of course, stronger and more resilient.”

“Stronger, anyway.”

Ashley scowled at him, then pulled out her phone. Zero bars of service.

Hunter did the same. “I had some service in the hollow.”

“I have no idea why the phone service is so sporadic. Tower placement, I suspect. There’s one on the other side of the holler, but not on this part.” Ashley shoved her phone into her pocket, then removed it and stuck it in the glove box. “I’ll go get the jack out.”

She wasn’t convinced it would work in this mud.

“No, I will.” Hunter put his phone with hers. “I got us into this, I’ll get us out.”

They both got out and converged on the right rear panel.

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