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“It’s okay, she’s right here in my arms. I have her wrapped up in my parka. She’s as snug as a bug in a rug. I promise.”

The police officer laughed.

“We’ve called for an ambulance, ma’am. They’re on their way. Their ETA is ten minutes. We’ll get you and your daughter to the hospital in Knoxville real quick.”

“Do you know who’s in the ambulance?” I asked.

“I beg your pardon?”

“The EMTs. Do you know who the EMTs are?”

“No ma’am.”

“Can you find out? If one of them is Zarek Post, you might want to give him a heads-up that I’m the patient.” I frowned. “Never mind. If he knows ahead of time, he’ll wreck the truck getting here.”

“I don’t understand.” The police officer looked all kinds of confused.

“I thought Zarek was a firefighter,” Adam said.

“He is, but he’s also a trained EMT, and sometimes he’ll pitch in when shit hits the fan, like this blizzard.”

“Zarek Post?” The officer asked.

“Yes. He’s the baby’s father,” Zoe explained.

“Well, isn’t that something.”

“I think it’s best to tell him when I’m safely at the hospital in Knoxville.”

“I don’t know about that, Zoe,” Adam said. “It’s morning now. I think your whole family is probably worried sick about you. If Officer Peasley can radio out a message that you’re all right, don’t you think that would be good?”

“You’re right.” I looked at Peasley. “But don’t tell them about me having the baby, okay? Just tell them I’m all right and I’m being taken to the hospital in Knoxville to get checked out, okay?”

He nodded. “I’ll radio Sheriff Nash Rivers in Jasper Creek. He can get word to your family. Will that work?”

“Yes.” I yawned. That was all I was good for. “Adam, can you hand Olivia back to me?”

He looked over at me. “Zoe, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think you’re about to fall asleep again.”

I yawned again, then glared at him. “I can stay awake until the ambulance shows up. Now give me my daugh—” I stopped. “Now give me Olivia.”

I felt Olivia's warm weight settle into my arms, and just like that, every ache in my body receded to background noise. She was still making that small, indignant sound she'd been making since the first moment I’d held her. It was as if she was still pissed that she’d had to leave the warm cocoon of my body. I tucked her closer and pressed my lips to the top of her head.

"It’s good out here," I murmured. "I've got you. Your timing is terrible, but I've got you."

Adam was watching me from the front seat with an expression I didn't have the energy to analyze. Outside, Officer Peasley's radio crackled and he stepped away from the truck window to answer it.

I knew the ambulance was coming. It was a crapshoot as to whether Zarek would be in it. I couldn’t decide if it would be a good thing or a bad thing. Ultimately, I thought bad. His attention would be too split, no matter how much of a professional he was.

Damn, I was tired.

Not the normal kind of tired. Not the kind that a good night's sleep would fix. It was the kind that would last for days. It must feel like when Drake had gone through BUD/S only worse. I was going to sleep for approximately four hundred years when this was over, and I was going to do it in a real bed, and nobody was going to interrupt me by asking about belly buttons.

"Dad?"

I giggled. Of course he was talking. I think about James, and he starts talking.

James's voice came from the front seat, thick with sleep, confused. I heard the rustle of him shifting, the small sounds of a child waking up from a sound sleep. He sounded like my nephew Lawson.