The Baby In The Back Seat

Too bad he’d packed his cameras in the back, he thought wryly. He couldn’t reach one without pulling off the road and rummaging through the boxes packed on the back seat of the car. Or in the cargo space, which was full of his belongings.

With a rain-soaked dirt road under the wheels, capturing on film the majestic green peaks was tempting, but it would have to wait until he reached his destination. If ever.

Getting lost really bothered him. Losing control. He was a man who wrote his own rules, traveled when, where and how he wanted and lived the good life. In his book, that meant being in charge.

To his growing disgust, he wasn’t in charge now.

In the background, he heard a baby whimper.

Sam frowned and checked the car radio. It wasn’t on. With a shrug he laid the sound down to an overactive imagination triggered by a guilt trip at having driven away from the one person he loved more than life itself—Annie.

The baby whimpered again, a demand for attention if he’d ever heard one, he thought miserably as he glanced through the rearview mirror.

The sight of the back of an infant car seat buckled on the back seat sent his adrenaline into overdrive.

A baby? Annie? If this was Paige’s idea of a joke, it was a damn poor one.

His attention momentarily diverted, the large white rented SUV bumped into a pothole, slid and, to his mounting horror, shot across a narrow ditch and aimed straight for an ancient weathered fence. His heart thundered as he threw all of his 180 pounds into stomping on the brakes. To his mounting dismay, the car skidded on the muddy road and continued on its wayward course straight for the fence.

Cursing his luck, Sam broke into a cold sweat. A giant stab of pain tore at his forehead. Terror washed over him as he realized the wheels had no traction. Heaven only knew where he would wind up. Or, if he was lucky, that the SUV would end up in one piece.

It wasn’t himself he was thinking about—it was the baby in the back seat he’d heard crying. He gritted his teeth.

Instead of coming to a stop, the SUV tore through the fence rails, careered up a small slope and crashed into a small water tower, with predictable results. As if in slow motion, the tower swayed, toppled and showered the car with a torrent of water. With a muffled curse, he wrested the door open, bounded out and headed for the rear door to rescue the baby in the back seat.

The baby was indeed Annie, and she was demanding attention in the only way she knew how. Tears rolled down her pink cheeks. Hiccups shook her tiny frame. To his relief she opened her eyes and smiled through her tears when she saw him.

Shielding her from the water with his body, Sam hurried to unfasten the baby carrier, grabbed it in his arms and stumbled away from the soaked SUV to dry land.

Annie’s brown eyes, golden-brown hair and teary smile brought a lump to his throat and questions to his mind. How had Annie gotten into the SUV?

A close look revealed a note pinned to her blanket.

“Sam,” he read with dismay, “I saw the way you looked at Annie when you said goodbye. I realized then she was better off with you than with me. By the time you read this, I’ll be on my way to Paris. Don’t bother to call me. I’ll call you. Paige.”

His heart beat double-time as he realized this was the reason Paige had been so anxious to help him load his belongings and to send him on his way.

He managed to muster a smile to reassure his infant daughter. There was no use scaring her, he thought as he regarded tiny teeth between quivering lips. A little dimple on her chin, a duplicate of his own larger one, clinched the deal. Annie was his responsibility.

Annie had been the unplanned result of a brief visit home fifteen months ago. Because of his commitments, he’d only seen her twice since she’d been born six months ago. Once, when she was born and her mother had shocked him by telling him she planned a divorce. The second, a few short hours ago when he’d kissed Annie goodbye.

His heart finally slowed enough so he could take a deep breath. It wasn’t only the accident that gave him pause. It was the thought of taking on the responsibility of raising a child on his own. Especially one as young as Annie.

One thing for sure, fatherhood had to be a daunting experience under any circumstances.

In his case, he honestly knew zip about babies. If Annie didn’t fit into her mother’s schedule, she didn’t fit into his own nomadic career, either.

He gazed at his infant daughter. She might have been unplanned and her presence in the SUV unexpected, but he loved every tiny inch of her.

His lifestyle was definitely going to have to change.

His immediate problem, aside from having Annie with him, was the car’s busted radiator. He wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and smiled his reassurance at the baby. Good thing she couldn’t know he hadn’t the foggiest idea of what to do now. Not with her or the car, either.

Shouts, the excited barking of a dog and the sound of a galloping horse drew his attention. In the distance he saw a rider bearing down on him. Thank God, he thought as he jiggled the baby carrier; help was on its way.

He drew a deep breath and fought to think of a lucid answer to the question that was surely coming. What in hell had caused him to crash through the fence and take down the water tower?

A baby’s cry? No one in his right mind would believe him. After all, from his limited experience he knew babies cried all the time.

He hadn’t known the baby was there? How could he explain he hadn’t known Annie was in the back seat until he heard her cry? True, but no one would buy that story, either.

Explain that his ex-wife must have put the baby in the SUV while he was picking up the last of his belongings and about to leave home for the last time? That was the truth but just as unbelievable.

The rider bore down on him. There was something about the guy’s body language that told him not to expect a welcome. He clutched the baby carrier and took a step back.

“Just what did you think you were doing?” the irate rider shouted. He pulled the horse to a halt inches away from Sam’s nose and glared down at him.

Sam swallowed hard. He didn’t blame the guy for being angry, but the look on his face was more than anger. The guy was furious.

“Sorry, mister,” Sam began, then stopped short when he realized the person confronting him was a woman. And not an ordinary woman. This one had a rifle resting in the crook of her elbow and looked ready to use it.

He did a double take and took another step backward. He couldn’t help himself. Up close the woman looked interesting, if dangerous. She was dressed in a well-washed blue cotton shirt and tight worn jeans. Long trim legs were encased in soft leather boots that, like the ranch behind her, had seen better days. From her boots to her gold windblown hair, she was all woman. A woman with sparkling green eyes that would have reminded him of green meadows in springtime if she hadn’t been so angry. Right now, her eyes looked like twin tornadoes.

Her eyes widened when she finally focused on the infant carrier in his arms. She let loose with the barrage of questions he’d known were coming. “What in heaven’s name were you thinking? How could you drive so irresponsibly with a baby in the car?” Before he could answer, she went on, “Is the baby all right? You’re lucky the two of you weren’t killed!”

“I didn’t know she was there,” Sam protested when the woman stopped to catch her breath. He straightened his back and attempted a smile. What was he apologizing for? After all, he was innocent. “That is, I didn’t know she was there until I heard her cry. Her crying startled me and made me lose control of the car.”

Behind him, the last wooden support of the water tower fell with a thud, and the last of the water it had contained drained out like a creek that had broken through its banks.

Sam and the woman on the horse surveyed the scene in silence. He was trying to think of something to say when she spoke for him. “Great driving,” she finally said with a look of disgust.

Sam had intended to try to charm his way through the confrontation, but it was obviously no use. The lady was mad as hell at the destruction of her property. He looked back over his shoulder at the muddy tire skids, the broken fence, the pile of wood and corrugated tin that had been a water tower. Considering the amount of devastation he’d caused, he couldn’t blame her. He hoped she had no thoughts of using the gun she held. “Don’t worry. I’ll pay for the damages.”

“You didn’t know the baby was there?” she echoed, ignoring his offer. Her eyes narrowed, and she studied him closely. Close enough to make him shiver under his soaked clothing, even though the sun was shining. “Been drinking?”

“No way!” Sam answered, juggling the carrier so that Annie wouldn’t think he’d forgotten her. “The God’s honest truth is that my ex-wife put the baby in the back seat of my car without telling me.”

“Try again,” his inquisitor said dryly. “Sounds like a custody argument to me. Are you sure you didn’t take the baby when your ex wasn’t looking?”

Sam was insulted. He’d been called a lot of things, but never anything as bad as this. “Good Lord! Do I look like a kidnapper?”

When the woman raised an eyebrow, Sam felt like a fool. She was right. He might not look like a kidnapper, but he did look foolish.

Between the damaged SUV, his own wet and muddy condition, the baby in the carrier and the woman on horseback holding a gun, things were beginning to look like a TV sitcom. Only he didn’t feel like laughing.

“It’s the truth. When I stopped to pick up my belongings at my ex’s request, Paige must have put the baby carrier with Annie into the car. I swear, this came as a complete surprise.”