“Respira, Juanita. Respira.”
When Hunter showed the young woman what he meant, she trustingly stared into his eyes and began to concentrate on doing as he requested. Once she stopped fighting the pain, she rapidly progressed to the pushing phase of the delivery. Moving into position to lift her shoulders when it came time to push, he continued to reassure her that everything was going to be all right.
“Todo será bien, Juanita.”
“Tell her to stop the shallow breathing and start pushing,” Callie said, showing the woman how to position her hands on her knees for leverage.
Encouraging Juanita to push with all her might, he supported her shoulders, and after only a couple of tries, the baby’s dark head emerged from the young woman’s lower body. Hunter watched Callie quickly and efficiently suction the infant’s nose and mouth before it was time for Juanita to push the rest of her baby out into the world.
With one more mighty push from Juanita, the baby slid out into Callie’s waiting hands. Without being prompted, the baby girl opened her mouth and wailed at the top of her tiny lungs.
“Mí bebé,” Juanita murmured tearfully.
“You have a beautiful daughter, Juanita,” Callie said, placing the baby on her mother’s stomach.
Awed by the miracle he’d just witnessed, the moment was so bittersweet Hunter couldn’t have pushed words past the lump clogging his throat if his life depended on it. Although he was happy for the Rodriguez family and their new addition, he’d never know what it was like to watch his own son or daughter come into the world. After losing Ellen and their unborn child, he never intended to put himself in the position of loving someone and taking the risk of losing them. He’d been down that road before and had barely survived. There was no way in hell he could go through that again.
“Hunter, could you please hold the baby while I get Juanita ready for transport?” Callie asked, breaking into his disturbing thoughts.
The last thing he wanted to do was hold a baby. He knew for certain it would only compound his sense of loss and regret that he’d never hold his own child. But before he could protest, Callie placed the baby in his arms. As he stared down at the red-faced little girl wrapped in a soft white blanket, instead of the sorrow he expected, Hunter couldn’t help but marvel at how small she was, how perfect.
Gently touching her little hand, he was thoroughly amazed when the baby curled her perfectly formed tiny fingers around one of his. “She’s holding on to me.”
“Babies do that,” Callie said, smiling.
He watched Callie and Juanita exchange an indulgent glance. Apparently there was no language barrier when it came to women’s opinions of men. It must be universally accepted that men didn’t have a clue about these things. But that was okay with him. Men didn’t understand women, so he supposed that made the genders pretty equal.
While Callie radioed the hospital to report a successful, complication-free birth, Hunter contemplated how they were going to get Juanita into the helicopter without Corey. He wasn’t about to let Callie lift anything heavier than her nurse’s bag or the baby, and the door and hallway were too narrow to get the stretcher into the bedroom. That left only one alternative.
“Are we ready for transport?” When Callie nodded, he handed her the baby. “You take your nurse’s bag and the baby while I carry Juanita to the chopper.”
“That would probably be best,” Callie said, lifting the nylon bag’s webbed strap to her shoulder. “You’d probably have to carry her to the front door before you could put her on the stretcher anyway.”
Telling Juanita what was taking place, Hunter scooped her slight body into his arms and carried her out to the helicopter. Once he placed her on the stretcher and Callie handed her the baby, Juanita and her new daughter both drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
The flight to El Paso was uneventful, and once they had Juanita and her new daughter safely checked in to the hospital, Callie and Hunter boarded the helicopter and headed back to the Life Medevac base.
“You did a wonderful job of calming Juanita down,” Callie said as she stared through the windshield at the vast blue sky ahead of them. Riding in the front seat next to Hunter on the trip back to Devil’s Fork, she enjoyed the view of the rugged Texas mountains that she missed when riding in the back with a patient.
“It didn’t show that I had no idea what I was doing?” he asked, grinning sheepishly.
Smiling, she shook her head. “Not at all. Juanita is young and had no idea what to expect when her contractions started. Factor in that she was home alone and miles away from help and it was no wonder she was frightened half out of her mind. You were able to put her at ease and that made it a lot easier for her.”
He shrugged. “I just did what I thought would help.” They were both silent for some time before he asked, “Who’s going to be with you when you have your baby?”
It was the last thing she’d expected him to ask. “Are you volunteering for the job?”
“Hell no.”
She laughed at his horrified expression. “But you’re a great labor coach.”
He grunted. “Only because Corey wasn’t there to take over for me. I’m the pilot, remember?”
“You’re also a certified EMT.”
“Only because my grandmother strongly suggested that it would be a good idea since I was taking over an air-ambulance service.” He shrugged. “Besides, whether or not you and the father of your baby are together, I’m sure he’ll want to be there when his son is born. He can be your breathing coach.”
A cold chill ran the length of her spine at the thought of Craig Culbertson being anywhere near her or her child. “I can assure you, he won’t be anywhere around when I give birth.”
“Maybe he’ll change his mind.”
“It’s not an issue.”
Hunter was quiet for a moment, then turned his head to give her a questioning look. “He doesn’t even know he’s fathered a child, does he?” His mouth flattening into a disapproving line, he shook his head. “Forget that I asked. It’s none of my business.”
She hadn’t discussed with anyone—not even her mother—why she’d made the decision not to tell Craig about the baby. But she needed to make Hunter understand, without divulging too many details, why she felt she had no choice but to keep her silence.
“Believe me, it’s for the best.” Placing her hand protectively over her son, she shook her head. “Even if I told him about the baby, he wouldn’t care.”