His Touch by Patty Blount Read Free Book Online Page A

and ran the shower hot. Steam was good. That was what all the books had taught her. Nadia stirred, tried to breathe, but launched into a coughing fit that jerked her entire body, every cough sounding like the bark of a baby seal.
    “Oh, God,” Kara gasped when she saw the baby’s hands.
    They were blue.
    She ran for the cell, still on the sofa where she’d tossed it, and dialed 911.
    *
    Minutes ticked by, longer than hours. Finally, the buzzer sounded and Kara left Nadia in the middle of the living room floor, flung open the door, waited anxiously for the elevator to arrive on the fourth floor. She left the door open, went back to Nadia. Her feet and her hands were blue and her breath rattled in her tiny chest. Kara sat on the floor beside her, stroking the curls away from her face. She didn’t understand this. Nadia wasn’t sick until a few hours ago! She’d had a runny nose—that was all. She had a little cough and a runny nose. What happened? What the hell happened?
    “Paramedics! Hello?”
    “In here!”
    Two men carrying canvas bags hurried in. Kara looked up, right into the scowling face of Reid Bennett.
    “You,” he snarled.
    It was him, the same paramedic who’d taught the CPR class. The same paramedic who’d rescued Nadia in the store. Kara could only shake her head. She didn’t care how much he hated her, how much she annoyed him. He had to help her little girl. He just had to.
    “Mr. Bennett. Her hands. They’re blue. Please. Help her.”
    He frowned, bent to the floor and did his job. “Patient is lethargic.” He whipped out a stethoscope and inserted it in his ears. He lifted the baby’s shirt, listened to her heart and lungs. “No signs of rash. No fever. Inspiratory and expiratory stridor.” He tilted the baby’s head back, flashed his pen light into her mouth. “Airway’s clear but tissues are swollen.”
    “Heart rate’s high,” his partner, Jacob Stewart, muttered. “How much does she weigh, ma’am?”
    “Um. Twenty-two pounds.”
    “And how old is she?”
    “She’ll be eighteen months old on the twenty-first.”
    “Has she been sick?”
    Kara spread her hands. “No! She was fine all day, until dinner. Then she started coughing and had a runny nose and acted strange. I gave her some cold medicine before bed.”
    “Strange, how?”
    “She didn’t want me to put her down. She’s not usually a cuddler.”
    “When did the breathing issues begin?”
    “She woke up about twenty minutes ago, barking like a little seal. I ran the shower but the steam didn’t help. When I saw her hands go blue, I called 911.”
    “You did the right thing, ma’am,” the paramedic reassured her. He unzipped his bag, pulled out a pediatric oxygen ball valve mask and handed it to Reid.
    Reid gently placed the mask over Nadia’s nose and mouth and began rapidly squeezing the ball. The baby made a small protest and that started another coughing fit.
    The other paramedic shook his head. “We need to transport. Now.”
    “What is it? Oh, God! Please. Is she okay?”
    “Sounds like croup, probably spasmodic,” the nice paramedic replied. “Your daughter’s airway is swelling shut. We need to transport her immediately to the emergency room for intervention.”
    “Okay. Okay. God. Yeah. Okay. Right.”
    Kara stood up, ran to the bedroom, came back with a bag and began stuffing things inside it. Blanket, phone, keys, Nadia’s favorite Teddy bear. The paramedics packed up their gear, scooped up the baby, and moved for the elevator. Reid clicked the mic fastened to his shirt, began transmitting their patient’s vitals. “ETA, eight minutes.”
    “Ambulance 6, acknowledged.”
    With their tiny patient safely aboard their rig, Reid continued to squeezed the bag over Nadia’s nose and mouth while the other paramedic drove, lights and sirens on. Beside the stretcher, Kara watched, crying silently. Reid cursed. “Ms. Larsen. Kara! Look at me.”
    Kara raised damp brown eyes to his and instead