“Mom?Mom!”Craig sounded scared.
“It’s all right.” Maggie tried to reach out to him, to comfort him. He was alive. That was all that mattered now. She felt through whatever mom-knowing she had with Craig, had always had with him, that he was okay.
The pain was all hers.
She said, “It’s fine. You’re safe, baby. We stopped and—”
“You’rebleeding.” His seatbelt unbuckled with a clunk, and Maggie looked over at him.
He looked fine, completely uninjured. She felt no pain radiating from him.Bubble. The bubble worked.Her woozy brain insisted she’d protected him, that she’d wrapped him up in a bubble and kept himsafe even now. He was fine. That was all she needed to know. She could let go.
“Christ. Mom, open your eyes.” Craig’s hand was on her cheek, like when he was a toddler and she’d had the flu. “Please, Mom? Look at me. I need you to stay awake.”
Maggie reached up to pat his hand. “Mommy’s tired right now. Go play with your trucks…”
He slapped her face. “No. Wakeup,Mom! I need you to wake up.”
As Maggie opened her eyes, she saw her son trying to get her seatbelt undone. “Come on, Mom. Help me get you out. Focus.”
“Hey.” She grabbed his arm, realizing too late that she was leaving blood on his arm. “I’m okay, sweetie. I’m okay.”
“You’rereallynot.”
Maggie focused on clarity she didn’t quite have, suddenly doubting herself at the sight of blood on him. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m okay. The blood’s all yours, Mom. I’m fine. You need—”
“Just climb out the window. One step at a time. You get out, and then we’ll get me out, okay? This is just a scratch.… Remember when you got that cut skateboarding. What did I say?”
“Head wounds bleed more. Thin skin,” Craig repeated dutifully.
“Right. I’m okay. Just a cut.” Maggie was fairly sure she was lying, but all that mattered was Craig being focused enough to be safe. Her chest hurt where a bone was broken.
My lungs hurt.
Craig climbed out the now-shattered back window with all the agility of a teen baseball player. Then he jerked on her door, shaking the entire SUV in the process. “It’s stuck.”
“Okay… but you’re out there now, right?”
“Youaren’t, though, Mom.” He looked like he was going to start crying. He’d stuck his arm through the window and tried to force the seatbelt to release her. Her increasingly mature son sounded like a small child now. “Your door’s stuck. Your seatbelt. What do wedo?”
“Phone?” she asked, pushing her panic as far down as she could. Her lungs hurt like there wasn’t enough air getting in, and she couldn’t tell if it was an injury or panic attack.
“No signal,” Craig said finally. “I texted Dad, and Coach, and… that’s it. I’m not even sure if the texts went and—”
“Shhh. Hey? Look at me. I’m okay. Just hit my head.” Maggie tried to sound cheerful, calm, all the things you had to be when your kid was panicking. “I just need a little nap for energy. Then I’ll think of something.”
“I’ll flag someone down,” Craig promised, sounding calmer now that he had an idea. He really was more like her than his dad, and she was grateful for it. He nodded to himself. “I can climb up there. I’ll get help, and then we’ll get you out of there. Just… try to stay awake, Mom. Please?”
“Sure, baby.”
“I can’t help you if you don’t cooperate,” he said, sounding far more mature than his teen experience would hint. “Stay awake.”
“Got it, but I need you to be careful with the cars up there! If there’s anyone sketchy, you stay away from them. Don’t get in a car with a stranger either. Just ask them to call the cops or ambulance.” Margaret wanted to grab him, protect him. She was the mother, not a child to be rescued. “Then you come down here with me to wait. Stay with me while they come back, so I can protect you. I love you.”
“You, too. Always, Mom. Always.” He kissed her cheek, and then he took off.
He’d been swearing and darting worried looks at her when Margaret watched him vanish into the forest. That boy was the single greatest achievement of her life. No degrees or legal victories compared to the way she felt looking at the kindhearted man she was raising.
