“I’m Officer Daniels,” he said, showing his badge. “I need to speak with your son about last night.”
My brain sprinted to the worst possible places.
“Is he in trouble?” I asked.
“No,” Daniels said. “Nothing like that.”
I called up the stairs.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Jax! Down here for a second!”
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He came down in sweats and socks, hair a fluffy pink mess, a bit of toothpaste on his chin.
He saw the officer and froze.
“I didn’t do anything,” he blurted.
Daniels’ mouth twitched.
The room went quiet.
“I know,” he said. “You did something good.”
Jax squinted. “Okay…” he said.
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Daniels took a breath.
“What you did last night,” he said, looking Jax in the eye, “you saved my baby.”
The room went quiet.
“Why was he even out there?”
“Your baby?” I said.
He nodded.
“That newborn the EMTs took. He’s my son.”
Jax’s eyes went huge.
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“Wait,” he said. “Why was he even out there?”
“Complications after the birth. It’s just me and him now.”
Daniels swallowed.
“My wife died three weeks ago,” he said softly. “Complications after the birth. It’s just me and him now.”
My grip tightened on the doorframe.
“I had to go back on shift,” he said. “I left him with my neighbor. She’s solid. But her teenage daughter was watching him while the mom ran to the store.”
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“He started crying. She panicked.”
His face tightened.
“She took him out to ‘show a friend,'” he said. “It was colder than she thought. He started crying. She panicked. Left him on that bench and ran home to get her mom.”
“She left him?” I whispered. “Out there?”
“She’s 14,” he said. “It was a terrible, stupid choice. My neighbor realized right away, but when they got back outside, he was gone.”
“Another 10 minutes in that cold and it might’ve ended very differently.”
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He looked at Jax again.
“You had him,” he said. “You’d already wrapped him in your jacket. The doctors said another 10 minutes in that cold and it might’ve ended very differently.”
I had to grab the back of a chair.
Jax shifted.
“I just… couldn’t walk away,” he said.
“A lot of people would’ve ignored the sound.”
Daniels nodded.
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“That’s the part that matters,” he said. “A lot of people would’ve ignored the sound. Thought it was a cat. You didn’t.”
He bent and picked up a baby carrier from the porch. I hadn’t even noticed it.
Inside, bundled in a real blanket, was the baby.
Warm now. Pink cheeks. Tiny hat with bear ears.
“I don’t want to break him.”
“This is Theo,” Daniels said. “My son.”
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