Dana Marlowe came through the lobby on a stretcher.
Pale.
Hair matted with creek water.
A neck brace.
A bandage on her forehead.
“Baby,” she said.
Josie ran.
The medics slowed the stretcher.
The little girl climbed up beside her mother, careful of the sling.
They clung to each other.
Half the lobby was crying with them.
Over Josie’s shoulder, Dana found Lauren’s eyes.
“You kept your promise,” she said hoarsely.
“I’m sorry it took so long.”
“You were never supposed to find us.”
“Josie found me.”
Dana laughed and sobbed at once.
She reached out her good hand, and Lauren took it.
“They told me you quit.”
“I did. I thought I had nothing left to give.”
“You gave my daughter a pair of gloves and a rule,” Dana whispered. “She walked through a storm because of it.”
Josie sat up and wiped her face.
She pulled the yellow gloves from her sweater pocket.
