Prologue

It was a beautiful warm sunny day in the Valley of the Sun, just perfect for a Sunday drive with the family. Mike Stevens sat behind the wheel of his vintage Mustang convertible. Beside him, his beautiful, eight month pregnant wife Jennifer, leaned back in the bucket seat; eyes closed absorbing the warmth from the late October sun. In the back, their one year old daughter, tucked into her car seat, slept quietly as she usually did moments after beginning their drive.

'It doesn't get any better than this, ' thought Mike as he approached the intersection up ahead. A truck was in the left turn lane, waiting for the oncoming traffic to pass. The light was green and the road was clear. As Mike began to pass the truck he glanced over at Jennifer. He never saw the pickup truck that ran the light and hit the car broadside, killing him instantly. Jennifer, because of her condition, had chosen not to wear her lap belt, was thrown hard against the door and window of the car and nearly out of the vehicle. In the back, the car seat preformed its function flawlessly, protecting the baby, who began to scream.

The pickup forced the Mustang sideways, until they both ended up on the sidewalk, sandwiched between a utility pole and the traffic light pole. After the sounds of the crash, the crunching of glass and metal, the screeching of the tires, all that could be heard was the constant sound of the trucks' horn as the driver lay face first against the steering wheel.

The trucker who had been waiting to make his turn jumped down from his truck and ran to the pickup, trying to force the drivers' door open. After a few minutes, several other drivers stopped and cautiously approach the vehicles. They looked into what was left of the Mustang, horrified at the sight. No one paid any attention to the woman holding a baby trying to calm it as she walked down the street away from the scene of the accident. The sound of a police siren and an ambulance racing to the scene could be heard in the distance as she turned from the street into her apartment complex.

Moments later EMT personnel were doing their job, assessing the situation and providing emergency aid. They could tell that the man driving the car was already dead; the pregnant woman was in extremely critical condition and probably would not survive. The police were taking care of the man in the pickup truck, who was clearly drunk and appeared to have no life threatening injuries. As they lifted the woman out of the car placing her on a stretcher, she momentarily regained consciousness.

"Please take care of my baby."

"We'll do everything we can," they assured her as they placed an oxygen mask over her face and started an IV. She slipped back into the darkness, never to wake again. The ambulance raced to the hospital, where after several hours of intensive care, it was decided that the only course of action was to free the unborn baby from the womb. Although she would never know it, Jennifer Stevens gave birth to a healthy six pound, one ounce baby boy.

Back at the scene of the accident, the police were taking pictures of the scene and the vehicles involved, and taking statements from any eye witnesses. A criminal case was surely going to be pressed against the drunk driver. As two of the officers stood, admiring what was once a beautifully restored vehicle, one stated almost as an afterthought.

"Why would they have a car seat in the back; the baby was even born yet?"

It wasn't until the following day, during a routine search of the Stevens home, that they realized that they had another child, a baby girl, and that she was missing.