Welcome Kay Springsteen

A Novel Inspired by Personal Events
By Kay Springsteen

Sadie is a 3-foot tall, 28-pound bundle of pure delightful energy. She’s pretty typical for a little girl just over 2 years old. But she has one thing that sets her apart from most of her peers. She shouldn’t be here.

In the autumn of 2008, my son and daughter-in-law were in a horrible car accident, when Jared lost control of their car and went over a mountain embankment. They became airborne and came to a stop only when their car struck a boulder the size of a small truck.

The passenger side of the car took the brunt of the impact and before they got out, the car caught on fire. Faced with the fear of fire, Jared had no choice but to pull his wife from the wreckage himself. By the time help arrived, the fire was out. Nicole was taken to the hospital via helicopter and Jared followed by ambulance.

My daughter-in-law told the hospital staff that pregnancy was always a possibility but a pregnancy test was negative. Therefore, Nicole was taken for x-rays and an MRI. With many broken bones and some internal injuries, Nicole required multiple surgeries to repair the bones in her right arm and wrist. She was also placed into a splint for a broken ankle. Aside from experiencing the impact itself, Nicole was exposed to anti-inflammatory meds, pain meds, anesthesia for the surgeries, and radiology procedures.

Six weeks later, we found out Nicole was pregnant—had been pregnant through the entire ordeal of the crash and her recovery. Doctors warned us that the odds of the pregnancy resulting in a full term healthy baby were slim. And yet, the pregnancy continued. My daughter-in-law took care of herself and saw the doctor faithfully, and still we were warned that there could be problems with the baby after she—we found out in December that we would have a girl—was born.

But on May 6, 2009, Sadie Katherine Ann Tate entered the world at a petite 5 pounds 8 ounces, and went home soon after. She is now a livewire who enjoys spending time with the people she loves, enjoys reading with Mamaa (that would be me) and loves to play and run like any other 2-1/2-year-old. I think all children are sweet toppings to the sundaes of our lives, but having a baby in my life who beat a lot of odds to get here makes her the chocolate sprinkles on top of the whipped cream. Whenever I feel a little blue, I have only to spend an afternoon with my granddaughter. A little Sadie Therapy goes a long, long way.

My October 2011 release, Heartsent, features Sadie on the cover, along with my daughter, Sadie’s Aunt Mary. I suppose when she’s a teenager and realizes we used her as the cover model for a baby boy, she might have something to say … then again, she does like fixing the car with Daddy. While I was taking my novel through the editing process, I began to recognize that some of my inspiration for this book must have come from the miracle of my granddaughter’s birth.

With her strict no-dating-within-the-department rule, Firefighter Lina Standish has a nickname in the Salem Hills Fire Department: Lina “Standoffish”. But Firefighter Kevin Daly has had his eye on Standoffish ever since a locker room incident nearly a year earlier, and now he plans to break all her rules. With the help of his niece and a hot-air balloon, he gets Lina’s attention and she agrees to “hang out” with Kevin as friends off duty, to take it slow and see where things go between them. Then Lina’s life is turned upside down by a surprise miracle who doesn’t even have a name. Kevin’s ready to step up, but is Lina?

Available from
Astraea Press (www.astraeapress.com), Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Smashwords, Wordstrand