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“Not like this. I can’t tell you like this. Once you’re here, we’ll talk.”

It wasn’t good enough. “No, Jen. Tell me. We don’t know what the future holds. If something is troubling you, I want to hear it. I want to fix what’s wrong between us.” For the longest time, he wasn’t sure she would answer.

“All right. But this is hard to say.” She drew in a breath. “I’m pregnant, Ben. I’m—we’re—going to have a baby, and I’m so scared.”

He almost dropped the phone. The betrayal he felt at that realization threatened to crumble him, but he forced his anger aside. “It’s going to be alright. I’m coming to get you. Keep safe until I get there. And no matter what, know that I love you. With all my heart I love you and we’ll figure this out together.”

She sobbed into the phone. “I love you, too. And I’m so sorry.”

The call dropped. His stomach plummeted. The stakes just ratcheted up another notch with the news he was going to be a father.

???

Tears made it hard to see the narrow road ahead. She’d made a horrible mistake. Ran when she should have stayed and worked things out with Ben. Would her failures cost her husband his life? Their child’s? Fear gripped her heart. She’d never forgive herself if that happened.

Snow continued to thicken as she climbed the mountain where the old abandoned silver mine was located. The storm that was moving into the area dumped snow at an alarming rate and took away visibility beyond a few feet. Today was December twenty-fifth. Christmas Day. Instead of peace, the world had gone crazy.

She’d put the truck in four-wheel-drive at the base of Silver Mountain. Would it be enough to make it to the top? She had no idea. Though she’d driven in bad weather conditions many times, her hands grew sweaty on the wheel. So much was at stake.

With the windshield wipers turned on high, Jen crept up the mountainside. Even with four-wheel-drive the truck slid sideways several times. The sheer drop-off to her left would mean certain death if she failed to keep the vehicle on the road.

Her knuckles turned white from gripping the wheel tight. With the weather deteriorating, Jen slowed to an almost non-existent speed as she edged around a hairpin curve. Tires slipped. The truck slid sideways and crept toward the edge. She screamed as the back wheels slipped over the side of the mountain and the vehicle teetered on the edge.

With a frantic look, she unfastened the seatbelt and grabbed the door handle. The truck slipped a little more. She screamed again. The open door reflected nothing but air.

Jen scrambled across the seat and forced the passenger door open against momentum. The truck shuddered in reaction to the movement. She flew out the door. There was just enough time to grab her backpack and the phone and run. She’d barely cleared two steps when, with a grinding and groaning of metal, the truck plunged over the side of the mountain crashing and plowing up trees as it came to its final resting place below.

With her breath coming in panicked gasps, she glanced over the side of the mountain in time to see a fireball shoot up from the destruction. If she’d been a few seconds late, she’d be dead.

Jen shuddered at the image and tugged her coat close around her body and started walking. Snow covered her quickly, but she fought against the blizzard winds every step of the way. When she cleared the final curve of the mountain, the old mine came into view. Nothing about it was inviting and her stomach flipped.

Next to the mine’s boarded-up entrance sat a small cabin. No doubt it provided shelter for the miners. She headed to it while praying she’d find a woodstove inside. Some way to warm up.

The door was frozen shut from the winter’s onslaught. It took several tries, pulling as hard as she could before the ice released it from its grasp.

Jen stumbled inside and surveyed the dirty one-room cabin through darkness.

The roof was decaying. Several missing boards let in snow and freezing air. If she stayed here long in these conditions, she’d succumb to the elements.

The woodstove in the corner was a blessing. A couple of pieces of old wood were left over from when the mine was functional.

Her fingers felt close to frostbite as she piled the wood inside and found an old magazine to crumple for kindling. The matches left on top of the stove proved useless. She removed the lighter from her backpack and touched its flame to the paper. It caught immediately. Soon the wood did as well. She held her frozen hands inches from the fire to warm them while fighting back despair.

From outside a sound beyond the fierce wind pulled her attention from the fire. A vehicle was moving up the mountain. She checked the time on the phone. Ben was still another hour out. The realization threatened to break her. They’d found her. She had to get out of the cabin before they arrived. They’d see the fire and know someone had been there.

Jen grabbed her backpack, eased to the door, and cracked it. The vehicle wasn’t yet in sight. She slipped from the cabin. To her right, the mine marked the end of the road. Her only choice of escape was to head back down the mountain without taking the road. Straight ahead was the sheer drop-off where the truck had slid off the mountain. That left a single option. The woods bordering the other side of the road.

Nothing about the thick darkness inside the woods was welcoming, yet she wanted to live.

Jen hurried up the steep incline to the entrance of the woods. She kept her pace as fast as the rugged terrain would allow. Without being able to use the flashlight she’d brought with her the ground was hard to see. She stumbled several times and almost fell.

It wouldn’t be long before the vehicle reached the place where she’d gone over. She couldn’t afford to stop. The cold wind burned her chest and she was terrified for her child.

The driver wasn’t using headlights. Whether or not he noticed the spot the truck had gone off the road, the driver didn’t slow down any. Which meant she’d have to hurry. It wouldn’t be long before they realized she’d been at the cabin. They’d come after her.

She waited until the vehicle moved past, then she ran as fast as she could under the conditions.

A noise up ahead grabbed her attention. She stopped. Was it an animal? Peering through the darkness, all she could see was more of the same. Jen huffed out a breath and slowed down. She’d taken but a handful of steps when someone grabbed her from behind. A hand snaked across her mouth to prevent her from screaming. She was pulled against the person’s body.

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