Hidden Blessing

When Shannon hung up, she sat for a long minute. Maybe she should start concentrating on finding a position in another part of the country. She hated to leave the Los Angeles area, but if nothing developed in the next few weeks, she’d have to relocate and find a position elsewhere, anyway. She’d only rented her apartment on a temporary basis, but the couple who had taken it would probably sign an extended lease, or maybe even buy it. She ran a tired hand through her hair. Just thinking about giving up all that she’d struggled to create for herself brought a bone-deep weariness and anger. It wasn’t fair.

She glanced at her watch, then stood up with a jerk. She couldn’t believe how fast the time was going. Hurriedly, she stripped off her wrinkled clothes and dived into the shower, delighting in the cleansing sprays of warm water. Although they had opened the gym showers at the school to the displaced refugees, Shannon had declined to push her way into the line of people waiting to use them. Personal privacy had always been important to her, and having been raised in an affluent family as the only child, she’d always enjoyed her own things and her own space.

She sighed with utter contentment as she bathed with her favorite scented soap and shampooed her hair. She stepped out of the shower, refreshed, and quickly dressed in tailored slacks and a matching soft blue knit top. She towel-dried her shoulder-length hair and secured it in a clip at the back of her head.

She deliberately ignored the moving hands on her watch as she began packing her suitcases, giving careful attention to a small canvas overnight bag that she would keep with her. She hadn’t unpacked the boxes that had held her books and laptop computer. She took them out to the car and stowed them in the trunk, along with her suitcases. She made one last trip to fill some kitchen sacks with foodstuff she didn’t want to leave behind.

When she was ready to lock the front door of the cottage, she dared a look at her watch. She couldn’t believe it! Already a half hour past the two-hour limit. Lifting her head, she quickly searched the mountain skyline. There seemed to be more dark smoke thickening on the horizon.

She bounded down the front steps, opened the door to her car and was about to climb in when she heard some commotion behind her. She swung around. A small black dog with white feet scurried toward her, his tail wagging furiously as he greeted her enthusiastically with a friendly, puppy-size bark.

There was no doubt in Shannon’s mind that he was Pokey. She laughed as the puppy danced around her feet and put his paws on her legs. As she picked the fellow up, his little legs shot out in all directions, and his pink tongue was like windshield wipers gone berserk as he washed her face with jubilant kisses.

“I know someone who’s going to be glad to see you,” she said, chuckling as she opened the back door of the car and put him inside. “Lie down, Pokey,” she ordered, but the puppy stood on the back seat, his head cocked to one side and his tail wagging as fiercely as ever.

She tossed her shoulder purse on top of her small overnight bag and hurriedly backed out of the gravel driveway.

There was no sign of other cars on the narrow winding road ahead, and she kept glancing in the mirror to see if there were any stragglers behind her. The road was pointedly empty. She couldn’t believe everyone else had observed the time limit. Well, it didn’t matter. Once traffic was allowed on the highway to Elkhorn, she’d be on her way out of here.

She was lost in thought when suddenly, without warning, Pokey suddenly leaped from the back seat into the front, sending her purse and the small canvas overnight bag flying.

“No, Pokey, no!” she protested as the dog tried to scramble into her arms. In her effort to shove him away, she turned the steering wheel too sharply.

The car left the pavement.

Frantically she tried to bring it back on the road, but the wheels failed to gain any traction on the narrow dirt shoulder. The car began to slowly slide downward.

Panic-stricken, she fumbled with her seat belt. Before she could get it unfastened, the car sounded as if its insides were being torn out, and it stopped with a jolt that threw her forward. Only her seat belt kept her from crashing her head against the dashboard.

What was happening? The back end of the car slanted downward, and the road lay about fifty yards above. Any moment she expected the car to start sliding again.

The dog was dancing all over the seat, trying to get into her arms. “No, Pokey, we have to get out.”

The door wouldn’t open. She shoved as hard as she could, but it was wedged shut. She saw then that none of the doors would open wide enough for her to get out. All were jammed against huge boulders that had momentarily snagged the car.

She was trapped, and even the slightest movement seemed to rock the car on its precarious perch.

Ward glanced at his watch for the tenth time in less than five minutes. He was positioned at the bottom of the mountain road, checking off the names of residents who had homes in that area. Every name had been crossed off his list but one, Shannon Hensley.

“Why am I not surprised?” he asked himself. She was already an hour late. As he waited at the checkpoint, his irritation and disappointment over her disregard for instructions turned into just plain anger.

Knowing he was needed in a dozen different places, he answered his cell phone curtly when it rang, “Dawson, here.”

“Everybody off the mountain, Ward?” asked one of the fire chiefs watching Prospect Ridge.

“Not quite. We’ve got one left. A woman.”

The chief muttered something under his breath. “We’ve got trouble up here. The wind’s shifting, and our fire line on the ridge may not hold. If the sparks jump across the ridge, the whole mountain could be threatened. Get her out of there if you have to drag her.”

“Right. I’ll get on it.”

“I’ll bring her down kicking and screaming if I have to,” Ward said under his breath as he climbed into his pickup truck and headed up the mountain, driving at a speed only someone who knew the road would dare.

As Ward silently rehearsed all the sharp things he was going to say to her, he was suddenly filled with a strange impulse to slow down. He’d learned to trust an inner voice that often guided him when he needed it most, and paying heed to it at that moment proved to be a blessing once again. If he’d been driving at his former speed, he would have whipped right by the white car that was off the road without even seeing it. As it was, he glanced down the slope of the rocky hillside and did a double take.

“What in the—” He slammed on his brakes. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The fancy white sports car was precariously hung up on a shelf of large boulders a good distance below the road. Only rocks and low shrubs dotted the hillside.

Bounding from the truck, he started down the steep slope, slipping and sliding all the way. He fought to keep his balance as he scrambled over loose rocks and thickets of scrub oak.

The closer he came to the car, the tighter his chest got. He saw that by some miracle, it was caught precariously in the midst of some large boulders. If the boulders hadn’t been there, there would have been nothing to stop the car’s plunge into the deep ravine below.

“Thank you, Lord,” he breathed.

Even before he reached the car, he began to weigh the situation. How deeply were the rocks rooted in the ground? How long would they hold against the heavy downward pull of the car? Could he get Shannon out without disturbing the precarious balance that held the automobile? As these questions flashed through his mind, he saw another complication. Huge rocks hugged the sides of the car.

Shannon’s stricken pale face was clearly visible through the windshield. As he neared the car, she waved frantically to him as if he might suddenly decide to go away.

He was sure his eyes were deceiving him when he saw what looked like a dog in the seat with her. She hadn’t said anything about having a pet.

As he peered through the driver’s window, he gave her as much of a reassuring smile as he could manage and said loudly, “It’s going to be okay. I’ll get you out as fast as I can.”

He didn’t have an answer for the question he saw in her eyes. He surveyed the car. He knew at any moment the whole shelf of rocks could pull out from the ground, and everything would start sliding. One thing was certain. There wasn’t any time to waste.

He was concerned that shifting even one of the boulders could affect the balance of the others. Very gingerly, he began putting his weight against one of the rocks pinning the front door shut.

Lord, lend me Your strength and wisdom. And I could even use an angel or two, right now.

After painstaking effort, only one large boulder remained against the front door on the driver’s side. Ward breathed another prayer as he put his full weight against it. Slowly the rock began to move, and then, with one momentous shove, he sent it rolling with a crash down the slope. Afraid that the movement could have loosened the other rocks, he jerked open the door.

“Get out quickly,” he ordered. He knew that they had to get away from the car as soon as possible, in case the shelf of rocks broke away under their feet.

The dog scrambled out first, leaping over Shannon. When Ward saw that she was getting out, hanging onto her purse and a small suitcase, he barked, “Drop everything and climb as fast as you can.”

In Shannon’s shaken state, leaving all her belongings in the car and trunk was devastating. She ignored his order to drop her purse and overnight bag.

When Ward saw the stubborn set of her mouth, he grabbed the suitcase from her. “Move.” He gave her a not-too-gentle shove forward. With the dog bounding ahead of them, they scrambled up the steep slope.

Shannon was breathing heavily when they reached the shoulder of the road. Her whole body shook when she looked at the car, which so easily could have been a heap of crushed metal at the bottom of the ravine—with her in it! Tears flooded her eyes, and her lips trembled. She’d never had a brush with death before, and when she felt Ward’s arm go around her shoulder, she leaned into him, grateful for the warmth of his strong body that lessened a threatening hysteria within her.

“It’s all right,” he soothed. “You’re okay.” Thank you, Lord, Ward prayed. He gently stroked her back, and a swelling of tenderness took him totally by surprise. He didn’t understand why this woman he scarcely knew could create such a deep stirring in him. They had no common ground to build even a slight friendship, and he was certain that in any other situation, she would only be slightly amused by his presence. And yet, as she trembled in his arms, he wanted more than anything to kiss away the tears on her cheeks and bring a smile to her.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, drawing away and swiping at her tears. Shannon kept her head lowered and didn’t look at him. Anybody with eyes in their head ought to be able to drive down an empty road without running off it. She’d always prided herself on her perfect driving record, and now this!

“Nothing to be sorry about,” he reassured her. “You’re safe—that’s all that matters. I think we ought to get going. I don’t like the looks of that sky.”

Pokey had been bouncing around at their feet, woofing excitedly as if the world was a wonderful place when people were around to keep him company.

“Come on, pup,” Ward said as he and Shannon moved toward the pickup. Without waiting for an invitation, Pokey jumped in and settled happily on Shannon’s lap.