Page 9

“I can’t get out—Matt, it won’t budge—”

Matt put all his weight against his own door and there was a groan of metal as it opened reluctantly.

He gave a grunt as the wind hurled snow inside the car.

“I’m going to get you out first, Brooke. Grab all the layers you can find. Sweaters, coats, hats—anything. We need to protect the girls. It’s arctic out here.”

And now they came to the next problem. Having survived the accident, they were going to freeze to death. And this was all her fault. She’d allowed her feelings of guilt towards her parents and all the emotional pressure to override her judgement. And instead of listening to Matt, she’d been scratchy with him.

She wanted to say sorry. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him but he was struggling through the deep snow to get to her side of the car.

“When I say push, you push!” he yelled through the window. Already his hair and shoulders were coated with snow and she wondered what on earth they were going to do once they got out of the car. Should they be staying inside the vehicle? Would that be safer?

She’d never felt more helpless in her life.

“Push!” His voice was muffled. “Push, Brooke.”

She pushed as hard as she could at the same time as he was pulling, and this time there was a sound of tearing metal and the door opened enough for her to slide out of the car.

The vicious cold clamped down on her, numbing every exposed part of her. The driving snow was sharp as shattered glass, the wind so powerful it almost knocked her off her feet. How were they going to survive this? What were they going to do?

She took a gulp of freezing air and Matt pulled her close for a moment.

“We’re going to be okay. We can do this.”

She could barely hear him above the sound of the wind, but the feel of his arms around her gave her the strength she needed.

She looked up at him, noticing for the first time that there was blood on his forehead.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Never mind that. It’s nothing.” He released her, making sure she was steady on her feet. “We need to check the girls and get them out of the car!” He was shouting to be heard above the wind and she did the same.

“Should we stay in the car, Matt? Would that be safer?”

“We’re on the road, Brooke. Another car could crash into us.”

Another car? Who would be stupid enough to be on the road with the weather worsening by the minute? She ignored the little voice reminding her that they’d been on the road—because of her.

“We could call for help.”

“If you have a signal then by all means do it. I don’t have a signal.”

She fumbled for her phone, her fingers barely working. She didn’t have a signal, either. There was no way of calling for help.

Matt was half inside the back of the car, bundling Poppy into as many layers as he could find. He tugged a wool hat onto her head as Brooke struggled through the snow to get to Elsie.

She’d never been more afraid in her life.

Elsie already had her seat belt undone and her coat in her hand.

“Are you okay, honey?” Brooke ignored the pain in her shoulder and focused on her daughter. “Does anything hurt?”

“No.”

That was all that mattered, she reminded herself. Her girls were alive. They hadn’t been hurt in the crash. But now they were facing the terrible weather.

If they made it through this, she was never complaining about anything ever again.