Free Nila's Hope by Kathleen Friesen

headlights.
    He tried revving the engine in reverse and then forward, but they didn’t budge. Four-wheel drive wasn’t going to help them now.
    Muttering under his breath, he pressed the emergency flasher button. Will leaned back with a sigh. “I promised to get you home safely, but I didn’t do a very good job. We’re stuck. Guess I’d better phone for a tow truck.” He pulled his cellphone out of his jacket. “Do you have your cell?”
    Nila shook her head, her face white against her wide, dark brown eyes. He could see her teeth against her lower lip.
    He made his call and handed the phone to Nila. “It’s going to take a while. You’d better call Dave and Lydia and let them know what happened.”
    Nila’s hands shook so much she could barely punch in the Harris’s phone number. “H-hi, Lydia. It’s me.” She took a deep breath and rushed on. “We’re going to be late. We’re in a ditch on Highway 11, but we’re OK. The truck is stuck, though, so we’re waiting for a tow truck. Yes, we’re fine, just stuck. Thank you for praying. Good-bye.” She handed the phone back to Will, undid the seatbelt, and drew her knees to her chest.
    “Are you cold?” Will turned the heat setting to max. “At least the tank’s almost full. Hopefully we can keep the heater going until the tow truck gets us out.”
    Nila’s shaking spread from her hands to her arms, her knees to her legs, until her whole body was quaking.
    “Nila, come here.”
    He turned sideways on the seat, pulled her unresisting body close, and wrapped his arms around her. He could hear her teeth chattering.
    “I-I don’t know…why I’m…so cold.”
    Will rested his chin on her head and murmured as if to a small child, “That was a shock to your system. Let me keep you warm. You’re safe now.”
    She began sniffling, and Will shifted to reach a box of tissues.
    Nila blew her nose, shuddered, and breathed several slow, deep breaths. With each breath her trembling eased until she relaxed against his chest, head bowed. “I do feel safe with you. Thank you.”
    Will’s arms tightened as he remembered another scene, his arms around another woman. One he’d failed to protect. He swallowed hard to dislodge the lump in his throat and forced himself to relax. To try to forget.
    For a moment, the only sound was their even breathing and the howl of the wind outside the truck.
    Then Nila shifted away from his embrace and scooted back to her side of the bench seat, drawing her knees to her chest once again.
    Will frowned. “What’s wrong?”
    At least she’d regained some color in her cheeks. “Nothing. I’m fine now.” She peered out the window. “I wonder how much longer it will take for that tow truck to find us.”
    “Hard to tell. Are you warm enough?”
    She nodded, still staring out at the snowstorm.
    Disappointment surprised Will, and he leaned back, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes. Weariness washed over him. It had been a long day for both of them, and now he’d landed them in a ditch in the middle of a blizzard. He opened one eye.
    Nila hugged her knees with her forehead resting against them. She seemed to be barely holding herself together, physically and emotionally. Just like a few months ago.
    When Daniel offered her an apprenticeship last year, he’d been surprised. She’d seemed so fragile. He couldn’t imagine her doing the work required. But demolishing and renovating spaces seemed like therapy for her. In the last few months, she had begun to open up and laugh, even joke with Daniel.
    Then when Nick’s trial began, she’d been forced to reveal details of abuse that made him cringe. And angered him as he watched her withdraw like a whipped puppy. She’d lost her sparkle, her spunk, as she relived Nick’s violence day after day. It seemed to take a lifetime for the trial to finish. He’d never forget the look of relief on Nila’s face when the sentence was finally pronounced. As though she’d been granted