Free Snowflake Wishes by Maggie McGinnis Page A

“I’ll do it.”
    He looked back at her, a million questions in his eyes, but didn’t argue. “You sure?”
    â€œYes. Let’s do it. Now. Before I freak completely out … more than I already have.”
    â€œOkay.” He gave her knots a good yank, then put his hands on her shoulders. He looked into her eyes and squeezed. “I’ve got you, Piper. I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll take care of you. I promise.”
    â€œOkay, okay.” She breathed through her mouth, trying to get her heart rate under control as she took a few steps toward the cliff.
    He positioned her hands on the rope and turned her so she had to step backward off the edge. “I’ve got you, Pipes. Trust me. Please just trust me.”
    His voice was soothing as he let out the rope, slowly, evenly. Her boots touched the rock face of the cliff, and for a brief second she looked down, then clutched the rope even harder, freezing in fear.
    â€œDon’t look down, honey. Look at me. Look at my eyes. I’ve got you.”
    She caught her breath and lifted her eyes to his, locking them there as he lowered her down, and a strange sort of peace slid through the terror. He did have her. He wouldn’t let her go. She knew that, like she’d never known anything else.
    In thirty seconds, her boots touched the snow at the bottom of the cliff, and she raced to the car, wrenching open the back door. She inhaled sharply as she caught sight of two car seats with tiny children in them. The little boy looked to be around four years old, and his baby sister was probably two. Both were sleeping, their dark lashes stark against their ice-white skin.
    Piper didn’t look into the front seat—didn’t think she could handle seeing anything besides these two desperate, sleeping babies.
    But they weren’t … sleeping, Piper knew. She had to get them up the cliff before it was too late. She fumbled with the car seat buckles and pulled the little boy free. His body was floppy as she hauled him to her shoulder and held tight, running back to the bottom of the cliff. She yanked three times on the rope and braced herself, balancing his weight against hers as Noah pulled them slowly, painfully up the rocks.
    When they reached the top, Piper handed the boy to Noah, who had somehow produced a sleeping bag from his truck while she’d been down at the bottom of the cliff. He bundled the boy into the bag, then turned to her.
    â€œYou ready to go get the other one?”
    She nodded, heading back toward the edge before she could process what she’d just done and get too scared to do it again. “Ready.”
    When she got to the bottom of the cliff this time, she ran to the other side of the car and pulled out the little girl, bundling her inside her own coat before she ran back and yanked on the rope again. This time, Noah was able to pull them up faster, and when they reached the top, he picked up the little boy and they both sprinted for the truck.
    â€œWhat about the driver? What do we do?” Piper looked back at the tracks heading over the cliff’s edge.
    â€œI put a heat blanket on her. We can’t haul her up without a backboard. We’ll hurt her worse than she already is. We need to get down the mountain and send EMS her way. Stat.”
    He started the truck, and as they raced down the road, Piper held the two children in her arms, praying they’d be all right.
    *   *   *
    Half an hour later, they sat in Noah’s truck outside a fire station, both of them quiet. One ambulance had whisked the kids off to the hospital, and the other had raced back up the mountain to assist the mountain rescue crew that had been called out as soon as Piper and Noah had pulled into the parking lot. After the flurry of activity, Piper’s heart was racing, but Noah seemed as cool as a cucumber.
    â€œDo you think they’ll be okay?”