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Leah Sanders was starting to worry

When she’d left ho up her entire life into her ancient Honda, it had been a bright, sunny Nove, and getting through the mountains to reach her mother’s place, halfway across Montana, by nine or ten PM

But now it looked like winter had hit early As Leah had driven further into the mountains, snow started to swirl down froht fell like someone had dropped it on her head Thunk It was dark

And not just dark, but snowy and windy Driving became more and more difficult, and she slowed down to a crawl When she’d pulled over to look at her phone, there was no reception and no Internet, so she couldn’t check the weather reports or try to find a place to stop She hadn’t seen another car, let alone a gas station or other building, for more than an hour

At least Emily had finally fallen asleep in her car seat

Leah wished to God she’d chosen a better day to make this trip, but she hadn’t had much of an option Her landlord had shown up at her door yesterday and told her that no, he couldn’t give her another extension on her rent She had to go, or he’d have her evicted

Leah had bitten back a furious reply, sone inside and started packing, and flatly refused to cry about it This was her life now, and she had to deal with it

Ten o, Leah had been happy She’d had a fiancé and beautiful new baby, and she’d been cheerfully planning her future She’d stay home with E, and when she was ready, she’d go back to work part-ti business in their little town They’d have a si with just a few people, but because it was the two of the she could hope for

All that had changed one month after E, disappearing one day and never cole mos

Leah had tried She’d worked hard at anything she could find to generate incoe of soree to watch Emily for a couple of hours for free She’d hired herself out as a gardener, and worked with Emily strapped to her back

But it just hadn’t been enough As su jobs fell away, slowly, her money had run out

So now, she was taking her last option: going to stay with her mom

Leah wasn’t looking forward to living with herto be a squeeze for two people, let alone two people and a baby Also, her ht Leah was stupid for getting pregnant Or that Leah and Emily would be a burden that she didn’t much want

But without rent to pay, Leah could start building up soain, and someday they could move out

And E That was the real blessing Leah could handle staying with her hts, even if it was hard Emily was just a baby, and what she needed most was a roof over her head and food to eat Leah would endure anything to make that possible

So Leah had spent the absolute last of her as and food for the trip, loaded up her car with everything that could fit in it, strapped Emily into her car seat, and driven off

And then it had started to snow And then it had gotten dark And now her car was starting to led up the steep inclines of the mountain roads

And then, as she pressed on the gas to get over a particularly steep ridge, the engine stuttered and died

Leah watched in horror as the car coasted to a stop just at the top of the ridgethen started to skid backwards She frantically hit the brakes, but the road was too slippery

Oh, God, E back down the hill, and E wheel—was there any way she could direct the car so that E the wheel see was a blur of snow and darkness and skidding movement

The sudden stop threw her back in her seat and made her heart leap into her mouth Glass shattered

Leah was out of her seatbelt and frantically twisting back to see the baby before the car had entirely stopped If anything had happened to her—if she’d been cut by the glass, or hurt by the impact—