Chapter Two
Bella
This year had been the worst of my life and it seemed that it wasn't over yet, I was tired and I wanted a shower and a hot meal, it was snowing so heavily I could barely see out the windscreen and now the engine was dying. I knew I had gas in the tank and Steve had put a new battery in only a few weeks before he walked out yet here we were on the side of the road coasting to a halt and I hadn't seen any sign of other traffic for the past quarter of an hour.
"Mommy."
I turned around and smiled reassuringly at my little girl,
"It's OK honey, probably just a loose hose. You stay there."
Sophie was tired after spending all afternoon with my friend and her little girl and she nodded sleepily and closed her eyes her thumb going instinctively into her mouth. I pulled the travel blanket over her legs and climbed out cursing under my breath as the freezing wind cut through my jacket and stung my face.
I opened the hood although I had no idea what I was looking for unless there was a hose hanging off in plain sight I was finished. I knew nothing about cars except where to put the gas and check the oil and water and of course, every hose seemed to be exactly where it should be, just my luck.
I pulled out my phone and saw I had only one bar up, so hardly any chance of getting through to a garage especially as the closest one was about ten miles back and in this weather might already be busy. I closed the hood and climbed back inside glad to be out of the wind as I tried the garage and then Alex my friend but I couldn't get through to either.
It was a good two miles home, too far to expect Sophie to walk but it was too cold to wait here on the off chance that someone passed by so I geared myself up for a long hike carrying her on my back. Thank God I was off work now until the new year, it would probably take me that long to recover from this! It was a good thing I'd done all the shopping for the festive season and made sure there was a good supply of logs for the fire. It would be our first Christmas without Steve and I wanted to make it a good one for Sophie, she'd been through so much this year, we both had.
Sophie whimpered as I picked her up but soon fell asleep again and I thanked my lucky stars she wasn't any heavier, it was going to kill me carrying her in this as it was but I gritted my teeth, slung my bag over my shoulder, locked the car, and headed on home hoping against hope that I would see someone come along who could help.
After fifteen minutes my arms were aching and I was sweating despite the cold while my feet felt like blocks of ice and I thanked my lucky stars I'd put my boots on this morning before leaving home. Sophie shuffled in my arms and then quieted again and I made sure the blanket was still tightly wrapped around her, it was covered in snow but I hoped it would keep the chill of the wind from her.
A few minutes later she started to cry,
"I'm cold mommy and I'm hungry."
I tried to reassure her we would be home soon and fumbling in my bag I found half a bar of chocolate which I gave her, a rare treat as candy was only for special occasions and weekends. She ate that and then settled down again but I was flagging, maybe I should have waited in the car but with no engine, there would have been no heat and it was far too cold to sit for long.
Hearing a sound behind me I turned and saw someone walking slowly behind me but it was too dark to make out who it was. Surely no one else had broken down on the same stretch of road at the same time as me? But I couldn't imagine any other reason for someone to be on foot in the dark in a snowstorm.
"Hello?"
The figure stopped as if just becoming aware of my presence and I thought I saw it sway slightly maybe a drunk? Surely not out here.
"Hello, are you OK?"
The figure turned as if to retrace its steps then hesitated and stepped forward although there wasn't enough light from the moon to see any features.
"Have you broken down?"
The figure cocked it's head to one side as if considering this then spoke at last,
"Sorry, I'm frightening you, I don't mean to. Why are you out here?"
I frowned, why?
"Didn't you pass my car broken down on the side of the road back there?"
"No, at least I don't think so I wasn't taking much notice. You shouldn't be out in this not with…."
It was definitely a masculine voice although very low as if unused to speaking much.
"Is that…...you're carrying a child."
"Yes, we're on our way home but the weather's getting really bad. Where are you headed?"
He pointed ahead,
"That way I guess."
"But there's nothing there for twenty miles except a couple of houses, are you looking for someone?"
This time the voice was louder, more determined,
"No, not someone. Don't be afraid. Can I walk with you?"
The speech was hesitant and didn't flow again like someone who spoke very little or infrequently.
I could hardly refuse and having someone to share this cold and dark journey with was preferable to doing it alone.
"Sure."
He peered a little closer at Sophie bundled up in my arms,
"She's asleep. Is she heavy?"
"A little but she's too little to walk through all this."
He nodded and fell silent for a while and suddenly I didn't feel so anxious, I was no longer apprehensive of him which was weird but reassuring.
A few yards further on I slipped and almost fell but he caught me before I hit the snow-covered ground and steadied me while I tried my weight on my foot. It hurt but I had no choice but to go on.
"You're limping, can I help? Maybe I could carry your little girl for a while?"
I was reluctant to hand my daughter over to a stranger but my ankle was throbbing and I knew I could never make it home as things stood, besides where could he go? He was hardly likely to run off in this weather with a young child in snow drifts so I allowed him to take her from me. She woke up and started to complain then suddenly smiled and closed her eyes again resting her head on his shoulder. It was strange behavior from my daughter.
"Oh, that's strange I thought she was going to start crying she's very shy."
He looked at me with his head cocked to one side again,
"She was but she's happy now. What's her name?"
His words confused me it was like talking to someone who spoke a slightly different language and I didn't answer him straight away but he continued to look at me until I did,
"Sophie, her name's Sophie."
Finding it was becoming so painful that I couldn't put all my weight on my foot I started to limp and then his other arm was around me taking my weight on the bad side.
"Are you OK? I could carry you too if you like?"
I laughed,
"Been on the steroids, have you? No, I'm OK."
He nodded but kept his arm where it was, a cold strength around my waist taking all my weight on my right side while carrying Sophie in his left with no sign of effort at all. What was this guy?
We moved much faster this way and I began to feel as if I were on a moving walkway, the snow was like a thick curtain that we appeared to be running through and sooner than I could ever have imagined I saw the shadow of our mailbox looming up.
"This is it, thank you…... I'm sorry, I don't know your name."
He stopped and handed Sophie back to me sighing heavily,
"Right now I'm not sure I do either but I'm glad I could help it seemed right somehow."
Unable to understand the meaning of his words I just nodded and taking my arm again he helped me to the front door taking Sophie from me while I fished my key from my bag and unlocked it.
"Would you…...I mean it's so bad out there maybe you should come in until the snow stops."
Suddenly he looked nervous,
"No, I…..I should go….I have to keep moving."
"Are you sure? Maybe I could at least offer you a hot drink, you won't get anywhere in this without a truck or snowmobile and it doesn't look like you have either. Where did you say you were headed?"
He shook his head and as I turned the porch light on and I got my first proper look at my good Samaritan I was lost for words. If this had been a Christmas movie he would be playing the angel come down to help out some poor creature like me. He was pale and gaunt looking with dusty blonde hair that just touched his collar and eyes that seemed to reflect the light.
"Thank you but it's not safe for me or you if I stay here. Please, if anyone comes asking about me tell them you haven't seen me."
I frowned but Sophie was now awake and complaining of the cold and her hunger so with a final invitation which was turned down I watched as he walked out of the circle of light on the porch and disappeared into the snow-filled night as suddenly as he had appeared.
I was uneasy at the thought of him walking the roads in this weather after the kindness he had shown us but there was nothing I could do and I soon became busy heating up some soup for Sophie and making coffee for myself while the fire caught in the hearth. After that, I ran a bath for my little girl who had been unusually quiet since we got in.
As she played with the bubbles I washed my hair and towel dried it looking at myself in the steamed up mirror. I was pale myself with dark smudges under my eyes, I hadn't slept well since Sophie's father had walked out saying he couldn't cope anymore with the pressure of being a husband and father. Life had been hard from that day although he sent money from time to time through his old boss. I had no idea where he was or what he was doing, all I knew was that he had broken his little girl's heart the day he left and for that, I would never forgive him.
"Mommy?"
I turned to smile at Sophie who had made a crown of bubbles to sit on her dark hair,
"Yes, baby?"
"Do you think daddy sent that angel to help us?"
"Angel?"
"Yes, he was an angel mommy, his skin glowed in the moonlight and he had beautiful eyes."
I scooped up a handful of bubbles and gave her foamy cheeks and put a dab on her little upturned nose.
"Maybe Sophie, who knows but I think he was a man, not an angel."
She shook her head and her crown slid off to land on the floor at the side of the tub,
"No mommy he was too strong and pretty to be a man, that was an angel."
I remembered what he had said before he left and carefully knelt down until I was on the same level as my daughter.
"Sophie, maybe you are right and the angel is very special so we have to keep it a secret. We can't tell anyone that we met an angel."
"Why mommy?"
"Because angels are very special and they only appear to special people like you. It's your secret because no one else would believe you."
She thought about this for a moment then nodded,
"OK mommy I won't tell anyone we saw an angel but you know he was one don't you?"
"Of course, now come on little fairy let's get you dried off before you shrivel up like a raisin."
She giggled and stood to hold her arms open for me to wrap her in a towel and pick her up. My ankle was really sore and swollen now so I was very careful not to put too much weight on it and I was glad I wasn't working for the next couple of weeks although the thought of Christmas on our own was a little daunting.
As I began to read her a story Sophie fell asleep, it had been a busy and strange day for a little girl and after pulling the blankets close around her I went to sit by the fire with a mug of chocolate and put my feet up thinking I had to get the tree decorated tomorrow, I was really late but things had been hectic.
Closing my eyes I wandered back in time to my own childhood Christmases which hadn't been much better. My mom and dad had split up before I was a year old and I'd shuttled between the two since I was old enough to understand. One year with Renee and whoever she was living with at the time, mostly other female friends and the other with my dad which was better because it meant I was home among my friends and what few relations I had. My grandparents had died when I was only seven and after that, it was just dad and me or his friends and me if he had to work sometime over the festive season. I had wanted so much more for my own daughter yet here I was alone with her at Christmas.
Dad had asked if we wanted to spend the time with him but I didn't get on with my stepmother, I'd never liked Sue Clearwater very much, I guess I could sense she fancied my dad, and when Harry died three years ago she had jumped at the chance to get her claws into Charlie. Besides, if I went to Forks Jake was sure to be there and although it had been years since we had dated I knew he would jump at the chance to ask me out knowing my situation and I couldn't cope with his eager attention, not this year. With a sigh I got up and after putting my mug in the sink to soak went back to the fire and stretched out once more glad to rest my bad ankle for a few hours but as I drifted between waking and sleep I couldn't help thinking about Sophie's angel and wondered where he was, hoping he'd found shelter somewhere.
