The Twin Bargain

by Lisa Carter

  “Mommy?”

  Distracted, she edged around a large puddle in the middle of the road. Fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic. “What, Stella?” She bit her lip. In fact, there was no one else on the winding mountain road.

  “Do you love Ethan the most, Mommy?”

  Her eyes cut to the mirror. Stella’s shrewd little face stared back at her. Amber eased her foot off the accelerator, slowing the car. Did she?

  “I—I...”

  “Mommy?” Lucy pointed ahead. “What’s dat?”

  She turned her gaze forward at the same instant the roaring registered. Slamming on the brakes, she watched in sick, fascinated horror as the mountain fell upon them.

  The mudslide sucked entire trees into its funnel, snapping them like matchsticks. Boulders tumbled. The surging, flowing stream of mud hit the car broadside.

  Lucy screamed.

  “Mommy!” Stella shrieked.

  “Lucy! Stella!” Amber cried out. “Hang on!”

  But to what?

  The slide swept the car off the road and into the tributary creek. They were flung like rag dolls against the interior of the car. Rushing along the foaming waterway, everything in front of them was nothing but churning mud and bobbing debris.

  Dear God, oh God... Help us.

  She grappled with the wheel, but it was no use. She had no control over the vehicle. The raging creek had a mind of its own. Like in a watery pinball machine, the car hurtled downstream, ricocheting off storm-littered obstacles.

  Then she spotted it—just ahead—a large boulder in the middle of the creek. The water was pushing them on an inexorable trajectory into a head-on collision. There was no way to avoid it.

  Please, please, God. Don’t let the rock smash into the back where Lucy and Stella are sitting.

  Helpless, Amber gripped the wheel. “Hold on. We’re going to crash into that—”

  The front passenger side took the full brunt of the blow. Jarred, she screamed. The girls wailed. Metal ground against wet stone. The vehicle fishtailed before coming to a complete, concussive stop. And silence.

  For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of the frothing water bubbling around the car, continuing on its relentless march. Dazed, Amber lifted her head. Her chest heaved.

  Disoriented with motion sickness, she put her hand to her head. “Lucy? Stella?” Frantic, her eyes darted to the mirror.

  Their gazes locked on to hers.

  “Are you all right?”

  Their faces unnaturally pale, they nodded.

  “Are you bleeding? Does anything hurt?”

  Blond hair disheveled, they shook their heads. Only then did she release the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. What had seemed a lifetime since the mountain hit them had in reality only been a few terrifying seconds. Now they were stuck, wedged against the rock in the middle of the normally placid stream.

  She became aware of a new, equally menacing, danger. The water was rising. Something freezing cold seeped into the soles of her flats, and she stared in disbelief as murky water rose from the floorboards.

  And it kept coming. Powerful. Relentless. Unforgiving.

  Biting back a sob, she fought off panic. Think. Think, Amber. She’d spent the first twenty years of her life living on the river. Raised by her parents in the rafting business to be a real river rat. She had to stay calm.

  Where was her phone? Her hand scrambled for it, but it no longer rested where she’d left it on the console. Probably lying somewhere at her feet where she couldn’t get to it.

  They had about five minutes—possibly less—before the water would overwhelm the vehicle. First option—they could try to get to the roof and hang on until help arrived.

  Amber briefly squeezed her eyes shut. Help would arrive. It had to. Leaving the headlights burning, she turned on the hazard lights to make it easier for rescue personnel to spot them.

  Second option—get out and swim for the bank. She gauged the distance. Too far. The girls would never make it. They’d have no chance against the overpowering current.

  Why hadn’t she allowed Ethan, if not her father, to teach the girls to swim? But she knew why. It was because of her stupid, stupid pride and delusions of self-sufficiency.

  Unless completely submerged, the windows should lower. She pressed the button on the door, and the window slowly scrolled down. She hit the lever to release the child safety locks. Next?

  She plucked at her seat belt, but it didn’t budge. It was stuck. If she couldn’t get free, how was she going to help the girls?

  Her chin trembled. She was trapped. And time was of the essence. Worst-case scenario—lest she suppose things couldn’t get any worse—the car could flip any moment.

  She fought to keep the hysteria building inside her chest from escaping into her voice. “Girls, I need you to listen carefully and do exactly what I say.”

  Tears streaked down their faces.

  “Unbuckle your seat belts for me.” Please, God, let them be able. Sometimes the buckles were tricky for their little fingers.

  “I—I can’t,” Lucy sobbed.

  “You can,” she encouraged.

  With a click, Stella’s strap whizzed back, and she was free. Stella scrambled to help her sister. “Women can do anything, Lucy. Right, Mommy?”

  Amber winced. Is that what she’d been teaching her children by example? To depend on themselves and no one else, not even God?

  “With God’s help, we can do anything, Stella,” she corrected. And prayed God would allow her another day, another year, decades, to rectify her parenting errors.

  Stella pressed with all her might, and the belt released.

  Lucy sprang out of her seat. “Mommy, I can’t see my boots in the water.”

  Amber choked down her fear. “Me, too, sweetheart. Mommy needs you two to do something else. I want you to take off your rain jackets and your boots.”

  Despite the risks of putting them into the turbulent water, she had to get them out of the car. Footwear would only hamper them. Outer clothing could become caught and entangled in the floating debris, dragging them underneath the water to suffocate and drown.

  Amber shuddered. Like what had happened to her mother.

  “But my feet will get wet, Mommy,” Stella protested.

  More than their feet were going to get wet, but she couldn’t tell them that. One step at a time. “Girls, try to open the door on Stella’s side.”

  Both girls pushed and pushed. “I can’t, Mommy.”

  “It won’t open, Mommy.”

  Not a complete surprise, but she’d hoped. The water had risen too rapidly, reached a critical threshold. The doors wouldn’t open until the water pressure equalized between the outside and the inside of the car. They’d have to wait for the water to fill the car to neck level.

  Her neck.

  At which point, the girls would have long since drowned. She had to get them out. No matter what happened to her. Amber’s heart hammered. She wasn’t sure the girls could climb out the window and hang on to the roof without her help.

  “I’m scawed, Mommy,” Lucy sobbed.

  She felt like sobbing, too. But she couldn’t. The girls were already frightened enough.

  Images of those she loved flashed before her eyes. The grandmotherly ErmaJean. Her best friend, Callie. Her brother, Matt, stationed in a war zone, who’d believed he was the one in harm’s way. And Ethan...

  So many regrets. So many dreams unfulfilled.

  “We have to pray, Mommy,” Stella called from the back seat. “Pray for God to help us.”

  “That’s right, Stella. Lucy.” Out of options and at the end of her strength, she leaned against the headrest. “Pray. Pray hard, girls.”

  Father God... Please save us.

  Chapter Twelve

 
Amber’s red taillights had no sooner disappeared down the street before Ethan felt an immense disquiet. And no matter his best efforts to distract himself, the vague feeling of foreboding grew stronger.

  His grandmother put away the markers and construction paper the girls had used at the kitchen table. “I wish they hadn’t headed up the mountain in these conditions.” She switched on the television. Local broadcasters in neon yellow slickers reported from the midst of the storm.

  Ethan didn’t say anything, just continued to stare out at the pouring rain. Branches littered the yard. The gutter couldn’t handle the runoff. Something else to add to his ongoing to-do list.

  Anxiety gnawed at his gut. What else could he have done, though? He refused to bully Amber. He’d shared his opinion. Amber had chosen not to accept it. Or his offer of sanctuary from the storm. A metaphor for the larger issues between them.

  Uneasiness peppered his thoughts until he could stand it no more.

  Ethan removed the truck keys from the peg on the wall. “I’m going after her. I need to make sure she and the girls got home.”

  His grandmother looked up from the newscast. “Something isn’t right. I have a bad feeling...”

  Out in the elements, the wind and rain were merciless, lashing the truck as he pushed through the storm. The truck clattered over the rain-slick bridge, rattling his teeth.

  He rounded the curve on the mountain road, and the sight that met his eyes took his breath. He slammed on the brakes. The road was gone.

  Piled like Lincoln Logs, massive tree trunks cut him off from the rest of the valley. And if he lived to be a hundred, he’d never forget the horror he felt when he spotted Amber’s car wedged broadside against an enormous boulder in the creek. Amber, Lucy and Stella were trapped inside. His girls...

  The water already reached the sill of the windows. He sucked in a breath. There was no time to lose. He had to do something. And quick.

  He backed the truck as far down the slippery incline as he dared. Thrusting open the door, he was halfway out of the truck when another pickup appeared. It was Jake McAbee and Jonas Stone.

  Ethan waved them down. “Amber...” Frantic, he motioned toward the creek.

  The men leaped out to assist him. Jonas grabbed a rope from the truck. Over the thunderous rain and fomenting water, Ethan shouted to get Amber’s attention.

  One of the girls caught sight of him. She said something to Amber in the front seat. The men clambered down the embankment. Ethan didn’t understand why Amber didn’t get out. Why hadn’t she tried to get the girls to the roof?

  “I’ve tied the rope to the hitch on your truck.” Jonas gestured. “If we could swim out and get it attached to the steering wheel—”

  Just then, Amber’s car lurched sideways in the swirling water. Amber and the twins screamed.

  Lucy poked her head through the open window. “Efan! Efan!”

  “I’m coming,” he hollered.

  He angled toward the other men. “There’s no time to tie it off. Let’s wade as far out as we can. Form a chain. Link arms. I’ll pass the girls to you one at a time. It’s the only way.”

  Grim-faced, they nodded.

  The freezing water hit Ethan like an electric shock. Despite being June, the mountain streams never got very warm. Bracing each other, the guys picked their way across the uneven creek bottom. The fast-flowing current almost knocked them off their feet.

  Nearest to the bank, Jonas became the anchor. Then Jake. Finally, in waist-deep water, Ethan stood as close to the rapidly submerging vehicle as the length of their arms allowed.

  “Amber,” he called.

  She turned her head toward the open window. Tears glistened on her pale, beautiful cheeks. Her face wore a pinched expression. He didn’t like the resigned look in her shadowed eyes.

  “Take the girls,” she rasped. “Get them out. Save my babies, Ethan.”

  “I’m getting all of you out.” He lifted his chin. “You take one. I’ll take the other. Jake and Jonas will make sure we don’t lose our footing.”

  She shook her head. The wet, bedraggled strands of water-darkened hair clung to her cheekbones. “You don’t understand. I can’t get out. My seat belt is stuck.”

  He clenched his jaw. “There’s a box cutter in my glove compartment. I’ll get it, and cut you out.”

  “There’s no time, Ethan. Please.” Her gaze clouded. “It doesn’t matter about me. Just save Lucy and Stella.”

  “It does matter about you.” He gritted his teeth. “I won’t leave you.”

  “Stella, climb out onto the window and jump as far as you can. Ethan will catch you.” Those beautiful blue eyes of hers filled with tears. “Won’t you, Ethan?”

  “Mommy...” Stella’s teeth chattered with the first signs of hypothermia.

  “I love you, Stella. You must be brave, honey. Quickly now for your sister’s sake. It’s Lucy’s turn next.”

  Scrunching her face, his stoic, brave little Stella did as her mother bade her. Hanging on to the car frame, she clambered out.

  “Come to me, Stella Bella,” he coached.

  Biting her lower lip—so like her mother his heart faltered—Stella took a deep breath and launched herself at his outstretched arms. She gasped as the water hit her bare legs but he caught her and she didn’t go under.

  She wrapped her arms in a stranglehold around his neck. He tried to pass her to Jake, but she didn’t let go.

  “Let Jake take you to the truck, sweetheart. You like riding in my truck, don’t you?” He kissed the top of her head. “I have to help Lucy.”

  “And Mommy.”

  Anguish clawed at his insides. “And Mommy, too.” With a determined wrench, he thrust Stella into Jake’s arms.

  Dwight’s SUV screeched to a standstill. He threw himself out, sliding down the embankment. “Amber!” he yelled.

  Stark fear ravaged his rugged features. He snagged the rope Jonas had tied to Ethan’s hitch and knotted it around his waist. “I’m coming, Amber!”

  But he wouldn’t be in time. Her gaze locked on to Ethan’s. They both knew Dwight wouldn’t be in time.

  “Callie. ErmaJean. My dad...” Her voice quavered. Swallowing, she gave Ethan a small smile. “You will all look after Lucy and Stella, won’t you?”

  Something shattered inside his heart.

  “Lucy?” Ethan called. He wouldn’t give up. If they hurried...

  But Lucy clung to her mother’s seat. “No, Efan. I scawed.”

  Reaching backward, Amber pried Lucy’s hands from around the headrest. “You must go. Now.” Twisting in the seat, she shoved her daughter toward the opening.

  “Ow, Mommy,” Lucy cried. “No...”

  “I love you, Lucy.” She kept pushing Lucy over the sill. “I love you, Stella!” she yelled.

  Lucy flung herself at him. Lunging, Ethan caught her. But Jonas lost his grip on Ethan’s arm. Ethan and Lucy went under. Never for an instant letting go of Lucy, he kicked against the bottom. Clasping her tight against his chest, they surged upward, sputtering.

  Jonas snagged hold of Ethan’s shirt, and the cowboy fought a desperate battle to keep them from being sucked downstream. Then with Lucy between them, he and Jonas dragged themselves onto the shoreline.

  Dwight had thrown himself into the maelstrom. The former collegiate swimmer battled the current. His still-powerful arms plowed through the water in a valiant attempt to reach his daughter.

  Ethan would have gone in after him, but with a hand on his shoulder, Jonas stopped him. “You can’t help him. You’re exhausted. You’d only drown yourself.”

  Jake handed Stella into his arms alongside Lucy. “Amber would want you to be here for her girls.”

  His legs quivering like a jellyfish, Ethan sank onto the sand. Wet and shivering, he turned the girls’ faces into his chest to keep th
em from seeing what would surely happen next. Helpless to do anything else.

  Except watch their mother drown.

  * * *

  It was with a surreal detachment Amber watched her father fight with everything in his stubborn, never-quit nature to reach her. The same stubborn nature she’d inherited from him, which had helped her survive the last five long years.

  But he was no match against the force of the current. He hadn’t been able to save her mother. Now, though, she understood how much he’d tried. And how broken it had left him. Left them both.

  The cold water seemed to have seeped into the very marrow of her bones. Listless, she closed her eyes. Truth be told, she was so tired of fighting.

  Fighting life. Fighting herself. Fighting God.

  She’d made so many mistakes. The least of which was marrying Tony. Please forgive me, God.

  Water lapped at her chin.

  Is this what it had felt like for her mother that day on the river? Had she fought to the bitter end not to leave her family? Or had she simply let go and drifted. Far beyond the pain and sadness. The—

  “Amber!”

  Her eyes snapped open. Hanging on to the side of the car, her father sucked in oxygen, his chest heaving.

  “D-Daddy?” She swallowed a mouthful of water. She choked, coughing.

  “Tilt your head back as far as you can. Keep your face out of the water.” One arm hooked over the open window, he removed a retractable utility knife from his pocket. “I won’t lose you, too.” Leaning in, with his arms underwater, he sawed at the seat belt strapping her in place.

  “Daddy...” she whispered. “It’s okay.”

  “It will be. Just you see.” Jaw clenched, he sliced at the belt. “Lucy and Stella will not lose their mother the way you lost yours.”

  “Dad.” She touched his arm. “It wasn’t your fault what happened to Mom. I know that now.”

  The pastor’s words floated across her consciousness. In the blink of an eye, everything had changed. Forgive often, he’d said. Love with all your heart. She would never have that chance again.

  “What happened between us was as much my fault as yours, Dad.”