High up on the mountain, the snow was falling harder.  Strong gusts of wind, drove the flakes in first one direction and then another.  The fierceness of the storm made it impossible to see or hear a single thing.  Trees shivered against the cold wind, branches trembled.      

            And then there was a silence like none other.  Like the silence before some life altering event.  Even the angels were silent...waiting. 

            Every living thing waited for this moment. 

            The small compact car skidded on the frozen, two-lane mountain road. 

            Its driver hit the breaks, sending the car spinning out of control.  Once, then twice, before plunging headfirst down the steep side of mountain. 

            The driver was too stunned to do anything more than glance at the girl by his side, as the end became apparent. 

           A group of aspen trees, half way down the mountain, was the only thing preventing the tiny car from finishing its downward slide into eternity. 

            And then there was silence again...and death, and the sound of angel's wings.

            The young man was the first to regain consciousness, his eyes searching the darkness for the girl at his side.  His wife.  She wasn't moving and he couldn't reach her.  He could no longer feel his body.

            'Don't be afraid.  Everything will be okay.  She will be okay without you.'

            The comforting words came to him from close by.  Part of his thoughts and he struggled to open his eyes.  A faint shimmering image floated nearby, touching his hand.  He could feel his hand.  Feel the touch.  It was real, after all.  There really was such a thing as eternity, and angels.  This unearthly being sent here to take him home was proof of all those things.  He believed.      

            'She will be okay without you.  You no longer have to worry about her.   Someone is coming to be with her.  It's okay to let go of this life.' 

            The young man felt tears, hot and damp against his cheek, but he wasn't afraid.  The voice was guiding him, leading him home.  Reassuring him, that even though he had to say goodbye to her, she was going to be all right.  Chloe would be all right.

            A shadow of a smile touched his lips, as the image before him grew brighter, the brilliance of it, literally filling the mountainside.  Glowing with so much warmth and welcoming.  Arms outstretched just for him.  He was going home and it was okay.  She was going to make it.  That was all that mattered.  He was going home, and Chloe would be okay.          

            The headlights of a single approaching vehicle, on the deserted stretch of road caught the smoke and dust the car left in its wake just before it took flight into history. 

            Devon McCallister saw the heavy snow that had begun earlier in the day, and was now coming down harder than ever, as just a fitting end to this miserable day.

            It didn't matter that it was Christmas Eve it was always the same.  He wasn't sure why he even tried anymore when the outcome was always the same.  Every single time he and his father spent more than a few minutes in each other's company it was always the same.          

            The conditions at this altitude were getting worse with every single mile the Hummer climbed the steep side of Redemption Mountain forcing Devon to slow the vehicle's speed down to a crawl to keep from sliding off the edge.  So much for the shortcut.  

            A fitting end to a miserable day.

            He rarely came this way.  The backside of the mountain was usually far too dangerous on nights like tonight but it had one advantage normally.  It was fast.  The only thing on his mind right now was to get home and put this whole, miserable day behind him.                       

            The headlights of the Hummer caught something strange up ahead.  Something that looked like smoke coming from just up the road but it was still too early in the season for fires. 

            The low beam of the lights found a break in the snow covered road made by a set of tire tracks that started twenty feet ahead and went straight over the edge of the mountain.  They were fresh.

            Devon slammed on the breaks, felt the Hummer shudder but manage to grip the road all the while saying a silent prayer for four-wheel drive.  He hit the SUV's flashers and got out of the vehicle reaching for his cell phone in the process. 

            It was almost impossible to see beyond the driving snow, but Devon could just make out the car wedged in a group of trees.  Its front end crushed beyond recognition against them.  Smoke billowed up from its wasted engine but as far as he could see, there wasn't any fire...yet.

            After several attempts to get a signal on the phone, Devon was able to dial out to 911.  He told the operator what had happened and asked her to send EMS air-flight services as quick as possible out of Bedford.          

            Devon's footsteps stumbled over the frozen terrain as he made his way slowly down the mountain managing with difficulty to keep his footing through the deep ice and snow that was still there keeping the ground frozen from the winter storms.  At fourteen thousand feet it took months of warm days for this much accumulation to melt. 

            He kept from sliding the rest of the way down to the car by staying in the deep plowed ruts the tiny car had made. 

            When Devon reached the driver's side, he knew in an instant that it was bad.  The driver, what looked to be just a young kid lay smashed and bleeding against the steering wheel. The airbag hadn't inflated and the kid wasn't wearing a seatbelt. 

            The door was so badly crushed that it wouldn't budge when Devon tried to pry it open.  The side window had been shattered by the impact.  Just a few jagged pieces of glass still held in place. 

            He felt for a pulse at the base of the young man's throat almost certain he was dead or close to it.  There was no way anyone could have survived that type of an impact unprotected. 

            Devon couldn't find a single sign of life in the boy and was just about ready to move around to the passenger, a woman who didn't look much better when he heard the faint struggling gasp for breath coming from what he'd believed to be the deceased driver.

            He leaned close to the boy trying to catch his faint breathy words.  The kid sounded as if he were speaking through water, most likely blood. 

            "Hang on son, there's help on the way.  Just hang on a little while longer."

            The boy tried to turn his head but he couldn't move.  His neck had probably snapped when he'd hit the wheel.  God only knew what else was broken. 

            But he was desperately struggling to speak and Devon leaned in still closer his head almost touching the boy's lips while he tried to understand his words through the gurgling sound of a dying man.  

            "Take care of her for me...don't let her die up here."  The kid whispered with difficulty, his voice sounding strangled over his struggling attempts at gathering air.

            "Don't worry about the girl, I'll make sure she's okay just stay still.  Don't try to talk.  Help is on the way."   

            "I'm not going to make it.  But it's okay.  He told me it would be okay.  He told me you'd come."  The boy's words ended in a flurry of coughing that left him still weaker than before, his words slurring together.  "You have to promise me you'll look after my wife.  Please mister, promise me you'll take care of Chloe for me.  Tell her, tell her I love her.  Tell her not to worry about me because I'm going to be okay." 

            Devon almost didn't catch the last of the boy's words.  He made one more gasping attempt to draw air and then he was so still.  Even before Devon tried again to find a pulse this time, he knew there wouldn't be one. 

            "I promise kid, I promise.  Don't worry, I won't let you down."  Devon gave the only answer he could to that sad final request.  A little too late to bring the boy any comfort.

            As he stood looking down at the young man, tears gathering in his eyes he could almost feel the presence of something else there with them.  He hadn't been aware of this strange silence that was around them until this moment.  He'd been too concerned for the boy but now it was almost deafening.  The wind had gone quiet.  There wasn't a single sound at all in the silent driving snow.       

            Something he couldn't even attempt to define was here as an unseen witness to the kid's death.  Whatever it was, Devon knew that it wasn't his imagination, just as he'd known it was there for the kid alone.  Moments after his death, the eerie silence left the mountainside, and the noise of the storm returned.  

            It was then that Devon saw the passenger move.  Heard the pitiful sounding whimper coming from the girl and remembered his promise to her husband.  He picked his way slowly around the back of the car to her. 

            This side of the vehicle wasn't nearly as damaged.  The door opened easily enough.  In just one glimpse, he could see that the girl was probably critical but she was breathing and alive unlike her husband. 

            She was struggling frantically to open her eyes.  Her left arm hung at an awkward angle and had begun to swell at a rapid rate.  She was bruised and had God only knew what other types of injuries but she was alive.  She was trying to release the seatbelt her eyes going to the driver.  She was trying to reach the boy.  

            "It's okay, don't try to move.  I think your arm may be broken.  Help is on the way but you need to stay still."  Devon tried to reassure her while keeping her still.  He wanted to keep her attention away from the driver.  "We don't know what other injuries you may have.  You need to remain still, kiddo. Everything is going to be okay."          

            Slowly she managed to turn her head and look at him and he could tell that she was crying.  Her uninjured hand reached out to clutch his tightly.  "Kyle?  How's Kyle?  He's not moving?"

            Devon knew she was talking about the driver but he couldn't answer.  He couldn't be the one to tell her the truth.  "Don't try to talk, kiddo.  Just stay still.  We'll have you out of here in no time."  In a distance he heard Ned Stewart, the one and only marshal in Redemption, sirens blaring making his way up the mountain.  And somewhere still farther away came the thud of the emergency chopper out of Bedford reinforcing just how critical the situation was. 

            "We lost our way in the storm.  We didn't know were we were.  There was so much snow and it hit so fast we couldn't see anything."  Devon heard the girl say through her tears.  "We thought we were okay, that we were back on the right road but," Her voice faded away, her eyes closed again and he feared the worse. 

            What had the boy said her name was?  Chloe?  Somehow, that sounded right.  "Chloe, stay with me...don't go to sleep.  Everything is going to be okay but you need to stay awake."  Her green eyes opened again searching his.  They were filled with so much lost hope, pleading with him to make her promises that he just couldn't give.

            "Where are you and your husband heading?"  Devon asked instead hoping to keep her mind occupied and off the man that was lying lifeless against the steering wheel close by her side.  He had no idea how to deal with this type of tragedy.  Someone else would have to do it. 

            "We were on our way to California.  Kyle has a job there but we, somehow we got lost in the storm.  We weren't expecting so much snow."

            Above them, Ned's red and blue flashing lights strobed the darkness.  Devon listened to the marshal's stumbling footsteps as he followed the same plowed earth down to the car and he tried to untangle the girl's hand from his.  She'd been holding on to him as if her life depended on it since she'd become aware of him.  She didn't let go now. 

            "Don't go!  Please don't leave me alone!  I'm afraid that..." His eyes found Ned's who was frantically searching for a pulse in the girl's husband and over the top of the car Devon shook his head.  Then he knelt back down next to Chloe who was still crying. 

            "I'm not going anywhere kiddo but you need to stay still, okay?  Everything is going to be all right.  Nothing is going to happen to you I promise."  When his glance found Ned's, again the marshal indicated that he was heading back up the mountain to the chopper that was now landing. 

            Devon nodded hating that he'd just lied to this child squeezing his hand and hanging onto every word he spoke as truth.  For her nothing was going to be the same or okay ever again.

            A flurry of emergency personal descended on the car and the girl forcing Devon out of the way while they worked on Chloe and got her ready for the flight.  He stood silently next to Ned listening as the marshal requested the coroner out of Bedford, the county seat along with the funeral home in Redemption. 

            "I'll have Pearson's garage come get the car and take it into town when they're finished here."  Ned told him shaking his head sadly.  "This is bad stuff, Devon.  Been years since I've seen anything this bad.  What were those two doing up here alone on a night like tonight anyway?"

            Over Ned's voice, Devon could hear the girl crying and asking about her husband.  Somehow, through the crowd of people around her eyes found his again and reluctantly he went to her. 

            "My husband, what's happening with Kyle?  Why isn't anyone working on him?  Why won't anyone tell me what's happening to Kyle?"  She took his hand again just as Devon's eyes collided with one of the EMT's who warned him she wasn't up to hearing that truth. 

            "You need to worry about yourself right now, kiddo.  Let these people help you..." 

            The gurney was lifted up; they were ready to take her away when he realized she still clung to his hand.             

            "Please, don't leave me.  Please..."

            Devon stood silently searching her frightened eyes before turning to tell the worker closest to him.  "I'm coming with you."

            The flight back to the hospital in Bedford took only a short amount of time but it seemed like an eternity in the sterile, tragic atmosphere of the chopper.  The EMTs worked on Chloe all the while she lay silently weeping.  She knew.  Even though no one was willing to tell her the truth about her husband, she understood he was gone.

            When they reached the hospital, the EMTs took her away forcing him to let go of her hand.  The sliding glass doors of the ER closed behind her but the frightened look in the girl's eyes at that moment was there branded on his heart ready to haunt him for the rest of his life.

            He couldn't leave her.  Not like this.  There was nothing else left for him to do for her but still he couldn't leave her.  Not until he knew for certain, she was going to be okay.  He owed that much to her husband. 

            After several hours of sitting outside the ER, he was directed to the doctor that was responsible for treating Chloe. 

            "Are you a family member, Mr?"

            "McCallister, Devon McCallister.  No, I'm not family, Doctor.  I was the first on the scene of the accident and I want to make sure the girl that was brought in tonight is going to make it."  He couldn't tell the man that he'd promised her dying husband he'd take care of her.

            Doctor Seth Martin looked as if he'd had a long night already.  The last thing he wanted to do right now was to explain to a stranger about a patient he really had no business discussing in the first place.  But something in Devon's eyes must have gotten through to him.  There was just enough concern there to make him change his mind.

            "Chloe Strickland.  She's in stable condition now.  Minor injuries as far as I can tell if you don't count one badly fractured arm.  She was very lucky.  Lucky that she was wearing her seatbelt and lucky that she wasn't driving the car.  I heard the husband was pronounced on the scene.  That's too bad really, but the girl knows.  We had to tell her although I think she'd already figured it.  I've given her something to help with the pain and to help her sleep but I've admitted her.  I want to keep a close eye on her for a few days since she's pregnant."

            "She's pregnant?"  Devon's words slipped out surprised before he could stop them.  Chloe was pregnant.  She didn't look it.  Nothing else the doctor said up until that moment registered with him.  She was pregnant and alone.

            "Yes, I'd say about two months give or take.  She didn't know herself until tonight.  It's a shame isn't it--finding out this way?  Would you like to see her?"

            He didn't, did he?  He wasn't sure he could face her again after the truth was out between them but when he considered walking away from her then and there the words that her husband, Kyle Strickland had said to him before he died reminded him of just how alone Chloe was right now.  She needed him.

            "Yes I would Doctor, thank you."

            Doctor Martin left him at her door where he stood outside for a long time before pushing it open.  Devon walked into the semi-darkness of the room and knew she was awake.  He could tell because she was crying. 

            "Chloe, do you remember me?"  He asked her gently when he stood beside her bed looking down at her. 

            "I'm so sorry for your loss, Chloe.  I'm so sorry."

            She turned her head away wiping at the tears.  "I don't think I want to live anymore.  Not without Kyle.  I don't think that I can."

            Devon closed his eyes and tried to think of one thing he could say to her right now that might bring her any peace.  He was a screw up.  His father had certainly told him that often enough.  Lousy at relationships and even lousier at responsibilities.  He didn't know what to say in a situation as tragic and as hopeless as this one. 

            He sat down on the bed and carefully took her in his arms.  At that human contact between them, Chloe began to sob.  Her body shaking from the effects of her grief. 

            And Devon held her close until there were no more tears left for her to cry.  When the medicine at last overtook her grief, Chloe was at peace at least for the moment.

            But still he couldn't leave her.  He sat silently holding her listening to her gentle breathing and wondering what lay ahead for her. 

            Was she as alone and lost as she appeared to him?  He didn't know, but he hoped that wasn't the case, because he couldn't help her.  What did he know about death or life for that matter? 

            Or babies.  He couldn't fulfill the promise he'd made to her husband.  It just wasn't in him to care that much about anyone, was it?  Was it possible that the angels he's witness tonight up there on that mountain were not there for Kyle Strickland, but for him.  Maybe the old Devon McAllister had died up there on the mountain tonight.  Along with Kyle.  And maybe this woman who needed him so much was going to be his chance to prove that there really was such a thing as Christmas miracles.