Do you enjoy reading
books that feature older heroes and heroines? I do. There’s something to be
said for life experience. For instance, in Montana Maverick, my heroine is on
sabbatical from her teaching position to write a novel. She’s holed up in her
mountain cabin through the holidays. She’s smart, well provisioned and
prepared. Her years of experience comes in handy when the hero’s helicopter
crashes on the mountain behind her on Christmas Eve.
Here's a little snippet
written in the point of view of my hero's grandson:
JJ curled in a ball in
the co-pilot seat, listening to the squeaks and moans and popping sounds as the
helicopter settled into its death.
A lot noisier than Mom.
Her last sounds--the one
time he snuck in to see her at the end--were low, ugly gasps that came from
deep in her chest, like a trapped animal trying to crawl out. He would have
done anything to make it stop, but everyone--the doctors, Grandpa, even,
God--had given up trying to help her.
A few hours later she
died.
Cancer.
Mom's death wasn't his
fault, but this was.
He made a fist and
pressed it to his gut to keep from throwing up.
He'd nearly killed them
all.
Maybe I did.
They'd crash landed in
the middle of nowhere in a freaking blizzard. They'd probably freeze to death
before help arrived.
He leaned sideways to
look into the back seat.
Bravo was strapped in his
seat, crying. His nose a snotty mess, like usual. The kid cried more often than
Annie, who was a girl.
JJ got to his knees so he
could check on Mystic. He'd die if Mystic was dead. His mother gave her life
for that baby. Mom had refused any sort of cancer treatment for fear it would
hurt her baby. Mystic River Landry. Mom had the name picked out before the doctor
confirmed the baby was a girl.
If Mystic died so soon
after Mom, JJ would be glad to freeze to death. At least he wouldn't have to
live with that guilt, too.
"You okay,
buddy?" Hank asked in the pilot's seat beside him. Hank. To the little
ones he was Grandpa, but JJ used his given name because that's how Mom always
addressed her father.
JJ swallowed hard to keep
from crying. He had to man up.
Be brave, my love. I'm
counting on you to keep it together for the sake of the little ones, Mom said
before she got bad.
"Yeah. I'm okay.
But, your bird..." Hank always called the helicopter a bird. The thing
even had a name, but JJ couldn't remember it. "I...I'm sorry."
Hank, who appeared to be
concentrating hard on assessing their situation, gave JJ a questioning look.
"Sorry for wha...? No," his grandfather said sternly, his deep voice
going hard and serious. "This is not your fault, JJ. Something mechanical
gave out. I heard a pop right before the rotor went wonky.
"Could have been
from the cold, the snow, structural fatigue, who knows? But whatever the cause,
you are not to blame. Are we clear on that?"
JJ wanted to believe him,
but JJ had been the one holding the stick when the popping noise happened. Hank
had given him the controls so he could reach behind them to keep Mystic from
choking to death. Annie and Bravo had been crying so loudly JJ thought his ears
would bleed. He'd held the stick with all his might and tried to pretend the
whole thing was a video game.
But what happened next
wasn't pretend. The helicopter lurched and bucked like a living beast. His hold
slipped. The bird tilted sideways--only for a second until he got it
straightened out again--but that's when the bad sound happened. The helo cried
out as if he'd shot it. The moaning and groaning and vibration seemed to move
through his body as they fell.
He'd never been more
scared in his entire life. He'd prayed to God, his dead mother and the dead
father he barely remembered. He prayed hard. And, it looked like his prayers
were answered.
They were still alive,
right?
A gust of wind hit the
helicopter--Betsy, he thought, that was the bird's name--rocking it enough to
release a fine white mist of snow inside their shelter.
He tried to see into the
blackness beyond the frosty plastic window, but there was nothing. Just a black
snowy void.
His prayers might have
saved them, but for how long?
BUY here: books2read.com/u/mqzJPv
Many thanks, Amy!
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