Christmas Tempest (Holiday Heartwarmers #12)

Chapter Four

Jasmin crept closer until she could touch the shuddering animal. Bending over, she checked for blood but found none. Then, crooning low, she brushed the snow off the fallen animal and talked softly. “You’re a pretty girl, aren’t you, baby. I’m so sorry that I hit you. What in heavens made you jump in front of my car?”

Thankful when it lifted it’s muzzle to lick her face, she saw the dog wore a harness of sorts and prayed that maybe she also had a dog tag with her identification.

Before she could check, the dog’s sudden growling got her notice. She saw the animal try to rise as it stared at something behind her. Turning slowly, Jasmin made out what appeared to be a large intimidating dog-like creature. Instantly, the word ‘wolf’ popped into her mind. Because this mangy critter’s eyes seemed vicious, and he had the persona of a killer, Jasmin opened her mouth, but the scream froze in her throat.

Fear had her collapsing, scrambling backwards to cover the struggling dog who’s barking now filled the air. Finally, her muscles loosened, the imprisoned screech let loose, and inhuman-like shrieks filled the air.

The piercing sound knifing through their snowy surroundings had the beast turning away and fading off into the blizzard. Shuddering, terrified, Jasmin accepted that it wasn’t at all strange to see these wild animals roaming the plains. Usually, they had a lot of food to forage and were seldom seen. But with the summer’s horrific fires and now this horrible weather, she guessed the wolf might have been hunting, chasing the dog for it’s supper.

No wonder the poor canine hadn’t paid attention to her vehicle approaching. It made sense that if it had been trying to get away and jumped the snowbank while fleeing for it’s life, it wouldn’t have noticed a car traveling on the other side of the wall of snow.

“We have to get you to safety you beautiful baby. Come. Can you get up?” Jasmin tried to help the animal to it’s feet, thrilled when it seemed to understand and strived to move. Making the best effort it could became pathetic. Falling back to the lying position, it yelped in frustration.

Frankly, it couldn’t seem to gain it’s feet without falling over so she tried lifting it in her arms. Being such a tiny thing herself, the impossibility of heaving a seventy-pound dog became clear.

Sliding back on her butt, she tried to think of how she could get the dog safely enclosed in the back of her Rav4. Looking around, she got an idea. If she built the snow up as a ramp to the back of her car, maybe she could push the dog up to the top and pull it inside.

Gathering as much of the white stuff as possible, it didn’t take long for her to have made the platform high enough. Next, she positioned herself to gather the front end of the dog who took the liberty to lick her face, while making guttural welcoming noises.

By yanking this way and that, she started to make some headway. Every so often, the dog let out a moan of pain and Jasmin stopped. It seemed that the puppy’s left side had taken the worst of the injury and so Jasmin tried very hard not to put too much pressure there.

Hauling at the body, again moving it side to side, they progressed inches at a time. Finally, she could go in through the driver’s door, crawl to the back of the car, and pull the dog in the rest of the way. Frantically searching through her box of presents, she pulled out the quilt she’d bought her mother for Christmas and made a bed of sorts. Then she pulled her passenger inside to rest on the warm mattress-like space she’d made and sucked in a full breath of satisfaction for having gotten the job done.

And not anytime too soon. The dog’s warning growl made Jasmin reach up to push the close-door button, and then she rushed, tumbling over the seats to close her driver’s door before the wild animal’s face appeared at the window. Listening to it’s snarls of anger at having lost it’s meal, Jasmin laughed hysterically. “We beat you… so go suck eggs.”

Laughing now, more like a hysterical giggle, she suddenly realized that darkness was descending earlier than usual, and she wasn’t going anywhere. Thinking about how her vehicle straddled the road, she prayed that anyone approaching would see her in time. Knowing there was nothing she could do, she turned on the motor to warm the interior for a short while and used her emergency lights for extra protection.

Glancing at the temperature gauge, she saw that it wasn’t terribly cold at forty-six degrees. Thank God, they wouldn’t freeze to death. She’d heard stories of folks being stranded in much worse conditions, but there was no getting around the fact that it was chilly, and night was also approaching with no let up on the snow.

Cuddling to her new friend, she whispered sweet words while petting the poor baby and making a discovery of her gender. “You’re a pretty girl, aren’t you? Don’t be scared. I’ll take care of you.” As an indication that the dog liked her attention, her tail wagged furiously. “We’ll be fine here. I have a full tank of gas so we can heat the car up when we need to, and there’s lots of goodies to eat.”

Thankful that her main Christmas presents included fancy chocolates, shortbread cookies, expensive crackers, her father’s favorite salami and smoked salmon, many bottles of wines and even a bottle of expensive Brandy, she knew this to be true. They wouldn’t starve.

Really, how long could the blizzard last?