Love by Divine Appointment (SHORT STORY) (E-BOOK)

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Excerpt from LOVE BY DIVINE APPOINTMENT by MaryAnn Diorio

Maggie Warner turned the ignition key again. Nothing. The battery was dead. Totally dead. Not even a grunt or a wheeze. And here she was, stuck in the middle of nowhere, high in the Appalachian Mountains.

Why had she thought taking the back roads would get her to her parents' home faster? Not in this kind of
weather. She'd have been better off staying on
the Pennsylvania turnpike and getting off at her
hometown exit.

She slammed her fist on the steering wheel. Stupid. That’s what she was.

Tears stung her eyes. Mom had urged her to hurry home. Dad was failing fast, and the doctor didn’t think
he’d make it through the night.

“God, please help me. If Dad dies before I get home, I’ll never forgive myself.”

She tried the ignition again. Still nothing.

The snow that had begun with only a dusting when she’d left Philadelphia had now turned into a thick curtain of huge flakes. Would Triple-A even come out to this desolate place, let alone in this kind of weather?

Reaching into her purse, she located her Triple-A
card. She read the number on the back of the
card and dialed it on her cell phone.

A woman answered. “Triple-A. How may I help you?”

“Hi. My battery is dead and I’m stranded on a back road in the Appalachian Mountains.”

“Can you tell me the name of the road you're on
or the nearest town? Do you see a mile-marker?”

Maggie drew in a deep breath. How could she be
so clueless as not to know the name of the road she was on! She looked out the front window and then the back. “There’s no mile marker here. At least not one I can see.”

“Do you know in what direction you’re headed?” The woman sounded frustrated.

Maggie glanced at her GPS. “Northwest. Toward
Mountainburg, Pennsylvania.”

A rush of static, and then the phone went dead.

Great. Now what? She dialed again. This time there was no ring. She tried a third time. Still no ring.

She glanced at her wristwatch. Four-ten pm. Soon darkness would fall. There was only one thing to do. She’d walk till she found help.

Dropping her cell phone into her coat pocket, she
grabbed a flashlight from the glove compartment. The flashlight Dad had advised her to keep there for an emergency. Good thing she'd heeded his advice.

Lifting the hood of her parka over her head, she
opened the car door and pushed out into the snowstorm. An eerie silence hung in the air, accentuating the crunch of her boots against the snow-covered ground. All around her, red spruce, balsam fir, and white pine trees towered toward the darkening sky, casting long shadows across the road.

Maggie took a deep breath and inhaled the cold, wet air. She kept to the inner side of the road, hugging the mountain. A sheer drop bordered the outer edge of the road, unprotected by a guardrail.

A gust of wind whipped across her face. Her stomach churned. Her last look at her GPS before the car battery went dead showed a tiny village two miles
up the road. With the snow falling heavily, it would take her a good two hours to get there.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Lord, you
said you’re an ever present help in time of trouble. This is a time of trouble. Help me get home before Dad dies.” She choked back a sob and steadied her flashlight.

Maggie rounded a bend and found herself in a clearing. Her heart lurched at the sight of a black SUV parked at one end. Dare she approach? One never knew who could be hiding out in these remote parts of Pennsylvania.
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Excerpt from Love by Divine Appointment by MaryAnn Diorio
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