Looking For You All My Life Part 165

Or maybe Leah. I know you were awfully close to her too."

Suddenly Maggie realized she hadn't heard back from Leah

all night. She glanced up at the clock and saw that it was

now after ten. Although she hated to disturb Leah this late,

she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep herself out of worry

for the girl. She quickly dialed the number, but this time got

an operator's recording saying that the call could not be con-

nected. She hung up and looked down at Lizzie. The dog

looked up with pleading eyes and whined.

"What is it, girl?" Maggie turned from the nervous dog

and glanced out the kitchen window. The snow had quit

falling a couple of hours ago, and now all looked peaceful

and serene outside, with even a partial moon peeking

through the clouds to illuminate the snow and making it

light enough to see for quite a distance. The dog whined

aga in, and as senseless as it seemed, Maggie felt that she too

was concerned for Leah's welfare.

"Maybe I should just drive on out there and make sure

everything's all right," she said out loud. She looked down

at Lizzie. "Want to go for a ride, girl?"

258Melody Carison

Immediately the dog began wagging her tail. Maggie

smiled. It was probably silly, but she knew she wouldn't

sleep a wink tonight if she didn't. She thought about leaving

a note, but Spencer was gone for the night anyway. She con-

sidered calling her mother, but felt certain Audrey would be

asleep by now, and she didn't want her to worry unneces-

sarily. Besides, she would take her cell phone, just in case.

Then remembering Leah's warnings about preparedness, she

1.bundled up and even thought to grab a spare blanket for her

car, just to be safe. She tossed a few cookies in a plastic bag,

then she and Lizzie took off into the snowy night.

She drove slowly and with caution, marveling at the won-

drous beauty of the snowy night all around her. It was a dra-

matic scene of varying shades of blues and purple and black.

The main road had been freshly plowed and seemed to pre-

sent no hazards, but when she turned onto Jed's road the

plowing ceased. Still, it seemed okay; her tires had adequate

traction, and even as the road began to climb and curve, her

front-wheel-drive seemed to be holding to the road just fine

and she didn't feel it was unsafe to continue. Now she could

see the faint tracks of tires ahead of her, filled in with several

inches of snow, and she suspected they belonged to the

pickup. She imagined Leah snug in bed right now, and felt

silly for making such an effort to check up on her. She knew

she'd have to slink away with her tail between her legs for

being so paranoid. Maybe she could simply spy the pickup

in the drive, then sneak quietly back home. But then again

what if something was wrong inside the house? No, she

decided, she would not rest tonight until she saw Leah face