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The drive is silent for a while, my thundering heartbeat surely loud enough for everyone to hear. I startle when Bennet’s phone rings, Luis letting us know over the speaker that there is a white SUV that has been trailing us since leaving the hospital parking lot. The pulse in my throat quickens, and I am nauseous with fear.
Have I put them in danger? Who are these people? Will they hurt me? Will they hurt them? I couldn’t live with myself if any of these men got hurt.
My sweaty hands clench together as my thoughts start to spiral. I’m trying to come up with a plan, one that involves Lukas pulling the van over to let me out. Maybe if I surrender myself they’ll let the guys go, or at least give them a chance to run.
What have I done? What do these people want with me?
My breaths are too shallow, my vision starting to waver.
Micah puts an arm around my shoulders, gently hugging me against his side. “Breathe, baby, breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth. That’s right.” He talks me through my panic in soothing tones, but I don’t miss the way his eyes flick up to the rearview mirror.
What feels like hours, but is probably only minutes later, Luis confirms that they’ve turned and are no longer following us. No one speaks for a little while, but once we make it out of the busy part of town and out onto less populated roads, everyone visibly relaxes. I can see Jackson’s truck in front of us, and Luis’ black car behind us, and there are no other cars on this country road.
I lean my head back on the seat for a moment, letting the tension run out of me. Micah squeezes my shoulders, and Bennet brushes his knuckles over the back of my neck. I smile and let out a heavy breath, knowing we’re home free - whatever that means.
Lukas makes eye contact with me in the rearview mirror, and I give him a small smile. I hope that he actually wants to be here, and I plan to get the chance to tell him how much it means to me that he showed up today. For now, I just mouth “thank you” before he focuses back on the road.
Something from earlier finally occurs to me.
“That is a really nice sweater vest,” I tell Lukas. And everyone explodes in laughter.
Jackson
Once it’s clear we’ve made it out of town free and clear, I want to cheer and honk and jump up and down and whoop out the window. Aside from the two minutes of uncertainty with the SUV, everything went off without a hitch and I am absolutely giddy about it.
That was somehow both the most anticlimactic and also the most exciting thing I have ever done. I’ve gone cliff diving before, but this was a bigger rush.
I thought I’d be more nervous about bringing people back to the B&B, but I’m surprisingly not. I spent yesterday evening roaming around and checking to make sure all the rooms were ready, and I feel like I’ve mostly exorcized whatever ghosts I was holding onto. With the upcoming excitement of having these guys and her there, I’ve been able to stop staring at that spot on the floor quite as much.
I’m so pumped and ready to introduce them to Mr. and Mrs. C, and get settled in. I can’t wait to get to know her better. All of them, really.
I signal and turn onto the long gravel driveway, wishing that I could see her face as they enter the property. Driving through the dazzling oak canopy into the clearing of wildflowers, perfectly lit by the morning sun, the big house has never looked more beautiful.
As our caravan pulls up to the main house, Mr. and Mrs. Coolson come out, leaving the doors open wide to welcome our guests. I jump out of the cab, bouncing on the balls of my feet, all but doing cartwheels with all the excited energy running through me.
Rushing over, I greet our precious cargo with a bear hug, lifting her out of the van. She looks around, a wide grin of wonder on her face as she takes it all in.
“Oh Jackson, it’s amazing!” She says in delight, hugging my side as we walk up to the only family I have left in the world.
“This is Mr. and Mrs. Coolson, they helped raise me, and they take care of the B&B.” I gesture to our guest of honor, “This is…” I cringe, “…sorry, we don’t actually know, but she’s pretty fantastic and the reason we’re all here.” I inwardly kick myself at my awkwardness.
Mrs. C moves in for a hug, taking our mystery girl’s hands in hers, “Now don’t you worry about all that, there’s plenty of time to figure things out. Come inside and let us show you around.” She leads our girl to the short set of stone steps that lead to the open double doors.
“Smooth,” Micah jokes as he slaps me on the back, catching up so he can scoop her up and carry her up the steps and over the threshold like a giddy groom. She doesn’t seem to mind, throwing her arms around his neck and looking the happiest that I’ve seen her so far.
“Nice place,” says Lukas, coming up to stand beside me, holding bags. I reach out to grab one from him and Bennet comes up to shake my hand.
“It’s a really impressive estate,” he remarks. Luis is standing next to him, looking around and nodding in approval.
We bring all the bags inside and set them in the foyer. I notice that Micah has finally let her down, and she is standing in front of the little table that holds a photo of my mother.
Walking up beside her, I tell her simply, “That’s my mother.”
“Beautiful,” she whispers, and I look down at her thinking the same thing.
The bustle in the entryway breaks us from our reverie, and I see that Mr. and Mrs. Coolson are introducing themselves. I’m pretty sure that Mrs. C could guess everyone’s names based on everything I’ve told her.
Grabbing our girl’s hand, I lead everyone around for a tour through the formal sitting room, dining room, and kitchen. We walk through the back hallway where I point out a small elevator and then into the more comfortable living room. I point out a hallway with bathrooms, office space, and a basement that used to have a gym with a small exercise pool. The rooms are all on the second level, so we head up there next.
