Elaina

by Jennifer Hanks

  I’d needed a break. Watching Jake’s family all together, laughing and telling stories was fun until it hit me that I don’t have stories like that. I’d had Paige and we’d had fun, but her parents were very strict, and I’d had C.C. who wasn’t, but I was always afraid if I did something wrong or said something wrong, she’d send me away. She was all I had and even though she basically ignored me, she was someone.

  I’d planned to find the bathroom and hide for a few minutes, but something told me I should check on the kids first. I walked down the hallway towards the living room, turning to go in when the open front door caught my eye. That was strange. My eyes flicked into the living room and only seeing an empty room full of toys, I ran for the front door.

  As long as I live I hope I never again feel the amount of fear I felt when I ran out the front door and saw what I saw. Julie had Lexi balanced on her hip, Bray’s hand held tight in hers while she dragged him through the front yard to a car left running alongside the road. Bray was crying and pointing back at something on the ground, but I couldn’t focus on whatever it was because I’d started running.

  I ran hard and fast, not yelling her name, hoping she wouldn’t think anyone was around and not move any faster than she was. I was almost to them when Bray looked back and spotted me. He reached his hand out to me, but was crying so hard he was choking on his sobs. She must’ve finally heard me behind her because she turned her head. She spun her body around, tossing Bray hard behind her causing him to fall down on his butt. I knew Lexi was crying too and all I wanted to do was go to them, but I couldn’t.

  “I should’ve known you’d be here playing girlfriend.” She sneered.

  “Don’t do this Julie.” I had no idea what to say to her. I mean, how do you talk to someone who’s clearly lost so much of their mind they’re willing to steal children?

  “Don’t think you can tell me what to do bitch. Look at you, you’re nothing. He’ll be tired of you soon and come back to me.” Her smile was ugly when she leaned towards me. “He always comes back to me. Isn’t any good with anyone else, even you. He told me so himself.”

  My eyes moved to Bray standing behind her, shaking and I reached my hand out. I needed to get one of them at a time. Why didn’t I yell for anyone? I was in shock, I think, and all I could think about was getting to the kids. “Come here Bray.”

  Her eyes flicked back to Bray who was moving around her. “Don’t fucking talk to my kid bitch.” Then she pointed at him. “Don’t you move.”

  He kept his eyes on me and I nodded. “It’s okay honey, come here.”

  Julie’s face turned red and she leaned in closer to me. “Don’t fucking talk to him.” She screamed.

  I ignored her, hoping she’d take a step either towards me or towards him. “Bray, come to me honey, it’s okay I promise.”

  He moved quickly around Julie and she darted for him, taking her eyes off me and giving me the opportunity to react. I ran forward, grabbed a handful of her hair that hung long down her back and pulled as hard as I could. I must have underestimated my strength because she screamed and fell backwards, landing on her butt. She let go of Lexi when she was falling to grab onto my hands and as soon as she did, I let go of her hair, reaching out and grabbing Lexi from the ground. It all happened so fast, I was sure I could never act that quickly again, but I put Lexi on her feet and pushed her to Braydon.

  “Go get your daddy, honey.” I yelled in his direction.

  Julie jumped up from the ground and faced me. “You’re going to pay for that bitch.”

  “Braydon go!” I screamed when I saw he was still standing a few steps behind me. I needed them to move back, out of her reach.

  Julie rushed me knocking me to the ground and grabbed a handful of my hair. God that hurt, no wonder she fell backward when I did it.

  “Daddy!” Bray yelled in a high-pitched scream. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind the Dimarco’s heard that with the front door open.

  Julie wrapped her hands around my throat and put her face in mine. Her eyes were crazy, her face red and I knew in that moment if she got the chance she’d kill me.

  “He should’ve killed you!” She began screaming over and over again. I kicked my legs and swung out my arm, hitting her across the side of her face enough to dislodge her hands a little bit, taking some pressure off my neck. Her eyes shot over my head and she scrambled off of me, jumping up when I heard a loud yell. I had no idea what anyone said, only that she started running for her car. No way in hell was I letting that happen. I jumped up and started running behind her, dizziness slowing me down because she had cut off some of my air before, but I shook it off and ran as hard as I could.

  She was in her car and backing out when I got to the side of her car, and slammed my fist against the passenger side window. She smiled her crazy ass smile at me, threw the car in drive and squealed her tires pulling the rest of the way out onto the street. I stood behind her car, breathing hard and watching Dimarco men pile into trucks. I bent down and put my hands to my knees to calm the dizziness in my head when I felt a hand on my back.

  “You okay darlin’?” Jack’s voice washed over me.

  I stood up and turned into his body, letting him wrap his arms around me, tears filling my eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

  He leaned back and placed the palms of his hands on either side of my face. “For what?”

  I squinted when another round of dizziness washed through me. “I tried to stop her from leaving, but I couldn’t.”

  “Lanie, honey,” He squatted down a little to look me in the eye. “You did stop her. You stopped her from taking my grandbabies and your boy.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but he interrupted. “He’s yours honey. He’s been yours since the day he met you. He knows it, Jake knows it, hell the whole family knows it. We’ve all just been waiting for you to figure it out.”

  He brushed my tears off my cheeks before he continued. “You have my son and my grandson’s hearts already, they’re just waiting for you to be ready for them. Trust me, my Jake’s not good with talking about his feelings, but I know my boy and I know what he’s feeling because I once had a hard time talking about my feelings until I met a woman who needed me to be good at it. So I did because I realized what I know my son’s realizing.”

  I sniffed. “What’s that?”

  He smiled. “That she’s air to me, without her I can’t breathe. I always knew Jake would find someone like his mom, he’s a lot like I was when I was younger. He found her and darlin’ I couldn’t be happier with who she is.”

  I didn’t often ugly cry, but I felt it coming so I buried my head against his chest, letting his hands rub up and down my back relaxing me, only stepping back when I heard sniffling behind me.

  I turned and saw Braydon in Anna’s arms. He threw out his arms, reaching for me and when I took him, he wrapped his arms and legs around me tightly, still making sobbing sounds. He seemed to be calming when I heard a small squealing sound.

  His head shot up, his eyes wide and yelled. “Doggy!”

  “What?”

  He squirmed until I put him down and he started walking like he was searching for something. I followed closely behind until he dropped to his knees in the grass. I squatted down next to him and sure enough there was a very small, light colored puppy lying in the grass, his leg bent at an awkward angle.

  I turned my head and yelled for Sydney who was standing in the driveway with Lucy and Kasey talking quietly. She looked my way and I motioned for her to come over turning back to the puppy when she started moving my way and rubbing my hand across his soft head. He squirmed trying to get closer to me and Bray, but I was afraid to move him.

  Sydney knelt down beside me. “Where did this puppy come from?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Bray found him. We heard him squealing.”

  She pulled her phone from her pocket and pushed a button. “I’m going to call Dr. Morris, he’s the vet who works at the shelter. He can tell us
what to do with him.”

  Jack knelt down on the other side of Bray and a glance behind me revealed both Lucy and Sydney standing close. My eyes moved to Jack when he started talking. “Braydon, do you know where this dog came from?”

  He nodded his head, but stared at his hands. I leaned in close, covering his hands with my own. “Did she bring the puppy?”

  His head shot up, his little lip trembling. “I no wike her.”

  I wrapped my arm around him and he crawled into my lap. “It’s going to be okay, Bray, I promise.”

  He laid his head back against my chest and shoved his thumb in his mouth. Syd rejoined our group and said the vet would meet us at the shelter to take a look at him. She picked him up carefully and started towards her car. “Can you give me a hand Lanie?”

  I jumped up. “Sure.”

  Bray stood up with me, following Sydney to her car where we loaded up the puppy in a box she had in her trunk and settled him on the passenger seat.

  “Do you need me to come along?” I asked.

  She shook her head and smiled sweetly. “No, you better not. I think Bray needs you and Jake’s going to need you to be right where he left you when he returns.” I nodded while she called out for Lucy who gave me a pat on the shoulder when she passed, heading for the front seat.

  I picked up Bray who laid his head on my shoulder and watched them drive away, wondering if the guys caught up with Julie. God, I hope so.

  Jack came to stand by me and put his arm around my shoulder, leaning down to make kiss noises on Bray’s neck until he giggled. “Come on Lanie, let’s go in and check on the girls.”

  We walked quietly into the house where we found Grace reading a story to Lexi who was wrapped tightly around her, drinking from the cup in her hand. I sat down on the other end of the couch, situating Bray on my lap so he was facing Grace, and he snuggled in listening to her sweet voice reading “Guess how much I love you.”

  I heard voices whispering in the kitchen and assumed it was Jack and Anna, maybe Kasey too. Mia was stretched out on the floor playing a game on her tablet, she’d been lucky enough to still be sitting at the table when Julie tried to take the kids. I closed my eyes, knowing that memory would stay burned in my brain for a long time.

  It wasn’t long before we heard trucks pulling in, but nobody moved. I’d noticed when Jake comes home, usually Bray is ready to greet him at the door, but this time he stayed snuggled tight up against me. The door swung open and I heard their voices before they hit the living room. Jake came through the door first, his eyes searching the room until they landed on us.

  He moved quickly towards us, his eyes focused only on us and he came to stand in front of me, reached down and pulled me to standing. He wrapped his arms around both of us and buryed his face in my neck. He didn’t say anything and I didn’t either, unsure what to say, having no idea what he was feeling. I wanted to ask if they got her, but I waited, wanting him to tell me in his own time.

  “Daddy.” Bray giggled from between us and we both pulled back enough to look down.

  Jake leaned in and pulled him up against his chest, looking him over before leaning his head against his, wrapping his hand around the back of his neck like I’d seen Jack do with his boys. “Are you okay?”

  Bray nodded, but he was solemn not like his usual self and I could tell that concerned Jake. “Will you sit with Aunt Grace while I talk to Lanie?”

  He nodded and Jake set him on the ground. We watched him go to Grace and crawl up on her lap. She smiled up at Jake, never pausing from the story, her attention on the kids. Jake grabbed my hand and pulled me into the dining room where everyone was standing, small conversations going on, Luke on his phone talking, Cam texting on his.

  Jack cleared his throat. “Has anyone called Brody?”

  “I did.” Luke said, pulling his phone from his ear and ending the call. “I told him what happened. He said they’re getting on the first available flight, hopefully today.”

  “We all know Brody,” Jax said. “He’ll be here tonight sometime if he has to hijack the plane.”

  A few chuckles made their way around the room, but then Jake cleared his throat and I tensed.

  “Did you find her?” Jack asked the room at large.

  “Yes and no.” Luke said. “Yes we found her, but no we didn’t get her.”

  “I’m sorry.” I blurted out, causing everyone’s attention to fall on me. I ran my fingers around my bracelet.

  “Sorry?” Luke barked out. “For what?”

  “If I had yelled for help when I saw her dragging them across the yard instead of running out after them, you’d probably have her right now.”

  Jake turned my body to face his. “Lanie, if you hadn’t been there, she’d have the kids right now. You saved them. I don’t care how you did it, you got them back and that’s all that matters.”

  “Lanie, honey Jake’s right. We could not be more grateful to you and your fast thinking.” Anna said.

  “But…” I started.

  “No.” Luke said. “You acted fast. There might not have been time for anything else. Don’t second guess yourself. The kids are safe, that’s all any of us cares about.”

  I saw in that moment why Luke was a great cop. His voice was confident and reassuring, and I believed him when he said I’d done the right thing. Jake pulled me in tight to his side again, his arm around me when Jack spoke up.

  “Where’s she hiding?”

  “Sorry Pop.” Cam said. “This became an attempted abduction when she tried to take Lexi at least, since Jake doesn’t have sole custody yet. It means we can’t say much more about an open case.”

  “Then I guess you better get to work.” Jack said, his tone serious.

  Cam nodded at Luke. “We’re heading out now.” He looked at me next. “Lanie, Syd called a while ago and said to tell you the puppy’s going to be fine, just a broken leg. He has no I.D. and no tags, so he’s being kept at the shelter up for adoption when his leg heals.”

  “I’ll take him.” I said quickly.

  Jake grinned slowly and leaned down to run his lips over my cheek when I continued. “I’ll text her, if they’ll let me keep him, I will. It’ll be good for Beasley, maybe get him off the couch sometimes.”

  Jake laughed, holding his side, his brothers joining in and I rolled my eyes, giggling when Jack winked at me.

  “Did the kids say anything about the dog?” Luke asked.

  I shook my head. “We asked Bray and he nodded that Julie had brought the puppy, but that’s all.”

  “I’ll bet that’s how she got the kids to go outside. Maybe she’d shown him through window or something.” Cam guessed.

  “That sounds like something she’d do.” Jake said, his voice laced with anger. “She knows how much Bray likes dogs.”

  “It’s too bad the kids aren’t old enough to explain how that all went down.” Cam said.

  “I think we’re probably pretty close with our guess.” Luke frowned, his hands on his hips.

  “I do have one question.” Chris said, still chuckling. “How did you two end up on the ground?”

  I bit my lip before grinning myself. “Well, she’d shoved Bray behind her and faced me, she was holding Lexi. Anyway, she kept saying nasty things to me, but I kept talking to Bray trying to get him to come around her to me, hoping she’d turn and try to stop him.”

  “Why?” Jake asked.

  “I knew she’d be distracted then so when she did try to stop him from getting around, I grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her backwards pretty hard.”

  “How hard?” Ben asked, a smirk playing around his lips.

  “Hard enough that she fell backwards. When she fell she let go of Lexi so I grabbed her and shoved her towards Bray.”

  “Then?” Cam prompted.

  “Then she grabbed my hair, we both ended up on the ground and she tried to choke me. That’s when Bray yelled for you Jake.” I faced him, chewing on the inside of my lip.


  His eyes slid down to my neck and then back to my face.

  “Man I’d have loved to see that.” Ben whooped, causing the guys to chuckle. “Can you imagine that? Sweet, shy Lanie outsmarting Julie and then kicking her ass.”

  I giggled. “I didn’t really kick her ass.”

  Jax smiled at me. “Just let him tell it his way, it’s easier and he’ll end up doing it any way.”

  “Alright, we’re heading out.” Cam motioned between him and Luke. He gave me a wink while Luke came over and gave me a hug, punching Jake in the arm when he passed him.

  The others all said their good-byes as well. Chris announced he and Lucy would be taking Lexi to Brody and Gia’s and staying with her there tonight until they got home. Anna agreed saying it was probably a good idea to get her into her own bed, but I kind of thought she was also scared to have her at their house in case Julie came back. Jax announced he and Kasey were staying with Jack and Anna, Jack protested only until Mia yelled excitedly because mom and dad were having a sleepover with her at Grandma and Pappy’s. Jack grumbled a little more, but in the end would never say no to Mia, so the sleepover was planned.

  Ben walked to Jake’s truck with us, and said he was coming over later to watch the game and Jake agreed. It was like nothing had ever happened, but I knew by the way Jake held my hand and kept his eyes locked on Braydon that it was far from over in anyone’s mind.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  LANIE

  We were all a little quiet on the drive home, getting into the house and settled only a little while before Ben arrived to watch the game. I was surprised when Pike showed up too, giving me a long hug before he joined Jake and Ben in the living room. I’d never watched football, but decided I wanted to be where everyone else was, or maybe needed to be was more accurate, so I joined them and with a few quick lessons, I had a working knowledge of what was going on. Ben and Pike stayed until late, long after I read Bray a story and Jake put him to bed, and after I’d feigned exhaustion and went to bed myself.

  Jake came into the bedroom after I heard Luke come home. They had talked in the kitchen for a while. He quietly changed out of his clothes before going into the bathroom. He wasn’t in there too long before he crawled into bed and wrapped himself around me.