A Beautiful New Life

by Irene, Susan

  He only got this frustrated when something bad involved her. He was so protective. It scared the hell out of her that he could someday pay the ultimate price for her. Was she worth it?

  They arrived at Louise’s work and Jordan gave her a kiss goodbye. He held her a little longer than normal and then whispered in her ear. “Don’t look now but there are two men standing by a black sedan. They are part of the security detail. I’m only telling you this so you are aware of who they are. Just ignore them and if they talk to you just act natural.” He pulled away now and held her face in his hands. “I love you.”

  “I love you too Jordan.” He hugged and kissed once more and she got out of the car and walked into work without incident.

  It was an unusually warm morning and she had on a short sleeve shirt, you could see the bruises on her arms from the incident with Mark. She now thought maybe it would have been better to wear a long sleeve shirt, so as soon as she got to her desk she grabbed her jacket but before she could put it on Edith came by and noticed the bruises.

  “What happened to you?” She came over and held the jacket so Louise could not put it on to cover her bruises.

  “Oh you scared me. You’re in early today.” Louise sat in her chair and folded her arms to her chest trying to hide the bruises.

  “Not so fast little one. What happened to you?” She was kneeling beside her now.

  “I really don’t want to talk about it.”She tried to turn to her computer but Edith pulled her chair around and out from the desk.

  “Who did this to you? Did Michael do this?”

  “Oh my god, no. Michael would never hurt me. No, don’t say that. DON”T you ever say that.” Louise never thought for a moment that anyone would think Jordan had done this.

  “Was it Mark?” She was not going to give in.

  She told Edith of the run-ins she had with Mark outside of work. How they had come less often when she and Jordan moved in together, but she was only assuming that the word of their upcoming nuptials had set him off and he started to follow her again. He even came to the house and then yesterday he had followed her home and attacked her. She told Edith about the pepper spray she had made and used on him.

  “I should’ve reported him but he had never done anything more than follow me before or catch me off guard and talk to me. Sometimes he would stand a little too close for comfort. I’m so stupid.” She buried her head in her hands and thought hard to make the tears come. She would be damned if she was going to waste tears on him. But she had to, to make it convincing.

  Edith patted her on the shoulder. “You aren’t stupid my dear. You’re just too good hearted that you didn’t, couldn’t think the worst of someone who…well is pretty pathetic if you ask me.”

  Edith surprised Louise by her kindness. She wondered if she had been wrong about her. She was sure she was one of them. Had she had the wrong Edith? She now wondered if she could confide in her. She never had any other friends here. She missed having a woman to talk to her. She missed her best friend Fran. Had they all but given up hope on her?

  “Well if you need anything you just let me know.” Edith hugged her and turned to go back to her desk

  “Wait. There is something.”

  Edith stopped. “Yes dear what is it?”

  “Well…I don’t know how to say this?”

  “Just say it dear.”

  “Well I don’t want it to come out wrong. I need you to be open about what I am going to say.”

  “You know sometimes the best thing to do is just get to the meat of the subject and bypass all the side dishes.”

  She laughed. “I like that. Okay here goes.” She fiddled with her jacket that Edith handed back to her. “Will you be my maid of honor?”

  “Really you want this old lady to be your maid of honor. I’m sure you have someone else you can ask.” She laughed.

  I do but she is someone I am not supposed to remember. Louise thought but she said. “I really haven’t developed any close relationships since I’ve been here. I guess a part of me was waiting for my memory to come back and now that it still hasn’t…”

  “Well are you getting married soon? Oh my do you need to get married?’ Edith’s eyes were lighting up again as they had the day she found out they were getting married.

  “No, no.” Louise laughed. “I’m not pregnant.”

  “Well just a wedding will do then I guess. Maybe you will meet someone much prettier to stand up for you. But if not I’ll be honored.”

  “Thanks Edith.”

  The days continued to crawl by. The security detail was everywhere Louise and Jordan were. Like Jordan said, whether they were together or alone, the security detail would follow them. They had been interviewed, not about the accusations made by Mark, but by the ones made by Louise. Why would he attack her? Has he done this before? Why had not she said anything to anyone? Repeatedly they asked her these questions, treating her like she was in an interrogation. They were trying to break both of them and hope that one would falter and let some other piece of information slip, but they stuck to their story.

  Louise arrived home. “Hey you’re home early.” She went over to him sitting on the couch, bent down, and gave him a kiss.

  “Did anyone follow you home today? “ He pulled her down to the couch. They have been careful to have their conversations in whispers afraid of the house was bugged.

  “Actually now that you mentioned it, no I don’t recall seeing anyone.” She sighed deeply hoping this was behind them now.

  “Well I think we should leave next Friday as planned. I still need to get the keys to your car and make sure I know where it is parked so we aren’t wasting time and risk getting caught. I’m going to wait until dark to sneak off to the parking lot and try them so I won’t be home until late. I wanted to let you know so you don’t worry.” She gave him that look. “Okay that was wrong I know you will worry until I get home but you need to try and not worry.” He pulled her close and kissed her. “I promise to make this happen. We’re getting you out of here.”

  Tears threatened, “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Jordan’s words she had shrugged off weeks ago now hung around her like bees to a hive. She had been so positive until the incident with Mark happened.

  The next day Louise came home to an empty house. Knowing Jordan was putting himself in danger to help her made the emptiness unbearable. She made dinner putting his serving in the microwave. She took hers, sat on the couch, and flipped through the TV. It was all repeats again. They must be waiting for last season to be released on DVD. That was her story anyway. She and Jordan had discussed how it was that they got TV, internet, and news but they were never able to connect with the outside world. It was like they were a world of their own with only allowed communications in and none out.

  Jordan finally made it home just after ten. He nudged Louise awake where she slept on the couch. “Hey your dinner’s in the microwave? What time is it?”

  “It’s late. Go to bed, I’m going to grab a bite of my dinner and then I’ll be in.” He kissed her goodnight and went to the kitchen.

  “Where you able to get the key?” She followed him in to the kitchen and sat with him while he ate.

  “Yes, but I couldn’t find your car.”

  “What?”

  “Maybe they use the vehicles. Hell for all I know they could be the cars on the used lot in town.” He took a sip of his milk. “But since your key was in your box I assumed they hadn’t used your car for anything.”

  “So what does that mean?”She got up and paced the tiny kitchen. She wanted to cry, to scream out. Why, when it felt so close that they were leaving, did everything seem to fall apart?

  “Well when I didn’t find your car, I checked a few that were out there and believe it or not the keys were in the ignition.” He said. “So we can just take the first one we come to.” He finished the last bite of food on his plate, got up, and put his plate in the sink. He turned to Louise and pulled her in
his arms. “Come on let’s go to bed.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Friday morning greeted them as warm and sunny but Louise’s mood was more dark and cloudy. She had dreamt her kids were in trouble and needed her and that set the mood.

  “I think we should leave today. If they still suspected us, they would never expect us to leave right now. I don’t want to wait any longer. My kids need me.” She was angry and moody.

  “Hey what’s wrong?” Jordan came over to her and set his coffee down on the table.

  Louise shook her head. “I don’t know. I had a dream. I know it’s just a dream. But…but my kids need me. Something’s wrong.”

  “Louise, just calm down.” Jordan pulled her into his arms “I don’t really think that’ll be a good idea. We should really wait one more week.”

  “NO!” She slammed her fist on the table. “I’ll go without you if I have to but I’m leaving today.”

  Jordan knew better than to argue. If he learned anything from his mom, it was to never come in between a mom and her children and if Louise felt they were in danger there would be no stopping her from getting home to them.

  “Okay if you are sure then…hell Louise.” He paced across the kitchen and then turned and went into the bedroom. He returned a short time later with a sheet of paper. “Here’s a list I started to put together of things we need to take with us.” He handed Louise the sheet of paper.

  “I don’t know if I have all this stuff.” She was getting angrier as each minute passed. It seemed to her that he was stalling.

  “We’ll just have to take what we have.” He took a deep breath and tried to relax. It was not going to do either of them any good if they were both angry. They both ditched their breakfast and went to work gathering what they could. Louise packed the picnic basket, a cover if they are seen in the campground. Jordan went gathering the items to pack in a backpack. Even though they were taking a vehicle, they would have to walk through the woods to get to the truck and then if they had to ditch the truck along the way they wanted to only have to carry the necessities.

  “Okay I have the picnic basket done.” You could hear the tears in her voice. She was now afraid, afraid of getting caught, afraid of losing Jordan, afraid of what she might or might not find at home.

  Jordan pulled her close and held her in his strong protective arms. He was her security blanket and she felt it the first time he held her. She knew if he had the power he would never allow anything to happen to her. The fear came back in her mind again. How far would he go for her?

  Jordan drove her to work and kissed her goodbye like any other normal day. She wanted to linger but knew if they had been watching they would pick up on it, but no one was around that morning. Louise breathed a sigh of relief and got out running right into Edith.

  “You got a ride on this beautiful morning.” You could hear the unasked questions in her voice.

  Louise blushed. She had been getting good at producing a blush on demand but will be grateful to get out of here so she could stop pretending and get on with her real life. “Well we were delayed this morning.”

  “Oh. Well you don’t need to give me the details.” Edith was now embarrassed for asking.

  “Besides it’s such a beautiful day I convinced Jordan to go on a picnic for lunch. I couldn’t very well carry that to work.” She laughed and gave a look to Jordan that he returned. There was no pretending there. There was no doubt these two were in love.

  She turned to Jordan. “See you at lunch.” She closed the door and walked in with Edith.

  “So if you don’t come back from lunch on time I can just assume you two were…busy.” Edith kept walking without a look at Louise.

  “Edith you’re too much. But hey you never know.” Louise slipped her arm through Edith’s and they walked into the building together.

  The morning crawled by like a worm inching its way across a football field. Jordan was going to be there at noon and even though it felt as if the day should have been done, it was only nine. She busied herself with her work and soon put her earphones on to avoid any other distractions. She soon had all her work done, unintentionally. Since she was leaving, she did not care about deadlines any more but the work kept her mind off the pending unknown. As she was finishing the last bit of paperwork, she was tapped on the shoulder.

  Jumping around, “Oh my god you scared me!”

  “Sorry I called out but now I can see why you didn’t hear me.”

  She took off her earphones. “What are you doing here?”

  “Ah well I thought we had a date.”

  She turned and looked at the clock and it said 12:05. “Oh my I didn’t realize what time it was.” She started to shake. Jordan squeezed her shoulder and she relaxed some. She still had the queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  “So are you ready?”

  “Yes I just need to clock out and lock my computer but yes I’m ready.” She put her earphones in their usual spot, opened the time keeping program, clocked out, and locked her computer. She tried to follow her normal steps when leaving for lunch.

  Jordan took her hand and before heading out she yelled out to Edith a “see ya” and they left. They walked out the building and got into his car driving west out of town. Since they were not heading to their normal picnic spot Jordan had found an old tent and packed it. He would say it was his surprise to her, if questioned about picnicking at the campsites. He would pull out the tent and surprise her with plans of spending the night and weekend there. They continued to drive west in silence, with the only communication between the two was the constant intertwining of their fingers. They pulled into the camping area, stopping about halfway down the right side of the campground. They pulled into the spot they had chosen the week previous. She pulled out the picnic basket and proceeded to set up the table for lunch. They had not seen anyone on their way up but wanted to make a good impression on anyone passing by. They ate their last meal together or rather picked at it. Both were nervous about the risk they were both eagerly afraid to take.

  “Well you ready to do this?” He pulled her close and he wished they had time for him to make love to her one more time. As if reading his mind she pulled his head down to her and kissed him with all the love and passion she felt for him. He returned her kissed and for a moment time stood still and they were two free birds flying off to forever. They pulled away and got up from the table. Jordan grabbed the backpack and they walked hand in hand into the woods in the direction of the parking lot.

  The walk was shorter then they both had remembered and for a moment they paused, Louise pulled out the picture she had carefully kept tucked away and looked for inspiration, courage, and strength at the faces of her boys.

  “Let’s do this.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  They were closing in on them. Jordan pushed the gas pedal harder forcing the truck to increase its speed. Louise held on praying. They were going too fast.

  “Slow down some Jordan.”

  “I can’t they will catch us.”

  They whipped around the first corner barely staying on the road. Louise looked behind and the car following was having no problem taking the corners at such a high speed. Louise now regretted not waiting another week like Jordan wanted. The next curve was even sharper and Jordan had to slow to stay on the road. The car now right behind them.

  “WATCH OUT!” A fox darted out in front of them. Jordan swerved running off the road. The truck rolled

  All was quiet as the dust settled. Louise stirred, her head hurt. She reached up and felt the warm sticky fluid leaking from her ripped skin.

  “Jordan”. Her voice was no more than a whisper. “Jordan.” She tried to move but screamed out in pain. Her ribs hurt, her head hurt. She wanted to die but the pain would not let her forget a memory from not so long ago, a memory of a beating she had endured at the hands of the people she was trying to escape. People whom her husband had sent her to; a husband who now had her kids th
at she needed so desperately to get back to. She tried again pulling upon the courage and strength the memory of her kids gave her. She could not move. She moved her head carefully to see what was restraining her. She fumbled around finding the latch, undid the seatbelt, and fell hard to the roof of the truck.

  “Jordan.” She tried again to call out to him. “Jordan, are you okay?” She repositioned herself and now could see that Jordan was not in the driver’s seat.

  “JORDAN!” She was crying now, scared. She was sure the people following them would be there soon and if they found her, she was sure to be a dead woman. She took her coat off, cleared the broken glass, and crawled out of the truck. She sat on the ground and took in the scene around them. They had rolled a good 50 feet or more along the road and came to rest in a pull off area. Down the road, she could see the car that had followed them smashed against the rocks across the road. She got up calling for Jordan as she inched her way around the front of the truck.

  She reached the other side, “Jordan, oh my god, Jordan.” He lay pinned underneath the truck. Tears fell down her face as she struggled to get to him.

  “Help, help! Someone help us!” Her tears washed away all the fear of being caught, as she feared even more of losing Jordan.

  “Louise, Louise ...stop.” He reached out and grabbed her leg. She stopped yelling and knelt beside him.

  “Jordan, hang on. I…I’ll go get help.”

  “NO! Louise don’t…don’t leave me. It has to be this way.”

  “No, no. It doesn’t. I’ll get help. Jordan…I’ll get help.”

  He reached up and touched her cut on her head letting his hand slide down her face. He loved her more than anyone he had ever known in his life. Nevertheless, he knew, just as he knew he had to help her that first day he saw her, his life would end by making the greatest sacrifice someone could make for the one he loved.

  “Let me go get help… Jordan, please!”