She smiled at the sight of her necklace. The low neckline of her dress, and her hair pinned up in curls, exposed enough bare skin to create an uncluttered backdrop for showcasing its beauty.
Just as Evelyn buttoned her jacket’s top button, the expected knock sounded. Evelyn laughed as Bekah flitted to the door to open it. She was a woman of joy, and that joy made her radiant.
Bekah spun for George as he entered their apartment, and George displayed well his pleasure at seeing her. Bekah’s gown was cherry red and sported a deep V at the bust. If Bekah was at all voluptuous, Evelyn thought it would have looked very indecent; but as her figure was, it was darling. The gown was tight down through her hips and then flowed away from her legs mid-thigh, producing a fluttering swirl of fabric about her as she twirled.
Evelyn tried to steady herself as Jackson entered, following George. Her heart fluttered at the sight of him. His suit was tailored to him perfectly, emphasizing his muscular physique and causing Evelyn to become slightly short of breath. She made no effort to try and hide her nerves from him; he wouldn’t miss her eyes skirting his or her hands playing at the fabric of her coat. Her fluttering heart jumped when he took her hand and pressed a kiss to it.
Evelyn tried to ignore the chaos of emotions inside of her, and, of course, failed miserably. Thrill was tackled by anxiety, who was then shoved back by happiness, who then was immediately drowned by doubts…over and over the emotions raged, and those were only the ones about Jackson.
Somehow invading the mix with the others were fears of Tom, who, no doubt, would also be at the ball. She held tighter to Jackson as they walked. It still felt strange to be so bold with him, but she needed him, and he steadied her.
Charles and Natalie joined the foursome as they walked to the ball. It only took an introduction to send Bekah and Natalie into merry chatter. Jackson and Evelyn followed silently. Jackson’s thumb ran softly over the top of Evelyn’s hand that he held firmly. The chills running up her arm had nothing to do with the cold surrounding them.
It was then Evelyn realized Jackson had been quiet their entire walk.
Something was wrong.
“Don’t worry, dear,” Natalie said as they arrived at the door, putting her arm about Evelyn’s waist. “You’re going to have a splendid time. Jackson’s going to have to learn to share, because everyone’s going to want to dance with you tonight.”
Evelyn forced a smile and let herself focus on other things as they walked into the ball. Beautiful gowns and handsome suits filled the building. Walls and tables were decorated in silver, reds, and white, sparkling fabulously in the dim light. Music sang through the rooms, louder than she had expected; not so loud that you had to shout to be heard, but loud enough to keep conversations private.
Jackson gave his winter jacket to a man just inside the door and turned to take Evelyn’s. His hand clutched her coat, but his eyes locked onto her.
“Do you like it?”
He handed over her jacket without as much as a glance at the man who took it. “I do. It’s … you’re beautiful.” He looked over the curves of her body, and the delicate lace that gently clung to her. He smiled seeing his gift adorning her neck, and forced his eyes up to meet hers. “You’re incredibly attractive. If my parents weren’t with us, you just might get into trouble in that dress.” He laughed at the alarm in her eyes and kissed her forehead. “You know you’re safe,” he chuckled, taking her arm. “Now, come and dance with me. I promise I’ll behave.”
After dancing for some time, and enjoying every moment, Jackson and Evelyn joined a group of officers. “Bekah said she moved out,” Jackson whispered in Evelyn’s ear, nodding towards Sarah and Tom.
Evelyn very much enjoyed the way his lips touched her ear when he was saying something for only her to hear. It made paying attention a little difficult, but she managed.
She nodded. “It makes me nervous not having her there. I worry about Bekah becoming a casualty now, when someone’s sent after me.” Jackson’s hand tightened around hers when she said it, confirming her suspicion that it was just a matter of time before she was attacked. “She sure is something, isn’t she?” she asked, speaking of Sarah again. With her black hair, gold jewelry, and practically painted on gold dress, she looked like a goddess from an old mythological tale.
Jackson knew what she meant. Sarah caught almost everyone’s attention as she passed them, but his own heart was cold to the snake. The only reason he tracked her was to be sure she was nowhere near his Evelyn.
“Jackson…what’s wrong?”
He had been silent for too long. His thoughts were too busy with other things and he was letting it show. “Nothing,” he lied. Now wasn’t the time for him to tell her what his father had found out from the Madames at her government home or that he himself was being sent back to New Mexico for six months. A letter had been waiting for him when they arrived home earlier that day. Extremists had declared open war in New Mexico, and he was being promoted to Colonel. He had two days to get his work and private affairs in order, and then he had to leave. He didn’t want the job, but he had no choice in the matter.
Evelyn looked like she was going to say something when a loud boom and flying debris stopped them in their tracks.
It was a small explosion on the other side of the room, but they felt the heat of it. The resulting chaos did more than irritate Jackson. These were officers, they shouldn’t panic. He took Evelyn’s arm and led her to a back door. “Wait here for Bekah, then go to your apartment and wait there for me and George. Do not leave this building without Bekah at your side, and don’t open your door for anyone but me or George. Do you understand me?” He knew he was speaking sternly, but there wasn’t time for gentleness. She nodded and he left, proud of her calmness, and amazed at the lack of fear he sensed.
Evelyn stood watching the chaos. The explosion had frightened her, but Jackson’s cool demeanor steadied her own emotions.
A fire had resulted from the explosion and, with all the smoke, she couldn’t see if anyone had been injured. But she was sure there must be casualties. Busy looking for Bekah, she didn’t notice the door opening until he had his arm around her, and his hand clamped over her mouth. He held her against the wall, just outside the door. She had tried to fight him off before and failed, but still she fought.
“Be still!” Tom insisted. “I’m not here to hurt you. Please, Evie, be still for a moment.” She obeyed, but couldn’t keep fearful tears from spilling over. “I’m going to take my hand away from your mouth, but only if you promise not to scream.” She nodded and he removed his hand and slowly stepped away from her, releasing her from his grip. Pain lined the eyes of the once cold man. When she dropped her gaze from his face, she saw he was holding her jacket. “Evie, I’m here to warn you. You’re in danger; more danger than before. Certain people have learned things about you. Do you know who your parents were?” She nodded again, unable to find her voice. “Don’t go home tonight. There are men there searching your apartment. I need to know Evie, are they going to find books from the Bible in your room?”
She looked up at Tom, wiping her cheeks dry and feeling absolutely dumbfounded. “Just one. They won’t have to search for it. It’s next to my bed.” She still had the book of John that Jackson had lent her. She was surprised when Tom cursed.
“Go to Jackson’s. You and Bekah both need to stay there tonight. I’ll make sure Jackson knows that’s where you’ll be.” Her jaw began to chatter from the cold. “I’m sorry, here.” Tom helped her into her jacket. There was something heavy in the pocket. “It’s a gun,” he explained when she felt to see what it was. “Can you shoot?”
“No.”
“You need to learn. Bekah’s a good shot. If you run into trouble on the way to Jackson’s, just give it to her. She’ll protect you.” Tom put his hand on her cheek, and she froze. “I really am sorry. I’m going to try to keep you safe now, I promise.” He gave no other information or explanation. He turned and left.
> Evelyn stepped back inside the door just as Bekah was approaching. There was something fierce about Bekah’s demeanor.
“Why were you outside?” Bekah asked hotly, taking her back out the door she’d just entered, and began walking in the direction of their apartment. Conveniently, it was also the direction of Jackson’s house.
“You’re not going to believe what I’m going to tell you,” Evelyn started. “But first, we can’t go home. We have to go to Jackson and George’s. Tom was here. He said men are searching our apartment and that we need to stay away from it.”
“What else did he say?”
Evelyn paused at how well Bekah accepted this information. “He said I was in danger, asked if I knew who my parents were, and said if we run into trouble, I should give you the gun he put in my jacket pocket.” That part brought a reaction. “And he asked if they’d find any books of the Bible among my things.”
“Evelyn Carter, you’re carrying a gun right now?”
She nodded. “How does Tom know you can shoot?”
“We need to talk when Jackson and George meet up with us. I think it’s time we get everything on the table.”
Chapter 45
“We trained together, me and Tom,” Bekah explained hours later as they sat around Jackson’s kitchen table. Charles and Natalie had stopped by only long enough for Natalie to see with her own eyes that the girls had made it to Jackson’s home safely. With the night’s events, Charles had even more work waiting for him than he’d anticipated. Midnight had passed, but no one acknowledged the new year. The ladies were still dressed in their gowns and the men were covered in soot and rubble from their work helping in the aftermath of the explosion. They looked like quite the scene.
Jackson wouldn’t look at Evelyn. Even when she retold her encounter with Tom, he kept his eyes away from her.
“It’s not a coincidence that I’m your roommate, Evie,” Bekah continued. “I’ve known who you are since before I met you. My family works with government homes to keep children like you safe.” She turned to George. “I trained with Tom when he was joining the extremists; undercover, of course. I was planted there to watch him. His dad’s been searching for Evelyn for years now. I shadowed him long enough to get the information I needed, then I got out. After that, I was assigned to Evie. My job was to keep watch over her until she was eighteen. But we were friends by then, so I stayed.”
Evelyn looked around the table. George was looking at Bekah as though he didn’t know her. She supposed that was partially true. It was a rather important thing she’d kept to herself. Evelyn wasn’t entirely sure how she felt. Confused probably summed it up best. Her eyes landed on Jackson. Poor Jackson was struggling to keep the reigns on his anger.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” Jackson growled, his hands balled tightly in fists.
Bekah didn’t break under the intensity of his stare. For some reason, that didn’t surprise Evelyn. She looked straight back at him with her answer. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t trust you with it. I’d be hunted down if the wrong people found me out.” Jackson looked as if he had more than a few words for Bekah, but instead he stood and left, leaving an almost visible trail of rage in his wake.
Bekah turned back to Evelyn. “I’m sorry I never told you. I honestly thought if you never knew the truth about your parents, then you’d always be safe…or at least safer. There’s so much more going on than any of you realize. The extremists we have today are different than they were twenty years ago – or even ten. They’re not driven just by their hatred for Texas and its supporters. It’s Christ and His people they hate. There’s a deep evil hunting people down now.”
Maybe Evelyn should feel betrayed that her friend hadn’t shared any of this with her before now, but as she searched her heart, she found gratefulness instead…and more questions. “Did you know I was born in the Monroe’s home?” Bekah nodded. “So you were assigned to me, and you’ve known everything about me and never said anything. I guess that explains your protective side. I am grateful you stayed with me, after your assignment was over.”
Bekah smiled her relief.
“Jackson’s got more to talk to you about, Evelyn,” George spoke, breaking the silence. “And I need to talk to Bekah. So, we’re going to excuse ourselves for the time being.”
They stood and George led Bekah to another room, closing the door behind them. There was something about George that Evelyn liked very much. He was a man of peace, but from what Jackson had shared with her, she knew he wasn’t a push-over either. He was clearly angry with Bekah for withholding so much, but Evelyn didn’t fear for Bekah. George would be rational and thoughtful about it all. Maybe, she thought, he was like her when it came to hearing the truth. Perhaps knowing the truth gave him peace, no matter what that truth was.
Jackson, however, was not a man of peace…not naturally. He always had a fire burning in him. It was something she hadn’t noticed about him at first, and when she did, it worried her some. It worried her now. There were times she’d see it in his eyes when he looked at her and it made her blush. Or she’d hear it in his voice when he discussed things with his father. She’d seen it the night that Tom attacked her, too. She was glad Jackson had Jesus. Without Him, the fire would consume him. But with Him, he was safe, and she loved that fire in him.
Now, if he’d just come back so she wasn’t sitting alone at his table. But who knew how long that would take. So, she took her situation for what it was, an opportunity to pray.
Jackson ran his hand through his towel-dried hair. The shower had calmed him down some, but his blood pressure was quickly rising again. He wanted to shake Bekah for withholding so much from him, but he couldn’t blame her. He’d have done the same thing. The fact that Tom had gotten to Evelyn so easily, and while she was supposed to be in his care, was what boiled his blood. He’d failed Evelyn, and Tom protected her. That more than chafed his pride.
All he found when he returned to the others was Evelyn, asleep and alone. His ego wanted to blame George and Bekah for leaving her, but the reality was he’d failed to be there for her…again.
“Hey, Jackson,” Evelyn whispered in the silence.
“I thought you were asleep.” He smiled. “How’d you know I was here?”
Evelyn slowly lifted her head. “You’re not as stealth as you think you are.”
“Hmmm,” Jackson smiled again, closing the distance between them and pressing his lips to her exposed shoulder. “I doubt that very much. What were you doing here all alone?”
“Praying.”
“Good answer. About anything specific?”
Evelyn turned to face him. “For you.”
“Me? Why for me?”
“It’s been a long night for you.”
Jackson shook his head, once again humbled by her. “Come on,” he said, holding his hand out for her. “We’ll see if I have anything you can change into.”
He found a shirt and a selection of pants and shorts that he thought she might be able to cinch tight enough to keep up and handed them to her, and she disappeared into his bathroom. She reappeared with his pants rolled multiple times over, and still hanging baggy on her.
“You look adorable.”
“I look like a boy,” she said, embarrassed. “And the pants won’t stay up.”
“There’s nothing you could do to make you look like a boy,” he laughed. “Just take the pants off. My shirt’s a dress on you anyway.”
Evelyn cringed but complied.
“You’re amazing,” Jackson told her when she reappeared in his knee-length shirt. Evelyn rolled her eyes. “I’m serious!”
“And what is it exactly, that makes me amazing?” Her tone rang with skepticism.
“The way you function in stress, for one. Like tonight. There were women in tears, screaming after the explosion. Even some of my officers…too many of my officers…ran around in confusion and panic. You, on the other hand, let me bark orders at you and stayed calm
and coherent.”
Evelyn sighed a laugh. “That doesn’t make me amazing. Your instructions gave a clear plan. All I had to do was follow it.”
“Evelyn. Think about tonight’s events,” he argued. “You were nervous wearing that dress…which just so you know, is my favorite dress ever… You had to be in a room with Sarah and Tom, experienced an attack from terrorists, were confronted by Tom, given a da…” he cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. Given a gun. Were told you had a hit put out on you. And learned your best friend is someone you don’t know as well as you thought you did.”
“I wasn’t near the explosion. Tom confronted me for my own protection. I made it to your house safely, with my best friend who I found out will do drastic things to protect me. And now I get time with the man I love.” Evelyn raised her eyebrows as if to dare him to even try to argue.
“Thank you,” Jackson smiled slyly, “for arguing my point so perfectly.”
Evelyn blushed under his stare. “George said you had more to discuss with me.”
“Very nice change of subject,” Jackson teased. “But yes, there’s more. There always seems to be more.” He leaned against the edge of his bed and waited for her to sit in the chair at his desk before continuing. “I’m being sent to New Mexico. I leave the day after tomorrow.”
After all the events of the night, even after Tom’s warning, this news hit Evelyn like a bat…no, an avalanche. “How long will you be gone?”
“Six months. I’m hoping it won’t be any longer, but I can’t be sure. I thought the extremist presence here would secure my position, and in a way it has. I’m being promoted to Colonel and I’ll be stationed here afterwards, but I have to go there first.” Jackson watched Evelyn carefully. He wanted to hold her when he told her these things, but he didn’t think she’d like that; though he’d never offered, either.
Evelyn nodded slowly. “I know there’s more, so just tell me everything.”
“My father visited the woman who ran your government home when you were brought there. She had a lot more information than we thought she would. Your mother lived with you at the government home until you were five. She only left because Tom’s father showed up looking for information on a baby with your parents’ last name. So, to keep you safe, your mother and the head Madame falsified your papers, and she left. You could never be adopted because any agency would have discovered the altered papers, putting you in too much danger. She also said your mother visited often after that, but she kept her distance from you.” He wasn’t looking forward to sharing the rest. “Evelyn, your mother didn’t overdose. She was poisoned. I’m so sorry.”
Unspoken Words (Hope and a Future Book 1) Page 30