“I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy. It’s so peaceful here. The trees and the mountains, and the river, it’s all so very beautiful.”
He held me close protecting me from the brisk wind that encircled us.
“They say the winters are pretty severe here in Canada.”
He was fishing to see if I was lying to him about being utterly happy. I leaned back in his arms, taking in my handsome, strong warrior.
“You forget I’m from Chicago. I’m not afraid of Canada’s winters.”
“That’s another thing that worries me. You’re from Chicago, is the seclusion here going to drive you crazy?”
I looked at him as if he had gone loco. It’s true, Judah’s property was very secluded. He had a house here and the small group of men that worked for him had houses and families here, not to mention Rome and Albert’s, but you wouldn’t know it. There was so much space and forest between us that it was easy to forget we weren’t the only ones here.
“Do you know how tired I got of constantly hearing police sirens and ambulances?” I shook my head. “This peace and quiet is a blessing from on High. No, baby, the seclusion is not going to drive me crazy. In fact, I welcome it with open arms.”
With our hands clasped together, he and I walked back towards the picnic area and our little family. Albert stood at the grill flipping burgers. My mom brought him out some more stuff to put on the grill. He leaned over and whispered something in her ear that caused her to blush before she swatted his arm, no doubt telling him to behave.
I chuckled, she was always telling him to behave, but something told me she liked his naughtiness…
Jo and I settled down at a picnic table and he lifted a piece of fruit to my lips. I shook my head and ate it. The man was always trying to feed me. I had to keep reminding him that I was only a couple of months pregnant and that my appetite hadn’t changed that much.
“Do you think Judah will come and have dinner with us?” I asked around a mouth full of cantaloupe.
Jo shook his head. “I doubt it.”
Although I didn’t show it, that saddened me. Judah didn’t mingle much with the rest of us. In fact, he didn’t interact much with anybody but his men. Joseph said it was because he wasn’t used to dealing with civilians. He said his brother had been in the military most of his life and that was all he knew.
Jo reached up and smoothed out my frown that I hadn’t even been aware was on my face.
“Don’t worry about him, baby, he’ll come around.”
Rome sat down on the bench seat across the table from us and tossed Joseph the paper.
“I don’t know what branch of government your brother works for. You know I’ve been trying to find out. Every time I ask him, his answer is more cryptic than the last.”
“I’m sure it won’t be long before you find out.” Jo muttered as he began to look through the paper.
Rome shook his head. “The man is a ghost, he and his whole crew. My guess is CIA.” He pointed to the paper Jo held in his hand.
“He got to be pretty high up there to pull something like that off.”
“The flag hangs half-mast as the Hill mourns a great loss.” Joseph read out loud.
“In a horrific plane crash, Senator Warren, his beautiful wife, and their only son Joseph Warren, who was due to announce his candidacy for senator of Florida, all died when their plane crashed somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. Search crews have been out all morning looking for the bodies. Everyone on the plane is presumed dead. Along with the Warrens were Joseph’s fiancée, Journey Reevers, her daughter that she shared with Mr. Warren, her mother, and two brothers. It is believed they were on their way to attend the secret wedding of the couple, who had all but announced their engagement on PMZ.”
Wow! How quickly life can change. One minute you’re walking down the path you thought almost for certain was for you, and in the next, you’re headed in the complete opposite direction. It was official, Journey Reevers is dead.
In a way that troubled me a bit, but I knew it was something that had to happen. Before we’d left town, I’d insisted we go back to the cottage to at the very least, get the necklace Jo had bought me that went with my engagement ring.
When we got there, we couldn’t even turn down the street because the fire department had blocked it off. Someone had set my cottage on fire. Jo said it was nothing for me to worry about, but I knew we were in danger. Why else would they have to fake our deaths?”
However, we were safe here. Jo no longer went by Warren, he’d decided to go by his real father’s last name which is Law.
Journey Reevers was dead, I was soon to become Journey Law.
“I don’t know how my brother pulled that off, but I must say I don’t know how my future brother-in-law pulled this off either.” Jo said flipping the page.
“A very sad day for Macon Technologies.” He began to read.
I looked over his shoulder as he did. There was a big picture of several business men being led out of a building in handcuffs.
“Jeff Barnes, CEO of Macon Technologies fled a burning house, leaving his major investors to stay and clean up the mess. Records of the company’s long history of embezzling and racketeering mysteriously became public, linking key players of the company’s development to wrongdoings that’s going to leave Macon Tech bankrupt and several people faced with jail time.”
Jo’s gaze rose to Rome, he nodded his head once. “I’m impressed.”
Rome shrugged. “All in a day’s work.”
Not many people could see the sadness in my brother. Like Judah, he’s been withdrawn, lost in his own thoughts, constantly
