Into the Storm (42 page)

She sighed wearily. “Okay.”

I looked at her. “Okay? Okay to Daniel? Okay to Adam?”

She nodded. “Okay to all of it, Joshua. It all makes me nervous, but I know it needs to happen.”

“
I’ll be right there with you, Rabbit. If something bothers you, we stop it. Right away.” I tilted her chin, looking into her tired eyes. “I promise. I know it seems fast, Rabbit, but I want to be ready.”

“
You think he’ll come after me?”

I hesitated then nodded. “I am sure he’ll search for you. Quietly this time. If possible, I would rather send our people to him so he never knows where you are.”

Another tremor went through her body.

“
He won’t get to you, Rabbit. Ever. He will
never
touch you again. Trust me when I say that.”

She looked at me and nodded. “I do trust you.”

I gathered her closely. “Do you want to go to bed?”

She shook her head. “Can we sit in the hot tub first? I’m cold.”

Inwardly, I grimaced. This was another sign of her exhaustion. I would feel so much better after Daniel saw her. I stood up, taking her with me. “You can have anything you want, Rabbit. Hot tub it is.”

Rabbit slept burrowed into me, her hands gripping my shirt. She whimpered a lot in her sleep but would calm when I pulled her tighter. Unable to relax, I found my fingers tracing the thickened spot on her neck repeatedly. What had the fucker done to her? I knew this wasn’t a tetanus shot. A small niggling thought kept rolling through my head, but I needed Daniel’s help to confirm it. If I was right, time was even more against us. Between my worry over the mysterious injection and the endless loop in my head of the memories Rabbit shared with me, I was tense and anxious.

When dawn broke and Rabbit seemed to finally slip into a more restful sleep, I slid out of bed and went downstairs to work out some of my tension. Before I left the room, I left a note telling her where I was in case she woke in a panic needing me. I left the bedroom door open, as well as the basement door, so I could hear her if she cried out. I threw myself into my workout needing to release some of the tension I was holding in. I knew today would be another rough one, especially for Rabbit, and I needed to be as calm as possible for her.

Just as I was finishing and getting into the pool, I heard her moving around. I finished up, wrapped a towel around my waist and went upstairs, heading straight to the kitchen, ignoring my dripping legs. I smiled at the sight before me. There in the kitchen was Rabbit, in my shirt, rolling out pastry at the counter. Bear was lying on the floor not far from her and I could smell the aroma of coffee brewing.

“
Hey, pretty girl.”

She looked up from her task and smiled indulgently at me. I could see she was still exhausted. “Making your pies,” she offered sweetly, indicating the pastry.

I moved forward and kissed her. “Thank you. I’ll go grab a shower. Can I scramble some eggs for breakfast? I’d hate to interrupt the pie making.”

She laughed quietly and nodded. I turned around to go to the bedroom and stopped at the table. I picked up a couple of small Ziploc bags and held them up. “What’s this?”

The rhythmic sound of the rolling pin stopped. I looked over at her. “Rabbit?”

She walked over and took one bag from my hand. “These are the pills he was making me take that I told you about. I thought we could have them tested? Find out what they are?”

I nodded. We would definitely be having them tested. I held up the other bag. “And this?”

She leaned forward and took the bag from my hand. She gazed down at it for a moment quietly. When she spoke, her voice was shaking. “It’s the remains of the blouse I was wearing the day I ran away. I found it. I don’t remember why, but I had stuffed it, or at least part of it, in between the mattresses. When I saw it all the memories started coming back. I thought … I thought it may be something Adam could use.”

“
How did you get it here?”

“
I had it in my pocket. There wasn’t a lot of it left but I brought it with me anyway, just in case.”

I took it from her, opened the package and held it up. It had been torn badly but I could see what it was. I also realized I was looking at Rabbit’s dried blood on it and my stomach clenched at the thought. I quickly folded it and put it back in the bag. I pulled her to me. “That was good thinking, Rabbit. I told you how smart you are.”

“
He … he was so
angry
, Joshua. He was screaming and swearing. He actually spit on me, he was so out of control. I’m sure some of that is on the blouse …” her voice trailed off.

I looked down at her. Tangible proof. DNA. She was smarter than she realized. People had seen her wearing that blouse just hours before she was ‘taken’. And, it was evidence of her blood and probably
his
saliva, not a fictional stranger’s.

I kissed her head. “You did it, Rabbit. You’ve nailed him.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Joshua

I pulled Lizzy into my side a little tighter. I was trying so hard to refer to her by her real name, especially when other people were around. Although she would always be Rabbit in private and in my head, the name now felt very intimate to me and I wanted to keep it just between us as much as possible.

We were sitting around the table, introductions having been made and coffee poured. When Rabbit had first seen Adam get out of the car, she had backed away in instant panic. I had pulled her close, whispering comforting words into her ear as I felt her shake. Even I did a double take when I saw him. Easily seven inches taller than my six foot three inches, he towered above me and I was sure he looked like a giant to Rabbit. His shoulders were huge and powerful and his stride was confident and sure as he came towards us. But when he spoke and extended his hand to Lizzy and I, his voice was gentle and his demeanor one of kindness. He shook my hand first and then tentatively offered his hand to Lizzy. “I don’t bite, Lizzy. You can ask my wife. She’ll vouch for me.” He smiled kindly at her and then winked. “I don’t suggest you listen to my kids though, they exaggerate. Really, those are just little love nips on their feet.” I felt Lizzy relax and watched as his huge hand engulfed her tiny one in a brief shake. She smiled shyly up at him and asked how many children he had and their ages. The next thing I knew she was beside him, walking ahead of me into the house, his wallet out showing pictures of his five children and telling her amusing stories. I looked over at Trevor, who shrugged. “Charmer,” he mouthed. Cecilia shook her head, smiling, obviously used to Adam’s ways.

“
Where’s Frank?” Lizzy asked quietly from her chair beside me at the table.

“
He’s coming in a separate car with Daniel,” Cecilia smiled. “This one was not … large enough … for everyone.”

Adam laughed. “You are being too polite, Cecilia.” He turned to Lizzy. “My legs took up the entire back seat sitting sideways. Happens a lot.”

We all chuckled. Trevor looked over to the counter and stood up. “Are those pies? Real
homemade
pies?”

I groaned. I knew I should have hidden them. “Back off. They’re mine,” I growled.

Rabbit sighed and shook her head, laying a hand on my arm “Yes, Trevor, and you can have some once they cool down. Joshua is only too pleased to share with his guests, aren’t you?”

I opened my mouth to disagree but thought better of it when I saw the look on Rabbit’s face. “Yeah, absolutely,” I said grudgingly.

“
Awesome. Do you have ice cream? Gotta have ice cream with pie,” Trevor enthused, not at all put off by my tone.

I shook my head. “Nope. Guess you won’t want any then.”

Trevor laughed and reached for his phone. “Frank had to hang around and wait for Daniel. I’ll get him to pick up some.”

Damn it, apparently I was sharing, no matter what.

Rabbit leaned forward and kissed my cheek warmly. “I already hid one, Joshua. And, I’ll make you more.”

I beamed down at her and squeezed her gently at the waist.

Adam chuckled from across the table. Then he addressed Lizzy. “I was hoping I could speak with you privately, Lizzy, about your … situation. Trevor has filled me in somewhat, but I have other personal questions I would like to ask you, if that’s all right with you. I’m sure you have questions for me. Then maybe I can advise you on your options.”

Rabbit nodded. “I want Joshua to stay, please.”

Adam nodded, not seemingly surprised by her request. “Whatever you want, Lizzy.”

It surprised me when Rabbit spoke up again. “I don’t mind if Trevor and Cecilia are here either. They know most of the story. And, without their help I wouldn’t be here now.”

Again, Adam nodded.

Trevor and Cecilia stood up. “We’ll go take Bear for a walk. When we come back, we’ll just be here if you want us, okay?”

I was grateful knowing they were trying to make Rabbit feel safe and give her some privacy.

I nodded at them, smiling in quiet gratitude. “Bear will love the walk. We’ll see when you get back, Cecilia.”

Adam sat back, looking at Rabbit with both sadness and admiration in his expression. For the past hour and a half he had asked questions, listened to her answers, made notes, looked at the photos, her journal and, finally, the torn blouse and the bag of pills. Trevor and Cecilia had returned and joined us about thirty minutes ago and sat quietly sipping coffee, hearing for the first time about Lizzy’s flight into the storm and what happened after she returned to Brian.

“
You’re incredibly strong, Lizzy. You’ve survived so much. I’d like to take you through your options and how to move forward. Legally. You have a tremendous amount of evidence here. We can have charges filed against Brian immediately, have a restraining order issued, as well as begin divorce proceedings.”

We all looked at Lizzy, who was very quiet beside me. I was shocked when she shook her head.

“
No charges, Adam.”

I gaped at her. “Rabbit!” came out loudly before I could stop my reaction.

“
No.”

Adam held up his hand, effectively silencing me. “What do you want, Lizzy? You want a divorce?”

“
Yes. And, the restraining order. I don’t want him to be able to come near me. Or anyone else here.”

He regarded her silently. “I have to ask again. Are you certain you don’t want to press charges? You are absolutely certain about this? What do you want me to do with your evidence?”

Lizzy shook her head. “No. I want a divorce. I want him out of my life. I never want to see him again.” She drew in a deep breath. “Use the evidence to get the divorce on my terms.”

“
Rabbit,” I began, wanting to change her mind. I was still shocked at her announcement of not wanting to press any charges against him. Why was she doing this? I didn’t understand.

She shook her head firmly. “No, Joshua. I’ve thought about this. What will it get me? A lot of press and more humiliation.” She paused briefly, her voice trembling. “I’ll have to relive it all, talk about it, be in a courtroom with
him
staring at me, listening to his lies, making me feel like nothing again.” She stood up and began pacing, her hands wringing. “I
can’t
do that, Joshua. I don’t
want
to.” She stopped and stared at me beseechingly. “I know you’re angry with me about this. Please don’t be. I
can’t
, Joshua. I just … can’t.” Her voice dropped. “Please understand. I just want to move forward with you. Please let me do that.”