Against the Odds (Fighting to Survive #2)(6)

“Do we have permanent markers?” I ask.

“In the desk drawer,” Leah yells from the kitchen. I walk to the desk drawer and open a new pack of markers. “What are you going to do with that?” Leah asks.

I open up the pack and mark an X in the palm of my right hand. I blow on it for a second and try to wipe it off. When it dries quickly and doesn’t smudge, I smile. I show Leah my right hand and say, “It’s for the baby.”

She tries not to laugh but fails miserably. “On both palms and both feet.”

“Okay, sounds good.” I smile still trying hard to wipe the marker off.

“No foreheads, cheeks, or face.”

“Palms and feet,” I repeat so she knows I understand.

“Good.”

“Keep this in your purse, or in the hospital overnight bag. I don’t want to forget it.”

Leah takes it from me and places it in her purse. “Keep it in here, I don’t want it to get lost with the baby things.”

Leah and I go to bed and read from Jamie’s story book. She complains of a backache and I wonder is it’s from sitting on the hard ground today.

The next day, I get up early and get a workout in before Leah wakes up. I have a lot going on, but I refuse to slack when it comes to my exercise or the fight with Kennedy. I plan to walk into the ring and walk out a winner. All of this stress with Jamie is helping in my workout. I focus on Kennedy and beat the bag tirelessly.

When I am showered and dressed, I find Leah sitting at the kitchen table dressed for the day.

“Going somewhere?” I ask.

“I need to go to work.”

“I thought Dove and Bethany were going to work for you this week?” I walk over and pour myself a cup of coffee.


“They are. But I need to go in and balance the books and do the deposits. I haven’t been there for a few days.” She takes a deep breath and adds, “I need to get back to doing something normal. I can’t hide from the truth any longer. Sooner or later people hear or read about this. I can’t hide forever.”

“I thought you could hide until after the baby was born,” I say sincerely.

“Robert, no. I can’t. I know you want to protect me, but you can’t protect me from everything.”

I watch as Leah walks over and gets her purse and keys from the counter. The hell if I can’t. I’ll at least give it a try. I follow her to the door and she stands on her tiptoes to kiss me goodbye. “I won’t be long,” she says. I follow behind her and hold open my car door. “I’ll take you.”

“Robert?”

“I have to go to Crowder Brothers Hardware for some things anyway.”

“Robert?” she stands there with her small hands on her hips, trying to look all badass.

“Leah, get in. It’s just a ride.” I motion with my hand for her to get into the Hummer. It’s not just a ride, it’s my way for me to watch over you and protect her. I’m happy when she finally agrees to get in. I’m even happier when she takes my hand and lets me help her into the vehicle.

We drive through the neighborhood and as we near the gates, we see several news crews, newspaper reporters, and cameramen on the other side of the gate.

“Well, maybe we can hide for one more day,” I say.

Leah

Robert looks over at me and drives past the gate through our neighborhood.

“I’m afraid this is just the beginning,” I say, sadly.

“I’ll call Mom and Dad, and we can use their car until this blows over.”

I know he is trying to help.

I say, “They probably already did their research and knows what cars our parents drive. They’ll be stalking them next. We at least live in a gated community, so we have some privacy.”

Robert gets on his cell phone and calls Gus. He tells him the news crews are camping outside the gate. He says we need a rental car with dark tinted windows. We drive around the neighborhood and he calls both of our parents. He tells them to be careful and if they start getting harassed to call the police.

Since we have nothing else to do, Robert hooks up the photocopier and we begin to make prints of Jamie’s photo. I try to not copy pictures of us with Jamie, but it’s difficult to find any of just Jamie.

Gus and Dove pull up and they are both driving identical black Jeeps with almost black tinted windows. I laugh and say, “These almost look gangsta.”

Everyone laughs and I say, “Why do we need two of these?”

Dove says, “One is ours and one is yours.”

“I don’t understand why we need two identical Jeeps,” I say in confusion.

Robert says, “They got themselves one so we can confuse the news crews of we need to. If they suspect that you and I got this and we all four leave at the same time, they won’t know what vehicle we’re in.”

“Oh, good thinking,” I say.

“I’d like to take the credit, but the credit goes to Dove. She’s the mastermind behind everything.” Gus smiles proudly.

“I knew that.” I walk over and hug her before I walk over and hug Gus. “Thank you for doing this. I hope you guys know how much we appreciate it.”

“We do and you’re very welcome. Maybe this will help for a while,” Dove says. “Now you won’t be confined home for a few days. They’re snakes — it won’t take them long to know this is your car?” she says sadly.