Captured Again(The Let Me Go Series)

Chapter 29


“Jake?” Gabby yelled out as soon as she walked through the door. “Jake, where are you?”

“In here, Gabby,” he answered from the bedroom. “You need some help carrying in the groceries?” Jake was still stretched out on the bed, his leg resting on a stack of pillows.

“No,” Gabby answered, her voice sounding upset. “Listen, Jake. I want to go. I want to leave here. Right now. Get up... let’s go.” She was still talking as she turned the corner into the bedroom, and the second she saw Jake, she started to shake again.

Jake sat up and reached for her. “Gabby, calm down. What’s wrong?”

She sat beside him on the bed. “I don’t know. It’s crazy. You’ll think I’m crazy... Let’s just take a quick trip, just the two of us. Jerry gave me the rest of the week off. Let’s go somewhere... anywhere away from here. Hurry, it’s already starting to get dark outside.”

“Baby, you’re shaking. What happened? Tell me,” Jake pleaded. He wrapped his arms around Gabby, pulling her close. “I won’t think you’re crazy. Trust me.”

Gabby tried to make sense of all the random things that had happened, swirling around in her mind; she’d been trying all the way home. But what she came up with was too bizarre even for her to believe. Maybe I am crazy? she thought.

“Gabby... You’re not talking,” Jake said as he gently poked her, trying to curb the seriousness. “I can’t help if I don’t know what’s wrong, girl,” Jake prompted again.

She sighed. “Jake, I’m sorry. There have just been a few weird things happen that have freaked me out. I don’t feel safe here right now. It’s just a feeling. Can’t we just go for a few days and take a break from... here?” she pleaded.

Jake reached up and stroked her hair. “I’ll make you an offer. We’ll go... maybe a short trip to the mountains or even the beach. But I don’t want to blindly run away from something. You need to tell me what you’re running from, and then we’ll go. Deal?”

“Okay.”

Gabby jumped up and reached under the bed for their suitcase. Turning to the closet, she jerked shirts off their hangers, snatching quickly without bothering to take any time in choosing, and was stuffing the suitcase—

“Whoa, Gabby! Stop. Tell me first. Then we’ll pick a place and pack for it. Slow down, girl,” Jake said.

She stopped and turned back to Jake, her chin quivering. I. Will. Not. Cry. Dammit.

“Jake, it’s going to sound bad,” she said while shaking her head. “I think he’s back. And he’s messing with me, trying to make everyone think I’m crazy,” she blurted out, wringing her hands. She looked down, afraid to meet Jake’s eyes.


She continued before she lost her nerve. “I had a panic attack when I thought someone was in the house last week. It was just a feeling, but I swear I really think they were here. I locked myself in the laundry room, and Emma brought someone out here to check. But apparently, I freaked out and panicked for nothing. There was no one here. But then I found a tiny dragonfly in a bouquet of flowers I’d bought for my office. I know it wasn’t there when I bought it. I would’ve seen it! And right after that, there was a dead—red—dragonfly on the dash of your truck.”

She paused for his reaction. She looked up at him, but he just sat there, waiting. His face didn’t give anything away. He thinks I’ve lost it. She grabbed the post of the bed, leaning her weight onto it and looking at the floor again.

“I know, Jake. All that seems random to you, but I don’t think so. Today, when I dropped by the office, someone had put flowers in my office. I called Jerry, but he didn’t know anything about them. The card said ‘marked by the dragonfly.’ Who would write something like that? Outside of my family and you, there’s only one person I can think of that knows about my tattoo...”

She sucked in a deep breath and looked at the ceiling, trying to maintain calm. She returned her eyes to Jake, hoping she didn’t see him looking back at her with anything other than understanding. Inside she was terrified; it had to be him, but she couldn’t say that to Jake. Look at the disaster that followed the last time she’d freaked out over thinking she saw the enemy. And why would he come back after all these years? He’d left them alone since Gabby’s attempted suicide—and after a strongly worded conversation from her usually humble husband. Why now?

She loudly exhaled her breath.

Jake cleared his throat. “Where’s the card, Gabby?” he asked, looking skeptical.

“I dropped it on my office floor. It scared me... but it’s there, Jake. Really. You can call Jerry and tell him to go look. The flowers are there too. I left it all and came straight home,” Gabby said, her voice sounding more confident. She had proof now. She’d just left it there.

She tensed as she waited for Jake to speak.

Jake hobbled off the bed, grabbing the other foot post for support. He shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s go, then. We’ll head to the beach. I can track down who sent the flowers just as easily from somewhere else. If you wanna go, we’ll go. I can use a vacation with my wife.”

Gabby let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. She stepped over to him and leaned her head against his chest. “Thank you, Jake. Thank you for believing me.”