CHAPTER SIX
Saylor
W e’ve been on the road for hours as I continue to read over the papers of my new life. Hoping that if I read it again, the words might be different and that the life I’m going to be living for the foreseeable future isn’t hitched to this man seated next to me.
Who in life have I pissed off to earn everything that has been thrown at me the last few days?
There are pages of back story and pictures of us photo shopped to make us seem like we’ve been together for years.
YEARS! How in the world could they have pulled all this together in such a short amount of time?
The pictures are of Brody and I at the beach, of our ‘wedding,’ at a Halloween party, at Christmas, dancing.
There are so many I can’t wrap my head around this, it looks so real.
Like, we really are this couple who are so in love with each other.
How do families in Witness Protection handle all these changes?
“I can hear your brain going into overdrive over there. I’ve sat in silence a while to give you some time to adjust but now we need to talk,” Brody says as he pulls off an exit.
“How did all this happen?” I wave the photos and paperwork over for him to see.
He shrugs, “It’s the government. They can do pretty much anything and in a short amount of time if you know the right people.”
This boggles my mind and it makes me wonder if Levi’s team is as good as those who did all of this. This is a good thing though, right? It means that the police department will be able to catch this mentally disturbed person quickly and we’ll be able to resume our lives soon.
“Where are we going?” I ask as to why we’re stopping if we just stopped thirty minutes ago to fuel up.
“Starving, how ‘bout you?” The moment he says that my stomach makes a growling noise that makes him smile. “What does the little jellybean want? Burger, fries, chicken, shake?”
“Mmm.” I haven’t had fast food since meeting Levi. He always deemed it unhealthy and bad for the body. “Burger, fries and a large chocolate shake.” I actually moan as I say the words.
“Done.”
We pull into the drive thru and place our orders. Brody gets double what I ordered and it makes me wonder how he can eat so much and still have a body like that. We eat on the road in comfortable silence, which surprises me.
“So, are you having to live a lie also? I mean with the military background and all.” I point down to the middle console at the folder.
“No, I served my time and just recently got out. I’ve read over the file and it matches up to my life pretty much. Joined the Marines right out of high school and up until a year ago, I was an active member for twelve years.”
“So that makes you thirty.”
“Yes, just had a birthday three months ago. Don’t you remember?
You planned this big trip to the beach. What a bad little wife you are.
Being married for three years and you still can’t get my birthday right.
” He gives me an astonished look like I really knew when his birthday was.
It makes me giggle and I start to relax a little more being in the same close quarters with him.
“It’s going to take while for me to get on board with all of this, you know that right? I’ve never had to lie or try and make something up on a whim.” I’ve looked over the file and most of it seems easy enough but I still have my doubts.
He throws me a genuine smile.
“No worries little lady. I’m a patient man.
” He winks and focuses back on the road.
“Look, the town we are going to be in is not large in size, and with you being pregnant it makes sense for us to be ‘married’ so as to not raise any questions. People will just think we are settling down to start a new life and we’ll keep mostly to ourselves. ”
“Little lady?” I scrunch my nose at his endearment, but his reasoning is spot on. I am trying to stay under the radar and not draw too much attention to myself.
“Yeah, I’m trying to work out what pet name works best for you, sugar.”
“Ugh! Definitely not sugar!”
“Pooh bear?”
I shake my head at the direction this car ride has headed. Brody has definitely made the tension leave, and it’s as if we’ve been old friends bickering for ages.
After another hour and my belly full of greasy food, my eyelids start to grow heavy. I can feel my head bob and a soft pillow catches my chin.
“Here.” Brody places the pillow on my shoulder and grabs in the backseat for a blanket.
“Thank you, Brody,” I say as I lean my seat back slightly.
“Anytime, Momma Bear,” I hear him whisper before sleep takes me under.
I feel the truck come to a stop and hear the gear shift pull to the park position. My eyes are still so heavy, but from the small sliver through my eyelids, I can tell we’re at his ranch.
My door opens and I feel Brody unfasten my seatbelt and pull me close to his body.
“We’re home,” he says, but I still can’t muster the energy to wake up.
I feel myself being carried and then placed on the softest material. Letting out a small moan, a warm blanket is placed over me once again and I drift off to dreamland.
Waking up in a panic after hearing the loudest scream, I tuck my knees up to my chest and gaze around at my surroundings.
I’m in an unfamiliar place. The door across from my bed swings open and the hall light shows Brody in a pair of pajama pants.
Only pajama pants, holding a gun surveying the room.
He spots me and quickly glides over to the bed.
“Are you alright? I heard the scream from across the hall and came as quick as I could.”
“I heard it too,” I say, but then realize that I’m covered in sweat and Brody is looking at me with a confused expression. “It was me, wasn’t it?” I whisper almost ashamed, remembering what I was dreaming about.
“Hey,” Brody sits down beside me and wraps a comforting arm around my shoulder. “Things are going to work out, you’ll see.”
I nod as the tears fill my eyes. How am I ever going to move on from Levi?
He was my whole world; it began and ended with him.
Even if this is over soon, will he forgive me for the awful things I said to him at the restaurant?
I didn’t mean half of what I said. I was just mad and reeling from his confession.
We may not be married after this, but we will need to work on co-parenting for this little one.
“Are you okay, or do you want me to stay until you fall back asleep?” Brody interrupts my thoughts. I’m completely embarrassed about needing to be comforted after only meeting this man hours ago, but something tells me that Brody is someone I can lean on.
“I’m good, thank you Brody.”
“I’m here if you need me.” He gets up and walks out, but leaves the door slightly ajar.
Hours later, I wake to the smell of bacon and coffee. Stretching out in the cloud-like bed, I walk down the hallway as my nose sniffs out the direction of the kitchen. I was asleep last night when we finally arrived, so I have no idea where any of the rooms are located.
Finally, reaching the large open kitchen, I watch as Brody glides around the room like he’s been doing it his whole life.
“Good morning,” I say, not wanting to sneak up on him and make him spill the food.
“It’s a great morning,” he replies back and plates the food. “Coffee or juice? I don’t know too much about pregnancies and the dos and don’ts yet.”
I smile at his thoughtfulness.
“Juice please.”
He nods and gestures for me to have a seat on a barstool, as he pours some juice in a glass for me.
“After breakfast, I’ll show you around the place so that if I’m not here you won’t get yourself lost.”
“Lost? How big is this place?” I ask. Surely it can’t be any bigger than the penthouse that I lived in with Levi.
“Well, we’re sitting on fifty acres and with you being pregnant, we should have some kind of plan in case something was to happen and we needed to get you some help.”
“Fifty acres? Are we out in the middle of the woods in a cabin or something? How far is the town from here?” I question.
“We’re on the outskirts of Whitehall. I have some guys who help me out with the up keep of the place. We’ve got cows, horses, and goats.”
“How long have you owned this place?” I ask.
“I just bought it a little over a month ago. When I got out of the service, I wanted to get out of the city and away from the hustle and bustle. Montana looked like the perfect place to escape. This is only the third time I’ve been here since buying it.
When I got the call about you, from Burt, I thought it was the perfect time to make the move.
I’d planned on coming out here in a few months, but this was a good excuse to get up here sooner. ”
The sound of tapping across the wood floors draws my attention, and I turn my head to see what is making the noise.
A large red and black German Shepherd comes to a stop at the entrance of the kitchen, and bounces when he sees Brody, but quickly gets in a defensive stance when I catch his eye.
“Zeus, come here boy.” Brody gets on the floor at eye level with Zeus and greets the enormous animal. I’ve always been a small dog person.
Brody scratches both ears and says encouraging words to his friend.
“Sadie,” Brody looks up to me as he holds the collar of Zeus.
I guess the pretending has officially started as he addresses me by my new name.
“I want you to meet the other half of me. Zeus has been with me since I left the Marines. We have the best security system in place, but Zeus is my main deterrent.”
He pats him on the side of his tummy and runs his hand down the spine, all the way to the tail.
“Sadie,” he continues to use my false name, “place your hand out to let him get a good smell of you.”
I do as I’m asked, and Brody brings him over, and I fidget a little as Zeus sniffs the heck out of me.
“I need you to trust me so that Zeus understands what you are to me.”