Chapter 26
November went by quickly. Jacob took the promotion, with his training set to start in December. Even though I was not looking forward to his being away, I knew he was happy with the new position, so I encouraged him. My job was going well, I received my first raise. My supervisor commented on how impressed she was with my work that I seemed able to adapt to whatever they assigned me to work on.
Thanksgiving we spent the day at Nora and Donald’s with the whole family. Nora prepared the turkey, and Randy, Janet, and I each prepared dishes and brought them over. The table had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casseroles, a corn casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie—so much food the men groaned about how much they ate but declared it one of the best Thanksgiving meals they ever had. Before we all sat down to enjoy our meal together though, we took the same meal including a whole turkey that we had fixed to the local homeless shelter. We had purposely doubled everything we cooked so the shelter could feed the homeless, this was a family tradition for Jacob’s family, one that I was happy to assist with. The rest of the day was filled with good food, football, and card playing.
November was also when Randy and Josh finally set their wedding date, September 14th, so wedding plans were in full swing. Randy asked me to be her matron of honor, wanting Jayden to be her flower girl. After much discussion, they decided they wanted to get married on the family island.
Nora and Donald had been wanting to make improvements for a few years now on the island, in fact had some ideas on exactly what they wanted to do. Now was the perfect time to set those plans in motion. Josh and Jacob drew up plans for a large gazebo to place by the pond in the clearing. There were some other things that would need to be done, build a new pier on the island, make the path to the pond nicer, clean up the area, and do some landscaping.
Nora and Donald began looking for a contractor who could build a small cabin out there for them. They also purchased a pontoon that would arrive in the spring, they would use it for transporting building materials and then the wedding party. Donald had a good friend who was a contractor who would start the building off-site and then transport everything to the island to finish the building there.
It would be an off-grid home, with one bedroom with a small kitchen, a living area, and a loft area that would make up another sleeping area. It would be insulated with a fireplace, so it could be used even in the winter. A well would be drilled, so there would be running water. Donald kept the contractor on track, he would even go help him work on things on the weekends. The plans were coming along great, it looked like everything should be ready for the wedding in September.
December brought Jacob’s first trip for training. He would be gone for a week. Josh did not travel much during the winter; he was working some jobs close to home. Jacob asked him to help clear any snow, and both Josh and Randy promised him they would be available should I need help with anything. Nora and Donald also promised him they would be happy to help out should I need anything. Even with all their encouragement, and mine, he was hesitant to go.
“I just hate the thought of leaving you here by yourself.”
“Jacob,” I said for about the tenth time that day. “I will be fine. You have everyone at my beck and call should I need them. Besides, we will talk every night and text throughout the day as able.”
“I know,” He sighed. He rubbed my enlarging belly, promptly being rewarded with a kick. He smiled. “See? She agrees,” I laughed. “We will be fine.”
“OK, OK. I’m going.” Picking up his bag, he gave me a kiss and left.
I looked down at Lucky, “Well, Lucky,” I said scratching behind his ears. “It’s just you and me for a whole week.” He barked, wagging his tail. “What should we do today?” He went to the kitchen and stood in front of the refrigerator, barking at me. Laughing, I walked into the kitchen. “You are just like Jacob, encouraging me to eat. You both take such good care of me.” He barked again. “All right, all right! I’ll eat some lunch.” Making myself a sandwich, I sat on the couch to watch some TV.
** *
From Allen’s blind, he watched as Jacob walked out the door carrying what appeared to be a suitcase. This made him sit up straighter, wondering what was going on. Was lover boy going away on a trip? It appeared like he was, shutting the door leaving Megan alone. Allen wondered how long he would be gone if he should make his move now.
He looked at the lake, it wasn’t completely frozen, still had open water. He thought he could cross it with his raft tonight after dark without much problem, check things out. He wasn’t sure now was the right time, he needed more information. He wasn’t quite ready to start his plan in action, but he was close. He felt like he needed a little more time, but if Megan’s new guy was going to be gone, he could step things up.
He spent the day watching the house. Jacob did not return. Megan shut all the lights off and went to bed, alone. After waiting for a few hours, Allen took the raft and headed out across the lake. He had to break what ice there was as he went along, it was a little more difficult than he had anticipated, but he made it. This would definitely be the last time he crossed until there was ice.
This time, instead of heading to the pier, he landed on the south side of the beach near the trees. He didn’t want to risk leaving footprints in the snow, so he went through the trees, which was rather difficult, there was no set trail to follow. When he finally made it even with the back of the house, he found a downed branch with some leaves still on it. Taking it with him, he snuck up to the house. He left the branch leaning up against the house, then bent down to untie his boots.
He quietly slid the sliding door open, stepping inside without his boots on. He slid the door closed behind him and stood silently, listening for a couple of minutes. He heard nothing. He activated the devices he had placed in the house with the remote he brought with him, checking his phone. It worked, blocking the signal to his cell phone. She wouldn’t be able to call the police if she found him.
Walking over to her desk, he took out his flashlight and looked around. Laying on the desk was a manila folder with the name of a company on it. He took a picture of it, opened the folder, snapping pictures of all the papers inside. He put the folder back as he had found it, then started opening the drawers on the desk. In the middle of the desk, he found a planner with Megan’s daily calendar in it.
He didn’t risk reading it all, snapping pictures of the next couple of months instead and then put it back in the drawer. Looking around, he didn’t see anything new that would be of interest to him. He wasn’t going to risk going upstairs, he thought he had what he needed for now, even though it was hard to fight the temptation to go up and grab her. Allen deactivated the devices, allowing the cell phone to get a signal again. Heading back to the sliding door, he slid it open, he stepped back into his boots.
Sliding the door shut behind him, he grabbed the tree branch and used it to hide his tracks back to the trees. He glanced back over his tracks, deciding by morning she wouldn’t be able to see them or any signs he had swept the path. Tossing the branch in the trees, he made his way back down to his raft and then back across the lake to the cabin.
***
As Allen was sliding open the sliding door to the basement downstairs, upstairs Lucky got up and walked to the kitchen. He went to the basement door, sitting a few feet away watching the door intently, growling softly in his throat. He stayed like that until he heard Allen leave, then went to the French doors, watching as Allen made his way through the trees, then back across the lake. Once Allen was out of sight, Lucky went back into the bedroom, lying back down near Mattie. He slept fitfully the rest of the night, keeping his ears tuned to the slightest noise.
In the morning, when Lucky was let outside, he went immediately down to the basement doors, then followed the path Allen had taken to the trees, down through the trees to the water. He followed the scent to the water’s edge, looked out over the lake for a couple of minutes, and then went back up to the house. After Lucky was let back in the house, he walked to all the doors that led outside as if checking them to make sure they were locked.
I opened the basement door after I let Lucky back inside to go down to work but forgot my cell phone. I went back to the bedroom to get it, noticing that Lucky didn’t follow me as usual. Lucky had run down the stairs to the basement the minute I opened the door. I didn’t think much of it, he probably knew I would be down there soon. When I made it down there, Lucky was walking around my desk and sniffing at the floor. Then he went over to the door leading outside and sat there, looking out. All day while I worked, he sat or lay by those doors, facing outside .
“What’s the matter, Lucky,” I said, watching him spend his day looking out the door. “Are you sad the grass is gone for the winter?” Lucky came over to where I was sitting at my desk, lying his head on my leg. I scratched his ears for a couple of minutes while he wagged his tail, then went back over to lie down in front of the door again. I shrugged, thinking he was just having an off day, humans do so why can’t a dog?
I finished my work for the day, so Lucky and I headed back up the stairs. I let him outside, watching as he ran straight into the trees. That was unusual for him, he usually romped in the snow for a little bit, then promptly came back in. Maybe he had been watching a squirrel all day and was now trying to find it. I wasn’t worried about Lucky running away or getting lost. He always stayed within sight of me or the house.
I went to the kitchen, put on some soup for supper, then set the table with a bowl and spoon. Grabbing some crackers out of the pantry, I went back to the doors, watching Lucky come back up through the trees, up the stairs to the deck, coming to the door. He shook the snow off, and I let him back in.
Ladling up some soup, I sat down to eat. Lucky lay right at my feet. He seemed preoccupied; I really couldn’t seem to figure out why. Maybe he missed Jacob and was waiting and watching for him to come home although why he would be watching the back door instead of the front is beyond me. Soon, Lucky got up and walked over to the basement door, and using his nose, he pushed the door until it was almost shut and then pushed it with his front paws to latch it.
Lucky sniffed at the door for a couple of seconds, then came back over to me, once again lying down at my feet again. I watched this with amusement, I normally shut the basement door when I was done down there for the day, but today, I hadn’t. He was so smart to know something was out of place and then took care of it himself.
I washed up my supper dishes and then went to lie on the couch. My back was hurting a little bit tonight, so I grabbed a blanket, making myself comfortable. Lucky followed me, lying his head on my belly when I lay down. The baby seemed to respond with a kick, to which Lucky wagged his tail in response. I watched this in amazement.
Every time the baby moved, Lucky would react by wagging his tail or some noise in his throat. I started to believe that Lucky knew exactly what was going on, that there was a baby inside me. Pretty soon the baby quieted down, so Lucky lay down on the floor next to me.
My cell phone rang about an hour later, I was happy to hear Jacob. “Hi, babe,” he said.
“Hi back,” I replied.
“How was your day,” Jacob asked.
“It was good, work went well. Lucky has seemed off today though, probably just missing you,” I replied.
“Off how? Is he sick or something?” Jacob sounded worried.
“No, he stared out the basement doors all day while I worked, then has been lying at my feet tonight. He even shut the basement door when I left it open after work.”
“Well,” Jacob said. “He has always stayed close to you, maybe with my being gone he is just being more protective.”
“Yeah,” I mused, “that could be. You should have seen him interacting with the baby tonight. It was extremely interesting.”
“Interacting how?” he asked. I told Jacob about the episode when I lay down. “They say dogs are pretty smart and intuitive. He is probably aware that you are carrying a baby so feels protective of her also.”
We talked for a while longer, discussing his training that he did that day. Pretty soon we got off the phone, both of us tired and needing to get some rest. I let Lucky outside again, watching as he went straight down to the water’s edge, looking out over the lake, staring at some place across the lake that only he could see. I tried to see what he was looking at, maybe an eagle or something, but I saw nothing. Pretty soon Lucky came running back up to the house, so I let him in.
“What’s going on Lucky? What did you see out there?” I asked him. He whined, sat down, looking at me. I looked back out across the lake. There seemed to be a quick glint of reflection, but it was gone before I could focus on it. Must have been seeing things. “Come on boy, let’s get some sleep.” I turned, walking into the bedroom with Lucky at my side.
***
Allen watched the lights go off in the house when Megan went to bed. He had watched the dog tracking his trail through the trees, then sitting at the shore looking across at him. Sure, the dog probably caught his scent, but there was no way the dog could possibly know where he was now. There must have been a reason the dog was staring over toward where Allen was hidden, some bird flying overhead or a deer moving close by.
Just a coincidence had to be. He would have to be careful because when he followed the dog back up to the house, he caught Megan staring across the lake also like she could see something. He knew that wasn’t possible, but when he left the blind he checked it over, tightening up the coverings, adding some extra branches to make sure.
Heading back to the cabin, he lit the fire, grabbing something to eat. Sitting down while he ate, he pulled out his cell phone and looked at the pictures from Megan’s desk. The folder contained information for a company that did legal transcription for clients. It appears that Megan is working at home for them, some online company.
He looked over all the material, finding nothing there that really interested him. He then looked at the pictures of the planner he had found. It looked like her so-called husband was due back on Saturday. She had a couple appointments the following week, but nothing too interesting.
Until he turned to January. It appeared that she was going to be alone again for a period of two weeks in January. She wrote on her calendar ‘Jacob work conference’ drawing an arrow covering two weeks.
She had noted his flight information, so Allen knew exactly when he was leaving and coming back. He started to smile. The lake would definitely be completely frozen by then, he had time to put the final touches to his plan. Laying down to sleep, he knew that he finally had a timeline to do things, so he needed to rest up. He wouldn’t have to make a trip over to the house again until the day he put his plan into action. Until then, he had some things to do around here though to get ready for Megan. He fell asleep with the plan starting to come together finally.