Chapter 27
The week seemed to pass by slowly, but finally, Jacob came home. I was very glad to see him, I really did miss him while he was gone, but I made sure to downplay exactly how much, so he wouldn’t feel guilty that he had gone. I had made lasagna for our supper on Saturday night; as a rule, our Saturday night get-togethers with Randy and Josh were off on a Saturday when one of the guys had been gone for a few days, so it was just Jacob and me. While we were eating, Jacob filled me in about all the training. He was so excited about what he was learning, about the chances his new position was going to give him. Jacob asked me questions about how things had gone around the house, including how my work went for the week.
I told him about Lucky’s strange behavior when I let him outside. Lucky had continued running down to the beach every time, looking across the lake, almost like he was watching someone or something. “Probably found a deer trail in the trees, following the scent down to the water.” Jacob shrugged. “Probably,” I agreed. Lucky also continued his relationship with the baby. “Wait until after supper, I’ll show you how Lucky interacts with the baby.”
“He is still doing that?” Jacob raised his eyebrows.
I nodded, “He is. It is really cute. It is like they are communicating with each other.” I smiled. “Interesting. I know some dogs are protective of babies after they are born, but I have never heard of a relationship like this before they are born.” Jacob looked thoughtful. “Lucky must be more in tune with the baby because of his loyalty to you. He is a very smart dog.”
I started cleaning up after supper. “He really is. You know, when I watched him sitting down looking across the lake, I swear for a moment or two…” I hesitated, then shook my head. “No, I must have imagined it.”
Jacob brought some things off the table to the counter. “You swear what? Did you see anything?” He looked at me intently.
“Well, a couple of times I swear I caught a glint of like a reflection, you know like when the sun hits a window just right? The first time I just figured I imagined it, but I’ve seen it a couple of times. No one lives across the lake from us, right?”
Jacob shook his head, picked up some more dishes from the table, and carried them to the counter. “No, that side of the lake is all national forest land. Several years ago, they leased some of it out just for hunting, but they stopped that when there was a problem with poachers. I suppose there could be someone hunting illegally over there. Maybe I should check it out.”
“I probably just imagined it. Maybe it was some icicle or something. I just thought it was odd it seemed to be exactly at the same time Lucky was staring across the lake.”
We let the subject drop, settling down on the couch together. I lay down with my head on Jacob’s lap. He watched as Lucky walked up to us, putting his head on my belly. Jacob laid his hand on my side to feel when the baby kicked. The baby would kick, and in return, it seemed, Lucky would wag his tail, making little noises in his throat. This continued until the baby settled down, and then Lucky lay on the floor next to the couch. I looked up at Jacob, he looked amazed. “I’ve never seen anything like that before. He is communicating with our daughter.”
“I wonder if it has been the baby all along,” I said.
“What do you mean? That instead of being loyal to you, it has been the baby? How could he have known about it before he could feel the baby kick?” Jacob asked.
“I don’t know, but maybe he sensed I was pregnant and is protecting the baby instead of me,” I replied.
“I think he would probably protect both of you should he have to. It will be interesting to see their interaction after Jayden is born.”
“I agree,” I said. “But right now, I have something else on my mind.”
He looked down at me, “Oh? What would that be?” I sat up and started to kiss him. “Why Mrs.Vance, are you trying to seduce me?” He said smiling.
“Is it working?” I asked. His answer was to pull me onto his lap where I could tell for myself it was working. I looked at him all innocently, “Well, Mr.Vance, I hope you brought some protection, so I don’t get pregnant.” He looked at me, immediately starting to laugh. We got up, walking arm-in-arm to the bedroom.
** *
Allen saw Megan greet Jacob when he got home from his trip, saw them sitting down to eat a meal together, and then worked together to clean up afterward. She must be getting lazy, he never helped her clean up, that was her job. Men should never do a woman’s work. They aren’t good for much else, let them do the things they were made for. He also saw the two of them going to bed early.
His rage came back with such intensity he almost lost control. Soon, he thought, very soon my darling Megan, we will be back together again. She would learn Allen was a man of his word, the hard way. He would have plenty of time to make sure she got the message. He went back to the cabin and started to work.
He worked most of the night and slept for a couple of hours. Then, in the morning, he went back to work. He would go to the blind later if he finished his work around the cabin in time, but he really needed to finalize his plan and work out all the exact details. He couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. Going around behind the cabin, he checked on the car. It was well-hidden, the current snowfall was helping to hide it even better than he planned.
No one would be able to see it behind the cabin until they were right on it, even then they may not notice it unless they walked smack dab into it. If the snow kept up, it would make the car completely invisible. He went into the cabin, took off his coat, grabbing the shovel. He had some more digging to do. He made several trips from inside the cabin out to the trees, dumping buckets of dirt.
Once he finished with all the digging, he had a little construction work to do. He sawed and hammered the rest of the day, well into the night. Finally, hot and dirty, he surveyed what he had accomplished, immensely pleased with a job he felt was well done. He was exhausted but washed up, ate something, and then finally crawled into his sleeping bag, falling sound asleep within minutes.
In the morning, feeling a little stiff and sore from all the digging and construction he did the day prior, he made his way to his blind to see what the bitch was doing. She and her lover boy apparently slept in, he sat there for quite a while waiting for signs of life. Eventually, Allen could see them moving around. Megan went into the kitchen, appearing to make coffee while Jacob let the dog out.
The dog ran around a little bit then took up its spot on the snow-covered beach, staring across the lake. If Allen didn’t know better, he would swear it seemed like the dog was looking right at him, but that was impossible. He didn’t know much about dogs and had always hated the things himself, but he doubted a dog could see that far.
He raised the glasses to look in the house and saw the man staring right at him too. Probably just trying to see what the dog was staring at so intently. Allen moved a little bit, adjusting his position in the blind while he watched. It was at that point he saw Jacob raise his hand, shading his eyes, seeming to stare more intently in Allen’s direction. Allen froze.
Megan joined him at the door, shading her eyes as well. They had to be looking at a deer or something. He was pretty sure he was well-hidden. He looked back down at the dog to see it turning to run back up to the house. They let it back in, Megan heading back to the kitchen, but her husband continued to stare in Allen’s direction with the dog sitting by his side doing the same.
Allen almost wanted to get out of the blind to see if he could figure out what they were looking at, but he knew better. Even though he doubted they could see him if he was standing there, they might catch the motion. The last thing he wanted was to have them looking back in his direction with binoculars of their own.
Allen watched them throughout the day. They left for a couple hours, coming back with a Christmas tree. He could see them putting the tree up, decorating it together, laughing, and having a grand time. He sat out in the blind, barely keeping warm, while the bitch stayed nice and toasty next to a roaring fire drinking cocoa. He had all he could take for the day, so he went back to the cabin.
Digging to the bottom of his supplies, he found the bottle of whiskey he brought with him. Since he had all of his plans finalized, he could relax a little bit. It was too early to start a fire, his smoke would probably still be visible, so he poured a cup of whiskey, reviewing his plans. His plan would work. He had enough information gathered in his weeks of studying Megan and her habits he didn’t see what could go wrong with his plan. He sat back, feeling smug, very confident, and proceeded to get drunk on the whiskey.