Chapter 22
The fireplace crackled softly into the silence that followed.
Jenna sat on the couch, Luke beside her, as she explained everything to his family. She kept the details brief, telling the story in the broad strokes and essential facts.
She’d watched everyone’s faces as she talked and tried not to let their expressions derail her.
Caleb had listened with his jaw set. He didn’t appear hostile but careful. Naomi had looked at her with something unreadable, a baby asleep against her shoulder, one hand moving in slow absent circles on the child’s back. Ruby’s eyes were lined with compassion.
No one had interrupted.
When Jenna finished, silence stretched for what felt longer than it probably was.
“So whoever is out there,” Caleb said carefully, “may have followed you here.”
“That’s one theory,” Luke said.
“I would have never come back if I thought I’d bring danger with me,” Jenna rushed. “My children’s safety has always been my first priority. You’ve got to believe me.”
Caleb nodded once and looked at the fire.
Naomi shifted Grace to her other shoulder. “The children don’t know any of this.”
“No,” Luke said. “And I’d like to keep it that way.”
Naomi’s look wasn’t exactly warm, but it wasn’t cold either.
Jenna shifted, feeling as if there was more to say. “I owe all of you an apology. I know what my leaving did to this family. I know it’s not something I can fix with an explanation.”
Her voice cracked, and she paused to compose herself.
She sucked in several deep breaths before continuing. “I’m not asking you to forgive me tonight. I just needed you to know how very sorry I am. For everything.”
More silence stretched.
Then Ruby set down her mug. She crossed the room, sat beside Jenna on the couch, and gently touched Jenna’s arm.
Ruby met her gaze and gave her a small nod. “We’re so glad you’re back with us now.”
Jenna’s throat tightened with emotion.
She hadn’t expected that kind of grace—not even close.
“I can’t imagine what you’ve been through,” Naomi said. “I probably would have made the same decision if I’d been in your shoes. I’m sure it was devastating.”
“I have to admit that I haven’t always thought the best thoughts about why you left,” Caleb added. “And now I’m sorry for that. But even knowing the truth, it’s going to take some time to adjust my thinking.”
“That’s understandable.” The words sounded like croaks as Jenna spoke them.
Their response wasn’t absolution or acceptance. Those things would take time and conversation. But this was a room of people who were choosing, for tonight, to set the harder things aside.
She exhaled slowly. It was more than she could ask for.
Just as relief filled her, the room went dark, except for the fireplace.
Caleb and Luke immediately shot to their feet.
Luke rushed toward the window and pulled the curtain back.
“Could be the breaker,” Caleb said. “It’s still a little stormy out there.”
“Could be.” Luke didn’t sound like he believed the words.
Jenna looked at the dark window and felt the brief warmth of the last twenty minutes disappear.
They weren’t safe yet, were they?
They might not be safe for a long time.
Because she didn’t believe the power going out was a coincidence. Someone had done this. She felt sure of it.
The question was: Was the person responsible for cutting the power lurking outside? Did this person have more on his agenda than scaring them? Did he also want to harm them?
She could hardly stand the thought.
Luke let the curtain fall and turned to the room. “Let me check the panel first.”
He crossed to the utility closet, opened the breaker box, and ran the flashlight down the rows of switches.
Not one of them had tripped.
He stood looking at it a moment. A tripped breaker he could explain—a surge, an overload, the storm doing what storms did. But every switch in the panel sat exactly where it belonged, and the house was still dark.
That was worse, not better.
Max Kincaid, their resident handyman, stepped out from his room.
“Anything?” Caleb asked behind him.
“Nothing’s tripped.” Luke closed the panel. “If the problem were in here, something would’ve thrown. It didn’t.” He met his brother’s eyes. “Which means the power’s being cut somewhere else.”
Somewhere outside.
He turned back to Jenna then his mother and sister. “I’ll go with Caleb and Max to check it out. You all stay here.”
The three men strode toward the entryway and grabbed their jackets off the hooks by the door.
A moment later, they stepped out the side door onto the driveway. Luke pulled the door shut behind them. They stood still for several seconds, letting their eyes adjust.
It was genuinely dark outside. Storm clouds obscured the moon and stars, and big, fat plops of rain hit Luke’s cheeks every few seconds.
While Max went to check on the kennel, Luke and Caleb stood there listening.
Wind rustled the upper branches. Somewhere out in the darkness a dog barked.
Luke swept the flashlight in a slow arc across the front of the property. The gravel drive. The pond, its surface flat and black. The gate at the start of the drive, closed. The cottages standing pale against the dark tree line.
Nothing moved.
He and Caleb headed toward the utility box, which ran along the side of the house beneath a narrow overhang.
He remained aware of the darkness. Aware of the wide-open stretch of lawn to his left. Of the tree line too far away to see into. Of the cottages throwing odd shadows.
Luke rounded the corner of the house and stopped.
The cover to the utility box hung open.
Someone had somehow bypassed their security system here and tampered with it.
This was deliberate.
They’d wanted to cut the power to the house.
But why? Even more—where was this person now?