Chapter 22 #3
“Shouldn’t be long now.”
Tibb recoiled, his face twisting in disbelief. “What? They’re coming right now?”
“I watched her make the call.”
“Leigh…” Tibb started, shuffling and pacing.
I offered him a small reassuring smile. “It’s okay. Really, it is.”
“I don’t know what to say,” he said, stopping and grabbing my hands.
“You don’t have to say anything. Thank you for welcoming me here, for introducing me to yoga.” I paused as the ache rose. “I’ll miss you.”
“Miss who?” Luke’s voice cut through the sadness as he walked in. “What’s going on?”
I wiped away a tear before it fell. “I’m leaving.”
“Where are you going?” He tilted his head, eyes narrowing with confusion. He looked at Tibb. “Where is she going?”
I took a slow step toward him. “I’m leaving the farm. For good.”
Confusion whipped across Luke’s face, his brow furrowing as he shook his head slightly. “What? Why?”
“I’m not who you think I am.”
Luke blinked, a frown tugging at his lips. “I know who you are… You’re Leigh.”
His words hit me harder than I’d expected, and my vision blurred as tears slipped down my cheeks. I reached up and touched Luke’s face. “I don’t have time to explain right now, but the police are looking for me. I’m turning myself in.”
Luke’s eyes spread wide. “No…shit. Really? What did you do?”
“It’s…it’s a long story. I’ll let Tibb explain to you. I’m sorry, I have to go.” My hand dropped from his face, and I stepped back, my eyes lifting to meet his. “You are the brother I never had.”
“You don’t have to go,” Luke said. “You can stay here with us. We don’t care who you are. Nobody would ever know.”
“I’ll know.”
Without thinking, Luke pulled me into a tight hug, his arms strong around me. “Just say the word, and we’ll get you out of here.”
I chuckled through my tears. This was Luke. My Luke. “Thank you for being you.”
Luke didn’t say anything, just hugged me tighter. Eventually, I pulled away, my heart heavy, and looked at Tibb.
“Where is he?” I asked.
I found Jackson at our usual spot down by the water.
He was sitting on a log, the sun slipping down behind him casting a bright glow across the still water, his focus on the movement of the ripples.
The sight of him there, calm and relaxed, squeezed tears to my eyes.
I remembered meeting him here all those months ago, after my impromptu swim.
The laugh we’d shared when I found out that there were alligators in the water.
His admission that he was nervous about the farm’s expansion.
It was a turning point for us. That felt like a lifetime ago now.
I stepped on a stick, and the sharp crack sliced through the woods. Jackson’s head jerked toward the sound, to me.
“Hey,” he said, standing. “I was just thinking about—” He stopped when he saw me, the redness of my eyes, the tears streaming down my face. “What’s wrong?” And he was at my side in an instant, his hands cupping both sides of my face.
I couldn’t find the words at first. I just stared into his eyes, wanting to remember this moment, capture this in my memory before everything unraveled.
I wanted to hold on to his stability before I let go.
It was what Officer Madison did before she died, the look I’d collected for safekeeping.
I wanted to remember this look, a reminder that strength is not always physical.
“What’s wrong?” he asked again. In the distance, the wail of police sirens cut through the woods, urgent and unnatural, and Jackson’s eyes snapped toward the sound. “Is it Luke?”
“No…” I managed to say, heart thundering in my chest “It’s me.”
“You?”
I nodded quickly, my hands shaking as I reached for his. “I don’t have much time to explain, but I want you to know…I did it for you.”
“Did what? What are you talking about?” His gaze darted between me and the sound of the sirens. “Why are the police here for you?”
“My name is not Leigh. I’m an escaped convicted felon.
” The admission felt like casting stones into a river.
Jackson took a huge step back, his eyes wide with disbelief, but I kept talking.
“They know that you don’t know anything, that you’re innocent.
But promise me you’ll go talk to Carly. She knows everything. ”
“Carly? She knows what? What’s going on?” His voice cracked.
“I have to go,” I said, taking his hands in mine. “But I want to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything, but I’m not sorry for falling in love with you.” I touched his face, tracing the lines that had become so familiar. “Tell me that you love me. I need to hear you say it.”
Jackson pulled me into his arms, his chest rising and falling with each hurried breath. “I love you. You know that. But I need you to tell me what’s going on. Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
The sirens grew closer now, their shrill merging with the pounding of multiple footsteps crashing through the woods. We turned to see Tibb and Luke emerging from the trees.
“The police are here,” Tibb said, his voice steady despite the situation.
“Why are the police here?” Jackson demanded.
“Fuck that!” Luke said, walking to the edge of the water. “We can hold them off. Leigh…you could swim this and be gone before they even know you were here. Dogs can’t track you in the water.”
“Leigh is not swimming in that. She’s not going anywhere,” Jackson said.
“I told you. I’m done running.” I turned to Tibb and Luke. “Go to the house and tell them I’m coming. I just need a minute.”
I hugged them both again, one last final embrace, before turning back to Jackson. I extended my hand in a plea for understanding. “I know none of this makes sense. But it will soon. I promise.”
“I’m not letting you go.”
“Do you love me?”
“You know I do.”
“Then do me one last favor. Walk with me? One last time.”
Silently, completely confused, he did. He nodded once and took my hand knowing nothing, understanding nothing, but that was what I needed, a few more seconds in this world with him.
And, as always, he delivered. He stood in the gap for Luke, for Tibb, for me, giving us what we needed.
The truest kind of love is the one that awakens the soul, ignites a fire within you, and cools the chaos in your mind.
That was who Jackson was, that fire and that calm, all at once.
We walked together, hand in hand, side by side, just like we first did all those months ago.
I didn’t speak and neither did he. I never thought we would find ourselves here, at the end of words.
We had shared so many, crammed them into every crevice since we met.
But, standing on the edge of goodbye, none remained.
All we had left were the memories and the silence.
When we saw the police, Jackson pulled me in and kissed me, a kiss filled with every emotion he possessed and every ounce of love he had.
A kiss that conveyed everything we hadn’t said and every promise we would never fulfill.
A kiss made of everything we had been and everything we were.
Of all the times we kissed, this was my favorite, a kiss that bent me at the knees.
It was everything I needed it to be. A kiss that sealed our story in the most bittersweet way.
“Remember me standing in the field wearing that dress you loved. Not this.”
Jackson nodded. “Do you want me to walk with you the rest of the way?” The strain in his voice thick with emotion.
I shook my head. “I need to do this alone.”
Officer Madison and her brave last moments flashed in my mind, the grace and the strength she’d shown. This was the end. And I would surrender, meet my end, with the same grace. My birthday wish had come true.
I released his hand and immediately missed the connection, the ground tilting below my feet, and took one step forward, leaving him behind.
Then I took another step, each one easier than the last. Mama had once told me that there would come a time that I would have to make a decision for the one I loved, and it would be the easiest choice I’d ever made.
She was right.
I walked toward the approaching police and raised my arms in the air.