ESCAPE
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jack loved Jayvelin and Jacob the second that
they were put into his arms and cherished them deeply. He had been happy with
his life before, but now that deep hole in his heart was filled, and he could
love and appreciate things and have hope once again.
The little family was in the garden one
evening, a day or so after they were reunited. Jayvelin and Jacob were laughing
and playing among the flowers while Rose sat on the arm of Jack’s chair.
"Wook at me, Jack!" Jacob called
out, not able to pronounce look, as he did a somersault.
Jack laughed and called out, "That’s the
best somersault I’ve ever seen in my life." Then he turned to Rose and
said, "Looking at them, and having you here so close, makes me think that
there can’t possibly be anything wrong with the world."
Rose looked back at him and envied the
happiness in his eyes and the smile on his lips. "But we do have a
problem." She spoke softly so the children wouldn’t hear. "Cal."
*****
The discussion had had to come to an abrupt
halt as the children were tired and had to be put to bed. It wasn’t until Jack
and Rose themselves were getting ready for bed that it could be brought up
again.
"Rose, you don’t need to worry about
Cal. You’re safe with me."
"But I won’t always be. The secret will
get out sooner or later unless we all stay in hiding for the rest of our lives.
Besides, what about us? We’ll never be able to legally get married or
anything like that as long as I’m still Cal’s wife."
The words had a stinging effect on Jack, and
he realized that the problem wasn’t going to just go away of its own accord.
"Okay. I’ll handle it."
*****
"Mr. Hockley? There’s a message at the
front desk for you."
"Thank you, Charles."
Charles followed him to the front desk of the
hotel lobby. He knew that it had to be about Rose, and feeling absolutely awful
that he had led to her near-capture, wanted to see if it was good or bad news.
"Ah, yes. Hockley. Here you are. It was
left this morning an hour or so before you arrived."
Cal looked up to find Charles’ eager face
staring at him "I want you to get your father and tell him the search is
off. I’ve found her."