“I can have pictures of whoever I like,” the man sneered.
Chad pulled out pictures of the other girls he’d found. “These don’t look like women to me,” Chad snapped, barely maintaining control of his temper. He’d found not only pictures of Emily but also indecently exposed pictures of young women taken through windows, without their knowledge.
Chris’s face paled as he saw those pictures. Chad must have found them in some secret hideaway the man thought was safe. He looked nervously over at the police officers.
“Once I found out you were a convicted felon and on parole I decided to look around a little deeper,” Chad said. “I found your stash of photos below a loose floorboard. I think these would be a breach of your parole.”
“You can’t prove those are mine,” Chris sneered. “They could be any of the guys,” he yelled, with barely controlled fury.
“Actually we can prove they’re yours, as we also found the camera that took them,” Chad countered.
“I can’t believe you were able to fool me,” Mark said. “I can’t believe I let you near my family.”
“I guess you’re not so smart, you rich piece of crap,” Chris sneered.
“Officer I would like to press charges for this man stalking my wife. All the evidence has been saved and is in the other room,” Mark said. He was done having a conversation with the piece of scum.
The officer walked up to Chris and started reading him his rights. “What the hell are you talking about? I haven’t been stalking her, I only took a few pictures,” Chris said, cutting the officers off.
No one listened to the man and the officers quickly hauled him out of the room. Mark felt like a fifty pound weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Chris would be going back to prison for parole violation and probably have a few more years added on, depending on the age of those girls he’d violated.
He was disgusted with himself for letting him into his home. He normally was a great judge of character. He must’ve been more distracted than he thought. Now that Emily and Trevor lived there and his nieces and nephews came over so much, he was going to have to start having background searches done on all his employees. There was no way he wanted any more men like that one to slip through and be so close to those he loved.
“Thank you Chad, you found the man much quicker than I would have thought possible. It may have taken me a long time,” Mark said to his friend.
“You know there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you,” Chad told him.
“You owe me nothing but I do appreciate you coming,” Mark said sincerely.
“Well we’ll just have to disagree on the owing thing,” Chad told him, then slapped Mark on the back.
“You most certainly are a stubborn man,” Mark responded.
“Look who is talking. Are you the kettle today or the pot?” he said with a smile.
“Yeah, yeah,” Mark mumbled and then rolled his eyes.
“I have to get back, you know?” Chad said, reluctantly.
“I know. How much longer are you going to be gone?” Mark wanted to know.
“I’m not sure.” They talked a while longer and then Chad left just as quickly as he had come.
“Now that everything is safe, the rest of us are going to get back to our lives too,” Lucas said, when the family returned.
“I appreciate all of you dropping everything and being here for us,” Mark said.
“Of course, Brother,” Lucas told him.
The family quickly packed up and was gone before Emily knew it. She was sad to see them all leave. She really had grown fond of Amy and Jessica and the children running through the halls.
Emily and Mark quickly got back into their old routine. She offered to move back to her room, although she really didn’t want to. He’d told her in no uncertain terms he didn’t want her leaving his bedroom. She was relieved.
Trevor was thriving and the time was passing by pleasantly. One day, while Mark was out giving Trevor a riding lesson, a knock sounded at the door. Edward was doing some shopping so Emily went to answer.
A man was standing there in a uniform with a clipboard that Emily didn’t think anything about. “Are you Emily Jackson?” the man asked her pleasantly.
“Yes, how can I help you?” she asked him, still not concerned.
“I have a special delivery for you, can you sign here?” he asked.
“Sure,” she responded and signed the paper, thinking it was something Mark had ordered.
“Thank you, you’ve been officially served,” the man stated and quickly walked away.
Emily looked down at the papers the man had handed her. Her ex in-laws had found her and were serving her with new custody papers. They listed her as being in contempt of court and if she didn’t show up in California by the following Monday, which was less than a week away, she would be arrested and Trevor would be taken from her.
Emily immediately began to panic. She didn’t want to go to that courthouse, where the judge was in the pockets of her very wealthy ex in-laws. She knew beyond any doubt they would win.
She started doing some calculations and made the decision she would have to go on the run again. She had saved most of her income and had enough to get settled somewhere else and survive for several months but it would run out and if she didn’t find a job quickly, then her son and her would be homeless.
She didn’t want to leave Mark. She already loved him so much and Trevor was thriving. He would be so upset to move away. She saw how much he’d bonded with Mark. She couldn’t believe she had allowed herself to become so attached, when she knew all along the living situation was going to be a temporary one.
She was sitting at the kitchen table, silently crying when Mark and Trevor walked through the door. They were laughing and talking about how funny the new horses were while learning to walk around. One of the puppies, which was now huge, was trailing at Trevor’s feet. The sight of them made fresh tears fall.
She turned away and wiped her face, not wanting to upset her son. She hated she was going to have to pull him away from the ranch and the entire family. Was she a terrible mother to do it to him? It was the only way to keep them together, she reasoned with herself.
Mark immediately could tell something was wrong and sent Trevor upstairs to clean up and change for dinner. Once he was safely out of ear shot Mark sat down and waited for Emily to tell him what was wrong.