Lena woke the next morning surrounded by the three men. She knew now why the tub, shower, and bed looked as if a football team could fit in them. By the time she and the three men were all together, it was nice and cozy.
After they finished in the tub, the men had taken Lena to the shower and quickly washed her before putting her to bed and crawling in with her.
She had slept the night through for the second night in a row. In her apartment there was always some commotion and she got very little sleep. Feeling like a new woman, she snuck out of the bed and grabbed one of the men’s shirts to put on. She was going to explore the kitchen and see if she could find something for breakfast. So far they had had all of their meals in the diner or delivered and she wanted to cook for them.
She managed to find everything she needed to make some Spanish omelets and started things cooking. She found coffee and made a pot, then went through the cabinets, making a list of things she would need to prepare meals. If she was going to stay, then she was going to make herself useful. She found everything she needed and started a batch of chocolate chip cookies. After putting the first pan of cookies in the oven, she sat and drank a cup of coffee, waiting for the men to wake up.
While she was drinking her coffee, she grabbed her phone to check her e-mail. She hadn’t checked it since Thursday night and there were several. Looking through the list of notices she had, they were all either from prospective employers, friends, or junk, except one, which was titled “important.” She didn’t know the sender and almost deleted it without opening it, but decided to check it out in case it really was important.
She was just about to open it when Mel came walking around the corner. He wore a pair of jeans with the top button undone. “Good morning, beautiful. Something smells great.”
Lena smiled and got up to pour him a cup of coffee. As she set it in front of him, he thanked her and said, “You don’t have to wait on us. You’re not here for that.”
“I don’t mind. I like to cook and didn’t do much just for myself. It’s fun.” She pulled the c
ookies out of the oven and put them on a rack to cool. Then she turned and set the table for the four of them.
R.J and Hal joined them a few minutes after she had everything set out and they all sat to eat.
After breakfast the men insisted on cleaning up since Lena had done the cooking and she went to dress while they did. Hal wanted to take her shopping while R.J. and Mel went to take care of some things at the office.
Hal insisted on taking her to buy some new things to wear in the office and he wanted her to have a few special things to wear for nights out and play evenings at home. They planned on taking her to Club de Fleurs one day soon and he wanted to get her some club wear. Before they left they promised R.J. and Mel a fashion show when they all returned later that evening.
Lena had forgotten all about the e-mail with the business of breakfast and then shopping until they got home later that afternoon. She might not have thought about it for a couple days except that her phone was sending off a low battery signal and she needed to charge it.
Taking her bags and phone back to the bedroom, she sat on the bed to plug it into the charger and look at the e-mail.
As she started to open the e-mail, she remembered she needed to call her parents. Even though they didn’t get along very well she tried to call them every Sunday to make sure everything was okay.
It was the usual conversation about how well her brother was doing with the farm, how they wished she would come home, how they could use her help. Then the conversation turned to her social life. When she was getting married and so on. After catching up on all the town and family gossip with her mother, Lena finally hung up the phone and started to close her eyes when she remembered the e-mail.
Deciding not to put it off any longer, she opened the program and checked for anything new. There was one more from the same sender with the same title. Checking the time and date, she saw it had been sent while she had been fixing breakfast.
She chose to open the oldest one first. There was no message, only a picture of the dog she had left on the farm when she moved to the city. At first she couldn’t figure out why anyone would send her a picture of Duggy, her dog, until she noticed his lifeless eyes. Staring at the picture harder, she closed it and called her mom back.
Her mom apologized and said she had forgotten to tell her about Duggy, and that they had found him a few days earlier. The vet thought he had gotten into a poison of some kind. No one that her mother knew of had taken the picture or sent it to her. After Lena was done with the phone call, she opened the other e-mail. It was a picture of her dad and brother working with one of the animals. This one had a red X marked through her brother and the word “next” written in red ink underneath it.
She screamed and threw the phone down. Hal, Mel, and R.J. all came running into the room to see what was happening and she told them. Mel retrieved the phone from the floor—luckily it wasn’t broken—and looked at both e-mails. A third one had arrived in the short time it had taken for her to call her mother and talk to the men.
Mel opened it and it was a short video of her and Hal in one of the shops they had gone to. This one was titled “We know.”
Mel and R.J. both started making phone calls while Hal comforted Lena.
The first call Mel made was to Tucker Hague to apprise him of the situation. He knew Tucker was a good man and would do what was needed to keep Lena’s family safe. Tucker already had men in place and would hire more if necessary. While Mel was on the phone with Tucker, R.J. called Lance Lewis with the updated information.
Phone calls handled, R.J. and Mel went back to join Hal with Lena and tell her what they had done.
Lena was crying softly and Hal was murmuring to her, reassuring her everything would be taken care of. “But what about Trina? She doesn’t have any family here she can stay with. What’s she going to do?” Lena started looking around for her phone. “I need to call her and tell her what’s going on.”
Mel and R.J. walked up as she was struggling with Hal, trying to convince him that she had to save everyone. “Lena, settle,” R.J. said firmly and she relaxed somewhat.
Mel sat on the side of the bed. “Lena, we have people with your family and there are three brothers who were all Marines with Trina. They will move her to a safe house if they can’t protect her at her house,” he told her, taking one of her hands in his. “I will have them bring her by the office tomorrow so that you can see her.”
“Oh, I can’t go to the office with all this happening,” Lena said.
“Yes, you can. You will be safest there and we can’t stay home to watch you. You need to be where we can keep you safe and that is with us until we get it all figured out. So tomorrow you will put on one of the new outfits Hal bought you for the office and start your new job. I will arrange for the Lewis brothers to bring Trina in around lunch and we will all take you both to a nice long lunch. Okay?”
Going to work and keeping busy sounded better than sitting around and worrying all day. She did want to see Trina and find out about the Lewis brothers and how that was working out.