Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jason
Lucy sprinted down the hallway, and I was right on her heels. We rounded the corner into Jenna’s room, and the sight that unfolded stopped me in my tracks. The window was thrown open, and snow had fallen into Jenna’s room. A mass of red hair caught my attention before I recognized Megan halfway out the windowsill, trying to get away with Jenna. My daughter’s legs were flailing in midair as she tried to get away, and I heard Lucy gasp before she screamed with all her might.
“Jenna!” Lucy exclaimed.
“Get back!” Megan roared. “Just get back!”
Jenna tumbled to the floor while Megan’s wrist twisted with a pop. I watched as my daughter scurried to me, and I scooped her up quickly into my arms. Megan looked absolutely wild, and I had to admit a part of me was rooted to the floor in shock.
“Daddy! Daddy! She was under my bed! Why was Miss Megan under my bed?”
“What the hell are you doing?” I heard Lucy growl. She’d stepped forward, blocking Megan from reaching Jenna as her body appeared in front of us.
“Of course, the prim and proper blonde would get the only eligible bachelor in this damn town. Of course, you would bat your pretty little eyes with your petite little body and get exactly what you wanted. It’s how you snagged David, and it’s how you snagged Jason.”
“Don’t you dare talk about David,” Lucy said. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“She said a bad word, Daddy,” Jenna said, whimpering.
“It’s all right, princess. I’ve got you,” I said.
I watched Lucy’s shoulders hunch, like a momma bear protecting her young. I kept my eyes on Megan, ready to rush out the door if she took a jump out that window, and my heart raged with anger as Jenna trembled against my chest.
“What’s happening, Daddy?” Her voice, so full of fear, cut my heart.
“I put in my time with David, and he chose you over me,” Megan said. “I was the one who was there when you two fought. I was the one who was there when you wouldn’t sleep with him right from the very start. I was the one who put it in his mind to take you on that fucking camping trip where you lost your precious little virginity. Little slutty Lucy. I bet you fucking gave it up to Jason on the trip you took with him as well. That what you do? Screw men in the woods and tell them their cock is just right for you?” Megan said, hissing.
Lucy didn’t rise to the bait but stood there, ready to attack Megan should she choose to make a move.
“I’m the one who deserves a husband and a child. Not you. David died, and that was your chance. Tough shit if you couldn’t have kids with him. Move over and let some of us take a stab at the men in this town.”
I moved my hand to my back pocket and pressed the red emergency button on my cell phone. If I didn’t answer, but they heard the commotion in the background, someone would ping my phone and track us down.
And Megan wasn’t getting away. Not on my watch.
“What in the world were you going to do, Megan. Hm?” Lucy asked. “Were you just gonna hold his daughter for ransom? Daughter for dick? Is that what was gonna happen?”
“No,” Megan said as she stepped back into Jenna’s room. “I was gonna take her while you two idiots were camping. Couldn’t grow the balls then to do it, but boy did they ever spring to life when I saw the two of you curled up here, wrapping presents.”
Holy shit, Lucy had been right. Someone had been outside last night, and that fucking footprint we found had been hers.
“You saw us wrapping presents?” Lucy asked.
“Like nothing fucking happened over Thanksgiving. I thought I had my chance, when I found out Jason dumped your ass. I saw my chance with the only decent fucking man in this town, and then you swooped right back in. Claiming what you think is yours,” she spat.
Muffled sounds were coming from my phone, so I pressed my hand to the speaker, hoping Megan didn’t catch the sound.
“The two of you looked so happy and put together, like some dysfunctional fucking family of misfits whose spouses didn’t wanna stick around long enough to deal with the two of you,” Megan spat.
“Don’t you dare talk about David and Danielle that way,” I said, growling.
“Daddy, please,” Jenna said, begging me while she pressed her tears into the dip in my chest.
“You’ve come into this room on the most beautiful day of the year and scared a girl you claim to love. Everyone in this damn town knows you’re a kooky old bat, and that’s the reason why no one wants to be with you. You think I would’ve kidnapped this man’s daughter if I wanted him to love me, Megan? Do you think I would’ve tried to take the only thing that meant anything to this man, thinking I could force him to love me?” Lucy asked.
“You know, Jason almost had me last night,” she said. “When he opened that fucking storage unit. I thought he really was gonna catch me.”
I took a step forward, ready to knock her clear out of that window and land her on her ass. But Lucy held out her hand, beckoning me to stay with Jenna, and I wasn’t about to argue with the angry momma bear she’d turned into.
“Guess you’re not the only petite little woman in this town, Slutty Lucy,” Megan said, smirking.
I heard sirens up the road, and that’s when the smirk fell from Megan’s face. Her eyes grew wide with panic, and I turned around, running Jenna out of the room while I made my way for the front door. I wasn’t letting this girl out of my sight, nor was I letting her witness one more second of the insanity that was going on in her room.
But out of nowhere, Megan began to scream before she charged.
“That’s my little girl you're taking! I deserve your little girl, Jason, not her!”
When I turned around, Megan looked wild. Her eyes were wide, her face bright red with anger. Her hair was dive-bombing around her face, and her clothes were wrinkled and disheveled. The slightly kooky woman I’d come to know had snapped, turning into this wild animal who felt her hypothetical territory had been invaded. She tried to lunge for Jenna in my arms.
But before she could get any closer, Lucy reared back her fist, came around with a right hook, and cracked Megan right against her jawline.
“You stay the fuck away from my little girl, do you hear me?”
Lucy towered over this woman, her fists clenched and her eyes set in stone. Her chest was heaving, her body trembling with the wind whipping through the open window, and Jenna soon wiggled from my grasp. She took off for Lucy, gathering herself in Lucy’s arms while the woman I loved cradled the little girl I loved. After that hit, Megan could only moan on the carpet while her jaw began to turn black and blue.
“Police!” someone called out. “The door’s unlocked! Everything all right?”
“Back here!” I roared.
Jenna clung to Lucy, sobbing into her neck while Lucy picked up her foot and put it on Megan’s chest. Never in my life had I ever seen a woman with as much strength, determination, and fierceness until that very moment, and I knew I’d found the woman for my family. Not only was she beautiful, but also she was exotic and protective. She loved my daughter with the fire of a momma bear, and I watched her while she held her adoptive cub close to her body.
“What’s going on?” the police officer asked as he rounded into the room. “Wait a second. Megan?”
“She tried to kidnap Jenna, officer,” Lucy said.
“Then why is her jaw broken?” he asked.
“Because I punched her,” Lucy said.
Her eyes finally peeled away from the woman on the floor as the officers went to cuff her, and for the first time since Jenna had screamed, our eyes locked with one another’s. I watched as the adrenaline slowly faded away from her face, and what replaced it was nothing short of fear and worry.
“Oh my god,” Lucy said as the blood drained from her face.
“Lucy, it’s all right. Everything’s fine. You were fantastic,” I said.
“Oh. Oh, my gosh. I-it was her. She was here l-last night.”
“I don’t like Miss Megan anymore,” Jenna said into Lucy’s neck.
“Well, you’ll never have to see her again,” I said.
Lucy trembled with greater intensity, so I wrapped my arms around both my girls. I pulled her close to my chest while she cried, and Jenna clung to both of us as I slowly moved us to the hallway. There was no need for us to be in the officers’ way while they took care of this debacle, and Jenna had witnessed enough.
“I don’t wanna see her again,” Jenna said, whispering.
“Good. Because you never will,” I said.
I took my girls into the living room while the police officers hauled Megan’s battered body away in handcuffs.