I was living the dream and was happy to admit it. “I’m very lucky. One mistake when Luke entered Lexxi911’s email address wrong and here I am. Just think — I would never have met him otherwise. Our worlds did not intersect at any point, and they wouldn’t. Two different people, two different worlds.”
“Fate is weird like that,” Mara said.
We spent the rest of the evening reminiscing about our friendships and then when it was time, we went to our bedrooms for the night. I was so glad to have the girls with me while Luke was in town with his potential investors. While I knew there was a security detail outside watching the property, I still didn’t like being alone in the beach house, so far away from everyone else.
So, it was a total shock to wake up in the middle of the night and have it not be because I needed to feed Leif.
Instead, there was a knock at my bedroom door.
“Mrs. Marshall, it’s me, Gord.”
I got up and pulled on my robe. I went to the door and opened it. Gord, the guard on duty that night was standing with a two-way radio in hand. A man in his forties, former military, he looked the part, with short cropped dark hair shot through with grey, and deep-set dark eyes. Tall, well over six feet tall, and heavy set. He was formidable, which made me feel safe.
“What is it?”
“We had an intruder on the property. He triggered the silent alarm, and the infrared lights, so I was able to track him without his knowledge, but he escaped and ran down the beach. I called for backup and will wait for the police to arrive.”
“Oh, God,” I said, shivering at the thought that someone — Blaine perhaps — had tried to come on the property, maybe to break into the house. “Do you have him on security video?”
“Yes, and if you want, you can come down to the office and check it out.”
Candace popped her head out of her room, her eyes bleary. Mara followed her. “What’s going on?”
“Someone came onto the property,” I said and followed Gord down the hallway to the staircase. “I’m going to go look at the video.”
“We’re coming,” she said and the two of them followed me. We went down the stairs to the main floor and then to one of the rooms in the wing of the house next to the garage. It was where the security company kept a desk and series of monitors to watch the property. Gord sat down and replayed the video that showed a man wearing a hoodie climbing over the tall brick wall on the side of the property. He was outlined in green, but you couldn’t see a face. There was a black ski mask hiding his facial features.
“He knew enough not to expose his face. When I came out of the side door, I called out to him as you can see here, and he ran. He jumped over the fence, using a chair from the pool, and ran down the beach. I didn’t want to leave the property unprotected, so I called backup and police and let them know which way he went. Hopefully, someone will have the vehicle he came in on security cams in the area and we’ll be able to find out who it was.”
“I hope so,” I said, but I had this sinking feeling it was Blaine, back to try to hurt me. Would he have known I’d be alone at the beach house and decided to take the opportunity to hurt me?
“Can you replay it? I want to see if I recognize the man.”
“Sure,” Gord said and replayed the video showing the man. I peered at the image of the man walking beside the fence but wasn’t able to identify him from his body or walk.
He didn’t remind me of Blaine, but it had been years since I was with him…
Whatever the case, I shivered and was glad we kept the security detail at the beach house, despite the months of no incidents since Leif was born.
Police showed up a few minutes later, and we sat down in the living room and Gord told them about the setup and what happened, while Candace and Mara sat with me and listened. The police officers then watched the video in the office, and one of them explored the property. While we watched, Gord showed the officer where the intruder had breached the wall and how he had escaped.
I heard a cry from Leif’s bedroom and went upstairs to find him wiggling under his blanket, ready for his feeding.
I picked him up and his diaper was sopping, so I changed him and then sat in the rocking chair, the nightlight shining stars and a large moon on the ceiling above us. He nursed eagerly, but after a while, when he was almost full, his little eyes closed, and he fell asleep at the breast. I smiled to myself, and put him on my shoulder for a burp, which he delivered almost right away. Despite all the turmoil of the evening, he would be able to sleep soundly, even if his mother and his two adoptive aunties had the creeps because of the attempted break-in.
Had the man planned to break into the house and hurt us? Hurt me?
I shivered after I put Leif back into his crib, and then closed the door behind me. I was glad the nursery was on the second floor. Leif was safe at least.
I went back to the living room where Mara and Candace were still sitting, drinking cups of hot tea.
“You two not going back to bed?”