On The Border - Marry Him Or Die

18

Jenny’s POV

After an hour inside the walk in closet, I finally finished unpacking.

I sneaked a look at Alex’s clothes, just out of curiosity.

There wasn’t a single light colored item in there. It was mostly black, grey, and dark blue.

I took out my medical bag; which was the last thing left inside one of the suitcases, and headed out into the bedroom.

My bag should be accessible easily at anytime so it would have to be somewhere close. It used to be on my nightstand in my old room, next to my bed.

I had no idea where I will be sleeping, but his bed was off limits for so many reasons.

I opted to put it on the dresser instead.

Just as I placed it, my phone rang on the table.

My stomach rolled and heaved at the name I saw displayed on the screen.

It was Simon, my cousin.

I refused the call immediately, went to my contacts, and blocked his number.

I had no idea why he was calling me and I had no interest to find out.

I checked the clock and found it was 12 in the afternoon.

I dug out my headphones from my purse, grabbed two large cushions from the two chairs in the room, and put one of them on the rough solid ledge of the furthest windowsill; because the view from the other one was entirely obscured by the outer staircase, and propped the other cushion against the wall where my back will rest on.

I took a blanket that was folded on the bed, and practically had to jump in order to reach the ledge, because it was high, for me.

I removed the light, see through curtain to the side, and opened one side of the window.

The hit of fresh air, and the smell of the flowers from the front yard, filled me with a little sense of relief.

There was no one sitting outside, thankfully.

Only the three guards that were still standing where I last saw them, by the gate.

I craned my head further, and noticed that the car Alex drove me in was gone from the parking spot.

So, I’m guessing he wasn’t home, and he wouldn’t come into his room any minute now.

I took advantage of that and sent a text to Megan through WA.

“Hi Megan, are you here?”

“Yes! I was just about to call you, is it true?”

“Yes, it’s true. I had to, my uncle threatened to kill my mother, or I would have never agreed to this”

“oh my god! That asshole! Are you at the Snows now?”

“Yes I will be living with them from now on. Listen I need you to find out if the town limits are open again for traveling outside. I need to get my mom to Canada ASAP. I need her to be safe”

“What about you? Don’t tell me you will just accept this and become his wife”

“I’m basically a prisoner here Megan, I can barely step foot outside the front yard. I’m not saying that I’m accepting anything, I just need a lot of time to think this through, and that’s time my mom doesn’t have. I just have to get her out of here first, the rest we’ll figure out later. Find out for me please”

“They opened it, I’m certain. My father is heading to Fairbanks now to get some supplies for the factory. The town is pretty much back to its old self again. The Snows and the Walkers both buried their people together and they are currently having a public joined funeral for everyone. I didn’t hear a single bullet firing, so I guess everyone is on the same page now. They’re at peace”

That might as well be my own fucking funeral. Fuck them and their peace that was built on my freedom!

“I will book a flight to Toronto now. But I need to know if you’re still willing to drive her to Fairbanks before the break of dawn. It could be dangerous for you Megan, driving in the dark like that”

She doesn’t hesitate in her reply.

“I’m ready, tell me the time and plan and I will do it. I’m here for you Jenny, I will always be here for you”

I have been looking at flights to Toronto for the past two days now, there was a daily flight at five in the morning, which was the perfect timing.

“You will have to leave town at two in the morning, her flight is at five. It will be the day after tomorrow. I will try to get permission from Alex to visit mom tomorrow morning, if I succeed, I will text you to come there so we can discuss this in detail, if not, we will text each other about the plan”

I ended the conversation with Megan and deleted it entirely just to be on the safe side. I booked the flight, and paid for it through my father’s credit card.

If he was alive, I would never dare to book it using his card because he will instantly find out, but since he’s gone now, might as well fund his wife’s ticket after all the horrible things he made her go through in her life.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I received the confirmation through email.

It was really happening, she was finally going to be free.

But I learned; the hard way, to never get my hopes up before something happens, only when it is absolutely over, for good.

***

Alex’s POV

I walk through the front door as Sara opens it for me.

It was almost one thirty in the afternoon.

We had buried all our dead and were done with the funeral in the town square.

The Walkers sat on one side, and we; Snows, sat on the other side.

Many of them were injured in different places, some were limping, some had bandages on their foreheads, and some had casts on their arms or legs.

We were all present during both the burial and the funeral. I asked Lucas to stay behind though, so that the Walkers don’t suspect anything about Jacob’s absence. Two siblings not showing up wouldn’t raise many suspicions. It would just seem like they were too injured to show up. They already must know that Lucas almost died after getting shot by Simon.

Speaking of Simon, I noticed him missing from both the burial and the funeral later. He must be opposed to the way things worked out, but I didn’t give it much thought. He would never dare to cross me and put his cousin’s life in danger.

We had the upper hand, and all the Walkers knew it. They weren’t all happy about it, judging by the dirty looks they were giving us, but no one dared to open their mouths.

The sheriff came to sit next to me at one point.

He congratulated me on my leadership position. Although he already did when he came over to our house after Patrick’s murder. But this time it was for asserting the peace successfully, it was a gesture meant to let me know that I made the right choice as a leader of the clan, and I appreciated it a lot.

“Is everything okay Sara?” I asked her.

“Yes, it’s all good. Jennifer stayed in your room the entire time and no one bothered her”

I nodded my head and went straight to my room, I was in desperate need of a shower and a change of clothes.

I stood outside my door, my hand about to open it before I paused.

I should knock, I thought to myself.

How ironic is it that now I need to knock every time I want to go inside my own room?

I knocked lightly three times, and gave her ten seconds to speak up.

After no reply comes from her, I enter and close the door behind me.

I walk hastily inside and spot her sleeping deeply in a sitting position on the windowsill, the window was left half open.

There was a cushion under her, another one behind her back, and a blanket covering her.

She had headphones in her ear, her glasses were about to fall down as they were hanging low on the bridge of her nose, and her head was tilted to the side and leaning against the wall. Her legs were bent in front of her, close to her body.

I came closer to her and noticed her phone sitting in her lap, playing some kind of movie with English subtitles.

She dozed off while watching something on her phone, she was too deeply asleep, she didn’t even pause the movie or remove her headphones.

No wonder she didn’t hear me knocking.

Sleeping like that must be so uncomfortable. Why would she sit here when there are two chairs and a huge empty bed in the room?

I resisted the urge to remove her glasses or her headphones, as tempting as it was.

She was none of my concern, as long as she kept to herself and minded her own business.

I backed away and noticed the sandwich left untouched on the table.

She didn’t take a single bite from it.

Damn her fucking stubborn head!

Suit yourself then. You want to starve yourself? Let’s see how long that will last.

I leave her and go to the closet to take fresh clean clothes.

She already unpacked her things, and organized her clothes, some folded and some hanging, in addition to her shoes.

Wow she had a lot of clothes. A lot of colorful clothes. Compared to my side of the closet, it was like an explosion of bright colors went off inside my usual dark closet.

I took my things and went into the bathroom.

After I finished showering and putting on my clothes, I threw my dirty ones in the basket and got out.

She was still sleeping like I left her.

I headed out of my room, closing the door behind me and went to the kitchen to see my mom.

They were finishing up the lunch preparations. My mom was putting the plates on the table.

“Hey, how are you?” I bent down and kissed her on the forehead.

She smiled up at me and said “I’m fine. How was the funeral? Are there anymore problems?”

“It’s all under control, don’t worry”

“Lunch is ready” Sara announced.

“Go call Jennifer to join us, Sara. If she doesn’t answer after you knock, go inside and wake her up” I instruct her.

My brother, sister, and cousin come into the dining room; which was open with the kitchen.

Sara comes back with the plate of sandwich in her hand and says “I went inside and woke her up. She said she’s coming after me”

“She didn’t eat her sandwich?” my mom asked sadly.

“No, it’s untouched”

My mom sits at the head of the table. I set on her left, April sits on her right, followed by Lucas, then David.

We sit and wait for Jennifer to come. It’s a tradition in our family to not start eating until everyone is present and seated at the table.

I give her two minutes, when the time is up, I begin scooping up a serving of roast beef.

“Alex” my mom says quietly.

“We will not wait for her to honor us with her presence” I said sternly

Everyone follows behind me.

Another two minutes passed, if she didn’t tell Sara she was coming behind her already, I would have figured she was going to continue her food strike.

She comes into the dining table after six minutes of being called to lunch.

She sits down next to me without uttering a word of apology.

I had to fight the urge to snap at her and order her to apologize to everyone. It was a sign of disrespect, both coming late to lunch and not apologizing about it.

But I held myself because I didn’t want to make a scene in front of everyone.

I’ll have to do that when we’re alone.

She scoops up a piece of roast beef with some vegetables.

We all eat in complete silence, except for the sounds of the knives and forks on the plates.

Throughout the whole lunch, I notice from the corner of my eye, Jennifer taking a sip of water with every single bite she takes.

She didn’t raise her head the entire time. Her eyes were only glued on her plate.

She clearly hates roast beef and was trying to swallow it down forcibly with water.

I sneak a look at my mom and see her watching Jennifer sadly.

She probably felt guilty for not asking the girl about the food she doesn’t like.

Well, we weren’t going to adjust our food or change it based on her liking and disliking. So the faster she gets used to it, the better for her.