Chapter 49
October 31, 2018
Of course no one celebrated Halloween in the Brethren Republic.
Henry didn't give any show of being disappointed. At first JJ thought he'd forgotten the day, but when they had a quiet moment and she asked him he admitted that it was all an act. "It sucks Mom." He admitted. "But when we get there, I know Spencer and Penelope will make up for it. We'll have Halloween."
"You bet they will." JJ agreed. "We'll have scary movies and costumes and too many sweets, the whole bit. It doesn't matter what time of year it is."
"Yeah. And we'll make Christmas extra special to make up for last year."
"You'd better believe it."
Of course later on that day, as every day, she had to face her own horror. But today was a day for special ones. "You haven't been bleeding." Michael said as he adjusted his clothing.
JJ no longer felt so shaken after. She'd grown used to feeling unclean, grown used to the pain. Now as she always did she took a cool cloth to her face to ease the hot feeling now that the tears were gone. Usually he just left, the statement disarmed her. "What?"
"The curse? Haven't seen it in a while. Of course we can't say anything until the quickening, but that is a very good sign." Michael smiled at her. "I knew cousin Will chose well. I'll see you downstairs."
He was mistaken. No, he had to be mistaken. JJ quickly settled her own clothing and flew downstairs to where her workbasket was waiting by her chair. With nearly shaking fingers she pulled out her binder and flipped it open to the calendar.
"Are you okay, Mom?" Henry asked.
Two months, she realized. She hadn't had a period in two months. She felt someone looking at her and looked up to see Michael's satisfied smile. "I'm fine." She said to Henry. "Everything's fine."
Later that night, when everyone was asleep, she carefully pulled a tightly folded bit of paper out of a crack in her bed frame and opened it up to take a look.
You will be contacted
After church on Sunday
They will say they met through PG
Follow instructions
It was signed with an authentication code she had used when Emily was in Paris that one hard year.
Soon, she thought. Please make it soon. I don't know what I'll tell Will but at least I'll be alive to tell him. Please make it soon.
Sunday, November 11
"JJ!"
It was after church on a Sunday. JJ's head swiveled at the sound as her heart sped up to near bursting.
They were not what she expected. They were an older couple, easily in their seventies. She was in a salmon pink pantsuit of the kind only seniors could get away with under the Brethren regime, and had dyed her hair an improbable shade of strawberry blond. He wore a clean checked shirt buttoned all the way to the neck and what had to be his newest trucker cap. "I'm sorry." She said, tentatively. They had to be kidding.
"JJ LaMontagine, right?" The woman said. She had a soft, gentle, perhaps slightly senile smile for everyone, but when she met JJ's eyes, for that instant her look was strong and determined. "We met at Penelope Garcia's that one time? Madge Birkins."
"Oh, yes! That's right! At the baby shower!" How the hell were these two supposed to get them out of here?
"Right! How have you been? It's been so long! How's that son of yours?"
"Oh, he's fine. Henry?" Thankfully he was never far away. He came over close enough for her to pull into her arms.
Madge's smile was a little more relieved when she saw him. "Growing like a weed; isn't he."
"Yes. Farm life suits him I think."
"Oh good for you. We've retired from farming now; we just keep going around to visit the grandchildren."
They chatted nonsense for a few more moments. But then JJ spotted Michael looking her way through the crowd. "I…should go."
"Oh, of course dear, I shouldn't hog all your time." Madge came over and pulled her into a hug. "Midnight at the end of your drive, " she hissed into JJ's ear. "Hide in the bushes. Bring nothing."
"All right." When JJ stepped back her heart was pounding. Finally! "It was good seeing you again."
"You too dear. You too."
Madge moved away to rejoin her husband just as Michael came up. "Who was that?" He asked
"An old acquaintance from DC," JJ looked up at her tormentor and lied with every ounce of trained profiler she had left in her. "We met at a baby shower Henry's godmother threw once."
And it was enough. "Oh." Michael said, before he moved away.
At quarter to midnight JJ woke her son. "Get dressed." She said.
"Why?" He asked sleepily. "What's going on?"
"It's time to go." As his eyes opened wide she put her hand over his mouth. "Shhh. We have to be really quiet. Come on."
They crept out of the house and through the gardens. By the time they hit the drive they were nearly at a run. Thankfully there were no guards, and no animals on this end of the property. They reached the bushes at the end with only two minutes to spare. "Is it Daddy?" Henry whispered.
"I'm not sure." JJ said. "It might be our friends, I don't know." What if it was Will? What was she going to tell him?
There was no time to think of it though. A minute later a large RV pulled up and a woman in a salmon pink pantsuit stepped out. "Come on." She said.
What if it's a trap, JJ thought. But the clock in her belly was ticking, and she had to take the chance. She grabbed her son's hand and fled to freedom.
Back in the house Doris waited a seemly time and then slipped out of her husband's bed. She went upstairs to the furthest room on the right and peeked in the door. Finding it empty as she expected she went and removed the tablet and charger hidden under the floorboards. They would have uses in the future and were not a resource she wanted to lose. For a moment she lingered looking out the window. "Good luck child." She said as she watched the tail lights of an RV pull away from their drive. "Go with God."
.
End of Part 2
