In The Blink Of An Eye

Finally Together

Jake and I...

We were finally together after waiting years and years and never knowing if this day would come. Just as he had explained to me everything that had been going on all the years we hadn't been together, our little fantasy was crushed by the harsh reality. Someone was after us...

But who? How did they find us? We were thousands of miles away from Duskwood.

Now I understand why Jake never wanted to show up. He was scared, and he had every right to be. Whoever was behind us didn't want Jake and I together at all. Maybe that was his fear...that together, we would be stronger than he ever was.

Me being with Evan was one thing. Evan protected me, guided me, sheltered me, and loved me, but he didn't have the one thing that Jake had... all of their deepest darkest secrets. They were aware that Jake could expose them in ways nobody else could, and they were ready to do anything to stop that from happening. They took Evan away from me because he protected me. What were they going to do to take Jake away from me now? I wasn't prepared to find out. I couldn't possibly go through another loss, not after I barely survived the loss I had already.

As we continued to run, I looked back and saw a man chasing us. It was a man I had never seen before, but Jake obviously had recognized him.

"Jake!!! Who the hell is that??" I shouted.

"Just keep running. I will explain later on."

I was getting so tired of running. It feels like all I have been doing for the past few years of my life is running. Running from this and running from that... when was it going to end?

As Jake and I passed between buildings, he pulled me to the side and put his hand on my mouth to keep me shut.

"Shhhs don't make a sound," he whispered.

He wrapped his arms around me, and I put my head down against his chest and closed my eyes. I didn't want to see what was about to happen. I just wanted to close my eyes and for all this to be over when I opened them back. I didn't want to see any more faces or masks of people chasing me.

As my head was on Jake's chest, I heard how loud his heart was beating. I knew he was scared and nervous about what was going on. He wasn't expecting this, and neither was I. I'm not here in Croatia. I felt like I left all this back in Duskwood.

"It's over. You're safe, please open your eyes and look at me, " Jake said.

When I opened my eyes and looked at him, I was crying and had tears in my eyes. Jake looked at me and wiped my tears off my face. As he wiped my tears away, I felt his skin against mine. For the first time since Evan died, I felt another man's touch against my skin, and it broke my heart. Not because I didn't want Jake to touch me, but because I felt like I was hurting Evan. I was never going to be able to be with another man, right? Not as long as I felt like this every single time.

"I feel like I'm hurting Evan by being here with you. I feel like I'm giving up on us and our love, " I said.

He looked at me and put his hand on my face.

"I'm not trying to make you forget about Evan, or even replace him in any way. It's impossible even if I tried. I just want to be there for you the way I should have been for years now."

I still wore my wedding ring, introduced myself as Madisyn Connolly Lewis, and said I was married even though my husband has been dead for three years now. I don't know what hurt me more...the thought that I would fall in love with someone else, or the thought that I could be happy with someone else other than Evan. I wasn't ready to let our life together go, no matter how ready I felt at times. I guess I was ready until it actually happened, then I realized just how much I was still grieving Evan.