Love and Only Love

Chapter 14

The next morning Meryl woke up in a panic-Don wasn't beside her. When they fell asleep after making love all night only a few hours before he was there, holding her. Well to be more accurate, she draped her naked body over his naked body and his arms created a protective cocoon around her. Now he was gone. She looked at the clock and it was only 5am. Where could he be? She immediately feared the worst-he was gone. Mann got to him, somehow. But why didn't he take her? Meryl didn't have time to process it, she needed to find her husband. She jumped out of bed, threw on pajamas and ran down the hall.

"DON! DON! DON!" She screamed as she passed Gracie's door and down the stairs.

***

Don was sitting at their desk in the office when he heard his wife screaming his name. He immediately leapt out of the chair and met her at the bottom of the stairs on the second floor where she threw herself in his arms. "Thank God." She choked. "You're okay; you're here."

"It's okay baby, I'm here." He consoled as he stroked her hair.

Grace heard the commotion and appeared at the top of the stairs. "Are you okay, Mom?"

Meryl broke away from Don and peered into his eyes as he wiped her tears. "Yeah baby, I'm fine."

"She just a bad dream where I left the cap off the toothpaste again-THE HORROR!" Don tried to tease.

"Very funny, Daddy." Gracie said as her mom went and hugged her. "Was it because of me?"

"No baby, not at all, really. I'm really okay. Your dad and I are really okay. I promise you." Meryl said as she pulled away and kissed her cheek. "It's still early sweetheart, go back to bed."

"Plus it's a Saturday." Don teased from the landing on the second floor. "You still have half the morning to sleep in."

"Well, if you're sure everything is okay." Grace replied nervously.

"I really am, baby. Go get some sleep." Meryl said tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Once she had disappeared, Meryl walked back down to Don as he wrapped her in his arms.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Don asked as he kissed the top of her head.

Meryl nodded as she kissed his neck. "I'm sorry, I was being kind of ridiculous. I didn't mean to cause a scene like that. I wasn't even thinking that I could wake her up. I just needed to find you and make sure you were alright."

"Hey." Don said pulling away. "Your feelings aren't ridiculous. Tell me about it."

"I woke up and you were gone, I freaked. I was afraid Mann got to you. I mean I fell asleep with your arms wrapped tightly around me and then you were missing from our bed at 5am." She choked.

"Oh, sweetheart. We're going to catch him. I'm fine and the kids are all fine." Don tried to soothe. This was just like before

"Don, he almost got to Grace. He KNOWS where they go to school." Meryl freaked out.

"Okay Darl, we need to talk about all of this. Go have a seat and I'll bring you some coffee." Don said with a kiss to her cheek and went to get her some coffee.

Meryl began to walk to the living room, but remembered she was expecting an email regarding her father's finances and stopped in the office. Her heart sank when she looked at the computer screen, and what her husband had obviously been searching for.

***

On Don's way to the living room, he saw her sitting at the computer desk. "There you are." Don said walking in.

"What's this?" Meryl asked as she turned around to face him.

"What?" Don asked as he set the coffee mug down on the desk.