She follows me out the back door and away from the house where there's a fallen and I set up a few things for her to use for target practice.
Then I begin showing her how to shoot the guns I have including my hunting rifle, the shotgun I keep by the door, and the handgun that I keep on the nightstand by our bed. She is a little nervous at first, which is the exact reason that we need to be practicing. Though the more comfortable and confident she gets with her shooting, the better her aim gets.
By the time we're done practicing, she's pretty confident no matter which of the guns she picks up. Also, I feel more satisfied that she can protect herself if the need arises. Even though I have every intention of being right there to do it for her.
"We’ll practice more each day before the hunting trip," I say. But the trip is in three days, and I really hope that's enough.
Willow
Today we're on the hunting trip and if I felt safe with Bennett around, I feel extra safe with five guys with guns surrounding me. A major bonus is the kick ass girls who are here too for moral support.
This trip is exactly what Ben and I needed. It’s a chance to focus on something else while knowing our best friends have our back.
"Okay, we're going to get you girls set up at the lake and we're going to go scout the area," Phoenix says as the lake comes into view.
The guys have the tents set up quickly, honestly faster than I thought possible for one person to set up one tent. Meanwhile, the girls and I are getting lunch together. Before we left, we had packed some sandwiches for today and supplies for breakfast while we're here, but lunch and dinner are going to be completely dependent on what we're able to catch.
After some discussion, the girls and I plan to try our hand at some fishing. Cash has set up some traps for smaller animals, but the big hunt is tomorrow. After we eat and the guys head out, the girls and I lay blankets down on the beach by the lake to get a little sun and talk. It's been unseasonably warm, and we plan to take advantage of it.
"This is the one thing I miss about Georgia, you can pretty much lay out any time of the year and get tan and soak up the sun," Hope says.
"Not here, sweetheart. Seventy-five percent of the year you'd freeze your ass off," Jana says and we all laugh.
"Same thing in Chicago. If a woman had a tan, it probably came from a tanning bed," I tell them, which elicits some more laughs.
"I’d use a self-tanner if I wasn't scared of coming out looking like a carrot," Emelie adds.
We all laughingly agree and then the topic moves on to books and setting up the quilting date.
The weekend seems to fly by. I enjoyed being out hunting with Bennett, but I also loved the time with the girls just as much.
Before I know it, we're eating breakfast and planning to make the hike back to the cabin.
"We should make this a yearly camping trip," I suggest. We’ve had so much fun, I'm not quite ready for everything to end. Since each of the guys got an elk, we have no other option but to go home.
Everyone likes the idea of an annual camping trip. After that, we break up camp and start the trek back home. Surprisingly, the hike doesn't seem to take as long to get back to the cabin as it did to get out to the lake.
But once there, I stop dead in my tracks.
Our cabin has been broken into and the doors are wide open. I know we locked them because both of us double checked before we left.
The guys and Bennett drop everything and go inside while Cole stays with us. If I had to stand by anybody but Bennett for protection, it would be Cole. He’s serious and with the scar on his face he can appear deadly."The house has definitely been rifled through but it doesn't look like anything's missing. Tire tracks at the front lead up to the house and then straight back out. Axel is calling detective Greer down at the police station because he's worked with us before." Bennett says as he comes back to join us.
"Make sure you tell him about all the issues you had with your uncle. For one thing, he's on our side and the more he knows the easier it'll be to protect you. Possibly he’ll be able to put a stop to your uncle messing with you legally anyway," Cole says, looking down at the gun in his hands.
It seems like forever before the cops show up and thankfully, Bennett takes the lead. He fills them in on what happened and what's been going on with my uncle, the phone calls, and threats. Then I step in and tell them what happened with my uncle at my dad's funeral, the police reports I tried to file, and the districts that dismissed them.
Detective Greer takes a ton of notes. He asks me who I talked to at the police stations, which precincts I filed with, and when. Finally, he asks some questions that I'm not quite sure how they're relevant, like when we got married and when we met. That sort of thing.
"The fact that he's friends with the sheriff out there means nothing here. So I'm going to do some poking around and see if I can get copies of those filed reports, which will be to our benefit if it is indeed him who's behind this," detective Greer says.
"I'm glad that you're the last one to get married because you guys seem to attract trouble in droves. Hopefully, after this, it will calm down." Though he’s kind of serious, I can tell with the smirk on his face that he’s also playing around with us too.
Now if only the pit in my stomach would go away, along with the feeling that this is far from over.
Chapter 19
Bennett