Chapter 21

CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE

Tonka looked at the stall next to the one he was in and smiled. He was brushing down one of the horses, and Jasna was sitting in the hay in the next stall, petting Scarlet Pimpernickel and telling her how sweet and beautiful she was.

Two and a half weeks had passed since her kidnapping, and Tonka was thankful each day that she didn’t remember anything. The last thing she had a clear memory of was eating lunch before heading out on the group hike at camp. It was a blessing for sure, but Tonka could admit it was a little frustrating as well. He and the rest of his friends had hoped she’d be able to tell them who had brought her to the bunker. But she didn’t remember anything except waking up in the hospital and seeing him and Henley, hovering around her.

He thought of the phone call he and the others had with Tex the day before. The former SEAL had attempted to track the number from the text Tonka had received.

His exact words were, “Whoever this is, they’re better than me.”

They’d all been shocked to the core. Tex not being able to track a phone number seemed impossible. He prided himself on being able to hack anything, find anyone. But in this case, whoever it was had used a burner phone and had not only somehow bounced their signal off several different towers—or at least made it look like they had—they’d also apparently used satellites just for fun. So far, it had been impossible to backtrack through the spiderweb of bread crumbs to find who’d sent the text.

They were no closer to figuring out how the hell Jasna had gotten from that cabin where Dekker had stashed her, to the bunker on The Refuge property. And it was still a mystery how their anonymous savior had learned about the bunkers in the first place.

Tex had hypothesized that if the person was as good as they appeared to be at covering their tracks electronically, it was probably fairly easy for them to find out about the bunkers.

None of the guys were that thrilled to know someone was out there possibly keeping track of them and following their every move, but since whoever it was had rescued Jasna, they were doing their best to get on with their normal lives—albeit more cautiously.

Jasna herself had no lingering effects from what had happened. She’d been a little worried and had wanted to know every detail about that day, but generally she was the same kid she’d been before the incident.

It was Henley who’d been struggling. She had nightmares that tore Tonka’s heart out every time he woke up to her whimpering and thrashing. All he could do was hold her and tell her she was safe. That Jasna was safe. That it was over. Everyone at The Refuge was keeping a close eye on her. Making sure she knew she had their support.

Dekker’s family had moved out of state. They’d sent a letter to Henley’s boss, apologizing unnecessarily for their son’s actions. They were relieved they didn’t have to look over their shoulders anymore, but were understandably sad things had turned out the way they did.

One afternoon, Tonka and the rest of the guys had gone to the cabin where Dekker had planned to torture and kill Jasna, tearing it down to the foundation. It was cathartic, removing a building where so many evil things had been planned and almost carried out.

“Finn?” Jasna called out.

More than happy to take a break from brushing the horse’s coat, Tonka wandered over to the next stall. “Yeah, Jas?”

“Do you think Scarlet likes her bow?”

Tonka did his best not to laugh. The calf was growing quickly, and was no longer the cute and cuddly little gal who’d first arrived. She was also spoiled rotten, but Tonka couldn’t care less. She loved sitting with her head in Jasna’s lap and having her ears scratched.

Jasna had brought a huge neon-pink bow into the barn earlier and told Scarlet that it was a present. Tonka had no doubt by tomorrow, the pretty pink bow would be dirty and probably untied and smashed into the mud outside, but seeing the grin on Jasna’s face right now was priceless.

“I think she loves it,” he finally said.

“Of course she does,” Jasna agreed with the confidence of a child. Then she looked up at Tonka a little more somberly. “How’s Mom?”

Ever since her kidnapping, Jasna had been obsessed with Henley’s mental state. Tonka assumed it came from her knowing about what happened to her mom when she was a kid, and how she hadn’t spoken for years afterward. While Jas wasn’t affected by what happened simply because she couldn’t remember it, she was concerned for her mom.

“She’s good,” Tonka said. “What brought that up? Did anything happen?”

“Not really. But I start school tomorrow, and I’m worried about her. You know, that she might think I’ll be taken again. I’ve told her that I’ll be more careful, but I’m not sure that made her feel any better.”

“I’ll tell you a secret, Jas. Are you listening?” Tonka asked as he crouched down beside her.

“Yeah.”

“Moms will always worry about their kids. No matter how old you are, Henley’s gonna fret. All you can do is just what you said…be aware of your surroundings and be as careful as you can. But you need to live your life. Don’t let fear hold you back.”

Jasna thought about his words for a moment before nodding.

Tonka hadn’t planned on doing this right now, but he figured it was as good a time as any. “I might have something that will take your mom’s mind off of worrying about you a little.”

“What’s that?”

“I want to ask her something…but I want to make sure you’re okay with it first.”

To his surprise, Jasna wiggled her way out from under Scarlet’s huge, heavy head and scooted over to him. Her amber eyes sparkled, once again reminding him of how Steel would gaze at him when Tonka held the ball Steel wanted to chase. With a mixture of anticipation and excitement.

“Please please please tell me you want to ask her to marry you!”

Tonka blinked in honest-to-goodness surprise. “Well…yeah. How’d you know?”

Jasna laughed. “Finn, you guys are ridiculously gushy together. You’re always saying how much you love each another and sneaking off to kiss when you think I don’t know. Of course you want to marry her.”

Her astuteness was surprising, while at the same time a little disconcerting. Tonka wasn’t sure he was ready for her to grow up. It felt as if he’d known the girl forever, when it had only been a few months.

“I do love your mom,” he said. “But I don’t want you to think I’m butting into your relationship or anything. You two will always have a close bond.”

“I know,” Jasna said. “Are you guys going to have babies? Will I get a brother or sister?”

It was Tonka’s turn to chuckle now. “I don’t know.”

“But you want a baby?”

“Honestly? I think so, yes.”

“Cool. Me too. Although I’m gonna be old by the time he or she is big enough to play, but that just means I’ll have to come home lots and lots so I’m not forgotten. When are you going to ask her?”

This talk was going nothing like he’d thought it would. Tonka shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“Tonight,” Jasna said firmly. “I’ll see if Alaska will watch a movie with me at the lodge. That way you guys can be alone. You can have a romantic dinner or something, do some smooching, then you can ask her. And when she says yes, text me and I’ll come home and we can celebrate.”

Tonka grinned and stood, holding out his hand for Jasna. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet. “Sounds like a plan.”

She threw herself against him and hugged him hard. “I’m glad you came into our lives, Finn.”

Tonka squeezed her back, trying to control his emotions.

Fortunately, a bark sounded from the door of the barn.

“Wally!” Jasna said excitedly, letting go of him to go greet her dog.

They’d gone to the shelter the Monday after she’d gotten out of the hospital, and to his delight, Jasna had fallen in love with the large black pit bull mix the second she saw him. He was a little too prone to licking people’s faces for Tonka’s liking, and he had a penchant for jumping into the water trough in the corral, but he was a big goof, and he made Jasna happy, so Tonka didn’t really care.

Then, when they’d been on their way out of the shelter, walking down the row of kennels, Tonka had seen the most pathetic dog he’d ever lain eyes on. Some kind of terrier mix, and she was cowering in the back corner of her cage, trembling. She couldn’t have weighed more than ten pounds…and the second he saw her, Tonka knew she was meant to be his.

He couldn’t explain the feeling, and he certainly never would’ve picked such a small dog. He liked big dogs. Ones he could roughhouse with and not worry about hurting. Dogs like Steel and Dagger. And the pit bull mix Jasna had picked out moments before.

There was just something about the little dog that called to him.

He’d asked the shelter employee if he could see the little dog, and she gave him a small smile. “Sure. But don’t be offended if she doesn’t take to you. She’s really shy.” Then she frowned. “And to be honest…she’s on the list for this afternoon.”

Tonka knew what that meant. On the list for euthanasia.

To his surprise, and the employee’s, the little dog crawled toward him the second her kennel door was open. She smelled funky, needed a haircut badly, but when Tonka picked her up, it was love at first sight. For him and the little dog. All he got out was, “I’ll take her.”

Henley had simply smiled when he’d informed her they were taking two dogs home. Brick and the others had laughed their fool heads off when they’d seen the pathetic little dog nestled trustingly in his arms. Tonka didn’t care. He named her Beauty, because it made Jasna laugh…and he hoped the name would give the little thing some confidence.

It was ridiculous, he knew it, but he didn’t care. Over the last few weeks, the dog hadn’t really come out of her shell too much. She was skittish and slow to trust, but she fit in the crook of Tonka’s arm perfectly. She usually sat in the dog bed he’d made for her in the barn and watched him work, never letting him out of her sight if she could help it.

Thinking about her made Tonka turn to look at the bed, and when Beauty saw him glance in her direction, she got up and trotted over. As usual, Tonka picked her up. Spike made fun of him all the time, reminding him that the dog had legs and could walk, but Tonka didn’t care about that either. He loved holding her and carrying her around.

Jasna strolled back to him with Wally at her heels. “Tell me you have a ring,” she told him sternly.

Tonka grinned. “I have a ring.”

“Good. Is it big?”

“Big enough.” The truth was, the ring wasn’t huge. But Tonka didn’t want Henley wearing something too flashy that might make her the target of someone who wanted to steal it from her. He would spoil her in any way she wanted in the future to make up for it.

“Cool. Finn?”

“Yeah?”

“If Mom changes her name to Matlick…do you think…maybe…Icantoo?” Her last words were jumbled together, as if she was nervous to ask.

Tonka took a deep breath. It had been his plan to bring up adoption at some point, but he wanted both Jas and her mom to be completely comfortable with the idea before approaching the topic. “There’s nothing I’d love more than for you to have my name,” he told her.

Jasna’s shoulders relaxed, and she beamed. “Awesome! I need to go find Alaska and see about that movie. Good luck, although you won’t need it!” She raced away, with Wally at her heels, barking and jumping as if she was playing a game.

“What do you think, Beauty? Should we go ask Mom if she wants to get married?” Tonka asked the little dog in his arm, scratching her head as she moaned in contentment. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

He headed for his cabin with a smile. Henley would be getting out of a group session in half an hour, and he wanted to be ready for her.