“Okay, talk to us. What’s going on and don’t tell me you don’t know.” Pratt said, calling Jenniffer out on what Jack knew was going to be her statement.
“Wait, the paperwork you were served with earlier?” Dom asked, hitting the nail on the head.
Jack saw the moment Dom and Pratt’s statements hit home with Jenniffer. “Let’s get the six dogs that are ok situated, then we can go inside and discuss this. I don’t think it’s a good idea to discuss it out here.”
“Good idea. Jenniffer, if you need a place for the dogs for a few days, we have space at our house. I know Highlander would love having them there. We’ll try not to spoil them too bad.” Pratt offered her assistance, smiling over at Jenniffer. “He, Hammer and Pats should be done with the perimeter check here in a bit.”
“I take it they are military?” Jenniffer asked, checking her surroundings for anything out of place, once again.
“Yeah. Like Jack and Dom, Hammer is Army, currently with Delta. He’s stationed elsewhere but is here visiting with his brothers for a few days. Pats is a raiding jarhead.” Pratt said, laughing as Raso reached out to smack her.
“And Highlander is a squishy squidward squeal.” Raso finished, causing Jack and Dom to laugh as they all walked towards the pen area, Spock and Hercules on their heels as if guarding the group as they walked.
“Wow! That’s a wide range between brothers.” Jenniffer stated with admiration in her voice.
“Yeah. They have a sister who is also in the Marines. She’s a pilot much to their horror. A damn good one if you ask us. Another brother who is Devgru and three other brothers who are SAS in the UK. They are all technically following in poppa MacLeod’s footsteps who was SAS when he was younger. Just some came to the US to start a new life and still wound up following in his footsies.” Raso said, winking at Jenniffer.
“Oh wow. How many siblings do they have?” Jenniffer asked in amazement causing Dom, Pratt and Raso to laugh.
“All together, there’s seventeen or eighteen of them. I lost count honestly. There were twenty rugrats running around but one died in a car accident on his twenty-first birthday, and one died of SIDS approximately fifteen years, so there’s eighteen still alive. A set of twins getting ready to graduate high school as we know it.” Pratt answered, putting her hand out for the dogs in the pen to smell before petting them.
CHAPTERNINE
It had taken the group almost an hour, even with everyone helping, to get the dogs dealt with, settled in for next little bit, inside the house, Jack, Jenniffer, Dom, Pratt, Highlander, Mike, Raso and Marcus were all inside the house, a drink in their hand and sitting down as they talked for a bit. Jenniffer realized this was the most people her house has ever had in it, especially when it was just Jack inside with her.
“Okay, time for the serious stuff. Jenn, what did you mean it may not have been Monroe?” Pratt asked, calling Jenniffer out of her musings.
Jenniffer sighed, sitting forward and rubbing her hands down her face. “When I was in the Marines, I was with EOD as a K-9 handler. Served a little over ten years at the time all hell exploded. At the time, I was engaged to Jeff, who was Special Forces, Marine Recon. His unit and my unit were assigned to work together more often than not in Afghanistan.”
“Wait, ye last name isn’t Lopez, is it?” Marcus ‘Pats’ MacLeod asked, staring at Jenniffer intently.
“Yes…” Jenniffer answered hesitantly.
“Shite! Ye and your dog, Axel, were fucking legends. Ye worked with my team a couple of times.” Marcus informed the group, a huge smile on his face when he realized who Jenniffer really was.
Jack rubbed Jenniffer’s back, letting her know that she wasn’t alone nor was he upset by her admission of being engaged. When she seemed to hesitate to go further, he leaned over and kissed the side of her head, hoping he was sending his strength into her.
“We had just had a discussion about getting married. Honestly, I was hesitant because he was wanting me to finish out my new contract and not re-enlist. He said all the right things about letting me do my twenty but little things he said or did made me realize he was pushing me into some box he wanted. Me out, waiting for him at home while he did the twenty, staying home raising the kids and taking care of the home business.”
Jenniffer stopped what she was saying as she leaned back onto the couch, let out a deep breath before looking up at the ceiling, going back in time as the memories assaulted her of Jeff, their time together and their last disagreement together. Closing her eyes, she let the tears stream down her face freely.
“I ignored so many red flags with him, now I’m not sure why I did. I kept telling myself I was just being paranoid because he said he loved me. But times when we were both home and he claimed he had to go to base, but he wouldn’t answer his phone. Or when he would be home and I was deployed and times we’d set up to video call, but he wouldn’t be available. I just kept telling myself his team got called out.” Taking a sip of the water Pratt placed in her hand, Jenniffer let the breath that was hitching in her chest out.
“The last time I saw him, we were escorting some political figures from one base to another. They didn’t want to take the chopper, which would have been faster and safer, but wanted to go the route we would have taken by ground. Claiming they wanted to see how we did things. We had stopped for the night when Jeff came up and was being all sweet after an argument, we’d had the day before. He was pissed because I was on this assignment, when I was specifically requested because Axel and I were the top-rated EOD team in the military.”
“He didn’t like that ye were more popular than he was?” Lt. Joseph ‘Highlander’ MacLeod asked, pulling Pratt down into his lap, rubbing her back as he studied Jenniffer.
“He was very competitive. Hell, most of his team was. Some of his team were friendly and others were standoffish which I just assumed it was their personality.” Jenniffer admitted, sipping more of her water.
“No, they knew he was fucking around and didn’t have the balls to admit it to you.” Pratt fired back. “I can say with uncertainty if this one right here was fucking around, the team’s actions would tell me. More than likely his team would beat his ass then tell me.”
“Hear hear!” Raso confirmed, patting Marcus on the chest. “I can attest to the same with this one’s team.”
“Aye.” Highlander admitted. “His team knew what was going on. The half that was friendly probably felt sorry for ye and the half that were arseholes believed whatever bullshite story he fed them, and they thought ye were the one upsetting their teammate. It probably caused a divide among the team.”
“Yeah, I guess. That day, he came up to me, was flirty. After that run, he was heading back to the States for some down time. I had another two, almost three months, left on my rotation in Afghanistan. He’d been pushing the marriage angle. Claiming I was the one holding up with not setting a date or a venue or anything. I had told him I didn’t care how or when. Hell, we could go to Vegas and get married by Elvis for all I cared. I didn’t think he would go for it, but he agreed and decided that when I got back to the States, that’s exactly what we would do. Claimed he would ‘pine away’ for me for those couple of months.”
Jenniffer laughed at the memory, shaking her head. “I should have paid attention to Axel’s body language. He never did like Jeff. Always growled at him, stood between us when he was around.”
