“Oh no!” Ellen gasped as her ears barely registered the exclamations of the women around her.
Oh my God. Just like what happened to me.
Memories of Mortimer grabbing her flooded her mind and body.
“She’s okay,” Leah rushed to reassure them, “She was able to use her self-defense moves and to break free of him and then ran to the drugstore to call the police. Then she called us.”
“Oh, thank God,” Ellen said her breath coming out in a rush.
Like me, she got away. Thank God.
“The police are with her now,” Leah continued, “And Barrett just left to get her. Buck, can you give George a ride to pick up his truck?”
“Sure thing,” Buck said. “I’m glad she’s all right.”
“How frightening,” Emma said. “Well, I’ll hold her pies until she can enjoy them later. We can try again tomorrow night. The main thing is that she’s all right.”
“I’m glad she got away,” Ellen said quietly.
Buck headed out, Leah went into her office, and Emma collected the plates and forks as the women dispersed.
Ellen stood watching them all, still stunned by the recent happening.
“Are you okay?” Janelle asked, her voice low. “Your face turned pale when Leah announced the attack. I’m surprised she didn’t notice.”
“Yes, I, I’ll be okay,” Ellen said. “It just shook me for a moment. And Leah has her mind on Chyna right now. I’ll be okay.”
“Good,” Janelle said. She started rubbing her head again.
“Is one of your headaches coming on?” Ellen was concerned about her too. Janelle seemed to get an awful lot of headaches.
“Probably,” Janelle said. “Stress can bring them on.”
“Let’s go for a walk,” Ellen said. “I’ve found that when I get stressed, going for a walk helps me to work that out sometimes. We won’t go very far, just a short walk and some fresh air.”
“Okay,” Janelle said. “That sounds good.”
They headed outside and walked down to the barn.
“Do you think it was her ex?” Janelle asked.
“I don’t know,” Ellen said. “Maybe.”
“Who else do you think would try to grab her? It’s not like a lot of people live around here,” Janelle said.
“True. I’ll bet it was him,” Ellen said. “I wonder how he found her?” This time she was the one frowning. “We’re supposed to be impossible to find way out here.”
“Yeah,” Janelle agreed. “But there’s no such thing as impossible. Are you worried someone will find you?”
“Yes,” Ellen nodded. “I wasn’t as worried about it though I thought about it. Staying here felt safe. But after tonight, I’m not sure we are. I mean if this guy found her,” she paused and frowned. “I’ve got a stalker and he’s still out there. What if he could find me here? The police don’t seem to be actively looking for him anymore.”
“Oh no!” Janelle reached for her arm and placed her hand on it. “That’s terrible.”
“It is,” Ellen agreed. “He’s obsessed with me. He took a job at my elementary school as the janitor’s assistant. For a while he left flowers on my desk, or an apple, and I thought they were all from one or more of my kids, leaving gifts for their teacher. I had no idea.”
“Well, no, why would you?” Janelle said. “I can remember leaving my teacher little gifts of flowers and a broken robin’s egg once.”
“Right! Lots of children leave gifts like that,” Ellen said. “So, at first, I was enjoying all the gifts and happy about them.” She shrugged. “Maybe that sent him the wrong impression. I don’t know. But he kept on and on, and then it got worse, until one night he grabbed me in the school parking lot.”
