Page 52 of Two Hearts Reunited

Once she was through doing research on behalf of finding Shanna, Jake had warned her he’d be cherry picking and having her do thorough research on certain individuals from those notebooks. She was outstanding with details, he’d claimed, so he was ready to take advantage of every bit of brain power she had to offer.

At the beginning, Eric had been able to talk with her every day—if not on Facetime, it would be on the phone. It was a little more difficult once he was in Germany though because of the time change. They had a mutual time frame decided on a daily basis, and when she didn’t hear from him during that sixty-minute block, she knew she probably wouldn’t on that particular day.

And when she didn’t hear from him for nearly a week, she worried like crazy, knowing he was probably flying in and out of Afghanistan doing search and rescue missions. Life would be heating up for him in July, he’d warned her. He didn’t want her to waste time worrying since he might be flying back and forth twenty-four/seven, whenever new orders came in.

Ashley was pregnant again and she was due in September. She seemed really tired these days, so Anya went over there to help with Arielle as much as she was able. At least her friend Michelle Barton had a new baby too, so she and Ashley hung outa lot together and even came by to visit Anya. It was nice to have friends who were closer to her age. Although Anya still spent a lot of time with Jaynie and Wren, she was nearly seven years older.

Everything was working out fine at Sanders’ Floral. Jaynie was thrilled at being given the chance to run the operations at the store on a daily basis and was happy with the fact that she didn’t have to worry about the accounting end or handling deposits.

Anya was earning even more money by hosting events at the Inn for Danielle, mostly for charity. She was impressed by Anya’s poise in front of an audience, and she was thrilled that she had someone to take over some of the duties she’d been hosting exclusively for years. Come to find out, Anya had earned a huge commission from the Christmas charity event. She’d nearly donated all of it back to charity, but some common sense had prevailed and she’d only donated half since she kind of needed the money. Once she was in better shape financially, she’d definitely be more generous.

One night in early summer, when there’d been an unusually good turnout at a concert she’d hosted outdoors at the oversized gazebo on the Dragonfly Pointe Inn property, she could have sworn she saw Shanna in the crowd. But when she was through speaking and had left the bandstand once the performance began, she’d searched the crowd as she’d walked away.

Anya supposed she’d just imagined it. After all, Shanna had been the only person she’d been primarily focused on since Mom had died, definitely under suspicious circumstances according to Jake after the exhumation. Jake said she’d been poisoned. That’s all Anya needed to know to be more on guard. Anya hadn’t asked for any specific details since foul play was no longer ruled out.

But if she was imagining seeing Shanna, why would Shanna appear to her as grown up and not as a thirteen-year-old, as Anya had last seen her?

It was one incredibly hot day at the end of August that she’d decided to air out the art studio. Although all the doors were left open upstairs during the summer, she’d been inside the room only once to do some light cleaning after Ashley had been here in January before drawing up some plans for the cabin renovations.

When she’d noticed the brush strokes on Shanna’s paintings earlier in the year, she couldn’t figure out why it had struck her so profoundly. Maybe because she’d wondered, how could Shanna have had the ability to take up painting again if she was being held captive? But there could be a lot more to Shanna’s story than even Anya knew, she decided, and today she would try to solve another puzzle.

Anya walked inside the office and began straightening up the canvases propped against the walls first, before heading over to the huge supply cabinet inside the open closet.

For some reason, the drawing paper and spare paints were disorganized, so she started putting like items together on each shelf.

Suddenly, she paused, glancing at the unusual materials that were stacked along the bottom shelves. A crazy idea came to mind when she remembered some of the facts from an art class she’d taken in college, despite not being nearly as talented as her grandmother.

Could she be right, Anya wondered excitedly?

As she was rushing downstairs, her cell phone rang, and she answered quickly, “Brian? What’s happening?”

He answered in an unsteady voice, “Anya. I’ve got some terrible news…”

When she heard what he had to say, every other thought left her mind.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

August 30, 2021

Hamid Karzai International Airport

Kabul, Afghanistan

It was even more dangerous in Afghanistan than he’d ever thought it would be, and Eric was exhausted, having flown back and forth from Kabul to Ramstein multiple times to transfer U.S. citizens and way too few Afghan refugees. ISIS K had been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks during the last week here at the airport, and they’d constantly had to watch their backs. A lone bomber had been responsible for the death of thirteen U.S. service members and over one-hundred and seventy Afghan citizens four days earlier.

“Lieutenant?”

“Colonel,” Eric replied, saluting. “I was told to report to you.”

“Walk with me,” the Colonel said softly.

Once they were closer to the plane, which was frantically being boarded, he spoke quickly. “We have an asset we need to remove from an isolated area of the country, along withhis family. I’ll need you to prepare as soon as you return to Ramstein. This will be a special operation.”

“I’m on it, Sir,” he responded gruffly.

The Colonel nodded his approval.

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