Forever Remember: The Rose Code

Chapter 31 Overcomer

I woke up with a smile on my face.

No pounding heart, no sweating skin, no screaming. I wasn't trapped in fear. I was free! Figuratively, anyway. Literally, my body was cocooned inside my zipped sleeping bag.

Melaney slept soundly inside her sleeping bag next to mine on the floor.

I silently slipped out of the fluffy cocoon, grabbed my backpack, and left the room. No one else in the Miller house was awake yet. In the bathroom, I brushed my teeth, showered, and dressed in my usual, dark blue t shirt and jeans. I combed my hair and pulled it into a ponytail.

The Parents were taking Hannah and me to Picnic Creek Park this afternoon for a mandatory family day, so I had to leave Melaney's house before ten. I could run my usual route around town to the cemetery, but for once, I didn't have any nightmares to escape. I decided to stay and help Mrs. Miller make breakfast. I could smell bacon frying as soon as I left the bathroom.

Trying not to wake Melaney, she needed her beauty sleep. I quietly placed my backpack in her room and tiptoed downstairs to the kitchen.

Mrs. Miller stood in front of the stove. Using a fork, she flipped over each piece of sizzling bacon. Megan dropped blueberries into a bowl of pancake batter and then stirred them with a big wooden spoon.

"Oh, good, another helper! You can make the pancakes," Mrs. Miller said cheerfully, pointing to the empty griddle on the stove.

"Sure." I usually made blueberry pancakes for Hannah on Saturdays. They're her favorite and mine, too. Mother had given me the morning off to spend more time with Melaney.

Megan handed me the bowl of batter and a measuring cup.

I poured the purple batter into the cup and then onto the griddle, four times. Mrs. Miller gave me a spatula, and I flipped the four pancakes over when they were light brown on the bottom. I repeated the process until I had twelve pancakes.

While breakfast cooked, Megan set the table.

"Megan, wake your sister and tell her breakfast is ready, please," Mrs. Miller requested. "Jasmine, what would you like to drink? We have orange juice, cranberry juice, and milk. Help yourself. Mr. Miller won't be joining us. He had to work this morning."

He must have left while I was in the shower. I poured myself a glass of milk and sat at the table waiting for Melaney.

She yawned as she sat beside me. "Morning," she mumbled. "Thanks for letting me sleep in."

"You're welcome, sleepy head," I replied, smiling because her curls stuck out in every direction.

"Don't look at my hair. I didn't brush it yet. Food is more important," she insisted.

I couldn't argue with that. I stuffed my face with blueberry pancakes and bacon.

"I heard that you went to the Charity Ball with Tyler Price," Megan gossiped with awe in her voice. "Did you have fun?"

"Definitely," I replied, "It was the most amazing night of my life. I'll remember it forever."

"Tyler Price is really hot." Megan fanned herself with her hand.

"Megan!" Mrs. Miller admonished.

"What? He is." Megan nodded her head, and Melaney giggled.

"I'm sure Tyler has many good qualities other than his appearance," Mrs. Miller insisted.

"Yes. He does," I agreed. "He's kind, and smart, and charming. And yes, he's very handsome. On that note, I better leave now, or my mother will be calling for me."

"I guess I get to do the dishes, since everyone else cooked," Melaney grumbled.

"I guess so," Megan said with a sisterly smile and handed Melaney her plate.

I chuckled as I went upstairs to Melaney's room. I rolled up my sleeping back and placed it in her closet, remembering our sleepover the night of my first date with Tyler. I could hardly believe it was only two months ago, so much had changed, for the better.

I grabbed my backpack and hurried downstairs to the kitchen, waving goodbye and telling everyone I'd see them at church tomorrow.

I jogged to my house in the bright sunshine, not a cloud in the sky, and arrived ten minutes before ten.

Jonathan set the cooler in the trunk of the car, and Mother placed her beach bag beside it. Hannah waited beside the car, wearing a light jacket and not the Red Riding Hood cape. I wondered how they convinced her to take it off.

"I just have to put my backpack away and grab a jacket, and I'll be ready to leave," I explained.

"Okay. Lock the door on your way out," Mother directed.

I rushed inside, up to my bedroom, threw my backpack on my bed, and grabbed my jacket out of the closet, just in case I would need it. The sun felt really warm today, for fall, so probably not until sunset. I skipped down the stairs and locked the door behind me.

I opened the back door of the car and fastened the seat belt buckle and sat on the straps. Hannah hopped into her car seat. Jonathan fastened the buckle holding down Hannah's car seat, and he closed the door. He and Mother got in the front.

Hannah pressed the button and unbuckled it. "No belt, like Jasmine," she said, clear as the sunny day, pointing to me.

Jonathan, Mother, and I sat speechless for a minute, our mouths hanging open, not because of Hannah's defiance, but because she spoke!

Jonathan was the first to recover. "Hannah, Jasmine is older than twelve. The law does not require her to wear a seatbelt. But you are only three. You have to wear one." He got out of the car, opened her door, and attempted to put the buckle back in the slot, but Hannah put her hand over it. "No belt."

Flashbacks of me fighting Jonathan swirled in my brain. I did not want a repeat of that day with Hannah taking my place. Jonathan would not waver. Hannah had to wear the seatbelt. It was the law.

"Wait," I shouted. "I'll make you a deal, Hannah. If I put my belt on, then you let Jonathan put your belt on. Okay?"

She nodded.

I unbuckled my belt, awkwardly pulled the straps out from under me, placed them across my waist and chest, and snapped the buckle into place. Immediately, my chest felt tight, and my skin started to sweat, but I plastered a smile on my face and told Hannah, "Now it's your turn."

Grinning from ear to ear, she allowed Jonathan to buckle her in. I was glad someone was happy.

How did that saying go? 'From the mouths of babes.' God knew only Hannah could make me wear a seatbelt. I would do anything to keep her from harm, even suffering through my worst nightmare, being trapped behind the straps of a seatbelt. Little sisters are tricksters.

Jonathan looked at me with compassion in his muddy brown eyes and mouthed, "Thank you." He knew more than anyone else how hard this was for me. He had the scar to prove it. He could never take my daddy's place, but maybe, he and I could be family, someday, in the very far future.

"Is everyone ready to go now?" Jonathan asked and began backing out the driveway and then stopped.

I looked out the rear window. A black Mercedes blocked our way. Tyler's car.

Tyler jumped out and walked over to our car and knocked on my window. I rolled it down, unwilling to leave my seat and repeat the seatbelt fiasco.

"What's wrong?" I asked, trying not to panic.

"I just wanted you to know," he whispered, "I gave the flash drive to the police."