The Swiss Escape

Exchanging

The four officers that will escort Kayla and me to Sweden will arrive at any moment. I am still angry with Alex for staying. Going to Sweden will make things safer for Kayla, but I am still worried. If John does discover Kayla and I left, it will put Alex’s parents in danger.

“Mommy, where did Mittens go?” I could hear the worry in Kayla’s voice. Kayla looks around. Mittens is typically right next to Kayla when she wakes up from her nap.

“She’s at the doctor, Mittens will be home soon.”  At least I am hoping soon. She didn’t have anything broken, but Mittens did get hit in the face. There is swelling, but she will make a full recovery. I am ready to have her home, but the officers needed to swab her mouth for a sample.

“Do you have everything packed?” Alex asks with caution. He knows I am still upset about him staying.

I don’t look at him when I answer, “Almost.”

Alex takes a few steps towards me, “Don’t leave angry with me.”

I turn around to face him. A smile spreads across his face when I look at him. “I am angry that you’re putting yourself in danger. I know you said the worst thing John could do is take me away from you. But every day I am going to worry about you. Alex, you mean a lot to me. I am okay with going to Sweden to keep Kayla safe, but I am not okay with you staying behind, so he will come after you.” I let out a sigh. “If I stayed behind and you took Kayla to your parents, would you be okay?” Alex shakes his head. “Then why is it okay for you?”

Alex grabs my hand, “I see your point. I wouldn’t want to leave you behind, and I would be angry with you. But Kayla needs her mother. You mean a lot to me too, that’s why I am asking you to please go. I know you will worry about me, but if you stay here, I will worry about something happening to you.” Alex pauses for a moment. I can see his internal struggle. “Last night, when Mittens started barking, she heard Johnathon or his friends. He knows where we live, and he’s watching us. I plan to make him think we are all here. Then when he finally shows up to take you and Kayla, the police will arrest him.”

“How do you know he was watching us?” I start feeling my heart race. Alex isn’t telling me something, and I want to know why.

Alex lets out a sigh. “I went to my office so I could print off somethings. There was an email; I assumed it was a parent.” He pauses for a moment, “It was pictures of us together, from last night.”

“What kind of pictures?” My voice is small, I think I know what the answer is, but I want to be wrong.

“It was of us having sex.” Hearing his words, it feels like all my muscles tense. I feel sick; how many people did he send the pictures to. Noticing my distress, Alex puts his arms around me, “It’s okay. It’s obvious in the photos that we didn’t know someone took them.”

“What if he sends them out? What does that mean for the school?”

Alex looks relaxed, like someone having compromising pictures of us is not a bid deal. “No one will care. People know we live together; what we do in our room is no surprise. Nudity isn’t bad here; it’s not something negative here. It wouldn’t matter if he put them all over the city. No one here will take a second glance. They would probably be more upset that someone took pictures of someone without them knowing; the content won’t matter.”

“How did they take them?” The window is higher than anyone could reach. They would need a ladder or climb onto something.

“I don’t know. From the angle, they took them from the window. But I don’t know from there. They had to climb onto something. Last night when I went outside to check on things, I didn’t notice anything someone could climb.”

“When John called you today, did he say anything about the pictures?” I know Alex said it isn’t something people will care about, but it still concerns me. Maybe it’s the difference in cultures.

“Do you truly want to know?” Alex’s voice is soothing. I know he’s trying to comfort me.

“I don’t know. This is all upsetting. What was his purpose of taking pictures?”

Alex shrugs, “I think he wanted to prove he could easily get to us. Taking the pictures shows that Johnathon knows where we live.” He lets out a sigh, “He wanted me to know it was him who took them. He said we put on a good show.” I feel all the blood drain from my face. “It’s okay.” Alex puts his hands on both sides of my face. “We will catch him, and this will all be over soon. You and Kayla will go to my parents with the four escorts to keep you both will be safe. I will stay here, so he doesn’t come after you. If he thinks we left, then he will just start all this over again. It needs to end. Please go.”

I look into his eyes and can see how concerned he is. “You do everything the police tell you. Don’t try to go off on your own and catch him. Please stay safe.”

We share a quick kiss before Alex’s phone begins to ring. Alex answers; I can tell he is talking to someone about Mittens. I look at him curiously, and he just nods. I guess that means everything is okay. Maybe they’re bringing her home soon.

I try to finish packing. There are still a few last-minute items to grab. I grab my purse and go to check that I have our passports. When I open my purse, I see the watch I bought for Alex this morning. Maybe I should give it to him now? I don’t know when we will be able to come home. It could be after Christmas.

I wrap the watch in tissue paper and tie a ribbon. It isn’t anything fancy, but it will have to do. Coming back into the main room, I look at Alex. “Is everything okay?” I ask him.

“Yes, they were just giving me an update. The doctor said nothing is wrong with her, but they want to keep her overnight just to be safe. The swelling around her eye has gone down, so they were able to check her vision. Everything looks normal.”

I nod, “That’s good. I know Kayla was worried about her.”

“I will get her tomorrow morning. When I get her home, I will send you a picture to show Kayla.”

“She will like that.” I smile at him. “Since we don’t know when Kayla and I are coming home. I wanted to give this to you now.” I hand him the poorly wrapped gift. He smiles and opens it. I watch his face as he looks at the watch. “I know it isn’t your grandfather’s, but maybe it’s close enough that it will remind you of him.” Alex’s face has no expression. The watch must not be a good gift. It might make him angry since he sold the real watch for Lana. Of course, now, after I bought the watch, I realize it is a bad idea.

Alex stands up and leaves the room without saying a word. I’m the worst girlfriend. I gave Alex a watch like the one he inherited from his grandfather. Then he sold for far less than its value to support a woman that lied to him about carrying his child.

Alex comes back into the room. I noticed the back of the watch is open, “Where did you get this?”

My nerves begin getting the best of me. Will Alex be offended that I got his gift from a resale shop? In hindsight, the watch was a terrible idea. It was probably offensive and insensitive. “I got it from a resale shop near Industriequater.”

“The one that’s three levels?” I nod. A smile spreads across his face. “That’s the place I sold it too. When I went back to the store, I couldn’t find it. I asked someone about it, and they said it sold. I gave up looking for it.” Alex sits next to me on the couch and shows me the back cover of the watch. “My grandfather worked on his own watches. He carved his initials into the inside of the back cover.” I look at the back cover and see the initials, E.S. “Edwin Senn.” Alex places the back cover back on and looks at me.

“Your mother sent me a picture of your father and grandfather wearing the watch. I imaged searched for the watch and found the name and brand. Then I searched the name, Glashutte Tutima Luftwafte pilot watch. It took a couple of weeks, but I finally found one for sell last night. That’s why I wanted to leave early this morning.”

“How much did you pay for it?”

I looked at Alex curiously, “Why do you want to know? It’s impolite to ask how much someone spent on your gift.” I smile at him, so he knows I’m teasing. “A little over 3,000 francs.”

“They only gave me 1,000 for it.” Alex’s voice almost sounds sad. “I am angry at myself for selling it in the first place. Its market value is close to 7,000. I don’t know if I can ever forgive Lana and Fritz for what they did.”

I take Alex’s hand. “I didn’t want to make you angry. In my mind, the watch seemed like a good idea.”

Alex smiles, “I am delighted you found it. Thank you.” Alex gives me a quick kiss.

There is a knock on our door, and I know it’s time for us to leave. Alex lets the four officers in, and they go over the protocol with us. “We will share the cabin with you. Since the train will continue from Hamburg to Hassleholm, we will have less chance of being separated. When you and your daughter need privacy, we will stand directly outside the door. After we arrive in Hassleholm, there will be a car waiting to take us to the residence. The two men traveling with your ex-husband have warrants in Sweden for a few different crimes. The Swedish Police Authority have agreed to help us catch these men in exchange for handing the two criminals over to them after they finish their sentence here. If you need to go anywhere, all of us go with you. There are three of them, and they already shot one officer.”

Hearing his words makes the guilt rise in me. I’m incredibly grateful that Kayla is safe and protected. But I can’t help feeling responsible. Knowing someone got hurt because of my actions is difficult. It wasn’t just an officer who got shot. It was someone’s son or maybe someone’s father. If anything ever happened to Kayla, I know I wouldn’t recover. The biggest reason I left Johnny was because of Kayla. The fear of him hurting her or her becoming abusive like him. Or worse, she stays with someone who abuses her because she associates it with love. Thinking about someone breaking her the way Johnny broke me sends pain through my chest.

I look over at Alex. He has Kayla on his lap and helps her flip the tabs in one of her find and seek books. No wonder she thinks Alex is her dad. I feel myself smile when I look at them. Kayla will never put herself in a relationship like what I had with Johnny. Alex is a far better role model than him.

Watching them together also brings the question, what will we do if something happened to Alex? Financially, we will be fine, but losing Alex would leave a massive hole in our lives. Alex and I have only been together a year, but he has become a large part of our lives. Kayla looks to him as a father; it would be like losing her dad if something happened.

When the officer finishes explaining the protocol, it’s time for us to leave. I do one last check to make sure I packed everything. As I check Kayla’s bedroom, Alex comes in, “Kamryn.” I turn to look at him. “I know you mad at me, and I would feel the same if I was you. Since we don’t know when you will be able to come home, I wanted to give these to you now.” He hands me a square box. “I know Kayla is really into the fairytales right now, so I got her a book with six different stories in German. There is also one of the find and seek books. It’s more advance than what she has now, but I think she can do it.”

“Kayla will love them. Books are one of her favorite things. But are you sure want her to get them when we are gone? We can wait and do everything when it’s safe for us to come back. I’d hate for you not to be there when she opens it.”

Alex smiles. “It will keep her entertained on the train. As for you,” He pulls out a second box, only this one is rectangular. “I want you to open it now.” I smile at him and remove the brown paper from around the box. When I opened the box, I found a charm bracelet. Several charms are on the bracelet: a Christmas tree, Santa, a puppy, an ice skate, and a few more. Each one represented a different experience we shared. “I know there are a few I am missing, but I tried to get all the major dates.”

“It’s beautiful, Alex. You did a great job.” I wrap my arms around his neck to give him a quick kiss. Alex wrapped his arms around my waist, and I laid my head against him. “I’m not angry with you. I’m afraid of losing you. I know we have not been together very long, but you’ve become a major part of our life. Kayla looks at you like you’re her dad. If we lost you, it would leave a large void in our lives. I understand why you’re staying, but I don’t like it. Never in my wildest dream did I think Johnny would hurt me or cheat on me. He isn’t the person I believed him to be. I don’t know who he is, and I don’t know what he’s capable of, and that scares me. If I had a better understanding of him, maybe I would be less afraid. Because he is unpredictable, I am terrified of losing you.”

Alex holds me close. One of the officers says it’s time to leave. Pulling away from Alex, I look up at him. Smiling at me, Alex says, “Go enjoy being my parent’s favorite child.” I let out a laugh. He kisses me one last time. “I’ll miss you, Schatzi. Be careful, and always stay with your escorts. I will try to get you home as soon as possible.”

“I will. Please do the same. Don’t do anything without talking to the police first.” Alex nods. “I love you, Alex.”

“I love you, Kamryn.” With that, I walked out of Kayla’s room and to the four officers escorting Kayla and me. We get into a car near the house and head to the train station.