After the meal and meeting, everyone headed home except Don. He took Donna by the hand and led her to the couch lin the den and made her promise to stay put while he cleaned the kitchen up.
"Honey, the meal was delicious and the pies were so good that the men almost wiped them out before I could save a small piece of each one for you. Don brewed a fresh pot of coffee, and brought the pieces of pie and two forks to the the den but much to his surprise, Donna was sound to sleep.
Wow, poor baby, he whispered. She really outdid herself. He moved her head and lightly placed it on the couch pillow, covered her up with a light throw and sat down and enjoyed the two pieces of pie as his reward for cleaning the kitchen! He pulled off his shoes and relaxed in the big recliner and fell fast asleep as well.
It was morning the next day before either one of them budged.
Don made breakfast and brought it in to Donna, along with some much needed coffee.
"Honey, you are so good to me, Donna replied. I'm sorry I fell asleep on you but I was truly exhausted!"
That's okay sweetie, but I had to finish your two pieces of pie since you were out like a light!"
"With that, Donna threw a pillow at him and he wrestled her to the carpet. Don grabbed her up in his arms and kissed her tenderly and long and they both realized that this was not a game they were playing but something much much more.
That silliness had turned into something tender and life, in spite of everything that had happened to her, was once again right.
After coffee, they both took turns showering and getting dressed so Donna could feel safe.
Don's construction crew was coming along on his lake home. Then he would be just be a hop, skip, and jump from Donna's house and he could protect her a lot better.
He knew how angry he felt when he realized that there was a pervert staring in the window while his Donna was undressing! It's a good thing that guy got away or else Don didn't know what he might have done to him. Don realized that he had called Donna, his Donna, and he liked the sound of it, he just hoped she did as well!
The lake house was right on schedule and it was starting to look really good. They saw the old boat that they flipped over in and had a good laugh about it.
Then they went to a little restaurant that had both the fresh water and salt water fish and seafood served up fast and delicious! You could also order take out to if you didn't want to stay and eat in. They opted to get take out and went to a place on the lake so they could talk about the trap the guys had put together. Up until now, Don deliberately didn't tell Donna the plan because it could be risky! Don explained the details and said it was to go down next weekend. Donna knew there was always a risk but if this guy kept up his revenge, more people could get hurt or killed.
A man in a long sleeve shirt and a weird fishing hat bumped into them before quickly walking away.
"Don, I just had the strangest feeling when that guy walked by. His cologne smelled just like my house did when JoAnn and I had the first encounter with the note man as we called him. Hey, where did he go so fast?"
Don said, "I don't know but you stay right here and I'll try to catch him!" In a few minutes Don came back and said "no luck!"
"Don do you think he overheard us talking about the trap?"
I don't know but we still need to get this guy behind bars and the sooner, the better!
"Donna, did anyone ever check your place for bugs?" Don Sanderson, you know full well I don't have any bugs!"
"No, not real bugs, Donna. I mean mics so a person can hear everything being said.
No, I don't think they have, Donna replied. Let's look when we get home.
They gathered up their trash from the meal, threw it in the trash can and headed home, hand in hand, like high school sweethearts.
After they got back to Donna's house, Don asked Donna to go home with him to keep her safe while he did some washing, etc., so he could get ready for the work week. She quickly agreed since she realized the person they were dealing with had plans to carry out killing her! He had chances, at least three or four times, to hurt or kill Donna or someone she loved.
Donna replayed the times in her mind again The first time was when Donna and JoAnn came home to find that someone had been in the house and made themselves at home.
The second time, was when Donna and JoAnn heard a man banging on the door to let him in? Maybe he didn't want to hurt Donna with a witness there or he might have had to kill two people.
The third time Donna realized something was going on was when a speeding car almost ran she and JoAnn off the road.
And the last time was way too close for Donna. She had just managed to barely escape from this intruder when she was alone and cleaning and came into the kitchen to start cooking when she saw another one of the notes saying "Next Time" on the kitchen counter, which meant the intruder was in the house. She quickly made it into the safe room and locked herself in and called the police, then Don.
The time had come to put the trap, aka, the plan in place. Don would call everyone for one last meeting to get everyone's job set.
Of course, Donna would be the bait for the trap and Don was more than a little worried about this, along with her dad and John. Actually, it didn't take long for all the men to fall in love with Donna. She was just that kind of lady.