Page 19 of Wait for Me

“You don’t need my permission.”

Marie’s French accent slipped out. It was then that Logan knew she was bothered by his declaration.

How could she be?

We’re divorced.

“It gets complicated when we marry other people.” Logan waited for Marie to respond.

Yes, he wanted to know what was on her mind.

They began walking again.

“Life itself is complicated.” Marie shrugged, as if she had on a mask. “When you have a blended family, it adds to the complexity.”

“I’m trying to simplify my life, but I hate being alone.”

“Me too.” Marie’s eyes widened even as she said it, as if it had been a mistake.

Another slip of the tongue?

“You too?”

“I take that back.” She stiffened. “My life is so busy. I don’t have time…”

“I hate to wake up one day when I’m seventy, and find out I missed out on life and love,” Logan said.

Marie leaned against the railing.

Logan joined her.

A number of decks below, the Pacific Ocean swooshed against the hull of the massive cruise ship. Sparkles of moonlight glittered on the deep, deep ocean.

The horizon was dark, morphed into the steel-gray night. In the sky, the moon shone down. There were some stars sparkling in the distance.

Moon and stars and the sky that God had made. Signs that life went on.

Life went on in spite of Marie and me.

Logan breathed in deeply. There was nothing he wanted to ask of her. Not anymore. Their life, as they had known it, was over. Now they had to do whatever they could to make things work out for Jonas, so that he too could grow up, out of these ashes, into a beautiful and productive life.

“We need God’s help. His mercy. His grace,” Logan said.

“Yes. His everything.”

“You know what’s funny?” Logan chuckled. “Marriage and parenting are harder than getting an MBA, and running a business.”

“Or chasing…” Marie paused.

“Chasing? Chasing what?”

Marie didn’t say. Instead, she said something else. “Apart from Christ, we can do nothing.”

“John 15:5.” Logan knew that verse by heart. His mom had made him memorize it as a child. “‘ I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.’”

Marie nodded.

Logan left his earlier question unanswered. When she wanted to talk, she could talk. No point pressuring her to be transparent with him. They were no longer married.

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