Page 46 of Wait for Me

Right now, Marie had a feeling of déjà vu, like she had to protect Jonas all over again. Perhaps she was overreacting. Who’d expected that a five-year-old would sneak out of a shop with an entire group of people?

Under Logan’s nose!

Hovering or not, Marie sat by Jonas’s bedside as he napped that afternoon in her stateroom. She insisted on keeping him with her there.

She didn’t have any of her gear or equipment from work with her. The only thing she had was a deactivated Radio Frequency Identification tracker on a bracelet in her purse. She could, technically, put it on Jonas’s ankle—if he would cooperate and not take it off, and if Mrs. Ping didn’t question what it was. Perhaps she’d put it on Jonas before the next excursion and hide it under his socks.

Unfortunately, the RFID tracker had a short range. If someone took Jonas out of the next town, they might not be able to find him.

Marie wished she had brought her GPS tracker with her. However, she had not expected any drama on board the ship or at any of the small tourist towns they were visiting along the Inside Passage in Alaska. Seriously.

Earlier, Logan had also wanted Jonas in his cabin, but an inopportune business phone call canceled his plan, and Marie got the child.

After the nap, Marie accompanied Jonas to the playroom, where they met up with Abdul and his mother, Aliyah, again.

Marie wasn’t sure how to address her, but the woman had not given her an indication of her position in her own society, so there was no title for Marie to use. Even though she had heard the assistant saying Your Highness, that hadn’t been translated for Marie.

So Aliyah it was.

Once again, she wasn’t alone. The assistant was behaving like a handler. Never smiling, always looking uptight, her job seemed to be to make sure Aliyah and her son stayed safe.

Or didn’t wander off on their own.

They were in American waters right now, and the ship would sail down the Inside Passage for a feast of glaciers the next day. After one day down the inlets, they would arrive in Victoria on Friday.

Canada.

Marie wasn’t sure whether it would make any difference if they had been in either the United States or Canada. A child abduction was a child abduction no matter which country they were in.

Marie yawned on the way to dinner. She wondered if she should have slept while Jonas had napped earlier, but she had been too uptight to close her eyes then.

Jonas was skipping happily, with Mrs. Ping by his side.

Marie didn’t see Logan anywhere.

She missed him. The family didn’t feel complete without Logan for some reason.

When they were seated, Logan had still not arrived.

Marie texted him.

He texted back, saying he had overslept, but he was on his way.

Marie waited anxiously until Logan arrived.

“Missed me?” Logan asked. It seemed that his question was directed at everyone, but he was looking at Marie in particular.

Marie didn’t answer him. She didn’t want to sound forward or give away a secret or two about how she still felt about him.

But yes, I missed you.

Chapter Twenty-Three

They almost met again in Logan’s stateroom for their private conversation, but he confessed that his room was even messier than before, and he had hung the Do Not Disturb sign on his door, thereby preventing the stewards from making his bed or cleaning up his bathroom.

“In other words, you’re saying that it’s a pig sty,” Marie said as the elevator door closed.

They were the only people in it. They had left dinner late, and everyone else had gone on to their after-dinner activities.

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