Page 74 of Wait for Me

They were only halfway down the top deck. Marie felt an urgent need to return to Jonas’s stateroom. She didn’t have to, but she felt like she needed to watch her son sleep, as if time was running out.

“Are we going back already?” Logan asked.

“I think I’ll turn in early tonight. By now Mrs. Ping would have gotten Jonas ready for bed.”

On the way down the stairs, Logan said he was glad Marie came on the cruise.

“Or you wouldn’t hear the end of it from Jonas.” Marie laughed.

“That too. But more than that, I am glad you’re here. I think this was the best week of our marriage—barring a few things—don’t you think?”

Marie stepped off the stairs onto the wood floor next to a sliding glass door that faced a railing and the ocean beyond. Logan tugged at her hand, and pulled her toward him, ever so gently, as if he would be okay with it if she declined his invitation.

She was curious. Where was he going with this?

“I just want—need—a hug,” Logan confessed.

I can hug.And so she did.

They held each other in the small balcony, night wind in their hair, the slushing noise of the waves disappearing into Marie’s thoughts of long lost-homes and missed affections.

Of a little boy who wanted his mother.

Of an ex-husband who still cared.

“I will always love you,” he whispered.

Was that the wind in her hair speaking what she wanted to hear?

“I’ve mistaken you five ways through Christmas, but I want to make amends now.” Logan kept his voice low. For her ears only.

“What does that even mean—five ways through Christmas?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then why say it?” Marie chuckled.

“Because it sounds good.”

“Christmas sounds good?” Marie remembered the first two years they had been married, the lovely Christmases they had—and the overkill they did to please their small child.

“I want you home for Christmas—if it’s at all possible,” Logan said.

“I can check my schedule to see.” The night was darkening, and even with the small lamp by the door, Marie could not read Logan’s eyes or his deep thoughts.

“That will be great if you can. If there’s even a remote possibility…”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? I’ll takemaybe. It’s better thanno.”

Yes, it’s better thanno.

Chapter Thirty-Five

The next morning, Logan had second thoughts about their plans when they docked at the Victoria Cruise Ship Terminal at Ogden Point on the south end of Vancouver Island, Canada. He had packed his one suitcase, and was making a final walk around his stateroom to make sure he hadn’t left anything behind—like his power cord or his credit card.

Outside on the balcony, the Friday morning air was crisp and the sky was clear, yet the atmosphere held a foreboding of the one event that Logan had been trying not to think about for several days now: separation.

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