Page 78 of Wait for Me

Marie would be eternally grateful to her friend Esperanza who had pretty much put herself in charge of her family’s safety.

Marie had received a message from Esperanza the night before, stating that her security company would ensure the safety of Logan and Jonas if Marie helped Mendenhall Security to track down Buchanan.

It sounded like Esperanza did not want Zaid to get to Buchanan first. However, she did not tell Marie why. Marie could guess that what Buchanan knew about his terrorist associates would be more valuable to Esperanza than his head on a platter in Zaid’s execution court.

“I want a free shirt and a woolly mama!” Jonas whined as he pushed away from Marie.

“You can get a free shirt anywhere.” Logan rolled his suitcase to a stop next to Jonas’s suitcase. “Did you mean a specialty tee shirt?”

“Especiallytee shirt.” Jonas sniffled. His eyes were like puppy dog eyes.

Marie debated whether to tell him to stop that nonsense or to let Logan handle it. She chose the latter.

“And a woolly mama!” Jonas raised his hands up in the air.

“Mammoth,” Logan corrected him.

“What I said, Daddy. Woolly mama!”

Tall order, Marie supposed.

Instead of answering Jonas, Logan turned to Marie. “How are you this morning?”

“I’m fine. How’s your arm?” Marie asked.

“All my x-rays have been sent to my physician in Atlanta. I’ll be seeing an orthopedic specialist on Monday.”

“Good.” She waited to see if Logan was going to talk to Jonas.

He did not.

Jonas detached himself from his mother’s side, strutting in a circle, making elephant noises. He was in his own little world now.

“He needs siblings to play with,” Marie blurted before she realized she had spoken aloud.

Logan’s eyes were on her. “I hope not half-siblings.”

Before Marie could respond, she heard Jonas call out, “Abdul!”

“Abdul!” He waved to an entourage coming down the stairs. “Mommy, can I go talk to him?”

“Wait until they get here. This is where we assemble to get off the ship,” Marie said, waving her hand around her in the foyer. However, most of the people were in the lounges, waiting for their sections to be called. The Urquharts had drawn an A, and would be the first ones off the ship.

“Whatsample?” Jonas asked.

“Assemble. Stay here. He’s coming this way.” Marie waved to Aliyah, who waved back—slightly.

The princess looked a bit sickly, and her hand was on her stomach.

Uh oh.Marie wondered if it was something she ate. She had heard of passengers getting food poisoning onboard cruise ships. However, she had been well this entire trip, and hadn’t heard of anyone else getting sick. That didn’t mean there weren’t actual cases of people getting sick while on a cruise—or vacation, for that matter.

Aliyah’s palm went to her face and she dashed around the corner in the direction of the ladies’ restroom. Her assistant spat out orders to the men around Abdul—including Zaid and Omar—before she ran after Aliyah.

“If it’s time to go, wait in the vehicle for us. Leave Omar here to escort us down.” Or something like that. Marie had only heard parts of it because the assistant spoke quickly, and the foyer was crowded with people talking and laughing.

Abdul pointed to Jonas. Jonas was still making elephant noises. Next thing Marie knew, the two boys were walking like elephants—or Woolly Mamas.

Zaid barely nodded to Marie and Logan. He didn’t say anything to them even though he was only a few feet away from them. His eyes looked tired.

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