Page 87 of Wait for Me

“I love you too, sweetheart.” Marie’s voice cracked.

Logan’s heart broke.

* * *

Logan’s plan for Marie to stay in a nearby hotel didn’t work out when his genetically stubborn five-year-old called the shots even before they reached home. Jonas had pitched a hissy fit in the car when he heard that his mother wasn’t going to stay with them that night.

“But we’re a family!” Jonas cried.

“I’ll come to see you in the morning,” Marie said.

“Noooooo.”

Marie glanced at Logan.

Logan felt so ashamed that he had failed as a father to discipline this brat. At the back of his mind, he wondered if part of it had been Marie’s fault. Wouldn’t an absentee mother be damaging to a child’s life?

“We have so many empty rooms, Daddy,” Jonas tried again. “Why can’t Mommy sleep in one of those rooms?”

That made Logan feel even worse.

“You don’t have to see her, Daddy. We’ll stay out of your way.”

And there it was.

“You’re not in my way, Jonas,” Logan said.

“But Mommy is?”

Logan glanced back from his front passenger seat. Marie tried not to look at him.

Behind Logan’s seat, he felt a kick.

“Stop that,” Logan said.

“If I stop, will you let Mommy stay with us?” Jonas asked sweetly.

“Held hostage by a kid,” Marie finally said.

“A hos—horse?” Jonas asked. “I want a horse too. And Mommy!”

“Your kingdom for a horse?” Marie laughed.

Logan said nothing. His parenting was a disaster, but his husbandhood was worse. In the middle of it all, he wondered if Jonas needed some help with his hearing. How could anyone morph the wordhostageintohorse?

Marie patted her son’s knee. “Why don’t we discuss this when we get home, okay? We don’t want to distract Mr. Walrus—I mean Wallace—when he is driving at night.”

Jonas nodded. “Are you wearing your seatbelt, Mr. Wall Russ?”

“Yes, sir.” The chauffeur sounded serious. “We will be home soon, Mr. Horse.”

“I’m not a horse!” And with that, Jonas moved on from his parents’ problems.

Chapter Forty-Two

By the time Esperanza sent Marie a message about Buchanan, it was shortly after her early dinner with Jonas on Saturday. Marie had spent the entire day being a stay-at-home mom for her son, and she cherished every minute of it.

“Best birthday present ever, Mommy!” Hyper Jonas cheered as he pushed another toy car down the track that he and Marie had constructed all around the basement playroom.

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