by Jan Thompson
“What is it?”
“It’s in my office.” Logan held Marie’s hand.
“You didn’t know I was coming.”
“No, but I knew I was going to show it to you whenever I see you. And here you are.”
“And here I am.” She let him lead her. “I was going to suggest we talk in your office also, but after we wash your truck—although it’s a better idea to wait until after school.”
“Maybe Jonas can help,” Logan said.
“Right.”
And they laughed.
Chapter Fifty
“Want something to drink?” Logan asked as he ushered Marie into his office.
“No, thanks. I just had a late breakfast flying in, and too much coffee.” Marie made her way to the plush sofa across the coffee table from the two armchairs that they had sat in three months before.
She watched Logan walk around his big desk. He didn’t say a word.
Her watch chimed. She turned it off.
When she looked up, Logan was walking toward her. He knelt down in front of Marie.
“What are you doing?” Marie could barely speak.
Between Logan’s fingers was a familiar-looking diamond ring.
Marie held her breath.
“You know that I love you. I should never have let you go. I should have fought for you, for our marriage.”
Marie didn’t know what to say. He looked like he meant every word.
“Do you still love me?” Logan asked.
“Always.”
“Isn’t it ironic that we couldn’t get along?”
“That’s in the past,” Marie replied. “We’re older now.”
“And prayerfully wiser.”
“What about my job?” Marie asked. “It tore us apart. You wanted to know what I couldn’t tell you. I was sworn to secrecy.”
“We’ll make it work. God will make it work.”
“In the last six years, we’ve spent so much time separated on two continents.” Marie knew he didn’t need to be reminded. She wanted to say it anyway, for the record.
“I know, but I’d rather be with you for a few days than without you the rest of my life.”
That was some statement, coming from Logan.
“A few days? Is that enough for you?”
“They would have to be.” Logan’s voice seemed sure, as though he had made peace with himself and God about how dysfunctional their relationship could be.
“Since we don’t know how much time on earth God has given us, let’s make the best of the days afforded us,” Logan continued. “Marie Bouchard, will you remarry me? Let’s start over.”
Marie blinked away six years of tears. God had brought them back together again.
Let’s start over, he says.
Slowly, she nodded.
“Yes?” Logan asked, as if to confirm their commitment.
“Yes, Logan. Yes.” Her hand shook as Logan slid her old engagement ring onto her finger.
It still fit, like it had never left her ring finger.
Her hand was still trembling as Logan held it.
“Your hand didn’t shake in Alaska when you knocked that guy out in your stateroom,” Logan remarked.
Why did he have to bring it up?
Marie didn’t want to pick a fight. She prayed for wisdom. How do I respond?
“Well…” Marie stared at the diamond. “That was all head. This is all heart.”
“I thank God that He brought you back to me.” Logan kissed her hand.
“And you to me.” Marie kissed his forehead.
“A little lower, please?” Logan pleaded.
Marie smiled as she pulled him to his feet, and Logan’s lips found his match.
“Now I have news of my own,” Marie said.
“What?” Logan’s eyes were half-closed.
“I quit my job.”
“You what?”
“You heard me. I went after Buchanan with Espy. They were going to fire me, so I quit.”
“You went after Buchanan? You mean the guy who sent his assassins after us in Alaska?”
Marie nodded. “He’s dead. It’s over.”
“But you lost your job.”
“Saved the family.”
“What are you going to do now?” Logan sat down on the couch with Marie. “There’s plenty of work for freelance translators, I’m sure.”
“No need. I already have a new job.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.”
“Wait. Let me guess. Mendenhall Security.”
Marie waited for Logan to calm down. When he looked relaxed, she said, “There’s a catch.”
Logan threw up his hands. “I knew it.”
“It’s a desk job, and I’ll be in the office five days a week.” Marie waited. “I’ll come home on weekends.”
“What? Weekends?”
Marie held Logan’s hand. “Mendenhall Security is headquartered in the Great Smoky Mountains.”
Logan nearly laughed. “You’re kidding.”
“There’s a Mendenhall Resort outside of the little town of Misty Mountain.”
“And Esperanza Diaz-Mendenhall is the queen of such a fairytale castle.”
Marie laughed. “One of her clients offered to merge with Mendenhall Security, but she won’t because she started this company in memory of her husband Lamar.”
“I’m sorry. She’s widowed.”
“For several years now. I was there when—never mind.”
“I don’t want to know. Why don’t they have an office in Atlanta? A branch or something.”
“I might actually be doing some work in Alpharetta for one of her biggest clients, who does have an office here.”
“Which client, may I ask?”
“I can’t say, but they contract for governments.”
“How many of those does she have?”
“Several.”
“So let me put on my Urquhart Enterprise investor hat for a minute,” Logan said. “Espy doesn’t want to sell or merge, but she doesn’t have the funds to move to a bigger city like Atlanta.”
“I don’t know the details.”
“Atlanta has way better internet connection and infrastructure than small town Misty Mountain.”
“That, I concur.”
“For you—or anyone else—to get to work fast, you’d have to fly to the Smokies.”’
“Right.”
“She could save all that jet fuel and build a clean and green office in, say, Alpharetta or Smyrna or anywhere in metro Atlanta.”
“I’m not privy to what’s going on at the corporate level, Logan. I’m only a translator.”
Logan stared at her, like he was going to say, “Sure.”
But he didn’t.
“Remember that week we had in Alaska?” Logan asked.
“Uh-huh.”
“I was on the phone a lot for several days. I was busy working on some merger talks that Jared came up with, trying to buy a company in England that wanted to expand to the USA.”
“I remember.”
“Did you know all that fell through?”
“I’m sorry.” Marie genuinely was.
“I’m not. As God had worked it out, we now have money to spare. What if Urquhart Enterprises invests in Mendenhall Security, thereby enabling it to build or lease an office in greater Atlanta?”
Marie shook her head. “Don’t do it for me.”
“It’s a win-win. You get to work in Atlanta, and Espy gets to expand her business.”
“I don’t know. Talk to her.”
“I most definitely will…” Logan glanced at the clock. “Right now, we have a more pressing matter.”
“What?”
“It’s almost noon, and our son’s school day is about over. Shall we go together to pick him up?”
Marie’s eyes brightened. “Of course!”
Family first.
Or second after God.
But most definitely not befo
re work.
Marie followed Logan out of the house to his pickup truck, the engagement ring still on her finger. The diamond shone in the noonday sun all the way down the road to the kindergarten.
Chapter Fifty-One
Logan looked in the mirror in the guest bedroom as he adjusted his bow tie. His crisp black tuxedo had no wrinkle on it. His hair was perfectly combed just the way he wanted it.
It was his big day. A bigger day than his first wedding.
At the other end of the house, in a bigger guest bedroom, Marie was getting ready with her matron of honor. They had left their master bedroom alone because that was where they would spend their wedding night after all the guests had gone home.
Esperanza had assured Logan that she wasn’t going to let Marie get cold feet. Logan knew that wasn’t necessary. He and Marie were meant to be together the rest of their lives.
“You look dashing.” Byron Moss walked into the room and sat down in the only armchair there was in the small space. “For a house this large, this room is tiny.”
“I know. I don’t think we need ten bedrooms. Marie and I have discussed knocking down some of the walls to make the rooms bigger.”
“Just don’t let the renovation tear you two apart.” Byron adjusted his tie. “In fact, don’t let anyone tear you apart. Focus on God.”
“Did I tell you that your sermon about marriage that Sunday in August hit home?”
“Yes, about a dozen times.” Byron looked down at his Bible. “I only preached what God led me to.”
Logan turned around. “I think you’re one of the best teaching pastors around. I’d hate to see the church move you north to the mountains if they need a pastor there.”
Midtown Chapel was determined to raise funds to plant a new church, and had even given it a name: Mountain Chapel. They had scoped out a site in Dahlonega. However, they would only build if they had a hundred percent of the funds.
Logan could write a check, but the church wouldn’t let him.
“That’s up to God. If He wants me to stay at Midtown, I stay. If He sends me to the mountains, I go. Wherever, God is still with me.”
“Right. That’s a great attitude.”
Byron got up. “In thirty minutes, you’d be married again. I’m going out there to meet some people I’ve never seen before.”
People who would never pass the metal detector test, Logan didn’t say.
Mendenhall Security was all over their house. Well, it would be their house again tonight.
Marie had brought nothing with her when she moved back to Atlanta from Paris the day before she came to see him back in August. After their engagement, she moved into a furnished corporate apartment near the newly leased Mendenhall Security branch office in Atlanta. It would only be for two months until the wedding.
Logan asked her to redecorate their house, but she wanted to keep everything the same way they had decorated it after their first wedding. He suspected that she was simply too busy.
My wife was once a bona fide INTERPOL agent who trained with the CIA and MI5 and I can’t tell a soul.
On the one hand, Logan was proud of Marie and her stellar reputation, which Esperanza had alluded to in their corporate investment meetings.
On the other hand, Marie’s entire career with INTERPOL was now under seal, and she could never discuss her undercover work and whatever else she did there.
Hunting down Buchanan had killed her career.
But it had saved their family.
And Logan knew then that Marie had always had their family in mind wherever she went.
Now she had come home.
Thank You, Jesus. Thank You. Thank You.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Surrounded by jewel-toned fall foliage, the Urquhart residence was decorated to the hilt with lace everywhere and pumpkins here and there. They were a somewhat oddball combination, but Jonas wanted pumpkins, and his parents wouldn’t deny him that. After all, it was his day too.
Marie knew—and Logan probably did too—that they had spoiled their son by letting him get his way on their second wedding day.
Still, pumpkins and autumn leaves went so well together, both in color and tone, that the wedding planner had agreed to turn the entire wedding into one with a harvest or Thanksgiving motif. She had dyed the lace yellow, red, and orange to match cornucopias and wheelbarrows everywhere.
Marie stood at the guest bedroom window, looking out into the backyard as her matron of honor was getting ready behind her.
There were even haystacks here and there in the backyard. During the wedding planning in September, Marie had expected Jonas to ask for a petting zoo. Sure enough, the boy did.
Logan put his foot down.
“No petting zoo at our wedding,” he said firmly to Jonas.
Interestingly enough, Jonas didn’t burst into tears. Instead, he pulled an Urquhart. “I’ll forego a petting zoo if we get ice cream.”
“Forego? Where did you learn that word?” Logan asked.
Marie smiled as she recalled that scene in her mind. Little Jonas possessed some negotiating skills. Either that or he had learned to manipulate his parents.
“I’ve always loved a fall wedding,” Esperanza said from where she was sitting.
The hairstylist was trying to control her wiry hair with more hairspray.
Marie walked back toward her friend. “Thank you for keeping my family safe.”
“God did that,” Esperanza said.
“Yes, He did. He worked through you.”
“I’m glad everything ended well.” Esperanza frowned in the mirror when the hairstylist worked a few pins into her hair. “Maybe we should just let my hair be.”
“It’ll look better in a minute…”
“I’ve had this hair for forty years. I don’t think better is what I want to hear.”
“Take the pins out,” Marie said to the hairstylist. “She can have whatever hair she wants. I don’t want anyone in my bridal party to be uncomfortable at my wedding.”
“Thank you,” Esperanza said.
“But there’s no need for you to carry that.” Marie pointed to the concealed holster that Esperanza had somehow managed to stuff into her bodice.
Esperanza frowned.
“Your men and women are all over the place. You’ve trained them well. It will be safe. The wedding ceremony itself is only forty minutes long.”
“Anything can happen in forty minutes.”
“Well, we’ll have to pray and trust God to keep us safe for forty minutes,” Marie said. “After all, He’s the one who can keep us safe for our entire lifetime, many minutes over.”
Pray and trust God.
Marie repeated it quietly to herself as she spoke with Esperanza in their bridal room, and minutes later, all the way down the stairs to the terrace leading to the garden arch, where Logan stood with his best man, his cousin Jared, and Pastor Byron Moss from Midtown Chapel.
The beautiful medley of old hymns that accompanied the bridal procession across the lawn made Marie praise God and desperate to sing along. The small orchestra from Midtown Chapel had played at weddings many times, but this medley was a special arrangement that Marie and Logan had commissioned.
Marie held on to her father’s arm for support. This was the second time Father was giving her away—to the same man.
Behind Marie, an unarmed Esperanza held the hem of her ivory train.
Marie smiled when her eyes met Logan’s. When Father handed Marie to Logan, she saw the tears in Logan’s eyes.
There were no longer any unsealed secrets between Marie and Logan. She had told him what she did for INTERPOL all those years. As much as she could, anyway. He had taken it surprisingly well, and was especially pleased that she had not killed anyone—to her knowledge.
He joked that he didn’t want to marry or remarry a killer.
Marie explained that for the most part, she simply translated. Sometimes she was required to go undercover, and that was part of
the job.
She didn’t tell him that the dangers had only increased exponentially since the FBI and then, Esperanza, got into the arena.
Otherwise she led a lackluster life on the job.
Ironically, since the formation of Mendenhall Security, with well-defined roles within legal boundaries, Marie’s new job saw her sitting at the desk most of the time, translating back and forth in several languages. The rest of the time, she filed reports.
And she loved it.
Because she could go home at the end of the day to her soon-to-be husband again and their son.
Marie and Logan chose to repeat the same vows they had before. This time they meant it with all their hearts.
From this day forward, they would be transparent with each other. In fact, they had started to be honest with each other since the day of their engagement in August, when Marie had told Logan everything she could, including the fact that she had worked for INTERPOL throughout their entire marriage, but due to the nature of her assignments, she had to keep Logan in the dark for his own safety and that of their only son.
Esperanza had come in later to fill in the rest of the information that Marie couldn’t talk about—after Logan signed a confidentiality agreement to allow his company to invest in Mendenhall Security.
The wedding ceremony almost hit a snag when the ring-bearer could not be found.
Marie and Logan looked at each other, alarmed.
Where is Jonas?
“He was here a minute ago,” the wedding planner said. Her face was bright red.
Marie scanned every row to see if Jonas might be sitting with his friends. She couldn’t see him anywhere.
Mrs. Ping left her captain at his seat and halfway ran across the lawn back to the house, followed by half of Mendenhall Security on duty.
They’ve lost my son.
Marie nearly stepped off the platform to go after them.
Logan held her back.
“I’ll go.” Esperanza kicked off her heels and bolted down the aisle barefooted.
The orchestra began playing a soft melody as time stood still.
Marie leaned toward Pastor Moss and whispered something in his ear.