“Anything?” I asked Aaron breathlessly as I found him.
He shook his head. “No. What are we going to do if she gets off the boat?”
I told him what I did at the front and he closed his eyes in relief. “That was a great idea. I never would have thought about that. One of us should go down to the cabin and wait for her in case she makes it back while the other person searches for her.”
“I will look for her,” I said quickly. “No offense, but I don’t really want to be stuck in a room with your mother.”
“Not this time,” he muttered, to my shock. “Sorry, Julia, but I know Amy better than anyone else. If anyone knows where she is or what path she will take to get back to the room, it’s me. Plus, she might not even be there anymore. I know she wanted to spend some time with Marcel.”
“Are you joking? You’re really going to put me in that position?”
“Are you joking?” he shot back, his voice growing louder. “I’m worried about our daughter more than anything else, not how you feel about having alone time with my mother, dammit.”
I shrank away from him but knew that he was right. “Fine.”
He reached for my arm, instantly regretting raising his voice, but I jerked my arm away from him and stormed off. I didn’t want to hear him apologize or anything else. I knew that he was right, but I didn’t want to admit it. Storming in the direction of the room, I fumed at him and my heart raced for Amy. She was the most important person in the world to me. I carefully unlocked the door and slipped inside. All hope of having the room to myself vanished when Theresa turned around and saw me.
“Well, I guess that little excursion didn’t last long.”
“I’m sorry,” I muttered. “It’s Amy. She got so upset when she found out that you weren’t coming with us that she ran back onto the ship. We were hoping that she found her way here.”
At once, Theresa was worried, everything else getting tucked away for another time. “She isn’t here. Do we need to go look for her?”
I shook my head. “Aaron has it under control. He wanted me to wait here in case she came back.”
“Well, then, I guess we have a little time to talk, don’t we?”
I swallowed back the panic. “I guess. Was there something you wanted to talk about, particularly?”
She smiled knowingly. “Julia. I know that Aaron told you. I heard your conversation last night. Why didn’t you reach out to him for help?”
“I don’t know. Things were different back then than they are now. We’re just trying to get through the next week before making any decisions.”
“I think that decision has already been made, though, don’t you?”
“What are you talking about?” I muttered.
She laughed and patted the spot on the couch next to me. “Julia, I always did like you. When you left and I started to see more of Aaron and Amy, I knew that something wasn’t right. I thought about saying something to both of you, but it wasn’t my place. I have a good life in Arizona and you had a good one in California too.”
“Then I left and ruined everything to help that woman,” I muttered.
“You left with good intentions. I know that you still love my son. I just hope that he can figure out a way to keep you.”
I laughed. “There is no reason to figure that out. I just want to make sure my past doesn’t follow me back home with them. You don’t know what that woman is capable of.”
“Honey, those are things that you face as a family, not as a single person. Won’t you let us support you?”
“I—” I said. “I thought that you wouldn’t want me after knowing what you know.”
She grinned at me just as Aaron’s familiar voice came down the hallway. “You’re wrong. We all love you and want you to come home.”
Chapter 18
Aaron
“Amy?” I called out over the ship’s deck. There was no response.
The frantic feeling in my chest was growing stronger by the second. She had now been missing for over fifteen minutes, and I couldn’t seem to locate her. My mother had petitioned for her to get a cellphone, but it never happened. I wasn’t ready for her to grow up just yet. Now, though, I was kicking myself for not agreeing to it.
I was just about to start searching the next deck when I heard her name and mine come over intercoms, directing me to the information desk. My heart leapt. They would only call if they had information. I quickly ran through the passengers, down a flight of steps, and into the small office area. Amy was sitting in a seat, her arms crossed and her face in a strong pout.
“Oh, thank God,” I said as I wrapped her into my arms.
She hugged me back. “I’m so sorry, Daddy. I don’t know what I was thinking. I just got so upset that you and Mom were fighting and Grandma wasn’t there. I just ran away. I know that wasn’t the right thing to do. Please don’t be mad at me.”
“I’m just happy you’re okay. Don’t you ever do that again.” I said. “I was so worried about you! You can’t run away from me, ever. When you get older, you can’t just run away from your problems either.”
“Why not?” she asked, innocence in her tone. “Isn’t that what Mom did?”
Her words caught me off guard. I had no idea she’d heard that much. “Honey, that was a different situation. Your mother and I had problems before that happened. Then things just kind of escalated.”
“But she’s here now. Does that mean she’s staying?”
“I wish I had answers for you, but I don’t know that I’m the best person to answer those questions. Your mother wanted to talk to you about all of this but I wouldn’t let her. I didn’t think that you were ready to know everything that had happened.”
“Dad,” she said sternly. “I am nine years old, and I see a lot more than you think I do. I know that Mom hasn’t been around for a long time. I just didn’t want to say anything and make you sad.”
“Oh, baby,” I said as I wrapped her into my arms again. “It was never your job to protect my feelings, honey, but thank you for doing that. Your mother and I haven’t been together for a long time now, but we never wanted you to suffer because of it.”
“Is that why she stayed away and never came back? I hope it wasn’t because of me.”
“It was never because of you, honey. There are things going on in her life that aren’t my place to tell you about. If you’re ready to go, I know that she would love to know that you’re okay. She and Grandma are waiting for us down in the cabin.”
“Do you think that she’s going to stay here with us? I mean, after the cruise? I don’t want her to leave again.”
“I don’t want her to leave either, honey, but like I said, she has a lot going on so we can’t make her stay. But I do want her to.”
“Does she know that? Because sometimes people don’t always know how you feel about them unless you tell them a lot.”
“Like how much I love you?” I asked.
She nodded. “I really am sorry that I ran away, Dad. I don’t know what got into me.”
I laughed. “I do. You’re a little girl who is dealing with a lot right now. You can’t try to be an adult all the time, honey.”
She started to cry and it broke my heart. For so long, she had been strong even though I hadn’t noticed. I was so wrapped up in trying to keep a roof over her head and making sure that she had everything a kid with two parents would have had. I’d let my own doubts and self-destruction flow over to her and it was crippling to see. She wasn’t just a kid. She was a human who needed to know that everything was going to be okay.
“We’ll go talk to your mother right now. How does that sound?” I asked again.
Amy nodded her head, wiping away her tears as I stood up. “I’m just going to talk to these guys for a second, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy, I’ll wait right here. I promise.” A smiled danced across her face and I laughed.
“Sounds good,” I said as I turned to the two men behind the des
k. “Thank you all so much for your help. I can’t imagine how this must look.”
“Actually,” one of them said, “This happens more than you might think. Kids get over-stimulated and take off. We have protocols in place for this sort of thing. She is much better behaved than some of them that we’ve seen. We gave her the safe word that your wife told us and she came right along. That safe word was a good idea.”
“Safe word?” I asked.
“Yeah, a darn clever idea, that was,” said the second with a Scottish accent.
“Me and Mom made it up, Dad,” interjected Amy. “It was my idea. Spies do it all the time, and Mom said it was a good plan too.”
I knelt down to her. “So what is this safe word? Do I get to know it too? It sounds a lot cooler than just matching up our fingerprints.”
She leaned in closer and cupped her hands around my ear as she whispered, “Family.”
I smiled. “I like that safe word. What do you say we go find Mom now?”
“I like that,” she said cheerfully. “And Grandma too?”
“And Grandma too,” I echoed. “I think they have a lot to talk about. We all do.”
“Um, sir?” one of the men said. “We have a phone call on hold for you.”
Confused, I asked, “Is it coming from our room? We’re headed there now.”
He shook his head, “No sir, its coming from somewhere in the states. Can’t say where, but they are asking for you. Sounds like a woman.”
“Huh,” I muttered.
It could be anyone but it was probably Sarah. She was the only person that I’d given the contact information too. An elderly woman, Sarah was the principal for Amy’s school where I taught. She wouldn’t be calling unless it was an emergency. I reached around and grabbed the phone from the host.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Hello, Aaron, honey. It’s been so long since I’ve heard your voice. I was starting to think that you were avoiding me.”
“How did you get this number?” I fumed. My face had gone pale as I turned away from Amy. I didn’t want her to see the rage I was feeling.
Jenny laughed. “Oh, Aaron, don’t you see that the fates want us to be together?”
“Start talking or I’m going to call the police. I still have a restraining order against you.”
“Oh, I know, and I promise that I’m not breaking that. You see, I found a loophole in the law. Or rather, someone who knows that we belong together found one. She really is a wonderful woman. I bet you would love her but she doesn’t like you. She said that I could have you. All I had to do was make sure that I made this call and let you know that I’m still here.”
“Who told you that?” I asked. “What do you want?”
“For us to be together, silly,” she said in a shrill voice. “That can’t happen, though, if you take back that stupid bitch. She needs to go back to Margarete.”
“Margarete,” I hissed. “She was your contact, wasn’t she? She’s the one who made this mess. Well, you know what? I have a message for her. Tell her that she has lost. I’m going to make sure that Julia stays right with me where she is safe and won’t ever be under that crazy bitch’s control again. Do you hear me? If you ever contact me again, I will use every resource I know to bring you down. You’re sick. You need help.”
“I don’t need help, baby. I just need you to understand that I won’t go away. Margarete even said that we’re soulmates, but Julia keeps sucking you into her web of lies. You know she had that poor woman locked up for no reason?”
“I am done with this conversation. If you contact either of us again—” I started to say but she hung up the phone.
I looked back at Amy, who looked ever more terrified than before but also a little curious. Before I did anything, I needed to make sure the conversation didn’t go beyond that point.
“If that number calls again, or any other call from people who aren’t named Sarah, you need to end the call and contact me. Do you understand?”
They both nodded as one of them wrote down the information I gave them. Turning back to Amy, I smiled. “Are we ready to go?”
“Who was that, Daddy?” she asked.
I shook my head as we went down the hallway to the elevator that would take us to our floor. “It was no one important, just a missing link to a puzzle.”
“I love puzzles,” she whispered.
“I know you do. This puzzle, though, isn’t for little kids. I promise that we’ll have more fun after today.”
“I like having fun, but that’s not all that matters. I want you and Mom to be okay too. Plus, me and Grandma have lots of fun together. Maybe she is feeling better, too, and we can go and do something.”
“I don’t know. I wish I had more answers for you, but the only people who can tell you what’s going to happen are already in our suite. So, what do you think? Should we go for it or just run away to the island and never look back?”
“What?” she hissed. “We can’t run away! That’s what people do when they are afraid, and I’m not afraid!”
“No,” I said with a grin. “You’re not afraid. None of us will ever have to be afraid again.”
I pushed open the door to the suite and looked inside. Before I even saw the two of them, I heard the familiar and heartwarming laughter of my ex-wife and mother as they talked to each other. It had been a good move to send her down to the suite without me. Now I could finally fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle and we could decide where to go from there as a family. Both women looked up from the couch as we came in.
Julia called out for Amy, and in an instant, the girl was running into her arms. It was almost more than I could take to see them wrapped up in each other’s arms. The tears started to prickle my eyes as I saw my mother smile. Whatever had been said, whatever had happened between the two of us, was gone now. The love and happiness had been restored. She walked over to where I was frozen and wrapped me in her arms.
“Everything is going to be okay, honey. I’m glad to see you found Amy.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything at all. It was all Julia. She gave her a safe word and told the cruise director about it. I was just following the dotted lines.”
“It looks like you have a couple of spies on your hands then,” she said with a grin.
“I think we’re going to need them now,” I said, my face falling as I faced the realization that Jenny was back in the picture.
Chapter 19
Julia
When she ran to my arms, my heart melted at once. All the fear I’d been harboring slipped away as I held her tightly. I wanted to shake her and ask just what the hell she was thinking, but seeing her safe pushed it all away from me.
“We were so worried about you,” I whispered to her. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“I won’t, Mom. I’m sorry,” she whispered as she turned to Theresa. “Can you help me get something to eat? I think that Mom and Dad need to talk.”
Theresa smiled. “I think so too. You know, they still have that buffet set up. Would you like to join me?”
Amy nodded and took her hand, pulling her out the front door and gently closing it behind them. It was just me and Aaron now, and it was time to clear the air once and for all. He sat down next to me on the couch, folding his hands back and forth the way I normally did.
“I don’t even know where to begin,” I whispered to him.
“Then let me start. I got a phone call while I was picking up Amy from the ship’s office. It was Jenny.”
Instinctively, I pulled my hand back to my body from where it had been sitting between us. “I didn’t know that you two had kept in touch. That changes things a little.”
“I haven’t kept in touch with her. The only time I see her is when I renew my restraining order, and the judge has always taken one look at her and granted it to me. This was different. This changes everything, actually. Julia, she told me she was working with a woman named Margarete.”
I ga
sped. “What?”
He nodded. “I couldn’t believe it at first either, but what she said . . .” He shuddered. “Julia, Margarete was manipulating Jenny the whole time. She is the one who planted the ideas of getting with me all those years ago to try and drive us apart.”
“And it worked. So why is she calling you now? How did she even know where to find you?”
“I have no idea, but I plan to find out. Didn’t you say that your mother was calling a woman from her room at the hospital?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I just didn’t know who. I can call her doctor and see if it was Jenny. He won’t let her make any more phone calls after that.”
“I think that’s a good idea, but maybe we should use it to our advantage. If the judge knew what the two of them were planning, that they had been in cahoots, then we might be able to eliminate both of our problems at once. What do you think?”
“I like that idea,” I said softly. “Where does this leave us?”
“I don’t know, but I would like it if we could figure it out now. Do you see that my mother was never trying to push you away?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “She and I had a very long talk about everything. She made me realize a few things that I didn’t see before. Aaron, I’m so sorry for the way that I treated the situation before. You didn’t deserve to have me leave you.”
“I don’t care about that anymore. I just want us to move forward with our lives, but the question is still there—what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to stay with you and Amy. I don’t know that I’m the same person I was five years ago, but I would like to try and rebuild our life together.”
One More Kiss: A Second Chance Romance (One More Series Book 1) Page 11