Chelsea slammed the cabin door behind her and raced toward the elevator. Cutting the corner, she nearly slammed headfirst into Liz.
“Whoa!”
Laughing, Liz steadied her with hands on her shoulders. “Where’s the fire?”
“I
need to get off this boat. Now.”
“Don’t
be silly, Chels. We don’t dock at Grand Turk Island until the morning. There’s nowhere
to go but the big, wide ocean until then.”
“Maddie
is missing.”
“What?!”
Liz jerked her head like she’d been slapped. “How?”
Chelsea
punched the DOWN button, her foot tapping erratically on the carpeted floor. “I
just got off the phone with Adam. He took them to see the fireworks after dinner
with Santa and somehow got separated from Maddie. They’ve looked everywhere.
Security initiated their search protocol, but so far nothing.” She hit the DOWN
button again. “Where is this blasted elevator?”
When
the doors opened to a car stuffed with begowned and bejeweled passengers, and
an overwhelmingly pungent cloud of perfume, she waved the car on and headed to
the stairwell.
Liz
followed but hauled her
to a stop at the first landing. “Hold on. Where are you going?”
“There
has to be a security office on this floating monster of a hotel. They can get
me off, can’t they?”
“Take
a breath, Liz. I know you want to be there—I would, too—but what can you really
do?”
“It’s
Ali.”
“I
know she must be terrified.”
“That’s
not it, Liz. She knows something. It was all over her face when I was talking
to her. She’s not spilling to Adam. I tried getting it out of her over the
phone but she was almost hysterical crying.”
Liz
drew in a deep breath. “Come on. I know someone who might be able to help.”
Her
heart pounding, panic building, she followed Liz back to her family’s suite of
rooms. Liz knocked on one of the doors, then faced Chelsea. “If anyone can get
you there, it’s Nathan.”
“Nathan?”
Something sizzled in Chelsea’s brain. “Suitcase Man?”
“Who?”
Liz gave her a puzzled look. “No, my brother-in-law. Jared’s brother, Nathan.
He’s an FBI agent. He knows people.”
“FBI?
People?” Chelsea clutched Liz’s arm. “Like…the mob?”
Her
friend’s eyebrows arched practically to her hairline. “Geez, Chels. No! Good
people.”
The
door opened, and there he stood, Suitcase Man, looking his yummiest yet in a
black tux, complete with bow tie and cummerbund.
His
mouth fell open, and his eyes widened as they made a full scan of her body.
“Chelsea? You look…um…fantastic.”
Chelsea
wished she had time to enjoy the compliment, but she didn’t. “Thank you and
hello again, Nathan. I need help. Again.”
His
eyes went from flirtatious to serious just that fast, and he stepped aside,
ushered them into his cabin. It was neat but not fussy. He opened the mini
fridge, pulled out a bottled water and handed it to her. “Have a seat.”
Her
legs rubbery, Chelsea dropped into a chair, gulped half the bottle of water,
then explained. As the words tumbled out, he knelt next to her and sandwiched
her hands between his. “My six-year-old daughter is missing somewhere in a
massive park. Even if Ali does know something, Maddie could be anywhere.
Someone could have grabbed her.” Another shudder gripped her and she waited
until it passed. “I need to get off this boat. I need to get to my kids. Now.
Liz says you know people who can help?”
He
arched an eyebrow at Liz who shrugged and smiled innocently.
“Let
me make a call.” He nodded to her phone. “Can you send me your daughter’s picture?”
Her
hands trembling, she had to hand him her phone to type in his number, and when
the photo transferred, he smiled. “She is a cutie.” He gave her hand another
squeeze. “Have faith.”
He
turned his back and began talking into the phone, quietly. He glanced over his
shoulder at her at one point, then returned to his call, an even more urgent
tone in his voice. Finally, he disconnected and rejoined them. “We need to
leave. There’s not much time.”
She
fumbled in her evening clutch, trying to remember where she’d put her
passport.. “Where? How?”
“I
hope you like helicopter rides. We’re going to Disney World.”
~~~
Three hours later, they
landed at the resort, and Chelsea gave the pilot a hug before climbing down.
“Please give my thanks to your boss. I’m forever in his debt.”
The
woman, who looked more like she belonged on the cover of Vogue than piloting a
sleek turbojet helicopter, hugged back. “Hey, what good is having billions and
living on super yacht with a helicopter if you can’t help people once in a
while? I’m glad we were in the neighborhood when Nathan called and could work
the detour into our schedule.” She grinned. “The boss runs a tight ship.”
They
dashed off, ducking low to avoid the whirling blades overhead, and were met by
the resort’s security chief, Sally something, who confirmed there had been no
sighting of Maddie. Two minutes later they were in a room with Adam and Ali,
sprawled on a couch and covered by a thin blanket, her favorite party shoes
peeking out from the edge. Sparing a glance for her ex-husband, Chelsea dropped
to her knees and stroked Ali’s cheek. Her daughter’s eyes snapped open and wordlessly
she threw her arms around Chelsea’s neck.
Easing
her back, Chelsea said, “Ali, baby, look at me.”
Ali
lifted her eyes, bit her lip, then burst into tears.
“You
know something, don’t you?”
Her
face squished to Chelsea’s chest, after a few shuddering breaths, she mumbled,
“Maddie didn’t want to get lost.”
“Where
did Maddie want to go, honey? Tell me.”
“She
thought she saw Mrs. Jones and went to say hi.”
Chelsea
searched her brain until an image came to mind. “Mrs. Jones from down the
block?”
“Uh-huh.
She said she’ll be right back but I shouldn’t tell Daddy ‘cause he’ll be mad.
Then she didn’t come back.”
She
ignored Adam’s snort and hugged Ali. “That’s good, sweetie. I know we’ll find
her now.”
After
settling Ali back on the couch, Chelsea joined Nathan and chief “Sally.” Adam
stood there, questioning eyes darting between her and Nathan. She’d answer him later.
Maybe.
“She’s
talking about one of our neighbors. Her name is Alice Jones and she’s got to be
in her seventies. I can’t imagine she’d be here. That’s too much of a
coincidence.”
“You
never know.” Nathan squeezed her hand, his grip warm and comforting, feeling
just right. She clung a moment. ”Tell us everything you know about her,
anything you can think of.”
When
she’d finished, Nathan tipped his head to Sally. “I’ll work it from my end. You
work it from yours.”
Twenty
minutes later, Sally gave a whoop. “We have an Alice Jones, same address,
staying here at the resort on a senior group tour.”
Chelsea
headed for the door, but Nathan stepped in front of her. ”I’m sorry, I know
it’s hard, but you can’t come.” He gave her shoulder a gentle rub. “I promise
I’ll call the second we know anything.”
Too
exhausted to do more than nod, Chelsea flopped onto the couch and drew Ali into
her arms. She smelled like little girl—sweet and precious—and she forced her
mind from the dark thoughts hammering at the edges of her consciousness.
Another twenty of the longest minutes of Chelsea’s life passed, and when the
phone rang, she pounced.
“Yes?”
Nathan
spoke. “Maddie’s here. She’s safe. We’re on our way.”
Time
somehow moved in slow motion and at warp speed at once until she held her
daughter in her arms. A sleepy daughter who’d been hanging out with Alice Jones
for the better part of the evening. Seems they’d talked for a few minutes, and
when Alice offered to take her back to Adam, they got lost and wound up back at
the hotel where they both fell asleep.
There
were still a multitude of questions circling Chelsea’s head—like what was Alice Jones doing by herself, and why didn’t
she just call security? And who was the mysterious friend who’d been able to
chauffeur them across the Atlantic? For now, though, all she cared was that she
had both her girls in her arms.
They
made their way back to the hotel where Adam and the girls were staying and
booked rooms for Chelsea and Nathan. For tonight the girls would say with her
and they’d figure out the rest in the morning. She touched Nathan’s hand and
tangled her fingers with his while they waited for room keys. “I’ll never be
able to express my thanks enough. Again.”
“I
was glad to help. Again.”
“Mommy,
is it still Christmas Eve?” Maddie asked, clinging to her hand as they moved
wearily down the hall.
Glancing
at her watch, Chelsea nodded.”For another five minutes.”
“Can
we read the Christmas story? Please?”
Ali
piped in. “Please, Mommy!”
She
closed her eyes and stifled a yawn, then nudged Nathan’s arm. “Want to join
us?” She looked from Maddie to Ali. “You girls don’t mind, do you, if Mommy’s
new friend joins us?”
“We
don’t mind,” Maddie said in a prim little voice but giving him a shy little
smile.
“I
can’t think of a more perfect way to end this evening than with you lovely ladies and the story of a
miracle,” Nathan said. “After all, you’ve found yours--” He snagged her hand.
“And I think I'm on my way to finding mine."
<><><><>
I hope you have enjoyed my contribution to this year's month of Christmas stories. Please come back tomorrow for a part one of Alicia Dean's story. (I'm looking forward to reading!)
Quick note about Nathan's "mysterious friend." He is a character in a new series I'm working on who lives on yacht, cruising the seas. I'm having a ton of fun researching super yachts and hope to have more news on the series in the months ahead.
Wishing all a joyous Christmas and a happy and healthy 2018.
Leah St. James
www.leahstjames.com
