didn’t get a reply, she called.
It went to voicemail, and her pace turned into a jog.
“What’s wrong?” Ted asked, keeping up.
“Joanna’s not answering.” Which was bad. So bad. She could feel it in her gut.
“Could be she has a good reason.” Said even as he lengthened his stride.
“Could be.” But Portia knew. She just knew something awful had happened. Punishment because she’d dared to put her selfish needs in front of that of her kids.
The cruise ship appeared the same as they’d left it. Not on fire, which had been one of her fears. No local constabulary appeared to be interested in it.
A few early returnees straggled up the gangplank to the ship, carrying large tote bags crammed with local artisanal treasures. Conscious that she might be watched, Portia marched quickly, doing her best to appear calm. Ted didn’t fare any better, his expression grim as they moved onto the ship then quickly to their level and hall. Rather than enter her room, she used her passkey to go into the one the girls and Joanna shared.
The latter was snoring on a bed. But the twins…the twins were gone.
Chapter Seventeen
The Twins
Sitting in the pizza shop, Mae made a point of not fidgeting as much as her sister. This was, after all, her idea. Lin just came along because Mae told her to.
Her sister kept casting worried glances around. “I don’t know if this is a good idea. Mom will be worried if she gets back to the ship early and can’t find us.”
“Mom is worried all the time,” Mae replied. Even more since they’d left to come on the cruise. Something had happened. Something that necessitated them leaving in the middle of the night. Because she didn’t, for one minute, believe that fake story Mom had put out about Ted winning some contest. Nor did she buy that Ted hid from an ex-wife.
By now, her observations had led her to believe that Ted acted as some kind of bodyguard. It would explain his gun. She’d seen it by accident, tucked in his suitcase. Bigger than the one her mom carried around.
They were spooked, and it had to do with Mae’s dad. A father who wasn’t dead.
Lin was the one who had overheard everything the first day on the ship. She’d immediately told Mae.
Funny how their mother worried that Mae and Lin weren’t like other kids. Yet in one respect, they certainly were. They’d both always wanted to meet their father.
Knowing their dad existed and hadn’t died, that their mother never wanted them to meet him, that she’d lied? It was the ultimate betrayal.
Once Mae knew that he existed, she’d decided that she had to meet the man who’d given them half their DNA. The problem was finding him. As it turned out, their mother hadn’t even given them his real name. Or hers, for that matter. Mae had always known her as Portia, although her friends, those whom she called aunt, sometimes referred to her as Tiger.
But Ted knew her as Macey. Macey who? Knowing their mom had gone to school with Ted didn’t make it easy to find. There were no public records with that name.
Nothing at all. It was as if their mother hadn’t existed in the past. Or she’d been wiped clean.
Which led to Mae looking for her father. Not easy given all she had to go on was a possible first name: Ronin. More than ten million results popped up when she searched. Adding Asian to it on a wild guess given her obvious heritage didn’t reduce it by much.
She needed a way to fine-tune the results. On a lark, she’d done a search on Macey and Ronin. Not expecting much, only a zillion more useless hits.
Bingo.
The very first thing to pop up was a blurb in Chinese, which she’d taught herself to read at the age of eight. Meaning, she could tell it was a marriage announcement. From over a decade ago. Could it be possible? She hardly dared to believe it. And yet when she loaded the tiny article with its corresponding image, there was no mistaking the face. However, the hair was much lighter in color. It was Mom, her nose not quite the same, and her chin now wider, less pointed. But still her.
Standing beside her, solemn-faced, was a man with Asian features. Mae and Lin’s father.
“He is handsome,” Lin said when Mae showed her what she’d found. Silly Mother, thinking the parental controls she’d enabled would keep Mae off the Wi-Fi.