It took a mont for Zaria to register what Natalie had just said. She shot up to her feet, then sat back down in fear she may pass out from the horrifying news. It took even longer to believe that this was not so sort of sick prank. She would rather believe Natalie was insane enough to co up with sothing as unsettling as this prank, because the alternative would an Rosaly was missing.
She inhaled a sharp breath. "What do you an? What happened?"
"It's…" Natalie gasped on the other end, sounding like she couldn't believe it either. "Oh my God, I can't believe this."
That makes two of us, she thought.
She clenched her hand around her phone, listening to whatever Natalie was rambling. She was talking so fast she could barely pin the words together so they would make sense. Or maybe her brain was misfiring and everything was happening too damn fast for her to make sense of any of it. "Natalie, calm down. Slow down, tell what happened from the start." She pleaded.
Desmond returned from the bathroom, towel wrapped around his body, and stopped what he was about to say when he saw her worried expression. He inched over to her. "Babe, what's wrong?"
She swallowed, not believing she was saying it either. "Rosaly went missing."
"What? How did that happen? When? Why are we only finding out now?"
He was as shocked as she was, and she knew he would drive himself crazy with worry if they stayed here for a second longer. They couldn't just wait it out.
If Rosaly was a little older, they would have assud she was out playing with her friends. If she was a teenager, sneaking off would have been less concerning. But she was a child. There was no way this happened without soone else being involved. It was what Natalie was trying to say but she was too nervous to actually voice her words right.
Knowing what would make Desmond move without letting himself sink into worry, she gave him specific instructions. "Just…we have to go back. Book us a flight. It will probably be faster than waiting for your helicopter to pick us up."
As expected, that got him grabbing the hotel telephone. "Okay." He had not charged his phone either. How could they forget it?
She gritted her teeth in terror. How co the day they forgot to charge their phones just happened to be the day sothing so horrible happened? It was almost as if heaven—or hell—was trying to make sure they couldn't get the ssage on ti. How long had Rosaly been missing?
She put her phone on speaker and threw it onto the bed so she would dress up while talking to Natalie.
"Nat, are you still there?" She asked, pulling on a pair of jeans.
"Yes." Ca a shaky voice from the other end. "I'm…where do I start? Right. Rosaly is staying with us today so Devonte and I decided we should treat her to sothing good. You know how much she loves eating out even if she will only end up eating the sa thing."
"Natalie!" She snapped without aning to. Her heart was racing too fast. She needed sothing more.
"I'm sorry! I'm freaking out, okay?" Natalie yelled into the phone and it didn't take a genius to know she was pacing as she spoke. "We were at the restaurant and we went to the bathroom. I let Rosaly go into the stall on her own but stood before it. Then…she was taking so long, I decided to check on her. She didn't respond. I was scared she had passed out and opened the door and…she was gone."
"Gone?" Zaria repeated the word, hating how final it felt when she said it out loud. Gone, just like that? How was that even possible?
"Babe," Desmond called out. She glanced over at him. He was fully dressed as well, so she unplugged the charger and stuffed it into her bag just as Desmond said, "check-in is in half an hour. That's as much ti as it will take for our cab to get there."
That sounded like too long. Considering the ti it would take before take-off, she wanted to suggest calling the helicopter. But that would take longer. She wanted to pull at her hair. "Okay."
They didn't have ti to do much, so they only grabbed her handbag and decided to deal with everything else later.
When they were finally in the cab with Natalie still on the call with Zaria, Desmond finally processed the news he had just overheard.
"What do you an, gone? Did anyone else co in?" He basically roared his question at Natalie.
"Unless I lost a chunk of my mory, no. Only the two of us were in the bathroom at the ti." She gave the sa answer she had given Zaria.
Zaria shot him a look and then told Natalie, "We are on our way. Where are you?"
"At the restaurant. I'll send you my location."
"Okay." She hung up and was relieved when Natalie imdiately sent the location, which she wrote down on the palm-sized notepad she always kept in her handbag. It was a good thing Natalie sent it when she did, because her phone went off as soon as she noted the location down.
Glancing at Desmond, she knew what he was thinking even though he was not saying it. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Des,"
"Children don't just disappear." He gritted his teeth.
"I understand your frustration but don't take it out on Natalie. She would never want Rosaly to be hurt." She reminded him.
Then she slumped against the backrest with a sigh of defeat. Couldn't a couple enjoy their honeymoon?
__
The flight felt like forever but finally, they arrived before they could go crazy with worry. They got to the restaurant faster than they should have, mostly because Desmond had slamd a wad of cash onto the cab's dashboard and ordered the driver to floor it.
They found Natalie pacing in the cubicle they had booked for their al. She ran up to her. "Nat?"
Natalie finally looked up, slightly relieved. Her eyes were red and swollen and her makeup was all runny. She approached the couple carefully and faced Zaria first. "Zaria." Then she glanced at the furious man beside Zaria and felt her eyes pricking once again. "Des, I…"
"Where is she?" He demanded.
Natalie would have stumbled if he wasn't holding onto her. "Do you want to believe my daughter has teleportation powers? Is that "She's gone. Like I told you."
He wasn't having it. He grabbed her shoulders with so much force Natalie would have stumbled if he wasn't holding onto her. "Do you want to believe my daughter has teleportation powers? Is that it?"
Devonte returned to this scene, having just returned from the reception. He glared daggers at Desmond and pushed him away from Natalie, shielding her behind him.
"It's not her fault and you know it."
"Don't tell what to think." Desmond glared at the two of them. "You two are the ones who wanted her to stay with you. You fucking insisted on it." He then turned back to Zaria with an equally furious glare. "And you thought this was a good idea! What made you even think it was a good idea to pass my daughter around like so toy?"
She was rendered montarily speechless by his outburst. "I didn't…everyone wanted to spend ti with her. What the hell is wrong with that? I didn't know such a thing might happen!"
"Of course you didn't." He clenched his fists, holding in the urge to punch the wall.
"For fuck's sake!" Devonte growled at them, getting their attention. "How about we all put our frustration aside and think?"
Desmond shot a look at him. "Why didn't I think of that?"
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