Page 28 of Romancing Rayne

“Whoa. Are you okay?” Her eyes widened in horror, and tears sprang to her eyes. I looked around, waiting for a parent to come to my rescue, but no adults seemed to be looking for the girl. “Where’s your mom?”

The girl shook her head and pinched her lips. I suppose she was doing the right thing not speaking to me, stranger danger and all that, but it was not helping find her parents.

I knelt down, ignoring the sticky, wet mess, and tried to keep a respectable distance. “My name is Ghost. You’re a pretty smart girl not talking to a stranger, but we need to find your mommy and daddy. Do you see them?” She remained quiet but shook her head again. I could see panic was quickly making its way to the surface. “Okay. Would you like to stand here and wait while I walk to the checkout counter to get a police officer or would you like to walk with me?” The girl pointed to the cashier station. I took that as confirmation she wanted to come with me. With a quick glance over to find Rayne still looking through the swords, I started to walk toward the cashier with the little girl following closely.

After explaining to the frazzled employee the little girl beside me was lost, the woman informed me they didn’t have a loud speaker in the shop, advising me I needed to take the girl to the security office just outside the store. The less than helpful woman didn’t seem to care a man taking a child that was not his out of the safety of a public area was not acceptable and extremely dangerous. Arguing was getting me nowhere. The sooner I took the girl to the police, the faster I could get back to Rayne.

Once again, I knelt down and spoke to the child. “Are you sure you don’t see your mommy or daddy in here?” She shook her head. “Did you hear what the lady said about me taking you to the office outside where the police officers are?” She nodded. “Do you want to go with me or wait here for me to bring them to you?”

“I’m scared,” she finally spoke. Her wobbly voice accompanied by a fresh set of tears pissed me off. How could a parent lose their child? Being as crowded as it was, it was an abductor’s dream. They’d have easy pickings, snatching a child while the parent mindlessly browsed shit to buy.

“I know you are. We’ll find your parents.”

I started for the exit and was happy I was the person she’d bumped into and not some lunatic looking to steal a child. She followed closely but was careful not to touch me in any way. It would’ve been a hell of a lot quicker if I could’ve picked her up and muscled my way through the throngs of patrons.

Finally outside, the security office was indeed directly next door to the shop, further pissing me the fuck off the cashier hadn’t called an officer into the shop instead allowing a stranger to leave with a missing girl.

“There you are!” A woman rushed to the girl as soon as we stepped foot in the office. “Oh my God.”

The crying mother got to her knees and hugged the little girl tightly. Before I could reprimand the mother for not keeping a better eye on her child, a man turned from the officer he was speaking to and saw his daughter safely in her mother’s arms. The tears in the father’s eyes were like a sucker punch to the gut. He’d beaten himself up more than anything I could’ve said would have.

“Thank you.” He rushed to my side, grabbing my hand, and shaking it vigorously. “Thank you so much. Thank you.”

“No problem. Glad I could help.” I pulled my hand away.

Kneeling, the man joined his wife and child on the floor, wrapping them both in his arms.

Good deed done for the day, I left to go in search of my wife. I still wanted to walk across the Tower Bridge before we had lunch. Going straight to where I’d left Rayne, I hoped she was done shopping. Finding the area empty, I glanced around the shop. I walked up and down a few aisles and still couldn’t find her. Trying to tamp down the panic that was quickly bubbling to the surface, I went to the front of the store for a better view. Passing the checkout counter, I saw a basket set to the side with a sword sticking up over the edge of the plastic carrier. I scanned the rest of the items, noting all the gifts Rayne had picked out for our friends.

“Excuse me, ma’am? I believe those are my wife’s things back there.”

The woman turned and looked before speaking. “Yes. Would you like to pay for them now?”

What the fuck?

“Why is it there?”

“She asked me to hold it. She said she needed to find you to pay for it.”

Pay for it? Rayne had a wallet full of credit cards. That didn’t make any sense.

“Was she alone when she left?”

A thousand scenarios played out in my head. None of them good.

“She appeared to be.” The woman eyed me suspiciously. “Aren’t you the man with the missing child?”

“You mean the little girl you let walk of the store with a stranger? Yes. She’s next door with her parents. Now, my wife. Are you sure she was alone when she left?”

“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“Leave?” I growled. “Answer me. Was she alone and how long ago did she leave?”

“I think you should leave before I call security.”

“Fucking brilliant. Now you’ll call security?”

Deciding I didn’t need the extra hassle of arguing with the police, I left and stood outside the gift shop looking in every direction for Rayne.