Free Secrets by Nancy Popovich

mulled
over what she should do. Her cousin Mike was a possibility. He and
his brother, John, seemed to know Steve much better than the rest
of the family. But, if BB was indeed his father, would there be a
pull towards him and not to her? Maybe at dinner, she would pump
him for information. Maybe.
    In the
meantime, she would have to be careful. Certainly if all her
instincts were wrong, she was no match for Maurice or Steve, should
they be the enemy. Even the older BB struck her as a formidable
foe.
    Mike, Sylvain
and Madame Lalonde were in the same position as she was,
except perhaps for maybe Madame Lalonde. She obviously knew
BB previously and that might be a difficulty, given that he was a
dark horse, no matter how accommodating. The bottom line was that
if it came down to a choice, Sylvain would side with his
grandmother. Understanding the closeness she had held with her own
grandmother she deduced that she was on her own.
    Added to that,
she had no idea whatsoever where she was. Sonya had chosen not to
add the outrageously expensive roaming option to her cell phone
when they left, deciding that they didn’t need it on their
honeymoon, especially since Bryan knew Paris so well. She certainly
could have used a Google GPS map pinpointing her location right
about now. If need be, she still might use it, no matter the
expense.
    In a flash of
insight, she pulled out her cell and composed a text message to
Bryan. Without disclosing anything that she knew or what had
happened, she simply asked how he was and where he was, suggesting
they should fly home ASAP. It couldn’t hurt to try.
    Now, what to do
about the memory card? It was too tiny to try to hide anywhere on
her person, it would be lost or damaged if out of its plastic
sleeve. Pacing the floor didn’t help much. It was a small room.
    Finally, an
idea! Before Sonya pulled the tiny memory card that held her mp3’s
in her cell phone, she copied the one in the computer and saved it
in a folder named Art. She placed the art card into her cell phone,
and put the MP3 card from the cell into the plastic sleeve and
slipped that back into her computer.
    Changing into
her jeans and dark, long sleeved shirt, she French braided her hair
out of the way and then washed her face. The cell phone was slid
into her jeans pocket. It was snug enough that she would know if it
moved or buzzed.
    Next the
passports, and then their money. Undecided about the bulky airline
tickets, she made note of their retrieval code, the flight times
and flight numbers on a sheet of paper, and then slipped it into
the passports in her back pocket. If she and Bryan needed to leave
in a hurry, she would be prepared.
    A knock on her
door surprised her. It was Madame Lalonde.
    Ushering her
into the room, Sonya helped her to sit in the bedside chair.
    “ Madame Lalonde, are you all right?” she asked.
    “ Oui! I
wish to thank you for take care of Sylvain. He is just baby,” she
declared as tears formed in her eyes. “If he was at the house…”
    Sonya knelt to
hug her landlady. “He wasn’t there,” she stated. “But you were, and
I’m so sorry that you were hurt. Is your arm broken?”
    “ Non! They dislocate to find memory card. I do not know where is. Mon
pauvre Sylvain! If they find him…” the older lady dissolved
into tears. Sonya embraced her until she was over her emotional
outburst. There was absolutely nothing that she could do to help
her, other than allow her to release the awful pressure and pain
that she obviously felt.
    “Can I get you
a cup of tea?” Sonya asked.
    “ Non,
Chérie, merci! We both are in same situation. The men that we
love son perdu , lost! It is a pain that no one else can
feel.”
    A large sigh
escaped and Sonya nodded. “Yes, we are alone, I agree.”
    “Ah, not alone, Chérie , but in mind, there is solidarite with pain we
feel. We must do something, but it is something that I do not know.
Help me up, and I go to my room. We will talk at dinner.”
    With