"Why do you have that look on your face? Where’s Ashley? I told you to bring her to me!" Tanaga demanded.
"But, Sir," The butler hesitated, nervous about being unable to tell his boss what he wanted to hear.
"But, Sir, what? What the hell? Spit it out!" Tanaga shouted at him.
"Sir, I looked everywhere. She was nowhere in sight. I searched the entire ship, Sir. I’m afraid she might have jumped into the sea." The butler replied, the last words barely a whisper.
"What do you mean she was nowhere in sight? She left the room just moments before us! That’s impossible! Look again. She has nowhere else to go! She couldn’t have left the yacht without being seen by a security guard."
The butler rushed out of the room. The concern Tanaga felt was still written all over his handsome face. She couldn’t have possibly been upset enough to jump overboard. She’s not that stupid. He tried to convince himself.
He slowly got up from his chair to look for Ashley on the deck again. He walked slowly, taking small painful steps, his groin still hurting from Ashley’s kick. "Mrs. Jones, I swear, you better let me find you, or else..." he mumbled to himself.
He and the butler searched for quite some time. They couldn’t find her anywhere. They couldn’t imagine where she could have gone. The butler finally decided it was time to ask the crew members for help.
He hesitated to ask them, not wanting them to know there was a problem between the newlyweds. But since he and Tanaga hadn’t been successful finding her, he felt he had no choice but to ask.
He and Tanaga could have never imagined that as they searched, Ashley was in the crew’s mess hall, engaging in their evening fun.
She had shocked the crew members when she showed up, still wearing her wedding dress. They all stopped what they were doing and stared at her. Their reaction embarrassed her. She felt slightly guilty, realizing she was interrupting their fun by showing up unannounced.
The crew members were all Filipinos, so she found the courage to ask if she could join them. The crew members felt sorry for her; they understood how much she must miss her family. They gladly accepted her and let her join in without question.
"Sure, Ma’am! Why not?" One of the crew’s officers said, offering her a seat at the table he shared with the other officers. Since she was the wife of the ship’s owner, also their boss, they felt it was the most appropriate place for her to sit, rather than with the lower members of the crew.
Ashley saw that their table was already overcrowded, "Thank you, very much. But your table is full. I’ll be fine sitting right here." She said gently as she gestured to an empty seat at a nearby table. Surprised, the officer sat back down.
The crew was pleasantly surprised, quickly deciding their new lady boss was a ’cowboy,’ and not at all the stuck-up bitch they had expected her to be. They treated her like she was one of them, making her feel at ease.