First Class Voyage (First Class Novels – A Contemporary Romance Series) (15 page)

DAY 14 – AT SEA

On the last day of the cruise, Janie went in search of her
sons to have breakfast with them. They were not answering their phone. She
assumed they were still asleep. She would fix that. As she stood outside their
cabin, the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign hung on the handle. Janie knocked anyway.
There was no answer.

An elderly couple passed her in the hall and she smiled and
said good morning and then she knocked again. There was still no answer. She
tried to open the door but without a key it was useless so she knocked for the
third time, a little harder than the first two tries.

“What the fuck?” was yelled at her as the door flung open
and Derek stood in front of her, a pillow hiding his private parts and a blonde
girl lying in the bed behind him trying to cover herself with a sheet.

“Oh, sorry Janie,” Derek mumbled, his head hanging low.

“Um,” Janie managed to say.

“You’re looking for Adam and Tyler?”

“Yep,” Janie said looking at her shoes. “Where might they
have slept?”

“They’re in my room…with Ben.”

“Okay then.”

“Janie?”

“What?”

“Please don’t tell my mom about this.”

“You’re an adult, Derek. I’m sure this isn’t the first
time.”

“Um, thanks.”

“Well, okay then. I’ll, um, see you later.” And Janie turned
and ran down the hall to her suite.

*****

“It wasn’t funny!” she snapped at Matt who was laughing
hysterically. “I was mortified!”

Matt continued to laugh.

“He’s like one of my own boys!” she continued. “And he was
totally naked…with a pillow…and she was in the bed!”

Matt wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Stop laughing! What am I going to do?”

That sobered him up quickly.

“
Do
about what?” he asked.

“Do I tell Katy?”

“Of course not! He’s a grown man. I’m sure he has sex all
the time.”

“Oh do
not
say that!” Janie covered her ears with her
hands. “I can’t listen to that!”

“Well what are you going to do when Lester has sex with your
mom?”

Janie’s hands fell from her head and she looked like she was
in shock.

“Janie?” Matt asked climbing to his feet. “You okay there
honey?”

“No,” she whispered. “Not my mom and
Lester
!”

Matt fell back on the bed laughing again. Janie couldn’t
move. Her mom and Lester?

“You think that…she wouldn’t…she’s too…but…”

“I’m gonna be making love to you when we get old. They have
little blue pills for that now,” he grinned.

“NO!!”

“Oh Janie,” Matt laughed. “Everyone has sex; Derek, our
sons, my parents, although I do
not
want to dwell on that image, and
your mother might too.”

Janie sat on the edge of the bed shaking her head.

“In fact,” Matt whispered, “we could be having sex right
now.” He pulled her backwards and she fell on the pillows.

“Right now,” he said as he grabbed her breast and kissed her
soundly.

*****

Maureen wandered around the fantail pool looking for Katy.
This was where she liked to tan in the afternoons. The sun was bright and warm
and the breeze kept the heat away. Even Maureen thought it was pleasant. She
finally spotted her on the far side of the deck lying next to Mark. They were
holding hands. She smiled at the sight.

They were asleep. She didn’t know if she should wake them
but this was important. She needed to say to Katy what she needed to say. She
wanted her to understand how she felt.

“I found you!” she finally said.

Mark opened his eyes and smiled.

“Mom! Hi! Do you want to sit down?” He sat up and patted the
end of the chaise.

Katy lifted her sunglasses from her nose and squinted in the
sun.

“Hi Maureen,” she said.

“Katy? Would you come have a soda with me? Maybe somewhere
over there in the shade?”

Katy looked at Mark and then back at Maureen. “Of course.”
She grabbed her cover up and pulled it on and slipped into her flip flops.
“Let’s go.”

“I’ll wait here then,” Mark shrugged and returned to his sleep.

The women made their way to an empty table near the bar and
a waiter immediately appeared.

“I’ll take a cola please,” asked Katy.

“And for you ma’am?”

“A lemonade please,” smiled Maureen.

They talked about the lovely day and Katy’s tanning and the
waiter returned with their drinks.

Maureen took a sip and placed her glass back on the napkin
and took a deep breath.

“I was complaining to Peter the other morning that I was
afraid that I wouldn’t be alive to see you marry Mark.”

Katy choked on the cola.

“I’m sorry,” said Maureen. “That probably didn’t come out
right. Let me start over.”

Katy looked up at her new mother-in-law. She seemed
uncomfortable, an unusual state for her.

“We…I was very happy to hear of your engagement to Mark.
Thrilled actually. As you know, I never had any daughters, just the boys, and
don’t misunderstand me, I love them all and wouldn’t have traded any of them
for a girl. Not a one. Not even Matt when he continually broke the neighbor’s
front window with his football, or Mark when he would sneak out at night and go
play street ball in Harlem.
Harlem!!
” Maureen shook her head as she
recalled the boys’ teenage years.

“And as the years went on I came to realize that seven sons
would mean that eventually I would gain seven daughters. Now, of course, what
with Andrew I got another son, but that’s fine, we love Rory, and I still get
six daughters. Eventually.”

Maureen took a breath and Katy waited to see if she would
continue. She did.

“And then Matthew got married to that
dreadful
Suzanne and then the miscarriage and it was all just horrible but they got
divorced and I was glad because she was
not
the type of girl I wanted as
a daughter and then he married Beth. Why I’ll never know. Only God knows what
was in his head when he proposed to
that
woman!”

She took a sip of her lemonade and Katy had no clue where
this conversation was headed so she continued to just sit there and listen.

“But then he met Janie. Oh we just loved that girl from the
moment we met her. She is everything I ever imagined in a daughter. She is just
magnificent.”

And there it is
, thought Katy.
I don’t measure up
to Janie. Like that’s news to me!

“And, of course, there are the babies; my beautiful darling
grandbabies. They are the most precious little angels. She has given me a gift
that is immeasurable.”

Katy looked down at the table.
And Janie gave you
grandbabies
, she thought.
I won’t be doing that either. Strike two.

“But I digress,” Maureen smiled. “Anyway, we were extremely
happy that you would become part of our family…and Derek too. He is a wonderful
boy and I know Mark thinks of him as a son. He’s so proud of him. And now he
works in the business and will one day be Mark’s successor I understand.”

Katy nodded. “Yep, that’s the plan.”

Maureen nodded. “Wonderful,” she sighed. “Just wonderful.”

She took another sip of her lemonade.

“But then you didn’t get married,” Maureen frowned. “We
waited and waited for you to set a date and you didn’t. And when I would make
suggestions you didn’t seem to take them, or even want them.”

And I’m out. Strike three. I didn’t get married when you
wanted me to. Guess it’s overboard for me.
Katy took another sip of her
cola.

“And now it’s been three years and I’ve tried to be helpful
and offer ideas…”

Katy again choked on her drink.

“Are you alright dear?” Maureen asked. “You seem to be
having trouble with your drink.”

Katy waived the waiter over. “I need some rum in this coke,”
she asked.

The waiter disappeared for a moment and returned with a shot
glass.

“Thank you,” Katy smiled as she poured the liquid into her
cola. “You were saying?” she looked up at Maureen and took a long drink.

“Katy, I think, that perhaps, you and I are a little alike.
I hope you are not offended by that comment,” she smiled.

“Of course not, Maureen.”

“Well, we are both a bit headstrong and like to be in
control. And maybe, perhaps because of that, it has been a bit…a tad more…
difficult
for us. I’m an old woman and up until just a few short years ago, I was the
only
woman in this family. I’m set in my ways and I want things the way I want them
and I’m not going to apologize for that.”

Well okay then. Where are we headed now?
thought
Katy.

“But after three years of helping, although Peter says I’m
nagging which is entirely untrue because I do
not
nag, I have come to a
realization. Katy, I consider you my daughter. I have since the day you arrived
in New York with Mark. If you never marry Mark it won’t change the way I feel
about you. You are a part of this family. You are a Lathem whether you sign
your name that way or not. I am not going to push anymore for a wedding,
although I really can’t promise that because sometimes I just can’t control
what comes out of my mouth. But I am going to try. And I just want us to be
close. I want you to love me just as I love you, if that is possible for you.”

She took a log sip of her lemonade and set the glass back on
the table.

“That’s what I wanted to say.”

Katy sat in her chair, silent and still as she processed
what Maureen had just said.

“I do love you Maureen,” she smiled. “I know that anything
you do or say is because you love your family. And I know that I’m a Lathem. I
have felt that from day one. You have opened your home and your hearts to me
and I love you all. You accepted Derek too. Your kindness has not gone
unnoticed. And perhaps you are right. Perhaps we are a
little
alike.”
She smiled and Maureen smiled back.

“And your words mean the world to me. I actually thought I
didn’t measure up in your eyes, compared to Janie.”

“Oh Katy, no! If I ever made you feel that way I am sorry.
You and Janie are very different girls. I couldn’t compare you, except to say
that you both have made my boys very happy and I know you love them and that’s
all a mother could ever really ask for, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” she smiled. “So, you’re saying that if Mark
and I
don’t
get married you’re okay with that?”

“Well,” Maureen began. “The truth is I would love to see you
married. I want to see all my boys married and happy, but, I understand that I
do not have a say in that, no matter how hard I
may
have tried to have
one,” she grinned. “Just love my son. That’s all I ask.”

“Well,” Katy grinned. “In full disclosure there is probably
something we should tell you…”

The scream of delight from the back of the fantail bar could
be heard for miles and miles. Maureen grabbed Katy in her arms and held her so
tightly Mark thought she might pop. Nobody could mistake the pure joy expressed
on her face as Maureen stood with her son and daughter-in-law.

“I lied!” she exclaimed. “I really did you want married!”

Katy laughed harder than she had laughed in a long time and
hugged Maureen again.

“I love you Katy,” she smiled.

“I love you too.”

*****

Paul strolled through the lobby after dropping off a couple
of postcards at the guest services counter. Nic sat in an armchair sipping from
a bottle of water. She was alone. He hadn’t seen her since the bar encounter in
Antigua. He hesitated for just a moment and then changed direction and found
himself standing in front of her.

“Hi,” he smiled.

Nic openly groaned and closed her eyes.

“I was hoping I could avoid you for the rest of the cruise,”
she admitted. “I owe you an apology.”

“Me?” Paul was surprised. “Why?”

“For the other day. At the bar. I was drunk. I’m
embarrassed.”

“Oh, that,” he grinned. “Yeah, a little bit drunk.”

“And sadly, you remember.”

“Of course I do.”

“Great,” she mumbled.

“Okay I don’t remember,” he laughed. “All forgotten.”

Nic lifted her eyelids to look at him. “Thank you.”

“You wanna go play some miniature golf?”

Nic studied him for a moment and started to shake her head.

“Aw, come on!” he pleaded. “Nine holes, blue sky and I’m
sure you can whoop me. There aren’t many courses like that in Afghanistan,” he
smiled.

“I thought you were in the Navy?”

“I am.”

“But that is a land-locked country.”

“It is. But I’m a Navy Seal. We go everywhere. Even to
places with no water,” he grinned.

“Was it rough over there?” she asked.

Paul sat in the vacant chair next to her. He fidgeted with
his hands for just a second. He really didn’t talk about his work.

“Sometimes, yeah. I’ve seen a lot of stuff; some horrible
and some really good.”

“Really good?” Nic looked surprised. “In the middle of a
war?”

“Yeah. I mean, we get sent on missions, stuff I can’t talk
about, but we also get to help people too. Like there was this family that
raised goats for their modest living on the side of this mountain way out in
the middle of nowhere. And their water well was blown up in an exchange between
us and some bad guys, so after we got rid of all the bad guys…”

“You mean kill them?”

“Well, yeah, so after they were no longer a threat, we dug
and built them a new well. And it was a much better well than the original. It
was deeper and ended up with a lot more water and we taught the boys how to
play soccer and, you know, it was a good ending.”

“But you killed people?”

“Yes, we did. We killed the men that were going to kill us.
And they would have killed this family too because they wanted their small
house as a lookout point and they wouldn’t have thought twice about slitting
the children’s throats to get it.”