First Class Voyage (First Class Novels – A Contemporary Romance Series) (16 page)

Nic was horrified. Paul instantly regretted his words.

“We built a school there too, one where girls would be able
to get an education. Do you know how hard it is for a girl to go to school over
there? But we built a school and the U.S. funded the teachers so that two
hundred girls would have a shot at a good life. I like to think about that.”

“Do the memories get to you?”

“I try to think about the good things I’ve done, the people
I’ve saved. I’m proud of my service to my country.”

He could see her thinking about his words.

“Yes,” she smiled. “I’ll play golf with you.”

*****

Maureen had, for the last time, requested the family all
together for their last dinner on the ship. Everyone obliged.

Ella sat in between her parents and played with her utensils
as the family slowly gathered at the table. Derek and Katy were the last to
arrive; Derek beaming from the news his mother had just shared with him. Mark
stood as his wife approached and pulled out the chair for her. Maureen smiled
brightly and made a point to welcome her to the table. Mark stifled a snicker
and Katy bit her lip. They both wondered how long it would take before she
blurted out their news.

As the waiter came to take their drink order, Mark ordered
champagne for the table, surprising most.

“What are we celebrating?” Ben asked.

“Going home!” Peter grumbled.

“Oh come on, Peter,” chuckled Rory. “You’ve had a great
time!”

Peter shrugged his shoulders and Maureen patted his hand and
smiled.

“I think he’s just missing his mattress,” she said.

“Oh, me too!” whined Matt. “I cannot wait to get home to our
bed!”

“You’ve been on a fourteen day cruise in some of the most
beautiful scenery in the world and you’re complaining about a mattress?” David
was astounded. “I for one have had a great time. Thank you parents for having
an anniversary trip, and thank you Matt for paying for it.”

There was laughter around the table and Tim agreed with his
brother. “Here, here,” he said. “This has been a great trip.”

“Only cuz you’ve had a few ‘dates’,” David scowled, using
air quotes around the word date. “I have not had as much fun finding a bed to
sleep in on those nights.”

Janie blushed beet red and instinctively looked over at
Derek. Their eyes met and he blushed too, immediately lowering his eyes. Matt
saw the exchange and tried not to laugh.

“Man whore!” Ben laughed.

“Boys! Please!” Maureen said. “I do not need to hear that
language. And Ella’s here!”

Ben, Tim and David immediately sobered and apologized to
Janie. She smiled and tried not to laugh at them. Ella wasn’t paying any
attention to the conversation at the table…fortunately. She had made a bed with
hers and Janie’s napkins and was putting all of her utensils to bed.

“Who were you playing golf with this afternoon, Paul?”
Andrew asked. “I saw you up there.”

“A girl I met.”

“And?”

“And nothing,” Paul replied. “It’s not some ship romance or
anything. Just a game of miniature golf.”

The conversation moved on to the flight home tomorrow and
what time they would be disembarking.

The waiter returned with bottles of champagne and the
glasses were poured. As the waiter retreated, Mark stood. All eyes focused on
him.

“Um,” he said. “As we are all gathered together this
evening, Katy and I wanted to make an announcement.”

“Finally!” said Ben. “Have you actually set a date?”

Mark chuckled and shook his head. “No, we haven’t.”

The groans were heard all around the table. Katy laughed.

“Actually, we wanted to announce that while we were in San
Juan a couple of days ago, we got married.”

There was a moment of silence, a moment of shock until his
words sank in.

“Wow!” exclaimed Andrew. “That is awesome! Congratulations!”
He jumped up and ran around to give his brother a hug and then Katy stood and
he hugged her too. Rory followed and congratulated them, hugging and back
slapping and rejoicing.

One by one, each of the family took their turn, everyone
thrilled with the news.

“So tell us all about it!” Patty asked.

So both talking in turn, Mark and Katy told the story of the
church and the priest and rings, which they were wearing, and the cottage and
the sprint back to make it on the ship by two o’clock.

As the conversation went on, Maureen’s expression became
more serious, something weighing on her mind. She was unusually quiet. People
started to notice.

“Mom?” Paul asked. “You okay?”

Maureen sighed. “Well, it’s very hard to hear about the
wedding. I’m very sad that I didn’t get to see it.”

Katy began to speak but Maureen held up her hand.

“But I understand how it happened and why they chose to get
married the way they did.”

Katy exhaled with relief.

Maureen continued. “I was just thinking that seeing as
though the family wasn’t at the wedding, that
maybe
the happy couple
would allow us to at least have a small gathering to celebrate their marriage.
Nothing big or fancy, just
something
.”

Mark was afraid to look at Katy. He had no idea what her
reaction would be. In fact, everybody at the table held their breath; all
except for Ella who was now very involved in a private discussion with her
doll.

After several seconds ticked by, Katy smiled. “Perhaps that
would be a good idea. I think something
very
simple might be very nice.
Thank you Maureen for suggesting it.”

Relief was felt by all and Maureen clapped her hands,
thrilled with the idea of planning it all.

“I wonder if the Waldorf will be available on such short
notice,” Maureen said to her husband as the appetizers were being served.

*****

Matt and Janie stood in the middle of their suite looking
down at their babies, both sound asleep.

“We made it,” Janie smiled.

Matt snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her close to
his side.

“Yes, we did.”

“What an eventful two weeks it has been. I thought this was
going to be relaxing!” she laughed. “I’m tired and will probably need a
vacation in order to recover from our vacation!”

“I’ve been thinking,” Matt said. Let’s buy a vacation home
somewhere tropical and then we can escape whenever we want.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she grinned. “And then just the four
of us can hide together from the rest of the world. That would be marvelous!”

They watched their children for a just a minute more and
then Matt took Janie’s hand and led her to the bed. He undid the tie of her
robe and pushed it from her shoulders. Then he slipped off the straps of her
nightgown and kissed her shoulder.

“I love you Mrs. Lathem.”

“I love you Mr. Lathem.”

“Let me show you just how much,” he whispered.

*****

Mark and Katy lay in bed after making love, still trying to
catch their breath.

“I think this has been a very successful vacation,” Mark
grinned.

“Successful?”

“Yes. I think I can claim success.”

Katy chuckled. “I’m ready to be back at home.”

“Yeah, me too,” he admitted. “I must be getting old. I like
our routine.”

Katy kissed her husband and snuggled into his side to drift
off to sleep.

“I love you Mr. Lathem.”

“I love you Mrs. Lathem.”

*****

Paul walked around the deck of the ship. The sky was black
and the wind was blowing. There weren’t many people out this late. He assumed
most were in their cabins packing. Being in the Navy had taught him some
packing skills. He could not only pack quickly, but he packed light, a trick of
his trade.

He hadn’t really wanted to come on this trip. He wanted to
spend time with his family and he wanted to support his parents in celebrating
their anniversary. But he spent a lot of his life in a metal bucket floating
around this ocean or that sea. Being stuck in another metal bucket with better
carpet wasn’t his idea of fun. But as Paul walked around the deck again, he had
to admit that it had been a good trip. Watching Matt with his children had
reinforced his desire for a family. And watching the joy in Mark’s eyes as he
announced that he had married the woman of his dreams only reinforced the fact
that he wanted that too.

But as he had spoken of his experiences as a Seal to Nic, he
felt enormous pride in what he had helped to accomplish and he wondered how
much he would really miss it if he chose to leave. It had been his purpose and
his privilege to serve his country. He loved it and he was good at it. He
wouldn’t miss killing people but he would miss
helping
people. He had a
big decision to make and he didn’t know how he was going to do it.

DISEMBARK – MIAMI

Because the Lathem family had boarded the ship as VIP’s,
they got to leave the ship as VIP’s. That meant instead of being herded off in
groups according to an allocation number, they just disembarked whenever they
darn well felt like it. And, there wasn’t any hurry for any of them because
their flight wasn’t until after lunch.

Matt and Janie opted for room service for breakfast so Patty
left her cabin and headed for the Lido deck. Lester was waiting for her
patiently.

“Good morning,” he smiled and stood as she approached the
table. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

“Good morning,” Patty smiled back. There was a slight
rosiness to her cheeks.

“I’m glad you made it,” he said sitting in the chair
opposite her.

“The kids ordered room service so I am free as a bird ‘til
it’s time to disembark.”

“Well then, let’s get breakfast, shall we?”

The two made their way through the expansive buffet, dishing
up hash-browns and eggs and all manner of breakfast meats and fresh fruit. Back
at the table, Lester offered to fetch them both coffee, so he ambled away.

Patty watched him leave and was saddened at the thought that
she was leaving today. She wasn’t going back to New York with everyone else.
She was heading back to Portland, back to her quiet house and her garden. She
was glad about that as she had been gone for several weeks, but she also
thought about what wasn’t back in Portland. Her kids weren’t there anymore
which also meant neither were her grandchildren. What was she really going back
to?

“Oh my,” Lester said interrupting her thoughts. “That’s a
sad face.”

He placed a cup of steaming coffee in front of her and she
smiled up at him.

“Thank you,” she smiled. “I was just thinking about going
home.”

“To Portland?”

“Yes. My family has all left and I was wondering what I was
going back to, other than my garden.”

Lester sipped on his coffee and picked at his scrambled
eggs. Patty watched him. She had only known this man for a few days but he
reminded her so much of her husband all those years ago. Lester was easy-going
and kind. He had a dry sense of humor and he was a gentlemen. There weren’t
many of those left anymore, although Janie had found a perfect one in Matt. She
was so happy for her daughters’ second chance at happiness.

“Hmph!”

“What?” Lester asked.

“I was just thinking,” she began, just having had her own
‘AHA’ moment. “Whenever I think about being happy, my thoughts always
immediately turn to my daughters and their happiness. I don’t think about mine
first.”

Lester chuckled. “One of the side effects of being a parent,
I’m afraid. I have done that too. One of the reasons I didn’t even think about
remarrying after my wife died was because I didn’t want it to affect Maggie.”

Patty immediately understood exactly what he was saying. She
had thought the same thing.

“Crazy isn’t it?” she asked. “That we willingly sacrifice
our own happiness for our children, even though they’ve never asked us to do
it.”

“And when we do ask them, we find out that we’ve been wrong
all these years; that they want us to be happy; they want us to find someone to
be happy
with
!”

“Well good for you for asking,” Patty replied.

“I did. Yesterday.”

Patty looked up at Lester. “Yesterday?”

He nodded.

“Patty, I know that we have only known each other for just a
few days, but I’m not getting any younger, darn it. I’m almost seventy but I
know I have several really good years left,” he chuckled. “And I don’t want to
spend them alone. I can provide a comfortable life for…for a good woman who
would like to share it with me. Stay in Miami for a little while. Let’s get to
know each other better, and then, maybe, we could share our golden years
together, if you like me.”

“Oh Lester, I
do
like you, very much. But this is
very quick…and…”

Lester smiled a sad smile and his head dropped. He looked
rejected.

“Oh, I didn’t say no!” exclaimed Patty, feeling terrible at
her inability to express her desires.

His head lifted a little, hope in his eyes.

“It’s just that I haven’t had a man pay attention to me in a
very long time. I’m not very good at it,” she blushed.

“Well those men in Portland are blind then. How could they
not see the beautiful kind woman I see sitting in front of me? But then I
should be glad they didn’t, shouldn’t I?”

Patty blushed again and took his outstretched hand.

“There is a small quaint hotel not far from my home,” he
said. “You can stay there so that you’re not uncomfortable in any way. And only
when you have made a decision as to my worthiness, you can tell me your
answer.”

“My answer?”

“Yes. Your answer. Will you marry me Patty?”

*****

Paul and David sat eating breakfast.

“I’m gonna miss this when we get home,” David frowned.

“Miss what?”