First Class Voyage (First Class Novels – A Contemporary Romance Series) (9 page)

Two by two they trickled in and finally all were assembled
and the waitress came to take their orders.

“And where are you from?” Maureen asked her.

“Vietnam,” she smiled.

“Oh,” Maureen frowned. “Such a long way from your family.
Don’t you miss them?”

“Yes, very much. But I go home next month,” she smiled. “You
have big family.”

“Yes, we do,” Maureen agreed. She worked her way around the
table introducing them all to the waitress.

She got to Derek and said, “This would be my grandson, but
his mother hasn’t married my son
yet
.”

Mark gasped and was just about to speak but Maureen
continued.

“But I love him just like a grandson,” she smiled and moved
on to Ben who was sitting next to Derek.

Katy dropped her head and took a deep breath. She knew that
Maureen meant no malice but she also was getting really tired of all the little
digs, innocent or not, it was getting old.

After breakfast, as they all went their separate ways, Derek
caught up with Mark and his mom just outside the dining room.

“Mom!”

Katy turned and smiled at her son.

“Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure,” she smiled.

“Come get a coffee with me, please?”

Mark kissed her on the cheek and said he’d meet her back in
their cabin and politely excused himself. Derek took his mom’s hand and led her
to the coffee bar. After placing their order, they went and sat at a table.

“That was a little weird at breakfast,” he said.

“It quite often is,” said Katy. “But Maureen means nothing.”

“Yes she does,” Derek disagreed. “She does mean something by
it. We all think it she’s just the only one that will
say
it.”

Katy was shocked by her sons’ words.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Oh, come on mom!” Derek sighed. “It’s been three years.
Don’t you think it’s time already?”

Katy had no idea how to respond. Her son was calling her
out. For a split second she was angry, really angry. She was the parent. But,
he was an adult. He was twenty-four and a college graduate. He had a great job
working at MEL Holdings with Mark and Matt. Actually, it wasn’t just a job.
When Mark retired, Derek would take over, the heir apparent. No, he was her
equal and he had earned the right to call her out if necessary. And apparently,
he thought it was necessary.

“I know you’ve never had it easy,” he continued. “Dad was a
real jerk and we were better off alone. And then…” he couldn’t say it. His head
dropped and Katy knew what he was thinking.

“I’m okay,” she insisted, taking his hand in hers. “Really.
That was four years ago and I
am
okay.”

“I know,” he said. “But still, you haven’t had an easy time
of it. Well until Mark,” he smiled.

“Until Mark,” she grinned.

“Mom, he’s awesome. And I know you love him. And I know he
adores you. He worships you. So why? What are you holding out for?”

“I’m not
holding out
for anything?” Katy was
offended.

“Then why haven’t you married him?”

Katy didn’t have an answer.

 “Do it!”

Katy headed back to her cabin, Derek’s words swirling
through her head. 
Do it!

*****

That afternoon, as scheduled, was another round of
three-on-three. Tyler, Adam and Tim’s game was scheduled first. They played
hard and won by only two points.

“A win is a win,” grinned Adam, as they came off the court,
sweaty and tired.

“Now it’s your turn to protect the family name,” laughed Tim
as Ben congratulated them.

“Oh, you were magnificent,” gushed April, as she ran over to
congratulate Tim. “Simply wonderful.”

“Thanks, April,” beamed Tim.

He headed off with the young woman draped all over him.
Paul, sitting close by, shook his head as his eyes followed them. They walked
over to a couple of chairs and there sat Nic. Paul’s eyes stopped as they
reached her, watching her smile as she congratulated Tim on his teams’ win.
Then she went right back to reading a book.

Paul studied her while she wasn’t looking. He thought he
should go over and say hello, but something stopped him.

“You look lost in thought,” Matt said.

Paul’s head whipped around to see his brother studying him.

“Nah, just enjoying the win.”

“Hmmm.” Matt smirked.

“Okay, let’s do this, shall we?” Derek yelled, as he and
Mark and Ben made their way to the court.

The family settled in to watch the game and Tim, April and
Nic joined them, Nic not looking overly thrilled. Paul tried to catch her eye
as she walked by but she didn’t glance his way.

Katy cheered as the game started and was clapping wildly
when Mark scored the first bucket. By the end of the first five minutes, the
Lathems were up by ten points.

“Woo hoo!” Katy yelled, clapping loudly.

David whistled and watched as Derek drove to the basket. One
of the opponents elbowed him hard as his feet left the ground to score and he
hit the deck with a thud.

“Foul!” yelled Mark and helped Derek up. “Two shots.”

The other team argued for a moment and then lined up for the
free throws. Derek made the first and missed the second, Ben securing the
rebound. He dribbled out of the key and threw the ball to Mark who didn’t have
a clear shot. He passed to Derek who took a step to the basket and was dropped
by the same defender with another elbow to the ribs.

Katy jumped off her chair and tried to run to her son but
Matt grabbed her arm and held her.

“No man wants his mommy running to rescue him,” he whispered
in her ear.

Katy stopped trying to pull free and sighed and Matt
released his grip. Mark was yelling at the opposing team.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? This is a game you morons
not the WWF!”

“Are you
girls
?” came the response. “Can’t take a
foul?”

Ben stepped forward and stared at the man about six inches
from his face.

“Look you asshole, we just wanna play a friendly game, no
trouble. Just keep your elbows to yourself.”

“Bitches!” the man’s team mate said.

Ben turned his head to see which man had said it and the man
in front of him shoved him back. Mark caught him so he didn’t fall.

At that moment, Matt, David and Paul all jumped up and ran
towards the three-on-three yelling match. As they arrived on the court, two men
jumped up from the other side of the court and ran and stood behind the
opponents.

 “Oh shit!” whispered Katy.

“Ditto,” agreed Janie.

There was some more yelling and then Paul stepped in between
the two groups and grabbed the throat of the last man to speak.

“I’ve slit men’s’ throats in the middle of the night without
a second thought,” he said, teeth gritted, eyes like steel. “Don’t think a
little punk like you scares me, even a little. Now stand down.”

He let the man go and he coughed and sputtered and grabbed
at his neck and the five of them stepped back several feet. One of them threw
their hands up as they continued backing away.

“No trouble here,” he said, shaking his head. “Just a stupid
foul, k?”

At that moment one of the entertainment crew arrived and
called the game. The Lathem team had won, as they were ahead when the
‘incident’ took place. He asked all the men to exit the court and they would
take a ten minute break before they began the next game, giving the crowd a
chance to disburse and tempers to cool.

The crowd all exhaled simultaneously and the Lathem men
returned to their group. Katy grabbed Derek and asked him if he was okay. Mark
chuckled and told her that Derek was a man and could take a foul. Derek grinned
and agreed, but rubbed his ribs when she wasn’t looking, a slight grimace on
his face.

The group started to break up and Paul walked to his chair
to grab his sweatshirt. As he walked past Nic he saw the fear in her eyes.

Dammit!
he thought.

“Sorry about that,” he grimaced.

“Was that true?” she asked.

Paul sat down next to her in the chair April had just
vacated as she left with Tim.

“Yeah. Yeah it is.”

“Oh.” She looked horrified.

“I
am
a Navy Seal,” he said, matter-of-factly.
“That’s what I do when I have orders. I follow them…to the
letter…exactly…without question…without hesitation…without second guessing and
without remorse.”

“Well, thanks for clarifying that for me,” she said as she
stood and hurried away.

*****

That night as the family congregated for dinner, Tim retold the
story of Paul’s involvement in the
almost
brawl. Paul had nothing to
say.

Tim went on. “It was pretty cool the way you had him in that
choke hold. Made him think twice before he said anymore,” he chuckled.

“I don’t think Paul wants to rehash it,” said Mark, knowing
Paul the way he did.

“Well, I’m just glad you won,” smiled Katy. “On to the
semifinals on the next sea day and then maybe the finals.”

“I hope we make it to the finals and then we can play you
guys,” grinned Tyler. “That would be cool.”

“We have to win our next game first,” Adam chimed in.

“Well that’s four days away. We’ve got some different kind
of playing to do first.” David, noticing Paul’s expression, tried to change the
subject. “What’s everyone doing in St. Lucia tomorrow?”

DAY 9 – ST. LUCIA

Once again, the Lathem family was headed in several
different directions for their day in St. Lucia. Christopher had been rather
fussy overnight and Janie decided to stay on the ship with him.

“Are you sure?” her mother had asked. “I can stay.”

“No, no,” Janie had replied. “You go have a good time. I’ll
stay with the children today.”

So Patty had left with Maureen and Peter to go whale
watching. Matt had gone with Tyler and Adam, Andrew and Rory, and Paul deep-sea
fishing. Mark and Katy left with Derek to play on kayaks, and the rest of the
brothers were hiking in the rain forest. They would all meet up for dinner that
evening.

Matt loved spending time with his step-sons. And with Tyler
now working at MEL Holdings, he was able to spend more time with him during the
week. And they came to the apartment as often as their schedules allowed to see
their mom and younger siblings. But Adam had just finished medical school and
within a matter of days after they returned home from vacation his residency
would begin. They would not get to see much of him once he began working at the
hospital. He was the quieter of the two brothers and it had taken Matt a little
longer to be accepted into his life. But now they were the best of friends, all
three of them, and he was excited to spend the day with them.

The fishing boat was smaller than Rory expected it to be. It
was his first time deep-sea fishing, as it was for Andrew, Adam and Tyler, but
Rory was more nervous about the experience. He had been unsettled all morning
and didn’t know why. But Andrew had convinced him that all would be well on
their adventure, so here he was sitting on the boat, speeding out into the
middle of the bluest water he had ever seen, hoping the butterflies he felt in
his stomach was just sea sickness and nothing else.

*****

Janie rocked her baby boy until he finally fell asleep. His
tummy was upset and it had taken a while to get him settled. Ella was perfectly
content watching The Little Mermaid, cuddling her stuffed dolphin, with a cup
of goldfish crackers on the floor beside her. Janie took the opportunity to
jump in and have a quick shower.

As she stepped out of the bathroom just a few minutes later,
the phone was ringing. It was Guest Services.

“We have tried their cabin several times and understand they
have left the ship on a shore excursion?”

“Yes,” replied Janie. “They are with my husband deep-sea
fishing. I can try their cell phones but I don’t know if they have them with
them. Is there a message I can give them?”

Janie grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down a name and
phone number, with the word ‘URGENT’ underneath. She was sure she recognized
the name but couldn’t place it immediately.

“Thank you,” she said and replaced the telephone receiver.

Must be very important
, she thought. Janie couldn’t
remember where her cell phone was, but she would need to find it to get the
phone numbers stored there. She would try to get them the message as soon as
possible.

*****

It was Andrew’s turn in the ‘chair’. It was perched at the
back of the deck of the boat and had a massive fishing pole attached to the
back railing. He had caught a marlin, an impressive fish doing its best to
wrestle free of the line hooked in its mouth. Andrew pulled and reeled him in
slowly to the clapping and cheers of the others on board.

The fishing guide was genuinely impressed. It was a
magnificent fish, one a beginner would rarely catch. With his help, Andrew was
able to finally reel him in and vacate the chair to Adam, who had been waiting
patiently for his turn to try. He was the last one before they headed back to
the island.

Rory congratulated Andrew on his success and then stepped
back abruptly when his pocket began to vibrate. He saw it was Janie and
answered with a smile.

“Hello Janie. Having fun on the ship?”

Rory’s face instantly sobered as he listened to his
sister-in-law.

“I’ve got the number,” he said. “Yes, I will try him now,
although this reception is terrible.”

Andrew was concerned at the tone of Rory’s voice and waited
for him to hang up.

“What is it?” he asked the second Rory pulled the phone from
his ear.

“Our attorney has left a message on the ship. Apparently he
has tried our cell phones repeatedly and couldn’t get through.”