Chapter 42: Call from Home

For the record, I did pay Isabella the one Euro and got my copy of the receipt. I also plugged in the satellite phone and then, since I had to wait on it to charge, I decided that waiting in the arms of a beautiful agent wasn’t a bad idea at all. The seas had become much rougher which made our loving more physical and dramatic as we were tossed about the narrow berth. But somehow, we managed to hang on to each other and didn’t notice it too much. I guess we were distracted.

It was after lunch before we were finally able to unfurl the main sail and resume sailing. The seas smoothed out and the skies had become sunny again. And I was tired. But before I could curl up on my pallet on the bridge, Maggie needed to take her walk. Oh, well! To paraphrase my hero, Mr. Spock, ‘the needs of the many females outweigh the needs of the lone male’.

The satellite phone rang about six o’clock that evening.

“Hey stud! New plans. Write this down: Latitude 25.078623, longitude -77.294893. Got it?” she asked.

I read it back to her.

“Okay. Those are the coordinates to the five-bedroom home of a friend of mine which I have rented for the rest of the month. It’s on a deep-water harbor on Paradise Island, Nassau. Check it out on the map. Google it if you have to.”

“Yeah, right!” I said sarcastically. Where was I going to get google in the middle of the Atlantic?

“When you get there, I want you to come ashore with Isabella as soon as possible so my security people can take you shopping. The rest of the family can make themselves to home and then we’ll all meet up at the country club for lunch. Don’t worry, I’ve arranged transportation for everyone.”

“What about customs,” I asked.

“They will be at the house at 3:00pm and handle everything there. They’ll check your passports but will not keep them. By-the-way, there will probably be people at the house from the French Honorary Consulate in Nassau. Be kind to them.”

“Okay. Just remember we have the refugee family that we rescued from the sinking yacht in the Mediterranean and the two downed Navy pilots we picked up when their planes crashed in the sea. They’re all Americans and none of them have any papers with them.”

“Two downed Naval pilots? And a refugee family rescued from a sinking yacht? This just keeps getting better and better. Give me the details and I’ll get to work on it.”

I gave her all the names and addresses and other pertinent information including the coast guard station in Spain and the Naval Air station in Norfolk, Virginia, along with the girls commanding officer and Samantha’s mom’s cell number.

“That’s great. I’ll call you back in twelve hours. Bye.”

I’ll say this. My new attorney don’t waste no time talking on the phone.

With Captain Alfred looking over my shoulder, I went to work plotting our new course. While I had fallen in love with blue water sailing, we had been at sea for eleven days, so It was exciting to know that in less than seven more days, we’d be on dry land again.

It was shortly after dinner that Charlotte found me sitting with Maggie on the fantail, as we stared out at the gentle wake Serendipity was trailing behind her.

“Hi,” she said softly. “Can I sit here?”

“Please,” I told her as I scooted over a little to make room for her.

“Daniel, I ... uh, I just wanted to make sure I didn’t make you mad the other night, you know ... when I told you I loved you.”

“Sweetheart, you will never make me mad saying you love me. Were you telling me the truth?”

“Oh yes. I really do love you.”

No. I meant ... was that what you really wanted tonight, to know if I was mad?”

“Well ... not really.”

“Then tell me. What would my beautiful angel really like tonight?”

She looked down as she blushed and wouldn’t meet my eyes, so I stood and pulled her up with me, then I led her over to one of the more sheltered conversation pits on the semi open cockpit. There we cuddled under the blankets as I gave my little angel what she really wanted.

The Satellite phone rang right at six am Tuesday Morning. There were no preliminaries.

“If you’re on track to arrive in Nassau at 8:00am next Monday, you should sail past Bermuda sometime after sunset on Friday. One of my yachts will come along side and transfer two passengers for the last two days of your journey. One is a public Relations specialist and will prepare you for your interviews. The other is a camera operator to get me some baseline interviews and some ‘b’ roll footage.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I said, “but remind them that they can’t wear clothes on board.”

“What? You’re kidding? Nobody’s wearing clothes? You’ve got an entire yacht ... naked?” she actually screeched.

“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. “Some sort of obscure law about being naked on a ship’s maiden voyage, according to your son.” That was entirely untrue, but I enjoyed giving Cynthiana shit sometimes.

“Oh, this is rich. You’re telling me that you’ve been at sea for almost two weeks with wait... 7, 8, 9. Nine naked girls?”

“No ma’am. Actually there are twelve naked women. Only six of them are teenagers.” I think that she was getting a little too much fun out of this.

“The adults too? Are you telling me that you’ve seen my daughter-in-law naked for the last twelve days?”

“That is definitely a yes, ma’am!” I replied. “And might I say it has been a pleasure!”

“Oh my god! Don’t tell me! This is too good!” she was laughing so hard she was almost choking. “No! Wait, don’t tell me ... no ... You’ve seen my daughter naked too! Haven’t you?”

“Your daughter? Who’s your ... you mean ISABELLA?” I asked totally surprised. “You mean that Isabella is your daughter?”

It was at that moment I lost control. Not that I really ever had it.

“Give me that phone! Let me talk to her,” Carina and Isabella both said at the same time.

I surrendered the phone as I fell on the sofa laughing. “Tell your MOM that I can’t wait to meet her,” I said to the blushing Isabella.

“It’s beginning to look like an interesting weekend.” I thought as I went to find some breakfast.

Wednesday and Thursday passed as things finally settled back into our normal routine. We got satellite calls on the sixes. Six am and six pm every day. But now it was Cynthiana’s people speaking to mostly the adults. Cynthiana and I never spoke again.

The teenaged girls had also figured out my crazy schedule of naps. So every time I lay down for a nap, one of them was crawling into whatever bed I was using. It was Anna on Tuesday afternoon and Mischa right after her watch Tuesday night. Archara found me alone on the fantail early Wednesday morning, and Eileen, Wednesday afternoon. Surprisingly, Samantha came to me after supper Wednesday night and asked for some of my time.