Chapter 69: Isabella and Victoria

I heard the engines start up about 5:30am Friday morning, so I climbed over Isabella and used the bathroom before heading to the bridge. Stopping to make a pot of coffee, I carried it and two cups up to the bridge.

“Starting early, I see,” I said as I climbed the stairs. “Coffee?”

“I already told Archara to keep you happy,” Captain Alfred cracked. “You just keep on bringing me coffee!”

I poured him a mug and set it on the console beside him. Then poured another for myself.

“Come up here and steer while I set the chart plotter. No automatic pilot today, I’m afraid,” he said.

He continued to keep one eye on the horizon which was just beginning to lighten despite the low hanging clouds while keeping the other eye on the radar, looking for any movement. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was not quite right about this.

Since the sails were stowed and the side wind screens open, for the moment, I didn’t have as much to do as usual and found that even with the captain beside me, my mind was wandering. I saw the sun briefly as it crested the horizon before disappearing behind dark gloomy clouds that promised rain in our not too distant future. It was while I was watching the last rays of sunlight go behind the clouds that I caught a glimpse of a giant spark, not an airplane or a drone, but something bigger. A ship!

“It’s a Horizon-class frigate, the Chevalier Paul. She’s returning from an exercise in the southern Caribbean off of French Guiana. A very close friend of mine, Vice-amiral Pritchard decided she might enjoy providing us with an escort to the Aéroport International Martinique Aimé Césaire on Martinique,” Captain Alfred explained. “Vice-amiral Pritchard is my first wife’s sister.”

“Oh?” I said.

“It seems the US Navy has staged a battle fleet just east of Martinique in the last few days.”

A battle fleet?” I asked.

“One battleship and a couple of frigates,” he replied. “The Americans must be desperate if they feel they have to strip away part of their costal defenses for this last minute exercise. So France decided to remind them why we are one of the oldest and largest navies in the world.”

“That would explain them going out in the rain last night. They were in touch with the French Navy,” I thought to myself.

“That is the reason I am pushing the Serendipity so hard. So if you would, please restrain yourself from destroying our latest destroyer,” he said with a grin.

I looked at the control panel and we were going all out at ten knots. But the waves were beginning to toss us around uncomfortably in the storm. We fought the winds and the waves for the next five hours, lowering our speed to six knots while moving a little further east to skirt the incoming front.

“Why don’t you go below and ask Archara to bring me something to eat, then rest for a while. If we can get past the worst of this storm in a couple of more hours, I’ll let you take over while I rest,” he suggested.

“Here,” Carina said as she handed me a plate with two chili dogs smothered in cheese. “I’ll take something up to Alfred. When you’re through eating, go down to my cabin and rest.”

Following her instructions, I finished off the hot dogs and went below. It seems that someone was waiting for me.

“I hope you don’t mind if I lay with you,” said a naked Mischa from her mother’s bed. The blackout curtains were drawn and the only light was a small reading lamp over the bed.

She molded her body to mine as I lay down, so I wrapped her in my arms. She was silent for a while then said, “I know we didn’t hit it off, as you American’s say, when we first met, but the others have convinced me that I may have been wrong about my first impressions of you. Mom says I have been acting childishly to think that you would try to keep me from them. She says that you have been nothing but kind and polite to me and I have treated you poorly.”

“You were put into an uncomfortable position, Mischa, when I first came to live with you all. And I know your parents were unsure of me as well. With you in school and all the things you had to do, we didn’t have much opportunity to develop our own relationship. I’m sorry now that I didn’t take the time to get to know you better,” I said.

“But when we made love on the crossing you were so gentle and sweet and I didn’t understand how you seemed to know exactly what I needed. And before that, I know it seemed like I raped you, but I really didn’t think of it that way. I’ve felt so guilty ever since then.”

“There. There,” I said as I hugged her tighter. “I never felt badly towards you. I understand how relationships can be rocky at times, and honestly, we could have probably worked out the rough spots on our own if we hadn’t had the whole boat watching us.”

“I offered you my ass that day, but you made love to me instead. Would you still like to fuck my ass?” she asked.

“When it comes to you, my dear Mischa, I really consider you almost like a sister. But a very attractive and sexy sister. And I would much rather make love to you than to fuck your ass,” I replied.

“Well, why didn’t you say so earlier?” she cooed in my ear then she began to nibble on my earlobe sending tingles up and down my spine. We kissed for what seemed like forever as we touched and caressed each other’s bodies. We finally ended up on our sides with her back firmly against my chest as I squeezed and caressed her titties while I nibbled on her neck. She just lay there with her hands on mine and her eyes closed as she moaned softly.

I lifted her leg and placed my hard cock between them and gently moved my hips with the rolling of the ship, touching her clit each time we dipped into a wave. Finally, she reached down with her hand and guided me into her channel and then we gently made love to the rocking of the boat on the stormy seas.

“Alex?” Archara said softly as she touched my bare shoulder. Mischa moaned as I scooted from the bed. “Alfred needs you to relieve him.”

“Tell him I’m on my way,” I said as I headed for the shower.

It was almost 4:00 pm when I reached the bridge. The skies were still dark and the winds had abated some but were still blowing more than twenty knots.

“The radar shows clearing skies to the southeast and the seas are settling down. Keep us on the same course. We won’t make any changes for at least four more hours. The Chevalier Paul is about a hundred miles east-by-southeast and will continue to draw gradually closer as we sail south,” Captain Alfred said tiredly.

I knew that he had battled the storms for the last several hours and needed a break. While I, on the other hand, felt well rested. I told him to take as much time as he needed and to send food when it was ready.

I don’t know if I’ll ever know what made him trust me with a multi-million dollar boat and the lives of his family and friends, but I reveled in that trust and worked hard to do my very best for him. He had taught me much and continued to do so, but it was his trust that I valued the most. Roland later commented how he hadn’t got to pilot the Serendipity very much this trip and Captain Alfred just said, “You shouldn’t have brought a real sailor with you this trip!”