Chapter 12: Home Front

It was pitch black when the phone rang. JD answered it, still half-asleep.

"Your turn, Jul." said a female voice.

"Come again?"

She laughed, "Good morning, Jul, this is Candice. Nick called in this morning and it's your turn to fill in."

JD was silent, trying to jumpstart his brain. It had been almost a year since he was in town and got a call to serve as a deckhand but he had done the job often enough since junior high and knew it well enough.

"Jul?"

"Yeah, I'm up." He lied. "Give me an hour. I'll be in."

"Alrighty, then. See you at the dock house."

He hung up the phone and sighed deeply. It must be around 4:30, he thought, which meant he probably had less than an hour to get aboard and settled before they left the dock at six. He was going to have to get moving.

Rachael snuggled against him making the need to move even more regrettable, "Who was that?" she mumbled.

"Candice."

"Who?"

"Marcus' Candice. I've got crew duty today."

She rubbed her face against his chest, "Oh," she yawned and pulled a bit closer, "When?"

"Now." He kissed her forehead, knowing that if he did not get up soon, he was going to be late, "Gotta get movin', honey."

He got out of bed regretfully and stretched as he wandered into the closet. He closed the door before turning on the light and found a pair of work pants and a shirt and sweater that should be about the right weight for this time of year on the water. By the time he stepped out again, Rachael was awake and waiting.

"I don't mean to be slow, but where did you say you were going?

He kissed her lightly, "The dock. I got called for crew duty today."

"Why you?"

"It's my turn." He smiled at her looked of confusion as he dressed, "Every McElroy works crew. Always has. If one of the hired hands calls in, a family member fills in for the day. Today's my turn."

"Oh, so you guys all pitch in."

"Everybody. Momma used to be damn fine captain."

"Oh." Rachael frowned.

JD headed down to the bathroom and quickly went through his morning routine. When he returned, Rachael was dressing.

"Oh, now, honey, you don't have to get up now. Go on back to bed."

She ignored him and continued dressing, "What time do we need to be at the dock?"

"We don't need to be anywhar. I, on th'othuh han' have to be on deck by 5:30."

She held up a sweater, "Will this be good?"

"For what?"

"For a day crewing a boat."

"Willow, go back to bed."

"She looked at him, "You said 'every McElroy', JD. That means me too."

"Willow," he took her by the arms, "What do you know 'bout fishin'?"

"Not much."

"Uh huh. You evah even been on a boat before?"

"Well, no, not like this."

"It's gonna be a long, hard day, sweating ova a whole lotta fish. It's not gonna be fun or easy by any means. Especially seein' as you ain't done it before."

"So, I'll learn. It'll be easier next time." She lifted her chin a little, "I can do hard work, JD, I'm not some little princess."

He smiled; Claudia had whined all day the one time that JD had coaxed her on to the boat. Now Rachael was all but begging to go with him. He kissed her chin, "I know you can." He looked at the sweater she was still holding, "This is good but you'll likely be more comfortable if you have a long sleeve shirt ta go under it."

She smiled and nearly skipped happily to find a shirt and JD took the time to pack a bag with extra clothes and a few other things for the both of them. It took him a few minutes search but he finally found his buck knife and the rest of his kit. He ran his thumb over the worn initials on the case - MDM - it had been a gift from Marcus when JD worked his first summer as full-time crew.

They made it to the dock house with time to spare and spent a few minutes chatting in line with the rest of the crews as Candice handed out ship assignments. She paused when Rachael said she wanted to be assigned with JD.

"Your first time ever? On a commercial boat?" she seemed appalled, "Oh, no. Jul maybe evil, but I'm not." She reassigned them both to one of the charters and handed them nametags. When JD saw the name he groaned, "Candice, honey, now come on. Not the Midday Sun." There were a few snickers behind them and JD shot the group a look. Most people knew it was Edward's boat.

Rachael hit his shoulder "Stop fussing. Candice does this everyday. If she says this is the best boat, deal with it."

He looked at her, more than a little annoyed, "Who's side you on, anyhow?"

She bit her lip and looked at him in earnest. "JD, please?" As if he could really have resisted that look.

"I swear, woman, you gonna be the death of me."

She smiled broadly, "Thank you JD." She leaned down and whispered, "I'll make it up to you tonight. Promise."

He stole a kiss, "Yeah," he affirmed, "you will."

JD shouldered his bag and tried to frown at Candice - which failed, "Thanks, Candice. See you later."

"Bye Jul. Bye Rae." She waved them off and started the next assignment.

As they headed down the dock, JD got his first real breath of the morning sea and smiled. It was tempting to sign on full time. Let Charles and Marcus fight with paperwork and the legislators, he could handle tourists and bait. He glanced over the six boats that made up the Davidson Fishery fleet. Three had been in service, at least in name, since the 1800's. The other three had been his gift to the family when it became apparent that the charter side of the business needed expansion. He occasionally threatened to sell his personal stake, but it was pure bluff. In his will, he split the shares evenly between his sons and his grandchildren. He would no more sell out than he would sell his right arm. He greeted the familiar faces along the dock. Some of the crewmembers had worked for them for as long as JD had.

"Hey, what's with 'Jul' and 'Rae'?" She finally asked.

He shrugged, "Don't know. We've just always done it that way. Mark, Jul, Ed. Chuck - oh he hates that, you know."

"One syllable, eh? I guess that's easier to say when some one goes in."

"Now, don't even joke about that, Willow. 'Specially around Momma and Marcus. You find yo'self out in the cold in uh hurry." He put an arm around her. "We take water safety right seriously round here." He stopped walking and looked at her, "You don't know about Augustus, do you?"

"No." she must have caught the timber of his voice because her smile faded and she faced him gravely.

"Augustus was my eldest brother. Died in, oh, I guess about 1947. I was all of two at the time but he and Marcus were bein' boys one night..."

"Night?"

"Yep. Weren't supposed ta be out the house in the first place and damn sure weren't supposed to be out here. Anyway, they was fooling around an' fell in. It was morning fo' anyone knew they was missing." He shrugged, "Marcus survived, Augustus passed. Momma wouldn't let me on a boat without her til I was ten. Good reason ta worry, I guess."

"Oh, god. I'm so sorry."

"Now, don't get all upset. That was damn near sixty years ago. Just don't go teasing 'bout folks fallin' in 'round the family."

"Oh, no." she shook her head, "Of course not."

He put his arm around her again and started walking again, "We'd best shake a leg. That's us at the end an' we don't want ta be late on yo' first day, now do we." They walked on and as they neared the boat, JD saw Edward lean over the rail and wave them in.