Chapter 3: Good, Bad & Beautiful

“Well, the good news is ... Daddy doesn’t want to kill you dead,” Tavia said pacing into the dining area where everybody had gathered to look at the pictures and video of the submerged wreck, and Bobby’s swimming companion. She held her phone in her hand as she moved over to take her spot on his lap.

“Umm. What’s the bad news then?” he asked uncertainly as he adjusted to her shapely presence on his leg.

“Oh, there is no bad news,” she replied kissing his cheek as she wrapped an arm around his head. “I had to tell him to go breathe into a bag for a while after I described the shipwreck. So, I didn’t tell him our ‘other’ news yet.” She gazed at him expectantly.

He just stared back at her blankly. “Uh, what...?” He struggled to keep his expression empty as she poked him in the ribs.

“The beach...” she prompted. “Pink and blue coral...”

“Is your blood sugar low, babe?” he replied innocently, causing her to spring from his lap and go full Jamaican on him.

“God! How can you be so dense ‘Mon?” she yelled at him. She turned to the bewildered audience pointing at him like the defendant in a murder trial. “Dis fool thinks he’s gonna marry me!” she exclaimed. “He promises pretty little rings and some posh hullabaloo about asking me on the beach in fron’uv all you.” She strode over to Spencer who was staring at the tablet with the video of the Bull shark swimming around the Leopard. His eyes flew open when she grabbed him possessively. “Like I don’t have better prospects waitin’ in the wings!” His eyes flew open and he struggled in her grip. “Stop squirmin’ boy. You gotta learn to be still when a woman latches onto ya,” she murmured as she kissed his distraught head.

“Run for your life Spence,” Bobby advised with a smirk. “That’s more dangerous than Black Betty right there,” he gestured at the video.

“Hah!” she rebuked. “Like you one to talk! Y’all shoulda’ seen ‘little man there, squealing like a girl as he shoots outta ‘da water like Harry Potter in da’ Chamber of Secrets!” She released the ten-year-old and waved her hands dramatically. “Ooh! It’s gonna eat me! It’s gonna eat me!”

Bobby shook his head in defeat and got up from his chair. He glanced around the kitchen and then his eyes lit up. With a grin, he walked to the counter where the bread was kept and fumbled around with a plastic loaf bag. When he turned back, he was holding a small ring made from the wire tie. He stepped up to her triumphantly and dropped to his knee holding the bread tie-engagement band up.

“Tavia Ashanti — light of my life, beat of my heart, and keeper of my soul — will you marry me?” he asked poignantly.

She stepped over to him and stared down at him with her arms crossed. “Are you serious? Is that the best you got?”

He looked down for a moment chewing his lip and then gazed back at her, nodding. “Yep. Pretty much.”

His family looked on with amazement and disbelief as they squared off and regarded each other. With a sigh, Tavia just shook her head and smiled brightly. “Well then yes, I will marry you,” she replied firmly.

He took her left hand and held up the wire ring. She frowned and snatched her hand away from him. “What do you think you’re doing ‘Mon?” she demanded.

He gaped back at her. “I’m giving you your engagement ring,” he replied determinedly.

“You’re not putting that stupid thing on my finger!”

“Why not?” he asked, “we’re engaged now.”

“Idiot,” she muttered, “Jamaicans don’t do engagement rings,” she explained as he got back to his feet. “We consider it bad luck.”

“Huh,” he replied and went to toss it away.

“What are you doing?” she blurted.

He held up the wire. “Just throwing it away.”

“Gimme ‘dat!” she cried snatching it from his hand. She held it to her chest possessively.

He looked around at his grinning family, shaking his head. Jess and Jen came over and crushed him with a group hug, While Genevieve, Kurt, and Chad went to hug his betrothed.

“Dat boy has some learnin’ to do,” she mumbled loud enough to be heard as she welcomed everyone’s hugs.

“You’re the one who said ‘yes’ to a bread tie,” he replied grinning.

Early the next morning Kurt took off in the SeaMax and returned three hours later with Professor William Ashanti. Tavia walked out onto the dock alone, dressed in a pair of white muslin capris and a white cotton smock.

“You stay right here,” she prompted Bobby at the beginning of the pier. “Do not move, do not breathe, and show no fear.” She kissed him before turning to go meet her father.

She stood demurely on the dock as the small two-seater plane drifted into place with its engine off. The hatch opened upward like a clamshell, revealing the entire cockpit and the two occupants. Kurt tossed her a line and she made it fast to a nearby cleat.

Bobby watched as they assisted the professor out of the plane and then father and daughter hugged and made their way slowly back toward the beach house and the mansion beyond. Kurt stayed behind to close up the plane and secure it to the dock. Tai and her dad paused after climbing the ramp to the pier and he saw her facing him with both of her hands on his chest. He could tell when the news was delivered when the taller man slowly doffed his worn bush hat and began rolling it up in his hands. They spoke for a few moments more before she left him on the pier and made her way back towards him alone. ‘Uh oh.’

When she came up to him, she took his hands and stared apprehensively into his crisp blue eyes. “Go to him,” she said softly, “he wants a word.” She kissed his cheek and prodded him towards the wharf.

‘Oh boy!’ he thought as he strode towards his future father-in-law — or executioner perhaps. They met halfway up the pier where a set of steps led down to the beach. By silent mutual agreement, they descended the steps and walked across the sand in front of the mansion.

Bobby remembered when he was younger and his dad sat him down after some transgression that he was certain would earn him a swat or three. He had tried to verbally pivot the narrative for several desperate minutes before Chad shushed him. “Son, I’m going to share some wisdom with you right now. You can hear it and use it, and it will benefit you greatly for the rest of your life — or you can blow it off like your brother and sister did.” He stood calmly over the boy and right then and there he decided that he would hear whatever his dad said and use it. “Bobby, as you get older you are going to face many opportunities in life.” Chad knelt down and solemnly put his finger against the boy’s sternum. “Whatever you do, never, ever pass up the opportunity — to just keep your mouth shut.”

As they walked along the beach Bobby recalled those words of wisdom and silently thanked his dad for helping him recognize a golden opportunity right then and there.

Dr. Ashanti noticed and nodded to himself approvingly. Then he sighed.

“I kinda figured it’d be the two of you for some time now,” he stated quietly. “Kinda hoped it would be a couple more years down the way...” He finished mangling his bush hat and plopped it back on his wild scalp. “Watched her grow like a wildfire in the outback. Always was a free spirit, that girl. But with a brain in her head and a gift for numbers, science, and knowing how to read people.” He chuckled and Bobby could sense his pride. “Oh, she was a wild sort. I don’t need to tell you how she dealt with unwanted advances.”

Bobby smiled. He had indeed watched her thwart the amorous ideas of several cadets and mariners throughout their friendship.

“Wasn’t that way with you though,” he added firmly. “Nope, she was talking you up by her first week over at the Neptune club.” He gazed straight ahead as they walked, occasionally stopping to check a shell of rock on their path. “‘ Daddy I’m gonna marry ‘dat boy!’ she told me from the start. ‘He doesn’t know it yet ... but he will.’ I just laughed at her as she carried on — describing you like a wonder child and a prodigy.”

He stopped and turned to face Bobby. “I know now she wasn’t wrong about you.” He felt awkward under the praise. “I guess the only question is — do you think you can live with her for the rest of your life?”

He thought about his words before answering. Then he met the man’s gaze, realizing where she got her steel gray eyes from. “Sir, I couldn’t live without her.”

After introductions were out of the way the professor sat heavily at the head of the table where the twins directed him. He was smitten by the beautiful women, including Genevieve who could’ve passed easily as their sibling with the right hair color and a little makeup. He met Chad for the first time and quickly recognized the strength and character of the man.

“Now if everyone is done testing my cardiac health for the day — might I please see the pictures and footage of your find?” he begged with a heavy sigh.

Jessica, padded across the hardwood in her bare feet carrying a large 25-ounce can of Foster’s and a frozen glass. His eyes bulged as she expertly cracked the can and poured it, leaving a two-inch layer of foamy head on top. She set the glass on a coaster before him and smiled brightly as she took the empty can back to the garbage. In naught but a thin strap bikini the incredible tattoo of her blue Kraken played across her entire back as she walked away.

“Hapalochlaena maculosa,” he muttered breathlessly as he stared at the artwork.

“Lunulata,” Tavia corrected him.

“Nah, too blue along the body,” he argued.

“Not that it matters, it’s breaking apart a ship,” she mused as he sipped his beer appreciatively. She smiled at Bobby. “A real blue ring would barely fit in the palm of your hand.”

“Thanks,” he replied, “I’d rather take my chances with Black Betty.”

“Who’s Black Betty?” Dr. Ashanti asked.

“Oh ... she’s Bobby’s new girlfriend, Daddy,” she replied eagerly. “Spencer, pull up Black Betty on that great crack’n tele!” she ordered.

The home was extravagantly decorated with artwork everywhere. When no one was watching the huge television that occupied a good portion of the great room wall — Jessica programmed it to display a running photo album with intermittent stills and videos. It would display a random still frame image that they had taken from a camera or cell phone and it would stay up for several seconds before another would pixilate in to replace it. At the moment a larger-than-life image showed a drone shot of Spencer and Damien both jumping high into the air to try and block a soccer ball with their heads. The next random image was of Chad and Jessica standing in the water exchanging their vows and gazing at each other adoringly.

A video clip cut in showing Tavia and Damien sparring with their feet over a soccer ball on the sandy beach. Tai tripped the lanky black lad, sending him sprawling with a colorful protest as she triumphantly spun away with the ball. She almost made it until he grabbed her foot and sent her flailing for her balance before she too dropped into the sand with an outraged shriek. Her antics were most unladylike as she grappled with the boy in her skirt, halter top, and braids — cursing like a pirate as they scrambled for the ball. Jennifer’s hysterical laughter could be heard in the background.

Then the screen switched to a data shot full of video and photo gallery files. A square cursor jumped from file to file until an icon with a recent date was outlined. Then the screen returned to the gallery display and then a video appeared showing the massive Bull Shark swimming lazily about the Leopard as it lay at anchor.

The professor rose from his chair and walked over to the great room holding his beer. He whistled as he pointed at the screen. “That is one great wappin’ Carcharhinus leucas!” he exclaimed. “Krikes I’ve never seen one that big! That ‘sheila’ has to be 5 or more meters!” He turned to look back at Bobby. “Too bad you couldn’t get a tag in her, mate.”

“Uh ... yeah. Wasn’t at the top of my mind right then. Maybe next time though,” Bobby stammered incredulously.

“Do that and I’ll forgive you for breaking my submersible,” he agreed turning back to the big screen.

Bobby’s mouth dropped open and he gaped at his smirking fiancé.

“Oh my...” her father gasped as the sunken wreckage appeared next. He knelt next to Spencer who had the controller in his hand. He stared at the footage as the last of the fish swam out of the way allowing the viewer to see the shipwreck in stark clarity.

“We are right about at a hundred feet here when the scene pauses,” Bobby narrated. “that’s when ‘your daughter’ insisted we continue and ordered me to pay out more line.” She glared at him and he stuck his tongue out at her. The wreckage once more started rising toward the viewer.

“It’s a merchant hauler for sure,” he muttered.

“But look, Daddy,” she pointed to the corner. “You will see a cannon right there...” The screen fizzled and went blank.

“And that’s where she pushed her luck and destroyed the submersible,” Bobby lamented tragically. “Fortunately, I went swimming and took my camera to get some even better footage before Betty showed up.”

Tavia came over and poked him in the chest. “You be lucky I ‘don chum the water next time ‘boy’.”

“Lad, can you show the footage from Bobby’s dive?” her father asked the ten-year-old carrot top sitting on the floor beside him.

The video was wild and erratic as he descended to the shelf. Not that there was much to see with all the schools of fish clouding the way. Once he broke through the fish, the wreck appeared in stark detail once more with even better detail from his powerful light.

“Can you stop and freeze it right there on the stern, Lad?” he asked softly. “Now keep going ... stop right there ... go back a whee.” It went on like that for some time before he watched the entire thing roll once more from start to finish.

Afterward, he stood and turned back to his daughter and future son-in-law. He had a gleam in his eyes. “You two have stumbled upon quite a find here.”

“What do you think? How old do you think it is? What kind of ship? What nationality?” Bobby blurted excitedly before the professor held up his hands.

“A little early for all that. But she’s been down there a spell. Even the main deck is buried in silt, so it’ll be a chore trying to identify her,” he surmised.

“So, what do we do?” Tai asked.

“I guess it mostly depends on what you two want to do?”

“Pardon?” Bobby asked. The other adults gathered in the great room and sat on the couches and recliners.

“What exactly are you hoping to gain out of this?”

Bobby looked over at his betrothed but her shrug didn’t help. “Er ... I dunno. I’m guessing my answer will have some influence on the salvage of the thing.”

The professor gave a similar shrug to his daughter. “Are you hoping to claim salvage rights?”

He looked at his feet and chewed his lip. “I ... um, we...” he glanced over at Tavia. “I can’t say that we thought much past the part where we found it. How do they usually go about this sort of thing?”

The professor sipped his lager. “There are professional outfits who claim total salvage rights and spend millions dredging out the hulks and raising them, hoping they make their investment back,” he said. “They rarely do unless they stumble on a treasure ship that sank on its way back to its motherland. As for Admiralty Law and the rights of salvage ... it’s anybody’s guess. I think if you expect to unearth the thing you will need to enlist the help of a respectable salvage crew and they may charge a stiff percentage of the haul.”

“Is there any way to just keep it all on the down low for now until we figure out what it is and where it came from?” Bobby suggested. “How can we identify it anyway? Is that even possible?”

Dr. Ashanti nodded. “I have contacts in various maritime heritage projects who strive to do just that. It can involve a great deal of historical research and sometimes they can identify a ship or at least its nationality by its profile and dimensions, if that can be ascertained. If we could record a decent portion of the hull and then provide it to the researchers to upload and compare to known period shipwrights — we may get an accurate idea.

“But they work exclusively with the Universities and charitable foundations that sponsor them. So, they will also require a fee or suitable remuneration. So again, what are you hoping to gain from this find?”

“What are our options, Daddy? I can see that you are trying to steer this somewhere,” Tai sighed as she settled herself once more upon Bobby’s lap.

“If you want to claim the wreck and all its cargo, you can file your claiming with the Maritime Ministry. Since GC is a British Commonwealth, the Crown will likely claim it outright as is their right to do so. If you wanted to see it kept as a maritime heritage landmark, any number of foundations would jump at the opportunity to assist with unearthing and cataloging the site.”