Chapter 4: The trip home...

I gave Janey the nickel tour of the Surprise. Since the Surprise is over 40' long, there is a little to see. There are two state rooms with queen size beds each had it's own small head. There is a small crew's cabin with two double bunks. The main salon was where all the relaxation, eating and cooking took place. There was a small head off that too. In the Pilot House Bridge. There was the control station with two Captains chairs. I had also installed a compact single berth that could be utilized by the Admiral or the First Mate. Which ever title might suit her.

I fixed us some omelets and opened a bottle of wine. We ate our lite supper and Janey asked me questions all the while. I did my best to answer them, or I told her that some would be better to discuss later on.

Of course, the most crucial issue popped up very soon. Janey went to the bathroom (Head) and the next thing I heard was: "Mike. How do you flush this thing?"

I had forgotten the most important lesson on any boat. How to operate the Marine Head. I helped her out with that and she seemed to be a quick study. She got the hang of it right away.

Pretty soon, we were both ready to go to bed. I showed her to one of the State Rooms and got her bag and gave it to her. She gave me a kind of quizzical look. Kind of like, what gives? I knew what she was asking but not really voicing.

"Honey, lets just sleep tonight, remember I told you months ago, you are safe with me. Please don't misunderstand. I want you like a man wants a woman. I want us to have time to really get to know one another before we commit to the final act of submission of a man and woman. This is important to me. "Is that OK with you?"

"Yes, I want you too, but I can wait after all it has already been months. I can wait till you are ready."

After that I kissed her one more time and then headed off to my normal rack in the crew quarters. I liked it there, it was small and I had all my books and personal items tucked away in various pigeon holes, everything was at my finger tips even in the dark. I was also only 3 steps from the Pilot House control station in case I got a call on the radio or my cell phone which was charging from the shore power hook up. In the morning, we headed toward the local cafe that catered to fishermen and tourists.

We had oyster omelets. Wow, were they good. I had never had that before. I was really primed by then. Oh' well. Down boy...

We drove back to Oysterville and Janey's Mom's house. When we got there, Ernie was there too and we all had some late morning coffee and doughnuts.

"So, what's the plan?" Ernie asked.

"Do you think that you can get Darrell to come and get you and take you home?" I asked him.

"Sure he already told me he would. All I have to do is call him and he'll be here or where ever, it's just a good excuse to fly. He writes all these flights off as business expense on his taxes and it helps pay for the plane gives him a good reason to own it."

"Well, here's my idea. I thought I would stay here for a week or two and help Janey and Amy get the house and business ready to sell. That would give us some time to be together. Then I'll call you to come down and help me take The Surprise home to Tacoma. Don't feel like its a hurry to get all this done. Stay as long as you like, I'm going to stay in the Motel and there is room for you too."

"Well, that would be alright. I kind a would like to stay another couple of days."

As they say, Time passes fast when you are having fun. Ernie eventually called Darrel and he went home to Clair and Janey and I spent a lot of time just getting comfortable with each other. We did a lot of walking and a ton of talking. We sat on the beach, we took the skiff out and went fishing. We kissed a lot and held each other for what seemed like hours. We painted the house and the Oyster House and the skiff. We cleaned up the oyster bed the best we could given the limited working time at low tide. Mostly just got the old tires and junk brought in by the tide, picked up and gone. Eventually, we got it all done. Now it was up to the Realtor to get it sold.

Over the passage of days Amy and Janey and I talked about the future plans.

"Mike, I really don't want to go back to Missouri alone, now that Janey is going to stay here with you. I really don't know quite what to do. I really don't have the money to buy a different house up in Tacoma and until this house and business sells, All I have coming in is Al's Social Security."

"Amy, if you could do what you wanted to do, what would it be? I asked her.

"Well, to be honest, I would like to stay close to Janey, She is all the family that I have, I would prefer not being hours or hundreds of miles away." Was her reply.

"Amy, I have an idea, Janey and I have talked about it. What would you say to living less than 10 feet away?"

"What do you mean?" Amy asked.

"Well, I don't plan on ever getting a house again. The Surprise is my home and in her, we plan to travel where ever the wind will take us. Would you like to come along as part of the working crew or part of the decorative crew. You could fill either spot nicely. What would you think about that?"

"I don't know what to say. I have never been on a boat larger than a pontoon boat in the Lake of the Ozarks. I thought I was going to get sea sick on it. Not really, it was very calm that day.

"Well, here's my proposal. Why don't you come along with us on the return trip to the Tacoma Marina and stay on board a while, if you like it good, if not, I'll rent you an apartment close to the Marina. How would that be."

"I guess, I could do that, what about my car?"

"We could leave it parked at the West Port Marina for a week or so and then drive down and get it or sell it if you decided to stay on the boat with us. I really don't see a strong need for two cars, especially if we are all living together. How would that be?" "When would you like to go back Mike? I have to get everything ready."

"Don't worry about anything other than your clothes and personal items. Everything else we can come back for with the car after we get The Surprise home. That will also give you a few days or so to decide what you want to let go with the house or you want to keep. I'll give Ernie a call and see if he can be here tomorrow or the next day."

Ernie met us at the boat the next morning. We didn't get an early start like I had wanted to, but it worked out alright. He had gotten the tanks topped off and the pump out taken care of and had also stocked with ice and drinks.

The Surprise was just sitting there with the diesels contentedly idling All you could hear was a soft murmur.

"Permission to come aboard Sir?" I saluted him and the flag on the stern.

"Sir' my ass, get on board." Ernie was standing there as soon as he saw the ladies, he jumped to help them with their gear.

Ernie must have been telling lies as the ladies were laughing till their sides might burst as they came aboard. I served duty as a side boy, to help them over the Toe rail and down to the cockpit deck. From there, they went into the Pilot house and down into the salon.

"She ready to go Ernie?" I asked.

"Yep. Ready when you are Captain." Well then lets take her to sea. I went back down to the dock and slipped the loops off the cleats and ran a loose line around the cleat and threw the free end onto the boat at the bow. I ran to the stern and did the same and Ernie was there to grab the loose end., to make sure it didn't go in to the water and fowl the propellers. I came back on board and went forward to grab the line and keep her snugged to the dock, in case Ernie wanted me to use it as a spring line to swing the bow toward the dock and let the engine revs walk the stern away from the dock. I needn't have worried, he just eased her straight back into the channel. He swung the wheel to port and applied just the right amount of throttle to give us way and then backed of as the bow docilely followed around, Once around, he shifted to forward and gave her just enough throttle to gain control and get us stopped and then a little more to head us out of the Marina. Once clear of the Marina breakwater, he throttled up some more and kept her running smooth out through the mouth of the Bay. The big Pacific rollers were coming at us dead ahead. Once the Surprise felt them, she just kind of gave a little flick of her stern like a Swan would do and settled down to breast them as they came on one after another from 5000 miles or more away. It was a gentle ride. He kept going till we had lots of sea room and then he swung her to starboard and put her into the wind and the sails went up I was helping when he wanted, but you could see he was enjoying himself.

We gained a few miles out to sea heading up the coast, we were dead into the wind. He gently turned to port as he spoke.

"Prepare to come about!" "Coming about, Aye Captain." Was my reply. He layed the wheel to port and hit the kill button on the diesels and all of a sudden Surprise took off across the wind like she was meant to do. She had the bone in her teeth and was heading home. What a beautiful sight she was. The ladies had stood in the stern cockpit and watched the proceedings with little comment and a look of wonder and joy. I walked back and put an arm around them both."

"Well ladies what do you think of the ride so far?"

"Oh' Mike she is beautiful and the ride is wonderful. I was a little apprehensive as she leaned over to the left, but once she stabilized, I had no problem with it at all. Janey replied.

"What do you think Amy?" I asked.

The look on her face was my answer. She just stood there against me with a look of wonder on her face, she had big eyes and an open mouth.

"Mike, I see why you love it so." Was her reply a little later.

"Not all days start so nice, but even when it gets a little rough, it is still exciting." I told them.

I went and got coffee for everyone and took one to Ernie and asked if he wanted a relief at the helm.

"I'm good, she's sailing herself. We will keep this heading for a hundred miles or so and that should line us up for a long Starboard tack right into the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We need to keep a sharp watch. There will be ships coming at us from all directions. It is Monday and a lot will be coming out and an almost equal number going in. When you are in the shipping lanes, you really have to keep an eye out for floating, mostly submerged containers that may have fallen off a ship. It does happen as well as logs this close to the coast."

Ernie and I had already worked out our rolls on board, most of what he said was for their benefit. It is always good to have all eyes sweeping the sea and the horizon. We all had moved into the Pilot House. The windows were shut and it was quite a bit warmer in there. The breeze out side was a little chilly. Janey, was sitting on my lap as I sat in the port captains chair. We were necking and smooching a little. Amy was standing behind Ernie and watching his every move. I don't think he knew he was being watched so closely.

Gradually the hours passed. We swept out to sea in a NNW direction. I spelled Ernie at the helm every couple of hours. Surprise was on auto pilot. Most of what we did was monitor the compass and keep an eye on the radar scope as well as the horizon. This was my first time being this far from land. For Ernie it was normal. He had sailed to Tahiti and beyond in past years. Generally with one girl friend or another. He loved to explore, and do it as cheaply as possible. Sailing can be very economical once you are on the sea. It's getting ready that is expensive.

Janey and I spent time together as we could grab it. Amy kept her self busy making sure we were all well hydrated and fed. She whipped up an almost endless array of snacks and finger food from the Galley. I could tell that Ernie really appreciated her efforts.

It didn't seem to be too long before Ernie gave the command to come about and head for the Strait of Juan De Fuca. We were on the way home at last. Even though this had been a relatively short sail. It was still a major one for the three of us. We were getting our sea legs. Janey was showing no concern at all and Amy took to sailing like a duck to water. The rest of the trip was uneventful. We made Tacoma Marina in good time and the next morning like clock work, Darrel was there to take Ernie back to Clair. We were finally home. Life gradually slowed down to a more normal pitch. We all moved gently around one another. There is a process that you have to go through while you get use to living with another person and it complicates it if there is an additional person there too. Amy, tried very hard to be as unobtrusive as possible. She tended to stay in her cabin a great deal. Janey and I moved about the boat easily enough, we were still getting to know each others moods and mannerisms. We still had not been intimate. We had done a little light petting. I will say that being that close to her all day long, kept my senses on edge all of the time. The only time I got any relief was after lights out in my own rack. Some time that was not enough.

The weather in the Puget Sound area in the early spring and summer is spectacular. Once the Sun starts coming out on a regular basis, its starts to warm up and days are comfortable. Normally in the mid 60's to the 80's, and because the drip and mist has stopped, the humidity drops, of course living right on the water, it is higher there, but away from the water, the mild temperature and lower humidity makes life in The Pacific North West almost ideal. The really big draw back to living in the area is the horrible traffic and the Interstate highways are clogged from 0430-0930 and then again from 1500-1830. The two rush hours are not where you want to find yourself if you can possibly help it. It was a good thing that we didn't have to contend with going to work.

A boat, even one as big as the Surprise will tend to get cramped after a while of close confinement, almost every day, I would have some suggestions of things to do or places to go see. Since Janey and Amy had never been in the Seattle area, there were literally 100's things to see and do. We started by doing a lot of the typically tourist things, Pike's Market, The Space Needle, The Ballard Locks, The Wooden Boat Store on Lake Washington. These were all places that I had been too with my family on previous vacations out to see my brothers, back when I had a strong marriage. It was kind of bitter sweet to be doing them again with my new love.

Ernie had come down to spend the weekend with us a couple of times over the summer, he and Amy seemed to get along good, and they would go off on their own sometimes for a day or two. That was nice as it gave Janey and I some time to be just the two of us and not have to worry about including Amy in everything. We needed privacy and she needed to be on her own some too.

We had been living together about 8 weeks or so and had not really addressed the Elephant in the Room. We had gotten comfortable in each others company, now where do we go from here.

The Elephant in the Room...

For myself, I was still on kind of a winding down stage regarding my Dearly Beloved Ex Wife. I tried to communicate with my boys on a regular basis. They were not always there when I tried to call them and they did not tend to return my calls, if in fact they could. My Ex always told me to call them any time and that they were free to call me any time they wanted. What she told me and what reality was, I kind of half suspected were entirely two different things. I didn't learn till years later that it didn't take my Ex long to paint me as a real boogeyman man, and herself as a virtuous mistreated wife in distress from my abandonment of her. Years later, of course the truth finally came out and my boys as they aged realized that there are always two sides to every story. Today as I write this, my relationship with my boys is good and my Ex's relationship with them has gone down in flames. You can only lie so long, before you forget what you were lying about and get yourself caught.