Chapter 16

Leaving Dun Laoghaire at seven a.m., we headed, close-hauled, roughly south-east. Mid-morning, out of sight of land, Grace disappeared into our cabin for a few minutes. When she re-appeared, even the skimpy shorts and cropped top she'd been wearing had gone. She handed me the sun-screen with a smile. I glanced from her face to Evania at the wheel and back again. She winked. I shrugged and began smoothing lotion on her back, then her arms and legs. I lingered on her slowly growing bump, before moving to her breasts, then her crotch. She sighed and pointed to the cabin. I half expected her to follow me, but instead I was obviously expected to disrobe myself.

Suitably lotioned, Grace and I moved around doing routine tasks. Evania studiously watched the sails and occasionally the compass, though I caught her sneaking glances at both of us. When she'd had an hour on her feet at the wheel, I relieved her and she disappeared below with Grace. I assumed they would be doing something about food.

I was wrong. Maybe half an hour later, she emerged into the cockpit wearing a broad-brimmed hat and a comprehensive blush. She stopped just by the hatch, hands fluttering as she resisted the temptation to try to cover herself with her hands. I had only to turn my head to look at her, which I did. I gave her a top-to-toe and back again sweep of my eyes, then, looking straight at her eyes, said, "Very nice!"

Her blush intensified. "Thank you, I think," she said. "I thought ... when in Rome..." she moved out into the cockpit and allowed Grace out too.

"She asked me," Grace said, "and I thought once we'd all got used to it, it would be more comfortable all round."

I've said Evania was pretty. Even with the baby bump, more pronounced than Grace's, the sight of her began to produce a stiffening of my ... equipment. Grace's emergence completed the effect. Grace tucked in beside me.

"You're allowed to look," she said, "and I expect what you see to have the usual effect..." she took hold and stroked. "But this is for me, right?"

"Absolutely," I agreed, blushing at least as much as Evania. Curiously, Grace just seemed to be enjoying herself. "You may not have noticed, but I wasn't properly hard until you came out."

"I noticed. But I meant, this only goes in me."

I was ever so slightly irritated by that. "What do you think I am?"

"I think you are a man," Grace breathed in my ear, "but I also think you're my man. Like I say. Look, but don't touch. In fact, looking and the occasional compliment might be a good thing for Evvie."

I shrugged and sighed. Things were getting a little too complicated for me. I knew there was a reason I'd avoided long-term involvements.

"What chance of a fish or two for supper?" Grace asked.

"You know where the line is," I said.

We kept our course throughout the day. Close-hauled, in the moderate breeze, we were making about four knots consistently. I wasn't sure if we'd clear the Lleyn Peninsular but I was planning on tacking well short of it in any case. The distance was about sixty miles, so we'd tack sometime before ten o'clock. Once we'd had supper, Grace dragged me off to bed.

"Evvie's capable of standing a two-hour watch and she'll call me if she's worried. She'll call me anyway at nine, and I will tack the ship with her help. You will sleep until I wake you about eleven."

"Very well, Dear." I am not stupid. At least...

Grace is never a noisy lover. That evening, she suppressed the little noise she usually made by fastening her mouth on mine, but her efforts were most satisfactory; I slept like a log and didn't stir when she left our bed to take the wheel from Evania and tack the ship.

When she woke me, it was more like midnight than eleven, but there was coffee waiting for me in the bracket by the wheel and Serendipity was perfectly trimmed on a south-westerly course, heading for Tuskar Rock and Carnsore Point. I hoped we'd clear the Point handily. Time would tell.

A couple of hours into my trick at the wheel, I sensed something had changed; the trim wasn't right. That, I found, was because the wind had backed slightly. I eased the sheets slightly so we were on a close reach and Serendipity speeded up perceptibly. By dawn, about four, I could tell we'd been freed more and this time I changed course to south-south-west. We'd clear the point very well indeed, but now we'd need to watch for St. David's Head. However, it would be a weather shore; we could always bear away.

(When the wind is off the shore, it is called a 'weather shore' and it is easy for a sailing vessel to move away. When the wind is blowing towards the shore it is called a 'lee shore' and is the cause of many wrecks.)

At six o'clock, Evania appeared in the cockpit. "Go to your wife," she said, reaching for the wheel.

"If you're sure..."

"I'll be fine. I'll call if I need to do anything other than keep on the same course."

"In the next couple of hours, we'll be crossing the track for the ferries between Fishguard and Rosslare," I said. "If you see anything, call for help, okay?"

"Okay." She reached out and held my elbow as I moved away. "Thank you," she said, quietly, "I know picking me up was your wife's idea, but I'll try not to be in the way. I want to earn my passage, so I'll need to learn."

"Carry on as you are, and you'll be an asset," I said, and she smiled.

In our cabin, I stripped to t-shirt and boxers and slipped into bed. Grace was nude, which was perhaps not the best idea, and she wrapped herself round me without, apparently, waking; murmuring contentedly.

I didn't exactly wake when Grace left our bed, but I was aware of her leaving. I soon fell back into sound sleep, though.

When Grace woke me, with fresh coffee (wonderful woman) and her nude body (beautiful woman) at ten o'clock, we were (she said) well past the ferry lanes and about ten miles off St. David's Point. She snuggled with me, holding my hand to her breast, as I drank, and brought me up to date on progress. We were reaching, now, with the wind east-south-east.

We had the Milford Haven to Rosslare ferry lane to cross and about one hundred and forty miles to Land's End, say, thirty-five hours sailing, depending upon weather, of course.

It was apparent the anticyclone was moving, albeit slowly. I hoped it would get out of the way. The easterly wind was fine on our heading south, but I wasn't keen on the idea of beating up channel. As it was, the wind was picking up and backing as we travelled. We were at times making five knots. It might have been better, but I suspected Serendipity's bottom was foul with marine growth. Why do we fork out a small fortune on anti-fouling paint?

We did out best to further Evania's marine education. She seemed to grasp how the sails worked fairly easily and quickly caught on to sail setting. Not that she was nearly as good as Grace, but ... capable, yes. From my point of view, the best aspect of having her on board was just as an extra pair of eyes. It meant Grace and I could rest and ... have some intimate time together without distraction. I could forgive a lot for that.

We settled into a sort of routine. Evania took a trick at the wheel from about seven til nine, while Grace and I made love and I went to sleep in her arms. Grace took over from about nine til eleven, and I did the night watch from about eleven until around six, though Evvie was apt to wake early and take over from any time after four, letting me got to the arms of my wife, who would embrace me without really waking.

Much later, Grace would tell me how hard it was for her to leave our bed in the mornings, but she would slip out around seven. We told Evvie how to lock the wheel so she could rest a little, reassuring her that a few degrees off course wouldn't matter greatly. Okay, those few degrees could mean a lot of miles, but as long as she kept her eyes open and we monitored our position carefully, there was little danger.

It was midnight of the twenty-fourth, when Grace woke me to say we were about twenty miles from Land's End, and ten from the Scilly Isles. We brought Serendipity close to the wind, south-south-east, more or less. Grace lingered.

"Would you like me to stay up/" she asked, "four eyes are better than two."

"I'd love for you to stay up," I answered with a grimace she couldn't see; the sliver of moon wasn't much help, "but I'd rather you got some rest. I promise I'll call if I need you."

She gave me a lingering kiss, after which I had to get Serendipity back on course as I'd let her drift off badly. Grace brushed her fingers across my cheek; such a loving, intimate gesture. "Go," I said, "it'll be okay."

Five hours at the wheel saw us ten miles west and a little south of Land's End, with the Scilly Isles off to the west. Evania appeared. "Good morning, Skipper."

That was new. I'd been 'Ted' to Evvie since we met.