Chapter 18

I watched Eva cover up ... barely ... with the minimum fabric acceptable in polite society. She was ... very pretty, and, I supposed, unconsciously sexy. I sighed, thinking of the situation we were in and began to dress, myself.

I followed her out of the cabin to the cockpit where Grace had cold meat, cheese, rice and potato salads, with grated carrot and coleslaw. We ate, mostly, in silence, then over tea or coffee, pored over the Blackwater chart.

We were faced with a dead beat to windward from Mersea to Osea, then again past Heybridge, where the fairway is rather narrow and restricted by numerous moorings. Serendipity, at forty feet, isn't enormous. The sailing barges run to ninety and a hundred feet long, and negotiate the river well enough, though most skippers would not try to beat against a head wind to enter Maldon. No. But Serendipity is designed for comfortable sea-sailing, rather than manoeuvring in constricted waters. She has a long keel, which means she is stable, directionally.

My crew ... I do not run my boat as a democracy, but my charterers, at least, get a say in what we do ... did not want to use the engine until we had to. So we set off at half-past two, at half-flood. It's about seven miles from Mersea Quarters to Osea. Tacking against a head wind, say, ten miles. We got help, a knot or two, from the tide. Two hours. Two hours, tacking about every fifteen minutes, say. I, for one, breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the green conical buoy that indicated we could bear away on port tack, heading for the Heybridge sailing club; two miles of uninterrupted reaching.

Not wanting to spend time on mud, or bump a moored boat, I insisted on motoring down Colliers Reach, past Heybridge, but we were able to sail again past Herrings point. We had to use the 'iron sail' again for the half mile alongside the prom, before we could head up for the Hythe Quay. I left the motor running for safety as the harbour opened up to view.

THERE WAS SOMEONE IN MY BERTH! THERE WAS A GIN-PALACE IN MY BERTH!

I swallowed my anger. I had, after all, told the Landlord at the Queens Head that I'd be away for up to six months and to let others use my berth for short stays. So we carefully manoeuvred alongside another yacht at the visitors' pontoon. It was a little after six in the afternoon of July second. We'd been away not quite three months, but it might have been a life-time.

We went for supper to the Queen's Head.

As we left, we came face to face with Jim.

"Welcome home, Ted. I'm glad to see you! I thought you'd be away longer ... and Miss Tyndall! I hope your voyage met your expectations?"

Grace smiled; her whole body smiled. "It's Missus Quinton, Mr. Preston," she said, holding out her hand, "and yes ... you might say the voyage considerably exceeded my expectations."

Jim did a quick double take; "Married?" I daresay that was the last thing he expected of me. But then he turned his attention to our companion. I am quite certain I heard a loud clang as their eyes met. There was a long hiatus before he said, "And this charming young lady?"

Eva blushed. Grace said, "This is Miss Evania Doherty ... Eva ... who came back with us from Dun Laoghaire. She's going to be an enormous help – she's an excellent cook, and we're going to need her services as a nanny in due course."

I would not have thought Jim's eyebrows could have got any higher, but they did as his glance flicked between the three of us. I noticed, though, that they spent longer on Eva than either of us. I was just parsing 'cook', 'help' and 'nanny'. It seemed my wife had everything planned out.

Grace went on, "We'll be looking for a house, or a medium-sized flat, not too far from the quay."

Jim was looking at Eva again; he seemed dazed. "Jim?"

"What? Oh, sorry, Ted. I'm ... sorry. What was that?"

"You seemed to be elsewhere, Jim. Grace was just saying we'd be looking for a house or flat not too far from the Quay."

He visibly shook himself. "Come to see me in the morning and I may have something to interest you," he held out his hand, "it really is good to see you back, Ted. Glad you're happy Miss ... er ... Missus Quinton, and ... good to meet you, Eva."

He got a hand-shake from me, a smile from Grace and a dimpled smile from Eva. I hadn't noticed the dimples previously. Back on board, she asked if she could bathe in the saloon; we pointed out the showers not far away on the Hythe.

"Oh, I'm not after a bath. I just want to get ready for bed. I'll shower in the morning."

Grace and I left her to it and walked along the prom. The water had largely gone, two hours after high water, leaving the usual expanse of mud, patrolled by waders, shelducks and gulls. Kids were yelling and running around in the playground, chasing each other over the 'pirate ship' and sliding down the zip-wire. We sauntered, enjoying – at least, I was enjoying – the sense of ... arrival. Of being home.

When we reached the statue of Earl Brithnoth at the end of the prom, we stopped and Grace faced me and pulled my head down for a kiss.

"I'm glad I met you, Ted Quinton."

"I'm delighted I met you. Even more that I didn't turn down your charter."

"Might you have?"

"Possibly. The barge and smack racing season is on and things are busy. But the challenge of a round-Britain voyage, and the money ... probably not."

"Humph. The fact I'm skinny and not pretty wouldn't have had anything to do with that?"

"Quite the opposite. Mind you, if you'd been a man, I'd have made sure I found a congenial bed warmer with no strings."

"But now you've got a bed-warmer with chains, not just strings."

"What binds me to you is something much stronger than mere chain."

We were silent as we walked slowly back to Serendipity. Eva had taken herself off to her cabin – we could hear a radio playing – so we made tea and drank it, did the toilet, teeth-cleaning bit, and retired ourselves.

Grace snuggled in my arms and we kissed for quite a while. Then she said, "I'm home. I feel more at home right now than I ever have, I think."

"Serendipity?"

"No, silly. Though she's certainly played her part, and I won't have you selling her. No ... in your arms ... and in Maldon, I think. Right now, though, I think your tongue might be put to better use than talking ... don't you?"

I was happy to oblige, and even happier, later, when I spent myself inside her, accompanied by the unique sensations of her orgasming vagina...

We were woken the next morning by voices in the cockpit, and Eva tapping on the hatch.

"Grace? Ted? Awake yet?"

"Give us a few minutes, Eva," I called, "and put the kettle on, please."

Grace wrapped herself round me. "There's no hurry, Ted."

"But..."

"I'm pretty sure that was Jim Preston's voice out there. I'm also pretty sure we're not the primary reason for the visit. The ostensible reason, but not the primary one."

"If we take too long, he'll know..."

"He knows anyway. We're married. It's what married people do. With your reputation, he'd be amazed if we weren't."

I could feel my face heating, though surely I shouldn't be embarrassed by the self-evident truth?

So ... we were fairly quick. I expect Jim's nose would have confirmed what he doubtless suspected, but what the hell? We were married. Grace was right, too. Eva and Jim were obviously chatting comfortably; Jim holding a mug of coffee, Eva tea, and coffee and redbush were waiting for us.

"There you are," Jim declared. "I thought I'd catch you early. You see, a friend of mine and his wife have emigrated and asked me to look out for someone to rent their house and perhaps buy it later. Rental would be for a year initially and it'll be up for sale at the end of that time unless they decide to come back."

"What is it, and where?" I asked.

"It's a three-bedroom end terrace in Mill Road. Small enclosed garden at the rear, postage-stamp front patch. Next to the Chippy."

Grace and I looked at each other. "Can you live with the smell?" I asked.

"Is it a good chippy?" she returned.

"Oh, yes. I've got my meal there often."

"Then the smell won't be too bad, will it? We'd better go and have a look, anyway."

"It's furnished," Jim said, "they didn't want to deal with the furniture. Anything you don't want, I'll send for auction."

"I've got no furniture," I said, "everything I own is on board Serendipity." I looked at Grace.

"I lived with my parents," she said, "we'd have to buy stuff anyway. Might as well have a look. What about breakfast?"

"The Crystal Café," Jim put in, "to show how pleased I am to see Ted back, it's my treat." He looked at Eva, "All three of you," he added.

"Actually, all five of us," Eva said, quietly.

It took a few seconds for Jim to process the implication. He then looked at me and the two women, put two and two together and made five. I could see it in his eyes.

"Later, Jim," I said, shaking my head. "Let's go for breakfast."

It wasn't that easy; the boat we'd moored alongside wanted to leave on the tide, so we had to swing Serendipity out before there was too little water for them, so we did that; they left and we adjusted the mooring-lines.