Tempest Tossed: A Love Unexpected Novel (23 page)

Chapter 12—Dylan

Heading out to sea as the sun crests the horizon is one of the best things I can imagine. The sky was clear and the Thames was just waking up. It would take the better part of the day to reach the open ocean, but it was enough to know we were on our way.

I wanted to leave the city and the unpleasant days I’d spent in it far behind. I was anxious to spend some time on the water clearing my head. I had an idea of the direction I wanted to take my life and the use to which I wanted to put my new found fortune, but much still had to gel in my head.

Rene had slipped out of my bed to rustle up breakfast for me and the crew. If I hadn’t been in such a hurry to leave the wharf, I would have gotten a replacement for her, or at least an assistant who could shoulder a big hunk of the cook’s duties. I was cursing myself at 4:30 when she left me alone in that big bed. If I had realized how quickly I would get used to having her next to me and how much I wanted her by my side, I would have planned better.

As it was, I was going to make sure that she kept things as simple as possible on her end. No fancy stuff from the kitchen. I wanted to share plenty of free time to let the dust settle and find out what
she
wanted out of life.  I also wanted to make sure that she and I were on the same page when it came to her being ‘mine’.

For myself, I didn’t consider it a temporary situation. Even though we hadn’t made any grand declarations of love or any promises for the future, the word ‘mine’ was still meaningful. I figured by the time we got back to the States, things would have sorted themselves out and we’d be moving along a mutually agreed path into the future.

Rene seemed so perfect for me, but it was unsettling to know that she actually had more real experience being involved with a man than I had being involved with a woman. I never allowed anyone to get close. I never trusted anyone enough to give enough of myself for anyone to know me. I never let any girl stay around long enough for that. I’d made it a life-long policy to run like Forrest at the first sign of ‘attachment’ on either side.

Plenty of times it was too easy. Some woman would act like I hung the moon until she realized that I wasn’t going to start showering her with expensive gifts or taking her on dream vacations. It was always easy to spot the gold diggers and I had a talent for ridding myself of those female leeches.

Unlike me, Rene knew what it was like to have her heart broken. The only time my heart broke was before puberty. Rene had known—twice—the pain of being wrong about someone you’ve invested a lot of time in. In spite of my 'reputation' as quite the lady's man, I still had a virgin heart.

I felt so sure that she was right for me until I started to think about how little I knew about being with one woman for more than a few days or weeks. I laughed inwardly at how
I
was the one rushing things. That’s how bowled over she had me.

We had the crossing and plenty of time to feel our way. She certainly wasn’t demanding promises from me so there was no point jumping the gun. I’d gone far enough with the necklace already. I hoped that she wasn’t on her computer trying to figure out what that bauble set me back. It could lead to the wrong impression.

No, I most emphatically needed to back off. If I continued at the pace I’d been going, Stephen could be doing his captainly duty and performing a marriage at sea before we reached Florida.

The entire jumble of circumstance and chance had screwed with my head. The bizarre feverish hallucinations, the grand escape from the hospital, discovering Dawn was alive and having my father dead all conspired to contribute to my rash behavior.

We’d have a nice, pleasant crossing. We’d make lots of love, have lots of long conversations and no pushing or prodding on anyone’s part.

That was my plan and I was stickin’ to it.

Of course, I hadn’t counted on the storm.

***

I was pressuring Stephen to make better time. We skipped the Canary Islands altogether. I wasn’t in any mood to fish. A couple days into the voyage I was able to abandon the horrible crutches. I wanted to hurl the awful things into the ocean, and if they had been made of wood, I might have. But as it was I settled for stowing the metal torture sticks far out of my sight. Contributing to the trashing of the sea wasn’t part of my style.

Rene and I were in our favorite spot by the pool on the third day of the trip just being lazy and talking about what we wanted to do when we got back to Ft. Lauderdale.

“I’m anxious to see Hannah,” she told me. “I’ve really missed her and I have so much to tell her.”

“You’ve been talking to her, haven’t you?”

“Yes, but it isn’t the same as being in the same room. I can hardly wait. Plus, I want to show off my bling,” she said as she toyed with the diamond between her breasts. “It really sparkles under the sun, doesn’t it?”

“I still say you are doing the gems a favor by wearing them.”

“You flatterer. That sounds like a pick up line.”

“But I’ve already picked you up. I have, haven’t I?”

“Picked up, tied up and twisted” She stretched her legs in the sun. “I think I see the faintest hint of a tan. How many more days did you say I’d have to work on it?”

“A few more. We’re headed more or less in a straight line so we make the best time. We’ll hit the Azores for fuel sometime late today or early tomorrow depending on conditions. We can go faster on the first part of the journey, but we’ll have to slow down a bit on the last two-thirds to conserve diesel.”

“It seems pretty rough today. Those waves are the biggest ones I’ve seen so far.”

“They’ll slow us down a bit.” It frustrated me to know that Stephen had to throttle back early in the morning. The ocean was angry. The horizon looked a bit on the bleak side.

Stephen appeared on deck right on cue. “Boss, got a mean storm on the radar. Right between us and the Azores. I’ve been watching it all morning and it seems to be building and just hanging in one spot north of the islands. Weather service has issued a maritime warning.”

“Great, just great. Can we go around it?”

“I’m not real comfortable with the fuel situation. I’ve been maintaining speed as you asked and I’m afraid I was cutting it pretty close. I don’t think we’ve got enough to circle south.”

Rene looked alarmed. “You mean we have to go through the storm?” she asked.

“Not to worry, sweetheart,” I told her. “El Loco is state-of-the-art. You won’t even feel it below.”

“He’s right, Rene,” Stephen added. “This rig has more stabilizers than your average cruise ship. We’re pretty much unsinkable.”

She laughed nervously. “I think that’s what they said about the Titanic.”

“Ancient history. That ship hit an iceberg, anyway. We’re way too far south for icebergs,” I assured her. “Maintain the fastest safe speed you can, Stephen. Let’s push through it and if we absolutely have to, we’ll ride it out at Faial.”

“You got it, Boss.”

Thirty minutes later, the sun had disappeared. It was nearly as dark as night and the waves were at least ten, maybe twelve feet. Rene and I watched the lightening light up the crests from the relative comfort of the salon.

“You lied. I can definitely feel these waves. Thank God I don’t get seasick. I hate to toss my breakfast all over your pretty white carpet.” Rene was trying hard not to show any sign of nervousness, but I could tell it was an effort.

I hugged her close. “I know it looks terrifying, but El Loco really is built to take it. Someday I’ll show you all the different fail-safes she’s got, but right now I need to go to the bridge. How about keeping Lady D. company? She gets a little shaky when the sea is rough.”

Rene gave me a brave smile. “I’ll be with your monkey in her room. We might have to eat a whole bag of gummi bears to calm ourselves.” I watched Rene pitch back and forth like a drunk as we got hit broadside, but she kept walking gamely on. I added ‘courageous’ to my list of Rene’s many good qualities.

When I got to the bridge, Stephen and his two mates were huddled over the instruments. Their intense concentration told me all I needed to know. We were in trouble.

“Boss, this storm is picking up steam like I’ve never seen. The service says to expect waves as high as fifteen feet. I can handle that, but what has me worried is the lightening. That and the fact that this sea is confused. I can’t seem to find a pattern.”

“We don’t want to broach.” Burying the bow in one of those huge waves was the last thing I wanted.

“Obviously I am trying my best to avoid that.” Stephen snapped as he turned hard to starboard. I had to grab the nearest rail to keep from falling. “They’re coming at me from all sides.” He yanked the wheel in the other direction and we leaned over hard.

It was the first time I’d ever felt scared at sea. Stephen was having trouble keeping the boat under control and that had never happened before. Not ever.

“I’m turning east. I wanted to head for Faial, but it looks like the storm is huddled right over Horto. Even if we have to limp into Corvo, we can shelter there at the ferry dock. The marina at Flores can fuel us up.”

“Okay, Captain. You’re in command. I’m out of my league.” I meant it. It’s one thing to pilot a boat on a calm open sea, but quite another to try to thread a two-hundred foot ship into a tiny port in the midst of a freak storm. “How far are we from Corvo?”

“A little over five miles. But that’s to the north end. We have to skirt around to the south to get to the port.” As he was making another severe adjustment to port, we were hit. The flash seemed like a nuclear explosion. The lights flickered and I smelled the ozone in the air. A few seconds in the dark and El Loco came back to life. “We’ve been struck. C’mon, girl,” Stephen urged over the blinking instrument panel. “Don’t leave me now.” He pounded his fist against one of the screens.

One by one the screens lit up. But that’s all they did.

“We’ve lost our instruments, Boss. I can’t tell where we’re going or how far we’ve gotten.” Stephen reached in his breast pocket and pulled out a compass. He smiled at it sadly. “My father gave it to me. It still works. Heading south as fast as I dare.”

Then I heard something no one ever wants to hear on a boat in the midst of a killer storm. “Mayday, mayday! 39 degrees, 43 minutes, 47 seconds north, 31 degrees, 6 minutes, 54 seconds west. Last known location. Have lost instruments. Repeat have lost instruments. Mayday. Mayday!” Stephen was calm and clear but his face had lost all color. He turned to me and said in a dead voice: “Radio’s gone, too.”

El Loco pitched violently with each wave. The electronics that controlled her sophisticated system of stabilizers had been fried. We were at the storm’s mercy, directionless and vulnerable somewhere close to a perilous and rocky coast.

Stephen tested the intercom. “Engine room. Do you read?”

“Read you, Captain.”

“Thank God. All hands. Life jackets.”

I hurried toward the door. Rene was below with Lady D. and she’d have heard Stephen’s instructions. I had to get to her and get her secured. She’d be panicked. Hell, I was panicked and I knew how ironclad my boat was supposed to be. Stephen didn’t even notice I was leaving. He was fighting for our lives against each wave that pummeled El Loco’s sides.  The chaotic storm wouldn’t let up and wouldn’t give him a clue as to what it was going to throw at us next.

Chapter 13—Rene

I didn’t know what to do. Was I supposed to go somewhere, do something? I vaguely remembered being shown where the lifejackets were in the galley, but I wasn’t in the galley. I was in a monkey’s room with a little beast who, in spite of her tiny size, was threatening to strangle me with her wiry arms around my neck.

Dylan burst through the door as the lights flickered for the second time.

“C’mon.” He motioned for me to follow him and I ran behind him down the hall toward the salon. Adrenaline and fear had made his leg whole again. I could hardly keep up. He yanked a life jacket from a cupboard and helped me into it. The boat tipped fiercely to one side and I went flying into one of the sofas. Lady D. hung on to me for dear life. I felt a hot stream of pee slide down my chest as she screamed in terror.

“It’ll be okay. Just find something to hold onto. We’re close to the island. As soon as Stephen can see it, we’ll send up flares. Try not to worry. She’s not going to capsize.” Dylan sounded confident, but his eyes spoke a larger truth. He was scared, too. Lady D. and I both sensed it. She continued to screech and whimper into my neck.

I’ll never forget the noise when we hit. It felt like an earthquake and sounded like bombs going off.

“Sweet mother of God, have mercy,” Dylan said as both a prayer and a curse. “We’ve run aground. She’s on a rock.” He grabbed my arm and headed for the deck. The boat shifted again and we heard another huge ripping sound as the ‘fail safe’ hull of the mega yacht was torn apart. I held onto the hand rail as the boat settled into a sickening slope and stopped moving.

Irrationally, I was grateful we were finally still. It felt safer to be wrecked on a rock than to be thrown back and forth by the boiling sea.

The first engine exploded mere minutes after we crashed. I grabbed Dylan’s arm in terror.

“They’re flooding and overheating. All the systems are failing.”

Stephen and his mates appeared on deck along with several other crew members. They wordlessly started the process of launching the life boat on the low side of the boat. “Rocks on the other side, Dylan. Let’s get moving.”

The men hoisted the craft on a metal davit that brought the small craft level with the deck. The waves were crashing all over the place, but since we had stopped moving, I wasn’t quite as scared of the water as I had been.

Dylan helped me down the slippery deck and I jumped into the lifeboat with Lady D. still attached. The first mate followed and started preparing the engine for launch. One by one all the crew members got in with Dylan and Stephen the last to board.

Stephen closed the hatch and we were in a completely enclosed capsule. It was a futuristic egg shaped design that under other circumstances would have struck me as quite beautiful. I hadn’t paid much attention to the two dark blue and white crafts on either side of the main deck but I certainly appreciated them now. When the door was closed and sealed, the sound of the raging storm was almost inaudible.

The winch lowered us down and the mate fired the engine. We banged up against El Loco and the rocks that killed her a couple of times before we sped away from the wreckage and toward the forbidding coast of Corvo Island’s deserted north end.

“Can we make it to the port?” Dylan asked Stephen. The waves tossed us around, but the small craft bounced like a beach ball on the waves.

“I’d try it if we had more daylight. As it is, we’ll be lucky if we can find a landing place. Most of this coast is rock.”

Through the dim light I finally took a good look at our ‘refuge’. I was looking at a cliff that just ended in the ocean. There was no beach, no sand and no possible way up the rocky face. Angelo was sitting next to me and must have seen the despair in my eyes.

“Not to worry, Chef. This life boat is capsize proof. We’re all safe now.”

“Thanks, Angelo, but Dylan told me El Loco was unsinkable, too.”

Dylan sat down on my other side and took my hand. “Angelo’s right, honey. We’re safe now. We just have to find a place to put this boat and then it’s just a matter of making it to town.”

I patted Lady D. “Hear that Lady D.? We’re safe now.” It was then that I realized the monkey hadn’t moved in a while. In a panic, I pulled her out of my life vest. She was limp and her round little eyes were frozen in a picture of pure horror. “Oh, God!” I cried. “No. No!”

Dylan lifted her from my grasp and held her in his big hands like a stillborn infant. Then he raised her to his face and put his cheek against her lifeless form, still warm and limp. When he looked at me, I started to cry. The poor little thing was gone. Dylan’s eyes were the saddest blue I’d ever seen. They were a sea of tears, though none slipped out.

“She must have had a heart attack,” he said softly. In those close quarters, no one wanted to look at him. They wanted to give him privacy in his grief. “My little girl is gone.” He placed her gently in his lap and stared, seeing nothing.

“Over there!” Stephen shouted. Everyone except Dylan and I looked toward the shore. I couldn’t take my eyes from Dylan. His sorrow was so raw it cut through me. He put his hand over his beloved pet and stroked her softly.

“I’m so sorry. So very sorry,” I told him. He couldn’t hear me in his devastation. He paid no attention as Stephen maneuvered the boat into a small cove with a white beach about a hundred yards long. It was surrounded by sheer rock cliffs.

Dylan sat stone still as the boat was beached and the crew got off, one after the other until only Stephen, Dylan and I were left.

“C’mon, man. We need to get off the boat now,” Stephen said gently. Dylan looked up at him with unseeing eyes and then slowly started to move. When his feet hit the sand he started walking away from us in the driving rain. I started to follow him but Stephen stopped me. “Let him be. Give him a little time.”

Much as I hated to let him go off alone, I heeded Stephen’s advice. The crew quickly went to work erecting a shelter that was part of the life boat’s survival gear. They had a hard time with it in the fading light with all the wind and rain. The sun was dipping below the cliffs to the west when the clouds began to dissipate. The wind stilled and the rain slowed to a trickle. I could see the last rays of the day fighting to light the top of the rock to the west.

Down the beach, deep in shadows, I saw Dylan bury Lady D. He gathered stones and put them on top of the grave he dug until he had a little capuchin sized mound above her. Then I saw him sink to his knees and put his face in his hands. Even from a distance I could see his shoulders shake with his sobs. The last of the wind carried his cries away. I thought my heart would break for his grief.

I waited for him on a rock some distance from the bustle of the crew. They’d all made it out of a life and death situation and that terror had given way to a noisy jumble of laughter and orders as they organized their survival ‘camp’ on the beach. Stranded though we seemed to be, there was no doubt we’d be rescued and we knew where we were. Morning would see us safe and dry.

I wrapped the shiny silver blanket around my shoulders as darkness fell. It was a warm night, but I was still wet and chilled with melancholy. Dylan walked toward the light of our camp with slow, heavy steps. He sat down in the sand beside me and I rubbed his shoulder wordlessly.

“I lose everything I love,” he said at last. “Everything.” He looked out at the spot where his beloved boat lay in pieces on the rocks. Only the glow of the engine fires told us where El Loco had come to rest. The stars and the moon cast no light through the lingering storm clouds. “The old man got his burial at sea. I was gonna do it when we passed the Azores. Looks like he managed to go down with his ship.”

He sighed. “I’ll miss her terribly, you know.”

Did he mean the monkey or the boat? Maybe both. All I could say was how sorry I was for his loss. It didn’t seem adequate at all.

“I can get a new boat. I don’t want a new father. I can’t approach the sister I thought I’d lost and my monkey is buried down the beach.” He turned toward me and took my hands in his. “I had almost convinced myself that I needed to put the brakes on us. I thought I was trying to move too fast and that I didn’t have enough experience in love to know whether this—with you—was going to last.”

He turned my hands over and kissed each palm. “If I had lost you in that storm, like I lost Lady D. I don’t think I’d want to live. I can’t lose you, Rene. I’ve never said this to a woman and it scares the hell out of me to say it now, for the first time.” He took a deep breath. “I love you, Rene. I love you too much to even imagine my life without you in it.”

“I love you, too, Dylan. I’ve known it for a while. I knew it when you were so sick and I realized I would have gladly taken the poison from your body into mine. And I knew it when I looked into your eyes when you held Lady D.’s little body. I wanted to take your pain away even if it meant hurting myself.”

“I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring, Rene. I have a thousand decisions to make about my life and what to do with it. But what I do know is that I want you to be there, beside me. I want you to be part of the decisions and the direction our life is going to take.”

Our life
.
Be mine
. Just a few days ago I was terrified that he might ask me to marry him. Now ‘our life’ loomed like a neon sign in the night sky blinking ‘this is it, this is it’ over and over again.

I pulled him to me and hugged him hard. I tried to tell him in an embrace that I was completely his. “We’ll figure it out together,” I said at last. “Anything is possible together, my love.”