Voyage To Submission (21 page)

Then Andy spoke loud enough for everyone to
hear. “Actually, I need to attend the lecture about S and M throughout the
Middle Ages.”

Everyone stopped talking and eating to look
at her. Immediately, she flushed in embarrassment. She wasn’t used to having
everyone’s attention all at once.

“Well, that sounds like fun,” Danny
commented a few long moments later, breaking the silence.

Ruthie shook her head. “It’s for work,
right?” As soon as she said the words, she covered her mouth with her hand. She
added, “Oops.”

Andy wished she’d taken the time to tell
Jack sooner, but she didn’t think there was any way to backpedal from this faux
pas. Quickly, she looked at Jack, not surprised to see the confused look on his
face.

“Work?” he asked her softly.

Silently, she mouthed the words
I’m
sorry
, and then turned to look at the others. “When my publisher heard
about the cruise, they wanted me to use this opportunity to research a new
book. They were partially responsible for the suite upgrade, so I could work.
I’m ashamed to say I haven’t done much work at all.”

“Book? Is this your first?” Mark asked
quickly.

“Uhm, no. I’ve had several books come out
already.”

Danny looked from Ruthie to Andy. “How come
Ruthie knew? Did anyone else know?”

“I did,” Jack replied quietly. “But I was
waiting for Andy to decide when to tell the group.”

Andy jerked her head towards him, but he
continued to look at Danny. She suddenly felt cold and couldn’t stop the shiver
that went through her.

Gayle held her hand up, and then started to
speak. “I only found out fairly recently.”

Andy saw Liz looking from Ruthie, to Gayle
and finally towards at her. She wasn’t sure what to say, and then she felt
Jack’s hand cover her knee, squeezing it gently. Her breath rushed out and she
was stunned to discover she’d been holding it. Warmth rushed through her and
tears welled up. She blinked quickly.

“Oh, Andy, it’s okay,” Liz spoke
reassuringly, smiling at her friend.

Ruthie spoke before Andy could open her
mouth to reply. “The only reason I know is because Andy needed an attorney when
the second book involved a movie deal.”

Like déjà vu, everyone turned from Ruthie
to Andy once more.

Tony broke the silence. “Do you publish
under your name, Andy? What are the names of the books you’ve written?”

Ray leaned over. “More importantly, what
was the movie?”

Might as well tell them her pseudonym, and
go on from there. “My nom de plume is Emeraude.”

“Wait a minute!” Danny pointed at Andy
across the table. “My mom has all
her
books. They’re all over the house.
Holy Cow! Mom will just shit when I tell her.”

Andy smiled. “If you’ll give me her home
address, I’ll send her a signed copy of the new release due out next month.”

“I’m in love!” Danny announced. “Oops,
sorry, honey.” He winked at Ruthie.

Tony interrupted. “Yeah, but what’s the
movie?”

Andy felt her cheeks flooding with color,
hoping they had forgotten. Sometimes she still felt like the
fat girl who
hated being the center of attention
. “
Blood Dream
,” she answered
them, her voice catching.

“The vampire movie, with the twist,” Liz
added, smiling. “I liked it. Didn’t I just read about another one?”

“Two more, actually,” Ruthie put in
promptly. “As her attorney, I am
very
happy.”

Andy laughed nervously, staring down at her
plate. This wasn’t how she would have done this, but she was glad the subject
of her writing was out in the open. She took a deep breath, which changed
abruptly as she felt Jack’s hand moving up her thigh. Quickly, she covered his
hand with hers, stopping him. Sexual tension, along with her already scattered
emotions, seemed too much suddenly.

He met her gaze with a bland smile. He
spoke softly. “Since this is a buffet, perhaps we should get started. Keep
eating everyone. We’ll be back in a minute.” Jack stood and pulled Andy’s chair
out for her to stand. With his hand lightly gripping her elbow, he started
towards the hot foods first. When they reached the long warming table, he
handed her a plate.

“I’m sorry, Jack,” she spoke quickly as he
took a plate. “I started to tell you a couple of times, but I couldn’t think of
how to bring it up. I mean once I didn’t let you know right away, it seemed to
get harder each time I thought about it.”

Jack pointed for her to precede him in the
procession.

Reluctantly, she started down the line. She
stopped at the eggs, turning to face him. “I mean there were a few times that
would have been good, but I wasn’t sure what you would think.”

Jack put eggs on his plate and then gently
pushed it at Andy.

She took the dish and let him take her
plate in exchange.

“Move along, honey.” He filled that plate
with some eggs.

Andy was stopped at the meats. “You know at
first I wasn’t going to tell anyone and that is probably what colored my
thoughts the first few days.”

“Uh-huh.” Jack handed her his plate that
now contained an assortment of bacon, sausage links and ham. Again, he took her
plate and duplicated the procedure. “This looks good,” Jack said and added some
hash browns to the plate. “Let’s go over here, this looks interesting.” He
gently steered her to the table with rolls, coffee cake and muffins. He put one
of each on the plate he held and then exchanged dishes with Andy again.

“I know you are angry with me, Jack, and I
don’t blame you. I should have told you as soon as I saw things were getting…uhm—”

“Involved? Serious?” Jack offered as he
walked to the juice area.

Andy trailed behind him, frustrated at his
placid attitude. Surely he should be getting upset. “Well, yes. But I wasn’t
prepared for things to…to…uhm—”

Jack handed Andy a glass of orange juice.
“Escalate? Skyrocket? Turn volcanic?”

Andy laughed. “Yeah.” She turned and
started back to the table. She had set her food down and was just sitting as
Jack returned.

“Wow, Andy! That’s quite an appetite you
have there, girl!”

Silence followed his words until Jack
added, “I filled both plates so I wouldn’t have to go back for seconds.”

“Yeah, that’s what Gayle always says in the
buffet line about her plate,” Ray added with a grin at the woman across the
table from him.

Laughter followed and soon they were all
chatting back and forth once more. Andy was struck by how much it resembled
their days on campus. She suddenly turned to look at Jack and found he watched
her. Slowly, he smiled and once again she found breathing difficult.

As if he knew, he winked, but kept on
eating.

A thought kept running around the back of
her brain, every time he looked at her in a special way. But she wasn’t ready
to face it just yet.

* * * * *

The next two days were idyllic. Andy spent
time with her girlfriends, the whole group together, and Jack. Margrit joined
them for “girl-time” and they all had fun. The morning of the anniversary
party, Andy went to Ethan and Margrit’s suite to get the older woman for their
spa date.

Amalie opened the door after the second time
she knocked.

“Oh no, Amalie!” Andy cried out seeing
tears on the other woman’s cheeks. “What’s wrong? Are you all right?”

From deeper in the suite Andy heard Margrit
call out. “Is that Andy?”

“Yes, it’s me, Margrit. Are you all right?”

Margrit appeared a few seconds later and
she was crying, as well.

Andy looked from one teary woman to the
other. “Did you peel an onion?”

“No,” Margrit laughed while Amalie shook
her head. “I wanted to wait and tell Ethan, but I can’t. It’s his fault for
getting up early to meet Jack and the guys for racquetball, this morning of all
the others.”

“What’s going on?” Andy stomped her foot.

Margrit slowly lifted a white stick.

Andy immediately saw the blue in the
middle. She pointed towards it as she spoke. “You’ve been trying?”

Margrit nodded. “Almost since we got
married. We did the testing, everything was normal, and we just needed to
relax.”

Andy laughed. “Maybe you can get a discount
on your next sailing to be used as advertising.”

Margrit joined in the laughter. “I can just
see me, swollen belly, posing sideways for photos.”

“Too tense?” Andy volunteered. “Cruise us.”

Amalie clapped her hands. “Can I steal
that? I’ll turn it in to the cruise line.”

Andy shrugged, but gestured to Margrit.

Margrit nodded. “Sure. I’m cheap enough to
go for the discount but Ethan hates publicity.”

“Maybe they’ll give you something special
for Rick and your honeymoon,” Andy suggested.

Amalie held up her hands. “Not so fast!”

“Okay, okay. Now what?” Andy asked.

“Well, the steam room and the hot tub are
off my spa list,” Margrit told her. “Let me get my purse and we can go.”

Margrit tried keeping her news a secret,
but it came out when Gayle confided that as soon as she and Ray were married,
she wanted to get pregnant.

Andy looked at Margrit and she giggled.

The happy news just spilled out, and hugs,
laughter and tears followed.

Andy reached out and pulled Margrit aside
finally. “It’s none of my business, but before the whole ship finds out—”

“You’re right. I better go find my
husband.”

“We can help with that.” Andy turned
around, looking at her friends. “Who has their beeper?”

Ruthie held her hand up sheepishly. While
all the guys carried theirs everywhere, it seemed easy for each woman to forget
hers. Everyone except Ruthie, who was as much a techno-geek as the men.

“Page Jack and we’ll see where they are.”

The men were having a drink at the Regatta
Bar on deck thirteen. Without revealing their intention, the women decided they
would meet the men. Hopefully, the fact that Margrit pulled Ethan aside would
be less obvious amidst the mingling of the eleven people. As they walked to the
bar, Margrit spoke softly, “This sounds like a good plan.”

As they rode the elevator to the upper
deck, they were all quiet. Andy couldn’t help but think about babies. That led
her to remember the one time she and Jack had made love without the condom.
Would she feel the same unbridled joy as Margrit if she were to discover she
was suddenly pregnant? At least one thing was sure…she could afford to raise a
child alone. This didn’t mean she wanted to—

The doors swished open and they all trailed
out, looking around.

Ruthie pointed out, “The sign says we have
to circle back around past the sports center.”

It was easy to spot the men, but they were
unprepared to be suddenly deluged with women.

“Hey! What’s going on?” Ray asked, who saw
the women first.

All the men stood. Andy hung back for a
moment, as everyone started talking. She was anxious to see how Ethan reacted
to the news. But even more important, she wanted to see how Jack responded when
the couple revealed their news to everyone else.

Ethan left the table and came over to where
Margrit stood, which was next to Andy. “Hello, sweetheart. What a nice
surprise!” Ethan kissed his wife’s cheek.

Andy thought Margrit looked a little stiff,
especially in the smile she gave her husband.

Before Margrit could reply, Ethan was
speaking again. “Why don’t you join us, if you can stand all these sweaty men?”

Liz overheard him. “We love testosterone.”

“Sometimes,” Gayle pointed out.

Soon they were all seated around three
round tables, shoved hastily together.

Andy wasn’t surprised to find herself
seated beside Jack, and Margrit on her other side. Talk was lively and nonstop
for at least half an hour as drinks were ordered or replenished. Andy kept
looking at Margrit, even though she tried not to. It got worse when she saw
Gayle, Liz and Ruthie also looking over at Margrit. No doubt, she wasn’t sure
how to get him away from the table now that everyone was seated and having such
a good time. Andy gave the older woman a questioning look.

Margrit shrugged and appeared as if she was
at a loss.

Andy winked and cleared her throat.
“Ethan?” When he looked her way, she went on. “Could I speak to you privately
for a moment?”

The surprise on his face was obvious, but
he was the perfect gentleman as he nodded. “Of course, Andy. We can step over
there.”

“Perfect,” Andy murmured. She made a show
of picking up her purse, pulling something out, and then setting it in
Margrit’s lap. “Count to ten and then come over with a frown on your face. The
men will think you are jealous.”

Andy walked with Ethan a short distance
away where they now stood at the railing.

“What’s on your mind, Andy? Is there
something I could help you with?”

Andy nodded, silently counting in her head.
Nine, ten…eleven…twelve…thirteen… fourteen…damn it! Where is she?

“Andy, are you all right?”

Andy looked up at Ethan. She hadn’t
considered what she could say if Margrit got delayed. Confused, she scratched
the top of her head. Honesty was usually the best policy. “Well, I had a plan.”

“A plan. Now that sounds interesting.”
Ethan grinned, leaning against the rail with one hip.

“Yeah, but you know what they say about the
best-laid plans.” Andy shrugged, realizing that any plan would have been better
than having Margrit just count. Perhaps someone at the table had held her up.

Ethan shook his head. “Possibly, but I
would have to say it depends upon what conditions one tries to put the plan
into action.”

Andy started to say something and then
stopped, considering her words. “That’s true. You can’t control everything.”

“Are you trying to control something?”
Ethan lifted one eyebrow in query.