Christmas Present

by Lauren Wood

  I got to the end of the hall to the elevators, pushing the button and waiting for the door to slide open.

  No, that’s too dark, too cynical, I’m sure he didn't have anything to do with what happened in Colorado. If he'd been guilty, the police would have caught him by now. Wouldn't they? Of course. And he’s the only guest on a cruise ship. There'd be no way to cover up anything happening to me. I’m probably the safest person in the world right now, at least the safest girl floating on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. Anyway, this man doesn’t necessarily have to be that kind of person; not the kind who would swoop in on some defenseless young woman, much less do what they said he did to the late Mrs. Hutchinson. That’s just hysteria. The man wants company for his daughter, probably. Sure, that's really all it is, the girl's gotta be lonely. What a silly notion, that I'm supposed to be the guy’s onboard concubine! I’m sure Caroline sees it that way, because that’s the way she sees the world and so that's the way the world sees her. But I don't live that way, that’s not me. I’m lined up to be a babysitter, not some sex toy!

  I stepped into the elevator and waited, the box gliding me down two floors. The door slid open to reveal the big mall, the Captain’s Table Steakhouse just a few yards away, wondering what that feeling was in the pit of my stomach. Is it excitement? Fear? Disappointment?

  I took a deep breath, put a big smile on my face, and stepped out to see Hutch and his daughter, Blu.

  They were at a booth near the front, not needing too much privacy since he rented out the whole ship. But the restaurant was immediately dark, thick wooden paneling giving it the look of an old pirate’s pub somewhere on what used to be called the Spanish Main.

  As soon as I sat down, breakfast arrived. Leo the cook knew what I liked, and the spinach egg white omelet was perfectly well-done, crispy on the outside. The roasted potatoes were my favorite, and the English muffins were still hot from the toaster.

  Blu was polite and gracious when they brought her scrambled eggs and fruit, following her father’s lead as he received his steak and eggs. The waitress, Stella, gave me a little wink as she turned to walk away from the table, but I tried to ignore it. I certainly didn’t appreciate it. I had to think, Leo already knows, so does Stella? What will they all be wondering, talking about, gossiping about tomorrow, and for the next seven days? What about my father, what’s he going to make out of all this? I’ll bet Caroline’s telling him right now, probably making it sound as bad as she can. But I couldn’t keep focusing on all that; that wasn’t what mattered. At that moment what mattered most was the somewhat-reduced Hutchinson family, and that they have the best week of their lives.

  Hutch said, “The food is delicious, Dana. May I call you Dana?”

  “Please do … Hutch.”

  He smiled and turned to Blu. “S’good?”

  She nodded, pushing a piece of watermelon into her mouth. “Yes, thank you.”

  Hutch asked me, “How do you stay so thin? You must have a gym here.”

  “Oh yeah, I go when there’s a spot open. It’s usually pretty crowded.”

  Hutch smiled. “Won’t be this time.” He didn’t say anymore about it, and I was glad. We’d just met, and I found myself immediately hoping he wouldn't come on with some tacky line about showing him my routine or whatever, especially not right there in front of his daughter. But he left that matter completely alone, as if it had been the mere afterthought that it seemed to be. He went on, “Anyway, I’m glad you could see your way clear to joining us.”

  I smiled, glad he brought it up, and for reasons other than sheer curiosity. “It’s certainly my pleasure. Though I have to say, it’s generally the kind of thing Caroline, our cruise director, would do.”

  Hutch let the moment land, silence at the table. “Would you rather she do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “I don’t know, I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, well, um, just, y’know, show you around the ship, be your escort, as it were.”

  Hutch smiled, taking a sip of his coffee. “I see. Nevertheless, we feel a bit more … comfortable with you.” He turned to Blu to confirm. “Wouldn’t you say, Blu?”

  Blu nodded, swallowing her food to say, “‘Zactly.”

  I couldn’t help but smile, and I really didn’t want to help it. What more was there to do but shrug and butter my muffin? We were going to have a splendid time and there was nothing I was going to be able to say or do about it.

  *

  After breakfast (Hutch tipped a hundred dollars!) we strolled around the ship. I showed them the rest of the mall, a glittering city block of polished glass and chrome, the world’s most tantalizing trinkets on display; diamonds and fine silk, but also the colorful, humorous t-shirts and flip-flops so popular among their post-adolescent passengers. They passed the IMAX theater, which had 3-D presentations of a variety of deep sea documentaries as well as the latest blockbusters.

  Hutch looked around, impressed. “Wow, this is really something. It’s quite a place to live. How long have you been doing this?”

  “My dad took the job almost ten years ago, after my mom … ” But a quick glance at little Blu told me I’d already said too much. The last thing I wanted to do was to drudge up sad memories for the Hutchinsons, especially not those memories in particular. But it was too late to backpedal away from the subject, and both Hutch and Blu seemed to know it. “Anyway, it’s been about ten years.”

  “So, about half your life,” Hutch presumed and I nodded. “Or two thirds of mine.”

  Odd thing to say, I couldn’t help but think. He must want to know how old I am, and he wants me to know how old he is. There can’t be too many reasons for that.

  But I wasn’t intimidated or upset by it, not at all. In fact, I was intrigued, to put it in the most gentile way I can.

  Blu asked, “Have you always been a singer?”

  I didn’t have to give that one too much thought. “Ever since I was a kid, Blu. I sang in the shower, school plays, all that stuff. When we came to the ship it was … it was a little harder for a while, I have to admit. I really didn't sing at all for a few years, to tell you the truth. I just kept my head down, I had a tutor so there was always schooling to do. And I gotta say, all the things there were to do, and Oceania was brand new at the time, it helped, y’know? Just to know there was still some fun to be had out there, and for me … it was in my own backyard!”

  Hutch said, “Speaking of that, who feels like a swim?”

  Chapter 5

  Dana

  I felt good in my bikini, which I rarely wore. In general I didn’t socialize too much with the guests, and rarely flaunted my body the way I was doing then. But it wasn’t out of place in the expansive WaterWorks area, a collection of waterslides and twisting tubes, bright green and blue and yellow, water coursing through each of them to carry passengers on a thrilling ride to the pool waiting at the bottom.

  It wasn't the first time I’d ridden on the slides, and looking around from the top of the slides it was easy for me to relish the view. We were surrounded by miles of open ocean; no sign of land, society, the wild and wolly world outside Oceania’s safe confines. Climbing into those colored tubes only had the illusion of danger, which made it all the more thrilling.

  I slipped into the opening of the yellow tube in the center, little Blu into the blue tube, which she chose for obvious reasons, and Hutch in the opening of the green tube. I said, “Okay, guys, fold your arms across your chest, don’t move them, lean back and just relax. It’ll be a little scary but I promise if you’ll just be calm, go with the flow, you’ll have a total blast.” Hutch nodded and, with a glance downward and then back at Dana, so did little Blu. The three girls who generally worked the ride eased me and the Hutchinsons into the tubes. I was quickly rushed downward by the combined forces of rushing water and wanton gravity. The pressure was terrific, throwing me quickly against one side of the enclosed tube and then the other; without warning, fast an
d furious. My heart was pounding, thumping through my breasts and into my flattened palms, pressed against them.

  My breathing was steady, but only because I kept calm. And in that swirling blue water echoing and sloshing around me, I imagined little Blu breaking position, moving her arms out and hitting them against the side of the tube. She could easily get stuck, I realized, panicked and screaming, break her arm. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

  The winding tube straightened out at the end of the trip and spat me out into the pool at the bottom of the slides. I hit the water feet-first, warm and scrupulously clean, rushing up around my nearly naked body. I settled into the water and looked immediately at the blue tube to see Blu spill out into the pool with a big splash for such a little body. She popped her head out of the water with a wet face and a wide smile just as Hutch came racing out of the tube on my other side. I knew he’d be fine, of course, but he was quick to focus his attention on the blue tube, just as I was. Once we were all satisfied of Blu’s safety, herself especially, they shared a big, deep laugh and a few wild splashes, then headed back to the top to switch tubes and do it all again.

  I was struck with how fearless Blu had been, considering how timid she was. But I also knew that what had happened to her mother, to the whole Hutchinson family, had nothing to do with a waterslide. Of all the things to be afraid of, this would be the very least of it.

  On the way up, I tried to ignore Hutch’s incredible physique. He moved with great grace and fluidity, his torso crisscrossed with lean muscle rippling under his perfect skin. There wasn’t a speck of fat, his abs were hard cords stretched across his lean belly. His legs were long and strong, the curves of his calves reaching up to iron thighs, sexy and masculine. I couldn’t help imagining what his cock looked like, and I didn’t have to strain my imagination to do it. His trunks were tight and his package pushed out, big and coiled like a snake. I could see that his balls were big and probably perfectly shaped, a fact I couldn’t wait to confirm. I wanted to reach in and pull it out right there and then, but of course Blu’s sweet smile snapped me out of it. We walked up the stairs and I tried not to look, but I guess I didn’t do a very good job. And I saw one other thing, besides that expansive chest, shoulders broad, arms like that of a warrior; I saw that he was looking at me. I knew his eyes were tracing the curves of my own body, lean and shapely in all the right places, a bit more lithe than the vampy Caroline. Still, I was the one they wanted to spend time with; though I knew Caroline looked great in a bathing suit and I was sure Hutch knew it too. But I was the one he was looking at, long steady glances at my legs, creeping up my calves to my thighs, even the curves of my labia pressing against the bikini panties. I always felt just a bit exposed in bikinis as I blossomed, but this time I was glad. I wanted him to look, and I wanted him to like what he was seeing. And he did, I could see it in his secret smiles, in the way his eyes would crawl up from my breasts, slowly up my neck to my lips, my face. I knew what he wanted, and I wanted it too.

  “I can’t wait for another ride,” he said, turning to me with a little wink. “This time, I think we’re all going to be very wet.” He reached to top of the stairs and turned to me with a devious little half-grin. “I know you will be, Dana. You’re wet right now.” I tried to say something, to offer some snappy comeback, but my mind went blank and a lump in my throat rose to block any words I might have found anyway.

  After a few more times down the tubes, Hutch wanted to go on the SkyRide, a sort of bicycle fixed to a round white track elevated above the main deck. The ride had two rings, one outside the other, each with its own special bike, so lovers or friends could ride together, side by side, and enjoy the incredible view.

  And while Hutch felt it was important to set the right example, I offered to stay below with Blu, because there was no way she was going up there despite being just tall enough to reach the pedals. So Hutch rode in a wide circle around the top of the deck while Blu and I sat below, enjoying a pair of Cokes over shaved ice in chilled glasses.

  Blu just kept looking up, her eyes locked on her father above them. I said, “Kinda scary, huh?” Blu only nodded, sipping at the straw in her glass. “Y’know, a great man once said, ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’”

  Blu gave that a little thought, rolling it around behind her blinking eyes. “What does that mean?”

  “It’s kind of complicated, but basically it means that we can face anything in life, no matter how scary it is, and we can beat it. But first we have to get over our fear. If we don’t, then we’re just running and hiding and we can never face the things that challenge us. And if we can’t face them, we can’t beat them. So according to the old saying, if you’re not afraid you’ll be okay, but if you are afraid, well, you won’t have much to look forward to, and you wont’ be able to enjoy life or be happy. Make sense?”

  Blu nodded, returning her attention to her father, cycling above us.

  I went on, “My dad’s the captain of the ship, so I know what he's capable of, but I don't suppose I’d enjoy watching him all the way up there either. But I know, deep down, that he could do it. And the rider is strapped in, after all. I’d never let your father, or any of our guests, do something that wasn't safe.”

  “I know that. But still … ”

  “Things happen,” I said and Blu nodded. I went on, “Yeah, they sure do. But y’know what? Lots of fun things happen too! That’s part of life. It’s too bad if we skip out on all the good parts of life just because we have to endure some of the bad ones. They're meant to balance each other out, y’know?”

  Blu gave that some reflection over another sip of Coke. “It’s okay though,” Blu said. “My dad and I take care of each other,” Blu said. “We stick together.”

  “Yeah, my dad and I do too.” I smiled, but it wasn’t comfortable or natural and I knew right away why that was. The surviving Hutchinsons were hiding from the world, they were fearful and lonely and isolated and their lives were only going to become even more so. And they weren’t the only ones.

  “Hi, guys.” Blu and I turned to see Caroline approaching in her dress uniform, though her skirt seemed just a bit shorter than usual. Her hips had a certain swagger, drawing even my attention to what she was swinging around under that skirt. But I knew Hutch was in Caroline’s crosshairs, not me. She was just trying to intimidate me, and that was going to work less and less. “How’s it going so far?”

  “Great, Caroline, thanks.”

  Caroline turned to Blu. “Like another Coke?”

  Blu shook her head, her tone level, softer than when she was speaking to me. “No, thank you.”

  Caroline smiled at Blu’s courtesy, then looked up to see Hutch riding in wide, white circles above us. “Oh, Hutch is taking the SkyRide … alone, that’s … odd.”

  I knew what she meant to say, that it was an insult to me that he took the ride alone. But she didn't know that he'd begged me to go with him but that I opted to stay below with Blu. Not wanting to bother to explain all that, I replied instead, “We’re having fun,” Blu nodding her silent agreement.

  Caroline said, “Okay, well, if he decides he wants to take a ride ... with somebody next to him, I mean …” I knew what she meant, but I didn’t dignify it with a response. “He sure is a good-looking man, wouldn’t you say so, Dana? And what an athlete, he’s so powerfully built.” But she didn’t give me a chance to answer before turning to Blu. “Does he play lacrosse? No, I’ll bet he rows, right? Yeah, he’d look really good rowing one of those long, sleek boats through the water, into the channel, up the canal ... ” Caroline gazed up at Hutch, then shook it off. “Meantime, your father asked me to remind you that you three are all invited to his table for dinner tonight. Promptly at seven.”

  She smiled and walked away, but Blu and I just glanced at each other and shook our heads. A lot of what she’d said was obviously lost on Blu, but none of it was lost on me.

  Chapter 6

  Dana

  We all h
ad to clean up for dinner, so we split up; me to my cabin to shower and change into something a bit less comfortable, and the Hutchinsons retired to do the same.

  I looked at myself in the mirror, the thin, blue spaghetti-strap dress, backless, was the sexiest item I own, and the most elegant. Better not cut any corners, I told myself, he’s a billionaire and he rented the whole ship, I couldn’t show up looking like some slouch. I piled my blonde hair over my head, a few ringlets hanging over the sides of my face. I was wearing a bit more lipstick and makeup than usual, which wasn't saying much; I barely wore any on stage and never wore it during the day. But it was a good look for me, I had to admit, one I didn’t trot out very often. I was usually happy enough in my light dresses, sometimes wearing something a bit rock’n’roll for the ten o’clock show, a leather mini and black halter. For me, singing had always been a bit like acting, each song a miniature movie, each chapter and verse the confessions of another fictional character or brokenhearted songsmith. But they’d never been my words, my feelings exactly, very often not even close. But it would usually be close enough; at least it always had been. But things were changing fast, I could sense it, I could feel it in my bones, in my blood, in that nervous little curl in the bottom of my stomach.

  Wait a minute, I had to ask myself, just what's really going on here? This is more than just being elegant, being professional, I couldn’t deny it. I’m presenting myself to him, painting myself up like some tart, obviously ready to lay myself in front of him like some meal to be torn apart and the carcass tossed aside.

  But for the first time, a little voice inside me said, Yeah, so?

  No, that’s not me! I don’t do that, I’ve never done that. And I’m certainly not going to do it on the first date! My father will be watching, Caroline definitely will be, I’d almost rather have my father be watching me firsthand, even though that’s about the worst date I can think of.