by June Shaw
My stomach knotted. I leaned to Sue. “He is the one we met at the safety drill.”
“Let the doctor through,” a crewmember below urged. A man wearing all white rushed near and bent over the stretcher.
“Please return to the dining room,” crewmembers told all of us.
“I don’t feel like eating anymore,” I said. People around repeated the same sentiment. Many crowded around the bank of elevators. I had the same idea, but the area was too crowded. I returned to our table.
No-longer-appealing chocolate mountains sat untouched at our four places.
“Did you see Tetter and Jane?” Sue asked, sitting with me.
“Not since we ran from the table,” I realized. “I wonder if they’re coming back.”
“It seems like they’d say something before leaving us.”
I craned my neck, searching for them. Possibly they had forgotten the location of our table, although we were near the entrance and any waiter could direct our friends here. “Maybe they went to the restroom.”
While waiting, I scanned our dining room, a lavish treat to the eye. Chandeliers glittered. Mauve candles in sconces flickered on walls. People of many nationalities wore tuxes and waited on tables with elegant settings. Fresh flowers centered each linen-topped table. All looked prepared to treat royalty, not the ailing victim of an accident.
“Let’s get out of here.” Sue sounded apprehensive, exactly as I felt. We strode to the polished open exit doors. “Let’s go to the medical center to find out how Jonathan is.”
“His name’s Jonathan?”
Her cheeks flushed. She kept her eyes lowered. “Jonathan Mill.”
“I’d certainly like to find out if he’s okay,” I said.
From her purse Sue pulled out a small folded sheet with ship’s deck plan. “The medical center is on deck three.”
We took the first elevator that arrived. I was ready to ask Sue if she’d spent the hour or so with Jonathan before his fall, but a family of five stared at us. “Are y’all having fun?” the young wife asked with a southern twang. “We sure are. We’ve never done this before, and we all love it.”
“We do, too,” I said. Except for meeting a man and seeing him unconscious.
Two floors after the family got off, our elevator door opened. Contrasting the exquisite setting of the rest of the ship, this deck could have belonged to a battleship. Gray metal. With the gangway on one end, it looked functional and smelled of oil and wet rope. Thick opaque plastic sheets cut into two-inch-wide strips shut off an opening marked Crewmembers Only. Wooden counters stood on either side of an entrance, the stations where security members checked I.D.’s before letting people in.
A door to the left was labeled medical center.
A stern-faced security guard met us right inside. “I’m sorry, unless you have an emergency, you’ll need to come back later.”
I peered beyond him toward the rear hall, but saw no one. The doctor and nurses must be back there, trying to help the man who’d fallen.
Sue stood chest to chest with the guard. “A man fell and seemed badly hurt. His name is Jonathan Mill. I need to know how he’s doing.”
The guard’s stern eyes softened, expressing concern. “What’s your relationship to Mr. Mill?”
Sue’s Adam’s apple that had not been altered in surgery shifted as she swallowed. She glanced at me and then met the guard’s gaze. “We’re friends.”
He shook his head.
“Intimate friends,” I blurted. I’d barely met the downed man but cared about him. I cared about everyone, particularly a person who was hurt.
“I’m sorry. Only immediate family members or a traveling partner can get that information at this time.”
“Have you seen him?” Sue asked.
“Yes, ma’am.” The guard hesitated a moment. “I’m sorry but I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
We stomped to the elevator.
“What floor?” Sue asked, stepping inside.
“Let’s go to a bar.”
She checked her deck plan. “They have plenty on different floors. We’ll go to the Promenade Deck, okay?”
I nodded. “I sure hope Jonathan is okay,” I said, a truth that might get her to offer feedback.
She stared at numbers lighting above the door as though their movement were most important. The door pinged open.
People fingered items for sale around gift shops. Shirts and jackets with the ship’s logo hung in the hall. I glanced around, searching for the classmates we’d found and then lost from the dining room.
“Here’s a bar. No, it’s too full and too bright. Let’s check another one,” Sue said, stepping ahead, not slowing to look for anyone.
The Ginger Bar was subtly lit with brown leather seating areas. Some tables. Many booths. A man in a far corner played a quiet song from the seventies on a piano. We took a table and ordered margaritas.
“Sue, you didn’t know him before? You just met him on the Lido Deck, right?”
She hesitated a long minute. “Right.” She exhaled. “I’m sure he’ll be okay.”
“Me too. He seemed young to have had a heart attack. Maybe he tripped. He told me to be careful,” I said and waited for a response.
None came. She licked salt off the rim of her frosty margarita on the rocks.
“Sue, were you with him?”
“I told you where I was. Getting massaged.” She took two quick swallows of her drink.
She obviously wouldn’t say more about Jonathan now. “Do you know what Tetter’s problem is?” I asked, realizing that sounded callous. “When Jane invited me to come, she said Tetter had a major problem we would help her solve. You know everyone loves Tetter, and we sure want to help her.”
“I haven’t kept up much with classmates. Jane told me the same thing she told you.”
Okay, I’d work on getting her interest elsewhere. “My son Tommy and his family live in Skagway. I can’t wait to see them during this trip! He lost his job when his company folded, and they moved up here. He’s always working but took some vacation time to get to visit with me.”
Sue peered toward a dark wall, appearing disinterested in my child.
I would need to find out more about Tetter. But now I wondered about Sue and Jonathan Mill. Had she told us the truth?
“Did you have a full-body massage?” I asked. “Or a facial?” I imagined Sue, who used to be Stu, wrapped in a sheet with no underwear and wondered about changes to certain body parts.
I mentally slapped myself. I didn’t need to think of such things but often couldn’t help wayward thoughts.
“Cealie, I know you and the others don’t believe me, but that’s what I did. I had a massage. The spa was open.” She gulped her drink.
“I believe you. I just…wondered how your massage was.” I slipped my left hand into my right palm and pinched, reminding myself not to fib.
“It was great. A good-looking woman rubbed me down. I didn’t get excited, but I did relax. Until now.” On her feet, she headed for the door.
I dashed after her. “I believe you,” I said, not sure whether that was the truth.
“Let’s just forget it. Look, there’s Tetter and Jane.”
Both women headed toward us. Jane smiled.
I didn’t smile back.
“Gil,” I said to the man coming behind them.
“Cealie,” he said, taking long strides forward.
Hands on hips, I stared at all six-foot three inches of him. Still well-muscled, with thick steel-gray hair and firm cheekbones, he wore an ironed sports shirt and new jeans that would cover soft navy blue briefs.
He reached for me, attempting to pull me into his arms.
I tugged back. “I can’t believe you followed me!”
He grinned. “This is funny.”
His grin fueled my anger. “This is not funny. You asked me to marry you, and I didn’t agree to, so now you’re following me, even on a cruise?” I huffed, hearing classmates
near me catch their breaths. “I don’t even know how you found out I was coming here.”
He spread his hands in innocence. “I didn’t.”
“Right.” Staring at his handsome face, recalling hot romance in his arms, I gathered all of my strength. “Gil, I want you to stay away from me.”
His lips flattened. His chest swayed back from me. He took a step backward. “I’ll abide by your wishes.”
“Good.”
“I’ll see you.” He gave me a brief nod. His gaze slid to my classmates, and he strode away.
Sue tugged on my arm. “Who is that?”
“He’s a hunk.” Jane still eyed him.
Tetter’s forehead wrinkled. “Cealie, he wanted to marry you, and you turned him down?” She sounded more interested than critical.
A white-haired couple gave me severe looks, like I’d committed the worst sin.
I led my classmates away from that nosy judgmental couple. We gathered in an open area near the casino. Slot machines dinged and screeched. Dealers’ voices carried. This was what I wanted, except for the smoky odor. Noise was better than quiet places where strangers heard every word. Nobody else needed to know about Gil and me.
My classmates’ piercing gazes all targeted me. Everyone waited for an explanation for my rude behavior.
“His name is Gil Thurman.”
“Sounds good. Where did you meet him?” Jane asked.
“At one of his restaurants.”
“One of his restaurants?” Sue said.
“The one in Vicksburg, Mississippi. We were attracted to each other.”
Sue nodded, apparently satisfied with my answers, but then glanced around as though looking for someone.
“And then you fell in love, and he asked you to marry him.” Tetter stated major events from my life as though teaching how to construct a declarative sentence. I’d recently had to remind the latest hire in my copyediting agency about such things.
Tetter waved to get a passing waiter’s attention. His tray held stemmed glasses of the day’s Rumrunners special. Only Tetter bought a drink, signing to charge her card.
“So then you came on this cruise with us,” Jane said.
“Yes, but Gil and I have gotten together in different places where he has restaurants.”
Sue shook her head, nose in the air. “You’re wrong to do that. You must have led the man on and made him believe you loved him and wanted him, and then you turned him down like that.”
“We’ve have had lots of wonderful times together. But I told him from the beginning that after I lost my husband, I realized I’d lost myself. I felt paralyzed, like half of a broken easel. The strongest section was gone. I could barely stand on my own anymore. Gil is so sure of himself. I needed to find Cealie again. I’m still trying to rediscover myself and can’t give in when I’m getting so close.”
Tetter, with eyes forlorn, nodded.
“I wish you would have introduced us,” Jane said.
“Sorry. It didn’t seem like the time.”
“I’m going to play the slots,” Jane said and headed into the casino.
“I’m going to my cabin.” Sue walked away from us.
I took a breath. I’d had enough censure for one day. And I struggled with my feelings. I wanted to be with Gil, wanted him much more than these high school friends. But he’d betrayed me. He promised he’d let me go on and finish doing my thing and finding myself. And then we might be together for good.
But he’d lied! Instead of letting me go off with friends, he’d found out where I was heading and followed me.
I needed to get away from my problems. Now I had Tetter alone. Tetter, who’d been bubbly and open and such fun in school, seemed so troubled I couldn’t think about myself. I touched her hand. “So how are you?”
“I’m good. How are you?”
“Fine. Tetter, how are you really doing?”
Her eyes widened. “I’m going to find Jane.” She scuttled into the casino.
I sank into a cushioned lounge chair. Had she confided in Jane but didn’t want to discuss her troubling situation with me?
People walked past, people who laughed. Mostly adults, some with children. Everybody else was with someone.
I stood and trudged about, spying people going in and out of shops. Some carried purchases. Already? I stepped to the railing and peered below. The source of many of the voices, people gathered in the vast atrium. Some stood around the grand piano. A long line of people waited to sign up for tours at the Excursion Desk.
I was alone. Maybe Sue had a good idea. I made my way back to my room.
Inside it, I paced. “He came after me but said he wouldn’t,” I snapped, confirming my right to be angry. I pounced outside to my balcony. The water looked gray in the night. I dropped to a plastic chair and crossed my arms and legs. I would see beautiful sights in Alaska, no matter what Gil did. Frigid air made me shiver.
I returned inside, not caring about sights. The tall one I’d seen was enough. He couldn’t chase me. He certainly couldn’t lie to me.
And what was going on with my classmates? I had wondered how classmates might have changed since I saw them years ago. It seemed their altered lives could be much more different than I could have imagined. Of course, they might feel the same way about me.
I surely never thought they’d invite Sue. When she was Stu, none of my friends cared much for him. He was too arrogant. Too different. Maybe because he knew he was but didn’t believe any of us would accept him as a girl?
And did this girl—now my aunt—have anything to do with Jonathan Mill’s fall?
I needed to find out.
The boat shifted beneath my feet. Normally I enjoyed that feeling while in bed during a cruise. But I wasn’t ready to fall asleep. I needed answers. I had to know what happened to that man and if my relative was involved.
On my wall phone, I located Spa and pressed the number beside it. A pleasant young woman’s voice answered.
“Hi. Sweetie, can you tell me what time the spa opened today?” I asked.
“I don’t have a newsletter right here, but we’re open now. Would you like to come in or schedule an appointment for one of our services?”
“No, thanks. I know what time the newsletter says you were supposed to open, but someone told me she’d been in there earlier. I just wanted to check on that.”
“Is that person your child?”
“Oh no, she’s my aunt. And she says she had a massage. I just want to know.”
A silent moment pulsed. “Ma’am, I’m afraid I can only tell you what’s on the newsletter and that we’re open now. Thank you for calling.” Her voice had lost its gentleness. She hung up.
Okay, I would be more direct. I marched down the hall to Sue’s stateroom. I would insist that she tell me the truth and not move away from her room until she did.
I knocked on the door. No answer. I knocked again. “Hey, Sue, it’s Cealie.”
I waited. She might be asleep, but it was much too early for anyone to go to bed. Unless she was ill. If that was the case, I could get her medicine.
“Sue,” I called again, pounding harder.
Our stateroom steward stepped out of a room. “She is not in.”
“Oh, thanks.” I walked away and turned back. “Did you notice which way she went?”
Indecision crossed his face. Probably he should keep information about guests confidential.
“Please tell me. We’re related,” I said.
He glanced around, seemingly to make sure nobody heard.
“She left her cabin with her face bleeding. I believe she went for medical attention.”
Chapter 3
Sue was hurt? I rushed to the elevator. It took too long to arrive and then to travel down. I eyed the slow-moving numbers, reminding myself that trying to walk down so many decks would have made me also need medical treatment.
The same security guard as before met me as I stepped out of the elevator.
&nbs
p; “Ma’am,” he said, stretching his arms, ready to stop me.
“My aunt is in the medical center. She’s with me, and she’s hurt.”
He stepped down. “You can go inside.”
I dashed to the door and yanked it open. Sue was entering the reception area from a rear hall, holding an ice pack beneath her eye.
“Oh, Sue, you’re really hurt,” I said, worried.
A man wearing a white uniform with short-cropped gray hair stepped up behind her. “Just keep ice on it for a while. It should be all right.”
“I will, Doc.”
The doctor spied me. “Can I help you?”
“She’s my niece,” Sue said. “She just came to check on me. Thanks a lot for everything, Dr. Thurman.”
Thurman—like Gil’s last name? I wanted to ask the doctor about that and Sue’s injury, but she bustled to me toward the door. “Go.”
We left the office. The guard studied Sue holding the ice pack to her face. I gave him a told-you-so nod in case he’d doubted what I said.
The elevator dinged, and the door slid open. Sue rushed inside.
“What happened? I wish you would’ve called me,” I said.
She yanked the ice pack off her face. A crimson thread sliced skin under her eye. “He’s dead. Jonathan died in that fall.”
Staring at the gash on her face, I needed a moment to consider what she’d said.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. Maybe he tripped and hit his head?” Concern for the man who died and those who loved him made me tremble. “But Sue, you need to take care of yourself, too. Keep that ice on your face. How did that happen?”
She shook her head. “I just stupidly ran into the metal shelf that holds the TV in the corner of my room.”
“Ouch. Can I do anything?”
“No.” She grimaced each time the elevator stopped on our way up. People stepped in and made comments about her being injured. “I did something stupid, but I’m okay,” she answered. She did not look at me again.
On our deck we both stepped out. Neither of us spoke as we strode among people and headed for our hall. No one else was around in our hallway.
“Sue, what happened? I mean, really, what did you do? You only seem concerned about the man you met during our safety drill, but not about yourself. You could have lost your eye.”
