Life, Liberty, and Pursuit

by Susan Kaye Quinn

  She phoned Johnny and Mia in the cabin next door, not wanting to knock on the door and interrupt whatever early morning honeymoon activities they might have planned. It turned out they weren’t there. Then she noticed a note they had slipped under her door. Eating, it seemed, was a round-the-clock activity on a cruise ship, and they had already had breakfast and were now down at one of the dozen coffee shops on the ship. A double latte with extra cream sounded just about right. During her haphazard wanderings the night before, she remembered seeing several nooks that would make excellent reading spots. She made a mental note to bring Jane Eyre with her as she started the shower.

  Standing in the steaming hot water, she felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the contrasting steam and cold air wafting in from outside the shower stall. The shock of last night was still settling into her: she would literally be dead if David had not pulled her from the pool. She shivered again. Having a near-death experience kind of put things in perspective. She was suddenly glad that Mia and Johnny were waiting for her downstairs. She had an urge to go hug her mom. Possibly Johnny as well, as long as he wasn’t too strange about it. And she was intensely curious about what David thought about it, about her. Of course, he wouldn’t really be thinking about her, so much as thinking about his daring rescue of some hapless girl. Surely he did not save someone’s life every day. It must have had some impact on him. He had seemed so concerned last night. Not only saving her life, but helping her to the doctor’s office, bringing his father in to take care of her, not leaving her side until he was sure she was okay. He was so gentle and yet strong, and …

  Her skin was starting to resemble a prune left out in the sun too long. She turned off the water, shaking her head at herself for letting her thoughts dwell on David. She would probably never see him again. There were thousands of people on this boat, with enough decks to make her dizzy just thinking about it. The chances that they would run into one another were infinitesimally small. They had already had their chance meeting; there would not be a repeat performance. She sighed.

  She rustled through the clothes that were haphazardly strewn around the room in her incoherent struggle to find pajamas last night. She hung up her still damp clothes—perhaps they would dry out enough to be usable tomorrow. Then she found a jacket she did not recognize mixed in with the rest of her things. Had Johnny left a jacket in her room? When she picked it up, she realized it must be David’s. It was still wet, and she vaguely remembered that he had wrapped something around her when he first pulled her from the pool. It didn’t seem right for her to keep it. He had already risked his life to save her; he should at least get his jacket back. A small flame of hope flickered in her—maybe he would come looking for it? No, he had probably forgotten all about it. She gently washed it out as best she could in the sink, hung it up to dry, and then headed downstairs to try to find the Café Promenade and her family.

  She took three wrong turns before she gave up and asked a white uniformed crew member for directions. As she strode through the hallway, mentally repeating his directions over in her head, she felt a slow steady change in the orientation of the floor every few seconds, which wasn’t helping her pathetic navigation skills. The brochures had all claimed that this was a “motionless” ship, but it sure seemed to move to her.

  Finally finding the promenade level, she surprised Mia and Johnny sipping coffee at one of the many crowded tables. Mia grasped her around the shoulders as if she had not seen her in a month.

  “Oh, baby, how are you? I’ve been dying for you to wake up,” she said breathlessly. “I wanted to check on you, but Johnny wouldn’t let me. He said you needed to rest, and I know you did, but I was just so worried.” She kept babbling on for a little while. Eliza hugged her back. Her mom always told her Eliza was all she had, which wasn’t true of course, especially since Johnny had come along. Still, she felt a stab of guilt for worrying her so badly.

  “I love you, Mom.” She was surprised to find tears welling up in her eyes. She gave Johnny a weak smile as well. “Johnny was right, I just needed some sleep. I’m fine. Great, in fact.” She surreptitiously wiped the tears from her eyes before they could spill out and betray her.

  Johnny grinned at her and then disappeared to the coffee counter. She continued to reassure her mom that she was in fine working order until Johnny came back with a bagel and coffee.

  “Double latte, extra cream, right?” he asked. Bless him. Johnny was going to work out fine. Those double-crossing tears were starting to come back again.

  “You’re the best.” She decided she needed to give him a hug after all. He turned a little red in the face. She would have, too, but she was too busy covering up her tears with a sudden need to get napkins. Seriously wanting to move past this moment of mushiness, she changed the subject.

  “So, what do you kids have planned for today?”

  “Oh, well, honey,” Mia said, shooting a nervous look at Johnny, “I think maybe you should rest.”

  “I meant, what do you and Johnny have planned for today?” she said. “I’ll be finding a sunny spot and spending some existential time with Jane Eyre.” She smiled and patted the dog-eared paperback that she had brought along.

  “Oh,” Mia replied. “Good. Well, Johnny and I were thinking about going to the ice skating rink.”

  “Ice skating rink? Is there anything that this boat doesn’t have?”

  “Isn’t it great?” She and Johnny were smiling at each other again with that look that meant they were off in their own private world.

  “Well, run along, have fun.” She didn’t want to feel like the odd-girl-out any more than necessary.

  Mia frowned again. “Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe we should stick around for a while, just to make sure.”

  “I’m fine, Mom. Please, go have fun. I’ll just be here, relaxing with my book. I promise to stay away from any bodies of water, large or small.” She produced her most reassuring smile. Mia smiled back uncertainly, but Johnny took the cue and pulled her up to go.

  “Be careful, Bet. No more scares, okay?” he said as he coaxed Mia from the table.

  “Promise.” Eliza kept the smile going, but was relieved when they left. Looking around the Café Promenade, she realized the coffee shop was right next to the rock climbing wall, with an assortment of couches and chairs scattered through the room. She spotted one couch nestled against an outside window, looking warm from the sunlight beating down on it. Perfect. She dumped the bagel in the trash on the way to the couch, not wanting to chance solid food yet.

  As she sat on the sun-warmed seat, she curled her legs up underneath her and set her latte on the table in front of the couch. She had a nice view of the rock-climbing wall as well as the rest of the promenade. She gazed at the climbers for a moment, wondering what it would be like to scale the wall, only a small rope between you and sudden death. She decided she’d had enough life-threatening encounters lately. She sighed and was about to open her book when a flash of dark hair caught her eye.

  David? she thought involuntarily. Her heart lurched a little. He was turned away from her, fixing the climbing harness onto his waist, but he had that identical close cut hair with the shock on top that fell sloppily into his eyes as he worked at the bindings. The same lean but subtly muscular body that showed quite nicely under his gray T-shirt and dark shorts was evident. It had to be him. Then he turned to his climbing partner, smiling and saying something she couldn’t quite hear, and she could see that glorious angel face. David.

  His partner had the same wiry, muscular build, but longer hair than David, with a sandy blond wave that seemed to spring out of his head. He was incredibly good looking as well and obviously came from the same gorgeous-family gene pool as David. In fact, he looked eerily like a junior version of David’s doctor-father from the night before. She suddenly realized that she was gaping at them and hastily opened her book and tore
her eyes away. The last thing she wanted was for David to find her staring at him again. But she couldn’t help holding up her book at eye level so she could steal glances at them as they starting climbing the wall.

  David was strong, his muscles flexing as they strained with his movements from hold to hold. But he was agile as he climbed and quickly outpaced his brother. He moved deliberately and with determination, as if he had already mapped out the entire wall of random rocks in his head and plotted a course. Occasionally he stopped to brush the hair away from his face to better see his path ahead. He was fascinating to watch, and she had a hard time keeping her book high enough to block her obvious staring. David reached the top first, a triumphant look on his face as he said something to his brother still further down on the wall. He kicked away from the top, repelling down in graceful hops. She burrowed her eyes into her book, just in case he happened to look her way.

  Her heart was pounding in her chest, and it was difficult to make sense of the words on the page. She guessed that chance was smiling sweetly on her today, allowing her another opportunity to see him, if only from afar. She took a couple of deep breaths, telling herself that if she looked up again, she would only regret it. Her staring would eventually attract someone’s attention, and she had already filled her embarrassment quota for the week. She took another drink of her now cooling latte and tried to find where she had left off with Jane and Mr. Rochester’s tale of long-denied love. The irony was not lost on her, but at least their love was a mutual adoration, not a one-sided ogling of strangers.

  Her heart had started to settle when she heard an already familiar lyrical voice say her name. “Eliza?”

  Her eyes shot up in shock. He had a look of surprise on his face as well, which then quickly turned into a brilliant smile. She smiled reflexively in return—how could she not, with that sunshine raining down on her?

  “David,” she managed to croak out.

  His blond brother, who was walking several yards away, said something to him, which David responded to with a glare and an “I’ll see you there.” Blondie raised his eyebrows, gave her a smile, and turned to leave. She was thinking of some kind of apology for interrupting whatever they had planned, but David spoke first.

  “Or maybe I should call you Bet?” he asked, moving closer and taking a seat on the chair next to her couch. She couldn’t place his accent, but it was like music in her ears.

  “No, please call me Eliza.” Her heart was beating erratically, and she felt a little dizzy. She looked into his clear blue eyes and wondered if she could speak to him without passing out. “Bet is just a nickname.” He looked at her quizzically, but the last thing she wanted to talk about was her name. “It’s short for Elizabeth.”

  He smiled again, and the room seemed a little brighter. “Eliza, then. How are you feeling?”

  “Great,” she lied. She untucked her legs from under her body, placing them on the floor for better leverage in keeping steady. He seemed distracted by her movement, releasing her from the force of his stare. His eyes wandered over to the book she still held clutched in her hands.

  “What are you reading?” He seemed intensely curious about it. She flipped the book around so he could see the cover.

  “Just something light.” She shrugged.

  His curiosity turned to amusement. “Aren’t you on vacation?”

  She didn’t understand what he was getting at. “Yes.”

  “Most people wouldn’t consider that light reading—more like homework.” His voice was light and teasing. Her stomach did a small flip.

  “I’ve read it a few times before.” She turned over her well worn copy with the broken-in binding. A few times—like, maybe seven.

  “Why do you like it?” The curiosity was back, surprising her, and she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

  “I guess I’m just fascinated by the characters—Jane and her struggles, Mr. Rochester’s passion and secrets.” She watched him carefully to see his reaction. Most of her friends did not understand her love of literature. She could picture Nicolas’s glazed eyes as she would discuss their English assignments. Even Addison had limited patience for her detailed analysis of Rochester’s worthiness. David just seemed fascinated.

  “I always thought Jane deserved better. Than Rochester, I mean. He’s not exactly the kind of person I would want my sister to date.” His eyes were serious, but his lilting voice seemed to be teasing her.

  She was stunned. “You’ve read it?”

  “Well, I did go to high school.” He gave her a slight smile. There was something about him that was drawing her in like a bee to nectar, and it wasn’t only that gorgeous grin.

  “So, you’ve already graduated?” she asked, knowing the answer. He looked at least twenty, and was obviously way more mature than the boys she had recently graduated with.

  “Um, yeah,” he said, but seemed uncomfortable. “Is that coffee?” He pointed to her cup.

  “Double latte,” she corrected him. “Extra cream.”

  “A nutritious breakfast.” His scold was leavened by a glint in his eye.

  “Well, I’m feeling much better this morning, but breakfast just didn’t seem wise.” His concern felt the same as the night before, as though he had some kind of responsibility to take care of her. Residual obligation of his hero status? She wasn’t sure, but she didn’t exactly want it to stop.

  “I’m glad you’re feeling better.” He was staring at her again, and she felt her knees start to weaken. He seemed about to say something, then stopped and dropped his eyes to the floor.

  “Well, I should probably get going,” he said, seemingly looking for an excuse to leave. Her heart sank a little. She didn’t mean to take up his time. He flashed that smile at her again, zapping any thoughts out of her head.

  “Tomasz is waiting for me at the gym. My brother,” he explained, “is determined to get me mercilessly in shape, in spite of my tendency to like the classics.” He rose from his chair. “Take care, Eliza.”

  He was walking away before she could get out “good-bye,” taking her breath with him. She shook her head and tried to go back to reading, but it was no use—her thoughts kept drifting back to what David had said, trying to make sense of it. Finally, she decided to head back to her cabin and get some rest. Her mind was too frazzled to keep up.

  Chapter 4

  Evening

  David pushed through Tomasz’s required repetitions on the weight equipment and started on the treadmill. It was mind-numbing and every muscle of his body ached, but it wasn’t enough to keep his thoughts from wandering back to Eliza. She was impossibly more beautiful in the sunlight. The golden highlights in her hair, her long bare legs, her liquid brown eyes … he ran faster, turning up the speed on the treadmill a couple more notches. Perhaps, if his heart burst out of his chest from exertion, that would provide sufficient distraction.

  It wasn’t working. Her impact on him was stronger this morning than last night. It didn’t make any sense. The drama of the night was over. There was no adrenaline rush, other than the one he felt when he looked at her. And that was all before she spoke. She was a fan of literature and a thoughtful one at that. He realized all of a sudden that he didn’t know how old she was—could she still be in high school?

  Aagh. His raging preoccupation with her was inappropriate, given his status as her rescuer, but what if she was underage as well? Could there be any more reasons to stop thinking about her in that way? If he saw her again, he simply had to avoid looking at her legs. Or her eyes. Or he could run off again before he did something he regretted. He gave up on the treadmill and went to find Tomasz to see if he was ready to leave.

  Tomasz blew out a long low breath as he curled the bar on the bicep machine. He kept a regular workout schedule to keep fit for his paramedic duties and had stepped in a little over-eagerly to a
ct as David’s personal trainer once he had a timeline for starting Basic.

  “Almost done?” David asked.

  “Not yet,” Tomasz puffed out between reps, grinning. “So, did you make a date?”

  David glared at him. “I told you, it’s not like that. I just wanted to see how she was feeling.”

  Tomasz threw him a skeptical look. “Well, Dad certainly didn’t give the full scoop about your girlfriend.”

  David rolled his eyes. “Tomasz, give it a rest.”

  “I mean it, bro. She isn’t just a looker. She is hot.”

  David gritted his teeth but decided it was better to ignore him. Glancing at his watch, David tried to guess how long this particular torture session would last.

  “Hey, if you’re not interested,” Tomasz started, “would you mind if I …” A small smile played on Tomasz’s lips.

  “Stay away from her, Tomasz.” It came out a lot harsher than David intended.

  Tomasz laughed uproariously. There were times when David really wanted to hit Tomasz. Self preservation had held him back when they were younger, but now he was pretty sure he could hold his own. If he had been able to get a good shot at him, in between the arm-curl equipment, he would not have held back. Instead, David threw him a steely look.

  “Oh, c’mon, little bro, I’m just kidding.” Tomasz put on a goofy grin, making it difficult for David to stay angry. Still, he managed. And he was too frustrated to hang out at the gym any longer.

  “I’m going back to the cabin to shower,” David said. He turned on his heel and left.

  Back at their rooms, he noticed the door to his parents’ and Teagan’s cabin was open. He hadn’t checked in with them yet to see what the agenda was for the day. His mom ran a tight schedule, and he wanted to make sure he stuck to the plan for this farewell voyage of hers.