© 2024 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. All characters are original. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. This story or any part thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary.

All Aboard Andi's Dream

Chapter 2

Shake Down Cruise

Eight years ago, Dr. Adrianna Roberts married a "schlub" that her mother thought was safe. Andi's father was an officer in the US Army, and he died in the Middle East. Andi's mom Heather didn't want her daughter to endure that kind of heartbreak, so when Andi fell in love with a fighter pilot, Heather pressured Andi into marrying Frank, whom Heather thought was harmless. Frank turned out to be a smooth talking gambler whose dreams exceeded his skills at the poker tables.

He turned out to be a true bastard. Frank beat Andi and cowed her into wearing revealing outfits as he paraded her past tables full of high end gamblers and mobsters. He would leave her blindfolded and tied to the bed in their room and if he got behind, he would trade Andi's body for his debt. Frank did all of this so he could buy his dream boat, an Australian built Riviera 72 luxury fishing yacht.

After Frank abandoned Andi, who was pregnant with twins, he eventually purchased the yacht, but he quickly fell behind in the payments. Andi's new husband Paul was a man of integrity, and he had the money to afford the boat, so he purchased the boat from the bank, renamed it to Andi's Dream, and showed pictures of the boat's name being changed to Frank. Now on their honeymoon, Paul, Andi, and their twin girls, Sandy and Madeline, come to see Andi's Dream for the first time.

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Andi was completely in shock; she's seen the pictures of her boat but in real life Andi's Dream was HUGE! Being born and raised in land-locked Denver Colorado, she's never seen a watercraft so big. The largest body of water she ever saw was Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota and the largest boat there was a 20 foot bass boat. Andi's Dream was three and a half times longer than that and more than twice as wide. The flying bridge was nearly three stories above her head, and everything sparkled in the sunlight!

It was a magical living thing tied up to the pier in front of her. The sunlight sparkled off of every bit of chrome and woodwork. She could understand why her ex-husband desired it so much. She turned and clung to her husband Paul and wept in a confusion of emotions. He comforted her and said, "Honey, we have a crew to meet. Are you ready?"

She sniffed and wiped her nose on Paul's arm, then said, "Oh, kay."

"This is Stan Carlson, who is captain of this trip. I've known Stan for years and trust him completely." Andi shook hands with a jovial middle-aged man as Paul said, "Stan is an Air Force veteran like me."

"Shouldn't you be a Navy veteran?"

Stan chuckled. "Most squids wouldn't know what to do with a beauty like this. They'd probably paint it gray."

Paul continued, "You know the first mate, his wife, Sung-mi. She's a peds nurse and she'll be navigating for us. This is Stan and Sunny's daughter, Yi-jin. She's a professional chef, and she's also a brilliant mechanic, so she'll be the head engineer." Yi was a tall and slim Asian girl with a darling figure, a beautiful face and long ebony hair braided like her mother's hair in a French braid.

"You're fired," said Andi as she and Yi shook hands.

"What?"

"This is my honeymoon. I'm supposed to be the prettiest woman on the trip," said Andi, as she gave Yi a hug. "Besides, who ever heard of a skinny chef?" Despite Andi's jokes, the women had an immediate liking for each other.

"I promise to scowl more, ma'am.

"And this is our cabin steward, Nit-noi," said Paul, introducing Andi to a small Asian girl.

"I'm Bit-na!" said Bitty with a stomp of the foot.

"She's our special bonus," said Sunny.

After introductions and handshakes around, Andi was about to step on the transom of the yacht and see what all her pain and the countless rapes cost her when Stan stopped her. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you're not allowed on the boat until she's been re-christened. It's tradition." He looked at her with a stern expression.

"Tradition?" asked Andi. She wasn't sure if she even wanted this boat and now she's not allowed aboard?

"It's a tradition of the sea that a ship and its name have a bond for good or for bad. When you simply rename a boat, it clings to that previous reputation and everything it stood for unless you retire the name and rechristen it."

Paul stepped in to help. "I told Stan how Frank paid for the Regal Dream through gambling," then he whispered in her ear, "I didn't tell him the low lights." Frank whored a tied and blindfolded Andi to pay off gambling debts.

Stan still looked uneasy. "When you pay for a boat through immoral gain, the boat takes on an immoral spirit. From what I heard, this boat was pried out of a corrupt man's hands and given to you to celebrate your freedom from him. Is that true?"

Andi smiled and leaned back against Paul. "Yes, this hunk did exactly that."

"If that is true then we need to rescue this boat and release it from him too."

Andi thought for a moment, Frank had the Regal Dream for a few years, what did he do on it? She was sure that he stopped off at Epstein island a few times. "Let's set her free from him too."

"That's the girl!" grinned Stan.

Andi turned in her husband's arms and kissed him. It was then she noticed that a crowd of people were gathering around them. They were all well attired in the Florida heat, Bermuda shorts and polo shirts. "This boat was the second best Christmas present ever."

"What was the first?" asked a woman in the crowd.

Andi gave Paul a saucy glance and a waggle of an eyebrow and said, "there are children present. We'll talk later." Her remark caused knowing laughter in the crowd.

"I'm not superstitious," said Paul, "but these traditions go back centuries. There's got to be something to them."

Andi thought about it for a moment... there may not be anything to this, but anything to purge the memory of Frank Rosetti was fine by her. "Let's do it."

"Then let's do this right." Stan handed Andi a 3 by 5 card, a bottle of champagne, and a coin with the words "Regal Dream," stamped on it. "At the stern you read this side of the card and follow the instructions, then you walk to the bow, read the other side of the card and follow the directions. That will lift the curse the previous name held."

Andi read the card and said, "Ok, but why can't Paul do it?"

"It's bad luck," said Yi-jin, "a boat must be christened by a woman."

"But what if I'm not superstitious?"

"It's bad luck to not be superstitious," replied the young chef/engineer.

"Ok", said Andi. She walked to the stern and began to read the script. "In the name of all who have sailed..."

"Louder!" called the crowd, which has now swelled to about 20.

Andi cleared her throat and started again.

"In the name of all who have sailed aboard this ship in the past, and in the name of all who may sail aboard her in the future, we invoke the Lord of all, including the wind and the sea to favor us with His blessing today. God Almighty, king of all that moves in or on the waves, guardian of the winds and all that blows before them: we offer you our thanks for the protection you have afforded this vessel in the past. We voice our gratitude that she has always found shelter from tempest and storm and enjoyed safe passage to port.

"Now, wherefore, we submit this supplication, that the name whereby this vessel has hitherto been known as the Regal Dream, be struck and removed from your records. Further, we ask that when she is again presented for blessing with another name, she shall be recognized and shall be accorded once again the selfsame privileges she previously enjoyed. In return for which, we rededicate this vessel to you and your domain in full knowledge that she shall be subject as always to the immutable laws of the wind and the sea. In consequence whereof, and in good faith, we seal this pact with a libation offered according to the hallowed ritual of the sea".

Andi tossed the coin into the water, signifying the deletion of the name, then took the bottle of champagne that Paul had opened for her and poured a small amount in the water. She then walked to the bow and read again from the card:

"I name this ship Andi's Dream. May she bring fair winds and good fortune to all who sail on her." And she poured some champagne on the bow.

At that moment, Bit-na sprung up, pulled a rope and the sheet covering the stern gunnel pulled away to reveal "Andi's Dream" painted with royal blue script text across the stern of the boat. Underneath that it in smaller block letters was the words, Jupiter FL. The assembled crowd broke into applause and cheers. Paul led her to the stern where she, Paul, and the twins posed for photographs next to the stern. Then Sung-mi appeared at Andi's side with a tray and several champagne flutes and Andi poured the champagne, but Stan took the bottle out of her hand. "Never let a woman pour champagne," he said as he began to pour.

"More bad luck?" Andi asked.

"No," said Stan as he handed her a flute. "It takes too long."

Andi and Paul stepped aboard through an opened door on the port aft gunnel, and Yi-jin lifted the twins aboard. She then whispered into Andi's ear. "You and Paul should toast this boat."

"Oh!," said the beautiful doctor, "I didn't realize that, thank you." She turned to Paul and held up her champagne flute. "To Andi's Dream!"

He tapped his flute to hers and said, "Long may she sail!" and the crowd cheered. They toasted to Andi's Dream, sipped some of the wine, then Andi turned to Stan and said, "what do we do now?"

"You play host and hostess." Stan turned to the crowd and called out, "Welcome aboard, neighbors!"

The crowd stepped aboard couple by couple, and each couple brought a bottle of champagne or Asti Spumante, and a bottle of wine. "The bubbly is for the christening," said one woman as she handed the bottle to Andi, "and Stan told us you were newlyweds, so we brought the wine too. How long have you been married?

"We got married on Christmas Eve," said Andi, as she placed the bottles in her growing collection. The woman was introduced as Miss Nicoletta.

"And how long did you date your husband before he popped the question?"

Andi grinned because she couldn't wait to see the reaction. "We didn't date, we were trapped together in a cabin for about two days."

Miss Nicoletta actually looked delighted. "Oh my! A real whirlwind romance!"

"More like a blizzard," said Paul as he came up to put his arm around Andi and gave her a kiss.

"Did you know he had all this when he proposed?" asked the smiling matron.

"Oh gosh no," said Andi, "all I knew for sure was that he had a cabin, a barn, two tractors, a dog and some chickens and that he loves my babies and myself. All we really knew about each other was that we were both doctors. To be honest, the only thing I brought to the marriage is the girls." As if on cue, Sandy and Madeline roared up, chattering about their new friend Bitty, who lives on the boat and Bitty was going to teach them to swim.

"Oh, how precious! Who are you two lovely ladies?" asked Miss Nicoletta.

"I'm Sandy."

"I'm Madeline."

"These are our lovebugs..." said Paul.

"Bug bug," they said in unison, and ran off to find Bitty.

"I'm currently adopting them," said Paul.

"Good for you!" said Miss Nicoletta proudly, patting Paul on the chest. "I take it there's no argument from their father?"

"There is no father to worry about. I was..." Andi's throat locked up. Even blindfolded, she knew that the man who impregnated her wasn't her husband. Frank may be a weasel, but he can't speak Russian, and she heard that man who was inside her speak Russian. Blindfolded... tied to the bed... helpless... terrified... "I was raped." There, she said it. For the first time in her life, she uttered those words. Paul's arm tightened around her waist to reassure her that he was there for her.

"And you kept them? You went through all that pain?"

"It was worth it, every moment. They are the joys of my life."

"Oh, you are a dear." Miss Nicoletta kissed Andi on both cheeks and held her hands. "You just became the joy of my life." She looked around conspiratorially. "I was too," she whispered softly into Andi's ear. "And my son, from that horror, is my pride and joy." She sniffed and wiped her nose with a tissue that she fished out of her purse. "Thank you dear, I thought I was alone. Now, if you don't mind, I must see more of this boat!"

"I want to see more of this boat too," said Andi, looking up at Paul. So far, they've only stood in the stern of the boat in a low area that Stan called 'the cockpit.' This is the area where all the fishing is done and where you can go sunbathing when under way.

"Let's play host and hostess," Paul smiled at Andi. "We will have as much time as you want to explore later. I was hoping to cast off before now, but I didn't expect the neighbors to swing by."

From their position at the rear of the yacht, they could see Yi-jin making appetizers and her mother Sung-mi handing them out and opening wine bottles. She swung by where Paul and Andi were greeting guests and asked if there was anything they would like.

Andi sighed. "ginger ale on the rocks, put a cherry in it."

"Sprite and lemonade with a twist," added Paul.

Sung-mi returned with their drinks quickly and said, "Don't worry, we'll be casting off shortly," and true to her word, in a few minutes Yi-jin closed up the galley, quickly cleaned up that station, then opening a door to a small staircase she disappeared in the engine room. The twin MAN 1800 engines roared to life with a muffled growl, and the entire boat seemed to come alive.

Now Paul and Andi's afternoon reversed on them, and they stood by the transom, thanking their new neighbors for visiting and have a safe trip home. Apparently firing up the engines was the modern version of calling out, "All ashore who's going ashore." Miss Nicoletta took one more opportunity to hug Andi, then she threw her arms around Paul. "God bless you," she whispered. "I'll be in touch." She handed Andi a business card and said, "If you ever need anything, call me," and then stepped ashore.

Bitty busied herself collecting empty glasses and the twins followed her step by step, carrying the glassware Bitty had found. "Don't drink the juice in these glasses, it's sour!" Bitty warned her assistants.

"Anything I can do to help?" Paul asked Sung-mi as she walked toward the stern.

"No, just enjoy the ride. Maybe go up to the flying bridge and watch from up there."

Paul shrugged and led Andi up the four steps to the mezzanine, an open area with two tables and couch seating. There was a bar with stools that looked into the galley, a wine fridge was under the bar, and it was now full. Glass panels could be lowered and close off the mezzanine from outside weather. They went inside and Yi pointed out the equipment in her galley, "stove, oven, dishwasher, freezer, fridge, ice maker..."

"Wow," said Paul, who loved to cook. Forward of the galley was the salon, a large open area with couches lining the walls. A dozen people could easily relax here. There were windows forward and port and starboard, the side windows could open. Behind the galley, almost hidden, was a walnut staircase leading upstairs.

Paul and Andi climbed the staircase to the flying bridge. The entire top level of the boat was taken up by the bridge. For the forward two-thirds, the bridge was enclosed. The aft third was a deck that hung out over the mezzanine. At the helm was a huge "glass cockpit" console that contained readouts and controls for all systems on the boat plus GPS and weather radar. It was more than Andi thought would be found on a boat of any size. The captain's seat is centered in the middle of the boat with an assistant's seat to his left. To the right of the helm the flying bridge looked like a living room. A couch lined the wall and a coffee table sat in front of the couch. Paul told Andi that the couch can unfold across the coffee table and become a double bed, making this the biggest stateroom on the boat.

The bridge had glass doors at the aft end, which can be opened to a dining area high over the mezzanine. Andi was agog with the fine appointments, and she's only seen the "cockpit" which is where the sport fishing is done in the stern, and the flybridge. She sat at the flybridge dining table in her floating palace and said, "This is so incredible! I'm so ready for that wine now... all of it!"

Stan was standing on this aft deck, manning the command station on the port side of the deck, just a few feet from where Andi sat. This station was a small helm with a wheel, throttles, and a joystick for thruster controls. "Cast off all lines fore and aft," he called out to Sung-mi and Yi-jin, then he called to Bitty, "help the twins get their life vests on."

Andi and Paul watched Yi and Sunny cast off lines so far below them, then stepped over to watch Stan ease Andi's Dream out from the dock. Using a joystick for control, the thrusters nudged the 60-ton palace sideways into the channel. Then Stan engaged the shafts, and the big boat gracefully picked her way through the crowded marina. Down below, Andi could see Miss Nicoletta waving, so she waved back, and Miss Nicoletta blew her a kiss before entering a very large limousine.

Stan threaded the big boat through the marina with skill and talent. Soon they were heading out the channel at 5 knots and Stan gave Paul a step-by-step of what he was doing, how the docking station worked, how to transfer control back to the main helm. "Where's Andi?" Stan asked, noticing that she had disappeared once they were free from the dock and heading toward the channel.

"I think she's trying to get the twins ready for dinner."

Below in the galley, Andi had finally convinced Sung-mi and Yi-jin to sit down and join her in a glass of wine. Sung-mi shrugged. "I don't have to pilot until tomorrow. Why not?" They sat around a table on the mezzanine with a bottle of wine and chatted.

Andi found out that Stan, Sung-mi, Paul, and John were well acquainted. When Paul and John inherited their parent's holdings, one of them was a sailboat, so they hired Stan to train them on boatmanship, seamanship, Coast Guard small boat regulations, and saltwater fishing. When Paul could purchase Andi's Dream, he first called Stan and asked for a crew for their maiden voyage and when Stan heard it was a Riviera 72 Sport Motor Yacht, he signed up his whole family.

"This is the top yacht," said Sung-mi. "It was built in Australia and made to be a long-distance luxury cruiser, a big game fishing boat, a day boat, or a condo. Look at this table, burled walnut! Look all around you. That's not chrome, that's polished stainless steel." She gestured to the area forward of the galley, "the salon can hold over a dozen people, there's a 55-inch LED TV, there's a 36 inch TV in each stateroom. She has a built-in sound system that rivals a ZZ Top concert... This is a small super-yacht!"

"What's that deck sticking out the back... umm, the aft... yeah, what's that deck sticking out the aft?" clearly the glass of wine was getting to Andi.

"That's the swim platform, it's soooo cool," said Sung-mi. "it can lower down into the water to about knee deep or raise up above sea level. Doctor Paul and Pastor John love swimming, so they are going to love that. You can also mount a small dingy or zodiac on it, or even put railings on it so the kids can splash in the water."

"So where are we going right now?" asked Andi.

"This is the Honeymoon cruise," grinned Yi, "it's a warm clear night, so we'll pull out beyond the view of shore so you can get to see the sunset. Hopefully, we'll be able to get Bitty and the twins settled down and we'll let you two have the run of the boat until an hour after moonrise. If you've never seen the stars out on the open ocean, it's spectacular."

"Where will you guys be?"

"I'll be down in the VIP suite with the girls," said Yi. "Mom and dad will be on the fly bridge making sure there's no traffic above or below water to disturb us."

"Ships and submarines?" asked Andi.

"Ships and sharks. The water is beautiful, seventy-six degrees. You might take your hubby skinny dipping tonight. I'll show you how to work the lights and the swim platform. We'll have almost all lights extinguished so you can see the stars, but the underwater lights on this machine are incredible."

Then Yi got up to prepare dinner, so Sung-mi and Andi got to know each other better. To Andi's surprise, she found out that Bitty is not Yi's daughter, as she originally thought, but actually Sunny and Stan's "Surprise Blessing."

Sunny had been treated for cancer. "Six year ago, I was told I was Cancer Free, so Stan and I went to Vegas to celebrate, and... we got Bitty! She's our special blessing."

"I know how that goes," said Andi, holding up a hand. "What happens in Vegas now owns this boat." She told Sunny a little about her parents who met on a wild weekend in Vegas and married, then how her dad died in the Middle East. She also talked about life with Frank, how he left her penniless and pregnant.

"Oh, poor thing," said Sunny, as she patted Andi's hand.

"It all worked out for the good," said Andi. "The twins and I got stuck in a snowstorm and Paul rescued us and... we got married." She told Sunny about the weekend of The Blizzard and how she and Paul fell in love and was surprised to find out that Sunny was familiar with Paul's land in Springville.

"So good you and Paul find each other. I love his cabin, it very beautiful up there," said Sunny. Her charming Korean accent kept Andi's attention. "It get too hot down here in summer, so if we can, we head north. Paul always let us stay at either the house or in the cabin. Sometimes we stay in Mr. Josh's cabins."

They talked a little more. Andi found out that Sunny met Stan in a "Juicy Bar" in Pusan Korea while she was working to raise some money to get through the semester at the University of Pusan. She was a nursing student, and he was an intel specialist in the USAF. They were married not long after she completed her nursing training, then a few months later, they relocated to Homestead AFB, where Sunny got her license to practice in the US and Yi-jin and David were born. They decided to give the girls they had traditional Korean names, and the boys got traditional American names. Stan and Sunny had one girl and one boy and for nearly 20 years until Bitty came along.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" asked Andi.

"Ok, what?"

"What is a Juicy Girl? I've heard that term several times."

Sunny laughed. "Juicy girl is a waitress that works at a bar that single men like to go to. She sits with the man and tries to convince them to buy her juicy drinks. The drinks are fruit juice and cost more than alcohol drinks."

"Why do you convince them to buy expensive fruit drinks?" asked Andi.

"That how we get paid!"

Yi turned to Andi and Sunny and said, "When we are done with dinner you can go watch the sunset. I'll set you up with some wine and appetizers and you and Doctor Paul can relax out on the foredeck."

"Sounds good to me," said Andi.

"I will let your husband know," said Sunny.

Up on the fly bridge, Stan was showing Paul the radar screen and how to read it properly when Sunny popped her head up the stairs. "Will we be out of the sight of land by sunset?" she asked.

"Not a problem," said Stan. He referred to his chart book and radar. "We'll be clearing the Port Canaveral channel in a few minutes and then be in open water." He grinned at Paul. "Then we can open this baby up and show the new owner what she can really do."

"I'll collect the girls," said Sunny, as she started down the stairs. "Oh, and by the way, Miss Andi tells me you let her drive the Kubota. Alone!"

Stan looked at Paul in shock. "Yeah, I did," said Paul. "She did damn well too. She cleared the driveway in front of the cabin of about 2 feet of snow."

There were standing jokes about how Paul doesn't let anyone touch his beloved Kubota tractor. The Kubota is Paul's favorite tool and even his brother isn't allowed to drive it, but three days after meeting Andi, she was driving it all by herself. "That's true love," laughed Stan. "Driving the Kubota, wow. I don't think John has driven the Kubota. We were so worried that you just went and picked up a trophy wife to take to hospital dinners and functions."

"Nope, she is the real deal. I may take her turkey hunting this spring."

Below the fly bridge, Sunny located the girls. They were on the rail in the cockpit, watching in awe as a Disney Cruise Line cruise ship slipped silently past them. It was inbound to Port Canaveral. They stared up at the behemoth that started to recede behind them. "That's Mickey's boat!" cried Sandy as Sunny gathered up Bitty, Sandy, and Madeline and made them sit on the mezzanine couch between herself and Andi. In the galley, Yi finished up all the knife work that she could and called Stan on the intercom, "Galley is secured, and the small fry are rounded up."

"Ok, thanks, we may need you in the engine room. We're going to 30 knots."

"Aye capt'n!" said Yi-jin with a grin and she dug out ear protection from a cabinet.

Shortly, the no-nonsense purr of the twin MAN 1800 V12 diesel engines increased in tempo, ever-increasing step by step until it was a constant, deep-throated roar. Andi's Dream began to ride up on the water, slicing through the clear, smooth Atlantic like a knife. The twins and Bitty sat with their eyes and mouths wide open, their hair billowing in the breeze as they shot through the water at 30 knots, the engines roaring full out beneath them. "AHHHHHHH!" they sang as the wind rushed past them.

"This is the best part," said Sunny, leaning over to Andi. "This is why we love to do this."

The nearly 60 ton pleasure craft rocketed out from shore like so many other yachts did on this clear calm late afternoon on one of the shortest days of the year. They practically flew over the clear, smooth surface of the water, putting distance between them and the shore. Andi turned around and watched the shore recede. She's never been away from land, so it was scary to her. Once the last vestiges of land were gone and they were clear from the shipping lanes, Stan eased the big boat to a stop and set the navigational controls to "station keeping" with the stern pointed west, that way if dinner went long they could watch the sunset while they ate.

Stan came down from the flybridge and placed an iPad on the table. With that iPad he could remotely monitor and control the entire boat. "What's for dinner, Yi?" he called as Paul sat where Sunny was seated previously, thus keeping all three girls between himself and Andi so they couldn't run off.

"That cobia you caught this morning," she called back and soon came out with sushi and sashimi, most of it featuring cobia, whose delicious white flesh went perfectly in the appetizers. These were followed by cobia fillets and steaks, both grilled and pan fried accompanied by mushrooms and Brussels sprouts. The twins and Bitty got breaded cobia fish sticks and mac and cheese.

After Sunny and Yi served dinner they sat down and joined Paul and Andi. "This is incredible!" Andi was overwhelmed by the flavor and presentation of Yi's creations. "Where did you learn to cook?

"The American Culinary Institute. I've always wanted to be a chef on small cruise ships like this," said Yi. "Either that or be an executive chef for some hoity-toity automobile baron," she said as she pointed a fork at Paul. "Not to mention any names but..."

"We'll talk," said Paul.

"She also appeared on Chopped," said Stan proudly. "She made it all the way to the final round."

"Yeah, got my butt kicked by broccoli-rabe. Who makes dessert with broccoli-rabe?"

"This was delicious," said Andi. "I've never had cohiba before and... why are you laughing."

"It was cobia, cohiba is a cigar," said Stan.

With the dishes cleared, Paul helped Yi wash up the cookware and made sure all the dishes were in the dishwasher. As they did that, Andi and Sunny sipped wine while the twins and Bitty played tag in the stern fishing cockpit, and soon the sun began to dip down into the ocean. Andi peeked into the galley, "are you about done?"

"Just finished," said Paul and they took their wine glasses to the foredeck, and they sat down on one of the comfortable lounges and toasted their love. Almost silently, Andi's Dream rotated into the sunset and the Honeymooners watched the sun settle into the west, the sky turning a beautiful blue and orange as the blazing orb settled lower and lower.

"Look at those colors," sighed Andi. "why didn't I ever take time out to watch a sunset?"

"Let's do this more often," said Paul as their lips met for a kiss.

"I can't get over the colors... the orange, the blue! Look at that... orange and blue..." Andi snuggled into her man's side. "It proves God is a Denver Broncos fan."

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The twins and Bitty were watching the sunset above the lovers from the salon. From up there, the twins could see that their parents were kissing again, and now they were having a tickle fight. They were discussing this in Twinbabble® while Bitty kneeled on the couch with them, watching the sun slowly sink into the west and listening to the twins converse. It sounded like baby talk, but they could understand each other. Yi-jin came up behind them and said, "What 'cha talking about?"

The twins looked at each other, then at Yi-jin. "Things," said Sandy.

"Nothing," said Madeline.

"Nothing," they said together.

"They have their own language," said Bitty. "Only they can understand it. Maybe they're French."

"No, I don't think they're French squirt. Come on guys, help me put up these decorations."

Sandy and Madeline looked at each other. Decorations are some of their favorite things, but papa wasn't here to lift them up to put up the decorations. Their mom was dominating his time. They looked through the items that Yi-jin placed on the table in the Salon, garland and streamers and shiny gold twirly things that hung from the ceiling, and a few round Christmas ornaments, all of her decorations were gold. But one was green.

"Missile Toast!" the twins gasped.

"You know what this is?" asked Yi-jin surprised that the twins could identify it.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Sandy. "It worked for mom and Mister Paul. He's now our papa!"

"We think Aunty Lucy and Mister Gus need some more. They're not married yet," added Madeline.

"Oh? Did Aunty Lucy and Mister Gus stand under the mistletoe?"

"Missile TOAST!"

"Sorry, when did they stand under the missile toast?"

"Right after the wedding," said Madeline.

"We still had our pretty dresses on," added Sandy.

"Pajamas," said Madeline, "our Christmas fairy pajamas."

"Dresses."

"Pajamas."

"DRESSES!"

"PAJAMAS!"

The two little blonds started quibbling in Twinbabble® then paused. "Pajamas," said Sandy like there was never a question.

"That's only a week. Give it time." Yi-jin shook her head with a smile. These kids are a riot.

Soon the garland and the ornaments were up, the gold of the decorations glittered and were reflected by the abundance of stainless steel in the décor of the salon. The missile toast was hung over the hatchway leading down to the cabins.

The twins hadn't been down in the cabin area yet and were eager to explore, so they zoomed down the gangway to see what was down there. There was a pleasant room with a gigantic bed and the walls bent in at the front of the boat. "This is the VIP suite; your Aunt Macy and Uncle John will be sleeping here when they get here tomorrow. Here's their potty..." she was interrupted by Sandy closing the door and mounting the 'throne'. When she was done, Madeline took her turn. "You guys, why didn't you say you had to go?"

"We had to do decorations."

"Ok." It made sense in a weird 5-year-old way. "This room with two beds side by side is for Aunt Lucy and Mr. Gus. When they go home, it is where you will sleep."

"AUNTY Lucy," they corrected.

"Right, Aunty Lucy. This little room over here is for Bitty and I, but when Aunty Lucy and Mr. Gus are here, you get to sleep here with Bitty and I will sleep in another bedroom." Yi-jin had a cabin just forward of the engine compartment. As chef and engineer she should be staying there, but that cabin is tiny, it has one tiny porthole windows, and if they're running it can be noisy.

The room that they were looking at had what Yi-jin called "Pullman style" bunks. There was a single bed and bunk bed above it that folded down from the wall. "Tomorrow night, when everyone is here, you guys sleep on the bottom bunk and Bitty can take the top bunk." She then showed the twins where the master suite was, and there were pajamas laid out for the twins, so Yi-jin helped them change.

"Where does your mommy sleep?" Sandy asked Yi.

"Way upstairs where Mr. Stan drives the boat. The couch in that room becomes a bed."

"Then where does Mr. Stan sleep?" the twin asked.

"With my mom."

Madeline asked, "Won't your dad get mad?"

Bitty started laughing and rolling around on the bed while Yi covered her mouth and yelped with laughter. "Mister Stan is my dad, silly."

"But your eyes!" the twins were shocked. Bitty and Yi had such pretty almond-shaped eyes, Mr. Stan had regular eyes...

Somehow Yi-jin fended off an entire discussion on genetics because of the shape of her eyes compared to her father's eyes, by telling them that their parents are doctors and could explain it better than she ever could, and they settled in to watch Frozen for the 350th time.

Before Anna went out on her search for her sister Ella, the three young girls were sound asleep. Yi-jin could carry Bitty to her bunk and tuck her in without banging her head, so she carried the twins one by one to the cabin with side by side bunks and slid the bunks together. She covered the little girls and then went to the VIP suite, covered up, notified her father on the intercom that the children were asleep, and she was done for the day. Then she shut off the light and went to sleep.

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As the very last traces of sunlight left the sky and the tickle fight over God's affinity for the Denver Broncos was over, the stars started to come out. Soft music was playing over the speakers on the foredeck and a gentle love song came on. Paul stood and held his hand out to Andi, inviting her to dance. She accepted and soon they were dancing around the foredeck, kissing and whispering their love for each other.

"The children are asleep, and your crew is in their night quarters Mister Paul," came Sung-mi's voice over the intercom, "Have a good night, sir."

"I've never done anything like this before," said Andi softly as Paul began to unbutton her blouse.

"Like what? Dance under the starlight?"

"Our babies are right below us!" she whispered again as the last button of her blouse was undone. It fluttered to the deck, soon followed by her bra and her delightful 32D breasts were exposed to the evening air.

One by one the exterior lights of Andi's Dream shut off and only the Coast Guard required marker lights remained illuminated. The small red and green lamps on the bow did nothing to illuminate the area. The white midlight on the mast is not visible from that portion of the foredeck. "It's so dark!" gasped Andi as she looked around. She was a city girl and the only dark she really experienced was in a movie theater in those moments before the projector started, but there were always exit signs and aisle lights.

She pulled Paul's shirt over his head, and she wanted to kiss his nipple like he does to her almost every time he removes her top, but it was so dark she couldn't find them. The nice thing about being as small as she is, her lips are at the level of his nipples, and she has decided to dedicate a large portion of her life to taking advantage of that fact. The first time she sucked his nipple into her mouth, he jumped at the shock. Now he's starting to get used to it. He'll even hold her head in place, as she does to him when he loves her nipples.

"Come here city girl," he said and pulled her to a lounge and snuggled close to her as they leaned back with their heads over the side rail. "Close your eyes for a very slow count to twenty, then open your eyes and tell me what you see."

She did what he said and then opened her eyes and looking up; she was shocked at the number of stars that filled the sky. Andi had seen stars before, but the city pollutes the sky with light and the number of stars you can see is diminished by a huge percentage. Here out on the open ocean, all she could see were stars. They filled the sky until she noticed that they didn't. There was an obvious line of where she could see stars, and below that line were no stars, just inky blackness. She guessed that was the horizon, or maybe Paul's arm in the way of her vision.

Slowly, she could see a little more. The white deck beneath them was a dark gray ghost, the chrome handrails slightly glinted in the starlight. She sat up and far, far off in the distance she could see a green light and a white light marking the bow and stern of a boat moving, she tried to do a calculation, north she guessed, it was difficult because her husband was kissing her neck, moving closer and closer to that spot she hadn't told him about yet...

Suddenly he found it, just behind and below her ear. He sucked gently, and the sensation was divine. It was like an electronic signal was sent to her nipples and clit, which literally buzzed with a sensation like a vibrator was touching them. "Oh yes daddy, right there..." her eyes rolled back in her head and her hand crept down to her crotch to rub her pussy which wanted in on the action when suddenly she realized she had a man here, let him do it for her. She grabbed his wrist and pulled it away from her breast and moved it closer to her cloth covered vagina then asked softly, "Please daddy?"

Paul slipped off the couch and pulled off her deck shoes, then licked her little toes, which made her shiver and giggle at the same time. Soon he was massaging her feet, and she massaged her breasts at the same time. Soon he said, "Lift your pretty fanny," and she did, allowing him to pull down her short deck skirt and then her matching panties.

She poured herself some more wine and sipped as Paul kissed her legs and her belly, paying close attention to her c-section scar. "It must have been scary," he said.

"It was," said Andi, as she began to lose a sense of what direction was up. It felt so good to have her man massaging her legs, kissing wherever he touched. She closed her eyes and looked up at the stars and asked, "Were you romantic like this with Melony?" At the sound of his first wife's name, Paul stopped. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

"No, it's ok..." Paul took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I tried... I wanted to. When we first started dating, she liked being with a real live doctor. Doctor equals status and fame and security. A fighter pilot doesn't translate to anything in the outside world because there are no fighters to fly, you have to fall back on your degree, which for most fighter pilots is aeronautical engineering, which is a saturated field. A doctor, on the other hand, is a doctor anywhere he goes. We're just not exciting enough." He looked off into the dark. "I could become a flight surgeon. I thought maybe that was more exciting for her."

"So you're saying she was stupid?"

"She wasn't stupid, she was..." Paul fumbled for a word.

"She was impatient," said Andi.

"What do you mean, impatient?"

"I'm about to get my guts rearranged by one of the largest dicks I've ever had inside me, on my own yacht on a starry night. My babies have a new daddy that loves them, and I have a lover that loves me. She could have had all of that if she had waited."

Then Paul remembered the horrors that his wife went through, the rapes to pay off Franks gambling debts, being pregnant and abandoned, what Frank did was unforgivable and sometimes he wished he had killed her husband, it would have been easy, but it would have been so wrong. Even if Andi forgave him, he couldn't have forgiven himself.

The foredeck was a section ahead of the salon with couches on three sides and the anchoring station at the bow. In the middle is a low table that drinks, and food can be sat on it. Paul was sitting on the table, with Andi's feet in his lap and he was massaging her tiny feet.

"I'm sorry to have brought it up," said Andi.

"No, it's ok. We're married. There should be no secrets between us, no subjects, no matter how painful that we can't discuss."

"Did I ever tell you about my premed days?" she asked.

"You said that you were pretty wild."

"Yeah, I did a lot of things, but at least I saved something for you," she said. Paul could see her sexy smile in the starlight. "Leave it to me to save my anal virginity for the man with the biggest dick I ever swallowed," and she rubbed her bare foot against his cock.

Her remark caused Paul to ask, "are you regretting we did that?"

"Oh, hell no! I actually came!"

"Wanna do it again?" he asked with a grin.

"Mmmm not right now."

"Have you ever done a foot job?" He asked as he pressed her other foot against his cock.

"Yeah, it's hard on the knees and hips," she said as she gave his hardening cock a few strokes with her tiny feet. "Were you ever a sexual wild man?"

"No, not really. I was a science nerd in high school, so I never had a steady girlfriend. I was a virgin until my second year of pre-med. There is still a list of things I want to do, and you're helping me knock that list down." He sat next to her and they looked up at the stars. It was a warm night and the stars above were shining down on them. Her hand curled around his cock and began stroking him slowly. In return, his hand sought out her pussy and a finger began circling her clit.

"Want to know what I want to do?" asked Andi with a sly grin. "I want to do it all again. I want to give you a blowjob where someone can see us. I want to be tied up and fucked senseless, I want to walk into a board meeting with my pussy throbbing from the pounding you gave me over the breakfast table but most of all..." She pulled herself onto his lap and sank down on his cock and groaned in delight as she was skewered by his pole. "I'm going to do it all with you." With a wiggle of her hips, she sank down further. She squeaked as she felt his cock spreading her out, and she kissed him. "Back then, I thought it was so awesome... but now I know better." She slowly rose up then said, "It was nothing compared to you."

"I'm just a guy."

"You're the right guy." She kissed him again and said, "I'm going to say something to you that I never, ever said to anyone before." She tilted his head up and looked into his eyes in the gloom and said, "I want to have your baby."

They kissed as she rose and fell on his cock, aided by his hands on her hips. After a long moment, Paul said, "let's make a baby." Andi squealed a little and began fucking harder on his pole, and he began fucking up at her.

"Yes!" she gasped as just the thought of having this man's baby excited her to no end. Suddenly she realized that someone was shining a light on them. They looked and a boat not far off was shining a spotlight on them. "This is our honeymoon. Let's give them a show," she said, and she urged him to his feet.

Paul chuckled. The wine was obviously getting to Andi, but he stood up and she kneeled down in front of him. "Put your hands behind your back," she said, and she took the head of his cock in her mouth. As the boat went by, their spotlight caught Andi blowing her husband and whoever was behind that light got a good silhouette view of Dr. Adrianna Roberts, giving Dr. Paul Jarecki an incredible blowjob. Her mouth was moving up and down his cock, her tongue slathering the sensitive underside, her teeth slightly scraping his cock. Her breasts bobbled with her effort.

The light was quickly extinguished, but Andi was already worked up. She sucked harder and faster, driving Paul to the edge. Paul sadly had to stop. He pulled his cock out of his mouth, and she kneeled before him, gasping and panting. "Come here," he said, and he guided her to sit on the couch and he kneeled down. He lined up his cock with her wet pussy and began to ease it inside of her. His plans to go slowly were thwarted when she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him into her. "Oh god, you're so tight," he groaned.

"You're so damn big," she responded, and she leaned her head back as Paul began to fuck. He scooped her legs up over his arms and grabbed the side rail and began to fuck. The wet slapping of their bodies seemed to go on forever. "Cum in me... cum with me," Andi gasped as he fucked like a madman. His pounding drove her over the edge, and she came for what seemed like forever. Soon he changed his rhythm and began pounding into her with slow, measured, hammering thrusts.

"I'm cumming," he growled and began to spurt into her. She pulled him to her and stuck her tongue in his mouth as he shuddered and came in her. After what seemed like forever, they sagged to the deck and lay snuggling on their scattered clothing under the starlight. They kissed and snuggled and finally Paul said, "Want to go skinny dipping?"

"I don't know how to swim," she said. "There's an entire ocean under us."

"You sure?"

"I don't know..."

They gathered up their clothes and wine bottle and glasses and Paul led her down the narrow side decks to the Mezzanine where they stepped down into the cockpit. The moon began to peer over the horizon and bathed them in a silver light. "Check this out," said Paul. He opened a panel and hit a few switches, and the ocean around the boat was filled with light. Then he lowered the swimming deck into the water a little and he led her there. They sat on the swimming deck enjoying the warm ocean water as it washed over their laps and refreshed them after such a glorious fuck.

Paul slipped into the water and swam a few gentle strokes, then returned to the swimming deck. "What do you think?" he asked.

"It's been a long day. Let's go to bed." Andi was having trouble keeping her eyes open.

"Ok, you're right. Come on," he whispered, "I'll bring the wine."

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Andi woke up to Paul's gentle kisses. They were both naked, and she now loved waking up naked, mostly because it meant she went to bed naked with Paul. Or got naked in the middle of the night with Paul. Prior to meeting him, she never, ever slept naked for any reason at all. When living with Frank, she even wore her bra to bed under her flannel nightgown. But here, down in the tropics, it just felt right, and it was a feeling she would be taking back home to Springville.

Home to Springville, she thought to herself, not home to Denver. She smiled again. Andi hardly knows the area, but Paul is there, and that's all she needs for it to be home for her and her babies.

Andi rolled onto her back and felt Paul between her legs, kissing her pussy. "Mmmm what are you doing?" she purred.

"Kissing your pussy," he said. "What does it feel like?"

"It feels like I want to go back to sleep."

"Come on sleepy head, the twins are up and are driving Stan and Yi nuts. Come on, let's go watch the sunrise."

The gentle rocking of Andi's Dream started to rock Andi back to sleep, but she fought off the groggy sensation and realized the groggy sensation was not the boat rocking but the wine she drank last night. She crawled out of bed and put on a bikini that Paul told her fit perfectly, but she knew in her heart of hearts it was too small. Over that, she slipped on a pair of cut-off shorts. She ran a brush through her hair and over her teeth, then climbed up on deck. As she stepped up to the galley, Sandy, Madeline and Bitty began to serenade her with:

I'm Henery the Eighth, I am

Henery the Eighth, I am, I am

I got married to the widow next door

She's been married seven times before

And everyone was a Henery (Henery)

She wouldn't have Willie or a Sam (no Sam)

I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henery

Henery the Eighth, I am!

The three girls sang at the top of their lungs. Andi's head pounded with each word, and she looked over at Yi, who was busy in the galley. "You taught them that, didn't you?"

Yi feigned innocence and continued to make pancakes. "We can go camping now!" said Sandy.

"We have a camping song!" said Madeline.

"You can't make a s'more without a camping song," said Yi as she prepared breakfast. "Is there anything I can get you Mrs. Jarecki?"

Still not used to being called that, especially in the morning mists before sunrise, so she didn't answer.

"Doctor Jarecki?"

Finally, through the fog, Andi's brain ground into gear; "I'm Doctor Roberts. He's Doctor Jarecki, and I think one of us wants coffee."

Andi found a seat at the mezzanine facing the stern, which was still pointed to the east. The sun was just starting to peek above the horizon, and the girls were eating breakfast. "Where's Mr. Jarecki?"

Sunny gestured to the cockpit, "Morning prayers."

Andi sipped the coffee handed to her, kissed her daughters and Bitty on the head, then stepped down to the cockpit, through the transom door and out onto the swimming deck. There was Paul, kneeling in prayer. She knelt next to him and started to pray. She prayed a prayer of thanks for everything that has happened to her so far, and prayed for the health of her babies, and she prayed for a boy.

She looked up, and the sun was fully above the horizon, it's reflection on the glassy surface of the ocean was almost like an answer to her supplications. She looked at Paul and there was a tear or two on his cheeks. "You ok daddy?" she asked softly.

"Yeah baby, I am. It's all just hard to believe, that's all. Let's go swimming."

"Are you crazy? It's..." she was going to complain that it was too early, but he wrapped his arms around her and leaned over, and they slipped into the water. The water was warm and inviting and really helped her clear her head. Now she was sure of the hundred different ways she was going to kill her husband.

The twins were watching, and both said "Whoa!" around a mouth full of pancake and ran down to the cockpit and out on to the swimming deck as their mother appeared above the surface, still clutching her coffee cup. "You two get back on to the boat. You're not allowed out here without a life vest!" even while drowning and plotting her husband's murder, she was still looking out for her children. Paul had kept a grip on the swimming deck, so they didn't slide very far at all below the surface. He rolled up on the deck and hoisted Andi up out of the water, spouting and cursing. She was mostly angry for his spoiling a very good cup of coffee. Several sea water salty kisses later, they were back in the water enjoying a morning swim.

Andi can't really swim, she can only dog paddle, and she's not very good at that. Paul took it upon himself to teach her to tread water. "If you end up in the water, this is the very first thing you need to remember. Treading water properly will save your life." He taught her the proper hand motion and kick for treading water. Andi soon she felt comfortable treading water, and it was time to move on. Paul had her lean back; "You're going to lean your head way back, let your body do what it wants to do, keep leaning back until the water comes up over your forehead and almost to your eyes... that's it... relax and let your feet come up..."

And before she knew it, Andi was floating on her back. Her toes were actually sticking up out of the water. She could barely hear him because the water was covering her ears, but Paul told her to move just her hands in a "jazz hands figure 8" and when she figured out what he was told her, she realized that doing this was propelling her through the water slowly.

"Mommy's swimming!" Sandy yelled from the mezzanine breakfast table.

"She is! She is!" shrieked Madeline.

"So?" asked Bitty. "I've been swimming since I was born." Stan and Sung-mi enrolled Bitty in infant swimming lessons as soon as they could.

"We're from Denver," Sandy insisted. "You can't swim in Denver. There's too much altitude."

Madeline and Sandy tried to explain to Bitty that their mommy lives in a city and in a city you don't swim, you call Uber. But the discussion got out of hand and turned into a shouting match over swimming until Sung-mi assured Bitty that when they went to the beach, she can help the twins learn to swim.

Meanwhile, Andi was adding kicking to her activity and was starting to propel herself away from Andi's Dream. Paul had her stop and go back to treading water. It was then that she realized how far from the boat she had gotten. She started to panic, but he was able to get her to start treading water again. Once she settled into the rhythm, he moved up behind her. "Where did you learn to teach people to swim?" she asked.

"We like to take the kids at John's church to the beach on Lake Canandaigua, but there are no lifeguards. So, John and I took red cross lifesaving classes and got our life saving certificates so we can take the kids to the lake."

"So, you can rescue me," said Andi.

"Yes."

"That's called burying the lede!" she practically screamed.

"Let me show you," said Paul as he swam up behind her. "This is what I am going to do when you need me to rescue you," and he put his arm around her ribcage and started swimming toward Andi's Dream with a strong, sure side stroke. It isn't comfortable to be rescued in this manner. Just keeping the water out of your nose is difficult, but soon, sooner than she would have guessed, they were standing on the swimming deck again. When she realized the twins were on the swimming deck congratulating her, she chased them off again, scooped up her coffee cup from where she had left it, and headed back to the galley for more coffee.

"Ahoy!" cried Yi, "You're not coming up here in my nice clean galley, dragging the Atlantic Ocean with you! You wouldn't believe what fish do in that water. Shower up first."

"How? What?" Andi was confused because to get to her suite where the shower waited for her, she had to walk through the galley, to the salon, and then down below deck.

"This way," said Paul, and he showed her a door on the fishing cockpit bulkhead that led below deck. There was a small cabin with pullman bunks, a small, stacked washer and drier, and a small day head with a shower head. "This is Yi's cabin. It's a bit noisy, so I said she could stay in the fore cabin until we pick up 'the gang'." Andi dropped her shorts and bikini and pushed Paul away.

"If I let you touch me, we'll never get out of here."

"I can stop when we need to," he complained.

"I'm not talking about you," and gave him a saucy wiggle of her womanly hips then she rinsed off and wrung out her bikini and cutoffs and put them in the drier, then went above deck wearing only the t-shirt Paul had taken off before going in the water (she could wear it as a dress) and a towel around her waist. Paul joined her, wearing a towel around his waist like a kilt.

"What say we try to catch a dolphin or two before heading in to get John and the gang?" asked Stan.

"Sounds good to me, and maybe we can find some porpoise for the kids to watch," replied Paul, which confused Andi.

"You're going to catch a dolphin? And watch a porpoise?"

"They're delicious! I love cooking them," grinned Yi.

Andi looked about her in horror. These people are crazy! Catching and eating a dolphin?

"They talk about Mahi-Mahi," said Sunny as she brought a pot of coffee from the galley and set it on the table. "It real name is dolphin and is a fish, not a mammal, and Yi is right, are delicious."

"They're uuuuuuuuugly!" chimed in Bitty, "but they have a pretty green color."

"Here you go, Eggs en Cocotte with mushroom, chorizo, and fresh tomato with brioche toast," said Yi as she put plates down in front of Paul and Andi. The pancake eating kids at the end of the table looked on with interest.

"Eggs en Cocotte?" Andi looked at the sumptuous feast before her. Eggs en Cocotte was a ramekin filled with whatever the chef wants to add, in this case chorizo and mushrooms with an egg on top. The Ramekin is placed in a water bath and put in a 375° oven for about 15 minutes and when it's done, the with roasted tomato goes on top of that. The eggs were done perfectly, and the yolk was creamy.

Yi explained, "Eggs en Cocotte is the fanciest way on earth to describe the easiest way on earth to cook eggs. I put some sliced mushrooms and chorizo in a ramakin, put an egg on top, and toss it in the oven which gives me time to roast the tomatoes, toast the brioche, and finish off the open bottle of wine you guys left in the galley."

"I thought I finished that," Andi said to Paul quietly.

"No, if you had finished that, I'd still be dipping you in the ocean to wake you up."

Stan and Sunny joined them, and Paul insisted that Yi sit down and eat with them. Breakfast was simply marvelous. Neither Paul nor Andi had ever had an egg cooked to perfection like that before. As they finished and downed the last of their coffee, Paul said, "I can't wait to take this boat fishing."

"If you want to go fishing, let's go fishing," said Stan.

"Yeah, let's do it," said Paul, and again he helped Yi clean up the galley.

"You don't have to do this," said Yi. "It's part of my job."

"It's part of my boat," said Paul. "Would you rather have me helping with the engines?"

Yi thought for a moment, then handed him a coffee cup and said, "you missed a spot."

After breakfast was cleaned up, it was time to go fishing. Stan manned the fly helm, and he taught Andi how to use the fish finder. They purred around for a while and scanned with the 'fish finder' until Stan pointed out that they found a small school of mullet. "Ok, nice and easy... we pull up on them," said Stan and he headed to the school as quietly as Andi's Dream would move.

When they neared the school, Paul on the stern threw chunks of frozen chum into the water, then, collecting his net, he stepped onto the swimming deck. As the mullet rose to the chum, Paul tossed the net onto the boiling sea and netted up a good size collection of the small fish. He dragged them on to the cockpit and poured the fish into the two live bait bins.

Some of the mullet got loose and were hopping around on the deck and the twins were in a panic, trying to pick them up, but as soon as the fish moved, they would run away yelled "Fish! Get in the tank!"

"Look, pick it up behind the face," said Bitty, and she tried to show the twins how to pick up a fish, but they were terrified.

"Come here," said Paul and he held a small fish. The twins were terrified, but Paul said, "pet his tummy, see? They're slippery and wiggly, but they can't hurt you." Soon he had a fish in the hands of each twin. "Don't squeeze too hard, just let him wiggle."

Sandy and Madeline looked at each other and each muttered something in Twinbabble® then ran up toward the galley. "Oh no," said Paul.

"I agree," chuckled Yi as the twins flashed past her on their way to show mommy.

Paul, Bitty, and Sunny continued to scoop up the loose mullet and soon they heard Andi scream above them and two exhausted little fish sailed through the air and landed in the cockpit. "Sorry about that, old boy," Paul told the mullet as he put them in the bait tank that was built into the gunnel. He made sure that the aeration was on and dropped some chum in the tank for the hungry fish.

"Mommy didn't like our fishes," pouted Sandy as they returned.

After Paul corralled the bait fish, he started assembling the fighting chair on the center mount in the cockpit. While he did that, Bitty broke out a seawater hose and sprayed down the deck while Sandy and Madeline tried to swab it with swabs that were way too big for them. "Let's go find some fish, captain!" called out Paul as he broke out two fishing rods.

"You got it!" called Stan and Andi's Dream began the hunt. Paul then spread the outriggers outward. With the outriggers set, he baited each line and set them on the outriggers, then settled back in the fighting chair. "Beer me," he called, and sure enough, Madeline appeared a few moments later with an ice-cold bottle of root beer.

He sipped the root beer, sharing it with his daughters, and after finishing it he was halfway done with a Yuengling with a twin on each knee when it happened. They were relaxing in the fighting chair, the twins sipping their juice boxes, when the pole on the port side started spinning madly. "Fish up!" he called. The twins hopped down and scampered up to the Mezzanine to watch.

Andi's Dream slowed and Paul grabbed the madly spinning pole and set the brake higher. The tension caused the snap on the outrigger to release his line, and the fish was all his. Stan appeared on the starboard pole and stood by in case another fish decided to bite. Paul took a moment to look up to see who was manning the helm and saw it was Andi at the helm with Sung-mi giving her instructions.

The fish on his line decided to put up a fight and Paul let it have its way for a while, but eventually he pulled in a nice wahoo, a delicious fish that Yi immediately started making plans for. Wahoo is sweet with a mild flavor, a perfect fish for people who hate fishy flavor. Its meat is firm but delicate and flaky and many people claim that it is close to tasting like veal. Paul fought it alongside and Stan brought it up with a gaffing pole and Yi quickly dispatched it with a well-aimed knife blade.

As she was cleaning the wahoo at the cockpit cleaning station, the other poll started to spin, and Stan grabbed it. Paul stood ready with the gaffing pole when a nice sized mahi-mahi was pulled in by Stan. Paul pulled it aboard, and Yi's eyes opened wide. "Oh, yes!" and again her knife flashed to complete fishing for the morning.

"Good timing!" called Andi from above. "We need to head to Melbourne." Andi's Dream was due into the Melbourne marina at one to pick up Macy, John, Lucy, and Gus. While Yi fileted the mahi-mahi, Paul hauled in the outriggers and stowed them, washed the fishing tackle and stowed it, and the live bait was poked and prodded by the twins. Paul could see goldfish in his future when they got back to Springville. Yi wrapped and refrigerated the filets she harvested, then pitched the remains of the wahoo and mahi-mahi overboard and scrubbed down the cleaning stations. She showed Paul that when you lift the lid on one station, it's a barbeque grill. The other one is a huge chest freezer and a sink.

Andi was still at the helm, and she turned west and headed back toward Cape Canaveral, and as she did Andi's Dream returned to being a luxury cruiser. She opened up the throttles and got her boat racing back to the Canaveral Canal, then nervously set the autopilot, ran down the three flights of stairs to the laundry to retrieve her bikini and cutoffs. She changed there in the crew's head, then returned to the aft fly bridge and was ready to take control. Sunny poked her head out from the fore bridge and told her that she would need Andi to switch the navigation controls back to the fore bridge. "But it's so nice out here, warm and sunny. That suite is cold enough to store the fish we just caught." Andi was complaining about the air conditioning in the fly bridge suite.

Sunny made a posture of never-ending suffering and began opening up the fly bridge. The rear glass doors opened wide and so did the side windows in the luxurious cockpit. Andi took the Captain's chair which when moved fully forward was almost close enough for her tiny frame. Sunny sat to her left in what she called the "Instructor Pilot" chair and guided Andi through the navigational duties. "Don't forget, you have twenty feet of boat under you, and seven of them below the surface. You have forty feet of boat ahead of you, and forty feet of boat behind you. Always stay in the channel and watch for overhead wires."

"Good to know, but you may have to remind me when we see land." Andi's brow furrowed, and she said, "What's going on with the sonar? Is it going blank? No, it's back... now it's gone again..."

Sunny stood up and peered forward, then smiled and turned to Bitty and the twins who were coloring at the Fly Bridge dining table. "Bit-na! Take the twins forward. We have friends in the water."

Bitty's eyes opened wide. "Come on! You have to see this!" and she dashed down the staircase with Sandy and Madeline following. Confused, but in hot pursuit, the twins raced after their new friend.

"You go down too, take Doctor Paul." said Sunny as she edged Andi out of the captain's chair. They followed the girls out to the foredeck and Andi was as confused as her daughters, but Paul had an idea of what was going on. When they reached the foredeck, Paul found Andi's blouse from last night tucked between the cushions of the couch they made love on. The girls were leaning over the fore handrails cheering and laughing.

Paul and Andi looked and saw a dozen bottle-nose dolphin were swimming along either side of the bow riding the bow wake and putting on an exciting show. The girls were ecstatic over the sight and Madeline asked her mommy if she could get a piece of bread to feed them.

"No honey, they're not like the ducks in the park. They like to eat those little fish your papa caught earlier."

"Which little fish?" Paul asked, his pride on the line. The wahoo and mahi-mahi weren't record setters, but there were a few meals in each one.

"The bait dear," Andi patted the side of his face, "your other fish are just fine." Andi wanted to head back to the bridge, but every fiber in her body screamed to stay with the twins and watch them. She finally sighed. Let them have fun. This boat doesn't have a heli-pad for helicopter mothers. She took the blouse from Paul, slipped it on, and tied it off under her breasts with such nonchalance that he was convinced she had left it on the couch for that exact purpose. With the blouse on, she headed back up to the flybridge. As soon as she got up there, the radio crackled to life.

"MV Andi's Dream, MV Andi's Dream, this is USCG Venturous."

Andi looked in shock. "What do we do?"

"Answer them," said Stan, "Just say 'Andi's Dream answering.'"

"Ok," she sighed. Might as well get it over with. "Andi's Dream answering, this is Andi speaking." She cringed at what she said. It sounded so stupid to her, but it just came out.

"Please stand to for a safety inspection."

Andi looked at Stan, who was still lounging at the coffee table with a magazine and a cup of his daughter's coffee. "Just say Aye Aye."

Andi lifted the microphone to her lips and said, "Aye-Aye." She really was in terror. The twins were on the bow with no safety gear! They were all going to jail!

"Honey, when you say it, key the microphone," said Sunny, who noticed that the transmit light didn't come on.

"Aye-aye," she tried again.

Stan showed Andi and Paul how to gather the paperwork that the Coast Guard was going to ask for and Sunny showed Andi how to bring the boat to a stop. They set the autopilot to station keeping and went down to the cockpit to greet the US Coast Guard.

The USCG Venturous pulled up astern and port of Andi's Dream, and shortly a Zodiac full of 'Coasties' came bounding toward the luxury yacht. Stan and Paul stood at the stern rail and helped the crew of the zodiac tie off, and one by one, they boarded the yacht, leaving two sailors behind in the Zodiac. The sailors looked around and whistled. "Nice!" said the burly warrant officer who was leading the inspection. "I think this is the first Riviera 72 we've had on the space coast." His men went about their appointed inspection, and he grinned. "I get the hard part... galley inspection."

Stan led the way to the galley and Yi saw the Warrant officer and cried "Donny!" and threw her arms around him.

"How ya doin' Yi?" said the old coastie, "Don't tell me they have you cooking AND turning wrenches on this dream ship."

"You know me, drop a smelt on a hot rock and I'll whip up a side dish for you." The two chatted like the old friends. Yi has been to numerous clinics held by Warrant Officer Don Coats.

"Hey, remember ol' Fuzznuts?" grinned Warrant Officer Coats.

"What's that whackjob up to?" asked Yi suspiciously.

"He's supposed to be inspecting your engine spaces, but I don't think he has found his way in."

"If he TOUCHES one of my V12's I'll break his arm!" Yi cried and dashed down to the cockpit. The access to the engine room on the Riviera Motor Sport yachts is actually hidden behind the port side staircase from the cockpit to the mezzanine and on his own, "Ol' Fuzznuts" would never find it.

With Yi gone, Paul took the opportunity to introduce himself and Andi as owners of Andi's Dream.

"This is a sweet boat you have, sir," said Warrant Officer Coats.

"I was able to get it for a steal," said Paul. "It made a nice Christmas present for my bride."

The coast guard inspection didn't last very long. Being fairly new and having just spent a few months in the yard getting readied for a new buyer, Andi's Dream was in marvelous shape. As Don Coats inspected the galley, the twins watched every move that he made. He finally turned to the twins and said, "Good morning, ladies."

"Was my mom speeding again?" asked Sandy.

"No, this is just a safety inspection."

"Ok, because she drives really fast." Without another word, the twins went back upstairs to their coloring.

Soon, the inspection was over. Warrant officer Coats presented Paul with his inspection certificate and he and his team returned to the Venturous, leaving Yi to mutter oaths and threats under her breath. Paul and Andi gathered at the helm, and Sunny showed them how to navigate. They had to return to the Canaveral inlet, then join the waters of the Banana River and head south until that joined the Indian River. Once they followed the Indian River to Melbourne, they needed to turn to Crane Creek and follow those waters to the marina. "This is not a speed run," said Sunny. "No wake zones are not there for the snowbirds. They're there for the manatees. It's winter. They will be near the surface warming themselves."

Ahead of them they could see the buoys marking the entrance to the Canaveral canal. "The maximum speed in the canal is ten knots," said Sunny. She opened a chart and showed Paul and Andi how to determine the speed limit. Soon they were in the canal, and they met an outbound cruise ship.

"Here comes Mickey's boat again, girls," called Andi. The twins and Bitty ran up to the front of the fly bridge to watch the huge ship approach them, then as it passed, they ran out to the aft deck and waved to the ship and a few passengers saw them and waved back.

"They waved at us," a breathless Madeline told her mother.

"I think one was Ella," said Sandy, and Madeline nodded her agreement.

<><><><><> ֎ <><><><><>

John, Macy, Gus, and Lucy sat in the Marina Café right where they had been told they would be met, and they sipped cool drinks in the warm, muggy atmosphere. The locals were drinking hot coffee and wearing sweatshirts and sweaters. Seventy-eight degrees appeared to be too cool for them, Lucy guessed. She has never been south of Denver in her life and this place was incredible! The palm trees, the greenery, and the oranges! She loves citrus, so early January on the "Space Coast" is nirvana for her. In fact, right then she was enjoying a Sea Breeze, grapefruit juice, cranberry juice, and vodka.

"They should be here at any time," said John, sipping his virgin sea breeze. "If there's one thing about Stan Carlson, he's always on time."

"Maybe they're behind that giant moving up the channel," remarked Macy. She pointed to a huge boat headed their way.

"That is most likely. This thing would block the view of a container ship," growled John. He really couldn't wait to get back out to sea and catch some fish. The last text he got from his brother read, "Andi's Dream is a fishing MACHINE!" so it had to be behind this giant that should be part of the Royal Caribbean fleet. He could even see outriggers, so Stan had to be following the giant. Landlubber Gus who knew nothing about sailing or fishing realized this thing was a monster.

"Why is that huge boat moving so slow?" asked Gus.

"A couple of reasons," answered Macy. "this is a no wake area, they go slow so they don't produce a wake..."

"Oh, I thought those 'No Wake Zone' signs meant you had to let sleeping dogs lie."

Lucy gave him a gentle backhanded smack to the chest as she tried her hardest not to laugh. Even his dumbest jokes brought a smile out of her in her foulest moods.

"And this is a manatee area. They're near the surface on a day like today to warm in the sun."

"The manatee is a confusing animal to me," said Gus to Lucy, "it's a sea cow, so how do you serve manatee, with steak sauce or with tartar sauce? Very confusing..."

Lucy gave him a blank stare as long as she could before she started laughed. She put her arm around him and buried her face in his shoulder to stifle the laughs. When she finally recovered, she gave him another backhand. "What?" he said with a confused look before laughing himself.

"Don't be telling that joke down here to a local. They love their manatee more than they love Jesus," said John, leaning in toward the chuckling couple.

Lucy asked, "What are those big antennae for on that ship?"

"What big antenna?" John tried to see what she was asked about.

"The super big antenna, they're leaning back at about a sixty-degree angle," clarified Gus, who was mystified, too.

"Those are outriggers, they're like long fishing rods, but they aren't..."

"Yes, they are," said Macy with growing excitement. "They're attached to that huge boat."

As the monster neared the dock, it slowed to a stop. John still couldn't see a member of the crew, though he thought he saw what looked like Sung-mi in the enclosed flying bridge. The engines revved up a little bit as the thrusters came in to play and slowly the boat rotated 180 degrees around until finally the stern came into view. It was Andi's Dream.

"That's our boat?" gasped Gus.

"I saw the pictures, but I didn't realize how big it would be," gasped John.

When it drew up parallel to the dock, it started moving backwards towards them until it was fully alongside of them. Then it stopped and, ever so gently, it moved sideways toward the dock. John recognized Yi-jin amidships as she set out the fenders, and Stan was at the stern, both getting ready to tie up the behemoth. Paul was in the fighting chair with 3 young girls on his lap; Sandy, Madeline, and Bit-na. And where were Sunny and Andi?

John looked up at the fly bridge and saw Andi at the port side docking helm and Sunny was standing near her, giving advice. Soon Bitty jumped off Paul's lap and ran the length of the boat, dropping the fenders over the side. She took the bow rope from Yi, who walked aft and stepped off the boat the moment the fenders made gentle contact. She trotted fore and Bitty tossed her the rope and Yi made the bow fast with two lines while Stan did the same for the stern.

Sunny and Andi came down off the bridge after the engines were shut down and the standby generators were running properly. The pier crew came up and began topping off the fuel tanks as Yi came up from the engine room. The twins exploded off of Paul's lap and dove over the stern transom on to the dock. "Aunty Lucy! Aunt Macy!" they cried as they ran. As soon as they slammed into Lucy, they started chattering away. Lucy caught the words "Fish, swim, boat, bed, window, decorations, and pancakes..." but the rest was all lost in the TwinBabble®. There were hugs and handshakes all around and Andi was shaking with excitement that everyone was here.

"What's so exciting?" asked John. "We just saw you the other day."

"Today's our wedding anniversary! And I have my entire wedding party here!"

Andi, Lucy and Macy hugged, then one of the marina matrons overheard and said, "That's so sweet. How long have you been married, dear?"

"Six days, eighteen hours and thirty minutes," said Paul, coming up behind Andi to give her a hug.

An official-looking fellow came up and said to Stan, "That's some amazing boatmanship. Your boat is 75 feet long, and the channel is only 85 feet wide. You did a fine job swinging it around."

"We're 75 feet long with the swimming deck down," said Stan. "Andi here was the helmsman on that docking." Andi heard her name and walked over to them.

"I'm Andi Jarecki, and to be honest, Sung-mi Carlson guided me through that entire procedure."

"Either way, it was flawless. And Mrs. Jarecki, these fellows have a delivery for you from my mom, Justice Nicoletta Atherton." He indicated two fellows in coveralls carrying large cardboard boxes. "They need to see your chef."

Andi asked Yi to speak with the men and she did and led them to the cockpit of Andi's Dream while the marina official handed Andi a greeting card. She pulled it from the envelope and read it; it was a sweet wedding sentiment. Written on it in Miss Nicoletta's flowing script read, "Forgive this late wedding gift. Have a wonderful New Year from one special mother to another—Nicoletta."

Andi sniffed and wiped a tear from her eye. "Your mom is a very special person. Thank you."

The man introduced himself as Nathanial Atherton, "Mom says you two have something in common."

"We truly do," she said.

Paul was going to take her out when Andi's Dream was ready, so he kept an eye on the refueling crew. After everyone was aboard, Paul and Stan went over the undocking procedure. The moment refueling was done, Paul and Yi spent twenty minutes in the engine room. They were going over the pre-departure checklist, ensuring the twin MAN V-12 1800 diesels were ready to operate. "You ready Doctor J?" Yi asked.

Paul went over his checklist one last time and everything was checked. "Let's fire this bad girl up." With a powerful snarl, the twin diesels came to life. Yi held them at a high idle until they were at a good operating temperature, then switched power generating from the standby generator to the mains and shut down the standby generators. They observed the mains for another minute, and when there was no reason not to call the start up a success, they put the engine control to full auto and climbed back up on deck, where Paul held a quick huddle.

"Andi, you probably want to show folks where their staterooms are. We'll be underway in five minutes. If anyone needs to run ashore, they need to go now. Sunny and Yi, let's single up fore and aft and be ready to cast off."

As Yi headed to the gunnel to step ashore, she whispered to Andi, "Did you marry a flight surgeon? or the Wing Commander."

Paul headed upstairs to the flybridge and got his navigation software up and running. "All are aboard, sir!" called Sunny.

"Thank you. Let's cast off!" Paul cried, and Yi and Sunny untied the last lines holding Andi's Dream to the pier. With the left thruster, he held Andi's Dream tight to the dock until both Sunny and Yi were aboard. Then he used the small joystick to control the thrusters, and they moved away from the dock until they were mid channel. He then engaged the shafts and was getting ready to start making revolutions, but he looked down and saw a manatee and her calf swimming alongside Andi's Dream. "I'm going to use the thrusters to head out to the river," he told Stan.

"Good call," grinned the captain.

Below decks Andi was giving a tour of Andi's Dream. "Here at the bow is the VIP suite for John and Marcy, full bed, 32 inch TV with access to the digital antenna and the on-board movie library. If you guys select something naughty, please let us know so we can watch along up in the salon." Andi showed them the head with the freshwater shower. "It's potable, but it is desalinated sea water. If you want drinking water, get it here at the tap," she pointed to a panel on the wall like the one on a refrigerator where you would get water, "it's been through reverse osmosis and tastes a lot better."

As John and Macy were setting up their compartment, Andi showed Gus and Lucy their compartment. "This is the port side compartment. As you can see, the bunks are the equivalent of a twin bed..." she looked at the looks on their faces. "Uhh... if you would rather not share a compartment, we can make other arrangements..."

"Oh no, this is just fine, we're just going to be here a couple of days before we have to get back to work," said Gus inspecting the tiny compartment. "Oh look, it looks like these two beds slide together."

"Are you sure?" asked Lucy.

"I've seen a lot of interesting sleeping arrangements in my years as a contractor and... yeah, there she goes." With a push, Gus was able to push the inboard bed until it met up with the outboard bed. "And it can probably slide back just as easy."

"No, I don't think it can," said Lucy, with a note to her voice that Andi had never heard before. Then she noticed that Gus and Lucy were staring straight into each other's eyes.

"You're right, I don't think it can," repeated Gus. "I'll look at it before we leave."

Andi was going to show them their shower/head that was shared with the starboard side compartment, but they were both a thousand miles away. She stepped out of the tiny compartment to meet a pair of twins in their orange bikinis with a stuffy under an arm. "Where do we sleep, mommy?"

Andi showed them how they're going to share the bottom bunk in the starboard compartment, with their heads at each end. The twins were tiny enough to make this work. "Yi will sleep on the top bunk if she wants, and Bitty can sleep on the floor, see? We have a cushion and pillow and blanket for her."

The twins pushed their mommy out into the companionway and closed the door after her. Andi looked around and all the compartment doors were closed. She wished she could be a fly on the wall in Lucy's room; she prayed that Lucy and Gus would hit it off. They don't have a lot in common, but they seem to communicate so well. Wishing them luck, she headed up to the flybridge, but as she walked through the galley, she could see Yi preparing a huge prime roast. It was at least 7 bones. "Wow, I don't remember seeing that on the manifest."

"Your friend Miss Nicoletta sent it for New Year's Dinner. I was planning something else but this," Yi looked at the roast with a grin and patted it. "You and I are going to make beautiful music together," she said to the meat.

"Will that fit in the oven, Yi?"

"Don't worry about this, it's your other dinner guests I'm trying to figure out," and the slender Asian woman led Andi down to the cockpit. She opened a door in the teak deck of the cockpit and showed Andi the starboard fish bin. The fish bins are below deck 'bathtubs' where caught fish would be iced down and kept fresh. Now one was full of ice and lobsters. "Miss Nicoletta sent them along with the roast."

<><><><><>

As everyone settled in, Andi and Macy were sitting in the foredeck sipping wine and watching the Treasure Coast of Florida slide by. "Your new friends have good taste in wine," said Macy as they sipped from a bottle that Andi received yesterday.

"I still have more stashed under our bed," said Andi. "And we have enough champagne to float this barge."

"This thing is beautiful. Why would we need a vacation house down here? We could just sit right here on the foredeck and sip wine all winter," said Macy.

"I wish we could put it in Paul's pond," said Andi.

"He's going to need a bigger pond."

They were moving south on the Indian River, a natural brackish river that parallels the Florida coast, and were heading for the Sebastian Inlet where they could get through to the ocean. Andi had already guided Andi's Dream in through the Canaveral Barge Canal and south from there to Melbourne and now Paul was in the fly bridge, with Stan taking her south to Jupiter.

The plans for their New Year's cruise was to head out to sea through the Sebastian Inlet, parallel the coast, then rejoin the Indian River through the Jupiter inlet. That evening they were planning to tie up at the house that John and Paul own in Jupiter and dine on the boat there, then dress up and head over to the Jupiter Yacht Club, the new home port of Andi's Dream. They planned to load the zodiac onto Andi's Dream on New Year's Day and head out to Barnabas Island and fish offshore and go on to the island for a picnic. The zodiac is a small, semi-inflatable boat with an electric motor that can be charged up from Andi's Dream. They planned to use that as a dingy to go in to shore when the water is too shallow to allow Andi's Dream close to shore.

Macy and Andi watched the houses with docks and boat lifts slide by. Andi's Dream was almost silent as she purred down the river. Years ago, a boating channel was dredged in the river and the soil left from the dredging was used to make a series of islands known as spoil islands. They're now covered with full size trees and most islands showed evidence of camping. Small boats and jet skis were beached on most islands. "This is heavenly," sighed Andi, as she slipped off her blouse and cutoffs to reveal the bikini that she swears was too small for her.

Seeing Andi strip down to her bikini, Macy slipped off her shorts and blouse to reveal her bikini, which was the same shade of coral as Andi's. She lay face down on the couch and reached behind her and unhooked her bikini top. "What are you doing?" asked Andi.

"Getting some sun. Working on my tan." Macy waited to see if Andi would have said something, but the poor Denver girl just looked confused. Macy let her off the hook. "I left Quebec ages ago and I cannot get enough sun! I like the feeling of the wind and the sun on my skin. Hopefully, we'll be able to do some proper sunning on Barnabas Island."

"Proper sunning?"

"Mmm oui ma sœur. If the children were not on board, I'd be naked right now."

"Oh, yeah... Paul and I were out here for sunset last night and we were out here for quite a while."

"Doing what?"

Andi looked at her sister-in-law in shock. "What do you think we were doing?"

"Hopefully taking advantage of the opportunity," said Macy as she hooked her top back up. She needed wine more than sunlight at the moment and sat up with her glass.

"We did some of that."

"How did Paul do with the Dynamic Duo in Disney Land?"

"Oh, that poor guy, they ran him ragged," chuckled Andi. "It was nonstop insanity. The only rest he got was on It's a Small World. I think he fell asleep on the ride."

"The poor guy," said Macy.

"I don't think he realized what he was getting himself into."

<><><><><>

Below deck, Gus and Lucy were laying on their bed. They had changed from their heavier winter clothing to swimsuits. Lucy was terrified to put on her swimsuit, but Gus seemed to be so understanding. She decided to give it a try. "Macy picked out a bikini for me in Melbourne and said that it would show off my body perfectly. 'Including my surgery scars?' I asked her."

"If anyone makes a remark about that, we'll give them their own surgical scars," said Gus.

In the tiny cabin she turned her back on Gus and pulled off her t-shirt, it's been so long since she's been topless with a man in the room... she felt Gus come up behind her, his big, strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her close. She realized that he was topless, too. She felt his warm skin against hers. When she found that he wasn't grabbing her, that he was just holding her close, she relaxed. Soon Lucy wanted this moment to go on and on forever. She leaned her head back onto his shoulder and he began nibbling at her ear, but he go any further. He sensed that she was content and was happy to remain in his arms for a long time, and he was good with that, too.

"You don't mind my being... skinny?" She didn't have the guts to say "titless."

"Our bodies are transitory shells," said Gus softly. "I loved my wife very much, but I had to watch her waste away a little more every day. You're healthy and strong and you're not in agony every day, so what's not to love?"

She turned around in his arms and pushed him back, then held her hands out to the side. "You're telling me that you're happy with this?" Her breasts were slightly more than barely noticeable mounds topped with an erect nipple and not much of an areola.

"I'm not sure what you're complaining about," he said as he brushed his fingers across her erect nipples. "It looks like they're happy to see me."

"You... goober!" She wrestled Gus to the bed and began hitting him with bunched fists, which caused him to laugh.

"Come here darling," he said as he caught her delicate hands in his large powerful hands. "Why can't you let yourself enjoy our moments together? Lord knows how long it's been for either of us to be able to do this."

She leaned over and they kissed. "I don't know. Something inside of me demands that I make sure that everything is real."

"Goober? You called me a goober?"

"Stop," groaned Lucy. "It's all I had in the moment."

<><><><><>

Up in the flybridge, Paul and John were talking about the fishing experience they had that morning. "Paul's best catch of the day was the mullet," said Stan.

"Hey now, fishing without bait is just washing hooks."

"You caught mullet?" asked John.

"I netted up some, then I spilled a few mullet on the deck and the twins were chasing them around," said Paul. "I gave each of them their own fish to hold and I thought they were going to toss them back into the ocean."

"What did they do?" asked John, knowing that the answer was going to be good.

Paul shrugged. "They took them up to the bridge to show mommy." Stan tried to stifle his laughter in case Andi was listening, and Paul continued. "Bitty and I were cleaning the deck in the cockpit, and I hear this scream from way up on high, then these two poor mullet come sailing down and hit the deck."

"Ok," said Stan, "we have a hard turn coming up. The channel for the Indian River meets the channel for the Sebastian Inlet at a ninety-degree angle. You have to take the turn at ninety degrees, you can't take a shortcut. You'll ground this boat sure as shit."

"I take it the channel is marked poorly?" said Paul.

"You got it. We need to use GPS as much, if not more, than channel buoys."

"Oh boy," groaned Paul, and he nudged the throttles back. He studied the gps read out as they came up to the intersection. Under Stan's tutelage, he put the left screw into reverse and the big boat turned on its own axis, making the hard turn easily. Paul was shaking. He didn't want to ruin his new million dollar toy on his first day driving, but Stan patted him on the shoulder. "You did good."

"Thanks. Just for that, I'm going to make sure you get first dibs on John and Macy's cabin in Springville."

"New cabin?" asked Stan as they edged toward the Sebastian inlet.

"Yep, Paul said he's going to build us a cabin this summer."

Stan laughed and patted Paul's shoulder again. "See what getting laid regular will do for a guy?"

"I wasn't getting any!" insisted Paul. "Not until Saturday night we got married."

"Then your eyes were clouding over." As John laughed in the background, Stan continued on. "Ok, Pop quiz. We're heading out. The tide is heading in. What does that make?"

"Roller Coaster?" asked John.

"Dead on. You need to get everyone inside. Someone on the foredeck can be tossed into the air if we're popped by a wave."

Paul got on the intercom and said, "We have some rough seas ahead. Please get inside."

Andi could see the US A1A overpass over the inlet ahead of them. They made the 90-degree turn to stay in the channel. With a draft as deep as Andi's Dream has, cutting the corner could have grounded them. Bitty, Sandy and Madeline were in the bow looking for dolphins and manatees, while Andi and Aunt Macy kept an eye on them. Occasionally, the girls would call out an exciting new find, but when Andi and Macy got up and walked to the bow to investigate, it would turn out to be a tangle of seaweed.

Soon the turn was made and as they approached the inlet Andi called, "You girls come with us, we're going inside for a little while. It's going to get bouncy." The Sebastian Inlet is notorious for swift currents and rough water and Captain Stan will rarely take a charter boat through that passage unless the tide was following, drawing him through the inlet. Andi's Dream weighs in at 60 tons and 3,600 horsepower and it was a different story. She should handle the inlet easily. The tide was against them, and it was going to get rough, but not horribly so.

Andi and Macy led the girls inside and just as they were passing under the A1A overpass, Paul called out on the intercom, "Sunny to the bridge, please, Sunny to the bridge."

Sunny stepped up the stairs and said, "What's up?"

"Listen," said Stan as Paul adjusted the squelch on the radio. A voice from afar called again, "... say again, SOS, SOS, SOS. ... craft ... distress ... boat is breaking up ... three souls on board ... fifteen miles ... east of Mico."

"I got it," said John. "Fifteen miles due east of Mico. They're not far."

Without a second thought, Paul grabbed the microphone and said, "Vessel calling mayday, vessel calling mayday, this is MV Andi's Dream. We copy your location as fifteen miles due east of Mico. We are responding to your location, how copy?"

While Paul was responding to that call, Stan picked up the satellite telephone and called the coast guard and relayed the information that Paul was getting from the vessel in distress.

"We are ... sailboat ... fire ... mast failed ... we're taking on water ... wife is pregnant ..."

It was dead silent on the bridge for a long second, then Paul got on the intercom to all portions of the boat. "Clear all exterior decks. Could everyone come to the salon? Clear the foredeck, everyone to the salon. Yi, prepare the galley for a heavy seas."

Yi looked up from the oven. The roast should be done by 8:00 PM. The little guys on ice in the cockpit waiting for her attention will cook quickly. She hit the intercom and said, "Aye-Aye captain," and she began lowering glass walls, turning the open air mezzanine into an indoor dining room.

Andi gathered up the twins and Bitty and shooed them into the salon while Macy picked up their wine glasses and bottle and headed up the side decks into the salon. Gus came up from below decks leading a sleepy-looking Lucy. This was their first time above deck since closing the door on their cabin. There was a lot of shoulder shrugging and wondering what the call was about until Paul, John, and Sunny came down from the flybridge. He held his hand up and asked for their attention as Yi grabbed her hearing protection and headed for the engine room.

Paul pressed the intercom button and said, "Everyone is in the salon, Stan."

"Copy," said Stan. "Hold on to something."

Paul asked for quiet and when he had everyone's attention he said, "About eight minutes ago we monitored a distress call from a small one family sailing vessel. Details are sketchy but it sounds like there was a fire and the boat started breaking apart, and the family is in the water. All we know for sure is that there are three, maybe four, people on board. The mother is pregnant and due soon, and that someone is tangled in the rigging..."

Just then, Andi's Dream cleared the inlet channel and was on the open seas. The twin diesel engines roared into life and Andi's Dream shot forward, leaving the A1A overpass in her wake and she started into an easy turn toward the north, cleaving the sea like a hot knife through butter.

In the salon, Andi's Dream started a rhythmic bouncing as she hit wave after wave at thirty nautical miles per hour. Paul continued, "Sunny has plotted a course and at this speed, we will be on the scene in under 30 minutes. The Coast Guard cutter Venturous is due north and turning south, but they're an hour away. Their helicopter has been transporting people from another incident, so it's not available yet."

He paused for a moment and made sure he had eye contact with everyone. "I'm not asking anyone to do any more than they are moved to do, but John and I are going to do whatever we can to save this family. Folks, this is going to change our plans, but we're sailors, we're doctors, and we're Christians. We have to respond."

Andi suddenly felt sick. She knew she had to respond; She was a doctor. Paul and Lucy are doctors, they have to respond... but she had a sick, terrified feeling that Paul will be going into the water.