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“Don’t belittle what I say, Kiera.”
“I never do, Mother. Sasha?”
I stood up and looked at Mrs. March. If she would or could ever see the hesitation in my face, she would see it now, I thought, and maybe she would forbid my going, but her mind was somewhere else. She nodded and looked down. Kiera tugged me, and we headed back up to our rooms. I was still brushing my teeth when she cried from my doorway that Boyd was there.
“Hurry up,” she said, “before my mother finds some reason to stop us. Believe me,” she continued as we went down the hallway, “she wishes she could.”
“Why wouldn’t she want us to have fun?”
“It’s a long story, but it’s because she had such a boring childhood. She’s just jealous.”
I shook my head as she descended in front of me. How could a daughter think her mother was jealous of her? Mothers wanted their daughters to have better lives than they had, didn’t they? She certainly wanted a better life for me, even if it was just to ease her conscience. Besides, I couldn’t believe Mrs. March had a boring childhood. Kiera just had a definition of “boring” that was different from most people’s.
Deidre was waiting for us in the car with Boyd.
“The others are meeting us at the dock,” she said. “Hurry up.” When we drove off, she turned and leaned over to whisper, “Ready for VA day?”
Kiera pushed her to turn around. “Don’t spook her,” she said. “She’s nervous enough.”
“Nervous about what?” Boyd asked.
“Being on the same boat with you,” Kiera said.
“Yeah, right. You have nothing to worry about as long as I’m there, Sasha,” he said.
Ricky’s boat was impressive. He had told me it was a seventy-five-foot Hatteras motor yacht. While everyone else waited, he took me on a tour to show me the galley, the salon, the master stateroom, and the guest stateroom. After that, he brought me up to the pilothouse, where I was to remain with him as he got us under way. Despite the conflicts going on inside me, I was very excited. When he started the boat and we were bouncing over the water, I couldn’t help but squeal with delight. He let me steer for a while, too. Boyd started whining about not being permitted to do half the driving, as Ricky had promised, so he let him come up with Marcia, and he and I went down to join the others in the salon.
Kiera looked pretty cozy with Ruben Weiner, and Deidre was practically on Tony Sussman’s lap. Margot was sprawled on a sofa with Jack Martin. The way everyone was smiling at us gave me the jitters. Did all of the boys also know what was supposed to happen on the boat?
“Looks crowded in here,” Ricky said. “Come on. We’ll go to the front of the boat, and you can feel the wind and sea spray.”
He took my hand and led me out. It was more exciting at the front of the boat. He pointed out Catalina and some of the other boats traveling to and fro. Because it was so bumpy, he held me around the waist, and we stood like that for a while. Afterward, we returned to the salon. I saw that Margot and Jack Martin were gone.
“Margot and Jack are in the guest stateroom,” Kiera whispered. “You have the master, of course.”
I glanced at Ricky.
“He already knows he’s been chosen,” she said.
Whether it was the prospect of really going forward with this or because this was my first time on a boat at sea, I don’t know, but I felt the blood drain from my face and a wooziness come over me. I faltered for a moment as my legs turned into jelly beneath me.
Ricky saw it coming and had his arm around my waist again. “Whoa,” he said, and scooped me up to carry me to the sofa.
“No,” Kiera said, seizing his arm. “She needs to be in the bed.”
He nodded and carried me to the master stateroom.
“I’ll get Boyd to slow down. That will help,” he said after he lowered me to the bed.
I closed my eyes. My stomach was doing flip-flops.
After he left, Kiera came in.
“Perfect,” she said, as if I had planned it all out and was pretending. “We’ll wait until the boat is docked.”
“I’m not fooling,” I said. “I feel sick.”
“You’ll get over it,” she insisted. “Rest a little.”
