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“Yes.”
“Yes! Sweetheart, we are going to have to work on your choice of timing to use single-word answers, but I will take it as long as it is yes and not no.” He leaned in as if to kiss her, but she leaned backward in his arms, placing her fingertips against his lips to stop him.
“Oh, it isn’t going to be that easy, Hun. You have waited this long; you can find the right time to make the kiss memorable. It will hopefully be my last, first kiss. I deserve for it to be a moment.Wedeserve for it to be a moment.”
“You are right. I agree completely. But just so you are aware, now that you have said yes to the next step, I am not waiting very long to make this moment happen. Cold feet and all that.”
“I certainly hope that is not your real reason. I am not fickle. Once I make up my mind, I stick with it unless I have a very good reason to change it. It took me a little longer to get here, but I am with you now.”
Chad pressed her a little closer to his chest before resuming his walk. Beth had to admit that his stamina was impressive for a man of his age. He would be insulted if she called him old, but at sixty-five, she doubted very few men could carry their women around. She wasn’t sure her Manny could have carried her much further than the bedroom when they married, and they were just kids back then. She knew Chad took pride in his body and worked hard to take care of it, but being able to carry her down the beach without stumbling about like a drunk sailor was morethan a little impressive. Now she understood the pleasure her daughter received from her brawny mountain man carrying her around. Beth had always thought it a little strange that Eric carried Sarah to bed every night, but now she could see the closeness and the tradition or ritual of the behavior. Not that she had any intention of letting Chad carry her around on a regular basis. Still, it was a very interesting insight.
Ten minutes later, Beth was sitting on a picnic table, foot extended over the edge, freshly bandaged. Chad was procuring a plastic bag from somewhere, insisting that it stay clean and dry on the ride back, so she did not get some “funky” ocean bacteria in it.
Within minutes of returning to the ship, he had her in the infirmary, properly cleaned and bandaged with waterproof coverings. She insisted she could walk even though it was slow and painful. Her pride wasn’t going to allow her to be carried all over the ship, no matter how enjoyable the experience or how attractive her knight was.
The evening Bioluminescence tour was canceled as it was another water event, and Chad made the executive decision that she would stay out of the water until her foot had time to heal. She was going to argue that she had waterproof bandages but was feeling quite exhausted, so she agreed without complaint when he suggested a quiet night in with room service and an evening of star gazing on the balcony.
After a delicious and refreshing meal of cilantro lime dressed salad, sirloin steak, and Crème Brule, they settled on the lounge on her balcony. Chad sat down first, placing his legs on either side of the chair. Beth then situated herself between them, laying back against his chest, his arms encircling her in a warm, protective embrace. He had pointed out only two constellations before she closed her eyes. Much like the night of the on-deck movie, Chad held her for hours as she rested, gratefulthat she trusted him enough to sleep soundly in his arms and praying fervently that very soon he would be blessed with this opportunity every day for the rest of her life.
Chapter 19
Chad announced over a room service breakfast the next morning that their plans had changed for the rest of the trip. He had swapped out all the water activities for land ones. They had now reached Mexico, which was their last port before returning home.
As soon as breakfast was finished, he led her off the ship and into a private Jeep at the end of the pier. They spent the next five hours exploring Cozumel with a private tour guide, seeing all the hidden gems the locals knew about and the tourists very rarely got to see. They even got to learn about jade, which she had no idea came in part from Mexico.
Chad insisted she do very little walking so that the glue would stick, and her laceration would heal. It turned out to be deeper and longer than she had expected, but skin glue had worked so far, so she wasn’t complaining. She didn’t want to be limping around when she got to Massachusetts.
They enjoyed another quiet night in the room but played games after dinner instead of heading directly to the balcony, where Beth knew she would wind up falling asleep again.Something about the waves and the comfort of Chad’s arms sent her right to dreamland.
Beth had a travel Scrabble game, and they battled it out for almost two hours before she announced she was tired.
“You think I am winning this round, so you are calling it a night,” Chad accused good-naturedly.
“You wish I had a cheater hidden inside me. It would make these games more challenging for you. I feel my brain shutting down, and I had something I wanted to ask you about.”
Still collecting the tiny letter tiles and returning them to their red velvet bag, Chad said, “Ask away,” without looking up to see the seriousness on her face.
“Why aren’t you married?”
That was not what he was expecting. He wondered at the fact that this had never come up in all the years of conversations that they had had. Did his brain consider the past to be such a minute point that it never considered telling Beth, or did it hold significance, and some small part of his brain had hidden it from her?
“I never found the right woman, I guess.” He continued clearing the game board, not meeting her gaze. “I was engaged twice over the years.”
He heard Beth take a deep breath but didn’t want to read anything into it. She did that sometimes when she was feeling stressed but also did it when she was breathing too shallowly. He quickly finished and set the game aside, moving from the captain’s chair to the built-in sofa next to her. He sat back, draping his arm along the back of the sofa, angling his body towards hers so they could easily see each other.
“The first engagement went right up to the wedding. It was not one of my proudest moments. Our parents were friends; our fathers were nationally recognized medical professionals at the top of their fields. I was just finishing med school, and shehad just passed her bar exam. It was the match of the century, according to one of the tabloids that ran the story. Her father spent seven hundred thousand dollars on the wedding. Her mother came from money, and anyone who was anyone was invited. I think even the president and first lady were invited. It was such a circus. Her father even sent me to the jewelry store to pay for the engagement ring his wife had picked out for her. I remember thinking that day as I looked down at a hundred-thousand-dollar engagement ring, ‘Am I marrying Amanda or her mother?’It went downhill from there. I went along with it up until the rehearsal dinner, which had nothing to do with rehearsing for the wedding and everything to do with politics and greasing palms. I asked her if she loved me that night, and she said, ‘Honestly, Chad, what does love have to do with any of this. We get married, have two kids and get divorced. Then we can live our lives. For now, we just play the game and take our place in society.’She had no desire to marry and didn’t plan to stay that way. By morning, I was done. I called her and told her I wasn’t marrying her, and I would gladly stand in front of the entire church and take the blame. She told me not to worry about it she would take care of everything and to enjoy my life. The next thing I know, my mother is calling me in tears, and my picture is splashed all over the tabloids as having jilted her. Apparently, she put on a big show of getting all dressed up and showing up to find me missing in action. Forget the fact I had spoken with her five hours before the wedding so none of that was necessary. Anyway, that spoiled marriage and romance for me for a very long time.”
Beth sat next to him on the sofa in stunned silence. What did she even say to that? How painful.
“And number two?” she pressed. Might as well finish, then figure out what to say at the end. She felt just awful for him.
“Ah, yes, number two. That one didn’t get as far. I had already established myself at my first hospital and was making a name for myself, and she was a resident. We dated for two years. I thought we had the same dreams... the same goals. No kids, just the two of us, and then once our careers were booming, we would adopt. I had already proposed, and we were planning a small private wedding, very different from the first one. My family was sent a bill for that first sham, by the way. My father made me pay him back every penny. That was a very expensive lesson to learn. I digress; the second wedding was just a month away. She was going to get her dress that weekend, and I heard her in the lounge talking to one of the other residents about how she was done with the medical field. Why would she work herself into an early grave for the next ten to fifteen years when she had a husband who made more than enough to pay her way and keep her in the luxury she deserved? She had gone off the pill and was planning on an accidental pregnancy, so I would agree to her being a stay-at-home mother. I lost my mind over the deception and ended things with her on the spot. The thing is, if she had said that was what she wanted, I probably would have wrapped my head around it and been okay with the revised plan. I just thought, based on our conversation, that we were reading from the same page. I dodged another bullet with that one, though. She eventually played the same cards with another doctor and got exactly what she wanted. Three children later, she took the alimony payments, left the kids with the nanny, and moved to Italy with a model. I realized at that point that I was not marriage material and stopped looking. I went on a few causal dates here and there, mostly for some semblance of companionship, but it never worked. They always wanted more than I was willing to give. One date and they saw our entire future playing out in their mind over dessert. Up until you came along, I wasn’t able to spend any time with a woman withoutcommitment flashing across her forehead. I just wasn’t there. Albeit, I should have gotten there much faster with you. Ten years was a long time for us to be in the friend zone. I think I have loved you for no less than half that time.”
“Neither of us were ready when we met. Had you tried to pursue something back then, it would have ended any chance we had at our friendship. I, for one, am very grateful for the years we have shared as friends.” Beth picked up the hand that rested in his lap, brushing her fingers over his knuckles absentmindedly, “I was so determined not to be one of your groupies I pushed any attraction I had for you clear out of my mind. I have loved you for a long time, but it took until just recently for me to be open to the possibility of the love being deeper than friendship level. I needed a friend all those years because I was not open to the thought of another husband. Even up until two years ago when Sarah moved to Massachusetts, I don’t think this story would be playing out as it is now if you had approached me then.”
“They say timing is everything, and in our case, that is true in more ways than one. I want to marry you, Bethany. We have wasted so much time already. I don’t want to waste another minute. You say the word, and I will marry you on the spot.” The earnestness in his voice was written all over his face as well. If she said yes right now, he would carry her off to the captain’s quarters and wake the poor man up, of that she had no doubt.
“I wouldn’t say we have wasted time; we just invested it in our friendship. I can think of worse ways to start a marriage, and so can you. I want to marry you, too, Chad. Don’t think for a second that you are getting off this easy and getting to skip a well-planned proposal.” Her playful grin warmed his heart, but her next words sent it plummeting to the ocean floor. “Even if you proposed tomorrow, I would need to speak with my daughter and Tom about this. I am not saying I am askingtheir permission, but I need them to at least have a heads-up. To everyone on the outside looking in, this is very fast. Tom and Sarah know you, so I hope they don’t feel that way, but if they are uncomfortable and make reasonable requests, I will consider them.”
