CHAPTER 34
Penny lay in her bunk, Matthew beside her. The summer sun had still been a long way from setting when they retired to her cabin after the incident with Ripler. Matthew wouldn’t talk, just told her he needed to sleep and, in a matter or minutes, he was. She watched him for a while and after a little reading, joined him on the bunk to rest. Now it was two in the morning and she was awake again. The events of the last few days had finally caught up with him. They certainly had with her. Yet depleted as she was, she felt good as she gazed at him through half-closed eyes.
He rolled onto his back and his eyes slowly opened, as if he had read her mind, but he only stared up at the low ceiling. She kept watch out of the corner of her eye. Wouldn’t get her anywhere to prod, just wait him out.
“Penny?”
“I’m over here.”
“I’ve lost it.”
“Your mind again?”
He turned to her and raised himself up on one elbow with a faint look of betrayal.
“Well, sorry for being alive,” she said, “but you never really got around to explaining to me what ‘it’ was.”
“It was like…a sense of infinite connectedness, and it’s gone, and I feel like I’ve just been dumped.” He looked at her now, connecting finally. “As bad as if I’d got dumped by you, which you probably should have.”
“Good, was it? What you believed you had?”
He closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Everything made sense, everything was connected in this just perfect way. Everything meant something. It was my real life. I thought it was mine forever, but it was never mine, and when I believed it was, that’s when I ruined it, like I ruin everything.”
“You haven’t ruined me yet. Not that you ever could.”
“I hope that’s true.”
“Why not find out?”
Something cautiously approaching a smile appeared on his sad face. He leaned over to kiss her, but as he did, a strand of saliva slipped out of his mouth and onto her cheek.
“Yug,” she said. “You spit in my face.”
“That was going to be a kiss.”
“I thought you were an expert.” She yawned like a dog and smiled up at him. “This is what it’s come to, now that the first blush has faded? Will it all soon be nagging at you to put the toilet seat down from here on in? Hey, are you really back? You’re glazing over.”
“No, gazing. At you. Let me try again.”
“Forget it, sailor. You had your chance, and now I’m going to go sell myself out on the street corner to someone more appreciative.”
“We’re at sea.”
“She sighs. Then I guess you’ll just have to do.”
A sad, sweet look came over his face as he gazed down at her. “I know I haven’t been easy lately.”
“Don’t say anything.”
He started to anyway, so she lunged up and pulled him down, deep into the pillow, kissing him softly and long, descending through the sweet and tender darkness into that perfect place she could never remember.
Afterward, she slept until a shaft of sunlight through the porthole woke her. She was alone. Matthew had the six-to-ten watch at the wheel, and despite how he had felt, she knew he had reported for duty.
Her clock told her she had slept another eight hours. Tapping the timepiece on the bedrail a few times didn’t change anything. The sun had long broken free of the horizon and was up high, hard and bright as a diamond. She quickly dressed, gave her hair a few quick brushes, and grabbed her sneakers as she ran out the hatchway.
In the galley, she found Matthew slowly eating a small breakfast and cradling a cup of black coffee. He looked her way and she could tell right away that he was definitely more like his old self. Sadder, but hopefully wiser in the only way that mattered.
“I didn’t want to wake you when I got off,” he said. “Mateo wasn’t around, not sure why. No one else around. Made up some eggs—here, have some. There’s still some coffee, though it’s not fresh.”
“You look like hell.”
“Feels like jet lag. Like the wrong time of day. How about you? Ready to eat?”
“I’m great,” she said with a smile. “Yeah, a little coffee and a piece of toast and maybe that last egg? Then I’m fueled.”
“The rest of the eggs are yours. Why don’t you sit here, and I’ll get you a plate.”
“Don’t bother, I’ll eat off yours, but some of that coffee would be great. Black…and bitter.”
“A hot mug, coming right up.”
He smiled, but she could see pain reflected in his face. He walked to the counter and drew coffee from a carafe, stared at it for a while, then returned to set it slowly in front of her. He sat down at her hip but looked straight ahead. She took a few bites, and a swallow of the coffee, which wasn’t quite as bad as expected, but almost.
“Did you boil an egg in this?”
“A few shells and whites to settle it.”
“You really once were a cabin rat up North, weren’t you?”
When he just kept gazing at the opposite bulkhead, as if trying to decipher its meaning, she was afraid he was about to issue forth with more profundities, but instead he said, “Last night with you…sorry for forgetting that you are the best thing to ever happen to me.”
That was all she needed to hear. She put her fork down and looked at him. He finally turned, and she felt as if he saw her, all of her, while adding nothing and taking nothing away.
“Don’t mind me the way I seem now,” he said. “It’ll pass. Passing now, even as I look at you.”
She laughed and was giving him a hug when, through a porthole, she caught a glimpse of a boat approaching. “Someone’s pulling up to the dive deck. Not Navy, must be from the coast. Want to check it out?”
“No. If trouble’s coming, it’ll find us soon enough.”
“Wait!” She held up her hand for quiet and listened to a voice that rose above the others. “Dad!”
She bolted out of the galley and took the stairs three at a time. “How did you get here?” she yelled as she raced across the deck and into her father’s arms.
“Same way as you, of course. A floatplane, then chartered out here on that coastal fisher.” He waved at the departing vessel.
“But why are you here? I thought—“
“Tired of missing all the fun,” he said, giving her another hug.
Chiffrey approached with a big smile on his face. “Great to see you, Doctor Bell, and a relief,” he said, shaking her father’s hand. Then, turning to Penny, he said, “I see you’re enjoying my surprise. Just for you.”
“Not likely,” Penny answered.
“You won’t catch any flies that way, but sure, this is another reason why your father is here,” Chiffrey said, tapping the briefcase under his arm. “Got what we hoped for, a clear field at the Honey Pot site. Since they haven’t found anything, the Navy was amenable to letting us take a look. They’ll even stand off for a while to see if we get any bites. More later. Got calls to make.” After a quick glance at everyone around, he gave Penny the slightest wink and left.
Her father watched him depart. “What an odd fellow.” The look of bemusement remained as he turned to greet Matthew, who had come quietly along behind Penny. She suddenly realized why so quietly.
“Well,” her father said to him, “you look like you’ve weathered a few storms, but still standing before the mast.”
Matthew was about to open his mouth and probably blurt out something stupid. He hadn’t shaved and looked wasted.
“Doctor Bell, I’m having sort of a recovery day…”
Her father took up the slack. “I’ve heard much of your recent adventures, so no apologies required. Welcome to the family, Matthew.”
News travels fast. Was her father serious, Penny wondered? He loved to gently prod those around him, so she wasn’t sure.
Her father gave a silent laugh, and the light in his eyes danced when he said, “I see
what is in front of me, Matthew, and I ignore gossip.” He paused for a moment, looked at them both and said to Matthew, “Listen, my friend, compared to some of the shipwrecks Pen used to tow home, you’re good news for the old man. Andrew has filled me in somewhat, and about Jack Ripler, as well. He’s gone off the edge, poor devil, but nothing more we could do, was there? Somewhat saw it coming, have to say.” He looked at Penny and added, “Well done, well done all around. Now we better get going, if we want to catch the show.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Matthew said. “It’s…well…”
Her father held out his hand and Matthew took it. “We’ll talk later, Matthew. Perhaps over the cognac I managed to find room for in my duffle.”
The few others nearby seemed to be making a point of not noticing Doctor Bell’s arrival, but all ears and eyes were nevertheless wide open.
“What exactly does Chiffrey mean by ‘clear field’?” she asked.
“I haven’t had a chance to really talk with him myself, and got just a brief account, but as he said, we can go there and they will leave us be. They’re keeping others away, you know. Or maybe you don’t? I would love to spend some time with you and Matthew to get more fully briefed. I have a little news as well. I believe you all were about to have a meeting, however, and I don’t want to delay that, so let’s go.”
“What meeting is this?” Penny asked.
Dirk happened to be walking by and overheard. “To see who wants to go and who to stay. Sooner than we thought. A Navy ship’s on the way. Chiffrey’s doing again, though not unforeseen,” he said, smiling. “We’ll be rendezvousing with them to take some people off, including Lorraine and myself. This all happened while you were asleep.”
She gave him credit for resisting the urge to say the last part differently while her father was at her side.
Dirk went on. “None of you really need to be at the meeting.” He looked at her. “Everyone knows you and Matthew will stay.” He turned to her father. “Doctor Bell, this meeting really will be just about making some logistical decisions regarding people’s choice to stay or not. You can skip it.”
Penny said, “What do you mean? I thought that was all decided.”
Dirk barely shrugged. “Well, it’s changed a little, that’s all. Jack’s exit caused some to have second thoughts.” With a wry smile, he said, “I guess the Captain foresaw that one.”
Dirk was remarkably coherent, compared to her last meeting with him, but still clearly buoyed up by his newfound insights.
“He’s right,” her father said. “We’ll use the time to catch up, and perhaps test the cognac.”
“It’s a little early, Dad.”
“It’s never too early on some days, but fine, we’ll save it for later. Is now a good time for my long awaited briefing?”
“Good a time as any,” she said.
“To the galley, then, where I might get a bit of something in my stomach. I am absolutely famished and a little coffee would be much appreciated.”
“I’ll make it this time. Matthew’s would substitute well for battery acid.”
They spent the rest of the morning talking, going over things, and sorting out the complex issues that had arisen. Her father listened attentively when she presented her summation and assessment of the situation as it had developed so far, but he did so with that amused attitude she had known since birth. He was always slightly humoring her. He would never change. He simply treated women this way, and she no longer called him on it.
One piece of news he brought was that people on the outside were beginning to connect the dots from the Valentina to the Honey Pot to the Navy cruiser under tow. However, it also appeared that Chiffrey’s people had leaked some misleading cover stories. One involved a collision with an unknown object, with a few mutterings about foreign submarines, then denial of everything. This had seeded the supply of guessed-at reasons for the Navy keeping ships away from the Honey Pot site. An “investigation” was said to be going on, and that had enough truth in it to be plausible. The stories and counter-stories would distract the press for a while, but it would be hard to get the lid back on if it ever really got off.