ask her, “Is there a particular reason you seem to wish I’d fall off the ship?” But manners forbid such directness.
Denise, on the other hand, wouldn’t have worried about such a fine point. But then she had one of those large personalities that bravely went where lesser women never dared to go.
Catherine didn’t like confrontation, much preferred diplomacy and a soft word. Looking at Rudy’s kind face, she wanted to spend more time with him, simply for the pleasure of it, nothing more. She’d have to find a way to convince his daughter that she wasn’t out to steal away her father. How could she when they barely knew each other?
And yet he’d already stolen Catherine’s heart. She was going to hate to see this cruise come to an end. If only she didn’t have such uncertainty waiting for her in the new year.
She wished she didn’t have so many treatments looming. Sadly, she’d waited too long to make that appointment with her gynecologist. She’d seen the tiny spots of blood but they’d been so rare. She’d concluded she had a kidney stone. Blood in the urine was a sign. Surely that was all it could be at her age.
It hadn’t been. If only she’d realized what was happening sooner. The doctors could have simply removed her damaged uterus and that would have been that. By the time her cancer was diagnosed the alien baby had chewed its way half through the uterine wall and her oncologist had worries that some cells might have escaped to do damage elsewhere. So it would be on to six rounds of chemo followed by radiation. She wasn’t looking forward to losing her hair, she wasn’t looking forward to dealing with possible side effects of the chemotherapy. She wasn’t looking forward to the new year at all.
At least she’d have the wonderful memory of this trip to look back on. And the memory of Rudy Nichols’s smile.
“May I order you a drink?” he asked her.
She could almost feel Athena stiffening on his other side. Drinks, charms...what next?
“No—” she smiled as their waiter approached “—but I can order something for myself. Can your bartender make me something festive and sweet?” she asked the man.
“I think he can,” the server said.
“Tell him to surprise me,” Catherine said.
“Does this mean you’re not going to let me buy you any more drinks?” Rudy joked as the man left.
“It means I’m not about to take advantage of you,” she replied.
Athena looked surprised and then suspicious. Was her father a soft touch? He was obviously generous, and sometimes generous people got taken advantage of.
The server soon returned with a white drink in a martini glass that had been sugared around the edges. “This is called a Winter Wonderland,” he said to Catherine.
“What’s in it?” she asked.
“Cream, white chocolate liqueur, crème de cacao.”
She took a sip. It was the tastiest thing she’d had in some time.
“Tell him it’s delicious,” she said to the server.
“I think I want one of those,” Denise said, and then Sophie decided she did, too.
Sierra hadn’t joined them yet but Catherine assumed she’d be along soon. “Should we order one for your sister?” she asked Sophie.
Worry skittered across Sophie’s face. “No. She won’t be coming. She’s not feeling too good.”
Her sister had seemed fine earlier. There was not feeling good and life not being good. Catherine wondered if, in Sierra’s case it was the latter. She’d taken a liking to the sisters, and hated to think of such a once in a lifetime experience being marred for either of them by something bad.
Charlie joined them just as the waiter was serving their cocktails. “I see we survived another day in the fatherland,” he observed. “I’ll take a drink,” he said to the waiter. “Not that, though. Scotch, rocks.” To the others he said, “I need something stronger. Denise shopped till I dropped. My feet are killing me.”
“Poor man,” she said, patting his arm.
“But I don’t mind,” he added, seeing her other conquest sauntering their way.
Soon everyone had a festive drink and their table had a fresh bowl of bar munchies.
“Did everyone have fun today?” Denise asked.
“Oh, yes,” Rudy said easily.
His daughter opted to sip her drink rather than speak.
“How about you?” Denise asked Sophie. “Did you find anything special in the market?”
“All kinds of things,” Sophie said, and proceeded to list them, finishing with, “And I got a gorgeous scarf for my sister.” At the mention of her sister, her enthusiasm faded a little.