Free Voyage of the Dreadnaught: Four Stella Madison Capers by Lilly Maytree Page B

Stuart.
    “ Cole didn't tell us you were gone
until he got off watch, at ten!” Millie sniffed, as the girl flew
into her arms, next (like a chick returning to a mother hen). “What
a scare you gave us, honey—what were you thinking?”
    “ I don't know. I was just trying to do
right for my boy!”
    “ Two wrongs don't make a right,”
Stuart declared, in a tone loud enough to call all hands. “You
jumped ship. No crew of mine ever pulled that on me before, and I
don't take kindly to it.”
    “ Maybe we should talk about this when
we get back aboard,” said the colonel, noticing several onlookers
nearby. “Especially since Gerald might slip into apoplexy the
longer we're gone.”
    The engine roared to life as soon as they
approached—evidence that Cole was taking his part in the plan as
serious as the rest of them had. Stuart left briefly to untie dock
lines and set a course back toward the narrows, where they would
pull over into a nearby cove and wait for the tide to turn. Again.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group settled around the large wooden
dining table in the galley to talk things over.
    It had a brass lantern hanging above it that
Stella had originally thought was simply for decoration. However,
it was a fully operative kerosene lamp that gave off quite the
cheery glow when it was lit. Something of a rarity on this trip,
because it stayed light until nearly bedtime around here. So, at
the moment, there was plenty of light filtering in through the
several large portholes in various places around the area. Gerald
came in to join them, after Lou checked in on the baby, who was
taking a late afternoon nap in the miniature swinging hammock his
Uncle Gerry had set up for him in his own stateroom. In fact, they
all had accommodations for the baby in their rooms, since his
mother was forever needing someone else to watch him.
    “ You should have at least talked it
over with somebody,” he was saying as the two of them returned to
the galley, “got a second opinion and all that. A decision made in
haste almost never works out.”
    “ I'll try to remember that next time I
feel like jumping ship.” Lou Edna sank down onto the edge of one of
the upholstered benches and didn't take off her sun glasses, only
pulled her ball cap down lower over her eyes. Another warning sign,
as far as Stella was concerned. People only wore sun glasses inside
when they wanted to hide something. More lies, probably. She turned
on one of the propane burners on the large iron cook-stove and set
a huge stainless steel kettle on to boil. A cup of tea always made
times like these go smoother, in her estimation.
    “ All right, let's have it.” Mason
removed his fisherman's cap and set it on the back of the seat.
“And take those glasses off. I don't like talking to someone I
can't see.”
    “ I'd rather not,” Lou Edna
replied.
    “ Why in heaven's name?” Millie asked,
and then gasped at her own unspoken answer. “Lou, you aren't—you
didn't—”
    “ Girlie, you better not be,” Mason
interrupted. “We been through that, already, and once was
enough.”
    The girl sighed and rested her head in her
hands for a moment. “Sometimes, I just wish I was dead.”
    “ Don't say that!” said Millie, who
must have experienced similar thoughts during her own lowest
moments and could identify. “Next thing you know, that's all you
can think about.”
    “ You've got a boy in the other room
whose sun rises and sets on you,” the colonel reminded her gently.
It was the first time Stella could remember him saying anything
encouraging to Lou Edna. “In his eyes, you're perfect.”
    “ It's true,” Stella agreed. “The
greatest influence on any child is their own parents. It's a proven
fact.”
    “ He'll never forgive me,” she
mourned.
    “ What's to forgive?” Gerald argued.
“He's so little he doesn't know the difference.”
    “ Oh, somebody will tell him, they
always do.”
    “ Unless somebody else...” It was
Cole's voice