The Truth About Ever After

by Rachel Schurig

  “I’ll be back in a bit,” I said to Eric, gathering up my beach bag and pulling a purple cover-up over my suit.

  “Mmmhmmm,” Eric murmured, clearly half asleep and wholly unconcerned with what I did. I smiled and leaned down, kissing his cheek before heading off to find Ginny and her family.

  It didn’t take much searching. Josh was standing waist-deep in the pool, a hand under Danny’s stomach as his son paddled around in the water, bright orange water wings helping to keep him afloat. Ginny was sitting on the top pool step, Maggie next to her. The baby was splashing in the water, her expression alternating between curiosity and amazement, like the water was the most fascinating thing she had ever encountered.

  “Hey, guys,” I said brightly, joining Ginny on the step.

  “Hi, Kiki,” Ginny said pleasantly. I marveled for a moment at how good she looked in a bikini. How had this woman had two children? She looked amazing. Somewhat self-consciously, I adjusted the top of my tankini. I generally didn’t worry much about my figure, and I had never considered myself fat—maybe a little on the rounder side, though I preferred to think of myself as short and curvy—but it was hard not to feel slightly envious around someone like Ginny.

  “You’re getting tanned already,” she said, somewhat wistfully. There was a lot more shade up here by the pool—probably the reason they had chosen the location for the baby. “Is it nice on the beach?”

  “It is,” I told her. “In fact, I think you should go check it out. I want to cool off a little; why don’t you let me stay here with Maggie?”

  “I couldn’t do that,” she said. “This is your vacation, Kiki.”

  “It’s yours, too,” I said firmly. “And Annie is down there waiting for you.”

  “Kiki,” she started again, but I held up my hands.

  “Ginny, come on. It’s not a big deal. I’ll keep her for a bit and you can go have fun with Annie. Or do something with Josh and Danny.”

  She looked out over the water at her two boys. “Danny has been asking to go in the ocean,” she said. “But we didn’t want Maggie in the sun down there.”

  “Go,” I said, scooping Maggie up off the step and setting her down on my other side so I was sitting between her and Ginny. “I’ll come find you if she gets fussy.”

  “Are you sure?” Ginny asked.

  “Go,” I said again. “Shoo. Be gone.”

  She thanked me profusely and kissed my cheek before pulling herself out of the water to go tell Josh. I watched as he handed Danny up to her before climbing out of the pool himself. Danny wrapped his arms around her, laughing when she squealed at his soaking wet limbs. Josh put his arm around her, waving at me, before the three of them headed down toward the beach. They looked like the perfect little family, and I felt a stab of excitement. I wanted that so badly.

  It was easy to lose track of time playing with Maggie. I wasn’t sure if she remembered me from the night before, or if it was just her good-natured personality, but she seemed perfectly content to sit with me, splashing in the water. I dribbled water down her chubby little arms, making her squeal and laugh. Though she’d been splashing here with Ginny for at least an hour, she still seemed completely fascinated by the water. It was fun to watch, and I couldn’t help but imagine all the things I wanted to see my own baby discover someday.

  “Hey.” Eric’s voice startled me out of my reverie. I looked up and saw him standing at the edge of the pool. “I just realized you were gone. I think I was half asleep when you left.”

  “You were,” I said. “Totally blissed-out and chilled.”

  “Hard not to be, around here,” he said, looking across the grounds. “So why’d you decide to give up the relaxation in favor of baby duty?”

  I shrugged, turning my attention back to Maggie. “Annie was gonna give Ginny a break so I told her I’d take a turn first.”

  He watched me without speaking for a minute. “Any particular reason why you volunteered?” he asked, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly, as if he was trying to keep himself from smiling. Crap. He was totally onto me.

  I gave him my best innocent look. “No. Not any particular reason.”

  “Really.” He was full out grinning at me now. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with anything my mom might have said to you last night?”

  I decided to drop the act. “I wasn’t sure how much of that you heard.”

  “I heard enough,” he said. “So you’re thinking you might be ready for a baby, huh?”

  “The thought has crossed my mind,” I said, choosing my words carefully. His mother’s comment on my ability to convince him to do anything still weighed on my mind. I had no desire to try and convince or cajole my husband into doing something he didn’t want to do. “I mean, I think we’re getting to a point where we could do it, you know?”

  He watched Maggie splashing in the water for a minute. I decided to go on. “Your work is going well, and Jen and I are doing better than ever. You know we’ve been talking about hiring an associate to help with the workload. It seems like a good time for me to take some leave, if I needed to.”

  “I don’t know, Kiki,” he said. “Sometimes I feel like we’re still such kids ourselves. How are we gonna know what to do with a baby?”

  “Here,” I said, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward me. He sat down on the step beside Maggie and me. “Take her.”

  He looked at me, his expression best described as terrified, but he held out his arms all the same. I scooted Maggie over in the shallow water so she was resting in his hands now. She continued to splash and giggle. “I don’t think anyone is ever really, truly ready for a baby,” I told him. “I mean, look at Ginny. She was single and unemployed when she had Danny. But she and the girls figured it out, and I know she wouldn’t change it for the world.”

  Eric was silent, watching Maggie while she splashed. “We’d have a lot of help, you know. Our parents. Jen and Matt. We’re probably in better shape than a lot of people when they first have a child.”

  “When I came around the corner and saw you playing with her…” Eric started, before falling silent. I knew better than to push him. Sometimes it took him a moment to figure out what he wanted to say. It was something that I loved about him, the way he gave weight to things that were important.

  “I liked it,” he finally said, looking up at me and smiling almost shyly. “I liked seeing you with her. You looked really happy. It looked…right.”

  I felt my heart swell. “Does that mean—”

  “It means I think we should start talking about it,” he said firmly, cutting me off before I could get carried away. “This isn’t something we should decide in a weekend, Kiks. It’s a really big deal.”

  I nodded eagerly. “Of course. You’re totally right.” I was quiet for a moment, watching him hold Maggie, trying to quell the overwhelming urge to jump up and hug him. That would probably be too much. “But we can think about it?”

  “Sure,” he said, smiling at me.

  “And talk about it, too?”

  “I think that would be good,” he said, and I could tell he was trying not to laugh. Maybe I wasn’t doing such a good job of keeping the excitement out of my voice.

  Suddenly he leaned over and kissed me briefly, his hands still steady on the baby. “And maybe we could start practicing, too,” he said, his voice low and amused.

  I felt my tummy swoop a little bit, the way it always did when Eric used that voice. God, he could be so sexy sometimes. “Practice, eh?” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Mr. Thompson, I’m sure I have no idea what you mean.”

  “Don’t worry, Mrs. Thompson,” he said, winking at me. “I’ll show you later.”

  ***

  “Ooh, this is exciting,” I murmured to Eric as I pulled on his hand, wishing he would hurry. “Aren’t you excited?”

  “I am out of my mind with excitement,” he said, his voice dry and flat, making me giggle.

  “Come on,” I pushed. “You love sno
rkeling, I know you do. We went, like, three times on our honeymoon. And this is snorkeling with stingrays. How awesome is that? And we get to take a speedboat ride. What could beat that?”

  “I’m sure it will be wonderful,” he said, pulling me close to kiss the top of my hair. “But we’re a full ten minutes early and no one else is anywhere near being here yet, so let’s just chill for a minute, okay?”

  I sighed. He had a point. We were supposed to be meeting the rest of our party in the lobby so we could all board the van that would take us to our chartered boat. I had arranged the whole excursion myself, which meant I had spent the last two days planning and thinking about it. Of course, I was more excited than the others; they had no way of knowing how awesome this was going to be.

  “Can I get you anything, Mrs. Thompson, Mr. Thompson?”

  A waiter had appeared from God knows where, holding a tray filled with champagne glasses.

  “Mimosas?” I asked eagerly.

  She shook her head. “Bellinis. But I could go and make mimosas if you’d rather.”

  “No, bellinis are great,” I told her, smiling politely and reaching for one. Eric hesitated for a moment before taking one himself. The waitress nodded politely at us and drifted off to the other side of the lobby.

  “Come on,” I told Eric. “Let’s go sit.”

  I led him across the marble floor to the other end of the lobby, near the front doors, and sank down into a comfortable loveseat, pulling Eric next to me.

  “She didn’t offer drinks to anyone else,” he said, looking preoccupied.

  “What?”

  “That waitress. She just appeared with drinks for us, didn’t charge us, knew us by name. And I didn’t see her offering anything to anyone else.”

  I looked across the lobby. Sure enough, there were several other clusters of people standing and sitting around the room, and none of them had champagne glasses. I shrugged.

  “We’re suite guests, Eric. It’s probably just a perk.”

  He shook his head, looking bemused. “You know, it doesn’t matter how often stuff like that happens, I’ll just never get used to it.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him, taking a sip of my bellini. It was delicious. “Would you rather we didn’t have the yummy drinks in our hands right now?”

  “No,” he said quickly. “I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it. It just…it seems like a lot.”

  “Eric,” I said, trying to be patient. “Places like this always go out of their way for suite guests. Repeat business and referrals are everything in this business. Daddy’s staff at the hotels does the same thing. Sure, it’s a little much, but it’d be rude to make a big deal out of it. All we can do is be polite and gracious. And tip really good.”

  He smiled at me, before his face turned serious. “You handle it all so well.”

  I felt a little uncomfortable. I knew he was referring to my family’s wealth. “I didn’t really have a choice,” I said, not mentioning all the times that I hadn’t handled it well, not well at all. People didn’t like to hear about that, didn’t want some poor-little-rich-girl story. It made you look spoiled and ungrateful.

  Before he could respond, I saw Annie and Nate heading across the lobby toward us, holding hands. I had to smile. They were so cute together, even though they seemed mismatched. Annie’s style fit her personality—quirky, bold, and dramatic. Just looking at her you could tell she was an artist, as if she emanated creativity. Nate, at first glance, was much more straight-laced. He worked as an engineer for Ford, and was every bit as comfortable in suits as he was in polos and shorts. He was your more typical, all-American guy. It was for this reason that Annie had resisted his affections for so long, convinced he wasn’t her type.

  Love conquers all, I thought to myself, grinning at the thought of what Annie would say if she could hear me being so corny and sentimental.

  “Are we late?” Nate asked as they approached.

  “Nope,” Eric said. “Kiki was a little overeager to get going, if you can believe it.”

  They all laughed and I stuck out my tongue at Eric.

  “Ginny called,” Annie said. “The sitter just got there so she was going through some instructions before they headed down.” She rolled her eyes at that, and I pictured Ginny badgering the poor sitter with a million instructions.

  “How’s Danny feeling about being left behind?” Eric asked.

  “Kid’s pissed,” Annie said.

  “Oh, poor Danny,” I said as everyone laughed.

  Annie smirked. “He’ll cheer up once he realizes he can wrap the sitter around his little finger.”

  “Oh, God, don’t even say that,” Josh said, coming up behind us. “Ginny is terrified of leaving them here as it is.”

  “The childcare staff at this resort is top-notch,” I assured them. “The kids will have a blast.”

  “I hope so,” Ginny said as she joined us. “Do you think my cell phone will work out on the boat? God, maybe I should just stay here.”

  “Stop worrying,” Annie said, exasperated. “The kids will be fine.”

  “The boat is chartered through the resort,” I told her, thinking kindness might help more than exasperation. “If they need us for anything they can get a hold of the captain through the radio.”

  “Really?” Ginny said, her face relaxing. “Well, that makes me feel better.”

  “We’re just waiting on Eric’s cousin…” I said, peering around the small group. I could make out our van, waiting for us in the circle drive at the front of the resort. We didn’t have to wait long; soon Jeff and his girlfriend Mandy were hurrying toward us from the elevator, apologizing for being late.

  I felt my excitement grow another notch as the eight of us settled into the van. I knew from my phone calls with the concierge that we had a short fifteen-minute drive to the dock, where we would board the speedboat that would take us out to the private beach and snorkel site. I couldn’t wait!

  “Kiki, I just love your sundress,” Mandy said from the seat behind me, leaning forward so that her face was practically right next to mine. I didn’t know Mandy all that well, as she was a rather new addition to Jeff’s dating rotation. She seemed nice enough, but something about her made me uncomfortable. Maybe it was the way she was always complimenting my clothes or shoes or jewelry. She seemed overly interested in things. Sure enough…

  “Is that Donna Karan?” she asked, smiling at me in a way that didn’t quite meet her eyes.

  “Nope,” I said. “Target. Last season.”

  I saw Annie grin at me from the corner of my eye.

  “Oh,” Mandy said, sounding somewhat put-off. “Well, it’s super cute.”

  “Thanks,” I said, before pointedly turning my attention to the window and the view of the town beyond.

  I had always loved travel, long before my parents could afford to take us to exotic locales such as this. Even when our trips only took us as far as the other side of the state, I absolutely loved seeing the way other people lived, the shops they had, the kind of houses they lived in, the different ways they expressed style. The Bahamas were no different, and I was soon fascinated by the sight of the brightly colored clapboard houses.

  The drive to the dock was almost too fast. I had just started to really enjoy myself when we turned off the main road to park beside the dock. I made a mental note to myself to plan a sight-seeing tour later in the week.

  “Here we go,” I said excitedly, clapping my hands. From the parking lot I could see the speedboat that would take us to our destination, bobbing gently in the water beside the dock.

  The eight of us hopped out of the van and headed down to the dock. I made sure to thank and tip the driver before I left, earning me a wink from Eric. Down on the dock we were welcomed by a young man, probably in his early twenties, standing with another small group of tourists.

  “Welcome to the Ripper,” he called out, waving us over. He had that lovely lilting Bahamian accent. On our first night in to
wn Matt had told me that he bet they exaggerated to make the tourists happy, but I refused to be swayed by his cynicism.

  “Everyone ready for the ride of your lives?” he asked. The people in the other group cheered and I couldn’t help but join in.

  The driver explained to us what would happen on the boat, going through the safety procedures. The Ripper was more than just a form of transportation—it had been billed as one of the best thrill rides on the islands. I felt a little nervous as the driver, Carl, came around to check on our restraints and collect our belongings, explaining that anything loose needed to be stowed up front.

  “Okay,” Billy called out, as Carl started the engine and began to maneuver us away from the dock. “Carl here is gonna get us going. Once we’re out of the harbor area here he’ll be able to kick up the speed a bit. And once we reached the protected bay on the far side of the island, we’ll do some spins. Everybody ready?”

  This time I wasn’t the only one in our group cheering in response. Even Annie was yelling and raising her hands in the rock and roll signal.

  Once we were free of the harbor, Carl started to pick up speed. I laughed with glee as we sped out across the water, the land rushing past us in a blur. “This is awesome!” Eric called next to me; I could barely hear him over the rush of the wind. Spray was kicking up from the water, tickling my face and my thighs. If the concierge at the hotel was to be believed, we’d all be a whole lot more drenched than this soon.

  The ride took about twenty minutes—not nearly enough time for me to stop enjoying it. In the distance I could see a small undeveloped island; our destination. But the ride wasn’t over yet, not by a long shot.

  “Okay,” Billy called, standing up to face us. He braced himself with both hands on the two front seats, the speed of the boat threatening to send him sprawling into Carl if he let go. “We’re about to enter the bay. Everyone hold on, and prepare to get soaked!”

  Billy sat down next to the driver. I looked over at Eric; he had a massive grin on his face and was holding onto the straps of his restraints like his life depended on it.