Meet Me At Sunrise (Destined for Love: Europe)

by Lucinda Whitney

  For the next fifteen minutes, under Afonso Cortez’s direction, she helped treat some minor injuries. One of the French ladies had passed out and now lay recovering on a sofa in the lounge, her husband keeping her company. Little by little, passengers came to the dining room to await more news and speculation abounded. Crew members went around, offering water and trying to keep everyone calm.

  Vanessa found the Granthams sitting with their friends and approached them. “How is everyone?”

  Agnes laid a hand on her wrist. “We’re okay. No injuries. Just a little nervous to see what’s going on.”

  Vanessa nodded. “I’m sure the captain is doing all he can—”

  His voice interrupted. “Ladies and gentleman, this is Captain Romano speaking. Due to some unforeseeable circumstances, the ship’s rudder has sustained some damage, causing the ship to drift into a sand bank.”

  Several people around Vanessa gasped, and others started murmuring.

  “As I said earlier, we are not in danger of sinking.” He paused for a moment, as if to let the information settle. “I repeat, we are not in danger of sinking. That said, we will be following protocol. Another ship, the Alma Vida, is on its way and we will be transferring all the passengers directly when it arrives, sometime in the next hour. This ship will take you to Régua, the closest port.”

  This time the collective murmurs and gasps sounded louder, and other passengers asked for silence.

  “In the meantime, Port Authority is already on its way for support and assistance. Several of the staff will be available to answer questions and to offer any assistance you may need in getting ready for the transfer. Once you arrive in Régua, there will be buses to take you to one of the local hotels, and in the morning you’ll take the same buses back to Porto.” He paused for a breath. “On behalf of Gold River Cruises and the Princess Catarina, I apologize for the situation and the inconvenience to you. Upon disembarking, there will be company representatives to assist you in any way. Thank you for your attention and, again, I’m sorry.”

  Vanessa rose and excused herself. When she arrived at the lobby, Matias was already there, surrounded by crew members and other passengers. He looked at her from across the room and nodded briefly. Talking to him right now was out of the question; she’d have to wait for another opportunity.

  A few minutes later, Matias announced that the Port Authority ship had arrived with several smaller boats to close the river traffic in both directions. He urged the passengers to not be alarmed at the loud noise and activity coming from the river around the ship.

  The Granthams stopped to talk to her. “Are you getting ready to leave?”

  She shook her head. “I’m going to stay and help Afonso with the transfer, just in case.”

  Agnes raised an eyebrow, and Vanessa hurried on to explain. “Afonso, the pianist. He’s also the emergency specialist.”

  “Oh, yes, I remember his help.” Agnes patted her hand. “I’m sure he appreciates your assistance.”

  Outside, the noise of the smaller boats tapping against the hull of the Princess Catarina drew her attention.

  Mr. Camden gestured toward the window. “The Port Authority is anchoring a boat against the Princess Catarina to prevent further drifting.”

  “We remember seeing the other ship the captain mentioned, the Alma Vida,” Alan Grantham said. “It’s one of the larger day-cruise ships. A very nice one.”

  Vanessa raised a hand to her chest as she and the others approached the window. They couldn’t see the Port Authority boats from this side, but several police cars and one fire truck had parked along the road by the bank and had closed the access. Some of the locals had come out to watch, as if the event were worthy entertainment.

  The Camdens and the Smiths approached Vanessa. “We thought it would be best to say goodbye now, in case we don’t have time later,” Ruth Camden said.

  “Oh. You’re right.” Vanessa nodded at them. “We might not have the time with everything going on.”

  Ruth and Priscilla hugged Vanessa, and their husbands shook her hand. Priscilla slipped a piece of paper into Vanessa’s hand. “Our contact info, from all of us.” She gestured to include the group. “If you ever find yourself in England, come and see us.”

  Vanessa smiled. “I will. I’ve always wanted to visit England.”

  Alan Grantham stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Vanessa’s shoulders. “We’ll hold you to it, young lady.” His voice caught. “You have my gratitude forever.”

  Vanessa swallowed past the lump in her throat and returned the hug. When Agnes took her in her arms, the tears rolled, despite Vanessa’s efforts to hold them in. “Vanessa, I’m so glad we had the chance to get to know you and become friends,” Agnes said when she stepped back.

  “I am too, Agnes.” Vanessa hadn’t expected to make friends with the senior passengers.

  Agnes tipped her head in Matias’s direction. “Remember what I told you about connections.”

  Vanessa protested but Agnes stopped her. “Just listen with your heart, Vanessa.”

  When the transfer ship arrived, the Port Authority captain positioned one of his boats along the Princess Catarina and connected the gangway between the two vessels. Anabela Rialto and her assistants had assigned the passengers to boarding groups based on medical needs and age, and other crew members helped organize the line.

  Miguel brought up the rear. Miss Rialto stood next to him with a clipboard in her hands and crossed off the names of the passengers before they stepped off.

  The next hour went by in a blur of activity as the crews cooperated to assist groups of passengers onto the transfer boat, which in turn took them to the Alma Vida, everyone working together with a common goal.

  Matias had taken the front of the line and personally greeted the passengers by name as he handed them over the gangway, apologizing and thanking them at the same time. For a moment, he made eye contact with Vanessa, his expression guarded. She held his gaze, but when the next passenger approached, Matias gave him his attention.

  She didn’t want to say goodbye to him. Not like this.

  Not today.

  Matias said goodbye to the last passenger and waved as the transfer boat took the group to the Alma Vida. It had taken three trips to evacuate all the passengers, and it would take one more for the crew.

  Not quite all the passengers.

  He walked over to Miss Rialto, who handed him the passenger manifest. “That was not the last passenger, Captain.”

  He took the clipboard from her and scanned the list. “Thanks, Miss Rialto. Please get the crew ready for transferring. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  Miguel followed him down the stairs to the lobby in the upper deck where the passengers’ luggage sat in rows.

  “Is everything tagged?” Matias asked.

  “Yes, and I already gave the list to the crew of the Alma Vida.” Miguel held the copy. “They’ll start moving the luggage after our crew transfers.”

  Matias slipped his tie off and opened an extra button on his shirt. “Did you talk to everybody?” Including himself and Miguel, there were forty crew members aboard.

  Miguel nodded. “They all know their job.”

  “As long as we can get everybody off before sundown.” Port Authority only worked in daylight for this kind of situation. The chances for mistakes increased in the evening, and nobody wanted that.

  “We will.” Miguel paused. “I’ll go oversee the crew. You find Miss Clark.”

  Matias ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Do you know where she is?”

  Miguel tipped his chin toward the other staircase. “In the restaurant.” He took the lists from Matias. “Good luck.”

  “Funny guy,” Matias said as Miguel climbed the stairs. He blew out a breath. How was he going to say goodbye to Vanessa?

  After the activity of the past few hours, the calm and solitude in the restaurant was a welcome change. The last few rays of sun filtered in through the
curtains on the windows and the whole room glowed with an eerie solitude.

  An empty ship always caught him by surprise, as if the passengers and crew were only momentarily gone. Rooms usually emptied on the last day, but this trip had already broken all the rules. One more exception didn’t make much difference.

  Vanessa sat at the farthest table to the port side, under a single spotlight. When she met his eyes, her lips widened into a smile. His heart tripped.

  He’d missed her. He’d missed her voice and her smile and the way her hand fit in his. How many times had they held hands? He couldn’t remember, but there hadn’t been many. Only enough to know he missed it already.

  Her braided hair had loosened as the day wore on, and wisps brushed the side of her face and neck. Her smile was genuine, but fatigue lined her expression. He’d heard from Afonso and Miss Rialto that Vanessa had helped all afternoon, and he wanted to take her in his arms and thank her in kisses.

  Instead, Matias took his time walking over—time to watch her, time to think about what he wanted to say. They were due a conversation, and he had no idea how it would turn out. What if it didn’t go well? He didn’t even have her phone number. He wiped his palms along the sides of his pants.

  He pulled out a chair and turned it around. “Thank you for everything you did today. Are you ready? We don’t have much time left.”

  She shrugged. “Maybe.”

  That was not the answer he’d been waiting for. Matias rose an eyebrow. “Maybe what?”

  She turned her phone screen down on the white tablecloth. “I called Grandfather.”

  Her eyes shone with some kind of excitement. He’d expected her to be more regretful to see the cruise end in this manner.

  “Of course he already knew about everything going on here, as I knew he would. But I have to say he was very surprised at the reason for my call. He recovered quickly and approved my idea.”

  “You have an idea that your grandfather likes? I thought—” He clamped his mouth. Vanessa’s relationship with her grandfather was none of his business.

  She leaned over in his direction and Matias straightened. It was a new experience for him, having someone he was so attracted to so near and knowing he should keep his distance instead.

  Her voice lowered. “You thought I don’t get along with Grandfather.” She hunched a shoulder. “Well, things change, and people do too.”

  Matias struggled with a reply. People did change even when the change was not an expected one.

  “Do you know what happened to the ship?”

  Her change of topic confused him for a moment, but he recovered quickly. “We lost the rudder. Without the ability to turn, the ship drifted into a sandbank.” It had been a stroke of luck to hit the soft sand instead of a jagged rock. The result would have been much different.

  “Isn’t the ship practically new? How do you lose a rudder?”

  “There was a part that sustained some damage, and that affected the rudder. It’s complicated.”

  She frowned. “If Grandfather had asked you the same question, would you have said that?”

  “Well, no. He knows the ship and the parts that it comprises.” Senhor Valadares worked closely with the designers and was always involved in the construction process. Matias had seen him before on the construction dock.

  “Then explain it to me the same way.”

  Matias crossed his forearms over the back of the chair. “Vanessa, I need to get you off the ship. All the other passengers have been evacuated already.”

  After a pause, she met his eyes. “I’m not like the other passengers.”

  She was right, of course. But he still had to follow the protocol, whether she liked it or not. Matias stood. “Please, Vanessa. You need to go. They’re transferring the crew right now, and they won’t wait for you after that.”

  “It’s all right, Matias. I’m not transferring to the other ship.”

  “Say that again?”

  Vanessa reached out and touched his forearm. “Matias, hear me out. I want to stay aboard and follow the ship back to port.”

  “There are rules and procedures for this kind of thing, and I’m the captain. I can’t go around making exceptions.”

  “You can if the company’s president approves.”

  Matias didn’t even try to hide his surprise. “He approves? Your grandfather approves of you staying aboard instead of transferring to the Alma Vida?”

  Vanessa folded her arms. “I thought you’d be happier about having me aboard for a little longer.”

  “And I thought you didn’t want anything to do with this ship.” Even as he said that to her, the idea of having her around turned in his mind. He shook his head. “Everyone’s leaving except me, the engineer, and the mechanic. I don’t know when the tow boat will be here or how long it’ll take to tow us to port. Why do you want to stay aboard?”

  “What if I say I want to spend more time with you?” She reached for her phone. “Here, I’ll have you talk to Grandfather.”

  She wanted to stay for him? By the time he recovered enough to reply, she was already making her call.

  “Yes, he’s right here.” She held out her phone in Matias’s direction.

  Matias took it. “This is Captain Romano.”

  Vanessa feigned an interest in her nails.

  “Captain, you and your crew did an amazing job evacuating the passengers,” Senhor Valadares said. “I know this is never the kind of situation we want, but congratulations on a job well done.”

  “Thank you, sir.” He cleared his throat. “Sir, your granddaughter wants to stay aboard until the Princess Catarina gets to port.”

  “Captain, a word of advice. When a woman changes her mind in your favor, you don’t ask why; you say thank you.”

  Matias didn’t know what to reply to that. He rubbed his temple with his free hand. “Yes, sir. As long as you’re okay with this arrangement.”

  “I am. I’m also sending two of my men to be on hand, just in case. I’ll see you at port, Captain.”

  Matias returned the phone to Vanessa. The hope and assurance in her eyes were hard to resist. They still hadn’t talked about the kiss—the one he hadn’t been able to keep at the back of his mind like he should. Just the memory of her caramel-flavored lips was enough to flush his neck. He’d never think of the flan pudding dessert in the same way again.

  Matias let out a long breath. “Since you’re staying, let’s go over some rules. Rule number one: you do what the captain says.”

  Her face split into a smile. “Yes, captain.” She straightened in her chair and mock saluted him, then quickly sobered up. “So tell me how the accident happened. I thought the ship had ways to prevent accidents.”

  He looked straight at her. “It wasn’t an accident.”

  *

  Vanessa turned at the sound of the sliding door as Matias stepped onto the balcony off the lounge. The water lapped gently against the hull and the moonlight glinted in the long waves of the river.

  He switched off the overhead light and the lowlights came on along the edge of the floor. With a waxing moon climbing steadily in the dark sky, the ambient light was enough in the small space. The air was balmy and the night calm, its soundtrack the nocturnal noises of insects on the banks and the occasional chatter from the small crew of the Port Authority boat.

  With the tow ship scheduled to arrive in the early morning, Vanessa had the whole night ahead to keep Matias company. She’d be content to just sit next to him and not worry with anything else, but when would she have another chance like this to talk to him?

  She looked up at him. “Is everything okay?”

  He’d gone to the lower deck to check on the mechanic and the engineer.

  Matias sat on the double chair next to her. “Yes, everything’s fine. They already had dinner too.”

  With a kitchen full of dishes for a dinner that never got served, Matias and Vanessa had taken some food to the Port Authority crew members and then ha
d a laid-back dinner in the restaurant.

  An unnatural quiet had settled over the ship. Vanessa had grown used to the sounds of conversation and music from the previous nights on the trip. Tonight, the silence echoed in each room and she struggled to conciliate the new reality.

  “It’s hard to believe the cruise ended this way.” She sat back and watched Matias’s profile.

  Matias stretched his arms and folded his hands behind his neck. “It is.”

  He didn’t add more to his reply, and there was a faraway look in his eyes. The wariness in his voice belied the tension he was trying hard to hide from her.

  Vanessa turned in her seat to face him. “Why did you say earlier that the damage wasn’t an accident?”

  “Because what we saw downstairs points at deliberate sabotage.”

  “And you know this for sure?”

  “I’d be very surprised if the investigators came to a different conclusion.” He sat up and positioned his hands to indicate a small object. “It’s like this. The ship’s rudder facilitates the steering. This rudder is controlled by hydraulics which are in turn controlled by a compressor, and the compressor has an electric regulator.”

  “All the parts are connected,” she said. Even if she didn’t know the specifics, it was simple enough to understand so far.

  Matias nodded. “Yes, it all works together. That’s how a ship works. Unfortunately, it also makes it easier to inflict damage. We found evidence that someone planted a timed device that fried the regulator. Without the regulator, the hydraulics were compromised, and the rudder became useless.”

  She frowned. “Then someone aboard did it.” Either a passenger or a crew member had purposefully sabotaged the ship. “But why? And who?”

  “I don’t know.” He passed a hand through his hair. “That will be a job for the investigators. My job now is to make sure the evidence is not destroyed.”

  “Is that why the mechanic and the engineer are in lower deck?” It all made sense.

  “We took pictures and secured the room, but yes, they’re keeping an eye on it until the ship arrives at port and the investigators take over.”