Onboard Deception

by Liz Turner

  “Melissa,” Gabriella said, “I know you haven’t enjoyed your experience on our cruise line, and I do offer my sincerest apologies—”

  “Spare it. No amount of apologizing and sucking up from you is going to change my review. I’ll sink this cruise liner under an ocean of criticism.”

  “Good pun, my love,” Ron said, though his eyes seemed to sympathize more with Gabriella than his fiancé.

  By the end of the afternoon, Gabriella felt a spark of hope reignite inside of her. More patients seemed to be on the mend, their appetites returning.

  She worked hard to ensure nutritious meals that were easy on tender stomachs were hand-delivered by the crew. By evening, more and more food orders were going out and the kitchen was a bustling hive of activity.

  Gabriella spent her evening monitoring the kitchen, much to Chef Ben’s dismay.

  “I don’t need you checking up on me! I have everything under control!” he snapped, bouncing her out of the way with his enormous belly as a fast-moving pot of soup was swept from one side of the kitchen to the other.

  “I’m not checking up on you, chef. I’m just ensuring that absolutely nothing goes wrong and results in our entire cruise ship being sick again!”

  “That’s if this inexplicable sickness even has anything to do with our kitchen,” Ben retorted.

  “Chef, I’m not here to fight. We’re on the same team, so let’s work together.”

  “Excellent.” A dangerous glint formed his eye as he pointed with his chubby paw. “A true team member would attend to that growing stack of dishes over there.”

  Gabriella’s jaw dropped.

  “Unfortunately, our dish washer didn’t pitch for work today. He claims he’s sick, but I suspect he’s just using it as an excuse to escape work today. So, are you a team member or not?”

  Gabriella stared him down, one eyebrow raised sharply. She wasn’t known for backing down from a challenge, and unfortunately for her, people like Ben were often used this to their advantage.

  Wordlessly, she marched over to the wash area and began tackling the monstrous heap of strategically stacked and sticky china, ready to topple at the slightest hint of rough seas.

  Ben stared, amazed the captain’s wife was ready to humble herself enough to wash dishes just so she could make sure everything on her ship was being well run. “All right,” Ben chuckled, “you’ve made your point. I don’t really expect the captain’s wife to clean the ship’s dishes, especially since you’re the one paying our salaries.”

  Gabriella—slowly enveloped by a cloud of steam and soap bubbles—ignored him, pausing only to roll up her sleeves.

  Ben walked away, shaking his head with an impressed smile on his usually grumpy face.

  By the following evening, the majority of the ship had sufficiently recovered. Passengers were all claiming a miraculous cure and begging management to reopen the ship for its intended purpose, especially since they now fully appreciated the meaning of the term ‘cabin fever’.

  After a long discussion, it was finally declared safe to allow the passengers out of their rooms if they passed Nancy’s inspection. Any passengers still displaying symptoms, however, had to remain in their cabins.

  The cheering was audible and the excited buzz in the air was tangible after this announcement. Even the crew members were excited to reopen the social and entertainment areas.

  The following morning, Gabriella walked proudly through a bustling breakfast buffet, where everyone dished up generous servings of juicy fruit, rich scrambled eggs, and crispy bacon. Relief washed over her, recognizing faces from her rounds the day before, beaming with health and hunger.

  At last, it seemed everything would be okay.

  Chapter 8

  False Accusations

  “I just want to make sure you really know who you’re dating!” Gabriella explained.

  “Gabi, I love you as a friend, but I can’t take it when you attack Sebastian!”

  Gabriella cringed. She had never seen Sarah lose her cool like this, let alone her temper. “I have to admit something to you.” She hid her face behind her hands for a second. “I overheard you arguing with Sebastian the other day. I know you don’t trust him entirely either, so can we please just tell each other the truth?”

  Sarah’s face flushed red and her arms flailed so wildly, Gabriella feared her friend would launch a full physical attack. “What Sebastian and I say behind closed doors is none of your business!”

  Gabriella raised her hands up in surrender. “Okay, I know you’re furious with me right now. And technically, the door wasn’t closed…”

  Sarah gave her a red-furious glare.

  “But you know I would do nothing to hurt you. We’ve been friends for years, so please just listen to what I have to say!”

  “This better be good,” Sarah growled. She began pacing.

  Gabriella took a deep breath. “Okay, so I was doing my rounds, and I overheard another conversation.”

  “Oh, so that’s your latest thing? You just lurk around the ship, poking your nose into other people’s business?”

  Gabriella sighed. “Yes. Fine. That’s what I do. But in your case, I do it to protect you.”

  “I don’t need your protection! I’m a grown woman and I can make my own decisions, especially with choosing who to love!”

  Gabriella shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Do you want to hear me out or not?”

  Sarah folded her arms and pursed her lips, her foot impatiently tapping the floor.

  “I overheard Sebastian talking with another woman. It seems she was a passenger and came here intending to win him back.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” Sarah scoffed. “Wait—how do you know it was Sebastian?”

  “I recognized his voice.”

  “It could have been anyone talking in there!” Sarah narrowed her eyes. “Did you hear her say his name?”

  Gabriella thought for a while, trying to remember.

  “You’re not sure, are you? You’re just jumping to conclusions because you have it in for Sebastian. You always have, ever since the day he set foot on this ship!”

  “That’s not fair! I just want to know the truth.”

  “Fine. Why don’t you ask him yourself then?” Sarah pulled her work phone from her pocket and dialed a number.

  Gabriella waited in horror.

  Shortly thereafter, Sebastian nervously poked his head into the room. “Is there a problem?”

  Sarah gestured for him to enter the room. “Gabriella has something she wants to talk to you about.”

  “Okay.” Sebastian looked uncertainly between the two women. It electrified the air with tension. “What’s up?”

  “Gabriella seems to think an ex-lover of yours is on the ship,” Sarah stated.

  Sebastian stood in stunned silence before cracking a loud guffaw. “So, I’m just going to assume the two of you are up to something here.” He wiped a stray tear from his eye before noticing they were deadly serious.

  “Sebastian,” Gabriella began, working hard not to catch on fire from the humiliation of confronting the person she’d spied on, “this will sound crazy, but I overheard you talking to another woman.”

  A look of confusion played across his handsome face.

  “It seemed like the two of you had been in a past relationship,” Gabriella continued. “Are there any passengers on this ship you were involved with in the past?”

  Sebastian shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry to disappoint your thirst for a scandal, but the only girl on this ship I have eyes for is Sarah.” He shrugged and gave Sarah a boyish grin.

  “See,” Sarah snapped at Gabriella. She put her arm around Sebastian’s waist. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

  “This woman also insisted she was pregnant,” Gabriella blurted, not entirely convinced by Sebastian’s innocence.

  He snorted. “Sucks to be that guy.”

  Sarah’s eyes widened slightly at the mention of a pregnancy,
but she quickly recovered and maintained her smile.

  “All right,” Gabriella conceded, though still watching Sebastian in hopes he dropped his guard, even if just for a second. “I’m sorry that I jumped to conclusions, Sebastian.” She said the words, though they weren’t sincere. Something just wasn’t right. She was so certain it had been Sebastian on the other side of that door, and she could have sworn she’d heard his name. But Sarah’s and Sebastian’s vehement denial caused doubt to creep in.

  Suddenly, all three of their phones buzzed signaling a crew group message.

  Gabriella tried to make sense of the words on her phone’s screen. The message was from Nancy. “There’s been another wave of sickness,” she read in shock.

  “It seems like it affected everyone in the elite group that attended the afternoon high tea we held on the upper deck,” Sarah said.

  “Those are mostly VIP guests,” Gabriella realized. “Including our most difficult passenger…”

  “Melissa Riley!” she and Sarah said in unison.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Gabriella noticed the tiniest flinch in Sebastian’s face. She looked again, but in an instant, he’d smoothed over the creases, leaving her to wonder if she’d just imagined it.

  “I’m tiring of this,” Gabriella groaned. “Every time we think we’re finally on top of things, someone else gets sick. I’m putting a stop to this once and for all.” She held eye-contact with Sebastian for a second longer than necessary.

  ***

  “I don’t know what to tell you!” Chef Ben yelled, horrified. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong in the kitchen, and on random occasions, and for no apparent reason, a bunch of people get sick!”

  “All I’m asking is that you walk me through the food preparation process,” Gabriella said. “It was a high tea, so you would have had the food kept separately.”

  “Here are the left overs.” He gestured aggressively in the direction of the mini cucumber sandwiches and custard pastries. “See for yourself.”

  Ignoring Ben’s rattling grumbles throughout her inspection, Gabriella examined the remnants of food scattered across silver trays and side plates. She sniffed at the sandwiches and pastries, but nothing seemed out of place.

  Then something finally caught her eye.

  “What is this, chef?” She pointed to some fine white dust on one of the tray’s handles.

  “Where? I see nothing.”

  “Ben, I’m serious. Why would you have confectioner’s sugar sprinkled on tuna sandwiches? What is this?”

  Ben peered more closely at the white dust Gabriella pointed out. He sniffed at it and scowled. He then poked a bit of the dust with his pinky finger and placed it on his tongue. Roaring in disgust, he spat into his handkerchief. “Outrageous!” he roared.

  “It wasn’t me, chef!” an innocent kitchen hand who was passing by yelled.

  Ben ignored him and continued to study Gabriella with a ferocious frown on his face. “This substance is definitely not from my kitchen!”

  Gabriella, too, tasted a small fragment of the powder. Instantly, her stomach twisted in nausea, and she spat into a piece of paper towel to rid herself of the acrid taste. “What is this?” she asked, although she already suspected she knew the answer. “And if it’s not from your kitchen, why is it being served to our passengers?”

  “I don’t know. I’m believing someone has been intentionally sabotaging my food! It must be a rival chef who’s heard of my glowing reputation and is after my job!”

  Gabriella rolled her eyes without the self-centered chef seeing her. “That’s unlikely, but I will find out what’s going on and who’s behind it all.”

  Chapter 9

  Treason

  “Are you nervous?”

  Gabriella shook her head slightly to lie. Yet, Nancy stared unblinkingly at Gabriella until she caved. “Fine. I’m nervous. The results on that form can change my entire life.”

  “You ready for this?”

  “No.”

  “Gabi…”

  “Just hand them over.” Gabriella squeezed the words out of her strangled throat. Nerves churned in her stomach, and sweat broke out along the back of her neck.

  Nancy handed over the envelope that had come in from port earlier that day.

  Gabriella stared at her name on the label. Taking a deep breath, she slowly opened the flap before sticking her trembling fingers inside to pull out a single sheet of paper. Her eyes scanned through the black printed words with little comprehension until she found a single word to dwell on.

  Negative.

  She fixated on that single word. So bare, so cold, so unfeeling.

  There was no comfort that came along with these results. Nothing to help her cope with the torrent of emotion inside of her, like a dark current ready to suck her out to sea. Just the hard, cold truth staring back at her.

  Negative.

  “Gabi,” Nancy called gently, “it’s been about fifteen minutes and you haven’t said a word. The suspense is killing me…”

  Gabriella snapped out of her stupor. Her eyes burned as if she hadn’t blinked the entire time. She’d been so focused on the piece of paper in front of her that when she looked up at Nancy, her eyes had to adapt. “Sorry,” she whispered. “The results are negative.”

  “I don’t know whether to congratulate you or give you my sympathies. But either way, I can see this is difficult for you to process right now.”

  Gabriella’s eyes drifted back to the word that completed it all for her. She wondered how her husband would take the news. She tried to imagine his expression. Would she see a wave of relief wash over him as though he’d dodged a bullet, or would she see her own pain reflected in his eyes at the loss?

  She knew it couldn’t be loss that she was feeling. How could a person lose something they’d never had?

  Still, Gabriella couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d lost a piece of her own hope. She doubted the opportunity would ever present itself again. Nick would say that after some time, they could try for a baby if she wanted. But in reality, they would become too busy with running the ship, and then suddenly, she’d be fifty years old and the dream of rearing a school of Fischers would be long forgotten.

  “Gabi, you disappeared again. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I need to talk to Nick.” Gabriella gave her friend a fake smile which was the best she could muster. “Can I keep this?” She pointed to the yellow envelope that had so callously sealed her fate.

  “Sure.”

  “Thank you for everything,” Gabriella said before disappearing quickly with the yellow envelope under her arm.

  “I’m so sorry, my love. In my defense, I didn’t even know we were trying for a baby.”

  “We weren’t. It’s just that I started picturing what it would be like…”

  “And?”

  “It was a beautiful picture. Like one of those sunsets that you just never really forget. You know that you’ll have plenty of other sunsets to look at, but somehow, this one is different. You’re aware the whole time that the light is slowly changing and bursting with new color every second, and you’ll never see another sunset quite like that one ever again.” She looked up at Nick, who wisely remained silent. One look at his blank stare confirmed that she’d lost him. “I think I wanted a baby,” Gabriella finally admitted.

  “Ah…I get it now. The one-of-a-kind sunset you missed seeing.” He nodded. “I think I wanted a baby too.” A subtle hint of sadness crept into his expression. “But perhaps we’re not cut out for it.”

  “Kids are messy and unpredictable.” Gabriella halfheartedly echoed her infamous earlier words.

  “Exactly,” Nick agreed.

  Gabriella then spent the next five minutes explaining to him the trauma of seeing her results printed on a piece of paper and handed to her in an envelope. Afterwards, he asked to see the results himself.

  “I’m confused,” he mumbled.

  “It’s there.” Gabriella dabb
ed her finger roughly at the spot where the dreaded word was typed in bold.

  “No, not the results. I’m confused about who this belongs to. This isn’t your blood type—and this isn’t your name either.”

  Gabriella focused back on the printed page in front of her. This time, she looked more closely, reading the name. “Melissa Riley?”

  “I don’t think these are your results,” Nick said, stating the obvious.

  Gabriella fumbled for the yellow envelope and turned it over. It had her name printed on the label, yet the results inside weren’t hers. She studied the flap for a few seconds and noticed its tacky, dog-eared appearance, as though it had been tampered with by fingers before hers. “She couldn’t have…”

  A series of frantic knocks sounded at their door.

  Gabriella eyed her husband.

  He raised his hands innocently. “Even though I’m the captain, I don’t get visitors at eleven o'clock at night.”

  “Point taken.” Gabriella climbed off the sofa to answer the door.

  “Gabi!” A panic-stricken Sarah stumbled in and threw herself into Gabriella’s arms.

  Nick took one look at Sarah’s demeanor and disappeared to the bathroom for a long shower, leaving the females to sort out their business.

  “I’m so sorry, Gabi,” Sarah wailed into Gabriella’s shoulder. “I figured it all out, and you were right!”

  “Figured what out?”

  “Sebastian was seeing a woman before we even met, but he ended things with her!”

  “And she’s on the ship?”

  “Yes! He admitted he was the one you overheard talking.”

  “Well, at least the truth is out between the two of you,” Gabriella concluded with a comforting smile. Having her own problems to deal with, she tried to Sarah up. “Really, there’s no harm done…”

  “No, you don’t understand! Melissa Riley showed up at our cabin with a form in her hand!”

  “What?”

  “She waved some blood results in front of Sebastian’s face, proving she was pregnant. She insists he’s the father and is demanding he marries her.”

  “Wait… so the necklace she accused you of stealing…?”