Lucy thought for a moment about that. “I have a charted course planned and it has worked well so far. I am close to seeing my goal met; I can’t give it up, not now!”
“Why would you have to give it up?” Brandy asked. “Did Jake ask you to give it up to stay home and pop out babies and have dinner on the table when he came home from the office?”
“Well, no,” Lucy admitted. “But relationships need a lot of time put into them to make them work, time I do not have, not at this pivotal point in my life.”
“Lucy Smith!” Brandy cried. “I am rather shocked at you, both Jake and you have the same interest at heart, Smith Shipping. He seems to be completely crazy for you, from all that you have told me, and it is obvious you are in love with him.”
“What!” Lucy choked on her coffee. “No one said anything about love; I most certainly am not in love with Jake Logan!”
Brandy laughed loudly. “You don’t have to say it, Lucy. I can see it. We have had more conversations about this man in the last two weeks than all the men you ever dated in all the years I have known you.” Brandy took another drink of her coffee and sat it down. “As a matter of fact, I have never seen you this confused over anything at all before, ever! You think of him all day and said you dream of him each night; and you all but admit you can’t trust yourself to be alone with him for fear of ending up naked and twisted up tighter than a pretzel. You have a serious case of you have met you’re match, and I must say, I am rather jealous.”
Lucy laughed at that remark. “Maybe I should introduce you to his attorney, Landon Hall. They went to college together and I must say, he is equally as tall and gorgeous as Jake is.”
Brandy looked at Lucy and with a mischievous grin. “Well, if you are going to let Jake slip through your hands, I may just have to help him pick up the pieces, he sounds absolutely delicious!”
“Oh no you won’t!” Lucy cried. “Over my dead body!”
Brandy hooted in glee and pointed at Lucy with tears running down her face. “You should have seen the look on your face. If looks could kill, I would be leaving here in a body bag. Yeah, it’s love all right!”
***
Jake was on Skype with his best friend and attorney Landon.
“Jake, about time you checked in. How’s it going?”
“Good,” Jake said. “Ship is loaded; I have left port and I’m headed home, finally.”
Landon chuckled. “This I know. What I meant was, how is it going with the beautiful Ms. Smith?”
“Great, except for one small detail, but I will have that all ironed out and smoothed over when I get back to Las Angeles.”
“What did you do?” Landon asked. “Run her off already with all your boring tales of the high seas?”
Jake laughed. “Well, they don’t seem to run you off. You listen to each and every one.”
“I have to, old pal, you have me on retainer and with what you pay me, I will sit through all of them.”
“You’re right; you better laugh at every joke too with the bonuses you get! But no, nothing that serious, just a small bump in the road. I will pursue her till she comes around, shouldn’t take long, I hope.”
“I hope so, Jake, I really do. Charles had actually hoped you two would fall in love. To be honest with you, the old geezer has actually left money here at the office for your wedding and honeymoon, I know he was a genius at anything business, but I might say that if you guys do end up hitched, that may prove to be his best consolidation ever.”
Jake had to agree, on all of it. He left instructions with Landon to inform Lucy’s secretary that he would be moving back into his office there at corporate headquarters and to please have it furnished and ready when he arrived in port, but to send the bill to his accountant. This one he would gladly pay out of his own pocket; after all, it was personal.
***
Lucy came back from lunch on Thursday to find office furniture being carried into the empty office across the hall from hers. “What’s going on?” Lucy asked her secretary. “I did not commission this!”
“No,” said her secretary. “Mr. Logan did. He said an email was sent to you detailing this change.”
“Oh,” said Lucy. “I have been so busy I must have missed that one. I will check it momentarily. I just closed a new deal this morning; I will be sending the contract to you in a moment, please review it and send a copy to the client. I will also be sending all shipping details, please review and forward to Jeb at the dock. Oh! And hold all my calls for me for the next half hour, I have another proposal I need to go over.”
Lucy went into her office, closed the door, and sank into her chair. She hoped the scene being played out across the hall did not mean what she thought it did. She would have to check her emails from Jake to see what his intentions were.
As she opened the one titled New Office, it appeared her fears where confirmed: My beautiful Lucy, I will be moving back into my old office, the one across from yours, when I reach port. This is to not only help you and be more hands on with the company, seeing as it will now be the second largest shipping company on the open seas, but to also further my pursuit of you in making you my wife. When I get to port I will be hungry. You pick; what would you like? Italian or Chinese? All my love, Jake.
Oh, the nerve of that man! What was she going to do now? She thought she had made herself perfectly clear with her intent of not pursuing this further! And yet here he was, acting as if she had no say so in the matter whatsoever. And there was nothing she could do about it. She knew the leeway left to Jake by her father, just as she knew he had previously occupied that office. But she figured he would just continue playing captain after her rebuttal. Apparently, she thought wrong. Time for a plan B; funny, she had never needed a plan B before Jake, now she seemed to need one every time.
***
Jake sat looking at the Doppler radar. The storm had turned and merged with another small cell and was picking up steam at an alarming rate. If the storm kept on its current path, they would run into it dead on and there was nothing they could do about it. He could either turn into it or away from it, but even then it would catch them. His best plan was to continue on course, batten down the hatches and prepare the crew.
He sent an email to Lucy’s secretary, letting her know of this new development and an approximate time they would be running into the storm. They were six days away from port and it looked to be about two days away from one nasty storm. He would keep an eye on the storm and reassess the situation in another twelve hours before sending off an email to the client informing him of the situation and a possible small delay; right now he had a crew he needed to brief.
***
Lucy got a text alert from the dock on Saturday. She had not been feeling well the last two days and wanted to get something to help her stomach. She was sure it was all Jake’s fault; he had her nerves all worked up and her mind frazzled. Even her secretary was beginning to notice. Apparently she had forgotten to put a bid price on a proposal yesterday; she was glad she has everything checked out by her secretary before she sent them.
Lucy opened her text from Jeb and read it, becoming a bit worried as she did so. Ms. Smith, received notice from Mr. Logan, they will be running into a large storm on Thursday. I will be checking this periodically throughout the day and week as this storm may cause a small delay in arrival time. I will notify you of any new developments. Jeb
Lucy couldn’t believe her luck. She was going to get a few extra hours or maybe even a whole day to ready herself for the inevitable meeting with Jake. With that, Lucy took a bite of her bagel and her stomach recoiled. Damn that Jake Logan, this was all his fault!
***
Tuesday afternoon, Jake and his first mate sat looking at the radar with utter fear etched on their faces.
“Jake, I have never seen anything like this and we have no way to avoid it either. We will be lucky to come out the other end all in one piece, if at all.”
Jake hated to admit it,
but Alex was right. “We can’t turn back, it’s coming too fast. I have never seen a storm grow to this size in this small amount of time nor have I ever sailed through one this big. We need to inform the crew and keep with our current plan.”
Jake sent off an email to Jeb at the dock, and just in case, he made a very personal letter to Lucy but saved it. He would send it later if he felt things were not looking good for them. He just hoped he was able to say all that in person instead.
***
Lucy stayed in bed all day Sunday. Brandy came by with some soup, 7-up and crackers. Brandy had assured her it would work, and Lucy could only hope she was right.
By Monday, Lucy had to admit that the crackers and 7-up were doing the trick. Lucy told Brandy that on the phone and all she got in return was a high-pitched squeal and a giggle and the click of the phone. She did not have time to call her back to see what that was all about as she was on the freeway headed toward the docks. Jeb had asked for a personal meeting.
He had never done before; Brandy would have to wait.
Lucy arrived to find the dock full and men running everywhere. She hurried up to Jeb’s office to see what was so urgent.
“Ms. Smith, thank you for coming at once.” Jeb escorted Lucy into his office. “We have a major development. It appears that the storm we have been keeping an eye on has grown in size and strength.”
Lucy stared at him a moment before she spoke. “What are we talking about in terms of size?”
“It is the largest storm I have ever seen in my thirty-three years in this business. I have seen ships lost in much smaller storms.”
Lucy was floored. “Can they turn around? If not, how long will it take them to clear the storm’s path?”
Jeb stood up and motioned Lucy to follow him to the radar screen. “They are currently here where you see this green dot blinking; they should enter the storm here.” Jeb as he pointed to a spot on the screen. “With any luck, they should clear the storm in approximately three to five hours, god willing.”
Lucy could not help but note the fear in is voice. “Ok, I will keep my phone on and next to me at all times. Call me as soon as you hear anything at all; no matter how small.”
***
Jake was on deck, watching the scene playing out before him. In about a half an hour, they would be entering that beast. Never had he seen a storm so huge and angry. The sky looked like pure hell and they were about to sail into the belly of Satan himself. Jake had a momentary thought of being chewed up. He just prayed it spit them out the other side, safe and intact. Jake went back to check in with his first mate and inform the crew. The time was upon them, everyone needed to prepare for the fight of their lives.
Twenty minutes later, the swells towered over the ship. They had pulled full into the oncoming storm, heading straight into the swells. This maneuver was their only chance; if one of these swells hit them on the side they would roll straight over and sink to the bottom. Their only chance was to ride the swell to the top and hope to come down on the other side safely. The swells were coming in faster and faster and rising further into the sky.
Jake had promised his crew they would all get home and they would; he would make sure of that. He looked at the screen and saw they were almost out of the storm. Another thirty minutes and they would clear it, but the tail end was the worst of it. His cell phone lit up, showing he had a signal; this may be his only chance.
He opened his email and hit send. Lucy would have his email when she next checked it. A few seconds later, he lost signal again.
Jake sat staring at the screen for a moment before he heard, “Captain, dead ahead!” Jake looked up just in time to see the largest wall of water he had ever seen, and it was headed straight for them. He hit the warning button, signaling everyone on the ship to brace for impact. If they survived this, they could survive anything; at that thought, the whole ship shook as it rose and all went black.
***
Unable to stand being at work while she waited for news, Lucy called Brandy and asked her to meet her at her house.
“They entered the storm about two hours ago. They get a brief signal every now and then from the ship. The storm is preventing definite contact,” she told Brandy when she arrived.
Brandy sat down next to Lucy and hugged her. “Look, you have the best captain in the business and have had the best of luck. Pray that it continues through this situation. You will see Jake come pulling into port right on time Monday.”
“I hope you’re right, but it is not Jake’s ability that worries me, it is the storm itself. Ability does not mean much in a storm like this.”
Brandy reached out and grabbed Lucy’s hand to comfort her. “It means everything, everything, and so does faith. You need to have faith in Jake and the crew.”
Lucy sat staring ahead out the window. She couldn’t help but note how calm and sunny it looked outside. From here, you would never know the fierce storm that was playing havoc with Jake and the crew. “What if something happens and I never see him again? Why do I feel so sick at that thought, so empty?”
Brandy wrapped her arms around her as Lucy began to sob. “Maybe because you already know the answer to that question; you love him!”
Lucy began to cry in earnest as Brandy handed her a tissue. “Yes, I do! And he may never know! How could he? I didn’t even know.”
“He knows,” said Brandy. “He has told you as much with his actions. He loves you, Lucy; don’t let a thirty-year-old dream come in the way of your future with him.”
Lucy knew in her heart Brandy was right, as always. She was in love with Jake Logan, and had been the moment she laid eyes on him. Nothing she did was ever going to stop that; she just had to accept it, as Brandy had said so many times before. Suddenly she had the urge to make it right, to tell Jake she was sorry and that she loved him.
Lucy grabbed her computer and opened her email. She was about halfway through when an email came in; she disregarded it and kept writing. She needed to tell him everything and nothing was going to stop her. She poured out her heart to him and made a new promise, to him, herself and her father. She promised to love Jake till death do them part, to make him a part of the business and to have many children to carry on her father’s work. And she promised to never doubt Jake or his love for her, ever. She closed out and hit send, praying the whole time it got through to him and he read it.
Brandy had gone to make coffee and she handed Lucy a cup. “He will get it, Lucy, have faith.”
As she sat down, Lucy checked her inbox; she worried the incoming email may have been from Jeb. “It is an email from Jake, it came while I was writing him, I ignored it without seeing who it was from!”
“Well,” said Brandy. “Open it.”
Lucy did just that and began reading to herself, weeping silently: My beautiful Lucy, If you get this, know that I love you with my whole heart and I plan on spending every single day of my life showing you just that. I will never make you give up your dreams. I will only be there to cheer you on and support you while you go after them. If anything happens during this storm, know that you were the first thing on my mind when I woke up and the last thing I thought of before we went down. I love you, Lucy, heart, mind and soul. You are mine as I am yours; you have branded me forever. All my love, Jake.
As she reread this she started to cry in earnest. Brandy pulled her closer as she read the message from Jake. “He wouldn’t send this if he was sure that they were going to be fine, Brandy. I know Jake, he wouldn’t!”
Lucy couldn’t wait anymore. She had Brandy drive her to the dock. They should have come out of the storm over an hour ago and yet she had heard nothing yet. She entered the dock in a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt; hair disheveled and bloated red eyes. She noticed as she passed that no one could look her in the eyes, they all turned away when she looked at them.
She broke into a run and did not bother knocking before she opened the door. Jeb and Landon huddled over the radar screen. “Th
ey’re gone, the whole crew and Jake, all gone!” Landon said mournfully.
That was the last thing Lucy heard before she hit the floor.
***
Lucy awoke in a hospital room two hours later. One look at Brandy and it all came flooding back. Lucy started crying and screaming Jake’s name. Brandy came over and held her close. “Lucy, they do not know yet if the ship is lost. They simply have yet to make contact. This could mean many things, as you know. How many times have you lost contact with a ship due to a malfunction in equipment? And in a storm like that, it is easy to lose a signal from wiring getting knocked around.”
Lucy shook her head; in her heart she knew this. Many times over the years they had lost contact with a ship; only to have it come limping into port a few days later. She prayed this was the case.
At that moment, the doctor came in. “Ms. Smith, I understand you have had some rather unsettling news and I am sorry to hear that. All your tests came back ok and you do not have a concussion from the fall so we will be releasing you. We do, however, have one test result we need to go over with you. Ms. Smith, did you know you are almost four weeks pregnant?”
Lucy did not think she had heard him right. “Pregnant! No, I did not!” She looked at Brandy with a haunted look and it was all becoming clear. The sickness in her stomach that would not go away, she had also been getting tired easy, even taking a few naps at the office. But never had being pregnant come to mind. A baby! And Jake would never know!
Smith Dynasty (Trilogy Bundle) (BBW Romance) Page 6