by Beth Byers
They all looked at each other and Vi asked, “What about places that are closer that are also not Slovenia?”
“There’s the Bahamas, the east coast of the United States, or Oslo, Norway.”
“Do those ships have room for all of us?”
Jack and Ham nodded in unison. It seemed the two of them had already discussed the timing and come to the same conclusion. Neither were prepared for a trip that would last months without notice.
Together Vi and Rita eyed each other and said, “Norway.”
“With a reservation for both Rio and Perth in the future,” Vi added.
Rita nodded and then glanced at the others. There were no objections other than Denny who said, “Perhaps we’re being too hasty on Slovenia.”
“Says the bug eater,” Victor snapped. “You just don’t want to be blamed if we find out later Slovenia is wonderful and we should have gone there the whole time instead of Norway.”
Denny nodded without regret and everyone but Lila groaned.
Vi scrunched her nose and said, “We could let the clock decide.”
Jack shook his head. “With the parties before we leave, everyone will be leaving as the party ends and they send off those who aren’t going. It won’t be enough of a difference time wise, and we won’t know until after it’s too late.”
Vi eyed Rita who eyed her back. Both of them were rather firm in their desires, and each of them wished to go somewhere farther away. They both knew that their husbands did not have the same desire. It had felt like a long-lived wish that she wanted to visit Australia the moment it was said. Rita had already mentioned Rio de Janeiro more than once and before the last few days. Vi’s mouth twisted. No, it was much too far with Kate’s baby on the way and the twins and baby Lily.
With two nannies, three babies, Vi, Jack, Ham, Rita, Victor,Kate, Denny and Lila they were quite the large crowd. Probably too large to easily find room on any ship without notice.
“It occurs to me,” Rita said, glancing at their group, “that a last minute trip with no preparation means maybe we should just vote?”
“No,” Victor disagreed, wrapping his arm around Kate’s waist. “We need something more whimsical than that.”
They turned away from each other as they tried to decide how to decide.
“I didn’t expect so many places that Rita hadn’t been,” Vi admitted. “I blame you for having not traveled further. You should have been to Rio or Perth before now, let alone Norway and Slovenia. This is your fault.”
Rita gasped and narrowed her gaze at Vi. “It’s not my fault that I’ve been to the United States. Surely you have as well.”
Vi shrugged. Perhaps, once.
“Let’s just choose Norway,” Ham said, “before we begin our trip with hair-pulling. Everyone but Denny is happy enough with Norway. There’s a place there called North Cape that I’ve heard of before. I shouldn’t mind seeing that.”
Both Vi and Rita turned on Ham, who grinned evilly.
Lila asked silkily, “Hair pulling, my good man? Someone is feeling daring to say such a thing to a new wife.
“Let’s choose where we’re and start our trip,” Rita said, elbowing Ham for both herself and Vi.
“Which won’t ever be over until they have a new wardrobe,” Denny muttered and glanced at Lila, who had been slimming down and was touchy about her clothes fitting and refused to buy more until she was at her previous shape. “How many shops will they drag us to, Jack? They’ve not an ounce of sympathy even when I run out of chocolate.”
“We’ll get her to buy something,” Vi told Denny as if he’d been worried over that. His dark look said he hoped to avoid shopping this time around, the foolish man. There was a good reason, Vi thought, that Lila called him a lad.
Kate laughed and then hooked her arm through Lila’s. “I’ll shop for accessories with you, Lila.”
“Even my feet are different. Most of my shoes have abandoned me,” Lila groaned. “I suppose I could find a headpiece.”
Vi laughed and then ducked when she got matching dark looks from Lila and Kate, who were far more alarming than the mildly irritated Ham. Vi’s gaze moved away more out of self-defense than a desire to people-watch, but her gaze was caught by another group. There were five or six of them with fabulous clothes and shoes. Even their trunks were fabulous.
There were two younger women, near Vi’s age. They were twins which caught Vi’s attention as a twin herself. But these twins were identical. They both had long dark hair that curled fabulously. It wasn’t the style, but it was absolutely the right choice for those perfect manes. Each of them wore slinky dresses. Each of them stood next to tall, smooth men. Of the men, one was a brunette with a golden edge to his hair, and the other was pure white blonde. Both gents looked expensive.
The next woman was a curly-haired, voluptuous blonde. Her dress wasn’t quite so nice, but she giggled loudly and both men watched the blonde rather than their own sleek wives. Vi lifted a brow at that, offended for the women on their arms, and then glanced at Rita.
“Looks like a bit of drama over there,” Rita said, having noted the same thing Vi had. “Speaking of hair pulling…”
“What drama?” Ham asked.
“As the woman interpreter,” Victor started and all the ladies groaned, “let me help you. Our girls are offended for the wives.”
“The what?” Denny asked and both Ham and Jack groaned next.
“The wives are being snubbed in favor of that…poorer friend.” Victor cleared his throat and then shuffled when Kate eyed him askance.
“It’s not the financial status,” Violet snapped.
“It’s the status of not his wife,” Kate added. “Those gents are lusting after another woman in front of their wives. Look at the way the one in the darker dress is clutching her husband’s arm. She’s practically begging him to pay her attention.
Victor held up his hands in surrender. “I would never.”
Kate’s low laugh relaxed him, though he glanced at his twin with a still-remaining panic in his gaze. Vi hid her smile. Poor Kate had been a little mad since she’d gotten pregnant with the twins and her body had gone crazy. She was the calmest of them all…when she was not pregnant.
“Let’s go where they’re going,” Denny suggested suddenly. “They look like they’ll be good fun when we’re bored amongst ourselves.”
“That feels like a bad idea,” Ham said. “If they explode…we could get hit with the shrapnel.”
“Relationship shrapnel isn’t so dangerous for non-friends. And we’ll get to watch,” Denny added happily. “So much better than shuffleboard. It will only be for the steamship. We’ll go dancing in Oslo or wherever without them.”
Vi and Rita found everyone looking to them, so they looked at each other instead. Rita shrugged and Vi found herself doing the same.
“I suppose it would make it random. We have no idea where that group is going,” Rita said easily. “And it’s not like we can’t go to the other place the next time we travel.”
“What if…” Vi grinned and then suggested, “What if we just travel to one location—wherever they’re going—and then try to find a ship from there to another place if we don’t like it. There’s no reason, really, why we can’t get our own way.”
Rita nodded immediately, and the two of them glanced at the rest of their group.
“I suppose we don’t have a deadline,” Jack said. “Even if a forty plus day trip seems a bit long without notice.”
“The wonders of being unemployed,” Ham muttered and only Jack winced with him.
The rest of them were happily unemployed while Ham and Jack were struggling with leaving behind Scotland Yard for something else…anything else? They weren’t sure, though they had begun to work with their private investigator…would they call Smith a friend? He was a friend, Vi decided. But he was the kind of friend who would go through your things, eat your Christmas pudding, and still somehow charm his way back for New Year’s suppe
r.
“Indeed,” Vi said easily.
Ham had chosen for himself and in doing so, chosen for Jack who had never been quite a normal employee at the Yard. Without Ham, Jack had been told not to come back. She did feel bad that they were floundering, but she also felt that there was far more to them than Scotland Yard. Without the constraints? Maybe they’d be what they were always meant to be. Either way, the day was supposed to be about an exciting trip.
“We could gamble over it,” Denny suggested as they hadn’t fully decided yet.
“I’ll be woebegone without both long-distance places now,” Rita said, batting her lashes dramatically, until Denny groaned and Victor snickered into Kate’s hair.
“She makes it sound as though she’s Oliver Twist denied extra food,” Ham told Jack dryly. “It’s going to work too.”
“Oh it worked. Find out where they’re going,” Jack said. “Rio and Perth. Here we come…”
“Eventually,” Vi inserted and Jack grinned.
“Or…” Denny’s mischievous giggle filled the air and had Jack and Ham groaning.
“Oh,” Victor laughed, “I can see what you think.” He laughed too.
“Are we telepathic now?” Lila asked. She glanced at her husband who was staring at Jack and Ham and chuckling. “Oh…” She tilted her head and laughed lightly. “Denny wants you to sleuth out where they’re going and then buy the tickets.”
Ham rolled his eyes and glanced at Jack. “They’re going to Norway.”
“How can you tell?” Denny demanded.
“They’re Norwegian.”
“How can you tell?” Denny demanded.
Ham snorted and then Jack said, “We heard them speaking.”
“Cheating!” Denny crowed. “Cheating!”
“Two of them are so blonde they make Irish people seem as though they have dark complexions. They also have that post-trip exhaustion. The second twin in the lighter blue dress with the run in her stockings looks ready to sag into her husband,” Violet added.
“Perhaps they’re Brits who have been living in Brazil for quite some time,” Lila suggested, “assuming you hadn’t heard them speak. Maybe they’re taking that long trip to Rio and we’re the fools who are going to Norway. Is it snowing in Norway right now?”
“That’s also an option,” Jack replied, unbothered by their teasing. He somehow didn’t mind the frivolity of their little family despite being so much more serious than the rest of them. “But the pièce de résistance is, of course, the fact that the secretary or whoever she is, is holding a bag with a tag that has the Norwegian flag.”
“Fine then,” Denny said, not hiding his pout. “You really are investigators.”
“Or,” Ham said, “there is the fact that their things are being loaded by one of the porters for the Annabelle, which is the ship sailing to Norway.”
“They’re working with information we don’t have,” Denny announced. “This is certainly cheating.”
“They’re working with skills you don’t have,” Kate said with a laugh, and then was distracted immediately when baby Agatha reached for her. Then, Vivi demanded to be held and lifted her arms for whoever would take her up. Denny picked her up and she squeezed his cheeks and then flopped her body towards Vi who caught her just in time.
“Ouch,” Denny said, holding his chest. “Such attacks as these…being abandoned by Vivi…cruel. Too, too cruel.” When no one agreed with him, he said, “So Oslo then? Sounds like a fellow I once knew.” He pretended to introduce his friend and added, “Ozzy, my good man, meet my friends.”
After a moment, Denny frowned and then said, “Is it winter in Norway?”
Vi’s gaze widened at the question and then she said kindly, “Denny darling, of course, it isn’t. Norway isn’t Australia.”
“But it is cold there, though, isn’t it? Even in the summer?”
They all glanced at each other. After a moment, Vi demanded, “Who packed a coat?”
Only Rita and Kate raised their hands. Neither of the nannies had joined in, but Vi could tell from their controlled expressions that they had known they could have ended anywhere and were prepared. The good news was that meant the babies were prepared as well.
Vi shrugged and said, “It’s Norway. It probably isn’t that cold during the summer even if it’s quite a bit colder during the winter. Either way, it can’t be so cold we won’t survive until we acquire one.”
“Winter in Rio,” Rita said with a bit of a vow, “is the best time to go. We’ll need to remember that for next year.”
Chapter 3
They were led to their rooms with enough time to situate themselves, rest, and change for the dinner and party. Vi took one look at the room and flopped onto the bed, rolling onto her back.
“What do you think there is to do in Oslo?”
Jack took off his suit jacket and folded it over the back of a small chair before he replied, “Probably the exact same things we do in London but with different scenery.”
Vi scowled at Jack and then couldn’t help but grin, since she could see the smirk flirting about the edge of his mouth. She sighed and let her eyes close. Even though they were in port, the ship was rocking slightly and the smell of the sea in the air made it seem as though there were endless possibilities ahead.
“You like to visit new places,” Vi said when Jack lay down next to her. “You can’t fool me.”
“I should like to go fishing in the ocean.”
Vi scrunched her nose, but she didn’t mind him seeking out his own adventures any more than he minded her. “Perhaps we could find some horses to ride on the beach. I do always enjoy a long horseback ride.”
They traded ideas until a steward knocked on their door to remind them of the time and return to their evening clothes. Vi slowly sat up and stretched each leg out. Her head tilted and she asked, “What do we have to do for a tray of Turkish coffee?”
The gent grinned at her and said, “Nothing, ma’am. I’ll have it to you soon.”
When he left, Vi started putting on her cosmetics and underthings, almost tasting the coffee in her mouth. She wasn’t sure she’d be lively without a coffee before they left for dinner and dancing. She glanced at Jack who had the wit to pack their own drinks, and he poured her a glass of ginger wine while they waited.
She slowly looked through her things, distracted from her cosmetics, and dug out stockings that went with her dress, her shoes, and her jewelry. Jack locked her remaining jewelry up and then smoothed back his hair while standing over her. She looked up from powdering her nose to see him run the comb through his hair, and she giggled into her puff.
“Oh, steamships,” she said lightly. “Shall we just weave ourselves together now?”
“Spoilt,” he muttered with a smirk that had been too apparent lately.
Vi examined his face in the mirror and wondered what was happening with him. She thought he might just be trying so hard to be happy about not working for Scotland Yard and finding his way through, that he’d slipped out of his natural state. Rather than worry too much about it, she decided to let it go for the moment. He’d find his new balance, and if he needed to pretend to be giddy along the way, she supposed she’d survive.
“Spoilt?” she returned lightly. “You’re as used to dressing rooms and private baths as I am, sirrah.”
“True,” he said, dropping a kiss on her head before she started with her lipstick, “but I think we both know you’re more spoiled than I.”
“I will admit no such thing,” she said.
They both paused when they heard someone outside their door. Then Jack opened it while Vi slipped behind the dressing screen and put the kimono over her head. While she did, Jack pulled in a coffee tray on a cart and said something low. As Vi stepped out from behind the screen, he handed her a cup of her Turkish coffee and she slumped back into the vanity chair with a satisfied sigh.
“Our steward has one of the twins across the way,” Jack told her. “They ordered
something or other as well. The one with the blonde gent.”
Vi snorted. “Poor Denny. He probably has some retired schoolmarm across from him.”
“Shall we swap rooms with them?” Jack asked.
Vi shook her head. She wasn’t moving again. She’d made friends with the bed, such as it was, and until they left the ship, this bed was her ally. Besides, if it wasn’t exciting across the hall, Denny would moan, and if it was exciting across the hall, Denny would never stop re-describing what he’d seen through the peep hole.
“Ready to go dancing?” Vi asked.
They’d been too late with their tickets to be assigned the same table with the rest of their friends, but two couples would be able to sit together at each of the tables at a time, so the four couples had decided to switch up who sat with who each evening.
“Dining anyway,” Jack agreed.
Vi gasped and reached up to take hold of his tie. “Dancing,” she ordered fiercely.
He grinned slowly at her and then shrugged. He was still handsome, though his face was upside down and his humor didn’t quite match his usual self. Her gaze narrowed on him and he shrugged again. “There’s always watching the moon rise on the ocean. The stars will be bright if they aren’t foiled by clouds.”
Vi spun and stood, facing him as she took hold of his lapels, ensuring she had his full attention. “Do you not want to dance?”
His gaze searched hers and then he admitted, “Perhaps not all evening long.”
“You’d rather watch the stars then?”
“I think we might even find one of those lounge style chairs, darling. We could watch them and think.”
It was the ‘and think’ that made Vi grin and nod. She knew it meant that he wanted to ponder on his situation and perhaps on the cases he’d been considering with Smith. Jack wasn’t so much considering taking on those cases as looking at what Smith worked on and debating the merits of spending his time following something similar.