43

“Kiss, kiss, kiss.” Duchess spread her feet farther apart to keep her balance.
Bonnie returned. The wind had kicked up again and the waves were starting to swell. She’d thrown on one of her sweatshirts and her deck shoes. She’d also tied her hair up and out of the way. “I’ve got everything as locked down as I can make it. What now?”
“You’re going to take the chair.” He eased back a little on the speed and got up, then pulled her around him. “You’ve been watching me, right?”
“Yes.” He heard the hint of nerves in her voice even as she wrapped her hands around the wheel. “This is where I follow the direction you’ve set, right?” She jerked her chin toward the indicator. “Compass is right there.
Speed here.”
“Right. We’re going to veer to the east and try to keep it between forty and forty-five degrees. The swells will come at us from the back, and when they start to hit, we’re going to reduce speed by at least fifty percent.”
“I do that here.” She touched the lever that affected their speed.
“Yes. But I’ll be back up by then. You keep us going at the speed we are now. And if you start to feel any big bumps or resistance, slow it down. Speed in a storm only makes things harder and worse.”
“All right. Got it. I won’t accidentally pass by High Tide Harbor, will I?” she teased.
“No. I was hoping to get another fifty in today, but we’re going to lose some distance.”
“Just checking.” She grinned up at him.
“Everything’s going to be fine. Back in a sec.” he said.
A second turned into forty-five minutes, but he wanted to be sure everything he needed to be working was operating effectively. Losing power and drifting could set them miles behind, not to mention the damage that could be done to Blue Blood. If they were lucky, they could ride the waves, rather than plowing through them. Nothing was harder on a boat than heading straight into a storm. He closed the hatch to the lower cabin, then double-checked it to make sure it was secure. His hands nearly slipped as he grasped the railings of the ladder on his way back up.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“All right, Captain.” She was keeping her eyes locked on the windshield as the wipers whipped furiously against the just starting rain. Duchess began singing, bouncing along to the rhythm of the boat rising and falling. “I’m going to have that song stuck in my brain for the next half a century, but we’re doing okay. Right, Duchess?”
“Breathe. Inhale. Exhale!”
“Can’t she just say yes?” Bonnie muttered.
“Want me to take over again?”
“No. I’m getting used to it and I’m feeling like a productive member of this crew. And you’ll be able to keep your eye out for anything that might go wrong.” She glanced at him. “Nothing’s going to go wrong though, right?”
“Hopefully not.” He moved to stand behind her, watching as she checked their location, their speed and angled the boat easily into the rising waves. It took a special touch, an instinctive touch, to remain calm and focused while Mother Nature raged around them. He never took anything for granted, but seeing how Bonnie kept control didn’t make him feel as anxious as he expected. She was an absolute natural. “So your Grams taught you how to sail? Ever been in a storm before?”
“A few cloudbursts,” Bonnie said. “Nothing like this. But she always said the more you fight it, the harder it is to control. A lot like a horse.” Her lips twitched.
He dropped a hand on her shoulder. “Did you ever get back on one?”
“I did.” She nodded. “In Hawaii a few years later. There was this valley Grams really wanted to see. It had been all she’d been talking about since before we flew over. Only way to get there, of course, was on horseback.
Or so she told me.”
David met Bonnie’s eyes in the overhead mirror.
“Tricked you, did she?” He grinned.
“Yep. But out of kindness. She knew I would never disappoint her. I spent a good hour with the horse beforehand, working with its trainer, saddled her and talked to her. It did not help that she’d been named Calamity Jane.”
The dense gray clouds collided, blocked out the sun and broke open, dumping sheets of rain. Bonnie pulled back on the throttle, shifted the boat a few degrees east and kept going. “I swear that horse understood me,” Bonnie went on, probably trying to distract herself, or maybe the chatter helped her to focus. “Either that or they sedated her slightly before I climbed onto her. It was two hours to the valley, another two hours back, and there was barely a hitch in the ride. I did, however, wear a helmet.”
“What did your father say when she told him?”
Bonnie blinked. “What makes you think she did?”
“Because I feel like I’m getting to know her from the stories you’ve told me. She’d have relayed what happened. If only to prove to him that you’d moved past your fears and issues.”
“That and to show him that love, patience and understanding produce better results than intimidation and fear. It made for a very interesting Thanksgiving dinner that year for sure.” She was having to shout now as the wind thundered over them. “Any idea how long this storm’s supposed to last?”
“Radio chatter estimates a good few hours. Radar is seriously out-of-date on this vessel, so we’re going to be winging it.” He glanced at Duchess. “So to speak. You let me know when you want me to take over, Bonnie.”
“Okay.” She was looking a little more nervous, but more determined, too. He kept an anxious eye on her and Duchess, and was surprisingly more concerned about the bird. The parrot appeared to be having the time of her life, bobbing and moving in time with the waves.
They continued in silence, the minutes ticking away as night approached.
“It’s getting harder to see!” Bonnie yelled over the storm.
“Keep your eyes on the instruments. I’ll watch the water.” Looking for debris and other ships or boats was vital to surviving a storm in one piece.
“She’s harder to steer.” She shook out one arm, then the other.
“Slow it some more.” He reached around her to the throttle, and when he eased it down, he realized they were almost at a full stop.