FOR THE LOVE OF THE SEA (6 page)

She glanced across at the red velvet ring box sitting on her dressing table. Sebastian had been upset when she hadn’t immediately accepted his proposal. She’d promised to think about it whilst he was away.

He’d insisted on giving her his ring.

“Next time we see each other, I hope you’ll be wearing it,” he’d said, sounding confident that this indeed would be the case.

It was a beautiful ring - a large ruby surrounded by diamonds - the sort of ring anybody would be proud to wear. As yet though, she hadn’t even tried it on.

Polly sighed. What on earth was her problem? She loved Sebastian. So why was she so afraid of committing herself to marrying him?

She took a deep breath and started to type again.

“I hope the exercise is going well. Tom’s home, but he’s finding it difficult to cope with the thought of being out of action for so long.”

Sebastian didn’t like receiving long e-mails. He said the whole point of e-mails was that they were short and to the point. Perhaps she should come straight out with it.

“Also, he’s a bit jealous I’ve got the go ahead to race
Clotted Cream
in his place. But he has agreed to be my Operations Director. I’m so sorry for Tom but pleased I’ve got the chance to prove myself.

The bad news is that it means I’ll still be at sea when you get back, so it will be nearly six months before we see each other again. I’ll miss you so much, but at least we can still e-mail while I’m away. Love you, Polly.”

She hesitated a fraction of a second before hitting the send button and watched as the message disappeared from the screen. It was done.

At least there wouldn’t be a face-to-face confrontation.

The e-mail she sent to Dexter was much easier to compose. In fact, it turned out to be quite lengthy, telling him all about
Clotted Cream’s
progress and how she hoped to be doing her sea trials soon.

Hopefully he liked receiving long rambling e-mails as opposed to short pithy ones.

Finally Polly shut down her computer and walked across to the dressing table. Picking up the ring box, she opened a drawer and buried it in amongst her jumpers.

She’d forget about it until after the race. She had too much to do right now to make such an important decision. Maybe by the time she came back, her feelings would be a whole lot clearer.

Heading downstairs, she found Cassie, Mai and Anna all in the sitting room talking to Tom. A few hours’ sleep seemed to have cheered up immensely. He was certainly looking less tired.

“Hi sis,” he greeted her. “You’re just in time to join us for a glass of wine.”

“I thought we were going to check through the medical supplies tonight?” Polly said glancing at Cassie.

“There’s still time. We’re just celebrating Tom’s first night home,” Cassie said.

Taking her glass Polly perched on the edge of Tom’s bed and clinked her glass with his.

“Welcome home. You know, you didn’t have to break both your legs,” she said cheekily, “one would have done. But thanks anyway.”

“Here’s to you Polly,” Tom said. “But be warned little sister, if you don’t bring
Clotted Cream
back home in one piece, I’ll break
your
legs!”

Cassie listened to the pair of them sparring, relieved that things seemed to be back to normal between them.

The next few weeks would be as tough on Tom as they would be on Polly. He’d have his own battles to fight, both physically as his legs mended and mentally as he helped Polly achieve what he longed to be doing himself.

“As enjoyable as this is,” Polly announced finishing her glass and standing up, “some of us still have work to do. I’m off to the office. I’ll see you tomorrow brother dear.” She kissed Tom lightly on the cheek.

Cassie joined her in the office five minutes later, just as Polly was lifting a large cardboard box filled with medical supplies onto the table.

“No sign of the freeze dried foodstuffs?” Polly asked. Cassie shook her head.

“Not yet. They’ve promised delivery within the next few days.”

Polly put some sealed syringes on the table.

“If you call out the items I’ll tick them off the check list,” Cassie said. “There’s an awful lot here. Heaven forbid you ever have to use any of it.”

She looked at the DIY kit for setting broken bones and the ready-threaded needles for sewing up deep cuts and shivered apprehensively.

“These days it’s a case of being prepared for any eventuality. Like rescuing somebody who’s injured.” Polly added quickly.

“The painkillers might get taken if I have one of my migraines but otherwise this lot will hopefully all come back unused.”

“I remember the medical box your Dad took on his trips,” Cassie said slowly.

“It had a large packet of plasters, an antiseptic spray, a pair of scissors, bandages and a small tub of painkillers. How times have changed. Oh, and Dad always put a bottle of brandy in. Purely medicinal he always said.”

She smiled at Polly. “The brandy was always gone when he got home. Funny that.”

Polly laughed as she put her hand into the box and pulled out a bottle of brandy.

“I didn’t realise it was a family tradition.”

There was a short silence while Cassie looked at Polly.

“You will take…”

Polly interrupted her before she could finish the sentence.

“Mum, I know what you’re going to say and it’s as pointless as me telling you not to worry. I know nothing will stop you worrying about me until the race is over and I’m home again. And you know deep down that, yes I will take care, but you also know that I will take risks if I have to.”

“You wouldn’t be your Dad’s girl if you didn’t,” Cassie said shakily.

Over the next few days, things settled down into something of a routine.

Now that Tom was home, Mai was able to divide her time between looking after him and working on the barge. With Liz in charge of the routine office work and Anna helping out wherever needed, Cassie and Polly threw themselves into the preparations for the race.

Within a few days of being home Tom had taken up his role as Operations Director and by ten o’clock most mornings he was in his wheelchair in front of the computer.

A day after the self-steering was back and refitted, Polly took off on her much needed sea trials. The plan was for her to go down channel, get clear of the shipping lanes and spend some time sailing the Atlantic before turning and making for home.

Standing in the cockpit, Polly kept a firm hand on
Clotted Cream’s
tiller, concentrating hard on maintaining a steady course trying to keep her excitement under control.  

Once out in the river mouth she moved forward to hoist the jib sail and felt a tremor of exhilaration flood her body as the yacht responded to the pull of the small sail by leaping forward into the waves.

Already the spray on her face and the feel of the boat moving beneath her feet was filling her with happy anticipation.

Ahead of her lay the channel with its busy shipping lanes and then the relatively open space of the North Atlantic Ocean, space in which she would begin to get to know
Clotted Cream’s
idiosyncrasies before they started on her dream voyage together. It was a voyage on which she was determined to show everybody just what she was capable of.

Cassie and Bill followed in the launch as
Clotted Cream
made her way out of the river and into the Channel. As Polly cut the engine and hoisted the main sail, she turned and waved goodbye.

“See you in three days,” she shouted as the yacht began to speed through the water. Minutes later she was a mere speck in the distance.

Bill turned the launch and slowly they made their way into the river mouth and battled their way against an outgoing tide towards the harbour.

Bill needed to collect some spare parts from the garage and Mai had asked Cassie to pick up a prescription for Tom, so Bill took the launch alongside the public quay.

“See you back here in what? Ten minutes?” Bill said as they went off in opposite directions.

Errands completed, Cassie popped into the newsagent’s on her way back to the launch. She wanted a copy of the local paper.

Standing by the till waiting to pay, she glanced at the front page of the paper and felt her body stiffen.

Under the headline “Local Girl Keeps Family Name to the Foresail” was a colour picture of a smiling Polly on board
Clotted Cream
. Halfway down the page was another picture - an old black and white one of a beaming Miles. Cassie recognised instantly as having been taken after his Round Britain win. His last race.

Bill was deep in conversation with James when Cassie got back to the quay.

“Anything interesting in that rag this week?” Bill asked.

“Oh yes,” Cassie nodded, holding the front page up for them both to see.

“It’s a good picture of Polly,” Bill said. “What do they say about her?”

“I haven’t read it yet,” Cassie answered. “The other picture rather took me aback. I wasn’t expecting it.”

“I read the article earlier,” James said. “Apart from the terrible headline, it’s a good report. Wishing her bon voyage and all that. The picture of Miles was just to make the family tradition link – how she’s following in Dad’s footsteps.”

“That’s the last thing anybody wants to happen in this race!” Cassie snapped at him, bursting into tears.

“Can we go, please Dad,” she begged as she scrambled into the launch.

Bill started the engine as a stricken James untied the ropes and cast them off.

“Cassie I’m so sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think before I spoke. I wouldn’t upset you for the world, you know that.”

Cassie shook her head and tried to smile.

“I know James. It’s just that it’s always at the back of my mind.”

There was no time for anyone to say anymore as the launch moved further away from the quay. James stood watching for several moments before sighing and heading back to his office.

They chugged their way up river with Bill at the tiller.

“He’s a nice man, James,” Bill said casually after a few minutes.

Cassie sniffed, her tears starting to dry up.

“Yes. I know. I’ll ring him later to apologise for shouting at him.”

Bill looked intently at Cassie. “You know, love, you’ve got to start living again. Tom’s happily married. Polly is doing her own thing. They’re not children any longer. You can’t go on living your life through them and constantly worrying about whether they’re going to suffer the same fate as Miles.”

“Is that what you and Mum think I’ve done all these years?” Cassie asked, feeling the tears pricking the back of her eyes again.

“We knew you’d take a long time getting over losing Miles,” Bill told his daughter quietly. “But when he died it was as if you stopped living too. I know how much you loved him, Cassie, but twenty years is a long time to grieve.”

He steered the launch around some flotsam before speaking again.

“Your mum and I kept hoping that you’d meet someone new, someone who’d love you and bring you back to the real world. I’m sorry it hasn’t happened, but I don’t want to see you wasting any more of your life.

Tom and Polly are a credit to you. Stop worrying about them and concentrate on getting your own life sorted.”

When Cassie and Bill got back to the boatyard they noticed Mai saying goodbye to a small blonde woman. Father and daughter exchanged a glance. Her businesslike dark suit wasn’t exactly the normal gear for climbing around on boats.

Mai spotted them and she and Cassie walked back to the house together.

“That was Mrs Catchpole, Health and Safety Inspector,” Mai said.

Cassie glanced at her quickly. “And?”

“I think everything’s going to be OK. She looked at all the handrails not just the one broken in Tom’s accident. She wants them all adapted to the same standard as the replacement, and some more safety catches on the two forward hatches. Basically that’s it.

She’s going to put it all in writing but she doesn’t see a problem with issuing a licence in time for the season.”

“Thank goodness for that,”

“Oh, I nearly forgot,” Mai said. “The supplies you and Polly were waiting for arrived today. They’re in the office. All twelve boxes.”

Cassie groaned. “Didn’t Anna ask the driver to take them straight down to the yard ready for loading on
Clotted Cream
when Polly gets back?”

Mai shook her head. “Anna isn’t here. She’s gone to look at houses, remember? And then she’s having dinner with James.”

Cassie had forgotten about Anna’s date with James. To her surprise, her heart constricted the thought of the two of them together and she felt a pang of… jealousy?

But that was ridiculous. As she’d said to Anna. She and James were just friends. He was free to see anyone he chose.

Nevertheless, in light of the conversation she’d just had with her father, it suddenly dawned on Cassie that she was letting her life – and her chances of happiness – slip by.

All thoughts of James were banished to the back of her mind, however, as soon as she and Mai walked into the house.

“Hi!” Tom greeted them cheerfully.

“How did the Health and Safety go?” he asked Mai. “Will we get our certificate?”

Mai nodded. “Cassie can tell you whilst I get some supper organised. You need to talk about the other problem we have with the barge too.” Mai disappeared into the kitchen.

“What other problem?” Cassie asked bluntly.

“We’ve been going through the paperwork and checking how the bookings are coming in,” Tom said. He pulled a file towards him.

“The response to the brochures has been good I thought,” Cassie said. “You and Mai should have a flourishing business there in a couple of seasons.”

“In theory, you’re right Mum, but -” Tom paused. “Our first booking is for a party of five teenagers in a month’s time. They all want to book cabins on the barge which isn’t a problem and they all want sailing lessons, which is.”

Cassie looked at him puzzled. “Why? The barge was bought as a base for your sailing school.” Her voice trailed away as she suddenly realised the problem.