“The whole thing is somewhat, disconcerting,” said Merissa.
“Disconcerting? Really – why did I receive the package in the mail, who really sent it, and what is my role in this whole adventure. It’s downright unnerving. When I could no longer deny that Skip had paid for the tickets, I suppose I grabbed at the first viable suggestion as to who did. Namely you two.”
“Would it help you to know that I am just as confused as to the sender of the gift?” Merissa asked.
“I overthink stuff. Maybe we can chalk it off to good fortune. Someone knew I needed to find you,” said Chad.
Merissa placed a finger on his lip and wiped away some blood oozing from a cut. “You’re bleeding.”
“Nothing that a make-up kiss from you wouldn’t heal,” said Chad.
Without a second thought, Merissa obliged him, and while the taste of blood mixed with her salted tears, she never felt safer in her entire life.
Busy at Sea
The next four days flew by in a whirl of activity. Between the offshore excursion and the many events aboard the ship, there was never a dull moment. Merissa and Chad devoured the daily devotions readily available to pick up at the desk and sat together every day to study and read the Word together. Merissa appreciated Chad’s spiritual maturity despite the traveling that kept him from church. He was a barrel of fun but also committed and steady as any man who’d pursued her on the home front. The eight beatitudes, the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, the Ten Commandments, and today, the eleven apostles – the one who betrayed Jesus excluded from the count. Merissa had not expected such feeding of body, soul, and mind or this ocean cruise.
“Okay you two,” called Amy as her and Skip hurried toward the table, cluttered with papers and books. “Time to get your nose out of the devotional and join in with the craziness happening on the deck.”
“Amy, you’re dripping water all over the place,” said Merissa.
“I know, so don’t get me in trouble and move. Selene is up to her tricks again and has the ship rocking with laughter.”
“Chad and Merissa call Selene’s tricks exercise and a must-to-attend.” Skip slapped his buddy on the shoulder. “See you up there.”
Merissa watched them exit as fast they arrived, smiled and closed the books. “Let’s go. The dance floor is calling us.”
Upstairs on the sundeck, the fun was well underway. Merissa peeled off her over shirt, dumped her bag on a vacant table, and then joined the brave participants at the front.
Chad rushed to join her. “Eager, aren’t you?”
“I missed my run this morning. You are keeping me out far too late these days. My body just wants to roll over in the morning,” Merissa said.
“Yeah, I know the feeling.” Chad looked at the dance instructor demonstrating the moves. “No way! That lady expects far too much from amateurs.”
“Don’t complain. The bathing-beauties are lining up just to see you flex your abs. So, be sure to put on a good show.” Merissa grinned and focused on the instruction. Thankfully, when the music started up, it was not a race-tune, but an easy-paced ballad. She should have known this was just a warmup. Selene hadn’t been to the deck for a few days so she played catch-up on all the Christmas themes she’d missed.
From the participants, Selene handpicked eight-maids-a-milking and separated them to one side, and then snagged another nine-ladies-dancing to form an L-shape. Merissa turned out to be one of the nine ladies. She grinned and wondered if Kyle watched on from heaven, as dancers had been his joke for day nine of the cruise. No grief accompanied the thought, just sorrow for his tragic lot in life
Selene was playing the crowd and it became clear there was a contest on the horizon. It wasn’t until she rounded up ten-lords-a-leaping and lined them across the topside and another eleven-apostles across the bottom side, that the crowd started to cheer. It appeared Chad was an apostle. He winked at Merissa from across the open span. The group was now in a square formation.
Then came chaos. It was a line dance where the sides met, danced around one another, performed a few moves then back-stepped to their original position. The numbers on all sides were uneven, and the slowest one to line up with a man – or woman – left the contest and joined the cheering crowd that gathered to watch. As the numbers lessened, Merissa found it harder to find a man. They were getting eliminated far too fast. She spotted Chad still in the game and made a beeline for him. When Chad caught sight of her, he twirled her around and the steps took on a whole new element of excitement. Once on her feet, she circled around him as he clapped and quacked and when they connected again for the final swing she was out of breath – but not from the exercise. She could smell his aftershave and almost fell under its power. But the competition took over, and she reluctantly separated from his arms and backtracked to her original position to make way for the opposing sides. By the time the dance ended, even numbers of dancers remained on all four sides. Merissa joined in clapping with the others and gasped in surprise when she felt Chad come up behind and turn her round to face him.
“I’m done, Woman. Can’t breathe anymore.” They laughed and Merissa allowed him to lead her back to the seats where they’d dropped their bags.
“That was
