Brothers of Paradise Series

She shakes her head, but she’s smiling. “Took one too many tackles, too?”

“Definitely.”

“Hah,” she says. And then, voice sharpening, “Emma, wait there!”

Her daughter slows down. She’s raced past a dozen of the training dinghies.Text © owned by NôvelDrama.Org.

“Mine is right over here!” I call, and point to the adjoining dock. “But come closer to us. This dock wobbles when you walk.”

She comes to take her mother’s hand and we walk toward the Frida. She lies high in the water, unloaded, her mast tall and sails rigged right.

“She looks exactly the same,” Jamie says.

“Well, she’s very well taken care of.” I reach for her railing and tug. Frida inches reluctantly closer to the dock, aided by the water beneath her.

Emma’s eyes are round with excitement, and a little bit of fear. “Can I?”

I wait for Jamie to say yes before I climb on board Frida. She’s steady in the water, and too big for us to rock. “I’ve got you,” I say, and extend my arms. “You’ll just have to take one big step…”

Emma jumps instead. She lands with both feet on the deck and crashes into my left arm. “Oooh!” she says.

“You made it on board!”

She looks down at her feet, firmly planted on the deck, and keeps one hand on my upper arm. “It’s not moving.”

“No, it’s anchored right now. Tied to the dock here. See that giant rope?” I shift my hand to her arm, gripping firmly, and extend the other to Jamie. “Think your mom is brave enough to join us?”

Jamie rolls her eyes and puts her hand in mine, trusting me to pull her on board.

“Mommy, we’re on a boat,” Emma says and starts to move down the deck. She stops and frowns at my grip on her arm.

“Just one second, kiddo. There are a few simple rules when you’re on a boat.”

“There are?”

“Yep. You always hold on to something when you’re walking. See this thin railing? I want one of your hands on it at all times.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Second rule. Children have to wear a life vest.”

She sighs. “Not on a pirate ship.”

“Luckily for all of us, Frida’s days of piracy are long behind her,” I say. “Come on, just slip this over your head…”

Emma stands still and lets me put on the child-size life vest we always keep on board for little Jamie. He’s two years younger than her and it shows, but I adjust the straps best I can. It’ll work for now.

“Third rule,” I say, and this time I’m grinning. “There’s a very clear chain of command on board a boat.”

“Jesus,” Jamie mutters.

“There is?” Emma asks.

“Yes. I’m the captain, and your mom here is the first mate. You,” I say, tugging on one of the lines of her life vest, “are a deckhand.”

“Oh.”

“Deckhands are very important. But when they’re on board a ship, deckhands always have to do what the captain says.”

Emma looks at her mother. “First mates, too?”

“Yes,” Jamie says, eyes dancing. “First mates too… even if they can’t believe they’re doing it.” She raises her hand and salutes me.

“Why, look at that, James. Some obedience.”

“Don’t think it’ll last,” she says.

My grin widens. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Parker,” Emma says.

I look down at her, my eyebrows rising. Didn’t know she’d remembered my name. “Yes?”

Then she salutes me as well, her pigtails resting over her life jacket and a smile on her face.

Christ, she’s cute.

“All right,” I say, and have to clear my throat. “Very good. Now you can explore the boat, but only if you remember to always have one hand on the railing, and no running. Okay?”

“Yes,” she says.

“Aye aye, Captain,” Jamie adds.

Emma walks around, and we follow at a slower pace. She touches the sails softly, and then hurries to the very edge of the boat.

“Be careful!” Jamie calls.

But Emma is. She has both hands on the railing and looks down at the water so intently that I have to ask.

“What are you looking for?”

“Fish!”

“Are there any?”

But there’s no response.

“She’s ridiculously patient,” Jamie says by my side. “I don’t know where she got it from. Once I saw her sit quietly and look up at the sky for ten minutes, and I asked her what she was looking for, and she said a shooting star. We’d read about them the night before.”