Page 30 of A Mother’s Love

The morning of New Year’s Day was quiet on the boat.

Most of the guests remained in their cabins until nearly noon.

Valerie was an early riser so she came up for coffee and toast while Seth was still asleep.

It had been fun the night before, and the end of a beautiful trip.

They would be motoring a short distance the next day, and stopping for a last day of swimming and snorkeling.

Seth and Peter liked to race each other on the Jet Skis, their old spirit of competition with each other in evidence.

One was stronger, one was older, and both had been daredevils in their youth.

Seth had settled down with time, and fatherhood had only taken the edge off Peter a little.

He had greater responsibilities now but they hadn’t dampened his thirst for life, passion, and sense of fun.

They were planning to have an early night on the boat on New Year’s Day after another day of water sports.

Valerie was sorry to see it come to an end, it had been a wonderful trip.

Different from their honeymoon in October, but almost as much fun.

She had enjoyed spending time with Olivia, her brother-in-law, Seth’s mother, and their friends.

Olivia wandered up in a bikini and a shirt, and smiled as she sat down next to her sister. A steward set a cup of coffee in front of her seconds later, just the way she liked it, with a dash of milk, no sugar.

“That was great last night,” she commented to Valerie. “I’m going to feel like Cinderella after the ball when I go home. This is a very nice way to live.”

Valerie smiled and nodded in response. “I was thinking that too. We all got a little crazy last night. The gardenias in the water looked gorgeous. It was like fairyland.”

“I think Seth should buy the boat,” Olivia said, enjoying the coffee.

“I’ll tell him. And by the way, I don’t mean to intrude—”

“That usually means you’re about to,” Olivia interrupted with a grin. “What now?”

“I saw Peter kiss you at midnight. I don’t know who was kissing who, but it looked like more than a midnight kiss on New Year’s Eve. Seth didn’t kiss me like that at midnight.”

“That’s because you’re married now, he doesn’t have to impress you,” Olivia said lightly, not sure how much she wanted to say, even to her twin. She felt very private about her relationship with Peter. She didn’t know where it was going, and it was all so new.

“Did something major happen on the trip?” Valerie hadn’t forgotten Olivia’s thong that she had found under the table on the deck.

And she knew her sister. She didn’t sleep with men casually, only when she cared about them, and usually not too quickly.

If something had happened with Peter, she was sure Olivia would have told her, but she’d had a feeling that Olivia was keeping something from her for the entire trip.

She and Peter had spent a lot of time together, which Olivia had said was just getting to know him since they were family now.

“I don’t know if it’s major,” Olivia said, staring into space for a minute.

“I like him a lot. We had a good time.” It had been a lot more than that, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to admit that to herself yet, or to her twin, which was why she had asked Peter to be discreet about it, and they had been.

He had been sneaking in and out of her cabin for the past week, at any time of day or night.

They hadn’t been found out. But she knew that Valerie would sense it, and she had.

“Maybe it was just the sun and the stars at night, a shipboard romance.”

“How romantic was it?” Valerie asked, dying to know. Olivia laughed.

“Quite a lot. I don’t know, Val. He’s got kids.

He has a serious life when he’s not riding around on a Jet Ski off a yacht in the Caribbean.

How real can that be? And he dates a lot of women.

I could get hurt if I take it seriously, and then it would be awkward as hell when we’re with you and Seth.

It just kind of happened while we were here, but with our regular lives looming when we go back to L.A.

tomorrow, maybe it was just a crazy moment, and it’ll end here.

He’s kind of a big package deal with two very young children.

I don’t believe in marriage the way you do, or happily ever after.

I’m more like Mom. I’m not as traditional or linear as you are.

You have a big job, you dated Seth for three years, you got married, now you’ll have kids. I’m more free-form.”

“Mom was very traditional once she met Robert. And she was right not to marry our father when he was available. He would have married her then, he told me so. She didn’t want to.

And by then even we knew he was a mess, he always was, totally irresponsible, and she was with Robert, who suited her a lot better.

You just haven’t met the right guy. Until now.

You two seem good together.” She was serious and Olivia was pensive.

“I know. Maybe that’s what scares me. He’s an attorney, a tax attorney. I’m an artist. How would that work?”

“You could get your taxes done for free,” Valerie teased her, and Olivia rolled her eyes.

“He’s not an accountant. He manages huge amounts of money and estates for movie stars.

I don’t know. These were the best two weeks of my life.

Being here with you, on this incredible dream boat, and having fun with him.

So do they live happily ever after, or do they turn into pumpkins and white mice when the ship docks? ”

“I vote for Option One, happily ever after. Don’t make any dramatic decisions. See what happens when you both get home.”

“He wants me to meet his kids,” Olivia said glumly.

“That’s nice, and normal. They’re very sweet. You’ll like them, and he’s good with them. They’re not brats.”

“He has them half the time, that’s a lot. I need to paint. That’s my priority, just like your job is yours.”

“I still manage to have time for Seth. Think of what I’d have missed if all I had was my work. I love him, and we have a wonderful life together. You deserve something like that too.”

“We’ll see. Maybe he’ll forget me as soon as we get home, and go back to online dating. I don’t think he wants to settle down either. He was miserable in his marriage. A week of hot sex on a yacht does not guarantee a solid relationship or a rosy future,” Olivia said cynically, and Valerie laughed.

“I’m happy to know the sex was good. Only you can turn that into a doomed relationship. You can be such a gloom ball sometimes.”

Olivia smiled at the expression. “I’m an artist. I’m sensitive.”

“No, you’re a coward about relationships. Give him a chance, Ollie. What if he turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to you?”

“Then I’d probably die of a heart attack having sex with him when I’m ninety, or break a hip or something.”

“It might be worth it,” Valerie commented, as Peter appeared on deck and came to sit down with them.

“What might be worth it?” he asked them, as his cappuccino magically appeared in front of him.

“Olivia wants Seth to buy the boat,” Valerie answered.

“I second that.” Peter grinned, and stole a glance at Olivia, and she smiled at him. “Is he considering it?”

“No, but Olivia thinks he should.”

“Excellent idea, as long as I get squatter’s rights and he pays for it.” All three of them laughed as Seth joined them, and they shared the idea with him.

“Fine, if my tax attorney says I can afford it,” he said, glancing at his brother.

“You can if you sell your new house, and get a night job to increase your income.”

“I’ll think about it,” Seth said, and leaned over to kiss Valerie. The others joined them shortly after, and the day got off to a good start.

Peter and Olivia got dropped off at a small nearby beach that looked deserted. One of the deckhands took them in the dinghy and promised to pick them up in an hour.

They lay side by side on the white sand, drying off after they swam. “You look serious today,” Peter said to her, and she rolled over on her side to look at him.

“I’m sad to go home in two days.” They wouldn’t be able to meet in her cabin at any time of day, or spend the nights together, although he lived on the hills above West Hollywood, not far from her. But he had his kids half the time, or close to it.

“I am too,” he admitted. He’d been thinking about it for the last few days.

“What happens now? We go back to our own lives, or do we try to build on what we started here?” It was the question he had wanted to ask her for days and was afraid to.

What if it was just a fling for her? He wanted it to be more.

“I vote for keeping it going when we go home.” He gently touched her face with a finger, brushed some sand away near her eyes, and kissed her, hoping that would convince her.

“Can we do that? What about your girls?”

“What about them? They’re with their mother half the time, and you could spend time with us, like normal people, when I have them.

And when she has them, we can hang off the chandeliers and do whatever we want.

” He grinned at her and she smiled. “It’s not that complicated, Olivia.

It can work if we want it to. The question is, do you… want it to work?”

“I think I do,” she said softly.

“That’s not good enough,” he said. “We have to know we want to. Because there are going to be times that are hard, or we fight, or the kids are a problem, or my ex-wife, or something isn’t working for you, or we disappoint each other.

But there could be great times too. I want to try to make it work, Olivia.

My wife and I both made a mess of my first marriage.

I learned a lot from it. I want to do it right with you, and really try.

” He was so earnest as he said it that she put her arms around him and kissed him, and she was smiling when they stopped.

“I’m in. I want to give it a try and make it work too.”