Page 18 of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

She looked down at Bear, who had Theo’s soft eyes and hints of his unruly brown hair.

What a mess. Ally thought she’d probably blown any chance of a future relationship with Jack by failing to mention her son. The quizzical look on his face when she had introduced him to Bear last night was enough to tell her it had not been the right thing to do. ‘He probably thinks I’m a total lunatic, Bear. First, I turn up in Provence incognito in order to secretly mine him for information about his family, and just when he’s forgiven me for that, I text him for days on end and totally fail to tell him about you. And ifhethinks I’m bananas, then goodness only knows what his mother will make of me!’

Ally checked her watch. It was approaching five a.m. Merry would be boarding very soon, as long as Georg had managed to convince her to get on the plane. The last thing that she had heard from Jack was that ‘the missing sister’ was not remotely interested in joining them for this cruise. Although, from the look on his face as he left, Georg may very well have dragged her onto the jet kicking and screaming. The sight of him leaving in such a panic for Dublin yesterday afternoon had only had the effect of unsettling Ally further. She had very rarely seen him rattled.

Ally groaned in frustration. Sometimes she wished she could do with Georg what she did with her crew a few days before any regatta – take them out and get them roaring drunk. In her career, she had found that there was little better way tobuild a bond of trust than drinking copious amounts of alcohol and sharing stories and secrets together.

Fat chance of that happening, she thought.

Bear gave a contented mewl, and Ally went to place him back in his cot. Then she crossed over to the en-suite bathroom, turned on the shower, and began mentally preparing to meet her missing sister. She thought how strange it would be to physically see her, standing before her eyes. The mysterious child that Pa had always said he had never found. The six sisters had searched the globe to find her, and Ally hoped that Pa, wherever he was, was enormously proud of what his girls had managed to achieve. Of course, the mystery of why Merry was ‘missing’ in the first place had yet to be solved. Had something gone awry with her adoption process? Why had Pa been so set upon that one girl?

As Ally luxuriated under the hot water and the superb pressure of the shower – which never ceased to amaze her, given the fact that they were at sea – she tried to work out when Merry might have first entered Pa’s life. She was now fifty-nine years old. Pa had died aged eighty-nine last year, meaning that he would have been around thirty when he tried to adopt her. Considering that he had found Maia when he was approaching sixty, Ally began to wonder what had happened to Merry that had prevented Pa from attempting to adopt again for over twenty-five years.

However, Merry’s age certainly made Ally feel a little better about the fact that she was rapidly developing strong feelings for her son, Jack. She allowed herself a small chuckle at the oddity of the situation.

And I thought our family couldn’t get any weirder.

The car that had whisked us from the airport to the Port de Nice was as extravagant as the jet itself. I had to admit that even if I was hesitant about the trip, I was certainly enjoying the luxury. I’d wound all of the windows down and was enjoying the fresh smell of the pines in the air. The sun was barely up, but I could already feel that the day was going to be sweltering.

As it was so early, the limousine was able to drive right down to the dock. Every square inch of water was occupied by a boat, each more unashamedly opulent than the last. Mere inches separated the enormous vessels, which had been reversed with great skill into unimaginably small gaps. I shuddered to think of the cost of a repair to a scraped hull. All of the boats seemed to have their own team working on them, polishing, sweeping, laying tables for breakfast... To me, it all felt incredibly claustrophobic. Perhaps it’s because I was so used to the wide, open space of the vineyards in the Gibbston Valley, or more recently, the rolling green fields of West Cork.

‘You know, Georg, if I had all this money, I’d buysomewhere enormous in the middle of nowhere, not come here to sit crammed in like sardines. You’d never get any peace and quiet.’

‘I am inclined to agree with you. It seems to me that most people in this port spend their entire summers moored, rarely leaving for sea. For the majority, these yachts are symbols of status – nothing more.’

‘Well, isn’t that just what theTitanis?’

‘No. I must disagree with you on that. To Atlas, theTitanwas a place of safety.’

‘Safety?’ I eyed him.

‘That is correct. If ever he needed to... escape from... the stresses and pressures of life, he knew that he could board his yacht, along with his daughters, and sail to anywhere in the world.’

I noted the way the word ‘escape’ had hung on Georg’s lips. The limo came to a stop at the end of the dock.

‘So, which one is it then? I have to say, any will do. I’m not fussy.’ My door was opened for me by the driver, who proceeded to remove my bag from the boot. Thank goodness I was supposed to be in the middle of a world tour. It meant that my suitcase was mightily well equipped. Before I knew it, another man in a navy polo shirt had taken the case from the driver. ‘Is it this one? Right at the end?’ I pointed towards the last yacht on the dock.

‘No, Merry.’ Georg replied. The young man who had taken my bag walked straight past what I had assumed was theTitanand was carrying it down a wooden jetty which protruded into the water. ‘TheTitanis actually anchored out in the bay. A very short ride on a tender will take us there.’ Georg pointed out beyond the end of the dock towards one boat that made the others look like bath toys.

‘Jesus!’ I couldn’t deny it looked absolutely magnificent. Icounted no fewer than four levels, and the enormous radio tower with satellite dishes galore clearly marked it out from every other vessel in the vicinity. ‘I mean, Jack and Mary-Kate had told me how enormous it was... but I... wow. Maybe I’ll take back my comment about being crammed in like sardines.’ Georg smiled at me.

‘Good morning, sir,’ said the young man who had taken my suitcase a moment before. ‘Was that the only luggage?’

‘Yes, thank you,’ Georg replied.

‘Very good. The captain has brought the tender here himself.’ The young man looked at me. ‘If you would just follow me down to the end of the jetty, madame.’

I did so, and there waiting for us aboard the tender was a handsome, tanned man, with salt and pepper hair and tortoiseshell glasses.

‘I must say, you’re very well dressed for so early in the morning,’ I said.

‘I confess, normally I would have sent Victor here to retrieve you, but you are an incredibly special passenger. It is my pleasure to personally escort you on board. My name is Hans Gaia.’ He extended his hand to me, shaking mine before helping me aboard the tender. ‘I skipper theTitan.’

‘Thank you very much, Hans. Sorry if I’m a disappointment. I haven’t slept in forty-eight hours.’

‘I assure you, Mrs McDougal, you are anything but a disappointment. It is a great honour to welcome you aboard. I knew your father for many years, and he was very good to me. I know how happy he would be to finally see you on his ocean home.’

‘Well... I... thank you again for getting up so early.’