Thanks to my Beta Reader Americanchick, I could not do it without her help.
I do not own almost nothing here, and I do this only for fun.
It all started in Greece
Chapter 10
From where he was, with Stella asleep on his shoulder, Mac could see the dock. He just saw his friend Frank Westwood leaving a car and turning to help his very pregnant wife. A sailor went running to take over the baggage, and the Westwood's came into the Stella Maris holding hands, laughing and talking. Mac gentle caressed Stella's cheek with his hand.
"Stella, wake up, they have arrived." Stella sighed, stuffing her face more towards Mac's neck. He insisted with the caress. "Stella, sweetheart, the Westwood's are already here."
Stella opened her eyes slowly, looking at Mac
"What did you call me? Stella... what?" Mac looked at her quizzically.
"I do not know what I called you... I surely have called you Stella... Bonasera. What else could I call you?" Stella gave him a nudge in the ribs, stretching and fixing her hair discreetly.
"I do not know what came over me to fall asleep like this, I was so tired... Now it seems that I have cleared a bit" While saying this, Stella and Mac saw the captain and his wife coming to the hall. Mac waved.
"Mac, Stella", Frank said when they reached the place where his friends were, "I want you to meet my wife, the joy of my life. This is Eleni Dukes-Westwood"
Eleni was a brunette thin lady, except for his bulging belly, with startling blue eyes fringed with long black lashes. A beauty, despite her advanced pregnancy. She wore a peacock blue dress, airy and loose, very elegant. She spoke in perfect English with a bit dragged r, typical Greek accent.
"Nice to meet you. Sorry we kept you waiting, but Frank had told you that we came from a wedding, right? It is never the time to leave, with toasts, dancing... Greek weddings are very lively"
"True, it is very late, which reminds me that I have an undocking manoeuvre to run in about... ten minutes", said Frank looking at his watch. "Would you like to join me to the bridge and so you can see it, Mac? We can let them chat, so they can speak Greek. But first, what if we go to my cabin? Eleni will be more comfortable there, and you too, Stella, you look tired"
"Too many emotions today, too much for a single day", Stella said as they headed toward the captain's cabin. It was an entire apartment really, with his office, living room, bedroom, bathroom and even a kitchenette. Women stayed there while Mac went with Frank to lead the Stella Maris out of Mykonos port. Next morning, they would arrive to Piraeus and there these wonderful days aboard will end up for Mac and Stella.
Eleni found a jar of fresh coffee. Frank had surely asked someone in the service board to have it ready for their arrival. She served a couple of cups before sitting on the couch, shoes off and putting his feet on the coffee table.
"Stella, you have to forgive me, but I cannot stand with my shoes. I was willing to do this for hours... you see, is one of the advantages of being so pregnant. You can be as rude as you want, you are forgiven". Both women laughed.
"I love the talking in Greek. These days I practiced more than in my whole life"
"Frank told me the story. So until a few days ago, you did not even know you were born in Greece... Stella, you have to think this: you can surely get dual citizenship. And being Greek means you are a national of one country in the European Union, which means freedom of movement, residence, work... in other 26 European countries too. It may be interesting, everything would be advantages for you and your children when you have".
"I had not thought. Of course I feel American, but I have always felt Greek, and more after what we have learnt today in Paros..." Stella continued telling the story they had known that afternoon. Eleni was surprised at every word.
"My God, this is a novel, no offense... What a story!. So it was Manfred Schmidt who took you there, what a funny guy. He is a friend of ours, too. He always go his' own way but, nevertheless, he can be trusted. If he knows you are our friends he will endeavour to help you as required for the change in the ownership of the house and others. Talk to him without delay to solve the problems that may arise. Look, something will serve you to be friends of the prefect, that means friends of mine"
With hardly the slightest movement, the ship was moving away from the island of Mykonos, on a full moon and calm seas. Stella sat also next to Eleni, and she was invited to join the feet's party above the table.
"I do not know why I'm so tired, really", said Stella "we have not done any physical work, but I fall asleep as soon as I lean my head. After the revelations about my family I have learnt today, I thought I would not sleep for days, turning and turning all that in my mind... but I slept all the journey back from Paros in your boat, and I fell asleep again while Mac and I were waiting for you to arrive"
Eleni turned his head toward her and stared intently. She turned down the coffee cup that Stella had taken.
"Can I?" She asked. Stella nodded. So Eleni also read the coffee grounds...
"An older woman in Cape Sounion did it already. By the way, she was sweet and told me something I cannot help thinking..."
Eleni was looking at the bottom of the cup. She frowned and muttered, shaking his head...
"Stella... Are you pregnant? "
Stella flinched
"No, no. It's not so easy. I mean, we are just a couple of weeks in this relationship"
"What is not so easy... I cannot assure so. In fact doing this (and she put her hand on her belly) is the easier and pleasant thing to do in the world, we agree that, right? I ask you that because a few months ago, eight and a half exactly, when I was not even late for the first time, the first signs that my body sent to warn me about my pregnancy, were sleep and fatigue. My God, I felt terrible at an official ceremony that week. The President of Greece himself came to Naxos to inaugurate the new Museum and I almost fall asleep standing up during his speech"
As he spoke, Eleni was doing the mimicry of someone who wants to avoid falling asleep but he cannot help his head falling down. Stella laughed heartily, they had sympathized instantly.
"And look, what ended up being the sleep and fatigue..." she pointed the enormous bulge." If I had spent the nights of the days and weeks prior sleeping and not doing other things now I would not be in this so committed situation... to the point that another human being is about lo leave my body. I am scared to death"
"I cannot believe that you are afraid"
"Believe it. We have done the preparation for childbirth, I know by heart all the steps and what will happen at any time, but the time is coming and I am afraid. And, on the other hand, I'm hoping that was all over because the last few days frankly I feel uncomfortable. I am a whale!"
"Do not say that, you are beautiful!"
Eleni looked at her with raised eyebrows as facing "Do you think?" but then she smiled.
"It is you who are really beautiful, Stella. Frank had told me, but he fell short" Stella blushed. "And you say you have discovered in these days you look just like your mother and your grandmother and your mother's grandmother?" Stella nodded. "Then it is proved that the female branch of your family have a dominant gene that determines this splendid physique of yours. Look, when you had a daughter you know how she will be"
"We know how this one in here will be, too" Stella pointed out Eleni's belly. "Frank showed us the three-dimensional ultrasound, and we could see her face almost perfectly"
"He showed you?"
"He takes the image with him". They both laughed again
"My God and all that with an unborn child... he is crazy with her. When he had real pictures to show after the birth... he is going to bore the world with his kid, man"
"He looks happy"
"Yes, the truth is that we have been lucky. Since we met our relationship has been wonderful. I thought it would be more difficult, because Frank, like Mac, is not a boy... I thought it would cost us more to adapt our lives as a couple, living together, but you see... Perhaps it is because he spends two weeks out, and then in the holiday week he has not time to get bored of marriage... And now he's crazy like a kid with this baby girl. She is unborn and Frank is already thinking of ordering soon a little brother..." Again the laughter. Eleni got up to go to the bathroom.
"I can not spend even half an hour without going to the bathroom, day and night. It's a torture"
When she returned, she picked up the cups of the coffee table.
"The grounds in your cup are quite clear, Stella... They say you get from Greece more than you think, from the past and to the future"
Stella laughed
"It is what you always say, I see. That lady in Cape Sounion told me more or less the same"
"It is so because it is so..." Her blue eyes sparkled.
She sat again on the couch.
"See? I can not already sit, I just collapse." The funny expression on her face made Stella laugh again. They felt good together, getting on so quickly. "And today to all the previous complaints I have to add a tremendous pressure down here," and she noted the lower abdomen area, "I think this girl wants to go out of the cave, almost as much as I want she did it".
Without realizing it, they had spent nearly two hours talking. At that time, Frank Westwood and Mac Taylor, leaving the bridge after setting the course, had made a tour of the restricted area of the ship. The engine room, the control centre, fully computerized... Mac was amazed at the modern technology in the Stella Maris. In those hours, past midnight, all was quiet and calm. Frank was explaining everything to his friend with pleasure.
"We rarely have complications, at least not by the ship's machinery. Sometimes there is a problem because someone gets in our way... The major limitation of a large ship moving at full speed you know is that we can not stop fast, and change course is not an agile operation either... But we never got to tackle anyone, thank God, however it gets in our way. We are in constant surveillance, and more on this last part, arriving in Athens, where traffic is intense. It is assumed that each one of us has assigned a specific course, but there is always unwise people, as in everything in life".
They turned slowly to meet the ladies.
In the captain's cabin, the two women continued talking, completely clear, despite the late hour.
"Oops, I must go to the bathroom again..." For the fourth or fifth time, Eleni got up, not without difficulty.
Just a few seconds had passed when Stella heard the calling from the bathroom. Something in her friend's voice alarmed her. Eleni had put a towel on the floor, while wiping her legs with another one.
"Stella... I think... unless I have peed on myself, it seems that my water just broke." At the same time an impulse made her bend forward and tighten the belly with one hand and her back with the other while she gasped. Stella recognized a contraction, Eleni had taken the same position as Lindsay to each of them during the many hours that spent with Stella in the birth process.
"Ahhh, that... yes... it hurts" Eleni could say when she caught his breath. Stella helped her change, and threw the towels into the bathtub after having absorbed the liquid spilled on the floor. When Mac and Frank arrived everything was seemingly calm again, with Eleni and Stella on the couch, feet up.
"Look at them, what a good life. We were leading important manoeuvres and see the women here, so relaxed", Frank went to kiss his wife on the forehead.
"Frank, do not get nervous, but I think I'm in labour. A few minutes ago my water broke, and I have had a strong contraction". Frank stood up like a spring out of the sofa.
"No, it cannot be possible... we are in the middle of the Aegean Sea!"
"Then that means your daughter wants to be born in the middle of the Aegean, look..." Seeing the frightened face of her husband, she tried to reassure him. "Well, you know what we were told in the childbirth preparation class... this is not quick, unfortunately. We will arrive to Athens in time, you'll see..."
"Maybe we better go back..."
"No", Eleni looked at her watch "It takes almost so long to get back to Mykonos as to arrive to Athens, and it would be a great disruption for the passengers..."
"I'm calling the doctor, and according to his advice, we will decide." Frank went to fetch the ship's doctor.
Stella helped Eleni to move to the bedroom and lie down in bed. The pressure had increased and she had difficulty to move. Stella ad Mac exchanged knowing glances. They were on a streak of attending births of their friends...
To be continued...