The bile kept trying to creep up my throat. As the ship swayed, my knees trembled from the weakness of my unsettled stomach and plain old nausea. Can pregnant women take Dramamine? I just wanted to make a little extra money before my baby came. With my husband on a business trip for three months, I thought it would be a nice surprise. Of course, I told him that I had taken a chef job, but before I could tell him where it was, he had to go off to a meeting.
I meant to talk to him more before he left for his trip, but he had to hurry and catch a last-minute flight. Even still, I'm certain he didn't expect me to take a job on a ship. He had been very cautious with me ever since I had gotten pregnant, but it was suffocating. If it hadn't been for him going on a business trip I could foresee myself smacking him, violently. Not that I didn't love the man, but a gal has to breathe a little!
I never got seasick, but I hadn't accounted for my pregnancy and with a green face, I unpacked as well as I could, sitting every so often to try and stave off being sick. I headed to the ship's doctor to get something to take for the nausea and laid down on my bunk. My boss had let me know that I would be the chef on the breakfast crew and that it was fine to take the rest of the day off to recover from my lack of sea legs.
When I woke, it was deep into the night and the nausea had disappeared. Rubbing my belly, I could feel the gentle roundness The doctors said it would be a few months before I could feel its kick, but sometimes I swear I could sense him moving. With a smile, I went to splash water on my face and looked into the mirror. A pale face with unruly blond hair and intense brown eyes stared back. My husband liked me wearing makeup, but I liked the clean scrubbed look. Much easier to deal with in the kitchen. He also like my straight hair curled and professional laid out. I had to go to many salons before I found one that could get my straight hair to behave. But when I was working, I pulled my hair back into a bun or ponytail to keep it out of the way. He would spend more time on his hair every day than I did on mine. Maybe that is why he didn't recognize me when he passed me on the deck while I was out for a walk.
It was shock on my part to see him walk by. I had been so distracted by the sun setting on the waves that I almost didn't see him, but the scent of vanilla and musk from the cologne that he had started using recently made me look up. But he didn't recognize me at all. His focus was on a tall lithe redhead who turned to greet him with a hug and kiss.
As the kiss deepened, my jaw dropped, and I caught my breath in shock. This did not look like a business trip. The cruise I was on was a pleasure cruise and was supposed to arrive back the day before my husband was to return. The dates for his business trip included several days before and after the cruise and he was always too busy to talk to me while he was away, which is why I thought to accept the job. A week of high pay to surprise him with before the baby was born. I would have been back before he got back. But if he was here… It took a minute for my brain to process what I was seeing before me, in this moment. Maybe the pregnancy made me slow?
"Danny?" The man stiffened in the woman's arms and slowly turned around to face me. I thought I would see a look of horror on his face. A last-ditch hope that she had kissed him and not the other way around trying to rise to the surface before being brutally drowned with the blank look staring back at me.
"You are supposed to be at home." The distain dripping from his words stabbed at my heart. "Did you think to surprise me? How…crass." The kind husband who worried for me and cared for me was gone, replaced by indifference and disgust.
"I didn't know you would be here, what…" I looked at the woman hugging his arm, seeing that she was pressing her breasts tightly against him. The smirk on her face reminded me of grim Halloween pumpkins meant to chase evil spirits away. She wasn't surprised to see me, as if she had known I would be here.
"Is this her?" the woman asked.
"Yes, though she has never done anything like this before." Danny turned and pressed his face into the crook of her shoulder. "But it is a relief that she caught me. Now I can do whatever I want." I shook my head wondering what kind of nightmare I stepped into. The two people in front of me continued their intimate display and there was nothing I could do but watch in growing horror. A fluttering in my stomach made me move. Laying a hand on my belly to sooth the unruly child in my womb, tears threatened to fall and holding them back was giving me heartburn.
"Why lie to me? Why did you even get me pregnant if you were going to be like this?" I couldn't keep the high pitch squeak from my voice. I hated how broken and unsteady it sounded.
"It is always the same answer. Money." Danny left the woman's side and walked over to me. Blinded by my own tears, I didn't realize what he intended till he grabbed my neck. "You may not know this, but your grandfather left a will that whoever married you and had a grandchild would inherit his company." Laughing with a crazed look on his face, I could feel his fingers digging into my flesh. My sight began to blur from the lack of oxygen. I clawed at his fingers, trying to pry them away. "At least, that was what it was, but he changed his will again." He pushed me down and I landed hard on the deck. I cried out in pain as my ankle twisted. My arm instinctively went to my belly, holding my arm over my child as I protected him from the monster before me.
"I don't even know my grandfather, my parents were disowned a long time ago! I don't have anything to do with him!" The man in front of me was unfamiliar and I cringed backward as he crouched next to me. More tears sprang to my eyes as he grabbed my hair roughly. I tried to pull away, but his fingers were wound tight, pulling at my scalp. Pain exploded in my head as strands ripped from my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the other woman looking on in sick amusement.
"I'm guessing that is why he changed his will again. He never thought you would get married and get pregnant." Bending down, he whispered in my ear. "But since things have changed, I think it is time to cut you off, permanently." Pulling me to my feet, tears streaming in pain as he yanked me across to the edge of the ship. His eyes darted around and an evil smile spread across his face. I could see no one. In donning horror, my heart sped up and fear began coursing through my veins.
"Please stop, I am pregnant with your child!"
"You aren't."
"What?" I stared at Danny, not understanding what I just heard. He laughed, loosening his grip just enough for me to look up at him. He pulled me close enough to smell the sickly-sweet stench of perfume wafting from his collar.
"I'm sterile, but during your last exam, I had the doctor implant someone else's sperm." He lifted me up and I tried to scream only to have his hand cover my mouth. My belly rubbed against him, and he pushed me away in obvious disgust.
"We are over, just so you know. But I can't have my reputation ruined by divorce, so it ends here." Danny grabbed my legs and arms, lifting me into a princess carry. Some people would have found it hot, but considering the situation, I was not a fan at the moment. Especially when he swung my body over the side of the ship. Even though I knew him to be a monster, I tried desperately to cling to him.
"No, please!" I called desperately.
"Goodbye." Danny's satisfied smile shook her as he yanked my hands away from his neck and dropped me over the side to fall thirty feet into the ocean water.