Cathryn Parry - Christmas At Prescott Inn

Emilie gave silent thanks for all the evacuation drills she’d been forced to endure over the years. She and her skaters knew exactly what to do.

“Is everyone cleared from the area?” she asked Gary once the room was nearly empty. He’d nodded, expression tight with the urgency of the situation.

“I scoured the seats one last time—we’re clear up top. The security officers are scanning passenger keycards, so they’ll know if anyone is missing. The rest of the troupe is already at our muster station. They’re starting to launch the boats. It’s time to go, Emilie.”

The ship had begun to list, so she let Gary grip her wrist and pull her down the hallway, toward the stairwell.

The ship made another jerky pitch, and Emilie bumped into a corner rail. Gary tumbled against her. The two were in a crazy position, tangled as if they were lovers, and for several seconds, they’d been stuck there, suspended in time.

They both laughed nervously.

She’d never had any romantic thoughts about Gary—he was like a brother to her. But her mind shifted to Nathan Prescott in an instant. The only man who’d held her and kissed her on this romantic cruise ship. And for a moment, she felt as if he was right there with her again. But her months with Nathan had been a crazy time of happy infatuation. They’d been in love with each other, and maybe a little bit in love with love itself. Then he’d left.

Gary pulled her to her feet, as the evacuation announcement sounded again. They made it above deck and waded through the crowd to their muster station.

The video ended abruptly, and Emilie shook herself out of her own memories.

They were all safe now. This issue with Katya was hopefully surmountable, with Dr. David’s help. She needed to trust in him and be grateful.

Dr. David stared at the still shot for a moment, and then handed her the phone back.

“I hope you and your skaters land on your feet after this, Emilie,” Dr. David said.

“We will,” she answered, though inwardly she was less certain.

Her troupe’s home, possessions and performance venue were now a hundred feet below water. The ship was damaged enough that it wouldn’t be repaired anytime soon, if it was repaired at all. Yes, there were ten other ships in the fleet, but all of them were fully staffed with ice-skaters. Emilie and her troupe were homeless. They had no prospects—they were jobless. At best, the cruise line would probably want to send the entertainers back to their far-flung hometowns and terminate their contracts.

Realistically, Emilie’s performance career would likely be over. She was nearing retirement age, and was the oldest of her troupe. And with no way to prove herself, she didn’t have a hope of advancing to her dream job as an entertainment choreographer.

Dr. David patted her shoulder and handed her an ice pack to give to Katya. “Something will come along. Be thankful it wasn’t worse.” Another little girl was stumbling across the beach toward the medical tent, crying, accompanied by what looked to be her grandmother. A reporter tried to catch the grandmother for a comment, but the woman waved him off. Emilie had seen a few camera crews on the island trying to get the story. “I’ll be along to see Katya as soon as I can,” Dr. David promised.

Nodding mechanically, Emilie gathered herself to return to the gym and her troupe. She did her best to put a smile on her face.

“Take care of yourself, Emilie,” Dr. David called after her. “If for some reason I don’t see you again, enjoy Christmas!”

Yes, she reminded herself. Christmas was a time of hope.

And nothing was more important than hope.

“SO, HAVE WE lost our jobs?” Katya asked. She lay beneath a thin blanket on a rickety metal cot, looking distraught and frail.

Emilie passed Katya the ice pack she’d received from Dr. David and sat beside her on an empty cot. “Honestly? Probably, yes. But it’s just for the moment until I think of an idea to keep us all together,” she said in a soothing tone.

“Do you really believe you can find us something else?”

“I do.” Emilie checked Katya’s shoulder. Her bruise seemed to be looking angrier.

She gave Katya her brightest smile. Years of practice hid her doubts.

Katya seemed to relax. The lines of her forehead smoothed out, and her breathing seemed less shallow.

On the inside, though, Emilie was worried. She’d heard word on the walk back to their little camp that she and her troupe would have to stay inside this gym for at least another day. Emilie could think of worse places to be marooned, but her troupe was getting restless. They’d want answers soon.

Emilie gazed into her wounded skater’s eyes, checking again for dilated pupils, but didn’t see anything wrong. “Dr. David said he’ll be over as soon as he can.”

Katya closed her eyes and sighed.

“The diving performers are being flown home to Australia this afternoon,” Gary murmured beside Emilie, his voice matter-of-fact.

“How do you know that?” Emilie whispered, standing to face him so that Katya couldn’t see.

Gary shrugged. “Their booking agent called the dive captain and told him,” he murmured back.

Emilie nodded and subconsciously patted the pocket of her jacket, where her phone was zipped. She’d already spoken to Lynn, their manager at the production company, just to let her know that everyone on the team was safe and accounted for. Lynn hadn’t said a word about the future, though, and Emilie had been too traumatized to think of asking at the time.

At least Curtis, the male half of their ice dance team, had kept his wits and remembered to gather up the skaters’ phones, jackets and street shoes. They may not have clothes—indeed, Emilie still wore her Santa’s elf costume—but at least they weren’t still in skates, and they’d been able to use their phones to contact loved ones.

“Hey, what are you two whispering about?” Katya asked. “If you know something, tell us!”

The other skaters gathered around her, too, pressing for details.

She explained what Gary had said about the divers. “But, guys, the other entertainers are in a different situation. They work for a different production company.” She made a mental note to call Lynn again in Colorado Springs, where their production company was located. She didn’t want to do it within hearing of her team, though.

“My parents were supposed to visit me on the Christmas sailing,” Curtis remarked. The rugged ice dancer was from a small town in Nova Scotia and hadn’t seen his family in nearly six months. Curtis sat on a nearby cot, put his elbows on his knees and gazed up at Emilie. “Do you think Empress Cruises will let them change their booking to whatever ship we’re on next?”

Emilie doubted they’d be assigned to another ship, but she didn’t want Curtis to worry.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Emilie reassured him. “Wherever we end up, we’ll work to get your parents there for Christmas with us, too.”

“They’re going to dismiss us all and send us home, aren’t they?” Lynette turned to Emilie. Lynette was Curtis’s dance partner. “There are no other ships to put us on. Think of it, guys. Every ship is already staffed for the season.”

“I cannot go home!” Katya sat up and looked at Emilie in alarm. “Please! We have to find a place somewhere .”

Emilie swallowed. Katya had confided to Emilie that she desperately needed this job to help her family at home. She sent money every month to her mother and grandmother.

Katya’s skating partner, Sergei, said something to her in Russian, which Emilie didn’t understand. The two held a quiet conversation.

Emilie touched Katya’s arm. “What’s he saying?”