Sandra Field - Contract Bridegroom

It was a note from her boss. He was pleased with her swift response to Starspray’s emergency call the other night, and he’d be delighted to attend her farewell staff dinner on Saturday. As she picked up the next envelope, the telephone rang. “Canadian Coast Guard, Scott speaking,” she said.

There was a slight pause. “Celia Scott?”

“That’s right. How can I help you?”

“My name’s Dave Hornby…I was crewing for Jethro Lathem the night Starspray sank. I was told this is your first shift since then—so I’m calling to thank you for your part in the rescue.”

His voice was pleasant, very different from Jethro Lathem’s autocratic baritone. “You’re welcome,” Celia said.

“There’s another reason I’m phoning—I didn’t want you thinking Jethro was in any way to blame for what happened.”

“That’s really not—”

“No, let me finish…it’ll be on my conscience, otherwise. You see, we’d been in port in Iceland, and a couple of days later Jethro came down with a bad case of flu; so I was on watch that night. I’m not the world’s best sailor. I fell asleep at the wheel, went off course in a sudden squall and drove Starspray onto the rocks. Not sure Jethro’ll ever forgive me for losing her—he loved that boat like she was a woman. More, probably. Anyway, I fell overboard, he rescued me, then he sent out the Mayday, manned the pumps and in the middle of it all saw that I didn’t die of hypothermia. More than I deserved…I’ll never live it down.”

“I’m glad it all ended happily,” Celia said diplomatically, wondering why she should feel so irritated that the high-and-mighty Mr. Lathem was a hero as well as a hunk.

“Jethro’s one of the finest skippers around and the best of friends besides.”

She made a noncommittal noise. After expressing his gratitude once again, Dave rang off. Celia put the receiver back in its cradle. She could picture the scene only too well. The elegant lines of the yacht impaled on the wind-whipped rocks of the reef; the driven spray and terrifyingly tall waves. It was something of a miracle that both men hadn’t drowned. A miracle whose name was Jethro Lathem, the rangy, dark-haired man who was going to meet her after work tomorrow morning.

She always looked her worst coming off a shift. Right now she was wearing her oldest jeans, and her entire stock of makeup consisted of a stub of tangerine lipstick.

The state of her jeans or her lipstick had never bothered her when she’d been out with Paul.

Resolutely Celia marched into the kitchen connected to her office and took a can of soup out of the cupboard. She was hungry and tired, that was all. She’d accept Jethro Lathem’s thanks tomorrow morning with all the grace she had long ago learned as her father’s daughter, and send him on his way. And before she knew it, she’d be in Washington, her job, Starspray and Paul all part of her past. As well as Mr. Macho Lathem.

The hours of darkness passed slowly. Celia ate, wrote some letters and dealt with a few routine calls. There was far too much time to think on her job, especially on the night shifts. She didn’t want to dwell on her father, so ill and so intent on controlling her life to the very end. But it was impossible to keep the images at bay, or to forget that last half hour she’d spent at Fernleigh, his mansion in Washington.

Dr. Norman Kenniston, who’d been the family doctor for as long as Celia could remember, and whom her father trusted more than she did, was finally getting to the point. Celia’s stomach clenched with anxiety. “Three months, Celia…no guarantees after that. Most unfortunate. Tragic. Yes, indeed.” And he’d twirled the ends of his long gray moustache.

She’d known her father was ill; but not that ill. She burst out, “Isn’t there anything we can do?”

“Every possible stone’s been turned,” Dr. Kenniston said huffily. “Do you think I’d—ah, there you are, Ellis…I was about to leave.”

Ellis Scott looked keenly at his daughter’s face. “Tomorrow at ten, Norman,” he said, then waited until the doctor had left the room. “I see he’s given you the prognosis, Celia. Just as well. No use blinding ourselves to the facts. Which brings me to something I want to say to you.”

Numbly Celia sank down into the nearest chair. “I can hardly believe…there must be some sort of treatment or—”

“Apparently not. Norman called in a couple of specialists, top-notch men.” Ellis eased himself into the chair across from her. “There’s something I want you to do for me.”

Celia bit her lip, seeing anew her father’s shuttered gray eyes and rigid shoulders. Had she ever really known him? Or felt close to him? And now time was running out. Fast. “Of course, I’ll do anything I can.”

“I want to see you married. Before I die.”

“Married?”

“Like your brother Cyril. Settled. Safe. Instead of gallivanting around the world taking one ridiculous job after another.”

Her nails were digging into her palms. “Being a Coast Guard operator’s a very responsible job.”

“Utterly unsuitable for a girl.”

“I’m a woman, Father. A grown woman.”

“Then behave like one,” Ellis snapped.

Celia took a deep breath. It would be all too easy to go down a path she’d travelled many times before; but how could she argue with her father or lose her temper when he’d been given so short a time to live? She said steadily, “I told you I’d handed in my resignation and that I’m moving back home.”

Ellis overrode her as if she hadn’t spoken. “You’ve always been foolhardy, Celia. Rash, impetuous, defiant. Time you grew up, took on the duties of an adult. Marriage. Motherhood. There must be someone you’re in love with.”

“There isn’t,” she said shortly.

“You mentioned dating a man called Paul.”

“He’s a friend, that’s all.” Paul was in love with her; but Ellis didn’t need that piece of information.

“There’s no one else?”

“There’s Pedro. He captains a freighter on the St. Lawrence Seaway, and he’d marry me like a shot if he knew I was rich. But I’ve never told him. If I ever marry, I want to be loved for myself.”

Darryl, the only man she’d ever gone to bed with, had wanted her money, not her. Which, at the time, had hurt quite dreadfully.

“I sometimes think you oppose me on principle,” Ellis rapped.

She said with careful truth, “Right now I don’t know anyone I could possibly marry, Father. That’s all I’m saying.”

Ellis suddenly looked exactly what he was: elderly, frail and sick. “So you’re refusing my final request?”

Guilt churned in Celia’s stomach, as no doubt her father had intended. Her second year in university, she and Ellis had had a terrible row, and for the next few years she hadn’t seen him at all; she already felt hugely guilty for that long separation. She, tentatively, had been the one to make the first gesture of reconciliation, just two years ago. Ellis had responded with very little grace. But he had responded, and since then they had at least been in touch.

Now, however, she wanted more than that. Much more.

If only she could rein in her restless spirit. Be more like her brother, so contented with his conservative job, his country estate, his unassuming wife and obedient children. If only she could marry to please Ellis. To make his last weeks happy.

“I promise I’ll think about it,” she said.

Ellis said abruptly and with patent honesty, “I worry about you, Celia. It would set my mind at ease to know you were married to a good man…then I could die in peace.”

Tears flooded her eyes. “I don’t want you to die….”

“Yes. Well. I can’t control that, can I?” He looked at his watch. “Hadn’t you better leave for the airport? That’s another thing, piloting your own plane. A lot of nonsense. Far too dangerous.”