Ed's accident had changed things, somehow, and the women decided to stay down below during the last couple of hours of the trip. They had their separate reasons. Jo was quite frankly nervous and didn't want to see the huge ships and the occasional barge that made their vessel seem so tiny in comparison. Down below she could close her eyes and sip wine from time to time and pretend they were just on a jaunt.
Dora stayed because she didn't want to hang around Tom. Ed's accident really had made her see him in a slightly different light; she'd known he was fun and capable and had always respected him, but seeing him be so efficient, so thoroughly good in a crisis, made her realise just how worthy of respect he was. The accident had brought them much closer in some ways, but for Dora, their friendship had tipped into something a bit more unsettling than their previous mateyness had been.
Dora and Carole, who was keeping clear of Marcus for obvious reasons, did take a turn up at the bow together, but there wasn't a lot to see so they came back to the comfort of the saloon.
Jo had made snacks to keep the men going until they could eat properly, and tea flowed to such an extent that Jo began to worry about her tea-bag supply again.
‘Let's play cards,' suggested Carole, to Jo and Dora's complete surprise. 'Have you got any?'
‘Mm! Yes I have,' said Jo, springing up. 'I bought them, just in case. What shall we play? Old Maid?’
Dora and Carole looked at her in disbelief. 'Poker,' they said together.
‘I'll teach you,' added Dora kindly.
Rather to their surprise, Jo was not such a novice as they had expected and turned out to be very good at poker. By the time Tom called down to tell them they were missing all the fun, she had enough matchsticks to set her up in a nice little flat somewhere, if only they'd been exchangeable for cash.
They had heard the engine note change and their speed slacken right down and wondered what was going on. Jo used the excuse of putting all the matches back in the boxes not to rush up and see, but both younger women went up when Tom called.
The engine manoeuvres gave Jo mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety. It seemed amazing that in the early, early hours of that morning they'd still been in England, and now they were in Holland. They had another half a day to go before they reached Dordrecht, their final destination, but tonight they would tie up in a foreign country. Excitement sent her up the stairs just as they turned into the lock. She immediately went outside, not wanting to be in the way or, worse, called upon to do something she didn't understand. She stood next to Ed, where she felt safe.
‘It's enormous!' she said to him, referring to the lock. 'I've only ever seen locks on canals at home, or on rivers. They seem so tiny in comparison.’
Ed chuckled. 'This is small compared to some of them we'll see later. And not much rise to it, either.’
She forced herself to stand there and watch and not scuttle back down below. The trouble was, she was tiredand unsettled by lots of things, and in that mood she was extra liable to feel nervous. She glanced at Marcus in the wheelhouse. He was chatting on the VHF, and then to someone on the lock side. He was completely in control of the situation, a fact that didn't make him any less attractive.
Carole was with Tom, holding a fender, and he was making her laugh. Jo could see Dora holding one some where else. Did Dora mind that she couldn't join them and stop Carole snatching him from under her nose? Jo shook her head to try and force some reality into her brain. She really must track down some good supplements when she got home, something that would control her wretched hormones that needed a Richter scale to measure the soaring highs and lows. She wouldn't go as far as having HRT, not unless she really needed it, but she'd heard good things about black cohosh, wild yams and evening primrose. She'd always been very bad about taking vitamins but if she was going to feel like a teenager in the presence of a perfectly ordinary man, she had to do something. She'd preferred it when she'd had good reason to dislike him but now she had to admit he was actually being quite nice again and it unsettled her once more.
Suddenly she said, 'Oh my goodness! There's a wind mill! We really are in Holland.’
Ed chuckled again. 'It really looks like the books we all had as a child, doesn't it? It's a great country, Holland. I like it a lot. We'll be all tied up in about half an hour,' he added. 'Any chance of a cup of tea?’
Jo nodded. 'I'll make you one now, but don't tell the others. Then I'll make sure dinner's hot.’
Although it was a bit chilly, they decided to eat up on deck so they'd appreciate how far they'd travelled. Tom helped Dora and Carole bring up the table and chairs which fortunately, as Carole pointed out, had been designed for outside in the first place, and so conveniently folded.
There was an air of celebration. For the first time Carole was remarkably cheerful, possibly because she'd dumped Marcus, or maybe because she'd made a contribution to the meal. Marcus was putting a brave and relaxed face on his broken heart, seeming more full of a sense of achievement than anything. Ed was full of beans, enlivened by his dip in the sea and their successful arrival. Dora and Tom were as friendly as ever, although Jo noticed that Dora didn't seem quite so relaxed around him. And Jo – well, she reflected that although they were not at their destination, the hard part was over. She had survived and even enjoyed the trip a little bit.
‘That was a massive lock,' said Dora, 'but it all went so smoothly, didn't it?'
‘They're very efficient on the Continent. Transporting cargo by water is much more part of their way of life,' said Marcus, 'and in a country like Holland, which is so full of waterways and rivers, it's the only sensible way to do it. Great salad, Carole,' he added with a smile that would have turned Jo's heart to mush had she been on the receiving end of it.
The women regarded him in disbelief. Carole had definitely said he didn't like salad and here he was, praising it with genuine appreciation.
Carole couldn't speak for a moment. 'Oh. Thanks.’
Was he trying to get into her good books again? thought Jo. Was this an attempt to win her back? Looking at him, it seemed unlikely. Maybe he just wanted to let everyone know he had no hard feelings about her and appreciated her efforts. If that was the case, he definitely earned a good mark in Jo's book.
‘Yes,' agreed Ed, unaware of any subtexts. 'I love thattouch of wholegrain mustard in the dressing.' He filled Jo's glass with wine. 'Do you remember, Marcus, when we came over here the first time? We were coming the other way, we'd picked that barge up in Rotterdam. We found a completely empty quay, went for a meal at the yacht club and then turned in. You'd have laughed, Jo…' Just the way he said it told Jo she would not have laughed. 'At about two in the morning, wasn't it, Marcus?' Marcus nodded. 'We were woken by a hell of a row! All these fishing boats came in and started discharging. We thought we might be in one of them's way, but they didn't knock us up or anything, so we sat tight. Oh, happy days.' Another well-loaded forkful went into his mouth.
‘Jo looks like a rabbit in the headlights of a boy-racer,' said Marcus with something that to Dora definitely sounded like tenderness.
‘Oh, Marcus!' said Carole, 'can't you just say she looks nice?’
Everyone laughed. 'She does,' went on Marcus, 'a very glamorous rabbit, but a frightened one.'
‘It's no good waiting for compliments from Marcus,' Carole confided. 'He just doesn't notice what you're wearing.’
Uncomfortable at being the centre of attention, Jo looked about anxiously. Was Carole addressing her remarks exclusively to her, or was it for general consumption?
‘Oh yes, we're in for a grand time,' Ed went on. 'When you see the size of some of those craft… it can put you off your breakfast, thinking what might happen if there was a collision.’
Jo sipped her wine, trying to feel better. Everyone around her seemed relaxed and happy. In spite of Marcus's efforts to make the journey seem like a luxury cruise, she still felt incredibly edgy, although she was forced to acknowledge that it wasn't only the thought of travelling on a huge and much-used waterway that was causing it. It was Marcus. She'd somehow lost her ability to resent him, and without the firm conviction that he was arrogant and bossy, other feelings that she had for him, ones she had tried so hard to blame on other things, held sway.
‘Still,' went on Ed, who was quite unaware of the turmoil going on in the woman on his right, 'Marcus has done it a few times, haven't you?'
‘Oh yes. It was quite impressive the first time, but then you get used to it. You see great big push-tows, huge square barges with two thousand tonnes of coal each, maybe two or three of them being pushed by very power ful tugs, and tiny French peniches going right down to the South of France.'
‘You make it sound positively romantic, Marcus,' said Carole.
‘My trouble is, I feel romantic about the wrong things. Moonlight and roses do nothing for me, but give me a tall ship and a star to steer her by and I'm all through-other.’
There was another smile. Jo hoped that Carole didn't notice it. The poor girl would definitely be thinking she'd done the wrong thing by dumping him. 'I really hope that's not true,' she muttered.
Unluckily for her, her muttering fell into a silence and Marcus heard. `Do you want me to be romantic, Joanna?'
‘No, not at all! I just don't want you being through-other, whatever that means. I want you able to concentrate when our lives are in your hands!' She realised this sounded a bit melodramatic but it was how she felt at that moment, for all sorts of reasons.
‘That's what I'm paid the big bucks for.' This time it was less of a smile and more just a roguish look, which made Jo turn away.
‘It's a shame to take the money sometimes,' said Ed. 'The fun we have!'
‘Falling in couldn't have been much fun,' said Jo.
‘Well, no. I should have remembered the old adage, "One hand for the ship, and one for yourself." '
‘I'd noticed that catch was a bit loose and not done anything about it,' said Marcus. 'I'm sorry, Ed. I fee] responsible.'
‘Oh, don't be daft. As I said, if I'd been paying proper attention, I wouldn't have had my hands full of mugs.'
‘Tom, you did really well rescuing him. And you, Dora, of course. But Tom, you were a star.’
Tom blushed, beamed and almost visibly swelled. 'Yes,' said Jo and raised her glass. 'Here's to Tom!’
‘Aye,' said Ed. 'Man of the match – or the trip, anyway.’
‘You have to clink with everyone,' said Carole, looking into Tom's eyes, 'otherwise it's unlucky.’
When everyone had done this, Marcus said, 'If you ever need a reference or anything, I've got quite a few contacts abroad, if you're going travelling and want a bit of work.'
‘That would be great!' said Tom. 'Thank you so much.’
Carole put her hand on Tom's in a congratulatory way. 'What a hero!'
‘Um…' said Dora. 'Does anyone want any more, or shall I get the pudding?'
‘Is there pudding?' said Jo, eager to stop Carole flirting with Tom so blatantly. 'What is it?'
‘Just because you haven't cooked it doesn't mean it doesn't exist,' said Dora. 'Carole and I have concocted something.’
Wishing she could go down below, just to get away from Marcus, whose foot she seemed to bump every time she moved hers, Jo accepted she had to let Dora and Carole get on with it. They had seemed to be getting on much better, although how Dora would feel about her now was anyone's guess. Whatever, she mustn't push in and be motherly and spoil it all.
Tom and Ed started talking about technical things that Jo was too agitated to concentrate on. Marcus sat in silence but whenever Jo looked even vaguely in his direction, he seemed to be looking right at her.
What seemed like a lifetime later, Dora and Carole came up with the pudding. It looked very impressive.
‘We found some frozen puff pastry in the freezer, all ready rolled out, so really easy,' said Dora.
‘And then we put fruits of the forest on it,' went on Carole proudly. 'And here's some ice cream.'
‘It looks great,' said Tom. 'Well done, girls.'
‘Are you going to let him get away with that old-fashioned, sexist and patronising remark?' said Jo, smiling to take the sting out of her words. She didn't really think Tom was sexist or patronising, but her mouth and her brain weren't really communicating properly at the moment.
‘Tom can say what he likes,' said Carole. 'We love him.’
Jo saw Dora flinch and her heart blipped in sympathy. Jo's growing suspicion that Dora did rather like Tom strengthened.
‘Now, Ed,' went on Carole, 'do you want some of this?'
‘Never been known to say no, that's me,' said Ed, bliss fully unaware of any strange atmospheres flitting about the table.
‘Help yourself to ice cream,' said Dora, handing him a tub and a scoop.'Marcus, what about you?'
‘Just a small portion, please. I ate rather a lot of whatever that first course was.’
Carole opened her mouth and then shut it again. Possibly she'd been about to chide him for having pudding, and then remembered his diet was no longer her responsibility.'And salad. The salad was fab, Carole,' said Jo.
‘It only takes a little imagination. Anyone can do it.' Carole smiled and Jo, whose own salads were fairly fab, tried hard not to feel patronised.
From the head of the table, Marcus said, 'At the risk of sounding like Captain Bligh, can I suggest we all turn in early tonight? I want to get off as soon as we can, soon after six, if possible.'
‘Right you are, Skipper,' said Ed. 'I did tell you I've got to get off home as soon as we tie up? I'll be back to take her home again, but I'm expecting another grandchild any day.'
‘Grandchildren, how lovely,' muttered Jo, wondering if she'd had too much to drink and pouring herself a glass of water.
‘There's no point in people hanging around in dry dock,' said Marcus. 'I'll call you all about the return trip.'
‘Well, count me in for that,' said Tom. He went on, 'I wonder if anyone's got a phone that works here? I promised I'd give my parents a ring to say we got here safely. My mother's going off on a walking holiday soon and she didn't want to go to Peru not knowing about me.'
‘My phone works here,' said Marcus, pulling it out of his pocket. 'Does anyone else need to use it?'
‘I suppose I should tell my parents too,' said Dora. 'I also ought to ring the boatyard, to see how they're getting on without me.'
‘They were expecting that barge, weren't they?' said Tom. 'There was a lot of work to be done on the interior. It's going to be converted to a gym.'
‘Well, as I said, we'll be here for about ten days with nothing much to do. Public transport's really easy. You could pop back quickly if I needed you in a hurry.'
‘I must say I would like to go back to work if I could,’
said Dora. 'I'd only just started the job when I went on holiday. They were very nice about it but I do feel guilty.'
‘I'm certainly going back,' said Carole. 'We can travel together, with Tom.'
‘And me,' said Ed.
‘What about me?' said Jo, realising that none of them except Ed and Marcus had really thought about what they would do once they arrived.
‘It's rather difficult for you to go home, Jo,' said Marcus, 'because you're here already.’
Her befuddled state meant it took her a second or two to work this out. She smiled weakly.
‘Here's the phone, Tom,' said Marcus. 'You asked first.’
Although Tom took the phone a little way away to use it, they couldn't help hearing the hellos, the fines and, 'Brilliant, thanks.' Then there was quite a long silence before he almost shouted, 'Sweet! That's fantastic! I'll get on to him right away.'
‘This is such good news,' he said when he came back to the table. 'My mum told me a mate of mine's got tickets to a music festival, right here in Holland! We're definitely going, Dora.'
‘But, Tom, I should go back to work!'
‘Not at all,' he said, 'you told them you were going to be away for at least ten days. The festival's only for this weekend.'
‘Oh, can I come too?' asked Carole.
Tom shook his head. 'Sorry, mate. Only two tickets and we've got to share a tent.'
‘Oh, camping,' said Carole. 'Maybe not.’
For a second, Carole and Dora were in perfect agreement.
‘Do we have to?' said Dora.
‘Yup. You promised.’
As Dora didn't want to tell everyone about the whole dare thing and was secretly very pleased at the way Tom had stopped Carole butting into their adventure, she decided to just go with it. 'OK, I suppose I did.'
‘We can take the train,' he said.
‘The station's just up the road,' said Ed. 'When we get to Dordrecht.'
‘What will you do, Carole?' asked Marcus, sounding concerned. 'Travel back with Ed?'
‘Of course, if he doesn't mind. I can stay on Hildegarde, can't I?'
‘For as long as you need to. I won't be there for at least a fortnight, possibly longer.'
‘Thanks, Marcus, that's cool.’
A vague but persistent feeling of panic was rising in Jo and however hard she tried to squash it, it persisted. Everyone was making plans to leave, except for Marcus. Where was she going to go? She could probably stay with Tilly on Appalachia for a few days, but Jo knew she had a lot of guests coming soon. There were Miranda's two rooms above the shop she'd been offered, but they weren't currently fit to live in. She chided herself for not thinking ahead, so worried had she been by the journey out. 'I think I'll make coffee,' she said, in the hope that a solitary moment would give her a better idea of where she could stay until The Three Sisters came home.
‘I'll help!' said Dora, getting to her feet, ignoring Carole pouring more wine into Tom's glass and then her own.
‘Can I have a word?' asked Dora when they were in the galley.
‘Yes of course. What is it? Are you worried about this music festival? You don't have to go if you don't want to, you know. Don't feel pressured.'
‘It's not me, it's you!'
‘What do you mean, me?'
‘Are you happy to be left alone with Marcus? Everyone is going back to England when we reach Dordrecht and you're going to be left with him. Is that OK?’
Jo sighed. 'I think so. Besides, I can't think of where else to go.' She ran through her list of potential spare beds with Dora and they agreed that none of them were really an option.
‘And you can't stay at your house, what with the Floosie pregnant and all.’
Jo shuddered visibly. 'Absolutely not.’
Then the door opened and Marcus appeared. 'What are you two plotting?’
They both jumped guiltily. 'We're not plotting,' said Jo, indignant but guilty.
‘I do hope you're not planning to jump ship, Joanna. I still need a cook. Besides, it'll give you an opportunity to explore a bit. A bit of a holiday before the trip back.’
Dora heard Jo exhale although she knew her landlady was trying to control it. 'Yes,' Jo said weakly.
Dora made a decision. It was obvious that Marcus unsettled Jo, but in spite of everything Jo had said about him up until now, it was possible that she rather liked him. They'd known each other in the past and Jo hadn't said, 'Don't leave me alone with him at any cost,' or anything like that. And it would do her good to spend some time with a man who wasn't her husband and who did seem to value her company. Jo could do with another friend right now. 'You did say earlier it was a shame there wouldn't be time to see more of Holland.'
‘Did I?'
‘Stay with me, Jo.' Marcus did have a very persuasive manner, Dora noted. 'I promise I'll be on my best behaviour.’
Jo smiled vaguely. 'OK then. Besides, I haven't got anywhere else to go.'
‘I won't let the fact that you're not running off at the first opportunity go to my head then.’
Dora laughed. 'They have lovely flea markets in Holland. I've read about them.'
‘And Amsterdam is a wonderful city. We can hire a car and go there.’
Jo, outnumbered, admitted defeat and as she now appeared relatively happy to stay, Dora wondered if she was transferring her own doubts and anxieties about the festival on to Jo.
She also wondered if she was the only one who had a sense that life was going to change for everyone after the trip to their final destination, the old Dutch town, Dordrecht, that had been there longer than Amsterdam.
Ed was going back to a new grandchild, Carole would be on the lookout for a new boyfriend and, possibly, provider. Jo was staying with a man who had been secretly known to them as 'Scary Marcus'. How would she cope? Would she mother him into submission? Somehow Dora didn't think so. Unlike many men, Marcus didn't appear to want to be mothered. On the other hand, that might just be the bold front he put on for the world. Dora felt protective of Jo, who had been so good to her in her hour of need, but she was a grown-up, she could make her own decisions.
Dora had another opportunity to check up on Jo the following morning, after breakfast, when she found her leaning on the gunwale, watching the world pass. She'd done her packing and was all ready to leap ashore when Tom gave the word, trying to push aside her own anxieties about the festival.
‘I can't believe how much like my expectations this is..
Jo gestured to the passing scene. 'It's so satisfying to see there really are windmills, and sheep grazing the walls of the dykes, and people on bicycles.’
`Mm.' Dora didn't want to talk about the scenery, she wanted to know about the characters on the stage. 'Are you sure you're going to be all right with Marcus? I don't have to go to this wretched festival, whatever Tom says.’
Jo laughed. 'Are you looking for an excuse to back out? I don't blame you. I wouldn't fancy it at all myself.’
Dora chuckled. 'Well, I am quite anxious about it -camping with Tom's weird friends as much as anything, but I do want to go. I definitely feel stronger since coming on this trip. I hate to use the word "empowered" but I am a bit.'
‘That's really good! And what about you and Tom? You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to.’
Dora laughed. 'You're just like my mother, you say you don't want to pry, but you're desperate for the details really.'
‘That's what Karen used to say. And I must say she told me the maximum she thought I could cope with, which, in her opinion, wasn't very much. You don't have to tell me any more.'
‘OK, well I do really like Tom. But I don't feel I should consider another relationship so soon and anyway, I'm not sure how he feels about me. What do you think?’
Jo threw up her hands in surrender. 'Honey, I'm not Solomon! I don't know. I think you should just take it day by day and see how it works out.' She looked very anxious so Dora let her off one hook only to put her on another one.
‘OK. So what about you and Marcus? Tom says the work might easily take longer than ten days. Will you be all right for that long before we come back for the trip home?’
Jo looked towards the wheelhouse, as if Marcus might hear her from over eighty feet and a noisy engine away. 'He does have a strange effect on me, but as I'm going to have the menopause at any minute, I'm not going to take any notice.'
‘What do you mean?' Dora had lowered her voice too, to match Jo's.
‘Just because I feel all sort of faint when I'm near him doesn't mean I fancy him, it just means I need some special seedy bread or something. A friend used to rub extract of wild yams into her breasts.'
‘Oh my goodness.'
‘I don't know if I could cope with that, but I can cope with Marcus. If I did fancy him it would be awkward, but it's just fluctuating hormones. Maybe I should buy a fan in case I start having hot flushes.’
Dora digested this. Aware she knew very little about the menopause and its effects she hadn't previously picked up that it might make you feel all faint round one particular man. However, she didn't feel in a position to say this to Jo, who obviously had all the facts at her fingertips.
They arrived at the old port of Dordrecht at teatime. While Marcus negotiated his way smoothly through the canals to the boatyard, all three women stood together and watched the houses pass. 'It's wonderful to have canals actually in the town like this, isn't it?' said Jo.
‘They have them in towns in England,' said Dora.
‘But not in the middle of them, like this. I think it's great. We can practically see into the windows.'
‘It's weird that they don't have net curtains, or only in some houses,' said Carole. 'You've only got the plants to stop you seeing everything.'
‘Spoilsports, aren't they?' said Dora mischievously. 'Oh! They're lifting the bridge for us! But who's operating it? I can't see anyone.'
‘Perhaps it's all automatic,' said Carole. 'You know, I've never been on a trip with Marcus before, and I quite like this boating malarkey. I might join a yacht club or something,' she went on. 'Learn to sail.'
‘There are some very fit blokes who go sailing,' said Dora. 'We went with some friends years ago and the blokes were fab! Really fit in the way you mean, Jo, but also really fit in the way me and Carole mean, and very tanned.'
‘Mm,' said Jo, 'you won't catch me doing that, fit blokes or not. And it looks like we've arrived. I'm going down below to make tea for Ed. Oh! Hear that carillon – the church bells playing a tune? I think I know that hymn.' She went below, humming to herself.
They'd all been too tired to do much more than pack, tidy up a little, plan their various onward journeys and fall into bed early.