Chapter 49

"Who have I married?" Claire is sobbing. Claude has been uncuffed and the men with automatic rifles taken ashore in one of the launches. Sheila has explained that the truffles in the case could be easily sold in the Americas for enough to buy a pleasant family home however the officer in charge is not a happy man as he makes it clear that he believes Claude smuggled cocaine into Europe for which he was paid in stolen truffles.

Working overnight through the internet on information obtained about Claude Durand from police files, the officials had arrived expecting to find either cocaine or something illegal and identifiable such as stolen art. Truffles however could not be traced and Claude did not give and couldn't be made to give an explanation of how they came into his possession. As Claude and Claire were taken aboard the launch the officer made it clear that it was time for Claude to leave Guadeloupe the alternative being a life that would be made miserable beyond belief.

"Captain," he said to Tracy, "It is time I think for you to be on your way. You have done very well in saving the lives of this woman and child but it is a shame that the putrid scum with them did not sink with his boat."

As I handed Emily across to Claire on the launch it was so hard to let her go. She had only been with us for a day. She had no idea of what was going on and there were many children whose circumstances were far, far worse but for that one day she had been our Emily and I felt we were letting her down.

It was only another 37 nm to Antigua and that evening we were moored stern-to in English Harbour, but the mood was glum when by rights we should have been been enjoying being spoilt by Sheila and Bruce with a barbecue of Antiguan shellfish - barbecued because it is a small local fish whose shell-like scales come off on the BBQ. Another reason for celebration was because both Dad and I had completed our very first ocean crossing for, although it was difficult for me to remember, despite his Samoan mother Dad was a Welsh lad whose sailing experience had until now been limited to coastal voyages. Bill raised his glass to offer a toast…

"To Emily." and my floodgates opened. It does help to cry, at least for me and Bill's toast shifted the mood enough for us to move on to plans for the future. The owner of WorthIt II was due to arrive in 2 days but to my surprise Dad and Bill announced that they were going to try to get an early flight back to Britain. From her reaction I guessed this wasn't news to Tracy and she said it wouldn't be a problem for the passages but I might have to work a bit harder.

Next morning I found what 'work a little harder' meant when I was given the job of making the exterior of WorthIt II gleam ready for the arrival of the owner. As I worked I calculated that the boat's surface area was equivalent to 10 large vans without the benefit of a drive through washer. I also remembered the brochure photos of a tropical paradise always showed it as sun-drenched which meant to someone doing manual work without shade ' hot and sweaty'. In fact the whole Paradise picture was getting a reappraisal when I remembered Grandma Tina and Grandpa Joe had both emigrated from their original paradise homes; Claude had risked everything for money despite living in paradise and even Dad and Bill were skipping out although that hadn't stopped them going on a snorkelling tour earlier once their air tickets were arranged for the following day.

My whole doubt about what I was doing was certainly not helped as when toward the end of the afternoon utterly exhausted I heard the call from the dock of "Smile for the camera!" Dad, smiling himself fit to split his face in two, was returning with Bill and wanting to film a little local colour in the shape of me while I was looking as though I'd been dragged through a hedge sideways (which is even worse than backwards). The video camera that he had borrowed from Litara to film our holiday was out pointing at me and it took an offer from Bill to take us all out for dinner to save Dad from assassination - Bill denied of course that there was any connection between that offer and the fact it would otherwise be his turn to help Sheila with dinner.

The dinner did as it happen work very well as a final celebration of our voyage so when, mellowed by several drinks, we wended our way back to the boat we played Dad's raw holiday video footage on the boat's TV as a last look at our antics. So much better to do that than get a packet of paper prints weeks after the holiday which are never looked at again. There was a lot of me when Dad had the camera but others had a go including we found Tracy, who while on the wheel took footage of Dad and I in the dinghy during the rescue. "Don't ever let Mum see that Da," I laughed "or she'll never let us go sailing again!"

Next morning, rather than Tracy meeting the owner at 11 am at the airport there was a hail from the dock at 10 am; Mr and Mrs Worth and their twin 19 year old sons Daniel and Jacob had arrived. Chaos reigned for a while among those of us who don't expect flights to arrive early with 4 people rather than the one we were prepared for but the Worths had every confidence we would sort things out.

Both Dad and Bill did seem a bit stunned by this example of a Texan family and to me also at first they seemed to be like nobody I had met before. Slowly they came into focus though until I had their characters clear in my mind as being like great dane puppies. A puppy is still a puppy no matter the size but if it is a great dane it doesn't know that to the rest of us it is larger than life.

It might have been fun to see how they got on with Bill who really was larger than life financially but seemed normal and Dad whose speed and massive physical strength was mostly hidden but they had a plane to catch leaving me alone to learn how to to live in this new Texan world.