…Phillip pressed his fingers against his temples to slow the advancing headache. He and Kristin had taken Megan out to dinner after picking her up at the Atlanta airport, and now he was sharing a nightcap with his wife in the gazebo. Unfortunately, she’d just finished telling him about the potential excursion to St. Croix, not wanting to mention it in front of Kristin until the trip had been confirmed.

“But what about your work, Meg?”

“Oh, honestly! Why does everyone keep asking me that same question?”

“Well, because it’s the first one that comes to mind when you mention spending a week in the Caribbean, after you’ve already been away for the better part of a month. Am I wrong, or didn’t your career used to be important to you—you know, the one you’ve worked at so hard for the last fifteen years?”

“No, honey, you’re not wrong. It was important to me. Maybe it still will be. I just don’t know right now. Anyway, it’s more than a month until the excursion, assuming those dates are good for everyone else. By then, I might not even have a job anymore, considering the state of affairs there when I left last week. But I’ll give it everything I’ve got between now and then. Assuming I’m still employed, if my being away for what will only be three business days turns out to be a problem, I guess I’ll have to make a decision. After all, I have fourteen weeks of accrued vacation—if you can even believe it—which I never used, because I was in the office all the time. Maybe I’ll request a leave of absence. Better yet, maybe I’ll just resign.”

“I hope you’re kidding.”

“I am, at the moment. Not sure if I will be by September 23, though. Anyway, it will certainly be interesting to see how this all plays out, particularly since no one at work knows yet that I have $3 million worth of options I didn’t have before. Excuse me, $3 million plus $250,000.”

Phillip forced a strained laugh, in response to her infectious smile.

“God help us,” he said, taking a long sip of his drink, “now that your bull-headed determination has been paired with an obscene amount of money.”

Yes, indeed, he thought, inhaling deeply. God help us!  …

                                   *********************

…Although everyone was dragging a bit from their sun and rum punch-filled day, there was an affable synergy evident as they hovered together, delighting in the mess they were making with their lobster shells, all of them looking far more like rags than riches. Later, after the sweet sorbet had been served, they watched together as a spectacular cranberry sunset illuminated the bay. Sailboats and flags and ancient buildings became brilliant with color, then white, then bright, and finally dim to dark, as the sun slipped down past the far edge of the sea.

When the amazing show of nature was over, incandescent gas lanterns cast a glow across the picnic area, encouraging everyone to stay a little longer. Then a few diehards went back to the terrace lounge, where a band was playing and a crowd was dancing. But most members of the family were half asleep by then, and they gravitated to their cottages after saying their warm, unhurried good-nights. Kristin and Tania tried desperately to stay awake, savoring every second of this non-stop slumber party. But even they only lasted a few minutes. Next door to them, Phillip was in a deep sleep long before Megan climbed into bed. Lying beside him, as exhausted as she was, her eyes simply would not close.

I have to stop analyzing everything. This trip is a fabulous experience, and it’s having an incredible affect on all of us. I just need to let myself relax. Right, Gram?

… These reunions will continue indefinitely, as long as you want them to happen, and as long as you follow my guidelines. I want you to see the world, on my nickel, as the saying goes. Think of me while you’re there. Talk to each other. Confide in one another—and teach your children to do the same. Remember—in the end, it’s all about family, because when the rest is stripped away, families are the only things that stick. Even when people are dead, you can’t get rid of them. You’ll see…

                               ************************

 … Megan was on the hotel dock at nine o’clock the next morning, for the departure of the Buck Island cruise, with her cousins and two dozen other resort guests. The fifty-seat trimaran arrived at the small island’s blinding white beach two hours later, shortly before eleven. Everyone disembarked there for lunch and snorkeling practice along the shore, before the craft set sail again, this time destined for the underwater nature preserve. When the anchor was dropped forty-five minutes later, they were clearly out in the open sea, an unobstructed 360 degrees of water and horizon offering the only view.

Not realizing, until this point, what his brother had talked him into, William began expressing himself.

“If you assume, for one minute, that I’m going to jump off the side of this boat into the mouth of a shark, all of you people are nuts!”

“William, there aren’t any sharks out here,” Kenneth kidded. “This is a national park!”

“Show me a tree, and I’ll show you a park,” William responded, trying to sound calm. “Take a look around! We must be half way to England! I should have known better than to listen to someone who cleans clothes for a living.”

The repartee continued, and by the time all five of his male cousins had ganged up on him, William decided he’d never hear the end of the tale if he didn’t jump in with them. Once he’d passed the panic point of actually entering the water, he genuinely enjoyed the experience, astonished at the complex paths, hills and ravines, all below the sea’s surface, and all populated with the most stunning living creatures he could imagine. But when his tour group returned to the boat, after their maximum twenty minutes in the frigid water, he discovered that Megan had opted for her mother’s plan, remaining dry and warm beneath her wide-brimmed hat and sipping on her third rum punch.

“What’s the matter, Meg?” he asked, shaking his head of wet hair all over her. “Chicken?”

“Well, aren’t you the brave one all of a sudden?” she teased.

“You’re damn right I am,” he announced, as his tour companions broke into a round of applause on his behalf. “And I was the best.”

When all the swimmers had returned, the trimaran picked up speed and headed back to the resort. Megan remained in her cushioned corner with her book and her drink, loving the sea spray as it whipped over the railing onto her face. On the opposite side of the boat, she saw Kenneth and William huddled together with the McClinty boys, each of them taking turns saying things she couldn’t hear. Then Kenneth began speaking, with William standing by his side, as DJ’s and Teddy’s sons listened closely. Megan studied their faces and tried to read their lips, hoping she knew what was being said. Mellowed by the scene and the sun, she closed her eyes and let herself be rocked to sleep by the vessel’s undulating movement. She did not awaken until they docked, just after 3:30.

As the passengers filed across the gangplank and onto solid ground, she noticed that all of her men were quieter, no longer joking around. But they didn’t appear to be upset as they helped each other with their snorkeling gear and walked close to one another up the beach toward their cottages. Even though she was following right behind them, they seemed to have completely forgotten she was there. Okay, Gram. So far, so good.