My Only One (11 page)

Abby rolled her eyes. “It’s hard to tell, Alec.” She glanced at Tim, who walked at her side. “If we do, Tim will tell you what all the words mean, won’t you?”

The officer grinned and a flush crept across his freckled cheeks. He pulled out a compact paperback dictionary from the pocket of his dark blue overcoat. “Here, Alec. A gift from me to you. This is a Russian/English dictionary I bought for you last night from a B. Dalton bookstore. It’s the most up-to-date one I could find, and it has a lot of slang words we use in it. If you hear any new curse words, you can look them up in there first. If you can’t find them, then I’ll explain what they mean.”

Delighted with Tim’s strategy, Abby just knew that Susan would like the Coast Guard officer. Tonight, when they got home after a long and exciting day of showing Alec more of Anchorage, Abby was going to call her best friend. After all, Susan should know what her friend was planning to do when she got back to Washington.

* * *

“D
OESN’T IT ALL SOUND
wonderful, Susan?” Abby sat on her bed, the Princess phone next to her on the mattress. It was 7:00 p.m. in Alaska and midnight on the East Coast. Fortunately, Susan hadn’t gone to bed yet.

“I don’t know, Abby.”

“Tim’s so cute. He’s such an officer and a gentleman. Completely unlike Steve.”

“I’ll have to think about it.”

“You’ve never dated a military man,” Abby pointed out enthusiastically. “Just those greedy stock-brokers you work with, and you found out a long time ago that you didn’t like their kind.”

“I won’t date them. They’re so self-centered. My boss is pushing all the account executives to jump on the junk-bond bandwagon, and I’ve refused to get involved. I’m getting a lot of pressure from my boss to sell them to my clients, but I just don’t feel good about it. The stock market has done nothing but continue to break records, and I know there’s a downturn coming. I can feel it in my bones. I’m trying to protect my investors, not get them to take unnecessary risks.”

“Then don’t do it.”

“I’m not sure I can keep my job if I don’t, Abby.”

“Damn.” Abby chewed on her lower lip, thinking for a moment. “Sometimes I think it would be nice if women who wanted to could go back to the fifties and be housewives and mothers. You’re like that. All you wanted to do was get married and have a family.”

Susan laughed sourly. “Yeah, and look what it got me. No thanks, I’d rather stay a yuppie, be a supermom and cope with home life alone than to get married for the convenience of a second paycheck coming into the household. I’d have to live with the guy and frankly, Abby, I haven’t found the men out there to be that stellar. I’d give anything to find a guy who can laugh, cry and talk with me.”

“I keep telling you—I’ve found him! Lieutenant Tim Atkin is the one, Susan! Believe me!”

“I don’t know, Abby. Every guy I’ve dated has been a bust. They figure if they take you to dinner, you owe them something afterward. That’s outrageous! I won’t do it! And then, on top of everything else, with the AIDs epidemic…”

Abby hung on to her patience. She knew Susan had a right to feel as she did about men. Abby’s own experience with men had been positive, but she couldn’t disagree that a lot of men weren’t the kind of marriage material she’d want, either. “Tim is warm, open, honest and incredibly sensitive.”

“Then why isn’t he married?”

“He’s been busy with his career, I suppose, but I really don’t know.”

“Precisely my point. The guy’s got some kind of flaw, then, regardless of what you see in him.”

“No, I just can’t believe that. Susan, you know how good my instincts are about people. The moment I met Tim, I knew he was a wonderful guy. He really liked the photo of you.”

“Does he know about Courtney?”

“Yes, he’s seen Courtney, and Tim thinks she’s the most beautiful little girl he’s ever seen. So there!”

“He’s probably lying through his teeth just to not upset you.”

Giving a little laugh, Abby said, “Susan, I love you, pessimism and all. When the time comes, let me invite you two over for dinner and introduce you to Tim, okay? If you don’t like him, it’s no big deal. But if you do—”

“One step at a time, Abby. That’s all I can handle with my work load and Courtney. I’m having troubles with the day-care center, and I’m probably going to have to find another one. Everything’s so expensive. I work twelve hours a day at that office, barely get home in time to cook Courtney dinner and spend a half hour of quality time with her before I’ve got to go to my office here at home and work until midnight. If I can’t find a reasonably priced day-care center, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Frowning, Abby nodded. She hurt for her friend and realized that many single mothers were in the same boat and many times, worse off than Susan. “Nothing says life is fair.”

“I know it isn’t!” Susan laughed. “Hey, enough of my troubles. How are
you?
You haven’t said a thing. I saw that gorgeous looking Soviet officer, Captain Alec Rostov. What a hunk, Abby! My God, are you constantly drooling when you’re around him?”

Giggling, Abby said, “No, but I should be. He’s terribly good-looking, isn’t he?”

“Do his dark good looks match the man inside, though?”

With a sigh, Abby laid back on the pillows she’d arranged behind her. “Oh, Susan, he’s wonderful.”

“Wonderful. You use that word all the time, Abby, to describe everything.”

“Well, he is! He’s got a dry sense of humor, he’s very open and honest about how he feels and he has an honor about him that’s hard to match in any other man I’ve ever met.”

“Sounds serious.”

“Nonsense.”

“Abby, I hear that wistful sound in your voice. As long as I’ve known you, and met your significant others from time to time, I’ve never heard that tone in your voice before.”

“You’re hearing things,” Abby said, then she went on to tell Susan about the three weeks that Alec was going to remain stateside with her and the whale-protection efforts.

“Awesome,” Susan whispered after hearing about the entire plan. “This Lieutenant Atkin sure sounds like a can-do man.”

“He really is, Susan. I’ll bet the guy ends up as commandant of the Coast Guard someday with the way he gets things done.”

“Well…maybe I should pencil in some time for this dinner you’re proposing.”

“Great! Well, Supermom, I’ll let you go.”

“Listen, you be careful out at sea, Abby. That Russian hunk won’t always be around to save your rear.”

“If I get into trouble, he’ll be right at my side,” Abby assured her gently. “Give Courtney a hug and kiss for me, will you? And I’ll be in touch. Believe me, I know you’re going to like Tim.”

Laughing, Susan whispered dramatically, “You never give up, do you, Abby? Always the idealist. The one who believes in right, goodness and positive endings. I love you. Take care.”

Abby hung up the receiver and placed the phone back on the bedstand, then sat on her bed, thinking. She hurt for Susan, for all the bad things that had happened to her. Nothing had gone right in her personal life since the divorce. The few men she’d dated were selfish and only wanted her for one thing: sex.

Abby knew not all men were like that. Susan had yet to have an experience with one of those kind of men. Tim, she felt, was just what Susan needed. If only she could get them together, Abby knew it would work.

Smoothing out the goose-down comforter around her, she mulled over Susan’s other comments. Abby wondered if her voice had grown wistful when she talked about Alec. Every day spent around him made her feel as if some kind of bonding were continuing to take place. She could feel it, that subtle, delicious tension that had always been strung between them from the first moment she’d become conscious and seen him sitting at her bedside.

As Abby closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath, flashes of the past two days shuttered across her lids. They were all of Alec, his expressions, the heated looks he’d give her when he didn’t think she was watching him, his engaging smile. There was such stability about him, such quiet, calm confidence. All of those things appealed greatly to her. And on top of it all, he’d saved her life. Was she merely feeling this way out of gratefulness? Or were her electric emotions that leapt every time he touched her or looked at her caused by something else?

No man had ever affected Abby this way. Confused, she sighed and slowly got off the bed. Next week they’d be on board the
Argonaut.
Abby hungered for the sea again, to go back and protect her whales. She also looked forward to the time when they could be alone, truly alone, on board the ship. Private time with Alec had been at a premium, and she had so much she wanted to ask of him, explore with him. Yes, being on the
Argonaut
would be a very special time with a very special man.

Chapter Six

“A
BBY, BE CAREFUL
out there.”

Abby forced a slight smile for Alec. She felt the firm strength of his hand on her arm as she stood on the lurching, wet deck of the
Argonaut,
out in the Bering Sea. No more than half a mile away was a Japanese whaling fleet consisting of the factory ship and eight catcher ships. It was the catchers that actively hunted the humpback whales now visible a few miles away from the
Argonaut.
The catchers were smaller, faster ships, designed for killing the whales. Once a whale was harpooned, it was taken to the factory ship, where it was cut up and stored.

Brad, the SOWF photographer, was preparing to have an inflatable rubber Zodiac put over the side of the salmon trawler. This would be the first showdown with the Japanese fleet in the
Argonaut’s
three days at sea. The early-May afternoon was gray, and it would soon start to rain. Abby would be steering the Zodiac, keeping it between the fleeing pod of humpback whales and the catcher ships ready to start firing their harpoons.

“I’ll be very careful,” she promised.

“Abby! We’re ready,” Brad called.

Glancing to the left, she saw the Zodiac in the grayish-green water, Brad sitting in the craft, holding it close to the trawler. Waves were four and five feet high in a confused sea, a dangerous combination when trying to ease the motor-driven Zodiac through the surrounding pattern.

“I’ve got to go, Alec.”

Reluctantly, he released her arm. Abby was dressed in a bulky bright orange survival suit in case she was dumped into the frigid Artic water, and a life vest to keep her afloat. Alec saw the fear lurking in her eyes, but he also saw the determination in the set of her lovely mouth. The past three days had been close to heaven in his opinion. Although representatives of three major networks were on board, he and Abby had still had peace and quiet at night, each sleeping alone, their cabins next to the other’s.

As Abby entered the bobbing, bucking Zodiac, Alec leaned over the rail. On either side of him, video cameras from the networks were taking pictures.

“Abby!” he shouted.

Her head jerked up.

“Stay safe,
moya edinstvenaya.
”

She grinned and lifted her mittened hand. Her heart swelled with a fierce tidal wave of feeling. Every day had brought her closer and closer to Alec in a subtle but powerful way. He had brought a wealth of unknown emotions into the fabric of her life.

Brad was situated in the center of the Zodiac and threw her a thumbs-up. The small engine on the Zodiac sputtered and then roared to life, and Abby guided the small boat away from the lee of the
Argonaut.
The last thing she saw as they headed around the bow was Alec’s darkened features beneath the trooper cap he wore with his uniform. His mouth was grimly set, and he was gripping the rail of the trawler, watching her. As she carefully read the confused wave direction, zigzagging around the swells, her heart and focus were divided between Alec and her whales.

Ahead Abby could see the geysers of spray that the huge, barnacled humpbacks were releasing as they surfaced to gulp in another volume of fresh air. Coming up steadily behind them was a catcher ship. She looked up at the vessel, the steel-barbed harpoon readied to be fired. Brad not only manned the video camera wrapped in plastic to keep it dry from the water as they dodged the waves, but the radio as well.

As they zigzagged in front of the catcher, the massive prow of the whaler rose and fell within four hundred yards of the Zodiac. Abby knew if the engine on the Zodiac failed, they’d be smashed within moments by that bow. Heart pounding, she carefully kept her Zodiac placed between the catcher and the pod of whales. In this group, Abby counted four males, five females and five three-month-old calves. As if the adult humpbacks realized they were in danger, they had placed the babies between them, so that the pod fanned out in a semicircle, like a crescent moon, so that the calves provided less of a target. Because of the calves, the pod couldn’t move at the full twelve-knot speed of which an adult humpback is capable. They were easy targets for the Japanese.

“Abby,” Brad shouted, “they’re preparing to launch the first harpoon!”

Lifting her wet face, Abby wiped the brine away. More water droplets were flung across the Zodiac as it was caught by a wave. The Zodiac lifted, shifted and then slid into a trough. Brad clung to the anchored radio unit in the center of the craft in order not to be thrown overboard. Abby flattened herself so that the Zodiac wouldn’t tip over.

Jerking her chin up, Abby glanced over her shoulder. The catcher was angling to the left. Quickly, she turned the Zodiac to intercept the catcher. A wave caught her as she raced to place the craft between the harpoon and the whales.

“Better hurry!” Brad shouted, catching the action with the video camera that rested on his shoulder.

Would the Japanese fire the harpoon? In the past week and a half, they’d suffered worldwide condemnation through the press for what they’d done to the
Argonaut.
The U.S. had officially ignored Captain Stratman’s charges against the Japanese, so nothing had been done to punish the catcher ship for ramming the
Argonaut.
With this particular whaling fleet, Abby had no guarantee that this catcher would back off and hunt another day. She tried to prepare herself for the eventuality that the catcher would ram them in order to harpoon the fleeing humpbacks.