Chapter Fourteen
At the captain’s table, every course arrives with regularity, like the ebb and flow of the sea.
The Triton Lounge was abuzz as guests, dressed in their finest, made their way to enjoy cocktails before dinner.
A formal night on the cruise was an opportunity to show off, and elegant gowns and tailored tuxedos were paraded as guests gathered to drink champagne and appreciate the soft notes of a string quartet.
The stage was set for an excellent evening and to Joy’s relief, Leticia and Jim escorted her to the lounge so she wouldn’t have to make an entrance alone. Senior members of the ship’s crew in formal wear greeted guests, and Simon stepped forward to escort Joy to the captain’s cocktail party.
‘Enjoy yourself,’ Leticia whispered as she left Joy and entered the lounge to find seats for herself and Jim.
Joy, meanwhile, was guided to a raised circular banquette, where other invitees were assembled, and introductions made. Joy sat beside a woman from Ireland who stated that she had been at sea for almost a year. Joy soon learned that Lady Eleanor Fitzgerald was eighty-nine and a widow.
‘You can call me Lady E,’ she said, ‘no need for formalities.’
Joy thought that prefacing your name with a title was as formal as it got and unsure of familiarities so soon after meeting, she was reluctant to shorten the name.
‘Do you stay on the same ship while you cruise?’ she asked, curious to know the routine for one who probably left the packing of multiple cases to her staff.
‘Of course, why move from ship to ship when all I need is right here.’ Lady Eleanor stifled a yawn.
‘Naturally,’ Joy agreed and couldn’t imagine the cost of such luxury. To stay on a ship for almost a year, one would need to be considerably well off. ‘The Emerald Dream must have an interesting itinerary?’ Joy asked, curious to know where the affluent passenger travelled to.
‘I believe so, but I rarely disembark, and this is the second time I’ve cruised to Norway this month.’
‘Still,’ Joy continued, ‘there’s so much to do onboard, and I’m sure you enjoy all the activities?’
‘On the contrary, I like the evening entertainment, meals, and formal dinners, but rarely leave my suite. I’ve everything I need there.’
In her mind, Joy weighed up life at sea, where Lady Eleanor was waited on hand and foot, with kind and friendly staff, as opposed to the life she might lead at home.
Her accommodation was the Royal Emerald Suite, the most luxurious on the ship, that consisted of several rooms, an opulent bathroom and a large private balcony.
Curious to know more, Joy soon learned that Lady Eleanor’s late husband, Lord Richard Dunmore, of Dunmore Hall in County Kildare, had been a philanthropist, and they’d met at a garden party in Dublin in 1963.
‘He was never interested in cruising,’ Lady Eleanor told Joy.
‘He preferred staying closer to home and keeping an eye on the estate. When he died last year and our son took over, I decided to indulge my passion, preferring a smaller ship, and have been travelling on the Emerald Dream ever since.’ Lady Eleanor paused.
‘To be perfectly honest, my dear, I miss my darling Richard so much and can’t face being at home without him. ’
Fascinated by Lady Eleanor, Joy listened intently.
Lord Richard, it transpired, had restored the crumbling inherited Dunmore Estate with its two thousand acres of woodland and farmland.
Later, with their son, they turned the main house into a boutique hotel and event business.
Keen to charitably support the locals, Lady Eleanor explained that they maintained a substantial holiday property in the grounds, the Dunmore Retreat, for the exclusive use and benefit of the surrounding community, especially those with learning difficulties.
‘We still run Dunmore Retreat today, in a trust,’ she explained.
‘Richard insisted that it be fully staffed and well-equipped, offering respite for the locals, and emotional and educational support whenever appropriate, at no cost to those who make use of the facilities. I’ve always supported the ethos of this and wish it to continue under our son’s guidance,’ she added.
Joy nodded, intrigued. It was a charitable concern that she would fully support herself.
‘When we married, Richard had a vision to maintain the family fortune,’ Lady Eleanor explained.
‘Initially, we kept the upper floor of the main house, although there were only sixteen rooms for our use, and since his death, I live in the Dower House. Not that I’ve spent a great deal of time on the estate, everywhere in Ireland feels so empty without Richard. ’ Her voice was sad.
Joy considered living accommodation of sixteen rooms palatial, and her three-bedded bungalow wouldn’t compare to a sizeable Dower House.
As she studied Lady Eleanor and wondered what it might be like to live a life of such privilege, Joy noted her lipstick, a deep red, the kind worn by women who remembered Coty powder and 4711 Eau de Cologne.
It had crept onto her front teeth but to mention it would be impolite.
Joy was so engrossed with the rouge bouncing up and down on Lady Eleanor’s incisors that she didn’t notice Captain Lauri Lindholm’s approach.
When he slipped into the seat beside her, she turned too quickly and almost knocked over his glass.
‘Oh, my goodness, I didn’t see you,’ Joy apologised and felt her cheeks flush. What a fool! Seated between a Lady and the captain, and she was all fingers and thumbs.
Captain Lindholm offered a polite smile and held out his hand. ‘Good evening, Mrs Bradley,’ he said, his Finnish accent low, ‘and Lady Eleanor, how are you?’
Lady Eleanor turned her gaze to the captain. ‘You startled poor Joy,’ she said. ‘Be gentle. She might not be used to handsome men dropping in unannounced.’
‘We have a presentation for you later,’ Captain Lindholm said, ‘Lady Eleanor, you are our most travelled passenger this year. But you haven’t surpassed a gentleman who sailed with the Diamond Star Line for 949 days.’
‘Has he popped his clogs?’ Lady Eleanor asked.
‘Sadly, he’s sailed onto a higher place,’ the captain conceded.
‘Well, I shall be sailing your seas for some time to come,’ Lady Eleanor smiled, ‘and I shall expect more than a slip of paper,’ she added.
‘It is our pleasure to accommodate you and have you on board,’ the captain said.
‘I shall host a little soirée in my suite on Christmas Eve,’ Lady Eleanor said, ‘you must all join me.’
Joy stared at the elderly passenger and thought that she seemed weary.
She wondered what Lady Eleanor did all day if she didn’t join in with the activities.
Did she read books or write letters? Or perhaps she daydreamed and rewound memories.
But there was a lethargy about Lady Eleanor, a quiet exhaustion, and clearly, she was mourning her husband.
Lady Eleanor seemed lost in her own world, and her eyes were dull, no longer watching the glitz and glamour in the Triton Lounge.
Maybe she was just tired, Joy thought, and at the latter end of life, bemused by a world without Sir Richard.
No wonder the ship suited her so well.
More guests joined and Joy was introduced to a charming couple from Wakefield, and a former equestrian champion who’d won a gold medal at the Mexico Olympics and greeted Lady Eleanor fondly with a hug.
Old school Margaret was sharp jawed with a nose as elongated as the horses she’d competed on, and a mouthpiece for wit and name-dropping. Joy heard the Olympian mention Princess Anne twice before her first drink was served.
‘Dear Margaret,’ Lady Eleanor smiled, ‘she’s such a good friend and companion.’
Another couple sat down and apologised for being late, and then a steward served canapés and more drinks.
As everyone chatted, and Joy munched an olive, speared on a plastic sword, she listened to the captain explain the pleasure of overseeing the Emerald Dream.
‘I do very little,’ he modestly shrugged when asked about his duties, ‘my staff sail the ship.’ There was a polite ripple of laughter as he went on to enlighten the benefits of a smaller cruise line and how he preferred it.
‘I dislike the larger floating flats, with thousands of passengers and half as many crew.’
Joy studied the earnest faces as they hung off the captain’s words, and as she looked around, she noticed Barbara and Kenneth stroll past the captain’s reserved seating area, to make their way to cocktails in the Triton Lounge.
They both carried the smug sway of passengers who thought they’d bagged the best suite.
They were mid-gloat when they spotted Joy.
Barbara froze and her jaw suddenly dropped as Joy gave a wave.
Kenneth’s mouth opened and shut like a fish flailing to wriggle free from a hook.
Inwardly, Joy giggled. Here she was, Joy of the sensible slacks and widow’s worries, sitting in a VIP booth, beside the captain, a title and an Olympic champion, sipping champagne.
Captain Lindholm offered Joy his arm to escort her to dinner, and Joy felt like royalty as the party moved off. She was sure she heard Barbara give a strangled hiss as she grabbed Kenneth’s arm and pivoted on her kitten heels.
Photos were taken in the foyer of the restaurant as the group arrived.
Stewards, in their smartest uniform suits, stood to attention and pulled out chairs as the captain’s party sat down.
Their table was in the centre of the room on a slightly raised platform, and once again, Joy was seated by the captain.
As a napkin was unfolded onto her knee, she studied the place card bearing her name in looping gold script, alongside a menu detailing the evening’s meal.
Appetisers were served and wine poured, and as Joy tasted a delicate millefeuille of goat cheese and microgreens topped with a soft-boiled quail’s egg, she looked up.
From their balcony table, the occupants of table number twenty-eight were watching Joy and grinning. Leticia and Jim held their glasses in a toast, and Henry, smart in his dinner suit, gave a thumbs up. Joy felt her heart swell and resisted the urge to blow them all a kiss.
Barbara and Kenneth, meanwhile, turned away.
Following a delicious lobster thermidor, and by the time dessert was served, an exquisite lemon souffle, Joy was glowing.
Several glasses of the sommelier’s finest wines had settled her nerves.
She listened to the captain enlighten everyone about both his working and family life, explaining that he had homes in Finland and Spain.
His yacht in the Mediterranean, he admitted with a modest smile, was less a luxury and more a continuation of his love affair with the sea.
The cheerful lady from Wakefield asked about his wife, and they discovered that Marja, his second marriage, had been a personal trainer on the cruise ship he once captained while sailing to the Canaries.
‘A romance blossomed from the treadmill to Tenerife,’ Margaret observed.
‘But it was a romance that faded,’ the captain remarked dryly, ‘she left me for a first officer last year.’
Margaret proceeded to hold court over the main course, recounting the moment she clinched her Olympic gold medal. Her laugh was loud as she told stories of her time in the saddle.
Simon proved charming and skilled in his job as he steered conversations to bring out the best in his guests, and the two couples, frequent cruisers with the Diamond Star line, spoke fondly of past high-flying careers and well-lived lives.
When it came to Joy’s turn to reveal a little of herself, she took a deep breath, then set down her glass and spoke quietly for a few minutes.
Eyes studied her with curiosity, or was it admiration?
Joy couldn’t be sure, but when she finished speaking, she saw the captain raise one eyebrow and nod as though his perception of his dining companion had shifted.
Everyone was relaxed, warmed by excellent food, laughter, and the glow that comes from enjoyable company.
Joy smoothed the fabric of her gorgeous gown and silently thanked Leticia for giving her the tools to make the most of the evening.
For a moment, she wondered what Tom would think of his wife’s single sortie to sit with such esteemed fellow passengers and ultimately feel at ease.
But Joy wouldn’t think of Tom now.
She was a woman who’d arrived at the cocktail party almost afraid to be there, but now sat comfortably as though she’d been invited to such events all her life.
The evening wasn’t over, and she knew that Leticia was hoping she’d meet up to spill the beans and disclose the secrets of the captain’s table.
But as coffee was served and liqueurs offered, Joy doubted that she’d reveal the revelation that she’d shared.
After all, Joy thought as she looked around at the other guests, what happens at the captain’s table stays at the captain’s table!