Fremantle Sunset

I spent the rest of the flight talking to my mate about living together after my tour ended. Since Nicholas hadn’t left home yet and I had money, we could do almost anything.

The fancy yacht life wasn’t going to happen, though. Bringing it to Australia and renting a berth could happen, but would it be worth it? I already paid $200k upfront for the year lease, and the buy price was another $1.9 million. That kind of money could buy a station, what we would call a farm or ranch, here in Australia. We could get a spread like the one at Bonnie Doon, with plenty of room to run. The Sharkbait Foundation also had the Sea Scout, so I wasn’t going to be using my boat for my production company. I explained the situation to Nicholas to get his advice.

“The lease is a sunk cost unless you can get some of it refunded,” he said. “Amy, Noelani, and Makani are living there now, right?” I nodded. “They can pick up the cost of the berthing space and other fees, and that gives them six months or so to find another place to live.”

“That makes sense. I can’t imagine I’ll be using it, since I’m spending Christmas here, and I’ll only stay in the States long enough to film the shows. I don’t want to be away from you that long.”

“The girls can get a place to live on short notice if they need to. If you let the owner know you aren’t picking up the buy option, he can get it listed again. Maybe if he sells it, you can get some of your lease money back? You could ask him.”

That’s one of the things I loved about Nicholas; he listened, and he thought out all the angles. I thanked Luna that my accountant had talked me into the ‘lease with the option to buy’ deal. The yacht seemed like a good idea at the time, and I loved it, but it wasn’t practical for me now. He was right; I sent a group text to the girls, letting them know what I wanted to do, thanks to the internet capability on the aircraft. They thanked me for letting them continue to use it until the yacht sold or the lease expired. With their agreement, I forwarded the note to my accountant and lawyer with instructions to get me out of it.

The next thing we talked about was my schedule. Before mating an Aussie, I didn’t mind a flight from San Diego to Miami or the East Coast to join the Sea Scout for two weeks. Now, a thirty-hour flight wasn’t something I wanted to do often. I sent a note to Linda, Loretta, and the Sharkbait Foundation board explaining my problem and asking for ideas.

It wasn’t long before Loretta, the Sea Scout’s Master, replied to me. “The locations you set out are only a day or two apart at the speeds the Scout can reach. Its design allows for sprints between work locations, after all. Only the ship’s crew has to stay for the transit, and supplies can be brought on board when we disembark or embark. Loadout with supplies and the film crew and leave port, transit to dive location, ten days filming, then drop the film crew at the nearest port. They get a couple of days off and fly into the next town while I drive the Scout to the next port, then we start again.”

“Can we do that?”

“I’ll need to bring another Master on board since we will be transiting more than twelve hours in a day, but I can find someone. Most mariners prefer working several months straight like this; it won’t be a problem. You’ll also have to skip the northern areas, as we’d be done filming in March or April. There’s plenty of spots in the Gulf and Caribbean, though. By doing it this way, you fly over once, spend 8-10 weeks filming, then fly back to your man. Once it is over, we take it back to the yard for a maintenance window, and go from there.”

I had to admit that it sounded good. “Work with Linda to draft a schedule, and then we’ll talk. Thank you,” I sent back.

Nicholas had been looking over my shoulder as I talked. “What are you going to do with the Sea Scout after the filming season ends?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I can travel, but it’s a little more daunting to move it. I thought it wasn’t worth the transit to Hawaii, much less Australia.”

“Probably for the best. It would do all right in the Great Barrier Reef area, but the Southern Ocean can get a bit rough for a design like that.”

I enjoyed visiting Brisbane, but the heat and humidity just got worse as you kept going north. I couldn’t imagine a wolf living comfortably in the tropics, which is why we weren’t considering anything in the northern half of the continent. That left us plenty of choices. Looking at a map on my tablet, we drew a line just north of Perth on the west coast, crossing the continent to Port Macquarie on the east coast. The line left the major cities of Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney in play, along with Hobart in Tasmania.

I drew another line away from the coast. “I don’t want to live more than an hour from the ocean.”

“I don’t blame you; you can afford a lot more land, but it gets pretty hot and dry in some parts of the Outback. That’s why almost everyone lives near the coast.”

“It doesn’t make sense to move away from your extended family if we want to centralize in one area,” I said. I had him mark on the map all the locations where his family members lived. That narrowed things down, knocking out Perth and all of Western Australia, Canberra, and anywhere north of Sydney.

“I don’t want to be too far from a university,” I told him. “You should continue your studies, and I want to study Business and Marine Biology. The members of our Pack are going to want to go to college too.”

“That knocks out Port Lincoln; it’s way too far. Adelaide works, as do Melbourne and Sydney. Heck, even Tasmania has a university with a medical school.” I leaned my head against his shoulder, frustrated because there were so many decisions to make! He squeezed my hand. “Is it that important to figure everything out right now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Take the yacht. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but a few months later, your life changed. It’s no longer the right answer. You’ve tossed a bunch of money into something you can’t even use now.”

“I know.”

He let out a sigh. “Yes, we have to decide where to live, but nothing is forcing us to do that now. You aren’t going to school right away, but if I do, we need to be around Adelaide for two more years. After that, we could go anywhere. You’ve barely seen the country, and you’ve only seen one of the homes of a Pack member. You don’t know enough to make a good decision right now.”

He was right. “So, what should we do?”

“I’ll look for a place we can rent in Adelaide. When you come back for Christmas, we’ll spend some time traveling. We’ll visit all our Pack members, and you can see each area and how much you like it. I bet if you left them with a list of what we are looking for, they could keep an eye out for anything in that area coming on the market.”

He was right. We landed in Perth, and a driver brought us to our hotel. We met the boat at nine for the ride out to the West End of Rottnest Island, a jagged expanse of rock and heavy surf about ten miles out from Fremantle. The location was one of the best we’d done; the layered rock formations, coves, and breaking waves made a perfect backdrop for the four of us in our swimsuits and diving gear. I especially liked the clear waters of Fishhook Cove. The visibility was outstanding, making for good filming with all the sea life and natural formations. We got in some great free-diving before heading back for the appearance at the surf shop. Nicholas went to do some other stuff, arriving back towards the end of our event.

We ended up at a beachfront restaurant in Fremantle called Bather’s Beach House, with fantastic views from the patio looking west into the Indian Ocean. Linda must have liked the ambiance because she was filming us as we sat around the table. The sun was just setting over the water, and the cool offshore breeze was light. After we ordered, Nicholas got up, but instead of walking off, he dropped down to a knee. “Vicki, I’ve loved you since our eyes first met at the airport. I want you in my life forever.” I looked down at his fingers, where he was holding a white gold engagement ring, with a deep ocean-blue sapphire surrounded by smaller diamonds. I was frozen, unable to breathe, with only the tears from my eyes showing anything. “Will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?”

I looked from the ring to his face, seeing the love for me, and I snapped back to life. “YES! Of course, I will marry you!” He slid the ring on, then stood up and kissed me while the entire restaurant applauded.

When we finally came apart, we accepted congratulations as Linda kept filming. I could see other phones out; the Internet would soon explode with the video of the Sharkbabe getting engaged to a man she’d known less than a week. I didn’t care; they would never understand that our mating was a far stronger bond than any religious or civil ceremony. I knew we’d have to get married so I could get resident status in Australia, but I didn’t expect it this soon.

The manager bought us champagne, and we sipped on bubbly as I looked at my ring. The oval-cut sapphire drew your eye, and it was huge! “How big is this stone,” I asked.

“Two and a half carats,” Nicholas said with a grin. “I wanted to make sure everyone could see you were engaged.”

“It works,” I said as I kissed him. “It’s beautiful. How did you know I didn’t want a big diamond?”

“Your Mom,” he said.

“I should call her,” I said as I thought about it.

“Just wave and tell her hello, I’ve been live-streaming this back to Melbourne and Miesville for the last fifteen minutes,” Linda said with a grin. “They saw it all.”

I turned my hand towards the camera and showed off my ring. “Thanks, Mom. You did great.” I turned back to the girls. “Some reality show we are. One started as a married woman, two got engaged before filming started, and the fourth didn’t make it a month before she was off the market!”

“Can’t blame Nicholas for putting a ring on it,” Makani said with a smile.

“Yeah, he couldn’t risk some heartthrob in Rio sweeping you off your feet,” Noelani teased.

“There’s no chance of that now,” I said as I turned back to my man. “When should we get married?”

“Christmas on the beach,” Amy suggested. “We finish up in Acapulco, then fly back here for Christmas. Olivia, Leo, Hammer, and Susan will still be here, and your Dad can bring Mark and Chance down after school goes on break.”

“That could work if you’re all right with our Moms planning things while you’re on tour,” Nicholas said. “Great time for a party, and the sooner we are married, the faster I can get your paperwork started for residency.”

I thought about it for a moment. “I’m all right with the time, but I want to get married in a shark cage off the Neptune Islands with a twenty-foot Great White Shark as my ring bearer.”

I looked around the table, working to keep a straight face as they tried to figure out how to talk me out of that insanely bad wedding idea. Amy played it straight. “Can they fit four of us and the preacher into one of those cages?”

“And how do you keep the shark from swimming off with your ring,” Makani asked.

“What then, do you throw a chum bouquet and see which shark is next to be pregnant?” Noelani looked at me as I finally lost it. “You’re just messing with us, aren’t you?”

I was laughing as I nodded. “You have to admit it would be great for the reality show.” I was happy to see Nicholas hadn’t objected; as long as I was his at the end of the day, I don’t think he cared how we got there. “Maybe for our honeymoon.”

Strong arms pulled me back into a toned body. “I love you, Vicki Lawrence.”

I leaned my head back for the kiss. “And I love you too, Nicholas Corcoran.”