Goldie placed me between the two of them as we waved to strangers below. I was kind of surprised that so many people had come to see the ship off, since cruises were a daily occurrence around here, but I soon found out from one of the crewmembers that this cruise time was on the city tour map. The people below were mostly sightseers and had come to watch the ship set sail.

“It’s still fun!” I shouted to Goldie and Miles.

Miles nodded. “At least we can pretend that we know the people madly waving to us.”

We all laughed and shouted out various names as if we really did know them. I scanned the crowd and decided which ones were my friends and which were family. “That guy over there looks like my Uncle Walt,” I said. “Hey, Uncle Walt! Bye!”

Miles nodded.

Goldie agreed.

I leaned closer. “Wow. He really does. And that lady-”

“Yoo-hoo! Pauline!”

I turned to my friends. “I think the sun is getting to me. I could swear I just heard my mother yoo-hooing!”

Goldie touched my forehead. “It’s cloudy today, Suga. I think you need some medical attention yourself.” We all laughed.

“Pączki! Pączki!”

Goldie leaned over the railing. “I thought I heard your father calling his nickname for you. You know, that word for the big, fat, round, prune-filled Polish donut.”

“Pronounced like ‘paunchki,’” I mumbled, afraid to admit that I’d heard it too.

Miles leaned closer to Goldie and pointed. “Yikes.”

“What?” I bent to see where they were looking. “Oh…my…God.”

Walking up into the ship was Mother, Father, Uncle Walt and some strange lady with blue hair. I collapsed into Goldie’s chest.

“You think they are just coming to see us off?” I said in a pleading tone.

They both looked at me and said, “Do you?”

“Damn.”

“I’d use something stronger than that,” Goldie said in a very consoling tone.

“Pauline! Yoo-hoo! We are coming along. Uncle Walt got us a wonderful deal on eBay!” eBay? Who knew Stella Sokol would ever utter the word eBay?

I forced a smile and watched my family walk onto the ship-and felt my insides knot up tighter than the sailor’s knots in the ship’s lines, holding us there in port.

“So, we decided we could all use a vacation,” my mother said where we all stood in the ornate gold-and-purple lobby.

I realized what she said was a blatant lie. My parents were here to watch over me, just like my two friends were. I should be glad, but I had a job to do and didn’t need any interference.

And oh, could Stella Sokol interfere.

I politely explained to my mother that this was a singles cruise, and maybe they’d rather wait for another one-as if the ships came in to dock like taxicabs.

She gave me one of those “Really, Pauline” looks and stopped me from arguing before I could open my mouth. Daddy was mesmerized by the ornate lobby and stood staring and silent.

Guess it wouldn’t hurt to have them take a vacation.

Other than going to war in Korea, my father had never been out of New England either. And the farthest away from Connecticut that Mother had been was Maine.

A cruise with my family and two closest friends.

What could it hurt?

Who was I kidding? What could it hurt to have your parents on the same cruise as you, a never-married thirtysomething? And this a singles cruise, to boot. What if I really did meet Mr. Right, and my parents were along on what would then feel like a claustrophobic tiny vessel, which only held around 490 passengers and a little over 300 crewmembers?

Despite my logically knowing the ship was the size of Hope Valley, I felt like the walls were closing in on me because the entire Sokol clan was here. Okay, no siblings, but now I wouldn’t be surprised if my brothers, sisters and their families climbed onboard too.

What the hell was I thinking, telling them where I’d be?

I leaned toward my mother, who was “yoo-hooing” to every gorgeous male (and there were scads of them) who climbed onboard. “Mom. Mother! Stop doing that. And, is anyone else coming onboard to ‘surprise’ me?”

Mother turned and grinned. At least I think she was my mother, but damn, outside of Hope Valley Stella Sokol seemed a different person. “That’s why you are still single, Pauline.”

“Because I don’t yell to strangers?”

She clucked her tongue. “Because you don’t…Well, you don’t let yourself go. Ever. Live a little.”

I could only stare. The question “Who are you and what did you do with my mother?” sat on the tip of my tongue. But I couldn’t even get that out. Let myself go and live a little? Suddenly the Bermuda Triangle was sounding like less and less of a threat, since now I was living in the Twilight Zone.

My relatives were all greeted, and everyone was ushered to their cabins by the staff. I wondered if I could avoid the Sokols for the remainder of their trip, but then reminded myself that I was talking about my mother. If any investigative skills came naturally to me, they had to be in the genes passed on by her. She could find a hidden cookie in a kid’s sock drawer during a blackout while she had the cold of the century.

After we parted, I thanked the guy who helped me find my way back to my cabin. I unlocked the door and walked in to see several suitcases sitting in the middle of the room.

On the twin bed near the porthole lay a woman.

“Oops. Sorry.” I checked the number on the door to make sure before closing it and assumed she was my roommate. “Hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Nope. I’m Jackie,” she managed to say.

I walked closer and looked down. Her brown hair fanned across the pillow like a mermaid’s. Deep, dark eyes that could be haunting if it weren’t for the watery look that made her appear more ill than sexy. Her lips were colored in deep red, but smudged on the bottom, giving her a kind of glamorous hooker appearance.

“Pauline Sokol. I’m only filling in until they find a permanent nurse.”

Jackie’s eyes grew large, and then she merely groaned and shifted. “None of the medical staff is permanent. This month we get to sail with Dr. Peter VanHamon, a freaking OB/GYN from Minneapolis. Probably had some ER training in his past, but who knows how long ago. Dear Peter and I have sailed many times together. Cross your fingers that there are no cardiac problems this trip.” She chuckled, then coughed and shut her eyes.

“Oh.” Oh? That was all I could manage? Not wanting to stare at her, and reminding myself that she might be the one showing me the ropes, I looked out the porthole and thought of the doctor who could deliver babies for the swinging singles but probably not splint a broken wrist. Whoa! The skyline of New York City was moving!

I jumped and let out a shout.

Jackie grabbed her head. “Cripes, Sokol. I hope you’re not going to act like some femme who’s never left home.”

I should have been insulted, but Jackie spoke in a French accent, so whatever she said seemed so impressive, I almost didn’t care what it was. As I watched the Statue of Liberty get smaller and smaller, I said, “Sorry. Are you not feeling well?”

“Hungover, Sokolé. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

I looked back and wondered why a beautiful young woman would drink so much that she’d look, and obviously feel, like crap the next day. “Did you party too much last night?” Everyone was allowed at least one faux pas.

“I didn’t party at all.”

Her tone sounded so, well, sad. I could feel my forehead crease, as she lay there with her breathing rather shallow. She moaned.

“I just assumed-”

“Do not assume anything around here, Pauline Sokolé. Nothing.” With that she shut her eyes, while mine bugged out at the scary thought. It wasn’t only what she said, but how she’d said it.

Suddenly my singles cruise of fun and bronzed men had become a cruise to hell.