Baby Bonanza Read Online Free PDF Page B

sigh. “After my meeting, I came topside and I’ve been putting off going back down by hanging out on the Verandah Deck.”
    “So you don’t know.”
    “Know what?” Jenna was beginning to think that maybe Mary had had a few margaritas too many. “What’re you talking about?”
    “It’s the most incredible thing. I really can’t believe it myself and I’ve seen it.” She slapped one hand to her pale blue blouse and groaned like she was in the midst of an orgasm.
    “Mary…what is going on?”
    “Right, right.” The blonde picked up her drink, took a big gulp and said, “It happened early this afternoon. Joe and I were up on the Promenade, you know, looking at all the shops. Well,” she admitted, “I was looking, Joe was being dragged reluctantly along behind me. And when we came out of the Crystal Candle—which you should really check out, they have some amazing stuff in there—”
    Jenna wondered if there was a way to get Mary to stay on track long enough to tell her what was happening. But probably not, so she took a sip of her drink and prepared to wait it out. She didn’t have to wait long.
    “When we came out,” Mary was saying, “there was a ship steward waiting for us. He said, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Curran?’ all official-sounding and for a second I wondered what we’d done wrong, but we hadn’t done anything and so Joe says, ‘What’s this about?’ and the steward only told us to go with him.”
    “Mary…”
    Her new friend grinned. “I’m getting to it. Really. It’s just that it’s all so incredible—right.” She waved one hand to let Jenna know she was back on track, then she went right back to her story. “The steward takes us up to the owner’s suite—you know, Nick Falco?”
    “Yeah,” Jenna murmured. “I know who he is.”
    “Who in the English-speaking world doesn’t?” Mary said on a laugh, then continued. “So we’re standing there in the middle of a suite that looks like a palace or something and Nick Falco himself comes up to us, introduces himself and apologizes about our cabin in the pit.”
    “What?” Jenna just stared at the other woman, not sure what to make of all this.
    “I know! I was completely floored, let me tell you. I was almost speechless and Joe can tell you that that almost never happens.” She paused for another gulp of her drink and when she finished it, held up one hand for the waitress to bring another. “So there we are and Mr. Falco’s being so nice and so sincere about how he feels so badly about the state of the rooms on the Riviera Deck—and can you believe how badly misnamed that deck is?—and he insists on upgrading us.”
    “Upgrading?”
    “Seriously upgrading,” Mary said as she thanked the waitress for her fresh margarita. She waited until the server had disappeared with her empty glass before continuing. “So I’m happy, because hey, that tiny cabin is just so hideous. And I’m expecting a middle-grade cabin with maybe a porthole, which would be great. But that’s not what we got.”
    “It’s not?” Jenna set her glass down onto the table and watched as Mary’s eyes actually sparkled even harder than they had been.
    “Oh, no. Mr. Falco said that most of the cabins were already full, which is how we got stuck in those tiny ones in the first place. So he moved us into a luxury suite! ”
    “He did?”
    “It’s on the Splendor Deck. The same level as Mr. Falco’s himself. And Jenna, our suite is amazing! It’s bigger than my house. Plus, he said our entire cruise is on him. He’s refunding what we paid for that hideous cabin and insisting that we pay nothing on this trip.”
    “Wow.” Nick had always taken great pride in keeping his passengers happy, but this was…well, to use Mary’s word, amazing. Cruise passengers usually looked forward to a bill at the end of a cruise that could amount to several hundred dollars. Oh, the food and accommodations were taken care of when you rented your cabin. But