Santa Cruise Read Online Free PDF Page A

Christmas, and in the old days he and Joan used to go on a vacation after spending Christmas with their son, Bill, and his family. Ted had been with them for the last few days. When he’d won the cruise, they had urged him to take it.
    â€œDad, Mom would want you to go out and have some fun. With nine other Santa Clauses on board, you’ll have something in common to talk about. And if there are any single ladies on board, ask someone to dance. You’re only fifty-eight, and you haven’t even glanced at a woman since Mom died.”
    But now, standing in the midst of all these strangers, Ted felt desolate. He wondered if it was too late to grab his bags and get off the ship. He gave himself a mental shrug. And what would I do then?
    Snap out if it, he told himself, and picked up his glass of champagne.
    *   *   *
    Ivy Pickering had just read the guest list and was thrilled to learn that Alvirah Meehan, Regan Reilly, and Nora Regan Reilly were all going to be on the ship. She had a glass of champagne in her hand and had positioned herself so that she’d see them the moment they arrived at the party. Shewanted to introduce herself so that later on, when everybody got settled, she might be able to spend some time with them. She had been a fan of Alvirah’s ever since Alvirah had started writing a column in the New York Globe after winning the money in the lottery. Ivy was so fascinated by Alvirah’s account of how she and Regan and Regan’s new husband, Jack, had worked together to save Regan’s father when he was kidnapped.
    Ivy was a new member of the year-old Oklahoma Readers and Writers group, whose members volunteered their time teaching people to read. Many of the writers were in the mystery field. Ivy was one of the readers. She always said she’d make a good detective but not a good writer. There were fifty in their group and they’d been written up in a magazine because of the amount of time they gave to literacy programs. That’s why they had been invited to join the cruise.
    For fun, the group had decided to have a ghost of honor, Left Hook Louie, an Oklahoman mystery writer who—after he retired from the ring as a heavyweight prizefighter—had begun punching out words. He’d written forty mysteries featuring a retired boxer turned sleuth. Louie had died in his sixties, and his eightieth birthday would have been two days from now, which was why they had decided to honor him. They planned to hangposters of his battered, smiling face, his hands in boxing gloves, resting on the typewriter, throughout the ship.
    Ivy had never been on a cruise before and intended to explore every inch of the Royal Mermaid. Her eighty-five-year-old mother didn’t get around much anymore but loved to hear all the details of Ivy’s adventures. They lived together in the house where sixty-one years ago Ivy had been born.
    *   *   *
    As the Commodore led their group to the deck where the party was being held, Alvirah was looking forward to getting her first glimpse of the rock-climbing wall that had so intrigued her in the brochure. She was momentarily startled when a small, birdlike woman darted out at her and put a hand on her arm.
    â€œI’m Ivy Pickering,” the woman volunteered eagerly. “I’m such a fan. I’ve read your columns and every single one of Nora’s books. I cut out pictures of Regan’s beautiful wedding and saved them. I just knew I had to say hello to all of you the moment you got here.” She beamed at them. “I won’t keep you.”
    You are keeping us, Commodore Weed thought, but he wouldn’t dream of offending one of his benevolent guests.
    â€œI want to get a good place along the railing to watch as the ship begins to sail. But I wonder if sometime in the next day or two I could pose for a few pictures with you to show my mother when I get