Page 46 of Totally Shipped
“Come on, come on.”
And then we round a corner.
“Hot springs!”
The air is warm and steamy. The water bubbles softly and the cave smells of sulfur. This must be the place that Gray and Killian found.
“You can rest here, Brooke. The water is good to drink—I’ll get dinner started.”
Any movement sounds painful, but the idea of cleaning my leg? Try and stop me. I need to get in while I still have the tiniest dribble of gas in the tank.
I don’t stop at cleaning the wound on my leg. I wade in up to my chin. Even though the water is hot, it’s not shockingly so. The floor of the pool is gravely, but not uncomfortable on my feet—these stones have long been smoothened by the ever moving water. In the dark and the steam, I try to forget about my predicament and just focus on the baby.
“Do you like this, little bean?” The ‘little bean’ gives a gentle kick, like a butterfly fluttering in my stomach. I rub my hands over my belly and sing a nursery rhyme that would be sung at the mommy and me book club.
“Rub-a-dub-dub,
Three men in a tub,
And who do you think they’d be?
The butcher, the baker,
The candlestick-maker,
All put out to sea.”
As I sing, I sway in the water and can feel every beat of my heart pump the blood around my body. I imagine the little bean, curled snug inside me, enjoying the warmth and the gentle motion. I hope hearing their mama’s voice makes them feel safe and loved.
Blood pumping.
I feel so drowsy now. It would be very easy to just slip under the water and sleep forever.
Heat. Blood.
Come on, Daisy. Time to get out now.
This cave feels magical, and I don’t think I’m the first pregnant woman to soak in these waters.
Time to get out now, Daisy.
Reluctantly, I listen to the echoes of all the mama’s before me, and drag myself out of the water. As soon as I leave the water, I realize how close I was to passing out. The wound on my leg is steadily streaming with blood again. I tear the bottom of my shirt and make a makeshift bandage, then press my hand tight against it.
Thank you, sisters.
The spirits don’t reply, but I know they heard me.
KILLIAN
Ican’t believe how long and tiring this swim is.
During the thirty minutes of swimming, we say very little. There is just the odd grunt now and then as we move steadily through the water.
The sea is mostly calm, but every now and then a rogue current tugs at our legs. A couple of times we just hold onto the bamboo poles and float for a while. My skin feels like it’s burning from the nipples upward. That’s a surprise; we are all so tan that I thought getting a sunburn would be impossible by now.
There is probably some science explanation about light bouncing off the water.
The shore of the small island is only a few hundred yards away now.
