"What's the sense in it?"
Marie threw up her hands in exasperation. " `What's the sense in it?' For one thing, sweetie, you're the girl of the hour. In case you haven't noticed, the phone has been ringing off the hook for the past three days. Every woman's magazine in the country wants your exclusive story, and I've taken at least eight requests for you to appear on nationally televised talk shows. Like it or not, you're big news. Don't you think it's about time you came back down to earth and met the onslaught head-on?"
"What's there to say? So I was the only woman on board an old drifting derelict with twenty men. Big deal."
"You almost died out there in the ocean and you treat the whole episode as though it were just another cruise down the Nile on Cleopatra's barge. Having all those men catering to your every whim must have gone to your head."
If only Marie knew the whole truth. But Dana and everyone on board had been sworn to secrecy by Warren Nicholson. The attempted assault by the Russians was to be buried and forgotten by everyone. But she took a perverse sort of satisfaction in knowing that her performance on the Titanic that cold stormy night would linger in the minds of the men who were present for the rest of their lives.
"Too much happened out there." Dana sighed. "I'm not the same person any more."
"So what does that mean?"
"To begin with, I'm taking out papers to divorce Gene."
"It's come to that?"
"It's come to that," Dana repeated firmly. "Also, I'm going to take a leave of absence from NUMA and have a fling at life. As long as I'm the exalted female of the year, I'm going to make it pay. The personal stories, the TV appearances-they're going to enable me to do what every girl yearns to do all her life."
"Which is?"
"Spend money, and have a high old time doing it."
Marie shook her head sadly. "I'm beginning to feel like I've helped create a monster."
Dana took her gently by the hand. "Not you, dear friend. It took a brush with death for me to learn that I had condemned myself to an existence that led nowhere.
"It began, I suppose, with my childhood-" Dana's voice trailed off as the terrible memories came flickering back. "My childhood was a nightmare, and I've carried its effects with me all my adult life. I even infected my marriage with its sickness. Gene recognized the symptoms and married me more out of pity than deep love. Unwittingly, he treated me more as a father than as a lover.
"I can't force myself to go back now. The emotional responses that it takes to build and maintain a lasting relationship just aren't in me. I'm a loner, Marie; I know that now. I'm too selfish with my affections toward others; it's the albatross around my neck. From here on in, I'm going it alone. That way I can never hurt anyone ever again."
Marie looked up, tears in her eyes. "Well then, I guess between us we'll even up the sides. You're folding your marriage and going back to the single ways while I'm shucking the odd-woman-out syndrome and joining the great ranks of the matronly housewives."
Dana's lips parted in a wide smile. "You and Mel?"
"Me and Mel."
"When?"
"It had better be soon or I'm going to have to order my trousseau from the Blessed Event Maternity Shop."
/> "You're pregnant?"
"That ain't Betty Crocker that's rising in my oven."
Dana came around the table and hugged Marie. "You with a baby, I can't believe it."
"You better believe it. They tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and massive doses of adrenaline, but it was no go. The frog still died."
"You mean rabbit."
"Where've you been? They gave up rabbits years ago."
"Oh, Marie, I'm so happy for you. The two of us beginning whole new life patterns. Aren't you excited?"
"Oh sure," Marie said in a dry tone. "Nothing like starting anew with a big bang."
"Is there any other way?"