Chapter Fifteen

Taylor and Daisy left the store together and met the other Littles on the pool deck.

One was named Levi. He was about thirty years old and was tall, had dark hair, and wore a onesie with an obvious diaper beneath it. After introducing himself, he explained that his Mommy, Tish, owned and operated the ship's salon.

The other was Ella, who introduced herself as Dr. Kirk's wife and Little. She was in her forties but clearly in Little Space, based upon the pink romper and diaper she wore. Her hair was in pigtails, and she was as cute as could be.

The Littles were ready for some fun in the water!

While it wasn't incredibly warm, the pools and lazy rivers themselves were heated. The Littles decided they needed to make use of them all despite the calendar being deep into November.

"When else will we have this ship all to ourselves?" Nelly said.

"Your Daddy is the captain," Taylor pointed out. "Don't you get it to yourself a lot?"

"Only for a day or two at a time," Nelly replied. "And we're always docked then. My Daddy runs a lot of people through here. He doesn't like to have an empty vessel long. The holidays are an exception. After we take you and King Ireneo home, we'll sail the short distance back to Florida where the passengers will board and then it's full steam ahead."

"Well, let's take advantage of this lull," Levi suggested. "We have all the pools and slides to ourselves. Which one we going to do first?"

"Taylor is our guest. I think she should pick," Ella suggested.

"Great idea!" Levi said.

"Hmm." Tayor's face scrunched up as she looked at the slides and studied her options. "That swirling one looks fun!"

"It's my favorite!" Daisy told her. "You need a raft to go down it and then you shoot straight out into that pool. Come on!"

The Littles skipped giddily toward the slide. As they were walking up, Nelly said, "Normally, there are ship employees helping people at the top. But my Daddy said we can do it by ourselves as long as we're careful and obey all the usual rules."

At the top, they found a neatly stacked collection of single-rider rafts. They each grabbed one. The sounds of the jets and the rushing water they propelled were loud as the Littles prepared for their descent. Ella reached down and touched her hand in the water right where it shot out at the top of the slide.

"It's not too cold. It's better when you get down into the landing pool," she said. "Much warmer with the heaters." She stepped aside and looked at Taylor. "You want to go first?"

"Sure," Taylor said, fighting the nerves as she spoke. It hadn't looked so high from the ground. But up here, looking out over the vast Atlantic Ocean, it seemed like she was in the sky!

She'd been in lots of scarier situations than this, though. Life in foster homes and on the streets wasn't a picnic. She could easily manage a waterslide. It even looked fun! The only issue was, she'd never been on one before. The people that ran the group home didn't have the kind of money it took to take eight foster kids to an amusement park. The closest she'd ever come was riding a Ferris wheel at Coney Island—and that was nothing like a waterslide. Particularly this waterslide!

She felt like she was standing on top of Mount Everest, looking down on the world.

Oh what the heck? she finally figured. You only live once.

Without second-guessing it, she plopped the tube at the slide's entrance, bounced on top of it, and pushed off, calling out, "See you down there!"

Her stomach dropped as she dipped down the first hill. Water flew at her, but thankfully it wasn't very cold. Her apprehension gave way to utter delight as she rounded a curve, the raft going up high on the raised sides, before she came back down to the middle and raced down another drop.

The slide swirled several times, sending her toward the landing pool. She rocketed out into it, skimming across the top of the clear water, making little ripples and splashes in her wake.

She slowed down a few feet from the stairs and then floated lazily to them. By the time she slid out of her raft, walked up the stairs, and turned to face the slide, Ella was coming off it.

She skimmed the water's surface, the same way Taylor had, and then drifted to the steps. Next was Nelly, followed by Daisy, and then Levi.

"That was so much fun!" Taylor said, still riding the high that the thrill had given her. She'd never experienced anything like it! It was truly magical.

Her mind drifted back to just several days before. Walking along the cold streets of New York City, she never would have dreamed she'd be on a giant cruise liner, sailing the ocean blue, riding water slides today.

It was exhilarating! She felt positively invincible.

"I've got to do that again," she cried.

"Go for it," Nelly said.

Taylor did so, having just as much fun the second time around as she did the first. But the third and fourth times brought diminishing returns. She needed a new thrill.

"Wonder what would happen if I stacked two rafts," she said with a giggle. "That would set me up even higher!"

"Uh, I don't think I'd do that," Ella said.

"Yeah. You might get hurt. Besides, you heard the rules," Nelly reminded her. "We have to follow all the regular regulations, or our Daddies won't let us do this again."

"She's right," Levi said.

Daisy nodded, her eyes clearly pleading with Taylor not to go through with the dangerous stunt.

Tayor thought of reminding them that technically, Ireneo wasn't her Daddy. That argument didn't really hold water, though. He'd shown that no matter what he was to her, he was willing to discipline her when needed.

He wouldn't know, though. Right? She looked around to confirm that he wasn't in the vicinity. The coast seemed clear. What would a little harmless fun hurt?

"I'm going to do it," she declared. "But I understand if you all don't want to come along."

"I'm not so sure I even want to watch," Ella said. "You might really hurt yourself." Even though she was a Little, she was still a middle-aged mother. That nurturing core was shining through as she tried to talk the younger woman out of such a bad idea.

Yet Taylor would not be deterred. She hurried up the steps, going so fast that she tripped halfway up. She fell straight down onto her knees, but sprang up, wincing from the pain yet not slowing down. She hit the top platform and grabbed two rafts. "Watch this!" she hollered down.

"Taylor! Don't!" the Littles called in unison. They wanted to add more, like, "Hey, your Daddy is down here!" but there wasn't time. The naughty girl had made a double-decker raft and jumped on top just as she pushed it past the tipping point to send it down the slide.

"Whoa!" she yelled as chaos erupted.

The rafts stayed together for a little while—barely. Being higher up, it made the ride terrifying. The first curve nearly launched her off. For a moment, she'd even feared going over the side of the entire slide! Thankfully, though, the rafts corrected themselves.

But not for long.

They bounced left and then right, banging Taylor against the half-pipe wall of the slide. She regretted her choice. She'd seemed so invincible only moments ago. Now, though, she was literally fearing for her life. If she reached the bottom safely, she'd never do something so foolish again.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the rafts separated. The bottom one slid out, causing the raft she sat atop to bounce hard on the slide's surface. That was enough to jar her free. She flew backward and landed hard on her butt. The swim diaper she wore gave her a bit of cushion, but she still felt that impact all the way in her core.

It only got worse from there.

The next thing she knew, she was bouncing between the two walls like a pinball. She grunted and groaned before finally spilling into the landing pool.

She went under before she was able to hold her breath. Water invaded her nose, ears, and lungs, tiny bubbles gurgling to the surface above her.

She flailed her arms, but she wasn't a great swimmer. Never had been. Learning had never been high on her list when things like eating and having a safe place to sleep were so paramount.

She knew the pool wasn't very deep. It wouldn't take much to get to the surface. But she was stunned. Her brain wasn't quite working properly and was having difficulty sending the signal to her arms and legs to pump upward.

Suddenly, she felt her body being pulled toward the light of the sun on the other side of the water's surface. Precious air was only a few seconds away. Had she finally started swimming?

A moment later, she realized an arm was wrapped around her, holding her. A body was behind her, propelling her to safety.

Even though she couldn't see his face, she knew exactly who it was.

Ireneo had come for her.

Daddy was rescuing her.