“All done,” she said. “The guys have taken most of it out already. We should be good to go now.”
“All right, everyone, now is as good a time as any,” Mark said then. “Let’s move out.”
“I’m so excited,” Chelsea told him with a smile. He gave her hand a little squeeze as they walked, and the ring he’d put on it last night pinched slightly, making her wince.
“Oh, sorry,” he grimaced. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s fine,” she said with a laugh. “I like being reminded that it’s there.”
“Me too,” he said as he let go, and they walked side by side out to the docks.
“The happy couple arrives,” said Erik teasingly.
Chelsea’s eyes met with Jill’s, and a nod passed between them.
“Blissfully happy, thank you,” Mark replied, holding Chelsea’s ringed hand up briefly so they could see it.
“Wow, really?” asked Nancy excitedly.
“When’s the big day?” Angel inquired.
“We don’t have an exact date, but about six months from now,” Chelsea explained. “And I want all three of you girls in the wedding. And since I’ve known Nancy the longest, she gets to be the maid of honor. Hope you girls like ocean colors.”
“Well, duh,” Angel scoffed. “We’re about to go live in the ocean.”
“Speaking of which, how about joining us in the boat already?” grumbled Ross. “You guys can talk all the way down to the bottom for all I care, but we have to get to the drop point first.”
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“Yeah, yeah,” Chelsea called after him. “Quit being such a grouch. It’s not that early in the morning. Maybe you should take a nap all the way there.”
“How’s a guy going to nap with all that high pitched, excited giggling going on anyway?” Mark chuckled. “Chelsea, you and the girls can submerge in Betty and talk to your heart’s content. Just be sure you don’t get distracted while you’re at the wheel, hmm?”
“Fine,” she agreed.
“But for now, I want you by me on deck. Looks like the sun is going to give us a great day for soaking up some rays for a couple hours before the dive.”
“Not a problem,” she said as she rejoined him and they curled up side by side on a couple of the lawn chairs. Everyone else scattered across the deck as well, forming smaller groups to wait out the journey back out to their island and subsequent drop-off inside the submersibles to the Oceanica station itself.