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Chapter Forty Seven

“So here I am, sitting out on the balcony of our honeymoon suite at the Park Hyatt in beautiful Sydney, Australia. You can see the Sydney Opera House from here,” I explained, panning my video camera across the water. There was no need to zoom in on the Opera House. It was right there.

“They’ve got an amazing breakfast. For some odd reason I really wanted pancakes and Lucky Charms this morning.” I zoomed in on my breakfast plate.

“And I’ve died and gone to heaven in the complimentary bathrobe. It’s only 48 degrees this morning but I’m nice and warm.” I held the camera out and waved in all my white plush glory.

“What are you doing?”

I turned the camera to Nick. He was wrapped in an identical robe, his hair helter skelter and looking like he could have slept another twelve hours. Of course, part of our night wasn’t spent sleeping.

“Just making a honeymoon diary for our memories,” I said.

Nick stared bleary eyed at the camera.

“Are we keeping it PG?”

“Yes!”

“Oh. Damn.”

“Nick!”

He laughed, his face relaxed into a perfect smile.

“You look beautiful this morning.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

Nick came over and sat across from me. He took the camera and held it up close. I pulled it back so you could see something other than his nose and mouth.

“We’ve got exciting plans today,” Nick said. “Well today I’m taking my lovely wife on a boat cruise along the harbor. But first we’re going to the Sydney Aquarium where I’m going to swim with sharks and then we’re going to have an authentic Australia lunch.”

I grinned. “Really? A cruise? That’s going to be so awe---wait did you say swim with sharks?”

“Yes?”

I paused the camera and set it down in the middle of the breakfast table.

“Are you nuts?”

“I’ve been called that a couple times, yes.”

“Why are you going to swim with sharks?”

Nick laughed. “Well initially we both were going to swim with the sharks, but I don’t think Dr. Tresher has that on the list of acceptable activities for you to do.”

I opened my mouth but I honestly didn’t know what to say.

“It’s completely safe,” Nick added. “I’ll be with licensed aquarium instructors. Plus, you’re my incentive for coming up alive.”

“You’re sure it’s safe?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then why do I hear the theme song from Jaws in my head?”

“Because you’re an 80’s nerd just like me.”

I laughed. “True.”

Nick picked up the box of Lucky Charms.

“Lucky Charms and pancakes?” he asked, motioning to my almost empty bowl and plate.

“All diets are off,” I said. “Chalk it up to a pregnancy craving.”

I rolled a little syrup from my plate onto my finger and sucked slowly. Nick’s eyes darkened.

“I suddenly have a craving,” he said huskily. I paused mid-suck.

“I know something else that would taste good with syrup,” he said. He leaned back, his hand resting on the knot in his robe sash.

“We don’t want to be late for the aquarium,” I teased. He grinned.

“As far as I’m concerned we’re running on honeymoon time for a whole week. Time ceases to exist.”

I picked up the bottle of syrup.

“Well, if you’re going to die by shark bite you might as well go out happy, right?”

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By the time we walked through the hotel lobby to leave for the aquarium, it was almost one o’clock. The moment we stepped through the doors, I knew something was up.

“It didn’t take them long,” Nick muttered as we waited for the valet to pull the car around.

“Who?”

“Paparazzi. And fans.”

A loud squeal came from the left and the sounds of cameras flashing came from the right. Nick’s hand grabbed mine and he stepped in front of me.

“Nick is it true that you’re married?”

“Is this where you’re honeymooning?”

“Did your brother’s arrest have anything to do with getting married?”

“NICK! NICK!!!!!”

It was nothing short of pandemonium. The valet pulled our car around and Nick yanked my door open.

“We’re still going?” I asked.

“I am not letting this ruin our plans,” Nick said. I sat down and he closed the door. He walked quickly to the driver’s side and got in.

“We rode to the aquarium in relative silence. I saw Nick constantly checking the rearview mirror.

“Do you think those two lobby clerks from last night spread the word?” I asked. Nick nodded.

“Absolutely.”

“Well, at least you’re still well loved down here.”

Nick cracked a smile. “You’re just lucky we didn’t go to Japan. You haven’t seen crazy.”

We got to the aquarium seemingly without being followed. We walked hand in hand through the building. There were fish and other marine life I had never seen before. I felt like a little kid, my hands on the glass, peering through the beautiful water in awe. Each time Nick would lean into me, his hand resting intimately on my lower back or my hip bone.

Finally, we arrived at the shark tank. Nick went over and introduced himself to a tall thin man. They talked for several minutes and then Nick walked back over to me.

“There’s a private little viewing area I’ll walk you down to,” Nick explained.

“I’m not sure about this,” I said uncertainly as we walked down the slippery steps.

“It’ll be fine,” Nick assured me. He opened a metal door and we walked into a well lit comfortable viewing area. Well…as comfortable as you can get with sharks swimming by the glass.

“You got all the pancake syrup off you right?” I asked as I sat down in a chair. Nick gave me one of his infamous upside down Spiderman kisses.

“I am completely syrup-free,” Nick said. "Plus I'm pretty sure sharks like their humans sugar-free." He turned to go, I grabbed his wrist.

“I love you,” I said. Nick’s eyes sparkled.

“I love you too.”

The metal door reverberated around the room as Nick went back up the stairs. It was an uncomfortable silence. I tried not to look into the water, but every now and then a huge shape would float past the glass. Each time I couldn’t help but think how happy I was that I was pregnant.

There was no way Nick would have got me into a tank with live sharks.

Or dead sharks for that matter.

I prepared my camera and fiddled with the controls just to have something to do. After about twenty minutes I couldn’t help but glance out into the water. My eyes widened as I saw three wetsuits diving through the water.

One of the wetsuits separated from the pack and began to swim closer and closer. I couldn’t help but smile as Nick, in full gear, pressed against the window. He made the shape of a heart and pointed towards the window. I returned the gesture and then held up my camera. He nodded and struck a pose.

I almost had a heart attack as I took the picture. A shark swam heart-stoppingly close to him. It made a cool picture, but did nothing for my pulse. I pointed anxiously to the right of his shoulder. He turned and gave me a thumbs up.

I sank back down into my seat, trying to keep an eye on Nick at all times. He seemed to be having a lot of fun, but after awhile I noticed that the sharks seemed to be getting, well, riled.
One of the instructors made the ‘up’ sign rapidly.

I couldn’t stay down there a minute longer. I yanked open the door and holding tightly onto the railing, made my way up the water logged steps.

Nick was just hoisting himself out of the shark pool as I made my way onto the deck.

“Is everything okay?” I said. Nick yanked off his mask. He looked angry.

“Everything was fine until twenty freakin’ girls started beating on the glass and irritating the sharks,” he said.

“Girls?” I said in confusion.

“You were in the private shark viewing room. On the other side is the public viewing area. I think some of the fans from the hotel tracked us down. They got a little antsy when they saw me in the shark tank.”

The tall instructor stripped off his gear. The other instructor was a girl that I hadn’t met before I went down into the room. She had long dark hair just like mine.

“They seemed to start hitting the glass more as I went past,” she said. “I’m going to get someone over to that area to kick them out.”

I watched her walk off. A thought occurred to me.

“I wonder if they thought that instructor was me,” I said lightly. “I’m sure a few fans wouldn’t mind if I got eaten by a shark.”

Nick spit out a little bit of water.

“Well, they’re going to have to get through me first. Nothing’s going to attack you,” he paused. “Except me.”

I shook my head. Nick peeled back the wetsuit. Water glistened off his stomach.

“You ready for lunch?” Nick asked.

“Sure. Sounds good,” I said. I felt much better now that Nick was safely out of reach of Jaws.

Nick got dressed and with the assistance of a couple staff members, we snuck out the back entrance. We got to our car unscathed and Nick pulled into traffic.

“I’m changing our lunch plans,” Nick said. “We’re going to find a nice, quiet, hole in the wall.”

Luckily, there were a lot of those types of places around. Nick pulled into the parking lot of a fairly empty outside café. He wrapped his leather jacket around my shoulders as we walked to a corner table.

“Thank you,” I said. It was a cool day and even though I wore a long sleeve t-shirt, the chilliness crept through the cotton.

“No problem. My blood’s still pumping from the sharks,” Nick said.

A waiter passed by, dropping off menus and took down an order for drinks. I scanned the menu. A great deal of it was seafood.

“I should get the bangers and mash,” Nick said. I scanned the menu.

“What the hell is bangers and mash?”

“I don’t know. I just like the word bangers.”

Nick finally opted for some fish; I picked the tamest thing on the menu: tomato and cheese quesadillas. As the waiter walked off with our menus, Nick stared at me, resting his chin in his hand.

“What?”

“I’m going to assume you will never eat bison balls or anything like that.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Out of the question.”

“So, that first night when Howie picked the restaurant and we ended up at McDonald’s…”

“Love at first sight,” I said with a laugh.

As we waited for our food, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I took it out and smiled.

“I just got a text message from Sam. He just wanted to remind us to behave ourselves.”

Nick laughed. “Yeah right.”

I felt horrible that I didn’t spend much time talking to Sam the night of the wedding. I sent back a quick text just as our food arrived.

Even though it was a safe bet, the quesadillas tasted amazing. Nick dug into his plate with gusto.

We enjoyed a nice secluded dinner. We were contemplating dessert when the fans finally caught up with us.

“I think we’re going to have to get dessert on the boat tour,” Nick said. He flagged over the waiter and paid our bill. We ducked behind a large pillar just as a group of girls came in.

“Those are the shark bait girls,” Nick confirmed. We got to the car and Nick pulled away. Disaster averted.

Unfortunately, we were able to run, but we couldn’t hide. As Nick pulled up to the harbor for the cruise, we saw a mass of cameras. It was like they had anticipated our next move.

“Damnit!” Nick said. He did a u-turn and headed back towards the hotel.

Unfortunately, through the course of the day, the word had spread that Nick Carter was basking in the beautiful land of Australia with his bride. Paparazzi were still camped out outside the Park Hyatt.

“Okay, I am not doing this for a whole week,” Nick said. He pulled around the side of the building to where trucks delivered supplies. He put the car in park and took out his cell phone.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m calling my travel agent.”

Twenty minutes later Nick had our luggage in the car and we were driving out of downtown Sydney. Nick had the GPS on and we headed into the Blue Mountains.

“This place is supposed to be nice and secluded,” Nick said. “I’m just sorry that you have to deal with this.”

“Hey, it comes with the territory,” I said lightly. I could see the disappointment on his face. I touched his arm. “Nick, I don’t care where we are. It’s our honeymoon and as long as I’m with you, I’m never going to forget this as long as I live.”

Nick lifted my hand and kissed my fingertips.

“Trust me Livvy, I’m going to love you forever.”

Forever sounded good to me.