First Class Voyage

PROLOGUE

Peter and Maureen Lathem were married in the spring of 1960. Their life together certainly hadn’t been perfect, but they were happy and still very much in love. Peter sold life insurance and had made a comfortable living for his family. They were a solid upper middle class Catholic family, living in Manhattan as had their parents and grandparents before them. Maureen had been an elementary school teacher for the first few years of their marriage, and after years of trying to have a baby they were finally blessed with Matthew, and then Mark, and then Andrew, and then David, Benjamin, Paul and finally, Timothy.

They had raised a family of fine young men, all of whom they were extremely proud. Maureen had always wanted a daughter; she had waited and waited. Matt’s first two marriages had not resulted in the daughter Maureen had been looking for, nor were they wives she had wanted for her son. But he had finally managed to capture the woman of his dreams in Janie, who was also the daughter of Maureen’s dreams. Now, in addition to Janie’s two sons with her first husband, Maureen had two beautiful little grandchildren to love and call her grandma.

And now Mark and Katy were together. Maureen adored her sons’ fiancée and was anxiously waiting for them to finally get married. It had been three years since they got engaged, and still no wedding date. They had made it clear that they would get married when they were ready. Katy had battled some tragedy in her life and had pulled it all together and found her perfect soul mate in Mark. The Lathem family welcomed her with open arms, along with her son Derek, who now lived in New York and worked for Matt and Mark at MEL Holdings - their real estate development firm - but Maureen had commented to Father Todd on several occasions that it was hard for her with them not being married and living in sin. Mark rolled his eyes when his mother brought up the wedding and Katy bit her tongue, so hard on some occasions that she had drawn blood. But despite all of that, they were all very happy and comfortable with each other and the Sunday family dinners were always a riot.

Andrew, their third son, and his husband Rory, had been married just a little bit longer than Matt and Janie. Andrew, a stock broker, and Rory, an attorney, had been looking into adopting a baby. They didn’t care about the gender or ethnicity, they just wanted to be parents and share their love with their child. They were hoping for a newborn, but if an older child was available they were prepared to consider all options. They had started the long process over a year ago and with each passing day, they became more anxious. Soon, they hoped. Very soon.

David would be considered a classic middle child. His older brothers were incredibly successful. All were in healthy relationships and all financially wealthy. David wasn’t jealous of his brothers but felt that in some eyes, he probably didn’t measure up to the standard they had set for him. The bar was very high and he had stopped trying to catch them a couple of years ago. Now in his mid-thirties, David had decided he needed to get his life together and move out of his parent’s house. After multiple failed investments and get-rich-quick schemes, he had found himself very happy as a curator for a small art gallery, finally putting his education to use. In school he had drawn for hours and hours in his text books, usually being scolded by his teachers, until in eighth grade - one teacher took notice and pushed him into the arts. He had loved it and excelled. An incredible artist in his own right, he now was paid to do what he loved. Why he hadn’t figured it out sooner, he didn’t know, but he was glad he had stumbled into his dream career. It would never make him wealthy like Matt or Mark, but it made him happy and that was what mattered most.

Benjamin was son number five. Ben worked for his brothers, Matt and Mark. He had started as a lowly assistant and had moved his way up in the company after proving his worth. Matt didn’t believe in nepotism and would not have anyone who worked for him question whether or not Ben deserved his position. He worked hard and was happy to have had the success he had based on his own achievements rather than the fact he was a little brother of the owners. Ben had been dating the same girl for about the past six years, and as often as they were together, they were ‘broken up’. Maureen never knew what their status was and had given up asking years ago. She had told her husband that he should just cut ties and move on, but Peter, wise man that he was, said that Ben would need to make that decision for himself.

Then there was Paul. Paul was the son Maureen worried about most, not because he was a troubled child or anything, but because he was a Navy Seal and most of the year Maureen had no idea where he was or what he was doing. She didn’t know if he was on a ship somewhere or on a secret mission; whether he was doing drills or killing bad guys; whether he was rescuing hostages or in training. Yes, she worried about him most of all. This would be his tenth year in the military and he had the opportunity to leave the Navy and be a civilian. The last time she had spoken to him about it, he hadn’t decided what he would do. He loved his job passionately, but he wanted to get married and have a family and he knew he couldn’t do that while a Seal. Every Sunday when the entire family got together for dinner after Mass, there was always a place set at the table for Paul, Maureen’s way of willing him home safely.

And finally there was Tim, Maureen’s baby. As an impressionable teenage boy, Tim had seen the horror of 9/11. He witnessed firsthand the enormous tragedy, and then the weeks, then months that dragged into years, of his city’s and its citizen’s recovery and healing. The images had imprinted on him and after college his only desire was to be a New York City firefighter. It had been his dream and he had worked hard to achieve it. He loved his job, he loved the people he worked with and he loved the fulfillment it gave him.

Maureen’s seven boys had been her entire life for the past forty-four years. She had sacrificed so much for them and had loved them more than any mother could, and now it was their turn to repay her. She was only asking for one thing, one thing they really didn’t want to do, but she was going to pull every guilt card she had stashed away, because for hers and Peter’s wedding anniversary they were going on a cruise!