Honeymoon From Hell - Part 3

The honeymoon dinner party was cut short. Ryan was ready to go back to his Acapulco hotel room with Sarah, and I was shaking so badly from my near fall down the cliff to the small black pool that I could hardly walk. My husband Matt hailed a taxi in front of the restaurant.

“Tell me again what happened?” Sarah asked, stifling a giggle, rolling her eyes and shaking her long mane of hair.

“Something bumped the backs of my knees. I lost my balance,” I explained again. “I nearly fell over the rail. Thank God Matt grabbed me.” I stared at my husband’s old high school flame.

 “I don’t think you would have fallen,” Matt said. “Those two margaritas made you feel off balance. The rail would have stopped you, even if I hadn’t grabbed you.”

My husband didn’t believe me, but someone knew I was telling the truth. Sarah? Had she pushed me?

Ryan glanced at his watch as we walked through the lobby. “It’s early, but I’m turning in. Tomorrow I’ll be up to diving, or maybe parasailing. I can’t waste another day.” He left his wife with Matt and me, outside the hotel bar.

I didn’t feel like another drink.

Giggling, Sarah was now batting her eyes at my husband. “She nearly fell. Someone tried to kill her!” She made fun of me in a squeaky voice.

I had had enough. “I’m going upstairs, Matt. Are you coming?” My voice was ice-tinged. Matt tossed Sarah a stern look and then said goodnight, grabbed my hand and walked with me to the elevator.

“I know that what happened frightened you, but I honestly don’t think whoever bumped you meant for you to go over that rail. You’re acting like someone tried to kill you!”

I chewed on my lip. It did sound a little ridiculous. Who in Acapulco would want me dead? Sarah didn’t like me, but she obviously liked my husband. Would she really try to kill me? I tried to calm down as we rode up the elevator. Maybe it was just this damned jealousy. Sarah was playing with me.

I grabbed Matt and kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry. Maybe I did exaggerate, but it scared me.” I rubbed his arm. “I want to have you to myself for awhile. How about it?” His grin, as I looked up into his eyes, was all the answer I needed.

I woke to see sunlight peeking around all sides of the drapes in the bedroom of our room. The other side of the bed was empty. 9:00! I gasped at the numbers on the clock, and then wondered why Matt had not awakened me. Where was he? Although we had no firm plans for the day, neither one of us had wanted to sleep late, there were too many things to do. Just as I rolled off the bed, the bedroom door opened and Matt stepped in. He smiled sheepishly, pulled off his shirt and went into the bathroom. “Went for a run on the beach. Let me clean up a bit, honey, then we’ll go to breakfast.”

I fell back into the bed, frowning. Running on the beach? Matt had gone running only four or five times since I’d known him, and then only when he was really stressed from work and needed to release tension. We’d been releasing a lot of tension in the bed the last two days, and it didn’t seem likely he’d need a run because of stress. I slipped out of bed, went into the bathroom, and got into the shower with Matt. We lathered each other up, rinsed, then stepped out and dried each other off.

“Hungry?” He asked as he turned to the mirror to shave.

It seemed strange to me that he wasn’t in the mood for love despite having his naked newlywed wife beside him in the small bathroom. I went to dress in the bedroom. What was going on? I thought back to yesterday, when he and Sarah were both gone from the beach, and then the night before when Matt was gone so long, supposedly getting medicine for Ryan. This was the third time he had left me alone on our honeymoon. I thought back to the near-accident at cliff side.

Were Matt and Sarah fooling around? My heart pounded.

When Matt left the bathroom, I went back in, shut and locked the door behind me, and put on my makeup with a shaky hand. I needed time to think. The phone rang. I heard Matt say “hola,” but then his voice dropped and I couldn’t hear anything else. When I opened the bathroom door he had returned the receiver to the cradle and was standing at the window.

“We’re on for scuba diving at 11. You about ready?” Matt stared down at the beach.

“Sure.” Feeling numb, I slipped my feet into sandals and grabbed my beach bag.

Matt slipped up behind me and nuzzled my neck. I stepped away from his embrace. “We’d better get going. I’m hungry,” I said. I really felt far from hungry. My stomach was clenched into a knot.

Like clockwork, Sarah and Ryan left their room as we were leaving ours.

“Feeling better, Buddy?” Matt asked. Ryan still looked pale to me, but he nodded, gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up sign and hugged Sarah. She looked starry-eyed this morning, and for a moment I doubted my earlier thoughts about her and Matt. Then, just as I turned my head, I saw Sarah wink at Matt as a self-satisfied grin shaped her lips. My heart sank. 

I was not excited about scuba diving. Somewhat claustrophobic, the idea of being under tons of water and depending on an oxygen tank for air didn’t sound fun to me. But, I wasn’t yet ready to leave Matt to Sarah’s wiles, even with her husband Ryan along. He seemed too star-struck by his wife to see that she was cheating on him with Matt. Star struck, just like I had been. How could Matt do this? My empty stomach clenched.

As we ate breakfast, the conversation ran on and on about scuba. All three of them had dived before, in fact, Matt was a certified instructor, one more thing I had not known about him. In all fairness though, I wasn’t sure Matt knew I had been a lifeguard at a pool during my college summer breaks.

Matt and Ryan both offered me diving tips and encouragement. I knew I was coming across as nervous, but it was really only a sign of the worry I carried in my heart about Matt and Sarah. Matt knew I was always ready for an adventure and was not scared to do this dive.

Why couldn’t he see that my quietness was a sign that something was wrong?

We checked in at the pier where our scuba outfitter docked and then made our way down to the boat, joining a group of other people waiting to walk up the gang plank and onto the thirty-foot boat.

“Ready for this?” Matt asked.

I shrugged. Now that I was watching closely, I had detected signals between Matt and Sarah, casual glances, bold winks, even touches. No one seemed to notice how unusually quiet I was.

We got in line with the other passengers to get our tanks, masks and fins. The crew members spoke Spanish to one another but seemed to know little English. When the dive captain began to give the dive rules, I realized I was the only novice on board. The others were either experienced or had been certified by spending a few hours in a hotel swimming pool prior to this dive.

“You didn’t tell me I had to be certified,” I complained to Matt.

He slipped an arm around my shoulders and hugged me. “You don’t need to be certified. You’ve got three experienced divers with you, and it’s easy. I’ll go over everything before we go in the water.” He showed me how to strap on the vest and the oxygen tank and how to use the regulator mouthpiece.

“Always exhale into the unit first. That way you can be certain you won’t be breathing in any water,” he explained. He showed me the gauge that indicated how much oxygen there was in my tank, and how to monitor the level during the dive.

“Normal breathing, that’s the key. Slow, normal breaths, in and out through the mouth, just like you would if your nose was stopped up, okay?” He turned a knob on the oxygen tank. “Try it.”

I breathed in the oxygen, tasting the sweet air. This wasn’t so bad. I grinned and motioned with the thumbs-up sign. Matt smiled his biggest smile at me, and suddenly I wanted more than anything to know that he was mine, only mine.

“In diving, thumbs up means you are ready to go to the surface, so only use that below if you need to go up.” He demonstrated the “okay” hand sign, and the underwater sign for “no air!” He was careful in his explanations and an excellent teacher. My heart ached. I was so in love with this man. And I was sick of Sarah ruining our honeymoon! She even had me believing that Matt was cheating on me!

I rubbed Matt’s back and stayed close beside him as we waited for our turn to flop over the side. Matt kept giving me pointers and I kept asking questions, always touching his shoulder or his arm. Behind us, Sarah kept trying to interrupt and talk to Matt, but I gave her no opportunity. Matt fidgeted with the buckle of the weight belt he had brought, and then helped me adjust the one the dive crew had loaned to me.

When it was our turn to go over the side I followed Matt’s cue and jumped in feet first. We swam out a little way from the boat, kicking with our flippers as we adjusted our masks and inserted our regulator mouthpieces.

“Ready?” he asked. After I nodded, he put his face into the water and then dove.

I made myself breathe as I put my face mask in the water and dove after him. My heart pounded and adrenaline rushed. It didn’t seem like I was getting enough air, but I thrust the feeling aside as being nerves.

Matt dove deeper, turning back to me and motioning for me to follow. I didn’t want to go down. My heart pounded and I couldn’t slow my breathing. I seemed to be getting less and less air and the deeper and slower I breathed, the harder it was to breathe. Panic took over and I kicked for the surface, jerked the mouthpiece out and swallowed deep breaths of air. I pushed the face mask up on my forehead.

Matt surfaced beside me. “What’s up?” He sounded irritated.

“I’m not getting enough air. Can’t breathe.” He floated around to check the tank controls.

“The valve is in the correct position. Just calm down and get your mask back on.”

I pulled my mask back on and inserted the mouthpiece as Matt dove down again. I put my face in the water. Matt was waiting a few feet down. He motioned for me to follow. Beyond him, I could see the reef where the filtered light illuminated yellow and blue striped fish. Two divers were inspecting the reef; I recognized Sarah’s skimpy swimsuit.

Determined to make this dive, I sucked air in again as I kicked downward. I wanted to catch Matt before he reached Sarah, who had turned to watch. I kept breathing and gradually the panic subsided. I tried not to think about the water pressing in around me. I kicked downward and followed Matt toward the coral reef.

Once we reached the reef, Matt began a slow inspection of the formation, gradually moving away from me, intent on his own investigation. Sarah tapped on my arm and motioned for me to come with her. After glancing once more at Matt, who was engrossed in a branch of coral, I followed Sarah. She swam on, pointing out brightly colored fish darting in and out of the coral branches. Then her look scanned the ocean around us and she motioned for me to come closer, pointing at something in the coral. As I drew closer, I saw an anemone wave its tentacles to lure a small fish near. Then the anemone’s tentacles snapped closed over the fish.

I felt a jolt, and my body smashed into the coral, tearing the skin on my arms and forehead. The regulator ripped from my mouth and sand rose in a cloud around me. I grabbed the mouthpiece and tried not to think about the blood drifting away from my arms and head.

Blood drew sharks. Were there any within range?

Once I had the regulator in my mouth again, I looked around, expecting to see Sarah and whoever had knocked into me, but I was alone. Angry, I adjusted the fit of the regulator and breathed in. No air.

I adjusted the regulator again and reached behind me for the valve, turning it back and forth, sucking for air. I grabbed the tank gauge. The oxygen level was zero.

 

(Watch for Part 4 this Friday, June 21, 2013)