Southern Cross

She threw her arms around me and buried her face in my chest. She clung to me and sobbed for nearly five minutes. I kissed the top of her head and held her while she got it out of her system. She looked up and me and kissed my lips.

"Thank you, Dad. I'll always remember this," she said.

I made her take out the money and I took her shopping. She loved the market and she loved the dresses. They were all white cotton with intricate embroidery on them. They were very cheap and she bought bunches. There was a department store, too, and she bought lots of American teenager type clothes and an iPhone. She got a laptop and a tablet and software for them. We went to the local equivalent of Wal-Mart and she bought all sorts of personal items. She got make up and feminine stuff and we packed it all into the El Camino. Her eyes were shining with excitement and I could tell that she hadn't done something like this in a long time, if ever.

We carried all her stuff into her room and she put it where she wanted it while I cooked dinner. I had some spiny lobsters on ice and I walked down to the pier and bought bread and fruit. I baked potatoes and steamed fresh vegetables. The lobsters went in the pot and I cut up the fruit. I called her and she came to the table in a new dress. It was white and loose with a red and green vine embroidered on it. It was nearly transparent and very light. It floated around her and she obviously didn't have anything on underneath. It came to mid-thigh, and her legs were long tanned and slender. Her feet were bare and she had put her hair up in a messy bun. She was fantastic and her white teeth flashed in her tanned face when she saw that I appreciated her.

We cracked the lobsters open and dug out the meat. I fed her pieces dipped in drawn butter. She giggled and laughed a lot. The butter ran down her chin and we used it on the baked potatoes, too. I had sour cream and chives and she liked them both. We fed each other fruit on bamboo skewers and drank the rest of the bottle of wine.

"You're a fantastic cook, Dad," she said.

"I had good ingredients and good company," I told her. "I'll need you to help me pick out things for the menu that we can put in the freezer and in the refrigerators before we leave. I don't know what you like."

"I like this," she said. "I don't like raisins or coconut. Anything else is good, but I'll go with you. This is exciting!"

We sat on the sofa with our legs up and she put hers across mine. We snuggled up and she told me all about her life. I drank in every detail, just basking in the sound of her voice. It was low and musical and I wondered if she sang. I asked her and she said only for her own entertainment.

She did play saxophone, flute, guitar and bass, and she was learning drums. I asked her if she wanted instruments and she did, but she would be happy with just a guitar. I promised to get her one and that made her very happy. Maybe we could get the others when we came back for her to start school.

She was a runner, and I told her she would have to be satisfied with the treadmill while we were at sea. She lifted four days a week and I was looking forward to working out with her. When we got around to boys, she blushed a little.

"I had a boyfriend when I was a freshman and a sophomore, but when Mom got sick and I couldn't spend much time with him he dumped me. I've been out a couple of times in the last six months, but they were tools. I just wanted to have fun and they just wanted to feel me up."

I laughed. "You can't blame them for that, Pendry. That's what boys do, especially when the girls look like you."

"Thanks," she said. "I'm not opposed to a little feeling up, either, but not constantly and that's all they want to do."

"You're learning," I told her. "In my experience, and I was one, teenage boys are mostly about sex. When they grow up, they get better. They get more interested in you as a person and not just your boobs."

"I have nice ones," she said.

"I noticed," I told her. "You take after your mom."

One of them was pressed up against my arm and it was obviously bare underneath that thin cotton. I could feel a hard nipple against my arm. Every time she moved it swayed and jiggled against me and it was very distracting.

It was getting late and she started yawning. It was contagious and I told her that old men and young children needed their sleep. She could sleep as long as she wanted the next day and I wasn't planning to get up early either.

She stood up, kissed me goodnight and went off to her cabin. I heard music playing and I went to bed.

I got up at ten the next morning and she hadn't come out yet. I walked down the pier to the bakery and bought pastries and chocolate milk. When I came back I heard water running in her shower, and when she came out she had on an orange and red wrap. It was thin and filmy and it looked like she had a bikini on underneath. We ate pastries and drank a quart of chocolate milk between us. I asked her if she wanted coffee and she did. We sat on the deck and sipped our coffee. She told me she needed some sunglasses.

I told her to go look in the drawer next to the wheel and see if she liked any of them. She came back in a few minutes with a pair of black Ray Bans.

"You have lots of nice glasses," she said. "Can I have these?"

"You can have any of them except my grey Oakley's," I told her. "I'll get you different ones if you want some."

"No, I wouldn't find any that I like better than these," she said. "Dad, can we go to the beach and swim today?"

"Sure, why not. I'll have to cancel all my appointments but it's okay." I told her.

She laughed and it was just as much fun to hear as the first time. "Right," she said. "Were you meeting with the Senator today, or was it your proctologist?"

That made me laugh. "Do you want to take lunch or get it at one of the places on the beach?"

"Let's get it there. It won't give us dysentery, will it?"

"Depending where you go and what you eat, yes, it will," I told her. "You should always ask me before you eat or drink anything. I've been meaning to ask you, can you shoot?"

"You mean like a gun?"

"Yes, can you shoot a pistol?"

"Yes, did you want me to shoot someone?"

"Yes, if they attack you," I laughed. "This is a dangerous place for a beautiful young American girl; especially one with your hair. You'll be a target. I'd rather you be able to protect yourself. A lot of places we go to will be like that. There won't be a policeman on the corner and if there is, he may be more dangerous than the person attacking you."

"What kinds of guns do you have?"

"Let's take a look," I led her down to the arms locker. I have quite an assortment and she took a nice little Beretta .38 auto. I got her a thigh holster for it.

"I don't know how to put that on," she said.

I knelt in front of her and she pulled her wrap up to the top of her thigh. It was firm and tanned and her skin felt like silk under my fingers. I fastened to holster around it and she shivered at the touch of my fingers. She put the gun in and dropped her wrap. It wasn't visible and I got her another thigh harness to carry her money in. I put that one on her, too, and she shivered again.

"You have beautiful legs, baby," I told her. "Beautiful skin, too."

"Thanks," she blushed a little. "Should I put my money in it?"

"Yes, you should carry it all the time, the gun, too. I'll get you a belt you can wear under your shirt, and if you're wearing jeans or something you should carry a purse to keep your gun in. Let's get some towels, sunscreen and something to drink and hit the beach."

She wanted to drive and she couldn't keep her foot out of the El Camino. I directed her and we arrived in about 20 minutes. This was off the beaten tourist path, although there were some all over the Baja. We were outside La Paz, where the boat was docked, and the sand was white and the water was blue. We pulled off the road and she parked on the grass.

We walked down to the beach and put down towels. I put up an umbrella in case we wanted shade and she sat on the towels and took off her wrap. She had on the tiniest red bikini I've ever seen. It was just two little triangles of cloth that barely covered the tips of her breasts; connected by little strings that ran around her back and around her neck. There was another little triangle that covered hardly anything between her legs, connected by strings to another over her butt. The fact that it was crocheted didn't help. The loops were denser over her nipples so that they didn't show and at her crotch, but there was very little else that wasn't visible.

I knew I was staring with my mouth open like a drooling idiot, but I couldn't stop. I was glad I had the Oakley's on so she couldn't see my eyes. She knew, though. She arched her back and her breasts pushed out proudly, accentuating her small waist and the curve of her back down to her incredible butt. She was all softness and youthful beauty. She looked at me and giggled.

"I can feel your eyes," she laughed. "Go ahead; get it out of your system."

"I'm not sure you're the kind of thing I can get out of my system," I told her. "Jesus, you grew up nice, baby. I want to look at you forever."

"Would you like to touch?" she giggled. "I'll let you put sunscreen on me if you'll let me do you?"

"Well, I hardly ever use the stuff," I told her. "I've been out here so long that I rarely burn. I may take you up on that, though."

"Let's swim first," she said.

We played in the shallower water for a while and I went and got snorkels and fins out of our bag. We swam out over the reef and joined with the schools of brightly colored fish. She found an octopus in a crack and we teased it out. It squirted ink and jetted away when we got too threatening for its comfort. We caught four big spiny lobsters and I put them in a sack. There were big scallops by the dozens and we added them to our catch. I towed the sack back close to shore and went to get a stick to tether it with. The brush was up by the road and I heard the sound of vehicles coming down the beach. I hurried back and saw six ATVs and a big four wheel drive pickup truck. Pendry was just coming out of the water and they had surrounded her.

They were saying things to her that they thought were complimentary, but they were in Spanish and she didn't like the situation at all. I could tell she was frightened and I quickened my pace. I saw that they were some of Diaz's soldiers. He's the local drug kingpin. They saw me coming and they stopped talking.

"Buenos Dias, muchachos," I said.

"Holla, Senor Davis," one of them said. "Es este chica bonita con tu?"

"Si, esta mi hija," I said.

"Lo siento," he said. "Yo no sabia. Te dejamos solos. Ella es muy Hermosa."

They roared off and she quickly came and put her arm around me. "What was that all about," she asked.

"They didn't know you were with me," I told her. "They nearly made a mistake and they apologized. They said you're very beautiful and left."

"I would have been in trouble if you weren't here," she said.

"Yes, but I am here, and nothing's going to happen to you."

"Why did they leave?"

"They respect me and they're afraid of me," I told her.

"Why?" she asked.

"I did a big favor for their boss, once. I have the reputation of being a bad man to mess with. That combination keeps the locals polite. I told them you're my daughter. Their boss would have them tortured to death if they harmed you. He would have them shot for just speaking to you without my permission. They'll spread the word and leave you alone. That doesn't apply to everyone though. There are a lot of desperate people in third world counties that just have no idea of who not to mess with. You're going to attract attention wherever we go. You're the most beautiful girl any of them have ever seen and to them, you're exotic because you're a redhead and an American. That's why we carry guns."

"Ours are in the bag," she said. "What would you have done if they'd been hostile?"

"They wouldn't be in the bag if I thought we were in any danger here. I'd be sitting by the bag and you'd be swimming by yourself."

I tethered out the lobster bag in the surf and we went and ate a late lunch. There was a little stand about a mile away I knew about. They roasted their meat on a vertical roaster and they carved it off and put in on tortas. We had chips and Cokes. We ate peaches for dessert and they were good juicy ones. The juice ran down Pendry's chin and her hands were all sticky. She ran laughing back to the water. She beckoned to me and I joined her at a more dignified pace. We played a little more and she was ready to go. I never got to put the sunscreen on her and that was disappointing, but she had a good time and that was what mattered.

We dropped the lobsters and scallops on ice, and then showered and changed. I wore a red Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts with flip-flops. She came out with a short blue skirt and a loose white top. Her breasts were shaking around freely under it as she took the stairs two at a time. She caught me looking and grinned, cupping them at me.

"Nice, huh," she teased.

"Jesus, Penn, don't you ever wear a bra?" I asked. "You're going to make me have a heart attack."

She laughed. "Sometime I do when I think they'll flop around. What are we going to do?"

"We're going to make a shopping list," I told her. "Where do you want to go and how long do you want to stay out?"

"South; and I want to stay out forever," she said.

I laughed. "South is a big place, and forever is a long time."

"Let me look at a map," she said.

I took her to the chart table on the bridge and we got out maps to look at. She looked it over and found something. She got a magnifying lamp and pulled it over the map.

"There," she said, pointing to a spot. "I want to go there."

'There' turned out to be Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos chain. It was a long way, but doable.

"I want to see the Southern Cross," she said. "Ever since I heard that song by Crosby, Stills and Nash, I've wanted to see the Southern Cross."

"You a big fan?" I asked.

"Oh, yes; how could I not be? Music will never be that good again," she said.

I made some calculations. "That's almost 3000 miles," I told her. "It's going to take us probably 20 days to get there. Are you sure you wouldn't rather fly?"

"That's silly," she said. "We're trying to find out if I like boats, remember?"

"I forgot," I told her. "What if we drive one another crazy?"

"Then I'll kill you and eat you," she said.

That broke me up. "Okay, we need to do some serious grocery shopping then. We can sail down the coast and pick up fresh stuff occasionally, but it's best to go prepared. We'll make a list. I know staples that we need. You work on menus. If we plan our meals we'll know how much of what we need."

It took us two hours to make that list. We went off to make orders and by the time we finished it was dinner time. I took her out and we ate traditional Mexican food. She loved it all and we went to bed full of anticipation for setting sail the next day.

I woke up early and the fuel barge was already moving along side. We topped off the tanks and filled up the fresh water tanks, too. Pendry went off to buy breakfast and by the time she got back, the truck with our supplies had arrived. They had a working party and they quickly got everything on board and stowed away while we ate.

We cast off and I took us out, Pendry standing beside me with her arm around my waist and leaning against me. She had on another of those white cotton dresses. This one had a pretty red and blue pattern embroidered on it. Her feet were bare and her hair floated around us in flaming waves. She laughed with delight at everything we did and her excitement was contagious. I let her steer once we got out into the Pacific. She leaned back against me and I stroked that flaming hair. The big diesels throbbed and the gulls screamed along in our wake.

She went out and fed them bread, and she thought their antics were hilarious. I hate them. They're the rats of the ocean and they become very aggressive if you give them the slightest encouragement. She wasn't as jaded as I was, and she loved them. She loved the dolphins even more when a pod came in and dove in and out of our bow wake.

She was impossible not to love. She stole my heart that first day and I never recovered. She was totally in love with life and she woke me up to what I had been missing for years. I had imagined that I was happy before, but this was something new for me.

She was very physical. I'd never been hugged and petted on so much in my life. She constantly wanted to be in contact with me, her arm around me, her hand on me, her body pressed against mine. She chattered constantly and the sound of that sweet little husky voice made my heart full. When we anchored off in the evening she lost the dress for a bikini and that was all she ever wore while we were under way. She lay on the front deck and soaked up the sun every afternoon and the sight of her made it impossible for me to look at anything else. She tanned topless and when she rolled onto her back and those big beautiful breasts were exposed it was the most erotic thing I had ever seen. She knew I could see her, but she had absolutely no modesty around me. She was entirely comfortable with her own body and in her own skin.

The third night we were out, a hell of a storm blew and we bobbed up and down like a cork in a bottle. The lightning crashed and the thunder rolled. It was nothing dangerous, but Pendry didn't know that.

She knocked on my door at two in the morning.

"Dad?" she called. "Can I come in? I'm scared. Are we going to sink?"

She didn't wait for me to answer; she just came running to my bed and climbed in. She was shaking and trembling. I held her close and petted her hair.

"No, baby; we're not going to sink," I told her. "We can take a lot heavier sea than this. This is just kind of a middle-sized storm. There's nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes, Penn, I'm sure. We'll just sleep it out and it will be gone in the morning. We're fine, I promise. Go back to bed and get some sleep."

She clung to me. "No, Dad; don't make me. I don't like storms. We had a tornado in Omaha once and I've been afraid of them ever since. Let me stay. Just hold me and I'll be okay. Please?"

"Okay, baby," I turned back the covers and she scooted in. She had on a long t-shirt for a nightgown and she burrowed into my chest. I wrapped her up in my arms and we drifted off.

When I woke up in the morning, she was spooned up against me. My arm was over her and her butt was pressed into my groin. There was something going on down there that wasn't supposed to be happening. My cock was hard as a steel pole and it was nestled between the cheeks of the butt pushing back into it.

I felt her little hand move and she pulled on mine. She moved it up until she pressed it over one full breast. She pushed it firmly onto that glorious mound and I could feel her nipple, rock hard beneath my fingers.

"What are you doing, baby?" I whispered.

She gasped. "I didn't know you were awake. I'm sorry Dad, I just feel... I just feel... I don't know what. I just needed to do that. Is it okay?"

"Yes, baby; if you need to do it that's what you need. It's okay, but where is this going?"

"I don't know," she said. "Do you care?"

"I care very much," I told her. "I care about you. I don't want you to do anything that will make us feel awkward around each other. I don't want to risk what we have going here. I've fallen absolutely in love with my little girl and I don't want to spoil that."

She turned over and her cute little nose was touching mine. "How could I ever feel awkward with you?" she asked. "I've known you for a week and I've never loved anyone so much in my life. I don't know anything about being in love, but I'm in love with you, Dad. I know that sounds weird and kind of creepy, but I can't help it. Every time you touch me I get all warm inside. I can't get enough of it. I've been trying to show you. Don't you think I'm pretty?"