“He knows I won’t touch another man. But just because I’m on a diet doesn’t mean I can’t look at the menu, honey.”
“I’m not on a diet,” Ruby pointed out. “I can eat all the food.”
“Smorgasbord,” Cherylynn agreed.
Avery found herself laughing at them. Each day she was getting a little better. It certainly helped to be around such strong women – not to mention magical ones. Now that she knew about the mermaids, Mirra and Jolie had snuck her from her room several times at night and had swum with her in the dark water in their mermaid form, slowly helping her to heal from her trauma. She’d even started snorkeling again – though never without a life jacket – and was slowly falling in love with all the beautiful fish that danced through the water.
“Avery,” Irma said from the top of the path, “you have a visitor.”
“I do?” Avery said, sitting up a bit.
Roman walked out in front of Irma. She patted him on the shoulder, as though to wish him good luck, and stepped back. The women all sat up and crossed their arms over their chests, and Roman walked down the path and into the lion’s den.
“Well, well, well – look what the cat dragged in,” Cherylynn said, examining her manicure. “Have you finally realized what a jerk you’ve been?”
“Cherylynn,” Avery choked.
“I hope he has.” Ruby stood and blocked Roman’s path, looking up at him. “I’m Ruby, Avery’s sister.”
“I can see that,” Roman said, looking between the identical twins. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“I can’t say the same of you,” Ruby said, disdain crossing her features while Avery buried her face in her palms. “But I hope you’ll change my opinion of you.”
“I plan to. If you’ll let me pass, that is…” Roman said.
Ruby nodded, stepping back so he could walk over to Avery.
“Avery, may I speak with you?”
“I…”
“Come on, girls. I think we need to help with dinner,” Jolie said. Quietly they all vacated the garden, leaving Avery on the lounge chair, her heart in her throat.
“Avery…” Roman said, sitting down beside her. “Will you look at me?”
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Avery said, dropping her hands and looking down at her legs. Emotions whirled in her stomach and she wasn’t sure if she was angry, sad, or happy.
“I shouldn’t have left you, Avery. Not like that,” Roman said. Reaching out, he danced his fingers over her hand until she turned it over, and he intertwined his fingers with hers.
“Why did you?” Avery asked, finally looking up to meet his eyes.
It all crashed into her. She’d missed him so much, and it hurt being this close to him again, not knowing what their future held.
“I… well, I’m an idiot,” Roman began.
From the house, Cherylynn whooped. “You sure are!”
“Thank you very much, Cherylynn,” Roman called. He tugged Avery up from the chair. “Can we walk?”
“Yes, probably best,” she said, biting back a smile despite all the emotions that warred inside.
“Remember me telling you how my mom raised me? On her own?” Roman asked when they got to the beach and began to walk.
“I do, yes.”
“Well, that’s because my father, great guy that he was, lied to her. About who he was. He had a wife and kids at home. He strung her along until she got pregnant, then he freaked out and left. When… when I found out you weren’t who you said you were, I lost it.”
“Oh, Roman.” Avery turned and pressed a hand to his chest. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“I should have told you then. But, well, I’m a bit stubborn, you see.”
“I do see that. You hurt me, you know, when you left. You really hurt me.”
“I know I did,” he said. “And I’m sorry for that. I’m here to ask if you’ll let me make it up to you. You did promise you’d let me take you on a real date. Would you give me a chance again?”
“I…” Avery lost herself in his eyes for a moment. “I’d like to. I’m scared, though.”
“The Avery I know was pretty fearless,” Roman said, stepping closer so just an inch separated them. “The Avery I know ran into dark water in the night after a siren’s song. The Avery I know helped bandage her wounded friend in the wild. The Avery I know stepped in and helped her sister in a bind, even though it meant getting on a tiny plane and traveling across the ocean. The Avery I know healed herself from a traumatic accident and started her life over. The Avery I know got right back on a kayak and paddled like she’d never paddled in her life. The Avery I know isn’t scared of love.”
Seeing herself in his eyes, Avery swallowed and nodded, tears rolling down her face.
“I like that Avery,” she said.
“And I love her,” Roman whispered. Then his lips were on hers, claiming her as his own.
Cheers rose from the villa and Avery stumbled back a step, laughing as she turned in Roman’s arms to see her friends jumping up and down on the beach.
“They’re impossible.”
“And amazing. Sirens, every last one of them.”
Afterword
Living in the Caribbean has helped to inspire my descriptions of Siren Island. If it wasn’t for my love of the ocean, and the mysteries that lie within, I would never have been able to write these books. Thank you for coming along on my journey.
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The Isle of Destiny Series- Available now as an e-book, paperback or audiobook!
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The following is an excerpt from Stone Song
Book 1 in the complete 4 book Isle of Destiny series. Binge read it now. Available on all e-book stores. https://www.triciaomalley.com/home-3
Chapter 1
Stone Song
Book 1 in the Isle of Destiny Series
“‘And you, Children of Danu, shall go to the land of which shall be called Inisfail, the Isle of Destiny. It is your destiny to populate the earth and bring to it the great wisdom and direction that you have learned under our hands,’” Bianca intoned as Clare rolled her eyes and winked at her roommate, who was giving a mythological tour of Dublin to a group of eager Americans. “Look now, there goes one of the great beauties of the Children of Danu. A living goddess herself.” The group turned to stare at Clare as she rushed past them, shaking her head at Bianca.
“I’m as much of a goddess as you are a delicate rose,” Clare shot back, and the group broke out in laughter.
“And so the children of Danu came to the Isle of Destiny, which you know today as Ireland, with only the four treasures in their hands to protect them against those who were determined to rule the island in darkness.”
Bianca’s mythology lesson faded behind Clare as she tucked a rioting mass of auburn curls under a wool cap, her mind already focused on her dissertation project. It was her last bit of work to be finished before she could call herself an honest-to-god doctor.
A person with a geology doctorate is nonetheless a doctor, she reminded herself as she pushed through the glass doors that housed the science wing of Trinity College.
She’d been lucky to get accepted to the reciprocal geology program at such an esteemed college, and even luckier to have won a full scholarship. Her parents had scratched their heads in confusion – wondering what a farmer’s daughter from small-town Clifden, Ireland would want with a doctorate degree.
To study stones, no less.
She could still see her father striding out into the yard, his boots mucked with mud, as he bent over and picked up a rock from the ground and held it up to the light.
“This? This is what
you’re wanting to be studying then? Sure and there isn’t all that much to learn about them now, is there?”
Though he’d been confused by her choice, Madden MacBride had quickly been found boasting about his brilliant daughter in Paddy’s, the corner pub he favored.
Clare still remembered her first moments of panic when her parents had dropped her off in the city, their truck rumbling away from the college, looking conspicuously out of place next to the slick cars that cluttered the busy streets of Dublin. As she’d glanced down at her worn denim pants and faded button-down shirt, she’d imagined that she looked much like the dilapidated truck she’d been dropped off in.
The better to dig in the dirt, she’d reminded herself and had lifted her chin high as she’d returned to the apartment she’d rented with a girl from a list the college had provided her with. And even though they’d spoken a few times on the telephone over the summer, she’d still felt like her stomach was twisted in knots as she’d waited for her new roomie to arrive.
It had taken less than thirty seconds, and one glance at the tears streaming down the chubby blonde’s face, before Clare had instantly bonded with Bianca.
They’d lived together ever since, graduating to a slightly better apartment, slightly better fashion-sense, and the worldly air that comes with finally navigating a city as an adult.
Bianca, who’d majored in history with a minor in mythology, was currently in a year-long debate with herself over whether or not to pursue her doctorate. In the meantime, she worked full-time in the National Museum of Ireland, and part-time as a tour guide for those who had a yen to learn some of the of Celtic myths that wound their way through Ireland’s rich history.
Though Clare’s scholarship covered her tuition, she still needed some extra cash for certain essentials – like the camera she’d been eyeing for eons, and a full Irish breakfast after her nights out on the town with Bianca. Clare supplemented her income by working one or two nights a week at a pub down the street from their flat, and a few afternoons a week at a local crystal shop.
Crystals were rocks, after all. Geodes, if she was going to get specific.
Clare winced as she thought about her second job. She couldn’t really say how she’d ended up walking past the crystal shop one sunny fall day, but the pretty display of glittering stones had drawn her eye. Artfully arranged on varying tiers of lucite towers, interspersed with delicate jewelry and a few books, the window display managed to be both fanciful and tasteful in the same breath.
Unable to resist, Clare had found herself stepping inside. Her skin had hummed with the energy pulsing from the crystals, and the warm lights and the bright smile of the woman standing behind the counter had made her feel like she was being welcomed home.
It annoyed Clare that to this day she couldn’t figure out why stones spoke to her. Well, not literally talked to her, but she knew each of their signature energies, could tell what they needed or who they needed to be with, and could even gauge where they’d come from with just a glance.
Sure, some of that was a result of her education. What was she getting a geology degree for if she couldn’t eye up a stone and estimate its age? But the energy and the power of stones? Well, she’d yet to understand how she could physically feel that.
Not that she’d brought it up to any of her professors. Getting an education in a scientific field – especially as a woman – didn’t much lend itself to flights of fancy. Instead, she’d proven herself to be a rational, brilliant, and committed scientist. Once a week, Clare taught an undergraduate class that was well attended – though some would say that was because the teacher was hot.
Clare snorted at the thought as she pushed open the door to the science wing and waved at the girl working the front desk.
It mattered little what you looked like when you were knee deep in the bog, pulling out stones to be analyzed. The sooner her students realized that looks weren’t necessarily a benefit in this field of study, the better off they’d be.
“Hey Seamus,” Clare called to the lab attendant as she entered the small lab dedicated to her field of study. Not that rocks and the formation of the earth weren’t an interesting branch of science – but Clare knew that the biomedical engineers and chemists rated much better labs on the top floor of the science building, not to mention better funding. Sometimes she felt like they’d sequestered her department to the far recesses of the dungeon.
“Still blustering out?” Seamus called easily, popping a mint in his mouth as he crossed his wiry arms over his chest and leaned back in the chair. At six feet tall, he was all arms and elbows, with a crop of dark hair that stuck up all over his head. He made up for his lankiness with an effortlessly cool street style.
“Misting at best, I’d say. Bianca had a group out, so not all that bad,” Clare said as she pulled her knapsack off and hung it on the back of her chair.
“Ah, maybe I should go say hi,” Seamus said, a blush tinging his cheeks. “She still dating that Conor?”
Clare glanced up at him. “Nah, she’s given him the boot after him staying out all night with his band a few weeks ago.”
Seamus straightened, his feet hitting the floor with a thud.
“Maybe I should go say hi. Just, you know, to catch up with her,” Seamus mumbled as he grabbed his coat and hit the door at almost a run.
Clare chuckled as she put her ear buds in and fired up her computer.
Her dissertation wasn’t going to write itself.
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The Isle of Destiny Series
Also by Tricia O’Malley
Stone Song
Sword Song
Spear Song
Sphere Song
“Love this series. I will read this multiple times. Keeps you on the edge of your seat. It has action, excitement and romance all in one series.”
-Amazon Review-
Available as an e-book, paperback or audiobook!
https://www.triciaomalley.com/home-3
The Mystic Cove Series
Also by Tricia O’Malley
Wild Irish Roots (Novella, Prequel)
Wild Irish Heart
Wild Irish Eyes
Wild Irish Soul
Wild Irish Rebel
Wild Irish Roots: Margaret & Sean
Wild Irish Witch
Wild Irish Grace
“I have read thousands of books and a fair percentage have been romances. Until I read Wild Irish Heart, I never had a book actually make me believe in love.”
-Amazon Review-
Available as an e-book, paperback or audiobook!
https://www.triciaomalley.com/home-2
The Siren Island Series
Also by Tricia O’Malley
Good Girl
Up to No Good
A Good Chance
Book 4 (Late 2020)
“Love her books and was excited for a totally new and different one! Once again, she did NOT disappoint! Magical in multiple ways and on multiple levels. Her writing style, while similar to that of Nora Roberts, kicks it up a notch!! I want to visit that island, stay in the B&B and meet the gals who run it! The characters are THAT real!!!”
-Amazon Review-
Available as an e-book, paperback or audiobook!
https://www.triciaomalley.com/the-siren-island-series
The Althea Rose Series
Also by Tricia O’Malley
One Tequila
Tequila for Two
Tequila Will Kill Ya (Novella)
Three Tequilas
Tequila Shots & Valentine Knots (Novella)
Tequila Four
A Fifth of Tequila
A Sixer of Tequila
“Not my usual genre but couldn't resist the Florida Keys setting. I was hooked from the first page. A fun read with just the right amount of crazy! Will definitely follow this series.”
-Amazon Review-
Available as an e-book,
paperback or audiobook!
https://www.triciaomalley.com/home-4
The Stolen Dog
Also by Tricia O’Malley
A non-fiction account of our dog being stolen and how we recovered him. A read that will renew your faith in humanity. All proceeds donated to animal rescues. For a list of organizations you have helped by buying one of Tricia O’Malley’s books here is the link to a blog post thanking her readers.
Available as an e-book or paperback!
https://bit.ly/2IRQKbM
Acknowledgments
First, and foremost, my friends for their constant support, advice, and ideas. You’ve all proven to make a difference on my path. And, to my beta readers, I love you for all of your support and fascinating feedback!
And last, but never least, my two constant companions as I struggle through words on my computer each day - Briggs and Blue.
As always, you can reach me at
[email protected]
or feel free to visit my website at
www.triciaomalley.com.
A Good Chance (The Siren Island Series Book 3) Page 21