by Holly Kelly
Now that he was back, what kind of welcome would Nicole give him? A loving one would be too much to ask. An angry reception would be what he deserved. A dispassionately civil one would be too much to bear. By the gods, he was overanalyzing this. With his heart pulsing under his ribs and his chest trembling with nervousness, he raised his fist and rapped on the door.
He waited for several moments. She didn’t answer. He tried the bell.
Closing his eyes, he felt for her. She was near. Why wasn’t she answering?
He stepped off the porch and followed a flagstone path around the side of the house. The foliage opened up into a splendid view of the ocean. And there she was, sitting in the grass—her back to him. Triton’s heart pounded in his chest. Her arms were wrapped around her legs and her head rested on her knees. She looked so small; her beautiful, raven hair flowed like a waterfall down her back.
Her body shook and a soft, moaning cry escaped her lips. His heart broke when he realized she was weeping.
Fearing that he might startle her, he approached quietly. He didn’t dare touch her. Instead, he whispered. “Don’t cry, my sweet.”
Nicole raised her head, opened her teary eyes, looked into his face, and screamed.
Her shrill cry rent the air and stung his ears.
“Nikki, it’s okay. It’s me, Ty,” he gasped, holding his hands up as he took a step back.
“Get away from me,” she shrieked. “Oh no, I finally did it. I snapped. I’m so crazy that I’m hallucinating.” She stood and backed away from him. He frowned at how precariously close she was to the thirty-foot drop off at her back.
“I’ve obsessed so much about you over the years that it’s driven me mad,” she said.
“You’re not crazy, Nicole.”
“Oh really?” she said, taking yet another step back. “Then why is it that you show up out of the blue after twenty years? And why do you look exactly the same? You haven’t aged a day in the last two decades?”
“I was about to say the same about you,” he answered with a tentative smile.
“Oh very funny…I shouldn’t even be talking to you, you’re not real. Maybe, maybe…I’m dreaming.” Nicole slapped her own face, hard.
“Don’t do that,” he said, reaching out to grab her.
As she stepped back yet again and dodged him, getting dangerously closer to the edge, he gathered the waves from below to guard her in case she fell. “Be careful—” he began.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” she said and slapped him, stinging his cheek. “You have no right! You left me… you left me.” It was then she crumbled, tears coming in a torrential rain.
Triton stepped toward her and pulled her into his arms. “Sweetheart, don’t cry. I’m here now. I’m so sorry I left. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry you had to raise our daughter all by yourself. I’m so sorry for everything.”
Nicole’s head came up. “What? You know about Sara?” She looked him in the eye. Her breath hitched, water droplets clinging to her eyelashes. “Is that why you’re back? You’re here for Sara? You didn’t come back for me?”
“No… no, it was you I came back for. I’ve already settled things with Sara. It’s you I needed to see. I need to tell you…” He sighed, gathering the courage to speak the words from his heart. “I never should have left. I was confused and afraid. I was afraid to admit that I loved you. I still love you, Nikki.”
“But why did you stay away so long?” She sniffled.
“I haven’t been thinking right. I’ve only now begun to admit how much I love you and how much I’ve suffered staying away from you. I know it’s probably too late to ask, but I have to know. Could you ever begin to forgive me? I know I’ve hurt you too much to expect you to love me in return. But I would like to have your forgiveness.”
Nicole sobbed all over again.
Triton pulled away, his heart breaking at the pain he was causing her.
“No,” she shouted, pulling him back. “Please don’t go.” She hiccupped, threw her arms around his neck, and buried her face in his shoulder. “Please, don’t leave me; promise you’ll never leave me again.” She sobbed.
Triton wrapped his arms around her, picking her up off the ground. “I promise.”
He carried her to the back door and stepped inside. They were in a living area. It smelled of pine and lemon and was immaculately clean. That was different from what he remembered. Nicole used to be a bit of a slob. Of course, she’d also been dirt poor. From the looks of things, she now had money, and plenty of it. “You aren’t married, are you?” Triton asked, dreading the answer.
Nicole shook her head. “Not at the moment.”
What was that supposed to mean? “You’ve been married before?”
“Off and on.”
“How many times?”
“Six.”
“Six times in the last twenty years?” he asked, appalled.
She raised her head and scowled at him. “If you criticize me at all for how I’ve lived my life since you’ve been gone, I swear I’ll—”
“I won’t criticize,” he interrupted. Who was he to judge? He’d never been a saint.
“Well, okay then.” She narrowed her eyes and looked him over. “You know, you don’t have to keep holding me. I do know how to stand on my own two feet.”
“Obviously you do,” he said as he glanced around the house. He may not have to hold her, but he wanted to. He never wanted to stop holding her. Still, he set her down.
She stepped away from him and sank into a nearby couch. “So…you’ve met Sara.”
He nodded. “She’s beautiful, just like her mother.”
Nicole narrowed her eyes. “So why did you come back?”
He considered his answers, and decided since he’d already risked his heart coming here, he’d be completely truthful with her. “I’m still in love with you.”
“Ha! Right.” Doubt clouded her eyes, darkening them. She took slow even breaths as her brows pressed together. “Did you lose all your money? Is that why you’re back? You found out how much I’m worth now?”
“No. I couldn’t care less how much money you have.”
“So you wouldn’t care if I were dirt poor?” There was real hurt in her eyes.
“No! That’s not what I was saying.”
“So why are you here? And don’t tell me it’s because you love me.”
“I do love you. But I also needed to see for myself that you’re okay.”
“You’re twenty years too late, Ty.”
He sighed. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You haven’t earned the right to call me sweetheart,” she snapped.
He nodded. “I know. What’s happened to you? How did you survive alone raising our daughter?”
Nicole shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I need to know, Nikki. Please… just tell me.”
She sat for a long time, not speaking, looking at the ground. It appeared she wasn’t going to answer him.
“Things were bad,” she finally said, still refusing to look him in the eye.
“Did you go back to your father when you found out you were pregnant?”
“I went back to him before. Well, actually, he came to me in the hospital.”
“Wait. You were in the hospital before you found out you were pregnant?”
She kept her eyes down. “I almost died.”
“What? When?”
“I nearly drowned.”
His eyes darkened. “How?”
Her voice shook as she spoke. “I saw you go into the water.”
The realization of what he’d done hit him, and he sank down to the couch beside her. “You followed me.”
She nodded.
“As you dove in,” she said, “I saw the tail of a shark splash out behind you. I thought I had to be crazy, I mean, it looked like you’d grown a tail. Mermen don’t exist. So then, I thought you must have been attacked by a shark. I do
ve in and tried to save you.”
“I thought I could feel you near,” he said, “but I was missing you so desperately that I’d assumed I’d imagined it.”
“It wasn’t until Sara was born, that I knew.” She sighed. “What are you? I know about Dagonians. They’re like mermen, aren’t they? Is that what you are?”
He pressed his lips together and contemplated the answer he would give her. He’d made Sara promise not to tell her mother who he really was. But truly, Nicole deserved to know. But she deserved to hear it from his own lips.
“No, I’m not a Dagonian. My name is Triton.”
Nicole shook her head as her eyes widened.
“Nikki?”
“You’re Triton.” She wrung her hands together. “Wow. I know it shouldn’t come as a surprise.” Her eyes darted around the room, finally landing on his face. “I mean, I just found out there really are mythological creatures. And I suspected all along that Sara wasn’t completely human. I mean, how could she be? She had a tailfin. The doctors told me it was a deformity. I guess I can see how they thought it was. She didn’t have scales, and her girl parts looked pretty normal—other than they were in front instead of tucked between legs. Even then, I was sure you were something magical. But seriously… you’re Triton?”
He nodded, giving her a weak smile.
She shook her head. “This is a lot to take in.”
He reached to grasp her hand, and she jumped at his touch, but she didn’t pull away. “Nikki, I’m still the same man you knew before. I’m the same man you—”
“You’re a god.”
“Yes, I’m the son of Poseidon, guardian of the sea, and King of the Atlantic.”
“This isn’t the Atlantic,” she said.
“No, it’s not. King is more of an honorary title. Recently, my father, Poseidon, entrusted the safety of all sea creatures to me—including the ones in the Pacific. My title as king is respected throughout the seas, and my name is feared by all.”
Nicole swallowed and raised an eyebrow. “A bit full of yourself, are you? I guess you have a right to be. You are a god, for heaven’s sake.” She shook her head and dropped her face into her hands. “Oh, good grief. No wonder you can be such a pain in the butt.”
Triton chuckled as he lifted her chin and took in the sight of her. Her makeup was smeared under her eyes, tears still clung to her cheeks, and she was giving him attitude. His smile faded as regret crept in unbidden. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”
Fresh tears sprung to her eyes. “I’ve missed you too.”
She pushed his hand away, cleared her throat, and wiped the tears from her eyes. Silence stretched between them. Finally, she spoke. “So. You came to see how I am?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Well…” She stood yet again. “Now that you know I’m fine, I guess you can leave. Go back to ruling the sea.” She waved him away.
“I can’t do that.”
Her brows pinched together. “What? Why not?”
He stood. “I promised to never leave you. And I never break my promises.”
“What do you mean?”
He reached out and took her hands in his. “It means you’re stuck with me.”
“But… I didn’t really mean it. You can’t stay here. You’re a god. You’re a king.”
“I’m aware of that,” he said.
“What about your father? Will he let you stay?”
Triton sighed. “No.”
“So what will you do?”
“I guess I’m going to have to convince you to come live with me.”
“What? You want me to… But I have a business to run. A life.”
“I didn’t say it would be easy to convince you. Give it time. I think you’ll see life with me wouldn’t be so bad. In fact, you might actually enjoy it.”
She swept her eyes over him and glanced at the door. “So where do you plan to stay while trying to convince me?”
Leaning into her, he inhaled her alluring scent—flowers, Plumerias, plants whose roots drew life from seawater. His whiskers brushed her skin. Using a hint of power to gain her cooperation, he whispered in her ear. “I was hoping to stay with you.”
She stiffened and pulled her hands from his. “No.”
He froze as the blunt denial struck him. The old Nicole would have been easily influenced and quick to succumb to his power. This older, wiser Nicole stepped back.
“No?” he asked.
Her lips were pressed together in a hard line, her posture rail-rod stiff. She was afraid—he could feel it. “You aren’t staying here,” she said firmly.
“I’m afraid, my love, that I can’t leave. I am bound to you. By the words of my promise, I will never leave you again.”
“You’ll find a way,” she whispered.
He frowned. “You have every reason to distrust me. And for that, I’m sorry.” His apology settled over the room in silence. He could see pain in her face.
“You know my dad and I didn’t have the best relationship,” she said.
Her statement surprised him. He wondered where she was going with this. “I remember you telling me about him.”
“When he found out I was pregnant, he demanded I have an abortion. I refused, and he was furious. He told me if I didn’t fix the situation, if I didn’t kill my child, I was dead to him. Then he turned his back and left. I haven’t seen him since that day.”
Triton experienced a mixture of feelings, but the most prominent was anger. How could a father demand his daughter kill her own child, and then abandon her when she needed him most? As hard as it was for her, Nicole could only be better off without a person such as that.
“I went on to have Sara,” she continued. “She was beautiful. I loved her with all my heart, but I could barely take care of myself. I had no idea how to take care of a baby, especially one like Sara. I tried to work to support us, but I couldn’t find anyone to watch her. All it took was one diaper change and they’d freak out and never come back. I tried to find help. My father wouldn’t answer my phone calls, my friends… well, they’d let me stay until they got tired of me eating their food and hearing Sara cry throughout the night. When I tried to get government help, I found myself at the mercy of people who thought I was a bad mother. They told me I couldn’t take care of my baby, and they said she needed medical help. When I refused to let a doctor poke, prod, and study her in a lab, they threatened me. They would have treated her like an animal, not like the sweet baby she was.”
Tears streamed down Nicole’s face as she looked at the floor. “I tried to find you.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “I kept going back to where I saw you last. I’d carry her into the water and wait for you to come and get her. I know it was crazy, but I thought that, surely, you could sense her, feel she was there in the sea. I didn’t know what you were, but I knew you were something supernatural. I got angry with you for not coming for her. At my lowest point, I figured perhaps you needed better motivation. Maybe if you’d thought I’d abandoned her, you’d come to get her. So I tossed her into the surf and hid myself. It broke my heart, hearing her cry. I wanted to die hearing her. I really believed you’d come, but you didn’t. That’s when I knew we were completely alone. All Sara and I had were each other.”
Triton felt hot tears on his cheeks. He wanted to tell her he was sorry, that he would make things up to her. But it would be a lie. There was no restitution for what he did, no words he could say to make things right. Instead, he pulled her into his arms. It was a miracle she didn’t push him away.
As she clung to him, he vowed to never hurt her again.
In a moment of weakness, Nicole let Ty see her vulnerability. She fully intended to rectify the situation and let him know exactly who was in charge around here.
“You are sending me to bed?” he asked as she tried to push Ty through the bedroom door. He turned toward her in the doorway. His brows were pressed so tightly together that they could squeeze a lemon. Actually, he looked lik
e he’d been sucking on one.
“You don’t have to go to sleep. I just need to make a business call.”
“And what business are you in? Espionage?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “I’m a wedding planner. I run a bridal shop.”
“So why can’t you talk in front of me?”
“Client confidentiality,” she answered.
Triton shook his head. “Nicole, I’m not an idiot. What kind of confidential information do wedding planners have?”
“Dress size, shoe size, allergies… there are lots of things women would not want the general public to know.”
He gave an exasperated sigh. “Fine. You have ten minutes to make your call, but then we have to talk. We have important things to discuss.”
You should tell him what the doctor said.
She frowned at the voice in her head. It seemed to be especially annoying lately—and it gave her an immediate headache. I’m not talking to you, she told the voice.
“Fine,” she said to Ty. “We’ll talk later.” Pushing him into the room, she shut the door. She could hear him walk across the floor and lay down on the bed. Okay, the coast was clear.
She stepped into the living room and dialed the shop.
“Nicole!” Lea’s voice screeched into the phone. “Are you okay? You’re not still at the hospital, are you?”
“No, no. I’m fine. The bullet just grazed me. It was barely a scratch.”
“It didn’t look like a scratch. The whole side of your skirt was soaked in blood. I can’t believe it. You should sue that idiot cop. They should take away his badge. He should at least lose his gun.”
“I haven’t really thought about it.”
“Liar.”
“No, really. I have a visitor.”
“What kind of visitor would make you forget the fact you’d been shot? Is Sara back?”
“No, but her father is here.”
There was silence on the line. Nicole could almost see Lea’s shocked expression.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Lea finally said.
“Nope. He’s here. In the flesh—the toned, tanned, muscly flesh.”
“Oh no.”
“What?”
“I know that tone. You’re falling for him again. Might I remind you how quickly you fall in and out of love? And the ‘in’ part is never good enough to make up for the crash and burn of the ‘out’ part.”