by Joyce Lavene
I quickly called Gramps and told him to come home right away. He didn’t ask any questions—just got off the phone. I knew he’d be squealing into the drive again.
“You’ll be fine,” I assured her. “But I think we should call an ambulance. You probably just need to have some tests done. Once they find out what’s wrong with you, it’ll be okay.”
“It won’t be.” Her breath rattled in her chest. “I knew as soon as you brought me back that it wouldn’t take long for it to catch up with me. You can’t fool time, Dae. You have to work with it and respect it.”
“No. Don’t say that. You’re not that old. You’re probably suffering from something like jetlag. I’ve noticed how tired I get when I use my gift to go back even for a few minutes. You just need some rest.”
I dragged the quilt up over her as I heard Gramps’s car in the drive.
“Gramps is here. I’m sure he’ll want to call someone, at least a doctor.” Tears gathered in my eyes. I knew what she was trying to say—the same thing Kevin and Mary Catherine had tried to tell me.
“Don’t cry,” she urged in a wispy voice. “You gave me a wonderful gift. Getting to know you and see what you grew up to be has been like a dream. I even had a chance to say goodbye to your grandfather. I didn’t have that before. You gave that to me, Dae. And I love you for it.”
I could hear Gramps’s boots clunking up the stairs at a faster than normal rate. He kept calling our names, but I couldn’t answer though the thick tears in my throat.
“What’s going on?” He finally reached us, out of breath. “Did she fall again? Why didn’t you call an ambulance, Dae? You know it takes them forever to get here. Maybe we can get her downstairs and take her to the hospital in the car.”
“There’s no reason to take me anywhere, Horace.” She took his hand with her free one. “I’m just glad you made it back in time. This is the goodbye we never had.”
“What are you saying?” His knees gave way as he knelt next to the bed. “You just got back. You’ll be fine, Eleanore. You can’t leave me again so soon.”
“I love you, Horace.” She smiled at both of us. Her hands were so weak she could barely squeeze ours. “I love you too, Dae. The two of you take good care of each other. Horace, you could smile a little more often. Dae, you take care using your gift. Don’t make the same mistake I did and lose so much of your life.”
She exhaled and let go of our hands. Her eyes closed, and she was gone. An immediate change began to come over her. She was crumbling away like dust. It only took a moment, and her body wasn’t there.
“What in the world?” Gramps asked in a low voice as tears ran down his face. “What happened? Why did she die? And is she dead this time or just stuck out there again?”
“She’s gone this time.” A sob caught in my throat. I could barely speak. “When we go back in time, we can’t stay. She couldn’t stay here for the same reason. At least she’s free now.”
His voice was brusque as he got to his feet. “Free? She’s just gone, Dae. Disintegrated. T-there’s nothing left of her.”
“Time caught up with her. She didn’t belong here.”
“So you knew this was going to happen?”
“No. I didn’t.” I stared at him through my tears. “But she was happy to be here even for a short while. She was glad she got to say goodbye.”
“That’s just not enough.” He stormed out of the room. “And now what am I going to tell people about her being back and gone again? I don’t know if I can handle this.”
He was yelling all the way down the stairs. The front door slammed, and the engine started in the police car.
After a few minutes, I gathered the bed sheets and walked to the back of our property that ended at the Currituck Sound. The day was sunny, but the winds swept across Duck with summer fierceness.
I sighed as I shook the sheets and watched what was left of Grandma Eleanore disappear into the wind and water. I sank down on the rocks and didn’t move for hours. It was dark before Kevin’s voice called from the backyard.
“Out here,” I yelled back, grabbing the sheets and heading toward the house.
He hugged me. “I just heard from Horace what happened. I’m so sorry, Dae. Is there anything I can do?”
“No. She’s gone.” I looked up at him. “You and Mary Catherine were right. I shouldn’t have interfered.”
“That’s not true. Horace told me you both had a chance to say goodbye. You know she’s not trapped in time now. She’s at peace, Dae. It was good what you did. I’m sorry I ever said anything.”
“That doesn’t matter right now.” I went inside and put the sheets in the wash. Each movement was painful with loss. Maybe I had said goodbye, but I wasn’t ready to let go.
Kevin wanted to take me out for dinner. I wasn’t up for that or the questions that would be involved. I didn’t want to think about the answers. I just wanted to stay home.
“Okay.” He kissed me. “I could bring some food from the Blue Whale. We could eat here. I don’t want to leave you alone like this.”
I smiled, but I wanted to be alone and told him so. He left after dozens of protests, and I promised to call him as soon as I felt better.
When he was gone, I grew restless. Despite my original thoughts that I wanted to be home, I put my shoes back on and went out.
It was raining, the warm summer rain that we used to play in as kids. My mother used to tell me that it was okay as long as I didn’t see any lightning. I used to wait until I had seen lightning a few times before I actually went back inside. It had to get close to the house before it scared me.
There was no lightning or thunder that night. Even the sound was calm despite the rain. The lights were off on the boardwalk—probably a glitch of some kind—they happened often. I could still see the sandbar from the lights at Wild Stallions. Inside, people were laughing and enjoying themselves. I was glad I wasn’t with them.
I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw someone on the sandbar. Then I thought it was Cathi, waiting for her lover. But the figure was too small, too thin, to be Cathi. It made me wonder if someone had lost a child.
Swinging down from the boardwalk, I walked carefully along the edge of the sandbar until I reached the figure. Her white hair was blown wildly by the breeze, and her feet were bare. I’d never seen Mrs. Euly Stanley so disheveled.
“Mrs. Stanley?”
“Oh.” She looked up at me. “Dae. It’s you.”
“How did you get down here? Do you need help getting back up on the boardwalk?”
I knew she couldn’t even weigh a hundred pounds. Her dress was damp from the water. I couldn’t tell what color it was in the dim light. Maybe I could get her back up by myself. If not there were plenty of able bodies in the restaurant.
“No. I’m fine.” She smiled. “I won’t be here for long anyway. I’m leaving tonight.”
“Where are you going?” Had she hit her head or something?
“I’m going with the only man I’ve ever loved. You remember the story I told you. The one thing I left out was his name—Tovi.” She chuckled. “All this time, and he still remembers me, even though I don’t look a thing like I used to. He still loves me too. I’m going to swim with him. I’m ready.”
I didn’t want to be the one to tell her that he was with Cathi. What had Tovi said to her? Or had she imagined it out of her past? Mrs. Stanley was never the imaginative dreamer who might be standing on the sandbar waiting for her merman lover to appear.
I was at a loss to know what to do.
“Oh. I brought this with me.” She held up the gold-handled cane she used to get around with. “You should take it with you, Dae. I’m sure it will answer questions about Captain Lucky and his unfortunate fate, both for you and the medical examiner.”
I took it from her, and immediately years of experience flooded through me beginning with where the cane had been made. It also showed me Captain Lucky’s death.
“I’
m so sorry that it came to it,” she said. “He was a lovely man but exceptionally greedy. I asked him to destroy the pictures he had of Tovi and his sister. He laughed at me. I wouldn’t let him expose them. So when he turned to go back to the Andalusia, I gave him a whack on the head. He fell into the water. Tovi pulled him out, but it was too late. That was when I asked him to take me with him. I can’t tell you what a joyous moment it was when he said yes.”
“You killed Captain Lucky?” I was having a tough time imagining it, even though I had clearly seen what had happened from the cane. “How did you get him back to the ship and make everything so wet?”
“Tovi took him. He’d do anything for me. I opened the windows in the stateroom, and Tovi and his sister splashed gallons of water inside. It seemed a fitting end for Captain Lucky.”
There was a splash close beside us, and Tovi’s face appeared in the water.
“Are you ready, Euly?”
She held out her hand to him. “I’ve waited all my life for you.”
“Maybe you should think about this.” I tried to caution.
But it was too late. She jumped into the water, and it closed over her head. I started to dive in after her when I saw Tovi with her in his arms. I couldn’t keep my mouth from hanging open.
“Goodbye, Dae.” She waved to me. “Always follow your heart.”
Those were the last words she spoke to me. With a powerful flick of his beautiful blue and orange tail, Tovi and Mrs. Euly Stanley were gone.
Epilogue
It was a month after Mrs. Stanley disappeared that we held her memorial on the sandbar. We did a short memorial for Captain Lucky, but he was from Portsmouth, Virginia and his body had been shipped there for his official funeral.
Mrs. Stanley had been well-organized about her passing. Everything the police needed to know was clearly identified and written down for them. Her affairs were in order, even down to the memorial she wanted on the sandbar and her final bequest to the town.
Only ten people could stand on the sandbar at one time, but hundreds were on the boardwalk, leaning over the rail, and seated on the wood stairs that led down to the water.
Mrs. Stanley’s daughter, Evelyn, had come back home for the memorial. She was clearly embarrassed by her mother’s death and confession to murder. She’d brought her husband and son with her. It was the first time in years that Evelyn had come to visit her mother.
At a signal from Chris Slayton, I began to read from the memorial speech I’d written for her.
“We’re here today to honor one of the true Bankers, Mrs. Euly Stanley. Her last wish was that we would install this sign on the sandbar.”
Chris held it up. It was a small image of a smiling mermaid. Beside it were the words—“Mer-Safe Haven.”
Everyone applauded.
“Mrs. Stanley left the town a yearly endowment to make sure that mermaids and mermen aren’t persecuted here in Duck. We honor her memory today by placing her sign here and blowing the coral horn to make sure all seafolk know they have safe passage.”
Tess had gone home to Minnesota after Tovi and Lilly had left Duck, but she’d come back for the memorial when I asked her to blow the horn. She took a deep breath and blew hard into it. The sound was deep and low, echoing around us, making everyone present shiver when they heard it.
After she’d blown into it, Mark Samson took possession of the coral horn. Captain Lucky had no relatives that we could find to pass it down to, so I used my rights as the person who’d paid for it to donate it to the museum.
A storm was coming up at the horizon. The sky was dark, and the winds were making the swells on the Currituck Sound larger. I suggested that we all adjourn for drinks at Wild Stallions to honor Mrs. Stanley. The crowd began slowly moving in that direction.
Cathi waited for me to climb off the sandbar. Her eyes were misty as she looked out at the water.
“I’m sorry he didn’t take you with him,” I said when we were alone.
“They’ll be back, Dae.” She smiled. “I understand his love for Mrs. Stanley. Next time, I’ll go with them too.”
She didn’t go toward Wild Stallions, instead leaving the boardwalk, heading home.
There was a large splash. I turned my head quickly, not in time to see what could have caused it. But there were blue, gold, and orange scales on the sign post which hadn’t been put in the sand yet.
I heard the sound of laughter in the distance and went to join Kevin and my friends for a drink.
About the Authors
Joyce and Jim Lavene write bestselling mystery together. They have written and published more than 70 novels for Harlequin, Berkley and Gallery Books along with hundreds of non-fiction articles for national and regional publications.
Pseudonyms include J.J. Cook, Ellie Grant, Joye Ames and Elyssa Henry
They live in rural North Carolina with their family, their rescue animals, Quincy - cat, Stan Lee - cat and Rudi - dog. They enjoy photography, watercolor, gardening and long drives
Visit them at www.joyceandjimlavene.com
www.Facebook.com/JoyceandJimLavene
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorJLavene
Amazon Author Central Page: http://amazon.com/author/jlavene
Table of Contents
A Watery Death
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
About the Authors