The Turning Tides (Marina's Tales)

by Anderson, Derrolyn

  “I’ll have to keep giving you jewelry,” Ethan said seriously.

  I smiled wryly at him, “That’s not what I meant.”

  I couldn’t help wondering. There was definitely a pattern there, but what did it mean? I was a scientist’s daughter, and I could understand the desire to know– to experiment, measure and quantify. But there were some things that simply could not be explained by science. Even the unpredictability of muse magic couldn’t explain it fully.

  It had to be love, and love alone. Ethan’s gifts represented his hard work and sacrifice, but most of all, his love. It was love that made my mother give up her life to present me to my father, and love that made Abby struggle to raise Cruz on her own. If I didn’t love Ethan, I wouldn’t even be here; love was the only thing that enabled me to resist the irresistible siren song of the sea.

  Evie was right– love was the most powerful thing in the world.

  The afternoon breeze picked up, making the seabirds hovering above us look like they were hanging on a wire. Wind whipped my hair around my face, making it hard to catch a breath. I remembered that we were supposed to be at Dutch and Abby’s soon.

  “We better go now,” I said. It was the first time I could remember wanting to leave before I was thoroughly exhausted, and that had to be a good sign.

  After we got home, Ethan and I rinsed our wetsuits out together, hanging them out to dry side by side.

  “We have about an hour before we have to get going to Abby’s. I’ll take my shower first,” I told him when we stepped inside. I started towards the bathroom.

  “Wait a sec!” he exclaimed, stopping me in my tracks. “That’s not very green… and I know you wouldn’t want to be wasteful.”

  I turned to look into his laughing eyes.

  His brow furrowed thoughtfully, “Don’t you think we should conserve water?”

  I ran down the hall squealing with laughter, Ethan hot on my heels.

  ~

  Chapter Thirty

  ABBY’S HOUSE

  ~

  “Help, she’s got me again!”

  Adria loved to grab fistfuls of my hair, clutching it tightly and pulling it towards her face with glee. Ethan took her from my arms while I gingerly disengaged her chubby little hands, wincing as she tugged at my scalp.

  Dutch was on his way home, and Abby was busy in the kitchen, leaving Ethan and I to spend some time with Adria. We settled on the couch, taking turns holding her. She was a beautiful child, blessed with big blue eyes, plump cheeks and unusually long eyelashes. Her drooling little mouth was continually breaking into a wide gummy smile. She’d obviously inherited Abby’s sweet disposition.

  “So let me get this straight,” Ethan chuckled, “You’re going to be her sister in law and her cousin?”

  “Yep,” I said, pulling my hair back from my face and twisting it into a quick braid. I scooted closer to Ethan, looking down at Adria lying across his lap. She blew a raspberry with her perfect little rosebud lips, surprising herself at the sound. Her clear and focused eyes met mine with innocent anticipation. She reminded me of Nixie.

  I stroked the top of her downy head, marveling at the sweet softness of baby skin. I tickled her belly and got a funny little laugh out of her. Ethan couldn’t get over her tiny hands, holding them up against his, in awe at the difference in size.

  “She has your toes,” he said.

  “What, short, fat and stubby?” I laughed, wiggling them in my sandals.

  “No, little and cute.”

  “I’m just glad I have them,” I muttered.

  “Me too,” He kissed my cheek, making Adria laugh again at the sound.

  I took her back from him, smacking kisses on both of her cheeks to be rewarded with more baby laughter. I thought about all of Evie’s talk of fate and smiled. If I hadn’t come to Aptos and met Ethan, Dutch and Abby would never have found each other, and Adria wouldn’t exist.

  I could feel Ethan’s gaze lingering on me, and I looked up to meet his soft eyes.

  “We should have one of these someday,” he said.

  “Whoa! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” I chided him. “You haven’t changed a diaper yet!”

  He smiled sheepishly, “I meant in a few years.”

  I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I hadn’t thought about it myself. Looking at Adria made me think about my future with Ethan. I wondered if we’d have children, and what they’d be like. Whatever the future had in store for us, I knew my decision to stay with Ethan would be the best one I’d ever made.

  As carefree as undersea life was, nothing ever changed for the mermaids, and I pitied them for it. I wanted to experience the rich tapestry of life to the fullest, even though I knew that its joys went hand in hand with its sorrows. Happy beginnings always came with bittersweet endings, but without the low notes there could be no high ones.

  Dutch came barreling in the front door with a smile and an armload of fresh salmon. He dropped it off to Abby in the kitchen and hurried back in to greet us. I could smell the ocean on him when he bent to kiss the baby.

  “How’s my girl?” he asked her, and she cooed in response. He left to go wash up as Abby came in to scoop up Adria, excusing herself to go feed the baby and put her down for a nap. Soon the four of us were gathered around the table, dishing up the salmon Dutch quickly threw on the grill. Abby had made a side dish of tofu with pesto, and I had to admire her persistence in trying to change Dutch’s opinion on the subject.

  “You must befriend the tofu,” she said, casting him a humorous look.

  He smiled wryly, passing me the dish. I took a polite amount and it wasn’t bad at all. Maybe Dutch’s cooking ability was rubbing off on Abby.

  “Did you hear about Bradley’s father?” Abby asked, passing me a bowl of greens. “He passed away in some kind of horrible car accident.”

  “Yeah,” I said. Olivia had managed to cover that one up too.

  Abby continued on, “I know he was a terrible man, but poor Brad has been through so much lately.”

  “He’s not so poor anymore,” Dutch pointed out. “His old man was loaded.”

  She looked at him reproachfully, “Be nice.”

  Abby had become like a second mother to Brad, and I wasn’t surprised at all that he was drawn to her brand of unconditional love. To know her was to both love her and be loved by her, and Brad seemed to need all the support he could get. He may not have been very close to his father, but the discovery of his dark obsession with me had Bradley deeply shaken.

  Ethan looked angry at the mention of Edwards, and I patted his knee under the table. There was no need to explain the horrible truth to Abby and Dutch, and even Brad needn’t know about his father’s real plans and ultimate fate. What was done was done.

  “Did you hear that Megan got nominated for a Grammy?” I piped up, changing the subject. We talked about how proud we were of her and Shayla. Abby was excited about Cruz’s plans to start a clothing line, and I described his latest clothes to her while Ethan and his dad talked about what had been going on with the boat.

  “I talked to your father today– I can’t believe he’s rushing into marriage so soon!” Abby told me. She was surprised at how quickly my father had gotten involved with Amrita, and a little worried that she hadn’t had a chance to meet her yet. Dutch just smiled and raised his eyebrows at her, gently pointing out the obvious.

  I laughed, because it seemed as though speedy courtships ran in my family. The adults around me and Ethan made us look as though we were moving at a snail’s pace.

  After dinner Abby went to check on Adria, motioning for me to come. I followed along behind her, going into the baby’s room and peering into the crib alongside her. Adria was fast asleep, smacking her lips as she dreamed her baby dreams.

  Abby whispered, “Do you realize it’s only been a little over a year since you first came to stay? Sometimes I can’t believe how much has happened… how lucky I’ve been…” She stopped, too emotional to continue.<
br />
  I patted her back, “You deserve all the good things in the world.”

  She gathered herself together, wiping her eyes, “When I talked to your father this morning I asked him what he thought about you and Ethan getting married.”

  My heart skipped a beat, “What did he say?”

  “That he liked Ethan very much… and that he decided to take Evie’s word for it.”

  I was puzzled, “Her word for what?”

  “She thinks that you’re ready to decide for yourself.”

  “Oh,” I whispered, “And what do you think?”

  “I think you’ve been through a lot this past year … And I don’t think you could find a nicer young man than Ethan.” She smiled, “I am biased though.”

  Now we were both emotional, and we gave each other a big hug until a little squeak brought our attention back to the crib. We looked down to see Adria’s owlish eyes watching us. When she focused on her mother’s face she smiled. Abby and I looked back at each other and laughed. I watched Abby pick up her baby with a look of pure love on her face.

  Dutch had certainly learned his lesson. Abby was the absolute opposite of Ruby– beautiful on both the inside and out. Ruby was undeniably attractive, but her rotten core had turned out to be as ugly as sin. I hoped she might change someday for Ethan’s sake, but I doubted it. I couldn’t help thinking that as age burned away the last traces of her good looks, the future didn’t bode very well for her.

  Abby’s future was smiling up at her in her arms.

  Ethan and I drove home hand in hand, and it was actually starting to feel natural. The future was unfolding right before my eyes, and I could barely contain my excitement. I smiled over at him, “I have a surprise for you.”

  “Oh really?” he smiled wolfishly, “Will I like it?”

  “I certainly hope so!” I said.

  When we got inside I sat Ethan down on the couch, “Wait here.”

  I returned with my hand behind my back, pulling it out to hand him a piece of paper, “Surprise.”

  He took it, looking it over with a confused look, “What is this?”

  “It’s the deed for your land.”

  “What? Where did you get this?”

  I sat down close to him, “I went out to Lue Khang’s farm this morning… I paid it all off– it’s all yours now… Ours.”

  He didn’t look very happy, “Where did you get this much money?”

  “I earned it.” I squirmed a little, embarrassed at how easy it had been. Ethan worked so hard for everything he got, it almost didn’t seem right. “Uhm… I was at Evie’s last week…”

  He groaned, “Not Evie… I don’t want her to–”

  I put my fingers to his lips, “Let me finish.”

  “Remember Evie had that dinner for Megan?”

  “Yeah,” he said, looking at me suspiciously.

  “Well, Shayla’s modeling agent was there. He saw some pictures I took for Cruz’s stuff, and wanted to represent me too… I agreed to do a photo shoot… Well, Cruz did… But anyway, we took some test pictures before the concert and Jacques found me a job. I called him this morning to accept it.”

  I searched his face for a reaction. He still didn’t seem happy.

  His voice was quiet, “Are you gonna take off like Shayla?”

  “No!” I took his hand, “It’s not that kind of modeling! It’s for print modeling only. I just have to go to San Francisco for a few photo shoots every now and again.”

  “How much are they paying you?” he asked, his brow knit together.

  I pressed my lips together, embarrassed. “It’s a new line for a major company… And they wanted an exclusive contract… Jacques must be a really good negotiator.”

  “How much?” he asked, leaning forward curiously.

  When I told him, he fell back on the couch with a great whoosh of an exhale, “Whoa.”

  I started in right away, arguing against every possible objection, “Ethan, if I’m going to be your wife, then we need to share everything. What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine. Now we can start building our house right away… And you can focus on school, and starting the nur–”

  Now he put his fingers to my lips, pulling me down onto his chest.

  “How did I get so lucky?” he asked, taking my face in his hands.

  “I’m the lucky one,” I said, lunging in for a kiss.

  ~

  My heart was pounding with excitement, as I chased down the moon’s reflection shimmering on the smooth wall of water. Floating, free from gravity’s pull, I was flying on a black night wave. Lorelei appeared at the end of the ride to whisk me away, powering through the foamy brine to pull me to safety.

  There, floating on the dark cold sea, illuminated by the cool blue moonlight, Ethan was waiting with a warm kiss.

  ~

  “Marina… Marina…” Ethan’s sleepy voice brought me back to reality. I opened my eyes to see the first dim light of dawn filtering into our room. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  I struggled up, disoriented, “I was dreaming.” I settled back down, my head on his chest.

  Ethan stroked my hair, his voice vibrating through me, “Tell me.”

  “It was good.” I yawned, “You were in it.”

  He chuckled, shaking my head gently, “Oh really? What was I doing?”

  “We were surfing… Under the most beautiful full moon ever.”

  “Moons,” he sighed. “There’s still a ton left to go.”

  I wrote my name across his chest with my finger, “I’m not ever going away, you know. You’re stuck with me.”

  After a few minutes he turned on his side to face me, “Did you know that I’ve always loved your eyes?” He leaned in to kiss them while I scrunched up my face. “And your nose.” He kissed that too. “Your lips…” After the next kiss he drew back with a grin, “And your toes…”

  He dove under the covers while I scrambled to escape. We ended up wrestling and laughing, hopelessly entangled in the wound up blankets. A demanding meow caught our attention and we looked up to see a little black and white face peeping in the doorway. Stumpy slithered in, jumped up onto the bed and proceeded to attack my feet under the blankets.

  “He’s after your toes now,” Ethan laughed.

  I sat up and took the frisky cat into my lap. His purring filled the room, and he started to drool a little. “I think he wants his breakfast,” I laughed, swinging my legs out of bed to get up.

  Ethan hugged me around the waist, forcing me to pull away from him.

  “I have to get up. Stumpy needs me,” I explained.

  He fell back onto his pillow, “Will you come hang out with me at the farmer’s market today?” he asked hopefully.

  “Haven’t you had enough of me?”

  “Nope. I don’t think I’ll ever get enough.”

  I smiled to myself, because I felt exactly the same way. I couldn’t imagine anywhere else I’d rather be today than by his side.

  “Okay,” I agreed.

  “Good. Now I know you’ll never run off.”

  I stopped at the door, turning back, “Because I’m coming today?”

  “No.” He put his arms behind his head with a smile, “Because I know you’d never leave Stumpy.”

  I took the cat out of the room with a smile.

  ~

  Chapter Thirty-One

  HOMESTEAD

  ~

  The holidays came and went swiftly, flying by along with our shared birthday. There had been no more trouble, and Ethan and I settled into a comfortable routine of school and work. Now that I was over eighteen, we were ready to make it official, and it didn’t matter if anyone else thought we were too young. I had more than made up my mind, and if I’d inherited anything from my father, it was his stubbornness.

  Dad wanted to stand up and walk with me, asking us to wait until he could do it without a cane. Ethan was eager to please him and agreed, surprising me with his patience. He had subtlety changed;
still driven, Ethan now spoke about the future with confidence, and I no longer got the sense that he was mapping things out merely for the comfort of having a plan.

  I grew closer to Amrita, and I was happy to see my family expand again. Much to Evie’s chagrin, Dad and Amrita had opted for a civil service wedding, insisting on tying the knot at city hall. Denied the perfect opportunity to throw one of her grand fetes, she insisted on hosting a lavish banquet to send them off on their lecture tour.

  Our small family sat clustered at the end of Evie’s long table in the massive dining room of her penthouse apartment. The length of the table was crowded with my father’s colleagues, Evie’s high society friends and the university’s largest donors. It was exactly the sort of event my father hated, and I felt a rush of sympathy watching him endure toast after toast singing his praises.

  Abby and Amrita had hit it off immediately, bonding over their common quest for the ideal diet, prompting Dad and Dutch to roll their eyes at each other in sympathy. Cruz and Brad spent the better part of the dinner with their heads together, discussing their latest business venture. Brad had insisted on using some of his newly acquired fortune to launch Cruz’s first line of sportswear, and under Evie’s expert tutelage, it was certain to be a success.

  After the lavish ten course meal wound down, Evie pulled her chair up to where Ethan and I sat holding hands, “Are you two enjoying yourselves?”

  Ethan straightened up politely, “Yes, thank you.”

  She smiled at him, looking down the table at my father pulling at his irritating collar. “Honestly,” she shook her head sadly, “I’ll never understand why Martin can’t seem to enjoy his own parties!”

  “You know he doesn’t like all this fuss,” I defended him.

  “I suppose,” she shrugged with a sigh. Then she looked at me dreamily, “But now we need to discuss your plans. You’re going to make the most beautiful bride. Have you given any thought about where we should have the ceremony?”