Evermore (8 page)

At the baby’s wail that lasted long and loud, Tatiana darted off the porch and headed to the houseboat.

“Tell your mom I’m sorry I can’t stay. We’ll start tomorrow when you get home from school, okay? Get your mother’s credit card.”

“Okay?” Like that was going to happen. My mother needed to know there was a wedding happening first, then I remembered the bag of gems I’d hidden in my room. Maybe I could exchange that into currency.

As I watched Tatchi go, a tear gently slid down my cheek. One problem down, a million more to go, and I couldn’t stop crying — dang it!

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Fin running up to the house. He disappeared around the corner by the garage. I leaned over the banister to call out and clue him in on the plan, but he disappeared inside. Then I heard my dad’s voice.

My heart jumped into my throat and I yanked my head back. Was he doing what I thought he was doing? Now? I held my breath and waited for the song, for him to force my dad to agree. But he didn’t. Even after my dad heckled him about having a gun.

My heart gushed with happiness as I listened to him defend his love for me, that I was his everything.

Mom opened the front door, startling me.

“Ash? Dinner’s been ready for fifteen minutes, and… what’s going on now?” She walked over, and I couldn’t stop myself, a hormonal hot mess, from crying more. Then Dad’s blessing of my wedding could be heard clear as day.

Her mouth opened, then shut as we looked at one another.

She dipped her head. “I don’t think you’re supposed to be hearing this.”

I pushed the tears off my cheeks. “I didn’t mean to. I was just talking to Tatchi and….”

I stopped talking.

She gave me a sweet smile, then pulled me into a hug. “It’ll be our secret.”

“Thanks, Mom.” I relished the warmth of her arms, in awe my decisions weren’t making her mad. Was the missing persons scare what she needed to finally support me like a mom should?

“We should go inside before they do, though.”

“Oh, right.”

As we darted inside, I put on my game face and wondered how I’d keep my excitement contained throughout dinner. I was getting married, and all without the song.

~|~

Throughout dinner, I fought to keep from fidgeting and pay attention to the conversation, wondering how long we’d need to hang out before Fin and I could escape and be alone.

“I’ll take care of that,” Fin said while standing, collecting my plate and my mother’s.

“Oh, no, Fin.” Mom lifted her hand, shooing us out. “You two should go relax outside. Watch the sunset. I’ll do the dishes.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Quite positive. Now go.”

I caught my father’s wink as Fin took my hand and led me outside. He said nothing as he led me to our bench, but I couldn’t restrain myself. I tackle-hugged him.

“What was that for?” he asked while he held me, eyes bright.

“I just love you.” I peered up into his face, wanting so badly to confess I’d listened in. “And I’m sorry about earlier.”

He tilted his head to the side. “I should have convinced my sister to come a lot sooner.”

I nudged him in the side. “It’s not just that.”

His eyes narrowed. “Then what else is it?”

“Just… that I don’t want anything to stand in the way of me professing my love to you for all to see.”

He gave me a funny look. “You were listening, weren’t you?”

“Listening?” I gave him a coy smile.

“To my conversation with your dad,” he said.

“You talked to my dad?” I could barely keep myself from blurting out the truth, and how proud I was of him.

“Yeah. Threatened to mount my head on his wall if I wasn’t careful.”

“What?” I rasped. That part I hadn’t heard, but it totally sounded like Dad.

“And,” he said slowly. “He gave us his blessing.”

I grinned so wide, I thought my teeth might fall out, then threw my arms around his neck. “This is wonderful.”

“You listened, didn’t you?”

“What? No.” I twisted my lips.

“You’re such a terrible liar.”

I laughed and hugged him tighter. “And you’re terrible at being covert. I saw you run up to the house.”

He glanced away. “I had to ask him when I had the chance.”

I could barely contain my smile.

“So no more wedding jitters?” he asked.

I held my breath. With my parents’ blessing out of the way, the next step was timing. We had to set the date, and Fin had to know why the rush. And if there was ever a time to tell him the truth, this had to be it. “Just maybe some… morning sickness.”

Fin laughed, then his body stiffened. “Wait, what?”

I looked up at him, dragging my teeth over my bottom lip. “I’m pregnant.”

Eyes rounded, he stopped breathing. “How is that possible?”

“It’s called sex,” I said sarcastically.

“No, I mean…” He paused and stared at me. “We used protection.”

“I know, but…” My smile fell. How could he look at me like this was my fault? “It’s not fool proof.”

“How far along are you?”

“I don’t know. A week? I haven’t had a period since the conversion.”

He scrubbed his hand through his blond hair, his eyes darting to my stomach. “How long have you known?”

“I took a test earlier today. That’s why I left. Pearl guessed by just looking at me.”

“Pearl knows?” He stumbled backward.

All the amazingness he’d just done to ask for my hand evaporated from my heart and left me there feeling naked. This wasn’t how I’d expected him to react. Not one bit.

“You know, you could be happy for me. This is your baby, too.”

“I know that… I… I’m…” He just stopped and stared.

“Well, it wasn’t like I wanted this either.” I balled my fists and turned, marching toward the front door.

He caught me by the wrist, spinning me toward him. “I’m sorry. It’s just a surprise.”

“Tell me about it,” I barked. “And because of your stupid mer genes, we’ll be parents in 6 weeks. So it’s now or never, and I need a house. So you’ve got some work to do.”

“You mean your mer genes. Have you forgotten you were born mer?”

I gasped, then tried to side step around him, but he wouldn’t let go. I yanked against his grip. “Let go.”

“Ash,” he said calmly. “Wait.”

“What?” Tears streamed down my cheeks.

He tugged me into a hug and squeezed. “I love you, and I love our baby. We’ll get through this.”

“Get through it?” My body stiffened. “You act like it’s a death sentence.”

“No.” He pulled away and then grunted. “What I mean is, it’s going to be a lot. But our love is stronger than just a promising kiss. Tatch is here to help you plan. I’ll build the house with Dad. And all that’s left is that we let your parents know.”

“That I’m pregnant?”

“No.” He blew out a breath. “That the wedding is in three weeks.”

My glance darted to the ground. My original instinct was correct in not holding this wedding. How could I be happy about this now? “What will my friends think?”

Fin hooked his fingers under my chin and lifted so he could look me in the eyes. “It doesn’t matter what they think.”

My breath hitched, my pride wounded. Doing things in the right, respectable order had always been my intention. “It matters to me.”

“Ash,” he said more firmly. “What needs to matter is what I think.”

“I know that, it’s just you have to sing to manipulate everybody.” My voice was hard.

“And I hate every minute of it,” he said resolutely. “But this is why I have the song. To protect our secret. And unfortunately, your human friends can’t be your friends forever. They’re going to age and wonder why you look the same as you do now unless I sing to them. We’re going to have merlings they’re not going to be able to meet unless I sing to them. There’s a compromise so you don’t have to say goodbye to your family forever. You have to remember that.”

I gnawed on my lip. “I know. It just hurts to manipulate them.”

He let out a slow sigh. “Well, I didn’t manipulate marrying you.”

“I know.”

He cracked a smile. “So you were listening.”

I pressed my lips together, caught. “Just promise me you won’t resort to singing first thing. That you’ll try to rationalize a reason first.”

“I promise.” He took me into his arms. “We’re a team, you and I. We have to be strong. We can overcome anything, but you have to talk to me. You can’t try to solve it on your own, or keep things from me to protect me. I’m a grown man. I can handle it.”

I closed my eyes, feeling guilty. Time and time again, I’d done just that to protect him and it always backfired. “And you need to do the same for me.”

“All right.” He kissed the top of my head, then he knelt down.

I startled. “What are you doing?”

He pulled something from his pocket. “Making it official.”

“But you’ve already made it official.” I flashed my hand where the ruby ring he’d given me covered my promising tattoo.

“That was a promise ring. This is the real deal.” My eyes watered at the sight of the diamond ring sparkling in his hand. “Ashlyn Francis Lanski, will you marry me?”

I swallowed down the happy sob lodged in my throat. “Of course, I will. Today. Tomorrow. In three weeks.”

I changed the ruby ring to my other hand, as he stood. He took my fingers gently, and slipped the ring onto my finger, then he grabbed me and twirled me around. “You’ve made me the happiest merman ever.”

I laughed, baffled at the crazy life we lived.

In the corner of my eye, I caught two silhouettes watching us.

“I think we have an audience.” I nudged my chin to the left.

“Ready to go tell them?”

“Okay?” I said, not meaning it to sound like a question.

“And I have your blessing to sing to them the date?”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course you do. Just… just not the baby yet.”

“Okay.” He put his arm around my shoulder and walked with me toward the house. My stomach bunched in nerves.

With the wedding happening in three short weeks, we had more than enough to do.

Walking alone across the beach toward the houseboat, my feet barely felt like they’d touched the ground. I’d gone from getting married to becoming a dad.

I stepped onto the boat and met the four pairs of anxious eyes of my parents, Tatiana, and even the merling, Nicole.

“So?” Tatiana asked hesitantly.

I gave them a baleful look, then raised my hands, unable to keep them in suspense any longer. “I’m getting married.”

Everyone let out a whoop and jumped up to hug me. I backed up, stopping them. “But that’s not all.”

Their eyes widened.

I cracked a grin. “I’m going to be a dad, too.”

My sister let out another loud whoop, clearly not surprised, while my parents’ mouths dropped open. Nicole crawled across the floor to touch my feet, then phased into a mermaid, shredding her diaper.

“Another grandmerling?” Mom gasped, holding the sides of her face. “Oh, my starfish. This is wonderful!”

“Congratulations, Son. When?”

Tatiana scooped up Nicole, just as she started peeing everywhere. “Oh, sorry, Mom and Dad. I’ll clean it up.”

She leaped onto the dock and jumped into the lake. The merling wiggled in her hands, crying to be let loose.

I tore my gaze away from her and focused on my parents. “Uh… five, six weeks? I don’t know about incubation… pregnancy… stuff.”

Mom snagged a towel and cleaned up the mess. “Pearl can confirm how far along she is, but where does that leave the wedding? Do we need to postpone it a year?”

“We’re having the wedding in three weeks,” Tatiana called from the water. “Here. On the beach. It’s already decided.”

Mom’s forehead creased. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Very sure.” I turned to Dad. “But here’s the hard part. I promised Ash’s dad I’d have a house for her. So…”

“Three weeks?” Dad’s eyebrows lifted. He turned to Mom. “I guess we don’t have a choice.”

I leaned forward, not trusting my ears. “You can build a house in three weeks?”

Dad laughed. “Well not alone, no. The biggest hold up is usually permits and inspections, but we’ve got that covered.”

I blew out a nervous breath. “Okay. That’s handled. What about the wedding?”

Tatiana yelled from the water. “Well, Girra has permission to come on land, along with the rest of my students so they can help, too. That includes several of the guard. I think between Jax, Jacob, Badger, and Dad, we’ll be able to sing away any mistakes. Oh, and Fin too, when you’re here. I think it’ll work.”

I inhaled quickly. It just sounded like so much, too much.

“It doesn’t need to be elaborate, Tatchi. Just some chairs and dresses, and stuff.”

Tatiana laughed. “Uh, sure. We’ll have a few chairs. Won’t we, Mom?”

Mom stepped from the houseboat deck onto the dock, a wide smile on her face. “You’ve done your job, Son, in both proposing and giving me another grandmerling. Let me and your sister add the frosting on the cake, with Ash’s blessing of course.”

“Uhhh, are you sure?” I stuttered. “‘Cause I know Ash isn’t going to want a huge thing.”

“Huge?” Tatiana made duck lips. “Spectacular, yes.”

Mom dove off the dock and disappeared under the water. She reappeared a few feet off shore, then leaped into the air.

“Mom!” I yelled, looking around to make sure no one saw. The last time I’d seen her this happy… Actually, I couldn’t remember the last time.

Dad clapped me on the back. “Give her a moment. No one is watching.”

Dad dove off and joined her.

I let out a long sigh and turned toward Ash’s house. She’d agreed to a wedding, not a mer convention.

“Trust me,” Tatiana called across the water.

I sighed and shook my head. I’d done half my responsibilities per Badger, the other half had yet to be finished.

With the wedding happening in three short weeks, we had more than enough to do. Why did I agree to attend high school?