The Calling (20 page)

Terrified of what he’d find, Justin took a deep breath and let his energy traverse the sea surrounding him. The powerful surge echoed off the sandy bottom, returning to him the murky image of seaweed, seashells, and a small school of fish, but nothing the size or density of a body.

Relief washed over him. If she wasn’t there, maybe she was still alive. Or maybe the rock piers interfered with his ability to find her. He angled his body to face the farthest pier and, like a Doppler searching for a storm, he forced out another surge of energy.

A body, rigid and motionless, drifted toward the jagged rocks, something billowing around its frame. A nightgown? He stumbled forward, catching himself before he fell face first into the surf. His mother. He knew it was her.

Stifling a choked moan, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed. “Send an ambulance to the seawall between Thirty-Fifth Street and Thirty-Seventh Street.”

He slammed the phone shut, threw it onto the sand, and dove under the water. His arms and legs churned through the sea until they burned. At the same time, he used the pull of the waves to guide the figure toward him.

Without taking a breath, he covered the distance between them and surfaced into a veil of lace. The weight of his mourning bore down on him as he pushed his mother’s nightgown aside, not sure if he tasted the ocean dripping down his cheeks or tears.

Do your job and get her out
, he repeated, as his mind began to break apart. Refusing to look into her face, he wrapped one arm around her delicate neck. With his index finger, he did a sweep of her mouth. Nothing blocked her airway. The water was too deep to begin resuscitation, so he twisted around, her limp body floating behind him, and swam toward shore.

As soon as his feet touched the sand, he positioned his mother in front of him, still pushing them toward the beach, and began breathing exercises. Her lips were cold, lifeless.

When the water reached his waist, he cradled her in his arms and carried her to shore. The wind roared with the burst of a new storm, and rain fell from the sky like tears.

Swaying in the wind, he laid her on the beach, her hands to her sides, her legs straight. If an ounce of life remained in her, he’d find it. He intertwined his fingers and pushed down on her chest with his palm.
Up, down, up, down
.

With his fingertips, he tilted her head back and pinched her nose. He breathed into her mouth twice, then went back to pumping her chest with a manic determination.
Up, down, up, down
.

Pushes to the chest. Mouth to mouth. Pushes to the chest. Mouth to mouth
.

She couldn’t be gone.

Pushes to the chest. Mouth to mouth. Pushes to the chest. Mouth to mouth
.

Nothing. Not even a sputter of water. He knew her lungs were full of seawater, but he couldn’t stop.

Pushes to the chest. Mouth to mouth. Pushes to the chest. Mouth to mouth
.

If she died, he hadn’t just failed his sister and his dad, he’d failed everybody.

Pushes to the chest. Mouth to mouth. Pushes to the chest. Mouth to mouth
.

Warm tears mixed with the rain pelting his face and, for just a moment, he lifted up and saw her—fragile body with pale skin. A white nightgown clung to her frame, and her long black hair glistened.

“Mom! Wake up! Please.” His voice sounded thin, like a child’s. He swept his palm over her face, wiping the rain from her eyelids. She was as cold as the ocean but, unlike the sea, she was lifeless.

She’s gone
.

He was helpless to bring her back. As the sirens of the ambulance wailed and Mandy rushed toward him, he buried his face in her soaked hair and wept for the mother he’d lost twenty years ago.

Chapter 14

The last time Mandy had been to a funeral was when her grandmother had passed away ten years ago. She and her mother had huddled together, holding each other while they cried and handed tissues back and forth. She hadn’t even heard the eulogy over the sound of her shuddered breaths. And when they stood over her grandmother’s grave and watched her casket being lowered into the ground, all Mandy could picture were burrowing worms and skittering centipedes touching the hands that had held her.

The day after the funeral, she had gone to school and laughed when someone made a joke, smiled when someone waved, but in her mind, all she saw were bugs crawling through the soil, invading the wooden casket of a woman she loved.

That was hard, so very, very hard, but the death of Justin’s mother was worse.

His mom had died the day she disappeared inside a hospital, never to live a normal life again. Everything that had made her worth mourning, her love for her children, her loyalty to her husband, her fear of God, had long ago been forgotten, and in her passing, fewer than twenty people filled Galveston’s First Baptist Church.

Mandy wanted to run outside and find all the lost friends, family, and neighbors who would have been there if Justin’s mom had truly died twenty years ago, but Justin seemed completely unfazed. His face was stoic, and he squeezed her hand as they strode down the center aisle of the church.

If he was okay, then she should be, too. So, she focused on the stained glass windows depicting Jesus’ life and the colorful rays they cast across the ceiling and down the walls. Though the church was built of stone, massive oak timbers crossed the ceiling, spanning its great width and reminding her of an ark. It was a beautiful church, but so empty.

Half a dozen people milled around the coffin. Some consoled each other with meaningful looks and lingering hugs. Others paid their last respects by saying silent prayers.

The closer she and Justin walked to her casket, the tighter Justin gripped Mandy’s hand. By the time they made it to the end of the pews, he leaned on her heavily, and her fingers ached. She was just about to lift up on her tiptoes to whisper reassuring words in his ear, when a woman with a thick middle hidden by the folds of a flowing navy dress tottered toward them.

The woman’s face lit up like a Tiffany lamp. “Justin!” She waddled in high heels until she was a few feet away, then stopped abruptly, her gaze resting on Mandy and Justin’s intertwined hands.

“Who’s this?” she asked, her previously animated demeanor turning more subdued.

Justin let go of Mandy’s hand, crossed the distance between them, and wrapped the woman in his long arms. The fabric of her dress billowed around them as if yearning for a hug, too.

As he held the woman, his gaze rested on Mandy, and a pride-filled smile spread across his face. “Aunt Grace, this is my girlfriend, Mandy.”

His aunt peered over her shoulder at Mandy while Justin whispered into her ear. By the time he’d finished speaking, her face had turned spirited again.

“You’re such a pretty little thing,” his aunt said.

Expecting a polite handshake, Mandy stepped forward and held out her hand, but Aunt Grace instead wrapped her in soft arms. She smelled of tea rose, a scent Mandy’s grandmother had adored. Immediately, Mandy’s heavy heart eased.

“I’m glad to meet you, Mandy.” Sadness tinged her voice. “I wish it could be under better circumstances.”

“Me too,” she whispered, watching Justin stare longingly at his mother’s casket.

Aunt Grace took Mandy’s hand in her pudgy grasp. “Come meet the rest of the family, hon.”

Mandy hesitated as she watched Justin wander toward the open casket. The two people paying their last respects parted, leaving Justin to say goodbye alone. As much as she wanted to stay by his side, he needed this moment by himself.

Mandy nodded. “I’d love to meet the rest of the family.”

* * *

Justin gazed down at his mother. She seemed more at peace in death than she ever had alive. It was what she’d wanted, and now she could be with her daughter forever. He expected viewing her body to open a floodgate of emotions, but now that she was gone, he was left hollow. Around the edges of the emptiness, he was scared for Mandy. What if she ended up no different from his mom?

He wanted to marry her, have kids, and make a life together. But would telling her the truth cause him to lose her forever? That had to be how his dad had felt so long ago, before he’d revealed the secret that had created a chasm in his marriage. Maybe the fear of being shunned had been the reason his father hadn’t confided sooner. But waiting until after they’d married had been wrong. He’d never do that to Mandy.

With a quick peek over his shoulder, he glimpsed his dad at the back of the church—alone. After all these years, he was still youthfully trim with strong shoulders and a lean frame. His tan face had more lines than most men his age, whether from spending his life on the water or losing his wife and daughter, Justin didn’t know.

For a split second, their eyes met, and a shared communion passed between them—two men, having lost a woman they loved dearly, and both feeling guilty as hell over it. Well, at least Justin felt the guilt. He wasn’t sure what his father felt.

His father quickly dropped his gaze to the floor, as he always did when Justin acknowledged him with a stare. In kind, Justin dropped his eyes to his mother’s pale face and, for the first time, he imagined her expression when his dad revealed their family history. Her lips had probably been tight with disgust, since she’d thought he was a crazy bastard. Having his very being denied by the person he loved most must’ve burned like hell for his father.

Yet there Justin was, facing the same predicament. Except he had something his dad didn’t: proof through his abilities.

If he manipulated water for Mandy to see, she’d be hard-pressed to deny the truth. The thought didn’t comfort him. She might not want to marry a freak. His mother certainly hadn’t, but she’d been locked into the marriage because of her strong faith.

He could feel his father coming closer. The aura of all those related to Triton hung heavy around their bodies with a thick pulsing energy that differentiated them from normal humans. The electricity pulsed, getting stronger with each step his dad took.

“Pops,” he said, when his dad finally stood beside him.

“Son.”

His dad reached out and placed a golden hand, crackled with deep lines, over his wife’s thin, pale fingers. While his father was preoccupied, Justin studied him and, for a split second, he thought he saw remorse in his father’s eyes, but the emotion disappeared so quickly he couldn’t be sure. He waited in silence, hoping for a touch, a word, a look, anything that said something he could hold onto. The little boy inside longed for comfort.

His father took a deep breath, turned his back on Justin, and walked away. Once again, he proved he had no comfort to offer, though Justin never gave up hope, much like he’d never given up hope for his mother.

After his sister’s death, when Justin had gone to stay with his grandparents, he’d imagined that his dad would take him home. They’d live together like a parent and child should and throw a football in the backyard. He’d dreamt that his dad would stand in the bleachers and watch his baseball games, then take him to get pizza afterward, but it had only been a fantasy.

He reached out and placed his palm over his mother’s hands. Her skin was slightly warm from his father’s touch, the lingering heat as close to fatherly warmth as he’d ever come.
Accept reality or be miserable for the rest of your life
. His mom was dead, and his dad might as well be, too.

With one last look at his mother, he said, “I love you, Mom,” then left to find the other woman he loved.

* * *

Mandy walked down the brightly lit hall of Aunt Grace’s sprawling ranch house in Lake Jackson. The old shag carpet beneath her feet muffled her footsteps as she headed toward the bathroom and away from the small group gathered in the living room. Pictures of Justin adorned the walls. Curious to see him as a child, she stopped to take a closer look.

As a young teenager, he’d been lanky with ears that seemed too big for his head. The further down the hall she traveled, the older Justin became. By the last photo, the one in his high school commencement gown with a beaming Aunt Grace and her husband by his side, he had finally grown into those ears. Not to mention that he towered over his aunt and uncle.

Mandy smiled as she studied the proud look on his aunt’s and uncle’s faces. They’d loved him and taken good care of him. She’d seen firsthand the sparkle of warmth in Aunt Grace’s eyes every time she looked up at Justin. Though his life had been full of tragedies, at least he’d been blessed with a caring family.

She tore her gaze from the picture, and her eyes locked on the bathroom door at the end of the hall. She picked up her pace, then stopped abruptly when she saw Justin in her peripheral vision. He was sitting on the edge of a single bed in a room to her left, his shoulders slumped and his hands clasped in his lap. After dinner, he’d disappeared. She’d figured he’d needed a moment to catch his breath, but after twenty minutes, she’d begun to worry about him and had excused herself to use the restroom, though she was really on a reconnaissance mission to find her boyfriend.