Tidal Whispers (2 page)

“Why’d you help me?” she’d asked.

He’d shrugged and answered, “I think you’re brave.”

With one act of chivalry, he’d earned her undying loyalty.

That very night, the summertime dreams had started.

A woman giggled. The eerie, echoing sound snapped Tessa’s attention back to the present. Ahead, and to her left, she could have sworn she heard a deeper, more masculine laugh in return. She narrowed her eyes, searching the cloudy layers of swirling fog.

“Hello?”

Silence.

“Is someone there?” A splash, followed by two more, erupted from the water in the distance. Tessa hurried toward the noise.
Who would swim in that dismal soup?
She glanced at the sea. A dark shadow slipped below the surface near her.
Seals?
Anxious to see the fleeing creatures, she raced forward but tripped, scraping her knee on the rocks.

“Ow.” Tessa lifted the leg of her striped flannel pajama bottoms to inspect the damage when a louder, bigger plunk hit the ocean’s surface. Ignoring her injury, she crossed the space as fast as she dared, risking another fall in the still dim light.

At the water’s edge, she found nothing but deserted rock. She shook the hair from her face and blew out a breath, not surprised she’d missed the elusive animals.

“Darn it.” She hadn’t exactly been subtle.

As if to tease her, another splash taunted her from somewhere ahead in the waves.

No other followed.

Without warning, their departure stabbed at the loneliness in her soul.

Blurry-eyed, she stared at the waving ocean, wondering what it would be like to hurl her body past the shoreline. To give in. To give up. To sink below the turbulent surface to the calm and serene waters below. The idea sounded peaceful, final, but even as the thought formed, she dismissed the notion as cowardice.

“I miss you, Mom,” she shouted to the wind. “Can you hear me? I miss you, Daddy!”
Oh God. Oh God. I can’t do this without them.
“I know you wanted to be with her, but I needed you to fight and stay with
me.
Why did you leave me alone?” Her words poured out a garbled mess. “I’m not brave. And I feel horrible, and selfish, and guilty about that, Daddy.” She wept into her hands, letting the tears fall. Sorrow wracked her body over and over in uncontrollable sobs.

Minutes later, her throat swollen and sore from crying, she pressed a hand to her stomach. When her grief subsided, she sank down to the wet, flat stones.

She sniffed and hiccupped with lessening tears and brushed her curling hair from her face. With a sweep of her hands to the rear to support her weight, her palm slid against a small, spiny object. Fingers shaking from the cold, she curled around a shell attached to a long, gold chain.

Oh no.
Someone lost a beautiful necklace. She considered leaving the jewelry where she’d found it in case the owner came looking, but one glance at the choppy surf washing over the rocks convinced her otherwise.

As she turned the shell over in her hands, the jewelry niggled a memory locked deep in her mind. Déjà vu overtook her as the pink interior winked.
Wha …
She squinted at the small opening. When she angled the shell, like staring through the viewfinder on a camcorder, the two-inch window changed color, transitioning from green and blue to the pink and purple of an iridescent bubble.

Tessa tipped the shell again, and a jade colored eye stared back through the opening. Impossibly close, the iris blocked the entire area. The eye blinked. Tessa dropped the shell and yelped.

Get a grip Tess.

She bent to retrieve the necklace. Turning the shell wrong side up, the smooth, pink center reflected nothing remarkable, just pink
.
She blew inside the cavity, shook it and looked again. Nothing.

You’re tired. Stressed out. That’s all.

The horizon grew rosy with the rising sun and reminded her of the impending invasion of beachgoers that would soon arrive. She clutched the found prize in her palm and headed for home.

• • •

Maggie held the shell necklace Tessa had deposited on her kitchen table. “Where did you say you found this?”

“I fon is on the ros by tuner pot.”

“What? Gracious, child, have some couth.”

Tessa chewed at the wad of hotdog and washed it down with Maggie’s iced tea. “Sorry.” She swallowed. “I said I found it on the rocks by Turner Pointe.”

“
That
I understood.” Maggie smiled. Her head lowered over the shell again as she muttered, “
Pteropurpura trialata alba.
It’s a beautiful specimen.”

“Would you like to keep it?” Tessa asked. “I know your massive collection probably doesn’t need new editions, but you’re welcome to have it. I don’t think I’ll ever find its owner. Wouldn’t even know how.”

“Why don’t you wear it? It’s pretty.” As she stood, she arched up and slipped the chain over Tessa’s head.

Tessa stared at the necklace hanging between her breasts. She shook her head, not sure her cleavage was the best vantage point for ‘the eye’, should it return.

Maggie reached out a hand, giving Tessa’s arm a light pat. “It’ll be all right.” She wagged a crooked finger in the air. “Wait a little longer, and see if time doesn’t fix everything.”

Tessa gave a weak nod and faced the kitchen window, studying the cobalt waters a hundred yards beyond.

• • •

“Tessa …” A male voice called her back inside the dream. Dreams she hadn’t experienced in the eight months since her parents’ deaths. “You can’t know how I’ve missed you.”

Familiar surroundings prodded the memory of the fantasy world she’d created so long ago.

She lifted a brow. “You know me?”

A light laugh ensued. “Do you suppose me the type of man to make love to every woman I meet?”

Um …
She had no idea how to answer as her fantasy’s face remained shadowed, but she decided she didn’t care.
I’m safe in my own imagination, right?
A warm hand slid from hers to her back. Muscles in his arms flexed as he pressed her to him and began to dance.

They whirled in time to the music. Her eyes closed. Swaying and spinning, he pulled her deeper under his spell. His breath came faster against her forehead. Their pace stuttered.

As her body came to an abrupt halt, her eyes popped open. He’d maneuvered her to the wall across from the mirror. She barely recognized the sultry woman reflected back at her from around her partner’s shoulder. Expectant, and as rigid as a trapped bird, she awaited his next move.

With his first two fingers, he traced the line of her nose down to her mouth. A white smile flashed before the shadow bent his head. His lips skimmed across hers once. He nipped at her mouth, and her heart responded with pounding so loud she feared he’d hear. Heat bloomed deep within her belly, spreading to her arms and legs. Desire for more had her leaning back, her neck arched, exposed as an invitation. Typically shy, in her dream state, she abandoned any reserve. She wanted nothing more than to forget her pain, imagine herself a seductress, beautiful, desirable, even for a little while. “Kiss me?”

His mouth covered hers. Warm, consuming, his breath hushed against her cheek while her fingers threaded his hair, twisted around the roots, drawing him closer. Returning his passion, her lips parted to take in more of him. His hands slid to her hips, and gripping the fabric in tight fists, he pressed his body even closer, if that were possible.

She sighed, tongues intertwined, searching, tasting. Her head spun as the bones and ligaments in her frame lost strength. His arms slid up her back, holding her steady even as his delicious kisses pushed her further down. As she raised her calf to hug the side of his waist, his hand slid up her thigh. Reeling, spiraling away from reason, she lost the ability to think at all, fusing with the stranger in front of her. Nothing made sense, but that only made her want him more.

When her mysterious lover lifted his head, blurry features focused, sharpening and merging into a recognizable image. His jaw line was more square, cheeks less full, more mature. The image nagged at her memory.

“Who are you?”

A tug on the chain at her neck made the shell at the other end dance. He lifted the ring on her finger and pressed his lips to the stone. “These gifts are how you’re here with me, as more than a spectator.” He opened his coat pocket revealing a giant conch shell. “It’s how I make you my own at night.”

“Yes … but
who
are you?”

“I am one of the Merrow, the
Muir-gheilt,
and
I am coming for you, love.
One day, when the time comes, I will ask you a question. Choose me and nothing will keep us apart.
”

• • •

With a quick turn of the key, Tessa killed the engine of her red Toyota Prius. Forced on a dreaded errand for groceries, she grabbed her purse and exited the vehicle. While making a bee-line for the store’s automatic double doors, she scanned the parking lot for anyone she knew.

An introvert from the beginning, Tessa had grown more reclusive since her parents’ deaths. She liked people, she really did, but conversations comprised of Mr. Wilson’s gout or Edna Campbell’s love life were impossible to relate to, considering the hole in her heart. However selfish, she hated pretending she cared or that everything was fine. It wasn’t.

Peterson’s Fresh Mart stood on the corner of a string of local shops near the public beach. A dozen picnic tables and volleyball nets littered the park entrance area. She and Cam had spent their fair share of hours there, eating ice cream, competing in local volleyball tournaments, and watching countless sunsets. There wasn’t any concern she hadn’t shared with him; he knew her every thought because she’d told him.

She’d handed him her untried, adolescent heart on a platter.

Before she entered the store, she caught sight of a tan, blond guy, disappearing around a corner. Something in the way his shoulders moved and the general swagger in his step made her wonder.

Cam?

Picking up her pace, Tessa jogged in sandaled feet to the side of Peterson’s. She peered around the corner, scrutinizing the crowd. When she didn’t see him, she ran to the end of the wall and poked her head behind the building.

Hot and sunny, the beach beyond the storefronts swarmed with both locals and visitors. She’d never locate him in that wriggling throng of humanity. Back and forth she searched. Her hand came up to aid her sunglasses in shielding the harsh glare that hindered her efforts. She blew out a breath, ready to quit when just ahead, a platinum head of wind tousled hair retreated through a group of elderly folks near the shore.

She bolted for the water, purse slapping against her hip as she ran. Her shoes filled with sand, slowing her pace. “Cameron?” She didn’t care that she acted like a stalker. “Cam, wait!”

Several older tourists wearing T-shirts with the words
Retired: wanna make somthin’ of it
parted to allow her access.

Placing a hand to her chest, she glanced up and down the beach, but no one fitting Cam’s description appeared.

“Excuse me, Miss?” A hoarse and crackled voice attached to a bald man with a pleasant face bent near her. His belly hung over a pair of yellow Bermuda shorts, and beneath those, black socks and tan orthopedic sandals supported his frame. “Excuse me,” he repeated. “Have you lost someone?”

“Yes, I did,” she answered, banking a sigh. “About seven years ago.”

• • •

Tessa waltzed. Strong arms swept her round the marbled hall of the underwater castle. Her tempter’s stratagem directed their path to the rich, carpeted staircase. He lowered her to the steps, easing himself alongside her. As his fingers burrowed into her hair, he brought his lips down upon hers.

Arms and legs roamed, tangled with their passion. She clung to him, teased him with her tongue, sought to brand him with her mouth.

He lifted his head. “Tessa.” His voice husky, he uttered her name like a plea.

“Hmm?” With her fingers still clutching his shirt, she pulled him to her, lips claiming his again.

“Tessa, wait.” He chuckled. “I want you, but …” She kissed his jaw. “Will. You. Stop. That?” He said in between kisses. Holding her apart from him, he tried again, “I can’t talk when you do that. Listen to me.”

The faded image of her lover cleared. “Cameron?” She shook her head, confused by the face that stared back at her.

“When the time comes, I will ask a question. Choose me, and we will be together.”

Are you kidding me? Hadn’t he said something similar in a previous dream?
“I choose you. I choose you, now! Kiss me some more!”

A knock on the outer wall of the castle echoed in the hall, sending shock waves through her system.

“No,” he said.

A question formed on her tongue. “Cam—”

Another blow rocked the building. The wall mirror swung out before crashing to the floor. Glass shattered, splintering into a thousand tiny shards. Pieces penetrated her skin, stinging and biting like a hornet’s swarm. Her lover’s arm shot out to grip her. A sharp tug positioned her behind him.

A hole widened in the wall where the mirror had been. Gray mist swirled through the opening. Wisps at first, the smoke grew thicker, boiling and churning into a black cloud. Roiling like a thunderhead, the cloud took shape. Two arms sprung from the chaos, a head with flowing white beard and body, and finally, not legs but a magnificent, amethyst tail.

Tessa stared, wide-eyed at the mythological creature. She guessed his stature as much as ten feet tall.

All joy in her make-believe world drained. Her throat went dry, and her stomach twisted as she viewed the monstrous figure. She leaned into her partner’s strong back. His arm shifted around behind him, holding her steady.

“What human dares trespass here? Answer and be quick, and your life may be spared.”

“Sire, she is with me as my guest. I summoned her.”

“
You
summoned?” The giant asked. “How? You’ve said nothing of this.” He grabbed at the empty pouch she hadn’t noticed him wearing. His face went from alabaster to red to bright purple, and he bugled his rage. “My conch! It’s gone? How dare you, boy!”