All That I Know #5
Reed is the only merling his parents had.”
“Do you think it could be something poisoning the water?”
asked Celeste hesitantly.
At that, Zinnia held out her hand. “There are a number of
things we can test to try to determine the cause. Would you
allow me to do a magical scan of your body?”
“Will it hurt?” Lumina hurried to ask.
“No, no,” replied Zinnia sweetly. “The two of you are sisters?
Yet you look nothing like this merman. How are you from the
same pod?”
“Oh, our father married his grandfather’s sister many
moons ago,” explained Celeste.
“He came from the Syrelle pod,” Lumina said quickly. “One
of the northern pods, where merfolk have lighter hair and eyes.
The pods used to inter-marry when their numbers dwindled.” Tempest watched as her sister nodded, taking it all in. “It
seems that their parents and all the merfolk of that generation
had only female children. Reed is the first merman born in a
generation.”
“My, how fascinating,” whispered Viola, turning curious
eyes on him.
“My parents never had another successful birth after me,”
said the merman, his frown deep.
“Do you think that you might be able to figure out what’s
been causing these problems for the mermaids?” Tempest
asked, slipping her hand into Reed’s. “The Cascadia pod has
been unable to contact any other merfolk for over a decade.
They are in danger of going extinct if they do not find a way to
reverse this conception problem.”
Her sisters exchanged a look, their eyebrows and lips
moving in rapid succession as she and the merfolk watched.
They had always had a sort of silent form of communication,
being so completely on the same wavelength and understanding each other completely.
Tempest had been wildly jealous of it as a teen. In this
moment, though, it meant that the two could come to a decision amongst themselves without words. Reed’s strong hand
squeezed hers reassuringly as they waited for the verdict. After several drawn out minutes, Zinnia spoke. “We would
love to help.”
“Oh, thank the stars,” Celeste breathed a sigh of relief. “We will need to see as many of your pod as you can
convince to come to shore,” Viola said matter-of-factly. “To rule
out additional factors and see what is affecting all of you.” “Lady Serena will not like that one bit,” whined Lumina,
pouting at her twin.
“But they could heal us!” said Celeste, her tone full of awe. Zinnia held up both hands. “We can’t make any promises.
But I can assure you that we will do our best to get you
answers.”
“Thank you, sisters,” Tempest nearly cried. “This means the
world to them. To us.”
Just before the sun disappeared completely behind the
horizon, the two blonde-haired mermaids dove back into the
crashing waves and headed home. They had come up with a
solid plan with Tempest’s sisters, who waved them off from the
water’s edge.
They felt confident in their ability to convince the pod to
visit Crescent Cove in small numbers, to get medical tests to
find the source of their fertility issues. If it was biological, or
environmental, surely Zinnia and Viola would get to the
bottom of it.
Though they had struggled to get along growing up,
Tempest couldn’t help feeling grateful to them for being able to
provide this opportunity to Reed and his family. Perhaps her
family would find the answers the merfolk had been unable to
and restore their pod to its former glory.
Selfishly, she hoped that would be the case. If the other
mermaids could safely conceive and bear children, then Reed
would feel no guilt about staying on land with her forever. Tempest would never have to worry about his family
demanding his loyalty or blaming him for their demise. Her
heart felt full to bursting with hope as she and her beloved
merman walked home hand in hand.
ONE YEAR LATER
The cry of seagulls echoed overhead as Tempest and Reed sat down at a table outside of the Driftwood Cafe. A server came by to take their order as they waited for the others to arrive. Her gorgeous merman grinned like the cat who caught the canary when they asked what he wanted.
“I’ll have my usual, please,” said Reed. “For my girlfriend, a large iced mocha and an almond croissant. Thank you.”
“Absolutely. I’ll be right back with that,” replied the server.
In a matter of minutes, she had an ice cold mocha in her hand and an almond croissant on a little plate in front of her. Reed reached for his toasty chocolate croissant and she swatted at his hand.
“So impatient,” Tempest chuckled.
He turned those hazel eyes on her, his pout in full effect. Her laughter bubbled up the way it always did around him. This ridiculous, charming man had a way of keeping her in the moment, making each day full of wonder and adventure.
Someone shouted her name and she turned, her teal braid sliding over her shoulder with the motion.
“Sorry we’re late,” Zinnia panted, one hand on her chest as she caught her breath.
“We have a very good reason for it,” added Viola with a smirk. “We have had our first successful mermaid live birth!”
Their little group squealed with delight. After months of research, medications, and theories, Celeste had gotten pregnant. All the time she had spent on land led to her falling for a selkie from Crescent Cove and the two had fallen head over fins immediately.
Viola’s announcement meant that Celeste had her baby some time in the early hours of that morning. In order to observe as much as possible, they had set everything up for the birth in the moon pool at the edge of town.
This allowed her sisters to monitor the mermaid and baby throughout the process, while the rest of the pod could still swim up to hold her hand and encourage her. It had taken some convincing on Lady Serena’s part, but by the time the baby was due, she had conceded.
“It’s a boy,” whispered Zinnia, her smile beaming
“Oh, Zinnia! Viola,” Tempest pulled them into an embrace. “You really did it. This changes everything.”
While there were still questions regarding the baby’s abilities, whether he would be a shifter or a merman, the most important hurdle had been overcome.
Proving to Reed’s mother that the witches could find a way to heal the merfolk and reverse the decline in conception had been the biggest challenge toward moving forward.
With this news, other mermaids would come to land. Fall in love with witches and shifters and start their own families, both on land and in the sea. Reed would have his family around him at all times, no matter what form he took.
For Tempest, that had been the goal. To not make him choose between his pod and her, even though he had promised to always choose her. This would be so much better — he could have everyone he loved close by.
The pod would flourish with her sisters’ help. Any children she and Reed might have would be surrounded by aunts, cousins, and a bigger family than she could ever have imagined. They could come and go between Crescent Cove and the ocean at will, free to live whichever lifestyle made them happy.
She couldn’t imagine anything better than that.
“I love you, Little Storm,” Reed said as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“I love you more,” Tempest giggled, craning her neck to look up at him. “Do you know why?”
He shook his head. “No. Because that’s impossible.”
“I waited my whole life to find the place I belong. I thought I was looking for a place, but what I needed was you,” she whispered.
“How does that mean you love me more than I love you?” Reed demanded playfully.
“Because you are the home I was searching for,” said Tempest softly. “I would do it all again, knowing that it leads to you. My happily ever after. My fairytale prince.”