Estella's arms around me were a welcome distraction. "Did you promise to send her your child?"
"No. It is far worse – she ordered me to do my duty for the Atlantic sisters when I was still a child in their ocean." I regretted having my head above water, because my eyes were filling with tears.
Estella's voice was calm. "Your duty was to provide the Atlantic sisters with an heir of your line, as it was here, yes?"
I nodded, sniffling. I hugged Estella tighter. If I was to lose one of my girls, I would need her comfort more than ever.
"Then we will ask the girls once they are adults, which of them would choose to go to the Atlantic, to replace your mother as Elder on their Council," Estella announced, unperturbed.
"But I was ordered…" I began, sure she did not understand.
Her lips were soft on mine, cutting off the words I didn't want to say. Her kiss continued for some minutes, cool and calming and caressing.
"I order our people, dearest, not her. She has no authority over me or mine and you are mine," she said softly with her sweet lips. "And as the Elder of the Black line I will not permit any of our children to be hurt by her madness as you have been. As adults, the girls may choose to become elders in another ocean, but not before. Your mother has no power to overrule me and nor do you."
Her eyes were intent on mine and I could not look away. All my worry flowed away beneath her gaze.
I heard a shout that broke the moment and we both turned to look. The girls ended up in the water once more, with a larger splash than before. Diana looked particularly put out.
Estella clapped her hands. "Class is complete for today, girls. You are dismissed and you may return to your mothers, or fish until dusk."
All six of them headed off as one for Blythe's favourite fishing spot, leaving us alone.
"You would do that?" I stared at Estella in awe. "You have never ordered me as my matriarch before."
Her smile was loving. "Of course I would do that. In fact, I'd like to order you to do something else, too."
"Anything," I answered immediately.
She rose and revealed the shapely legs she had hidden beneath the surface. Sauntering up to where the waves met the sand, she stretched out on the empty beach with a sigh of contentment.
"Make love to me, dearest," she commanded.
I laughed, shifting to my legs so that I might walk to the sand beside her. I looked down at her beautiful body, barely changed in six years, as she lay spread on the sand beneath me.
I dropped to my knees beside her. "How many times?" I asked timidly. This was the first time I felt a thrill at obeying the command of my matriarch and I fully intended to enjoy it.
Her smile turned wicked. "Until I tell you to stop, dearest. And then, I shall have my way with you." She caressed my breast lightly, then pulled her hand away.
"Only until dark, though," I answered with regret. "I must watch tonight."
Estella laughed. "I will have you 'til the stars fade in the morning sunlight. Someone else shall watch tonight. You answer to ME."
She pushed me onto my back on the sand, rolling until she straddled my chest. Sand grated between her bottom and my breasts as she slid forward slowly. She looked down at me, still smiling.
"Start, dearest. The sooner I am sated, the sooner I start on you."
My mouth was dry with desire for her, but she was wet enough for us both. Tonight I was hers to command.
75. Joe
After six years of hard fishing, the Siren was much the worse for wear and I didn't feel any younger, either. If anything, I hated lobsters more than ever. The lobster prices had been so high, year after year, that our profits from the last season alone were enough to buy a new boat.
Vanessa sold the Siren to someone who wanted to retire and start a charter business in the far remote north of Western Australia. We wished them luck. I hoped they didn't learn how hard fishing could be right away and that they enjoyed it. They even renamed the boat, something to do with rebirth.
Vanessa bought us a new boat, bigger than the first, and she also named this the Siren. The dark blue paint of her name had barely dried on the side before the boat was in the water and we were aboard.
This would be our first fishing season without Marina. She was in high school now and she had chosen to stay with Nonna so she didn't miss school and her friends.
I loaded boxes from the wharf to the deck and Vanessa took them to where she felt they belonged.
My job was finished first, so I stood on deck and watched her. Thirteen years had passed since we'd first met at the Abrolhos and at the end of this year, we'd have been married for ten of them.
Vanessa was amazing. Wearing a tiny pair of shorts and a fitted t-shirt, at first glance she looked exactly like the girl I lost my heart to on the cliffs on Rat Island. All she was missing was the groper and the shark.
"Almost time for a break," she announced as she stacked up the esky boxes around the ice box.
She dusted off her hands, then twined her arms around my neck. As we kissed, the fire was still there, but it was more like a smouldering glow than lighting a flare. Under the shade of the canopy, I could see fine lines around her eyes, because of how much she smiled and went out in the sun. Her fair hair was a little lighter now, with threads of white through the gold.
"You haven't changed a bit," I told her, my hands in her hair.
She laughed. "Wrinkles and white hair? Hardly. Still, I have less than you." Her hands touched my hair, where I was starting to go grey at the temples. "I'll still love you, Joe, even when your hair is more silver than gold."
She let go of me and darted excitedly into the cabin. "Come and see. This Siren is better than her little sister."
I followed her into the main cabin, which was laid out pretty much the same as the first. But there are no memories of mindblowing sex on this kitchen bench, I thought sadly.
Vanessa already stood at the bottom of the stairs, in the lower cabin. "Come on, Joe!"
I ducked my head as I went down the stairs, though there was no chance of hitting my head. This lower cabin was bigger than the previous one. This Siren had partitioned bedrooms, two on either side, where the bunks had been before. On either side of the stairs were a shower and a toilet.
She opened the door of the shower, an impish smile on her face. "This one's big enough for two!"
Hey, that's the one thing we've never done: have sex on a boat in the shower. The little Siren shower had been cramped for one and nearly impossible for two. I shrugged. Well, it's something to try. I want to christen that kitchen bench first…
Vanessa entered one of the little bedrooms and bounced on the bed. Instead of the tiered bunks, there was a double bed below and an upper single bunk folded flat against the wall. She stretched out. "What do you think?" she asked, her eyes shining.
I sat on the edge of the bed beside her. "I think it's going to take us at least a week just to christen this cabin." Thirteen years ago, we'd have had sex everywhere on the boat in a weekend, but my stamina isn't what it was.
She laughed. "It's going to be a busy week, then. Shall we head out?"
I shook my head. "No. We should wait 'til tomorrow morning."
She looked stunned. "Why?"
The Abrolhos had grown on me. I was turning into a superstitious skipper and I was still only a deckie. "It's bad luck to head out in a boat that hasn't been christened."
Vanessa laughed again. "You mean we need to smash a bottle of wine over the side, where her name is painted? I think we have one here for that…" She went up to the main cabin and produced a bottle of bubbly wine. "So we smash it and head out. Shouldn't take long…"
I followed her out to the deck and together we broke the bottle over the blue letters at the stern.
Vanessa cheered and clapped. "Now we can go!" She skipped back into the cabin.
I caught up with her and laid my hand on her arm. "I want to make sure this boat is christened properly before w
e take her out to sea."
She looked puzzled. "But that's what humans normally do for a boat, they smash a bottle, right?"
I laughed. "You're not human and not normal, either. This boat won't be christened properly until we've both come at least once on that kitchen bench."
She shook her head. "What is it with you and galley benches? Your first season out here, I spent three weeks tempting you in every way I could think of so you'd agree to sleep with me again. Then we were in the galley of my boat, waiting for dinner to be ready, I offered you a drink and…"
I told her I wanted to fuck her from behind. I will never, ever live that down. "I meant to say I wanted a beer," I admitted, in way of apology.
Her body was already pressed against mine, so she knew how much I wanted her, yet she massaged the front of my shorts with one hand and made it worse. "Do you still want that beer?" she asked softly. "Or would you prefer me?"
Yes. My mouth was dry. "You weren't wearing any underwear," I tried to explain.
Something soft landed on my foot. I looked down and met Vanessa's t-shirt as she pulled it over her head. Blue lace. Boobs. Oh God, naked Vanessa. Thirteen years and I'm as hard for her as the first time I saw her naked.
Salt, sea air and Vanessa, a potent cocktail that was better than Viagra.
We headed out to sea in the morning. We'd christened all four beds, the shower and the bench. I ached all over – I felt like I'd be sore for a week. God it felt good.
76. Apalala
She was fire in the water. My fiery daughter, Zerafina. All grown at eighteen years of age. No longer a goldfish, now she might rival her father for height, for her tail was longer than mine. She would be a gifted healer one day, when she made her choice of calling, but she was not an adult until she ventured on land. Once the fishing season was complete, she intended to ask Mother if she would permit her to do her duty soon.
She was nervous and excited about going on land, as I had been my first time, but I had told her all I knew. She would not go unprepared. Whiskey would not take her by surprise, nor fiery, hairy men.
I thought of the man who had sired her, but briefly. Aidan was part of my past that I wished I could prolong, but how many men could be trusted to be consort to an ageless beauty?
Apart from Mother's stupid consort, of course.
"Mother! The dolphins are asking for you – they wish to show you the new calves. Come here!" Zerafina called with a smile.
I laughed and rippled through the water, feeling a little stiff for being stationary so long as I watched her play.
Together with their mothers, Zerafina recited the names of all of the new children to the pod. Each calf bowed his or her head to me in acknowledgement. I waited until they were all done before I responded with a single nod to the whole group. "I hope you will all be ready to assist if a whale needs help birthing in your islands."
A clamour of squeaky voices responded with eagerness. "Of course, Healer Apalala. We will!" They took their leave and swam away in search of a finned meal.
Zerafina hugged me as she said, "Thank you, Mother, for bringing me here. The Abrolhos are beautiful and I love the dolphins."
My fingers tangled in her red curls as I hugged her back, snarled like a shipwreck in seaweed. "I have wanted to for a long time, but I waited until you were old enough to enjoy it. If Mother consents, we will part ways here, and you will carry a child of your own when you return to me in the depths." I let go of her reluctantly.
"They will be here soon, will they not, Mother?" Zerafina asked, suddenly excited. "Will she permit me to meet her consort?"
I remembered the stupid human and how carefully she protected him from contact with us. "I doubt it, sweetheart. She is very protective of him." Privately, I hoped I would not have to see him again, either. He could remain on her vessel or on land and I would remain in the water. I knew my place and I hoped he knew his.
77. Joe
Abrolhos life fell into a pattern, as always. Before dawn, we pulled the pots and dropped them again. We crated up the catch and sent it back to the mainland on the carrier boat.
When we ran low on supplies, we took the Siren back to Geraldton and went shopping.
For the rest of every day and every night, it was just me and Vanessa. It was like the honeymoon we'd never had.
We took some days off and went snorkelling, both up in the Wallabis and down in the Pelsaert Group.
Sometimes, late at night, she'd slip over side of the Siren and go for a swim on her own beneath the surface. She always came back with fish. One night, when we were moored off the end of Pelsaert Island, I woke up alone. I stepped out on the main deck to find her sitting on the ladder on the side of the boat. She wafted her tail flukes aimlessly through the water.
I watched her for a minute. She didn't show her tail often and almost never out of the water. It stunned me as much as the first time to be reminded that she wasn't human. But still my beautiful wife, Nessa.
I came up behind her and slid my arms around her before she noticed I was there. "Can't sleep?" I asked her gently.
She shook her head slowly. "I miss my people and sometimes I want to go home, but at the same time I want to go back inside and sleep with you. Am I a traitor, for not returning to my people and staying on shore for so long? Yet if I swim home to take my place among the Elder Council again, it is a betrayal of a different kind. I will be leaving you and my responsibilities here."
"Marina would be really upset if you left, too," I reminded her.
She turned so I could see her face. "I would take Marina with me, Joe. She is one of my people and she still has so much to learn. Only you couldn't follow us."
My heart sank, like it'd dropped right out of my chest and onto the sea floor below. I tried to keep my voice light. "So don't go. It's not like you to be so dark."
She took a deep breath. "But Joe, I'm carrying another child. I'll have to stay with her in the water from late pregnancy until she's weaned. She will be born in the water, at our Nursery Grounds, with the assistance of one of the healers among my people. I won't be able to bring her on land until I know she can control her tail." Her hands went to her tummy, where blue skin blended with cream.
Now I looked, she did seem a little rounder than usual, but I'd put that down to more beer and frozen pizza than was good for us. I was a bit rounder than usual, too, but I sure as hell wasn't pregnant.
I reached out to touch her tummy, caressing her soft skin with my fingers. Our baby's in there. A baby we made.
From the depths, my heart suddenly soared, like an osprey's fish breakfast. I was in bliss. "You mean we're going to have another baby?"
"Yes," Vanessa said softly, smiling at my obvious happiness.
I'm going to see her increase, swollen with my child. My perfect wife is carrying my child.
I lifted her off the ladder, tail and all, staggering under her weight. I laid her down gently on the main deck, stroking every bit of her I could reach. "Thank you, Vanessa, thank you," I told her. There were tears in my eyes.
I lay down beside her on the deck, hugging and kissing her. I felt her tail slowly split as I pressed against her. Somehow hugging and kissing gave way to more intimate caresses. In the pre-dawn darkness, we made love on the main deck of the Siren. Me and my beautiful, pregnant wife.
78. Apalala
I watched Sirena swim off in her human swimwear, but I waited 'til she was some distance away before I hauled myself aboard her boat.
Her human consort had aged considerably, but his habits had not changed. He stumbled around the galley of the new Siren, too somnolent to notice my entrance as he made coffee for himself. I selected one of the damp towels strung up over the line on the back deck and wrapped it around myself. I knew what happened when I showed my naked body to a human male.
I was angry at him for placing my mother in such danger, danger he surely did not understand. I would make him understand.
"There is considerable risk
to her in carrying this child," I told him with disapproval.
His sudden start told me that I was correct in my surmise that he had been oblivious to my approach.
"Belinda, right?" he asked.
I looked at him with little patience. Sirena had named him her consort, privy to any knowledge of us that he pleased, but I did not wish to tell him my true name. Grudgingly, I acknowledged the land name he used, permitting him to call me by it.
"What do you mean by considerable risk?" he asked next.
I attempted to state the words slowly, so this stupid human might understand. "She is older than any other new mother I have known, and her time on land has aged her further. Age increases the chance of danger in the birth, both to mother and child. It also means there is greater likelihood that the child will not survive."
"Why do you care?" he burst out with considerable anger.
"I am a healer, the most senior among our people. I was trained by my grandmother, Sephira. I will assist Vanessa in the delivery of this child, if she carries it to term." I let my eyes beg him to understand, as I gave him more information than I thought wise. "It was I who delivered Sister Marina, a birth also fraught with risk for her mother."
"Marina is your sister?" he demanded.
I had indeed told him more information than Sirena had. I lowered my voice to explain, hoping Mother would not mind.
"Yes, Marina is my sister and if this child lives, she will be my sister also. Vanessa is my mother and our people will not thank you if your careless relationship with her results in her loss. She is too important." I met his eyes. "I will gladly take your life in payment for hers."
The human was brave, I will grant him that, though still no less stupid.
"Bring it on," he replied icily. "If you kill my wife by not letting her deliver our child in hospital, I'm not going to let you survive, either. I don't care whose daughter you are."
I bowed my head in acknowledgement. I didn't want to tell him that he did not stand a chance against me in any form of combat. Reluctantly, I realised I did have more to say. "I have never lost a mother during a delivery, but the child is another matter. If she loses this child, it will devastate her."
Ocean's Infiltrator Page 20
