The Calling

by Ashley Lynn Willis

  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.

  Mandy walked into the room and quietly closed the door behind her. She hesitated when Justin’s gaze met hers. The pain in his expression stole her breath. He looked helpless, not in the same way he had on the beach as he held his drowned mother, but in a lost, I’m not sure what to do next sort of way.

  She stepped in front of him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and hugged him tight, cradling his head to her chest. With her fingernails, she grazed his scalp, just the way he liked. “I’m sorry. I wish things had been different for you,” she whispered. Though his grandparents and aunt had provided well for him, she still ached for him to know the stability she had growing up.

  He nestled closer, seeming to take comfort from her presence. His eyelashes brushed the bare skin of her décolleté as he blinked. The moment seemed to stretch into seasons, and Mandy just held him, trying to give him the support and strength he needed to heal. She knew better than anyone that the touch of a loved one couldn’t change the world, but it could ease a broken heart.

  “You’re going to be okay, Justin. It’s just going to take time.”

  He nodded against her chest, and his jaw moved as if he wanted to speak, but couldn’t find the words. She stroked his hair until he relaxed and finally spo
ke. “You know what the hardest part of all this is?” He breathed in deeply, painfully, as if there weren’t enough air in the whole room to fill his lungs. “I’ve spent my whole life trying to help her. Now she’s gone, and nothing I did made a difference.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “But it is.”

  Mandy thought of when she’d been diagnosed with cancer, how for months she’d been so mired in grief, so afraid of dying, that nothing her loved ones said broke through to her. She had been completely focused on her fate, which at the time, she’d figured was death. But though her family and friends couldn’t free her of her fear, their love had comforted her. When she’d finally emerged from her grief, it hadn’t been because of what someone had said or done. It had been because she was ready to live again, to accept that death was a possibility, but so was life.

  “You may not believe this, but your visits to your mother, the love you showed her, and the fact that you never gave up on her were enough. She knew. Though she might not have acknowledged what you were doing for her, it brought her comfort.”

  “It wasn’t enough.”

  “No one on this earth could have helped her if she refused to allow it. Your mother was the only one with the key to her healing. Not you, not your father, not the nurses or doctors. Only her.” She lay her cheek on the crown of his head and felt a tear slide down her face. “You did everything you could. But she had to take that last step by herself. She was the only one who could free herself from the pain of Cecelia’s death.”

  He tilted his head back and stared at her with eyes drowning in sorrow, but there was a flicker of hope in them, too. “I love you.”

  Her heart hummed from his confession. She hadn’t known how badly she’d wanted to hear those words until they’d crossed his lips. They were like a cool breeze and a glass of ice water in an endless desert. “I love you, too.”

  He threaded his fingers through her hair and brought her mouth to his. He kissed her long and hungrily, as if he hadn’t touched her for days. She was about to climb on top of him to be closer, to feel every muscle of his body beneath her, when she stopped, sure she’d heard a tap at the door.

  They both leaned away from each other as Aunt Grace poked her head in. “Is everything okay?”

  Justin turned toward his aunt. “We’re just having a chat. We’ll be out in a second.”

  Aunt Grace nodded. “Uncle Will is heading out in a minute. I thought you might want to say goodbye.”

  “I do,” Justin said, his voice tired.

  His aunt looked at Mandy and then at Justin, her face drawn with concern. “I’ll tell him to give you a second.”

  “Thanks.”

  As soon as Aunt Grace closed the door, Mandy said, “As much as your aunt loves you, I’m surprised she didn’t have kids of her own. She made that hallway a shrine to you.”

  He wrapped his thick arms around her, drawing her even closer. “She couldn’t get pregnant.”

  “No wonder she dotes on you so much. I’ve never seen a dinner plate piled so high in my life.” The taste of Aunt Grace’s peach pie lingered on her tongue. “She’s a darn good cook, too.”

  “My uncle once told me they lived on takeout until I came along, and then every night, she made dinner from scratch.” He chuckled, and his mood seemed to lighten. “If I didn’t finish my plate, she’d think I didn’t like what she cooked, so she’d never make that meal again. I remember being sick with the flu and forcing myself to finish her steak fingers. They were my favorite, and I wasn’t about to have her take them off the menu.”

  She kissed the top of his head, his short dark hair tickling her nose, and then smiled, grateful he had at least a few good memories of his childhood. Based on all the sports memorabilia in the room, he must have found moments of solace.

  Turning her head to the side, she let her gaze fan across the team pictures hanging on his walls. According to Aunt Grace, he’d been good at baseball, good enough to be noticed by scouts. “Your aunt said you had a full ride to Texas A&M. Why didn’t you take it?”

  He shrugged, though his arms still held her tight. “I knew what I wanted, and it wasn’t college.”

  “I can’t imagine you doing anything else, honestly.”

  “Neither can I.” Pain deepened his voice to a raspy bass. “Are you ready to head home?”

  She leaned back and looked down at him. He worked such long hours, and with being on call every other weekend, he rarely spent time with his extended family. And, he needed his aunt now more than ever. She felt as though they should stay until they were kicked out or offered a bed. “It’s only seven. We can stay as long as you’d like.”

  “Let’s leave now. I want to stop by Xavier beach.”

  Her brow furrowed. “At night? Why?”

  He closed his eyes and squeezed her so tight that his fingers dug into the flesh of her back. “Because it’ll be deserted, and I need to show you something.”

  Chapter 15

  Mandy studied Justin from the passenger seat of his SUV. His gaze was trained on the road, the delicate ‘v’ between his eyes more pronounced than usual. “You sure you’re okay?” she asked for the fourth time during their long drive to Corpus.

  He took a deep breath and blew the air out slowly. “I’ll know in about an hour.”

  “You can’t tell me what’s going on?”

  “It’s better if I show you.”

  She slumped deeper into her seat, hoping whatever was bothering him wouldn’t be too monumental. But given their track record, the odds weren’t in her favor.

  At half past midnight, Justin pulled onto Xavier beach and shut off the engine. He stared straight ahead at the black, churning ocean. The rhythm of the pounding waves crashing onto the sand normally calmed her, but tonight the sound was ominous.

  “How long have you known me?” he asked.

  Mandy wet her lips and studied him. “Three years. Why?”

  His gaze darted to her mouth then to her eyes. “During that time, I’ve never given you reason to think I’m…” With his index finger, he traced circles in the air around his ear.

  “Crazy?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Insane, loopy, two pennies short of a dime. Whatever you want to call it.”

  She chuckled, though her laugh came out stiff as a plank. “Well, there was that one time when you mailed all your bills without the checks inside.”

  “I hadn’t slept for three days.”

  The man worked too hard. “Okay. Then, no. You seem perfectly sane to me.”

  He took her hands in his, and she was surprised by how clammy his palms were. “What I’m about to tell you is going to be hard to believe, but I’m not insane.” He swallowed so loudly she could hear the clicking noise in the back of his throat. “Remember that.”

  “You’re making me nervous.”

  “I know. Just bear with me.” His jaw tightened, the hollows beneath his cheeks deepening. “I’m not…” Words seemed to elude him. When he looked up, his expression was heavy, as if the weight of his mother’s death had finally sunk in.

  She squeezed his hands, partially to comfort and urge him on and partially to shore herself up for his confession. “It’s okay, Justin. Whatever you have to say, I’ll believe you.”

  He eyed her as if he weren’t so sure of that, but he continued anyway. “I’m responsible for my sister’s death.”

  Okay, she certainly hadn’t been ready for that. Half-shocked, half-horrified, she shook her head while chewing on his words. “You were a kid.”

  “With a secret I didn’t take seriously enough. My family isn’t normal, at least not on my dad’s side. We’re descended from a man who could do things ordinary humans couldn’t.” He stopped, his lips clamping tight as if he were scared to go on.

  “What could he do?” she prodded.

  “Command the seas.”

  Mandy’s jaw dropped, her first instinct to balk, but something made her stop and really consider his words. The
re’d always been an unexplainable connection between Justin and the ocean. Like the time she’d woken on a deserted beach and found him creating a vase of water around himself, but he had told her it was a trick. “You mean your ancestor could do tricks, like the way you did the time I caught you?”

  “It’s a little bit more than that. He… uh… he could create a hurricane if he wanted.”

  It seemed like the perfect time to balk. “That’s impossible.”

  “Not for a god.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “Completely.”

  Her jaw dropped again, and this time she wasn’t sure she could close it. With her mouth still hanging open, she blinked a few times, trying to clear the fog in her head. As it dissipated, she immediately thought of the children on her floor. So many of them lived difficult lives, fighting cancer or chronic diseases, and they were scared and physically hurting. To cope, they made up alternative worlds, where they were the heroes, strong and full of life and energy. When they weren’t undergoing treatments or being poked and prodded by doctors and nurses, they escaped to their special place to live in a way they couldn’t while surrounded by sterile sheets and bleached floors.

  As her gaze rested on Justin, she wondered if he’d created his own childhood escape and had never let it go. In the same way she would have with the children she nursed, she proceeded gently. “So you’re telling me you’re related to Neptune?”

  “Triton, actually.”

  “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

  “My sister died because of it. So, yeah, I do.”

  “Justin, I think you’ve had a lot of trauma—”

  He held up his hand, and she closed her mouth. “I’m going to tell you how she died, and I just need you to listen. Can you do that?”

  “Of course.”

  Not sure what to make of it all, she held her tongue while he told her about something called the Calling. But the pain in his eyes while he recalled his sister’s death made her realize that, true or not, he really believed he’d killed her.