by Joyce Lavene
So Mrs. Euly Stanley had seen a merman. That was something I hadn’t considered.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“Oh we met there every evening after that until the end of summer vacation. We talked—he told the most amazing stories. His eyes moved, as though there was water inside them, ebbing and flowing like the tide. They changed color as he moved. I’ve never seen anything like it again. I told him about myself. We talked about my life. I was sure I was in love with him, and he professed his love for me.”
I sat on the edge of the seat, last sip of tea forgotten.
“But he told me humans weren’t allowed to be with his kind. I would have to drown and come back to be with him.” She sighed. “Even then I was too practical to believe such a thing was possible. I told him no thanks and asked if there was any way he could become a human and we could be married. He said that couldn’t happen and that he had already been human once a hundred years before.”
“So you had to let him go.”
“Yes. Sometimes I still dream about him. I wonder now if I could find him if he’d still like to be with me. I might consider his proposal.”
“But you shared a kiss?” I asked with a smile.
“Good heavens no! Stephanie had known a girl who got pregnant from kissing her boyfriend. I wouldn’t let that happen, although we did hug a bit.”
I didn’t say anything for a few minutes, marveling that she had chosen to share that story with me.
Finally she continued. “But that is why the seafolk must be left alone to live their lives around us. We can’t allow one of them to be captured, or the entire race could be destroyed. I don’t want to think about my merman being experimented on.”
“I understand. I feel the same way.”
She got slowly to her feet. “I’d wager that handsome Captain Lucky was messing around with something he shouldn’t have been, and that’s what killed him, not a merman. Good morning to you. Please say hello to your grandfather and tell him that we appreciate him taking Chief Michaels’s job during this time.”
“Thank you. I will.”
It was hard for me to believe that the stalwart, very proper, respectful Mrs. Euly Stanley had once hugged a merman! That was a story that should be in the archives, though I doubted it ever would be.
I hurried back down to the golf cart to retrieve the last of my items and came back to Missing Pieces. For a long time, I stood next to the rail on the boardwalk and looked out over the Currituck Sound.
It was fascinating to think about the seafolk out there living in the water. I was glad to hear that Mrs. Stanley was a believer too. I knew there couldn’t be many of us without causing problems for them, but I was glad I was one of those who knew the truth.
The next hour passed quickly as I shined up the clocks and carefully set everything I’d brought in my best sales locations. There was an old necklace that I’d brought with me—just made of string and blue glass beads. But every time I looked at it, I had the urge to hold it and see exactly who it had belonged to. It kept calling to me, my eyes straying to it as I moved around the shop.
I was about to indulge my curiosity when Gramps and Grandma Eleanore walked in.
“Could I see you outside here for a minute, Dae?” Gramps asked.
“Sure.” I smiled at Grandma Eleanore. “I’ll be right back. Take a look around. I’ll give you a good deal on anything you like.”
She laughed. Gramps and I went out on the boardwalk.
“What’s up?” I asked him.
“I don’t know if this occurred to you, but your grandmother is legally dead.” He stared out over the water. “I had to do something when she didn’t come back. Everyone thought she took the boat out and fell overboard. After ten years, she was declared dead.”
“I guess. I didn’t think about legal complications.”
“We can say she found her way home, I suppose, but she looks exactly as she did the day she disappeared. I’ve aged, and the people who knew her have aged too. Some of her friends may recognize her.”
“Well—there’s no accounting for the benefits of good skin and genes, right?”
He smiled at me. “I’m so blown away by this, honey. I can hardly think. But I have to go to work. Stay with her. Don’t let her wander off by herself. We don’t know yet how this will affect her.”
“I guess I’ll just introduce her as my grandmother and let the chips fall where they may.” I shrugged. “I’ll have her with me all day. Do you still want the coral horn that Captain Lucky left with me?”
“Yes. Sorry. I know you don’t think it could have anything to do with his death, but we can’t take that chance. I’ll make sure it’s returned to you.”
We went back inside, and I got the horn.
“This is it?” he asked as I handed it to him.
“I told you. Captain Lucky said it can call the seafolk. It makes a strange sound when you blow into it.”
“I’ll make sure no one does that. We don’t need any more mermaid stories.” He smiled at Grandma Eleanore. “I’m going to leave you with Dae, sweetheart. I’ll see you later.”
They kissed, and I smiled. This was the way it was supposed to be. Mary Catherine was wrong about the natural order of things.
When Gramps was gone, Grandma Eleanore sat on the sofa.
“You have amassed a considerable amount of missing pieces, Dae. I think some of them may have come from our attic.”
“That’s true,” I admitted. “Would you like some tea?”
“No, I’m fine. What’s going on that has your grandfather in such a dither?”
I explained about Captain Lucky’s murder and showed her the picture of Tovi on the front page of the paper. “They’ve arrested Manfred Vorst, the new newspaper owner, for killing Captain Lucky, but I don’t think it was him. We’ll have to see as more information becomes available.”
Grandma Eleanore’s blue eyes were confused. “Are you the mayor, run the shop, and work as a police officer with your grandfather?”
“No. I’m not that ambitious. I get involved sometimes when I know the people things are happening to. Or in this case, the merman. There’s something I’d like you to look at. It’s been bothering me all morning. I pulled it out of the attic and cleaned it up. Do you know who it belonged to?”
I showed her the necklace with the blue glass beads.
“That belonged to your mother. I’m surprised it wasn’t with her things. No wonder you were attracted to it. Have you tried going back to the carnival on the day she met with the psychic?”
“No. Not yet. I will.” I hastened to assure her. “I’ve just been really busy.”
“Why didn’t you touch this yourself and find out where it came from?” She handed me the necklace. “Have you stopped doing that?”
“I haven’t stopped—I’m just more wary. I had some really bad experiences. The whole fainting thing can be really embarrassing and hard to explain. I try to limit those occasions to when Gramps or Kevin are around.”
“Kevin?” She smiled. “Is that a special man in your life?”
“Yes. Don’t you remember that I told you about him one of the times that we met in the past?”
“I’m afraid my memory isn’t what it once was. But I’d certainly love to meet Kevin.”
“He may stop by for lunch.” I wasn’t looking forward to telling him what I’d done. I was sure his opinion would be the same as Mary Catherine’s.
“That would be wonderful. I’m so impressed with how much Duck has grown while I’ve been gone. It’s become a little city but so carefully planned. You and the town council should be proud of yourselves.”
Some customers came in, and I tended to them. They bought a few items—nothing really fancy or expensive but not cheap souvenirs either. It wasn’t a bad sale for the first one of the day.
Between customers, Grandma Eleanore and I talked about everything. She told me about her childhood, and I told her about mine with Gramps a
s Dare County Sheriff. I told her about my father who hadn’t stayed with my mother because Gramps had scared him away. She told me about their courtship and her father’s belief that Horace O’Donnell would never amount to anything.
“Fathers are like that,” she said. “I know Horace can be a bit strict, but he has a good heart. And he believes in your gift. He always believed what I told him about things too. He was the only one. My mother thought my grandmother was crazy. When I was very young, we were forbidden to have contact with her. As soon as I was able, I used to sneak off to her house, and we talked about finding things. Our gift is not always an easy thing to live with.”
“I got lucky with Kevin like that too. Except for mermaids, he always believes me when I tell him what I’ve seen. He believes me about mermaids now too. He swears he’ll always believe me.”
“When are you thinking about being married?”
Another customer came in and bought both of my antique clocks. I was so excited. Not having to pay anyone for the item meant pure profit for me. My shopkeeper’s heart was thrilled.
As I was wrapping and bagging the clocks for my customer, Kevin showed up. He took one look at Grandma Eleanore, and I could tell from the expression on his face that he knew what had happened.
She made it official when he introduced himself.
“I’m Kevin Brickman, Dae’s fiancé.”
“Very nice to meet you. I’m Eleanore O’Donnell. Dae’s grandmother.”
He glanced back at me, sadness in his eyes. “I know.”
Chapter Nineteen
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Eleanore,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Kevin recovered quickly without appearing to be impolite, but I knew what he was thinking. I smiled at my departing customer and wished him a good day. It was almost noon. I suggested that we go to lunch.
“Oh! Is the Rib Shack still open? I’d love to eat there,” Grandma Eleanore said.
“Sure.” I glanced at Kevin. “We can go there. It may be a little crowded since this is Fourth of July weekend. But we can wait.”
“I don’t want to put you out,” she said. “But I would love to eat lunch there. They used to make the best hushpuppies in the world. Does Mickey Samson still run the place?”
“No. He’s retired,” I told her. “I think Mark is his son. He runs it now, but I’m pretty sure nothing else has changed.”
“Sounds good,” Kevin agreed. “We can take the Blue Whale golf cart or yours, Dae.”
“The Blue Whale Inn,” Grandma Eleanore said. “That was such a nice place in its time. When old Bunk Whitley ran it, it was the place to be. It got kind of run down after he left. Is it still open?”
“Kevin owns it now,” I explained as I locked up Missing Pieces and we started down the sunlit boardwalk. “He does a great job with it. I’m sure we’ll go there later.”
“What a treat,” she remarked.
We were walking past August Grandin on our way to the parking lot. He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at us as though he’d seen a ghost.
“Eleanore? Is that really you?”
“August.” They hugged. “It’s been so long.”
“Is there a plan for this?” Kevin whispered as we stood off to the side.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said softly. “She was lost at sea. Now she’s back. Everyone will deal with it.”
“I’m sure you’re right.”
I glared at him, not liking his tone.
Grandma Eleanore and August were crying and trying to catch up while dozens of people had to walk around them. When they were finished, we started again for the parking lot. August had been very emotional seeing her but also had dozens of questions she couldn’t answer.
“You know, I almost married him,” she told us as we went down the stairs. “Your grandfather, bless his heart, was reluctant to pop the question. I was afraid he might never ask.”
My golf cart was completely surrounded by a dozen other carts in the parking lot. Kevin’s was in the clear, so we took his to the Rib Shack.
I sat in the back since the front was easier to get into for my grandmother. I really didn’t want to discuss this with Kevin either. He was going to get snarky about me bringing Grandma Eleanore back. He wouldn’t understand that I hadn’t really meant to do it, not right now anyway.
The Rib Shack was crowded. Kevin managed to find a small space near the dumpster to park. Mark had been after the city for years to let him buy a piece of open property where a beach store had once been so he could convert it into more parking. But Chris Slayton’s zoning plans didn’t allow for bigger parking areas for a business directly on the sound. He was trying to keep that property for future town plans to create another beach access.
There was a line of people waiting to get inside as the smell of barbecue ribs, chicken, and pulled pork overwhelmed the scent of anything else. Inside, there were huge posters on the wall that Mark and his father had collected. Some of them were from the old racing circuit that was once lively in the area.
There was a huge picture of Mad Dog on the wall with his winning race car. Beside him was Lightning Joe Walsh, another very popular driver who had something in common with Grandma Eleanore—he’d vanished for many years before we’d found his body as we were building the new Duck Town Hall.
“Mayor!” Luke Helms, the District Attorney for Dare County, was sitting at a big table. He called us over to share it with him.
He and Kevin shook hands as the waiter seated us. I introduced Grandma Eleanore with no problem. Luke had only lived in Duck for a short while. He didn’t know many of our older secrets.
“You must be visiting,” he remarked to her with a grin on his handsome face and a big plate of ribs in front of him on the wood table.
“Oh no. I’m originally from Duck.” She glanced at me, catching on to the situation. “But I’ve been living out of town for a while.”
“Eleanore O’Donnell! I thought that was you. When did you get back?” Mark’s father, Mickey, joined us, pushing in another chair at the table. “My God! You look just like you did forty years ago when you disappeared.”
“Forty years?” Luke smiled at me. “She’s been gone a while.”
“She was in an accident,” I confided. “They thought she was dead. But here she is, back after all those years.”
“That’s a fantastic story. Almost as good as the merman killing Captain Lucky.” Luke took a sip of his sweet tea. “I like Vorst for it. Makes more sense. I’ve lived here a couple of years, but I’ve never seen a mermaid.”
“That doesn’t mean they don’t exist,” Kevin said. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve become more open to possibilities since I came to live in Duck.”
Luke nodded. “That’s because you’ve been dating Dae.”
Mickey Samson went to get his beer from another table and brought a second visitor back with him.
“Eleanore!” Mad Dog pushed Mickey aside to hug her. “How is this possible? We had a funeral for you, the biggest one this town has ever seen. When did you get back? Why hasn’t Horace told anyone?”
“And the mystery thickens,” Luke said. “You didn’t say everyone thought she was dead, Mayor. That’s not exactly a disappearance. Where is Chief O’Donnell anyway? Does he know his wife is back in town?”
We finally were able to order lunch. The crowd was stifling, even though I could hear the large air conditioning units buzzing close to the window where we were seated. Mad Dog’s voice boomed over the loud music until I felt that everyone in Duck would know about Grandma Eleanore being back in the next hour or so.
I was tightly pushed next to Kevin, who was in the corner by the wall. So many people had stopped by the table that I could hardly see or hear my grandmother. I wasn’t sure this was what Gramps had in mind when he’d said we should lay low for a while.
“There’s no way to adequately explain this,” Kevin hinted quietly near my ear. “Your grandparents are g
oing to be overwhelmed with it.”
“It will pass,” I told him stiffly. “Don’t always assume the worst.”
“I thought you were going to stop pursuing this.”
“I didn’t say that—not that it matters. I didn’t have any idea that this would happen when I woke up this morning. I had some old information from their wedding. I went downstairs, and there she was.”
“You can’t pull someone out of time, Dae. It won’t work. It was different for you to go back. She won’t be able to stay here.”
I turned to stare angrily into his concerned eyes. “You aren’t a specialist on what’s possible with time, or with our gift, as far as I know. No one knows what’s possible, Kevin. Don’t lecture me. She’s back, and it’s a good thing.”
He didn’t say another word as we finished lunch, despite the crowds that came by to gawk at Grandma Eleanore and ask her uncomfortable questions about where she’d been. He took us back to the Duck Shoppes when lunch was over and invited her to visit the Blue Whale.
I watched him drive away with some regret that I’d allowed things to become angry between us, but he didn’t understand how important this was to me and Gramps. He’d never lost someone in his family and not been able to find them again, never knowing what had happened to them.
“Are you fighting with your young man because of me?” Grandma Eleanore asked as we went back to Missing Pieces.
“No. Not exactly. We’ll get over it. You know how it is. Couples fight. We’ll be fine.”
She held my hand as we walked past the Currituck Sound. “I never really thought I’d be back here with you and Horace. Thank you for this, Dae. I love you.”
“I love you too.” I squeezed her hand. “Now let’s get busy. I want to know everything you know about our gift. You can’t imagine what it was like being raised by Mom and Gramps. They tried not to look at me like I had two heads all the time—but it was hard for them.”
