"A strange way to thank the human for planting a child in your belly, but I suppose you felt it fitting. One more joining before you leave him. Men are so easily pleased."
I jumped to my feet at the sound of Mother's voice, just in time to glimpse movement in the tunnel that led to the lower cave. Her father's cave, where her cradle still hung.
"Did you spot the dragon, lass?" William appeared on the rock ledge above, grinning. He pointed at the tunnel entrance. "That's where I saw it, too."
"No, of course not," I replied instantly. "The only dragon in this pool is me. I've told you that before."
I heard Mother's soft laughter and the sound of skin on stone as she swam deeper into the tunnel and out of sight.
He slid down the cliff and splashed into the water beside me. "Your leathers certainly look like dragon skin, and you wore nothing underneath, for a dragon wouldn't. And if you're a dragon, then so's this little one." He patted my belly, then gave a little snort of laughter. "If we have a girl, we should call her Belinda. It was my grandmother's name and it means beautiful serpent or dragon in German, she said. Any girl of yours will be beautiful, dragon or not."
"What about Apalala?" I asked lightly. "That's what you called the dragon you thought you saw here. I'm pretty sure we conceived this child here at the Grotto, too, if not in the water."
William wrapped his arms around me, pulling my wet body against his. "We could make love in the water again, just like the first time."
Desire flamed, but I knew Mother was watching. The moment I let my guard down, she might hurt William. I wouldn't let her.
"I want to," I admitted, "but last time you wore me out so much that I nearly fell asleep on the ride home. I can't afford to fall asleep while I'm riding your lovely gift." I softened my refusal by adding, "And we still have tonight in our bed."
"There are some positions in that book of yours that we haven't tried yet," William mused, winking at me. He splashed water on himself, washing away the mud from our roll in the dirt above.
"True. Don't think I've finished thanking you for your gift, either," I insisted. Satisfied that I was clean enough to don my leathers once more, I pointed upward. "You go first. I might need your help climbing over that last bit at the top. I'm getting clumsier as this child grows."
William leaned over to kiss my belly before he started his climb.
I kept my eyes on him, but nothing stoppered my ears.
"Yes, send him away. It is time for your exile to end, child. Tonight you return home with me, along with the child you carry. Obedience has its rewards and yours will be rich indeed."
I didn't bother answering her. I owed her no obedience. Not any more. Nothing she could offer me could match my happiness with William and the approaching birth of our daughter. Mother could stay here and rot, for all I cared. I wouldn't be travelling anywhere with her. Not tonight, not ever.
Four
The judder of the Triumph's engine between my thighs only rattled me more on our ride home. Mother's presence had turned what should have been a pleasurable ride with my husband into something both sinister and sour. I threw my hat on the hall table as we entered the house, scattering pins but not caring. My leathers felt too constricting and Apalala moved uneasily inside me, like a school of startled fish.
When I reached our bedroom, I unbuttoned my pants quickly, peeling them back from my belly. I stared critically at my increasingly curvy silhouette in the mirror, knowing I wouldn't be able to wear these pants again until after she was born. I cupped the distinctive bump between my hands, wondering whether her blue eyes would be as deep as William's or as stormy as mine. In five months I'd know, but until the time came, I'd have to protect both her and William from Mother. She was the most respected Elder among my people, which meant the most powerful person in the Indian Ocean. I knew I had the courage to oppose her, but would I have the strength to fight an entire ocean when she turned them against me?
I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling terribly insignificant. Warm arms encircled me as William stepped in close behind me. I looked up at our reflections, meeting his eyes.
"Is there anything you can't do, my courageous lass?" he asked, kissing my neck.
What if I can't protect you? my heart cried out silently, but the admiration in his eyes said otherwise. His belief and trust gave me more courage than I knew I had, simply because he believed in me.
"How will you astonish me next?" he continued. His gaze raked my reflection. "If I help you out of your dragon-skin, can I finish what we started at the Grotto?" Slowly, he unbuttoned my jacket and helped me out of it. I leaned back against him and for the first time realised that he was naked. His chest and belly were hard against my back as his arms pulled me close. His powerful thighs framed mine in the mirror, the hair on them glowing golden in the late afternoon sun. "God, you're beautiful. I need to see all of you."
"Same," I whispered, stroking a hand down his side.
William laughed. "Men aren't beautiful, lass. We're handsome or strong, powerful or gentle, but never beautiful."
I stroked him again, harder. "You're all of those things, William. And more. I'm...lucky to have you. Fortune smiled on me the day you spotted me from the deck of the Trevessa, and every day since."
"You look more beautiful now than the day I met you." His hands dropped to my belly, caressing the curve that hid Apalala from us. "But I'll have to get these pants off to show you properly." William slid his hands into my pants, hooking his thumbs into the waistband so that as he ran his fingers down my bum and my legs, he dragged my pants down with them until he met my boots. With his help, all three were soon in a jumble on the floor and he rose to his feet to stand behind me again. "Shift your feet a little further apart, lass," he whispered.
I did as he asked, letting my curious eyes question his reflection, but he only smiled.
William lifted my arms, stretching them toward the wall until he planted my hands on either side of the mirror. "Brace yourself, lass."
I felt his need pressing against me and understood. "Oh, I'm ready. I have been since the Grotto, lad."
He chuckled. "I feel like a callow lad with you, unsure of myself half the time, but I promise you, I'm a man." He grasped my hips and eased inside me, slowly enough to make me count every inch. "All man."
"Mmm, yes." I couldn't look away from the unfathomable depths of his eyes. At the peak of each thrust, his smiled seemed to grow wider and the pace quickened just a little until I found myself pushing back against him with all my strength to hold him inside me just a little longer on each stroke. But even with his slow, steady rhythm, I could feel my release building. My breathing became panting and I closed my eyes to better focus on the myriad sensations coruscating through my body.
"Open them, lass, and look at us." I met his eyes in the mirror again and they were laughing. "Not me, us. Look at the incredible woman your husband is making love to." He drove me closer to the cliff edge, yet held me there, not letting me fall until I shared his vision.
Haloed in red-gold down, his arm slung across my pelvis, keeping my hips from thrusting forward at his pleasurable onslaught. A shallow soup-bowl of a belly rose above it, curving to the base of my bouncing breasts, both globes bobbing happily with each powerful thrust of his hips. My lips parted, as if to draw in breath and moan at the same time. My half-closed eyes took in my reflection while wanting to lose myself in William's loving embrace. And above my shoulder was William's beloved face, devouring every inch of me with his eyes as his body gave me so much more in return. A siren and a human man, united in mutual desire. Never to be parted. Never.
"Ready, lass? Don't look away." Mutely, I nodded as it felt like my body fractured around him, held together only by his arms and the power of his love. I rose up onto my toes, my mouth opening wide to hail the heavens with his name. And I did. By water, I did.
When he withdrew, covering my neck and back in kisses, I found I was shaking with the power of my incredib
le release. How did he make my body sing so sweetly? William had a sort of siren-song all his own, it seemed.
"I want to know how you do that," I whispered.
"Later I'll show you again. Right now, we need to wash up and dress for dinner, lass," he said, reaching for the water jug on the washstand.
"But I still need to thank you for the motorcycle," I insisted. "Once is hardly enough."
William appeared behind me, now clad in his drawers and a shirt. "Anything for you, lass. How about tonight we go through that book you like so much and see if we have time to try all our favourite positions before dawn? I do have a request, though." He blushed. "All that talk of water dragons and motorcycles at the Grotto has me thinking of how we made love on the back of my Triumph that time. You know, when you lay back, lifted your legs up..."
"Like a mermaid?" I said without thinking.
"Is that what you call it? Then yes. Tonight I'd like you to be my mermaid, if only for a little while. Will you be my mermaid, lass?"
I met his eyes. "I will for as long as you'd like me to be, William." I meant it, too. If only he knew.
Five
I managed to make it to the breakfast table just before William entered the house.
"You look as if you didn't get enough sleep last night, lass," he whispered, leaning down to kiss me, to Sarah's snort of disapproval. "I enjoyed every minute of our time together, but you shouldn't have exerted yourself so much if you needed your sleep."
I'd loved every moment of our lovemaking last night, too. Remembering the taste and the feel of him was one of the reasons I'd lain so long in bed after he'd left for work. "I can sleep this afternoon. Sarah will probably insist on it, anyway."
Sarah muttered her agreement as she gulped her coffee. She wasn't the most cheerful person in the mornings.
Amah brought in William's letters while Cook served breakfast.
With Sarah intent on her coffee and William's attention captured by the post, I was the only one who thanked Amah and Cook as they set my tea and eggs before me.
"A letter for you from Australia, lass." William passed the envelope to me.
I swallowed my mouthful of tea. "It must be Merry's reply to the letter I sent her in Singapore!" Without even glancing at the address, I tore it open.
And stopped as I read the typed letter. Merry didn't own a typewriter, nor would she bother being so formal as to call me Mrs McGregor. The letter wasn't from her at all, I realised as I leafed through the pages, but some solicitor called Raphael D'Angelo. A relative of hers, I presumed. I turned back to the first page, resolving to read the missive from the beginning.
Four lines down, I burst into tears.
"What is it, lass? Does your aunt have bad news?"
I choked back a sob. "My aunt...Merry doesn't have any news at all. She died last winter, just after I left on the Islander. She had pneumonia. The bad cough she had was pneumonia and she died in her bed."
Tears flooded down my cheeks, blurring the breakfast table from my sight as William's warm arms enfolded me. "I'm so sorry, lass. Sorry I never met her." I heard the rustle of paper. "Why such a long letter, though?"
"I don't know," I mumbled through my tears. "You read it if you want to. I don't want sympathy from some stranger. I'd prefer to mourn her memory without reading any more. She died alone and I should have been there. Could have saved her, maybe..."
"It was her time, lass. No one can live past their time," Sarah said sadly. A light hand patted mine and I knew it was hers. "What more can we ask than to go gently and quickly in our sleep?"
"She named you her heir," William said.
Of course Mother had named me her heir. She wanted me to go back to Cocos and lead an ocean full of bloody-minded mermaids against humans, most likely. Well, she could die waiting. I didn't want to inherit the damn Indian Ocean and I wouldn't accept it. Not even if she begged. My heart froze in my chest. What if she'd killed Merry? Smothered her as she slept...
"Your aunt, Meryl D'Angelo, left everything she owned to you. To Maria Speranza McGregor. It says so in her will. Her house in Fremantle and everything in it. They're all yours now." William pressed the papers into my hands. "Read it, lass. Her will is dated the day the Islander sailed. Your aunt knew you'd find me and that we'd...so she named you her sole heir. You or your children."
I dabbed at my streaming eyes with my napkin and focussed on the papers before me. Mr D'Angelo's neatly typed letter spelled out just what William had said. Page after page detailed Merry's possessions – she'd owned our house and the school next door, too, with its extensive grounds. Money in the bank, as well. Merry hadn't been poor. She could have lived comfortably off the rent from the school alone, without working there as a teacher. And she'd left it all to me – someone not even of her blood, though I knew she had family. Her solicitor, for a start.
"You should go to Fremantle to meet with this solicitor and claim your inheritance," Sarah said. "Before you grow too close to your time to travel. The Islander is still in the port. We can take ship before it leaves and – "
"I'm not leaving William!" I interrupted, aghast. Not with Mother here. Water only knew what she'd do to him if I disappeared.
"Sarah's right, though, lass. You should go to Fremantle for the birth. Christmas Island is no place for a baby. You have a house there, Sarah can stay with you, you know the place well and are comfortable there."
"And the heat here," Sarah piped up. "It's oppressive enough now, but when you're seven or eight months along, you'll find it quite unbearable, I'm sure. The climate is cooler in Fremantle. I'm sure you said it was."
"I'm only four months along yet," I protested. "At seven or eight months, maybe I'll agree to go, if I'm as uncomfortable as you say. But not without William."
Sarah opened her mouth to protest, but William waved her into silence. "Of course, lass. You have time to make up your mind. And if you want me to travel with you, of course I will."
I breathed a sigh of relief. I'd already lost Merry – William was all I had left in this world. I wouldn't lose him. Not now, not ever.
Six
By afternoon, I'd managed to stem the tide of my mourning tears for Merry and I meekly agreed to go to bed at Sarah's insistence. Once the bedroom door was shut, I didn't head for the bed. I took my writing materials from my trunk and set them out on the desk by the window. If Merry had chosen to give me all her possessions, then I would honour her gift by ensuring it was well cared for. I'd never understood her motivation for helping me and now I never would. Why adopt a shipwrecked young woman, teach her to speak, read and write, give her a home, find her a job and offer her affection and good advice at every turn...if I believed in such things, I'd wonder if Merry was one of the angels they spoke of in her church. Or the book of fairy tales she'd given me, where mermaids aspired to be heavenly creatures.
I sat down and wrote a letter to Mr Raphael D'Angelo, solicitor, thanking him for contacting me and telling him to lease the house as he had the school for all these years. I couldn't live there again until my memories of Merry faded and that would be a long time coming. In the meantime, someone would have to maintain the property and whatever rents it brought in should be sufficient for that. I asked him to ensure that all of Merry's things were packed in tea chests – we had plenty of those on the back veranda, courtesy of Merry's and my taste for tea – and carefully stored for my eventual return.
I copied Mr D'Angelo's address carefully onto an envelope and sealed my letter inside. Tucking a hat over my hair without glancing at the mirror, so I wouldn't see my reddened, swollen eyes, I strode out of the bedroom with the letter clutched in my gloved hand. "I'm just going out for a walk!" I called.
"Yes, Mem," Cook replied. Sarah didn't say a thing – perhaps she'd already gone to visit Anne.
I set out along the track to the post office past the port, carefully nodding and smiling in response to the greetings I received from those I met along the way. No one dared to mention my
tearstained appearance and I was grateful for it. At least the silly hierarchy here had some benefits.
I stopped in the shade of a tree by the port, turning my face to the salt breeze carrying coolness from the ocean. Were there dolphins in the cove today, spying for my mother? Did I care any more? She knew I was here and she knew about my pregnancy. If she hurt William or my child, I'd make her regret ever birthing me.
"Good day, Mrs McGregor," an English voice called from behind me and I scanned the coffee gardens, looking for the source of it. Captain Hughes stepped out of the shade and inclined his head. "I hope I find you well." He seemed to register my less than happy appearance and averted his eyes from my face.
My temper flared. "Good afternoon, Captain Hughes. I'm perfectly well. Glowing, or so my husband says, for we're expecting a child. And you?"
He congratulated me and made a non-committal response about the state of his own health. He looked as pensive as I felt, though.
"When does the Islander return to Singapore?" I asked politely.
His forehead creased deeper. "First, we're headed to Fremantle. My wife has had enough of the tropics and she insists on settling somewhere cooler, trading Singapore for Fremantle. This is our first voyage south this year, and she brought the children with her. I'll have four days in Fremantle to find them a new home before I'm due to return here. And that's if there aren't any delays, which there surely will be." He glanced into the shade he'd appeared from and I realised that Mrs Hughes and her children were within earshot on a picnic blanket on the grass. She looked just as worried as her husband, but the set of her mouth told me she wouldn't back down. Sarah would see me out of the tropics and back in Fremantle, too, with the child inside me. But Fremantle would be empty without Merry...
"I have an empty house in Fremantle," I blurted out. "One that needs a tenant. My aunt died and left it to me, but I can't travel at the moment to see the house packed up and let. I need someone I can trust to place my aunt's things in storage so that I can rent the place out." My eyes met those of Mrs Hughes. She didn't look a day older than me, but her years showed on her face while mine remained as youthful as the day I boarded the Trevessa.
Ocean's Birth Page 2
