Her Selkie Secret (5 page)

She looked Danae up and down and said, “It's bad enough you show your face, but to flaunt another man here, in David's place. What would Myrna say?”

Danae kept her face calm and simply raised an eyebrow. “David's mother would be absolutely thrilled I was living life. She was a kind and generous soul. You wouldn't understand that.”

Lori balled her hands into fists and leaned over them, “This isn't over yet. You should be ashamed of yourself, living in sin with a stranger!”

Danae said, “You should talk to Simon about sins of the flesh, now shouldn't you?”

Lori snapped upright and it took all of Danae's power to keep from wilting under the hate radiating off the woman. Lori said loudly, “I'll just come back when you finally take the trash out, Helen.” Lori spun on her heel and marched out of the pub.

Danae slumped into her seat and smiled sadly at Liam. She said, “I'm so sorry. I feel like I've gotten you tangled up in my stupid problems. I never expected...well, any of this.”

Liam said, “You thought Neya would just wipe your memory and that would be the end of it?”

“I suppose I did. I wasn't thinking very clearly, I guess,” said Danae.

“Finish up your drink, let's go grill something for dinner. I'm not sure I trust Helen's cooking right now.”

Danae couldn't help but start to laugh. “Helen has too much pride to serve bad food, but we would have to be able to order it, and unless we really want to press the point, I think she's going to stay far, far away from us.”

They left the pub and headed back to the cottage.

Chapter Five

Danae realized she was settling into a comfortable pattern with Liam. It made her happy to see him in the mornings, to sip the coffee he made perfectly to her tastes. It made the weeks fly. Finally one morning she turned to him and said, “I think it's time.”

“Time?” But she could see his entire body tense up. He knew.

“Now it feels like I'm holding back from you. We've shared so much of my life, but never the accident. The times before, the times after, but not that night.”

“Are you sure you're ready?”

“I don't want to hold back from you.” Danae trembled as she placed her hand on Liam's. “I'm scared. I've been doing my best not to think about the accident, ever. And like I told you, I haven't ever been able to remember exactly what happened. It's flashes of memory, here and there.”

He guided her to the sofa and she sat down. He said, “I have a potion that will help us with this memory.”

“Will it make it easier?”

“Do you think any mere draught could do that?”

She shook her head at him and he knelt in front of her. Liam gathered her hands in his and pressed kisses on her palms. She shivered against him.

He said, “Thank you for trusting me.”

Danae said, “I know this is part of the chasm between us. That we're working so hard to never touch that night. To drift along. That's been the last two years of my life, avoiding those moments. Living only in my past. I...I don't know what is between us. I know we've drifted together and we live together comfortably. But it's false.”

He said, “What do you want?”

Danae went to pull away from Liam, but he held firm as she said, “I wish I could answer that. But I know I can't figure that out until I know, until we know what happened that night. You may hate me after. I don't know what happened. Maybe it really is my fault.”

Liam squeezed her hands tight and his tone was fierce as he said, “I could never hate you. I know you, you would never do anything to harm your family.”

He dropped her hands and strode into his bedroom. Danae just stared at her hands, the fear seizing her. Would she be able to live with herself, once she knew what happened?

He returned with a delicate glass bottle and pressed it into her hands. He sat next to her and said, “Take the whole thing. I'm told it tastes like licorice.”

Danae wrinkled her nose as she pulled the stopper. The sharp smell of anise filled her nose as she lifted the bottle to her lips and the thick liquid oozed down her throat. It settled into her stomach and sent warming tendrils shooting through her body.

Liam lifted her chin to face him and stared into her eyes, “I know this is hard. Take a deep breath and picture the last moment you remember, before the accident. I'll guide the rest.”

He laced his fingers with hers and Danae drifted into her thoughts.

~ * ~ * ~

She was putting Alba into her coat when David walked into the mudroom. “Oh Danae, the minivan is out of gas, we'll just have to take my car.”

“Hah, you just hate that thing, being seen in the evil mom-mobile.”

David smiled at Danae and said, “I know, I know, I just don't want us to stop for gas, we're already running late. Sorry about that, by the way. Freaking Lori.”

“You okay to drive?”

“I think you should. It was just the two drinks, but I won't risk it. I have entirely too much to live for to mess up my life with something so incredibly stupid.”

She shook her head at David and said, “You shouldn't let her get you so angry.”

“She pisses me off! Snide bitch. I'm going to have to put my foot down, I don't care how crabby Helen gets at me. I'm tired of having to dodge around Lori's feelings when she's perfectly willing to act like a monster about everything.”

“Gimme a kiss! You know she doesn't bother me.”

David gave her a spine tingling kiss and Alba giggled and said, “Dada kiss Momma. Kiss Alba too!” He reached down and scooped his daughter up. Danae smiled as they rubbed noses and made silly noises at each other.

Danae looked down her watch and said, “Anyway, we stayed way too long in town. We're already so late for dinner with Grams. We gotta move it. The diaper bag is by the door.”

They stepped into the fading sunshine together. Danae hopped into the sedan's front seat and watched David wrangle Alba into the car seat through the mirror. Their blond heads rubbed together, and Alba squealed in delight. He finished buckling her in, dropped a kiss on her forehead, and then settled in the front passenger seat next to Danae.

“Which way should we go, David? I know we're in a rush.”

“Not that big a rush. You know my mom, she'd scold us for not taking the scenic route. I love watching the sun set into the sea.”

She said, “And since you're always driving, you never get to just stare at it, like I do.”

“I shall enjoy every moment!”

Danae looked at him, and smiled. “I love you, honey. I still wake up and can't believe how lucky I am.”

“I love you, too.”

“WUV YOU! WUV GWAMS!” Alba's tiny voice piped in from behind them. David and Danae laughed.

“I believe those are our marching orders. To grandmother's house we go!”

Danae pulled onto the road, taking in the lovely view for a moment, before threading the car through the curves.

“Oh, it's just lovely out there, Danae. Let's grab the overlook.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

As the overlook came up, the sky suddenly darkened, and Danae slowed the car down to a crawl.

“David, this isn't natural, is it.”

“No, something is wrong. Maybe we should...oh, is that Lori's car on the side? What the hell is she doing out here?”

Danae looked ahead, and saw Lori's car on the shoulder, snug against the cliff.

“I think it is. Let me pull over next to her. I hope she's okay and this isn't more of her random crap.”

As Danae pulled alongside the car, David started to roll the window down. A massive black and violet beam of light erupted from Lori's car and smashed into the David's side of the car. The car skidded sideways, the force tearing through the metal. It smashed the car into the rock wall opposite the overlook and Danae's world went black.

Danae started to rouse and looked around her, confused by what had happened. She couldn't see anything, she just heard a woman's voice screaming, “No, no, you were supposed to drive. Not her, you. She knew, she knew, she did this.”

She shifted in her seat and the pain made Danae black out again.

She opened her eyes again to a scene lit by red and blue lights. She could hear whirring blades against metal as she was being cut out of the car. She reached back trying to reach Alba and started screaming. She couldn't see Alba or David. She finally managed to turn and saw David. His head tilted at an unnatural angle and his face was covered in blood. Time stood still and Danae knew. He was gone. She reached her hand out and rested it on his cheek. It was ice cold. She couldn't move any other part of her body. There was just her hand resting on his face and growing pain spiraling through her body.

From a thousand miles away, a worried voice drifted down to her. “Can you hear me? Danae! It's Jon, keep listening to me. Talk to me.”

“David is gone. He's gone. Alba.” She tried to twist, to see, to hear, where was Alba? She didn't hear any crying, she couldn't see.

“Danae, was she in the car?”

“Jon, where's Alba? Car seat. Alba was in her car seat.” A harsh pain ripped through her body. Danae couldn't tell if it was physical or if this was what a heart breaking in half felt like. David was gone. She panicked. If Jon was asking about Alba, who he should see, because he was standing right there, next to her. Why couldn't he see Alba?

“Danae, just listen to me. Danae, listen to my voice.”

“Where is my baby? Where is my Alba?” He didn't answer. She knew and finally broke. She started screaming as the pain washed over her and through her. Her beautiful family was gone, everything she'd ever wanted and loved was gone. She turned away from Jon’s voice and chased the darkness into unconsciousness.

~ * ~ * ~

Tears were streaming down Danae's face as she realized where she was. She was back on the sofa, in her home. Their home.

Liam stared at her, intently. “Danae, you said you still had pictures.”

She said, “Yes, of course I do. I just don't keep them up, I don't trust...well, I don't keep them up. You know.”

He said, “Please, let me look at them. Now.”

She stood up, and walked to her bedroom, Liam behind her. She dropped to her knees, and reached under the bed, pulling out a box and several frames. She paused, staring at the image in the frame, and stroked it before handing it to Liam. He accepted it, and looked at the picture, his face freezing.

“Liam, you look like you've seen a ghost.”

“I have. Danae, this girl, this is your daughter?” He turned the image around, pointing at the little blond girl sitting on her lap in the picture.

She said, “Of course, you asked for a picture of us.”

He said, “And I'm sorry to ask these questions but, they never recovered her body, did they?”

Danae stiffened. “No Liam, they did not. What exactly are you getting at?”

He said, “I'm sorry, it's just. I have to share with you now.”

“Liam, right now?”

“Yes, it's important.” He put his hand out and clasped hers, both of them sitting on the floor.

~ * ~ * ~

He was swimming in the cold ocean, in seal form, enjoy the dips and swirls of the coast. He felt a power flux as a massive spell went off, and then seconds later, his wife's mind cried out to him. He felt a cold shock and raced to her. He reached her as the last of her strength slipped away.

“Liam, I'm sorry, the child, I had to save the child.” He reached out with his power, and reinforced the shield his wife had wrapped around the bobbing car seat.

“I have her, I have her, let go...” But it was too late, the last of her will and magic was wrapped around the little blond child. He held his wife's body and the baby near him, mindless and shocked until Neya appeared before him.

“Liam, I'm so sorry, she died blocking a very dark magic from erasing that baby.”

“But...Neya, she's gone.” Neya wrapped her magic around the toddler, freeing it from the car seat.

“I know, but she died to protect a very special little girl.”

~ * ~ * ~

Danae was rocked by the unlocking of her memory and Liam's memory and by the possibility that Alba was somehow still alive. Danae had blocked Lori attacking them from her mind. The accident and pain had fractured her memory, but Neya's and Liam's magic restored it. Danae rested her head against Liam's chest and his arms locked around her, trying to protect her from the memory. Alba wasn't dead. It wasn't her fault it happened, she couldn't have stopped it. And their partners had both sacrificed to save her little girl from Lori's dark magic.

She reached up and pulled Liam's mouth to hers. She didn't know if what she felt for Liam was real or just the intense experiences they were sharing, but Danae no longer cared. She wanted to touch him. Her lips parted as his tongue gently invaded her mouth and she couldn't stop a moan from slipping out. Liam paused and put her at arm’s length to him and said, “Do you really want to do this...”

A laugh slipped out and for the first time since the accident, Danae felt a heart-healing trickle of joy inside. She said, “Oh Liam, please. Be with me.” She paused, suddenly doubting herself and said, “Will you see me, though?” Liam tilted her chin in his hands and she melted under his eyes.