In Deep Waters (20 page)

"I'll bring her back to you." Kayla stared into his eyes. "Trust me, Ben."

She blew him a kiss and jumped into the water.

Trust her?

She'd just added to his problems. Damn, she wasn't wearing a life jacket. Ben didn't know if she could swim or not. He looked down at the water but didn't see Kayla come up. She had to be nearby. She needed air. A terrifying realization washed over him. He didn't want to lose her, too.

No, he was not going to lose either one of them. Not Madison. Not Kayla. "Kayla's overboard!"

He waited for her to surface. With each passing second, his level of anxiety increased tenfold. His pulse raced faster than a full-blown gale. He fought a battle of restraint, a war to hang on to his fragile control. "Does anyone see Madison or Kayla?"

The tension aboard multiplied. The shouting, cursing, activity increased.

"Dammit, I don't see them."

"The Little Bit's life jacket is missing."

"Do you see her?"

"Where's Kayla? I can't see Kayla."

Fear gushed down Ben's spine. He'd been afraid before, but never like this.

What was taking Kayla so damn long to surface? And what the hell was she thinking?

Jumping into the ocean wasn't like her. She wasn't
rash or a daredevil or irresponsible. She was smart enough to know how deadly and unforgiving the sea could be. He hoped Madison hadn't learned that yet.

Madison.

Ben stared at the water. His baby was out there. Alone, cold...breathing? The thought tore at his insides. His stomach constricted. Keep it together. His baby needed him.

"Madison!" He yelled until his voice gave out. He didn't care. He needed to do something, anything.

A scrap of white lace floated to the surface. Next came an orange jumpsuit. Kayla's. He stared at the clothing until it disappeared under a swell. Gone.

Kayla couldn't be gone, too.

Ben ignored the vise tightening around his heart.
Don't lose it.
Not with Madison still out there.

The sound of an engine roaring to life was the glimmer of hope he needed. But a part of him wished Kayla could have been it.

Kayla's tail appeared immediately. No pain, no discomfort.

The dolphin nudged her. He wanted Kayla to hurry.

She had to stop holding her breath, but learning to breathe underwater was scary and took getting used to. Everything else was okay. Maybe
okay
wasn't the proper word, but it would do for now.

Until she found Madison and returned her to Ben.

She struggled to keep up with the dolphin. Her tail propelled her through the water, but she wished she could go faster.

The longer she was in the water, the better her body adapted to being in the sea. It wasn't as cold as she'd
thought it would be. The salt in the water no longer stung her eyes. She could see remarkably well.

The dolphin slowed. Kayla heard more dolphin noises--clicks of some sort. And then she saw an entire school of dolphins. In the center of them, two little feet attached to very human legs kicked as hard as they could. A glimpse of pink appeared--a pink life jacket.

Madison.

Kayla had never been more relieved in her entire life. She surfaced. "How are you doing, princess?"

"O-okay." Madison's face was pale, her lips bluish. "Look at all th-the dolphins, Kayla. They're my n-n-new friends. And I don't even have a t-tail."

"Are you hurt?"

Her teeth chattered. "I'm c-c-cold."

"I need to get you out of this water."

Madison nodded. "Are you a m-mermaid again?"

"Yes."

Kayla hugged the little girl's small, shivering body. Madison's eyelids looked heavy. Her eyes no longer sparkled. She rested her head against Kayla.

"I love you, Kayla."

A warmth surrounded Kayla's heart. She'd never felt anything like it before. Family. Her family. "I love you, too, Madison."

The seconds felt like minutes, the minutes like hours. It had taken Ben thirty seconds to realize he was getting in the way. He'd backed off and let his crew do the jobs they were trained to do. Distress calls had been sent, the boats were in the water and supplies readied--first-aid kits and stacks of towels and blankets.

All he could do was scan the water with binoculars
and pray. It wasn't much, but he had to do something! or he would lose his mind.

Wolf stood next to him but didn't say a word. He surveyed the horizon with a pair of binoculars.

Ben concentrated on the water. Sunlight gleamed and looked like rivulets of mercury let loose over the swells. A deceptive beauty. That's what the sea was. He searched for a pair of heads bobbing up and down in the waves, but saw none.

The longer it took, the harder it got. That feeling in his stomach was getting worse. He'd survived tough, grim, nightmarish assignments in the navy, but nothing had prepared him for this.

Hold it together, Mendoza.

He wanted Kayla to find Madison. However unlikely. However improbable. He wanted to believe. He had to believe. A prayer, a wish, a dream. Whatever it would take, he wanted both of his girls back.

A breeze blew. The familiar scent of Wolf's aftershave drifted over and gave the moment a strange feeling of normalcy. Whether at sea or at land, it was as constant as his best friend's smile. And as powerful as his left hook. Ben sighed. "About earlier--"

"No need," Wolf interrupted. "I thought about jumping in myself."

Ben's eyes watered. He blinked. Hard. "Damn sun."

"It's a bright bugger today. Been bothering me, too," Wolf returned to surveying the water. "I don't believe it. She did it, Ben. Kayla's got Madison." Wolf laughed. "Hey, check out the dolphins swimming with them. Bet Madison is loving that."

Emotion clogged Ben's throat. His heart pounded with the force of a tsunami. His pulse raced faster than a
hydroplane. Ben wasn't going to relax until both of them were aboard.

He stared in disbelief. The school of dolphins didn't take him by surprise. It was Kayla. She swam through the water with little effort. An Olympic gold medalist would have trouble with the heavy swells. It didn't make sense.

For once he didn't care. She had asked for his trust. An impossible request, but she hadn't let him down. If this was a dream come true, maybe he had to give dreams a chance.

Ben ran and met them at the stern of the ship. He scooped a wet and shivering Madison into his arms. He held her close, not wanting to let go of her. Ever.

His relief was overwhelming. It was almost as if he'd been holding his breath until this moment. "My princess."

Wolf wrapped three blankets around them. The big man's eyes were red-rimmed and he didn't want to let go of Madison's hand. Ben knew exactly how he felt.

"What happened, princess?" he asked.

Her face was pale. Her blue lips trembled. "I fell in."

He pulled her closer, hoping his body would warm her faster. "Why were you on the deck alone?"

Madison snuggled against him. "Baby Fifi was with me."

Monk handed over the doll. "She's right here, dar-lin'."

"Baby Fifi." Madison cried. "We wanted to have tails like Kayla." Madison sniffled. "But I don't have a tail."

Ben kissed her cheek and tasted saltwater. "Honey, Kayla doesn't have a tail."

"Yes, she does," Madison said. "Kayla's a mermaid, Daddy."

"Kayla's not--"

"Uh, boss," Wolf said. "I--I--I think she is.
A
m-mermaid."

What was going on? Ben turned to get reinforcement from Kayla, who sat on the deck. "Will you tell her..."

The words died on his lips. If it wasn't the sight of her bare breasts covered with her wet hair and the talisman hanging between them rendering him speechless, the green-and-blue tail would have done it.

"It's true." The edges of her mouth curved up. "I'm a mermaid, Ben."

"I told you, Daddy."

No, this wasn't happening. Mermaids didn't exist. Ben stared at Kayla, at her...tail. It defied every law of nature. "Who...what the hell are you?"

She winced. "As far as I know, I'm Kayla Waterton."

He wanted to look away, but he couldn't.

"Ben..." She said his name softly, and he shuddered "I'm so sorry. I didn't want you to find out this way, but--"

"You aren't Kayla." Fear clawed its way into his heart. This wasn't the woman he'd kissed, the woman he'd fallen for, the woman he... "You aren't real."

"It's me." Kayla's eyes pleaded with him. "And I am real."

"No, you're not."

Ben had to get away; he had to get Madison away. Cradling her in his arms, he stood. Then he turned and ran.

Kayla sat, too stunned to cry. Her heart refused to believe what had just happened. She'd known the risk
of jumping into the water, of showing her tail, but she thought--no, she truly believed Ben would understand and accept it.

Accept her.

Yes, it was unbelievable information to absorb, but the least he could have done was tried. Ben hadn't. She'd expected him to be baffled, confused, blown away. But she hadn't expected him to be afraid.

Just thinking about it again shattered her. Kayla choked back a cry and fought hard against the tears.

He didn't believe she was real.

A part of her wanted to give Ben the benefit of the doubt. Her entire life people had always said she was different--now she really was, and Kayla had questions about who and what she was, too. If the tail were on the other foot...

Who was she kidding? Kayla wouldn't care whether Ben was mer or Martian. The knowledge wouldn't change how she felt about him. It wouldn't change her love for him.

She loved him.

She loved Ben for who he was inside, not what he was outside. But he didn't feel the same about her. He most likely never had because he only saw what he wanted to see--Kayla the maritime historian.

Not Kayla the dreamer.

Definitely not Kayla the mermaid.

That realization hurt the most, but gave clarity to the situation. This wasn't about her. About her disappointing him. About her keeping a secret from him.

This was about Ben's fear and aversion to anything he didn't understand--dreams and mermaids and probably a lot of other things she didn't know about.

She shivered. Cold, tired, hurting.

Someone wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. [ Ben? She glanced up. It was Wolf.

Concern filled his eyes. "Do you need anything?"

"No, thanks, my legs will be back in about thirty I minutes."

"So it's real?"

She didn't hear any fear or disgust. Only awe. "It's real."

"I've been at sea for almost twenty years and I never thought I'd ever see a mermaid." He smiled. "Pretty cool."

She appreciated his open-mindedness. "Thanks."

Monk joined them. "Can I touch your tail?"

Wolf elbowed him. "If the boss finds out you've touched anything..."

"Never mind, Kayla." Monk took a step back. "I'm addicted to breathing."

Wolf handed her towels. "Let's get you dried off."

Eugene gave her a water bottle; Stevie brought her a chocolate-chip cookie. The crew still accepted her, and that gave her hope.

"Does it hurt?" Fitz asked.

Her heart hurt and had shattered into a million pieces. But she knew he wasn't talking about her broken heart. "It hurt the first time I got the tail, but now it just feels a little weird. The strangest thing is being able to breathe underwater. That's going to take some getting used to."