Never Forgotten (Never Forgotten Series) (24 page)

Grandma made a noise. “Oh, he’s not feeling well this morning. Poor dear. I think he’s got a touch of the flu.”

“I hope he feels better,” I said lamely, not knowing what else to say.

My grandmother patted my hand as she set my hot chocolate in front of me. “That’s sweet of you to say. I’m sure rest is all he needs.”

The chocolate burned my tongue, but I drank it fast anyway. David smirked over his coffee mug.

Grandma Mary brought her own mug over and sat down. “How was your trip?”

“Lovely.” David smiled at her. “But we’re happy to be home.”

“How’s Sharon feeling?”

David reached across and squeezed my grandmother’s hand. “Good. I think her doctors will be pleased.”

“Should I grab my things then?” I didn’t want to interrupt the moment they were having, but then again, I was ready to leave. Speaking of leaving, how were we going to get to Halifax? Where was David’s car?

“Just a few things, Meara.” David didn’t take his eyes off Grandma. “We’ll come back to get the rest later.”

In my room, I pulled my suitcase out from under my bed. I packed about a week’s worth of clothes, my makeup, and a hairbrush. On impulse, I added a few books and the picture of Mom.

“I’m ready.” I crossed to the table and hugged my grandmother. “Bye Grandma.”

“See you soon, dear.” She smiled at me. “Happy Birthday, too.”

David hugged my grandmother as well. “Give our best to Jamie, Mary.”

David took my suitcase from me. “Ready, Meara?”

“As I’ll ever be.” I heard him chuckle as he walked toward the front door. I bundled up, while he waited. He hadn’t taken his coat off. “How are we getting there?”

“My car, of course.”

“But, where is it?”

He opened the front door. His car was idling in front of the house.

“How did it get here?” I asked, once we were outside. The door closed behind us.

“Your aunt dropped it off.”

I squinted at the car as we approached it. “There’s no one in there.”

“I imagine not. Brigid is not one for socializing.”

“Where’d she go?”

He set the suitcase down and opened my door for me. “Don’t worry about Brigid. She takes care of herself.”

I heard him open the trunk and put my suitcase in before going around to his side. He adjusted the mirrors, and then looked at me.

“Are you ready?”

My eyes widened. “For what?”

He laughed. “To go to your new home, of course.”

“I thought we were going to talk,” I mumbled, sliding down in my seat.

“We can talk as we drive,” he said. He backed down the driveway and out onto the road. Then, he spoke again. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“You’re a Selkie.”

“Yes.”

“What does that make me?” I asked.

“Half-Selkie?” His lips twitched, but he didn’t take his eyes off the road.

“This isn’t funny, David.” Could he ever give me a straight answer? “I’m serious. What does this all mean?”

He sighed. “To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what it will mean to you. I can tell you what it’s like to be a Selkie, but Halflings, such as yourself, well, you each experience things a bit differently.”

“There are more like me?”

“Yes, although it’s not as common as it used to be.” He looked at me briefly before turning back to the road. “There are less of us who are pure of blood. As time goes on, many have turned against mingling with humans, attempting to preserve the purity of our species.”

“What about your family?” I asked.

He looked at me pointedly. “Obviously, I am of a different opinion.”

I felt my cheeks burn. “Oh, yeah.”

“When I met your mother, it didn’t matter to me that she wasn’t Selkie. I only knew that I loved her. That was all that mattered then, and it’s all that matters now.”

I knew how much David loved my mom. I didn’t doubt his sincerity at all. I thought about the seals that surrounded him this morning. “Who were the other seals? Were my aunts there?”

“Your aunts were there, and some others from our clan.”

“Clan?” Like a tribe? Was that how Selkies lived?

“Yes. Our family.”

It was like pulling teeth to get him to talk, even when he was willing to give me answers. “Why’d you come here?”

“For you and your mom, of course.”

“So, I’m a Selkie?” I just wanted to hear him say it.

“You’re not a Selkie yet,” David said. “You haven’t Changed.”

There it was again. The big C word.

“How does that happen?” I asked.

He answered my question with one of his own. “Have you felt the pull of the sea?”

I thought about the voices calling to me, the swell of the waves, and the salty deliciousness. Just this morning, I wanted to jump in after smelling him. “Y-yes.”

“If you follow it, if you jump in,” he said gravely, “you will Change. You will become Selkie.”

“B-but, I’ve been in lakes before, and nothing has ever happened.”

“A lake is not the sea, Meara. Freshwater does not affect us.”

“If I change, will I be able to be human again?” I thought of all the times that I almost gave into the temptation to jump in.

“You may take human form,” David said, and I felt myself relax before he added, “But you’ll never be human again, unless you destroy your seal skin.”

“What?”

“If you’re Selkie, Meara, the rules apply to you. If Selkies live amongst humans for more than one year, we lose our ways, our power.”

“So I can live with humans for a few months at a time?” I knew my voice sounded whiny, but I didn’t care.

“Of course,” he conceded. “For short periods of time.”

“You mentioned there was good news?” I crossed my arms and slumped against the seat again.

David laughed. He seemed relieved to get the worst of it out in the open. “I did, indeed.” He looked at me speculatively. “Although this is the part where I can’t say how you will be affected.”

“So the bad definitely applies to me, but the good you’re not sure,” I muttered. “Figures.”

“Oh, plenty of the good applies to you. You’ll be able to swim fast. You’ll never worry about drowning or freezing in the ocean.”

“So, you’re telling me I can compete in the Olympics?” I tried to make a joke of it, but David just frowned at me. “I’m kidding, of course.”

He didn’t say anything. I thought that maybe I confused him. When I realized he wasn’t going to say anything until I did, I asked, “Is that it? Super-swimming power?”

“Of course not.” Now he sounded impatient. “Selkies are known for the power of seduction. Almost all of us can influence human emotion. Some can control the weather, others can heal the sick or wounded…”

“Is that what you’re doing?” I interrupted. I thought of Mom and how much better she seemed lately. Was David healing her?

“No, Meara,” David said, his voice soft. “I know what you’re thinking. I can heal a wound, not a plague like cancer.”

“Oh,” I said. We lapsed into silence. David’s eyes remained on the road. I thought about how Mom acted when David was around. She had more energy, her movements fluid and not stiff. “You’re taking away her pain.”

“Some of it,” David admitted. “I can’t erase it, but I can transfer it. Take it on as my own. If I could cure her, I would. Since I can’t…well, I can at least make her comfortable.”

“Thank you.” I reached across and covered his hand with my own. For the first time, I was grateful that David was in our lives.

"David, is that you?” Mom came from the back of the house, a slight frown on her face. “Where were you? You know we’re having everyone over tonight for…” She broke off, and her eyes widened in surprise. “Meara! You’re here.”

“David came and got me.” My mom exchanged a look with my father. Did she know already? Did she know what David was? What I was? Before I could read her expression, she pulled me into her arms.

“Happy Birthday, honey.” She kissed my cheek. She smelled like garlic and onions.

Wrinkling my nose, I waved my hand in front of my face. “Mom, what did you eat for breakfast?”

“Breakfast? I…” She looked confused for a moment, and then she laughed. “I’m making your birthday dinner. You okay with lasagna?”

“One of my favorites.” My mom made the best pasta sauce. Kim always tried to swindle an invitation for dinner on Italian night. Thinking of her brought a slight pain to my chest. I missed her. I wanted to call and tell her everything, but I couldn’t. This kind of news had to be shared in person. When she texted to wish me happy birthday, I just thanked her in reply.

“I’ve invited your grandparents and the Mitchells over for dinner.” Mom smiled at me. Was I imagining things, or did it look fake? “Do you want to help me get things ready?”

I didn’t. If I helped her, I’d have no choice but to confront her. How much did she know? I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out.

“I’ll go pick up the cake.” David gave my mom a kiss on the cheek and whispered something in her ear. He kissed my forehead on his way out.

“Be kind,” he whispered, so only I could hear him. I raised my eyebrow in reply. What did that even mean? When he realized I wasn’t going to say anything, he patted my shoulder and stepped past me, calling back to both of us, “I’ll be back in about an hour.”

Mom wiped her hands on the towel, which was tucked into the waistband of her jeans. “Are you hungry?”

“Not really,” I said.

“Okay.” She stepped back and turned toward the kitchen. “Well, let’s go grab a drink in the kitchen, and we’ll talk.”

I barely noticed my surroundings as I followed my mom. While she poured herself some coffee, I pulled out the chair closest to me and sat down. She set her mug on the table across from me, then turned back to the fridge and pulled out a Diet Coke. She slid the can across the table and then sat down.

“David told you?” Her voice was so quiet that I barely heard what she said. So there would be no pretenses here.

“You knew?” I blinked several times. Then, the dam broke, and I was bawling. Mom pushed the napkin holder closer, and I took a handful. “Why, Mom? Why?” My voice broke on a sob. I stared at the table, not trusting myself to look at her. The hurt was too great.

“I was young, Meara, and I was scared,” she said. “I know that sounds like a pretty lame excuse, but it’s true.”

She stood and walked across the kitchen. Like our house in Wisconsin, this one had a window over the sink. She placed her hands on the edge of the basin and stared out, her back to me. She often took the same pose at our old house when she was thinking.

“I didn’t know what David was when I fell in love with him. He told me he was in town dealing antiques. He said he wouldn’t stay, but I assumed for normal reasons. He lived in another country or he was just here on business…I didn’t know that he literally, physically, could not stay with me because of what he was.”

A pain stabbed my chest. “What do you know about Selkies?”

She flinched when I said the word. “I know some.” I stared at her back, willing her to look at me so I could see what she was feeling. “I know about the ‘living as human’ limitations. David told you this morning, right?”

Ignoring her question, I asked, “When did he tell you what he was?”

She turned then, her face wet with tears. “When I told him I was pregnant with you. He told me he couldn’t stay, wouldn’t stay, because he was Selkie. We fought for weeks. I was scared, carrying a baby that was only half human. I had no one to talk to.”

“What about Lydia? Or Grandma?”

She laughed, but the sound was bitter. “Do you think they would have believed me? That anyone would have believed me? Selkies were myths concocted by sailors and their wives, an excuse for a liaison. They weren’t real.”

“But obviously they are,” I insisted. “If you told someone, would David have supported you? Shown them who he was?”

She looked at me thoughtfully, a small frown on her face. “No, I don’t think so. Not out of cruelness, but his first instinct would be to protect his kind. Imagine what would happen to Selkies if the world learned they were real. They would be hunted, gathered, and studied. Their lives would be ruined.”

“There are Selkies everywhere?”

“I don’t know, Meara.” She sounded tired. “But I would guess wherever you find seals, you’ll find Selkies.”

“Why did you leave with me? Why didn’t you stay with your parents?” I wasn’t sure what hurt more, that Mom knew what I was, had known what I was my whole life, or that she purposely took me away from the only other family that we had.

She came back to the table and sat, taking my hands between hers and pleading with her eyes. “When David left, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if he’d come back for you. Would he steal you in the night and take you away? The only thing I could think to do was move inland, somewhere that Selkies could not find you. I was so lonely, Meara, and confused. I had no money, no one to confide in. Nothing.”

“Then how did you get the money to move?” As I asked the question, I realized I knew the answer—Phil Dunlop, my mom’s first husband.

“Phil came along when you were a few months old. He was overseeing the restoration of the lighthouse. He asked me out, and I accepted. Before the project was done, we were engaged. And when he left, we went with him.”

“Did you marry Phil to get away from David?” I wiped away the last of my tears. My eyes felt puffy and dry. Who was this stranger sitting in front of me?

Mom cringed. “It sounds cold and calculating when you say it.”

“Mom!” I said, exasperated. “It was. It was cold and calculating. You didn’t love him. He was your ticket out of here.”

“I did it for you.”

“Whatever you need to think to feel better about it,” I mumbled under my breath. If she heard me, she chose to ignore it. “Why didn’t you tell me about David? I asked you about him so many times when I was little.”

She sighed. “I didn’t know what to tell you, so I didn’t say anything. I didn’t think it would be an issue. I didn’t think we’d ever come back here.”

“You didn’t think…” I repeated her phrase. “And what, you didn’t think I’d ever want to take a trip to the ocean? Ever hear of Spring Break, Mom? What did you think would happen when I dived in?”

“I…” Her voice trailed off. She watched me warily.

How could a mother keep so much from her child?

“When you decided we were coming back, why didn’t you tell me then?” I thought about our first few months here and added, “Or, when I told you that I dreamed of David?”

“I don’t know, Meara! I don’t know!” Mom raked her fingers through her hair. Her arm trembled. “I screwed up. I was trying to protect you, and instead I hurt you. I’m so sorry, baby, so sorry.”

“I need to get some air.” I stood. “I’m going for a walk.”

Mom’s eyes pleaded with me, but all she said was, “Be careful.”

“I always am.”

***

David didn’t live far from the clinic, and without thinking, I found myself standing on the cliff that Ula first showed me. Was there anyone that hadn’t deceived me? Lied to me?

The cold bit my nose and made my eyes water. The sun, high in the sky, did little to warm the brittle February air.

“So you know.” A cold voice came from behind. I turned to face my aunt, Brigid. She studied me with sharp, clear eyes. “Humans are spiteful creatures. They destroy more than they create. That is why I do not associate with them.”

She didn’t move closer, but continued to assess me. I felt like a bug under a microscope.

“I’m human,” I said, when it was clear she was waiting for me to say something.

“You are not.” Her voice was clipped. “You are…more.”

“Why were you and David fighting this morning?”

She raised her eyebrow, a look of surprise on her face. “He told you?”

“No.”

“Then how did you know?”

“I saw it in my dreams,” I said. “And you didn’t answer my question.”

She cocked her head to the side and stared at me. I felt exposed, as if she was peering into my soul.

“You are stronger than I thought.” She ignored my question again. She looked like she was about to walk toward me, but her eyes flicked to something over my right shoulder.

“I must go,” she muttered before her strange, violet eyes locked on mine. “I will see you again, niece.” Her image wavered and, seconds later, a seal sat before me. It turned and dived into the sea.

“Are you okay?” It was David. How did he find me? I turned to look at him, but he was glaring at the point where my aunt disappeared. “Brigid was not supposed to be here.”

“Why not?”

“Do not trust your aunt,” David said.

“What do you mean?” She wasn’t friendly like Ula, but she didn’t scare me either.

David pulled me into his arms, resting his chin on my head. My arms hung at my side. I didn’t move from his embrace, but I didn’t hug him either.

“I fear she does not currently have your best interests at heart,” he said after a moment.

Who does? I thought.