Read Online In Deep Waters by Melissa McClone - Free Book Online Page B

rough, yet warm. The handshake lingered. Lasted longer than it should have, given the circumstances. Now wasn't the time to get friendly. Kayla jerked away.
    Two could play at this game. The rules had changed. No more playing nice. It was her turn, and the gloves were coming off.
    Kayla didn't have time to be going to the bow right now. Her fate and that of the expedition rested in her hands. But Madison had wanted her to come, and Kayla didn't have the heart to say no.
    "We have to hurry." Holding onto Baby Fifi, Madison climbed the steps on her tiptoes. "It's almost dinnertime."
    "Why are you whispering?"
    "Shh." Madison placed her finger at her lips. "We have to be really quiet or we'll scare the mermaid away."
    Memories of waiting for a mermaid to appear came back to Kayla. She'd begged her father to let her go into the ocean and find one, but he wouldn't let her go near the water. She remembered her promise to Ben about being more careful around Madison, but bis concern seemed more of a ruse to get her to leave. Dreams and fantasies were as normal as breathing for a young child. Still, she wouldn't encourage her, for Ben's sake. Kayla smiled. "Is there a mermaid nearby?"
    Madison nodded. "I saw it before you came on the ship."
    Kayla walked on her tiptoes, too. "Where?"
    "In the water." Madison kneeled by the railing and motioned for Kayla to join her. "We have to be quiet so he doesn't know we're here. That's how Baby Fifi and me saw him before."
    "Him?"
    Madison nodded. "It was a daddy with a tail."
    "A man like your daddy?"
    She nodded. "He had dark hair like my daddy's and it was wet."
    "What did he look like?" Kayla asked.
    "He had pretty blue eyes. My daddy says I have pretty eyes, too, but mine are brown." Madison tilted her chin. "I know all my colors."
    "Good for you."
    "The mermaid was really tanned. He must've forgot to put on his sunscreen."
    Kayla smiled at Madison's disapproving tone. "Did he say anything to you?"
    "No, but he waved." Madison waved, even though no merman was there to wave back. "I saw his tail when he went under the water. It was gold and shiny like my daddy's earring."
    She spoke as if it were the most normal thing in the world to have a merman wave to her. Kayla wanted to give Madison a great big hug. Kayla also wanted to have a talk with Ben about the importance of imagination. Madison's imagination needed to be fostered, not smothered. "Do you know what you saw?"
    "Daddy said it had to have been a big fish. Maybe a whale. But whales are really big. He wasn't that big."
    Figures Ben would say something like that. Kayla sighed. "I suppose a merman might qualify as a big fish."
    "A merman." Madison's eyes lit up. "My daddy said mermaids--mermans--aren't real. They exist in our im-anations."
    "Mermaids exist in our imaginations and in our dreams."
    "Have you ever seen one?" Madison asked.
    "No, but my father told me stories about them." Kayla smiled at the cherished memories. "Would you like to hear one?"
    "Yes."
    She placed her arm around Madison's small shoulders. "A long time ago in a sea far, far away, a magical island called Atlantis existed."
    Kayla told the same story her father used to tell her. She couldn't believe how much she remembered, and when she reached the end, Madison snuggled against her. "Can I hear it again?"
    Kayla remembered how she'd felt when she was younger. She'd always wanted to hear the story again. And again. And again. "How about at bedtime?"
    "Okay." Madison hugged Baby Fifi. "I like that story."
    "Me, too." The Atlantis tale about mermaids had been her favorite and had gotten more complex as she got older. But Kayla had simplified the tale for Madison. The way her father had done for her when she was a little girl.
    Daddy.
    Kayla carried his memory in her heart, but she missed him and his stories so much. Some children had a favorite stuffed animal or blanket they carried with them and slept with; she'd had her father's stories. Those were her "loveys." He'd