Updrift (26 page)

Something between a sigh and a moan, a sound of victory and hope, burst forth from every siren present. The great collective energy dissipated as each came into him or herself again, and mutual accomplishment bound them all with a sense of camaraderie. She felt euphoric. She and Gabe left the pool in silence, both overwrought, and both too tired to think.

“Come,” Peter Loughlin invited. “Let us feed you. You can refresh yourselves and rest a bit before leaving.” Kate—and she strongly suspected Gabe too—wanted nothing more than to hurry to bed but she didn’t have the will to enforce her wish. Neither did Gabe, apparently.

Kenna agreed to join them, although Kate thought she appeared too tired. They proceeded to the palace kitchen.

The meal was a welcome one, and while it did not alleviate their fatigue, Kate did feel fortified for the journey home. After a brief conversation between dinner and dessert, they finished their coffees, thanked their hosts again for their hospitality, and made their departure. They arrived at the cottage in silence and fell into an exhausted sleep.

* * * *

Peter sighed with satisfaction after he waved Kate and Gabe out the door. The interaction had provided him with precisely what he needed. Tired and relaxed, they didn’t bother to edit themselves, and he’d been able to study their expressions and private interactions freely. They had no idea how much information they’d just given him.

He’d never studied another siren with the intention of mimicking him, and the process gave him insight into some of his own characteristics he’d never given much thought. He and Gabe were alike in many ways, which would be helpful. They were both about the same size and height, for example, although Gabe’s figure was slighter. And Gabe was dark while Peter was fair, which didn’t much matter. They were both intellectually serious, both ambitious and intense, and were, each in his respective area, academically accomplished.

When it came to personality traits, however, he noted several wide differences, and he found himself wanting by comparison. For one, although he’d always thought himself to be energetic and positive, Gabe’s natural optimism showed him what a positive outlook really meant, and he admittedly did not share it. By contrast, Peter saw himself as merely diligent, and he thought he probably appeared duller than he’d believed.

The biggest difference he noted was in their respective appetites for life. Gabe approached a new idea with open curiosity and a willingness to go out on an emotional limb. Perhaps this was due to the difference in their ages, but Peter believed he had always been more introspective and careful. While Gabe seemed eager to explore new experiences, even hypothetically, Peter’s initial response to real or potential change was to protect himself, to withdraw and observe first, and then select engagement later on a peripheral level, where he could evaluate before participating.

One quality he worried about replicating was Gabe’s boyish exuberance, because he didn’t know if he’d ever been as guilelessly open as Gabriel Blake. He expected this component of his act to provide him with the most difficulty. The analogy of a former beauty queen struggling and failing to appear just as she did in her youth flashed in his mind, and he shuddered with distaste.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t be a problem. Kate would be the only one to notice, anyway. He would think of a plausible excuse to give her if necessary, and he would simply divert her if she remained unconvinced.

After three blissful weeks on Shaddox Island, Gabe and Kate made the swim back to Griffins Bay, sadly saying goodbye to the place she had spent, Kate believed, the very best time of her life.

They returned to the beach house first as promised, calling from Carmen and Michael’s to let her parents know they were back and would stop in to see them that evening. They intended to spend four days at the guest cottage before making the trip to her apartment to set up house together. Kate couldn’t wait.

After unpacking their few belongings and greeting their families, she left Maya a message to call them because they had some good news to share. “We need talk to you in person. Can you come home this weekend?”

As tempted as they were to visit Jeremy and Alicia, neither felt right about seeing them before they talked to Maya. Kate fretted over the situation. “I know she’ll be happy for us but I feel just rotten we’ve been together a month and haven’t called her. It’s pretty selfish of us.”

“I know,” Gabe agreed. “And we’re not having a big to-do, so it’s not like she can play bridesmaid for us.”

Kate was glum. “Don’t forget about the half of our lives we can in no way explain, either. I mean, it’s not like we can say,
we didn’t call sooner because we went to an island for mermaids
, and,
we’re not having a wedding because, according to siren law, we’re already married.
She flopped onto the couch.

Gabe was silent for several seconds. “I’ve got no ideas.”

“Maybe she could be our witness when we file at the courthouse,” Kate proposed.

“Good idea. Remember the courthouse is only open until four on weekdays, though.”

“So let’s leave a day earlier, go through Philadelphia and register there,” she suggested. “I’ll call and see what we’ll need, make an appointment if necessary, and then Maya can witness for us, if she’s up for it.”

“Plan.”

* * * *

Maya knew instantly what was going on when she heard Kate’s message. And she was happy for them, mostly. The only surprise she felt was over their timing; she’d sensed a connection between them almost from the beginning, and Kate’s circumspect avoidance of Gabe as a topic of conversation in high school had clued her in on just how important a matter he was to her. She’d been a good friend though, never once forcing Kate into a conversation she didn’t want.

Back then, Maya had tried on the idea of her own romance with Gabe, just as she’d considered the possibility with several boys at school but she’d conducted her early romantic explorations with guys she ran with in her broader social circle. At any rate, she’d always suspected she would hurt Kate’s feelings if she tested those waters, and so she hadn’t. She picked up the phone to call Kate back, prepared to be happy and supportive.

“Maya?” Kate answered. She sounded worried, and Maya’s heart completely softened; she knew the worry was for her. She dispensed with the formalities.

“When’s the wedding?” she asked brightly.

“Oh, thank God you’re not mad at me,” Kate breathed. “How on earth did you know? We haven’t told
anyone
aside from our parents!”

“Kate, you suck at keeping secrets.” Kate snorted. “And you forget, I’ve known you since forever. I always knew there was something between you and Gabe. Everyone did.”

“Wha—we never, never talked about it. Even to each other.”

Maya rushed to reassure her. “I’m not saying our classmates knew, I just think your parents—and mine for that matter—aren’t surprised you two are together.”

“Well, about that, we’re a little more than
together
now.” She launched into an overview of their reunion three weeks earlier, their decision to get married without clergy, and their desire to file their status legally with Maya as their witness.

“I know this is probably all too sudden, and we’re complete jerks for waiting this long to call you but we want you to be part of this. Will you do it? I’ll even get you a corsage,” she wheedled.

Maya shuddered. “Hell, no. If I ever wondered if you love me, I don’t now. Trust me, the kindest thing you can do for me is
not
have some big affair, where I have to wear a bad dress with bad shoes that would make me twist an ankle. Just ruin my athletic career. Plus, I’m already, like, almost six feet tall.

“Come to Philadelphia, with my blessing,” she concluded. “It’ll be great to see you guys, and I’ll be more than happy to haul your butts down to the courthouse.”

Kate laughed. “Ahhhh. Such sweet words, Maya. Lighten up on the gooey romance of it all, will you?”

Maya sniffed. “You want gooey romance, call your other friends.”

They chatted a while longer, Kate promising to come through town with Gabe and stay with her Friday night. Maya hung up feeling as if their easy friendship was affirmed. She also felt like some clog in the universe had been cleared, and she exhaled with relief. She didn’t hold Gabe and Kate’s need for privacy against them, not even a little bit. She figured that was why they’d always gotten along so well; even in the throes of adolescent neediness, each had valued introversion over the less tasteful options offered them by the world around them.

Friends to keep
, she thought with satisfaction.

* * * *

Peter climbed the steps to the Blake home hiding in his invisibility and steeling himself for what he was about to do. He mentally reviewed the layout of the interior as he knew it, took a deep breath and allowed the image he’d practiced more than any other in his life flood through him. He let himself in and entered the foyer.

“Hi, honey,” Carmen called from her chair in the living room. “Where’s Kate?”

The man appearing to be Gabriel Blake picked an apple out of a bowl near the door and sauntered into the living room to peer over Carmen’s shoulder. He bit into his apple. “She’s down at the guesthouse going through e-mails. Whatchya reading?”

“Just an article on climate change and the Great Barrier Reef. It’s pretty depressing, and I’m about to put it down.”

Michael strolled by on his way to the kitchen. “Hi, Gabe. I’m going to make myself a sandwich. Anyone else want one?”

“I’ll take a sandwich,” the false Gabe said. “Whatever you’re having. Thanks, Dad.” He shifted his attention to Carmen. “I wanted to peek at Kate’s and my charts at some point if you wouldn’t mind, Mom.”

“Again?” She gazed at him quizzically. “I just had them out yesterday for you. But, yes, of course you can see them. Now?”

“Yes, please, if we could.” Peter revealed none of his chagrin over his slip.

“Fine with me. I can’t bear to read any more of this.” She rose and tossed her magazine onto the coffee table. “It’s not very responsible of me but I can only stand to think about how evil and wasteful we’ve been for so long each day before I start resenting the problem. Not very helpful, I know.” She smiled at him. “Let’s go get you taken care of.” He followed her down the hallway. “We’ll be in my office, honey,” she called to Michael.

She laid the charts on her oversized drafting table, and Peter examined them, starting with Kate’s, recalling the details of his own, which Carmen had done for him long ago. So many of the interpretations had tantalized his pride during that first reading, which indicated unmatched strength and athleticism, high intelligence, and a talent for governing and leadership. All were attractive qualities for a monarch and exciting affirmations for an ambitious young man.

The most terrible depiction for him, the fate he was determined to change, had to do with his solitary walk through life, which was, according to his astrological map, likely to persist. Carmen had, perhaps out of kindness, suggested alternative interpretations, namely how he was a protected prince without the context of a wide population of friends and family. The solitude indicated might merely be relative to people with siblings, children, neighbors, and professional colleagues; and the suggestion could well be he’d have only a few close companions, which was preferable, didn’t he think?

Unfortunately, companionship and genuine intimacy eluded him, and emotional distance proved, time and again, the overriding characterization to all of his associations. Early on, in his optimism and conviction he could overcome any insufficiency, he’d entered into a disastrous marriage in an attempt to force a different life for himself. She was a full-blooded siren, a minor princess to whom he was very distantly related. Despite concerted effort, however, she’d been too emotionally stunted for anything to come of their relationship. After months of trying to draw her out, he found himself wrestling with the same loneliness—made all the more crippling because he expected its alleviation—that had compelled him to make such a rash union. For her part, she could not tolerate being continually asked to give something she could not. Within a year, she ran off. He declined to follow her.

He hadn’t hoped for much from a relationship with a woman in a very long time.

He and Kate would have been well matched, he was satisfied to note. When he perused Gabe’s chart next, however, his good humor faded. Gabe and Kate were perfectly suited, not that this would matter now. He pored over the details to glean any information he might use.

Carmen noticed his irritation, which Peter perceived quickly. “You’re upset. Why?” He realized she felt something unusual from him and was starting to reach with her intuition to discover what was off.

Abruptly, his ire disappeared as he hurried to distract her from further scrutiny; she would not be able to discern who he was but he could not effect the emotional flow Gabe could with his mother without causing suspicion.

Time to sidetrack her. “Not upset, just a little concerned, Mom.” He indicated three identical points on Kate and Gabe’s charts. “These suggest death, or something equally upsetting in the current timeframe.”

Carmen clapped her hands. “I’m impressed! You’ve never shown an interest in our astrology mapping. You must have picked some of this up from being around it so much.” She focused on the points Peter had indicated. “Yes, I’ve studied this alignment and had the same worry. It doesn’t necessarily mean death or division, although that’s the usual conclusion. But it can also mean a breaking off from your former life, and with Kate being human, maybe your marriage—and the new baby too—maybe the pattern indicates a profound event. Because, especially for her, marriage and a life with you is a pretty big departure from reality as she knew it. More of a metaphorical death.”

Michael entered with plates and coffee. “I gave up on having you join me in the kitchen. I’m bringing the mountain to you.” He placed a sandwich by Peter. Carmen caught him up on their conversation while Peter ate.