Katherine stood there for what seemed a lifetime, staring at the place where Convel had just stood.
She forced herself to choke back sob after sob, holding her hand to her mouth, never letting a Sound of it escape her lips lest Convel hear it and come back. Katherine didn't know if she had the strength to tell him no again with the way she was feeling.
But she had burned that bridge and it had to stay burned if she was ever going to have a normal life, or at least some semblance of one.
Once Katherine had overcome her feelings and felt more in control, she forced herself to wipe the tears from her eyes and walk back toward shore. The fog wasn't quite as bad as it had been and seemed to be dissipating again,coming and going as though it couldn't make up its mind, allowing Katherine a clear view of where she had left her boat.
The merman opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted when they both heard the distinct Sound of a motorboat speeding through the water. The merman looked at Katherine before retreating back into the water, silently but quickly.
"Wait!" Katherine cried out, the noise breaking the silence between them.
The merman put a finger to his lips in a silencing gesture before his head disappeared beneath the water. Katherine wasn't sure if he had meant for her to be quiet or for her not to say anything about him, but she didn't have much time to think on it as she heard the motorboat getting closer, its engine cutting and the sounds of people dismounting from the boat.
"Katherine!" Sofia's voice called from beyond Katherine's view.
As the fog cleared more and more, Katherine could faintly see Giselle's, Sofia's, and Tyler's outlines.
"Katherine! Where are you?"
This time it was Tyler who called for her. Katherine could see them all quite clearly noW, and Tyler looked as good to her as ever.
"She's over there! I can see her!" Sofia shouted joyously jumping up and down. She Flitted toward Katherine, Giselle not far behind but Tyler seemed frozen in place once he locked eyes with Katherine.
"Katherine!" Sofia cried as she flung her arms around her best friend's neck. "Oh my word, Katherine! We were so worried."
"I'm fine, Sofia," Katherine said laughingly. "Now can you stop choking me?"
"Sorry," Sofia said sheepishly, loosening her death grip on Katherine. "We were just so worried about you!"
"That we were," Giselle said, looking painfully relieved and angry at the same time. "What were you thinking, child? You could have been seriously hurt-"
Giselle stopped short when she realized that Katherine wasn't looking at her, but beyond her.
"Katherine, have you heard a word that I have said?" Giselle asked reproachfully.
"Oh, absolutely," Katherine mumbled, lightly pushing Sofia's arms off of her. "Whatever you say.."
Katherine walked past Giselle, and then started to Flit.
When she jumped at Tyler his arms were wide open to catch her.
And then their lips were crashing together and a feeling flooded Katherine's body like nothing she'd ever felt before. It was the feeling of absolute and complete relief. She hadn't known that she'd been craving to feel his arms around her and his lips against hers until that moment but she had been, more than she had thought possible.
It was like a part of her had been missing, but the moment he touched her she became whole again.
"Don't you ever..." Tyler said in between kisses and gasps for air. "...scare me..." Kiss. "..like that..." Gasp, kis. "...ever.."Long, wet kiss. ".. again!" he finished with a final gasp, pulling Katherine's legs up to encircle his waist.
"Ever! '' he added for good measure before kissing Katherine soundly, as though to get the point across.
I could so get used to this..
******
Tyler, Giselle, Sofia and Todd looked on with wide eyes at Katherine's diamond-like wings. They had been back at The Haven for a while now after riding back to Merytonburg Dock in their stolen watercraft. Not even when the angry boat rental man had been screaming and shouting while Giselle paid him off handsomely for the unsolicited use of his boats had anyone or anything been able to separate Tyler and Katherine from their semi-permanent lip-lock.
Ray and the others had just arrived at Merytonburg Dock when Giselle had finished up with the boat guy, and Ray had made the comment that it would take another World War and Jaws of Life put together to get Tyler and Katherine apart.
Ray had very nearly been right, as it had been Katherine's explanation of what had happened back at the island that caused the temporary separation of Tyler's hold on Katherine, and the battle at the island had seemed very much like a World War to Katherine at the time.
Everyone else had decided that they could use a few hours extra sleep t0 recover from the would-be search and rescue mission except Todd, who had been furious that no one had woken him up to help find his sister, but he quickly forgot his anger when Katherine began telling her tale.
It had taken a while to explain everything, and the fact that Katherine had manifested wings and taken out twelve well-trained lycanthropes and had had an encounter with a merman had been met with doubt, disbelief, and even a little laughter at Katherine's expense solely on Tyler's part, of Course-until Katherine's anger caused the wings to grow from her back again. She took great satisfaction in the way Tyler's jaw dropped nearly to the floor at first seeing them, along with everyone else's.
"I told you I had wings," Katherine said smugly. "Believe me now?"
Unfortunately, her triumph was shortened when her left wing lashed out at a vase on Giselle's desk, slicing it in two with a single stroke.
"I'm still getting the hang of them," Katherine said, blushing with embarrassment.
"Katherine, in all my thousands of years I have never seen wings like these," Giselle said in awe, as she looked at the shining diamond-like appendages on Katherine's back. "Do you know what this means, child?"
"It means, I'm going back to bed," Todd said hazily. "This is more than one man can take in less than twenty-four hours."
Todd pushed up his glasses, which had managed to slide down his nose, and unsteadily he rose from the armchair he'd been sitting in.
"I'll help him," Sofia volunteered, cheerful as ever. "He doesn't look quite so steady on his feet."
The statement was true enough, but anyone who knew Sofia knew that her motives weren't purely charitable.
Giselle, Tyler and Katherine watched as Sofia took Todd's hands gleefully in her own and carefully guided him out of the room, and all the while Todd's eyes seemed wide, vacant and unseeing.
"Well, no one can accuse her of wasting a good opportunity" Katherine remarked casually, folding her arms while one of her diamond wings scratched her head thoughtfully. Tyler exchanged a look with Giselle, and then shook his head in mock reproach, while trying very hard not to burst into laughter.
"Katherine..." Giselle began seriously. "...about this merman.."
"Yes?" Katherine said distractedly while she locked eyes with Tyler.
"Merpeople are very mysterious creatures- snobbish creatures and they never show themselves to beings they believe are beneath them unless for a very nefarious purpose. As one of our kind, a merman would deem you beneath him. Therefore, it worries me greatly that he would show himself to you so openly when..."
Giselle trailed off when she realized that Katherine's attention was fixed on Tyler and wouldn't be unfixed from him for some time thereafter.
"Never mind," Giselle said with a sigh. "We can discuss this when you are less... distracted, for lack of a better word."
Tyler walked slowly up to Katherine and took her hand very gently, leading her out of the room without ever breaking their soulful eye contact.
*****
Giselle smiled after them warmly, glad that her daughter was finally back home. The smile faded though as she thought of her own lost love, and where he might be now.
Giselle closed the door and locked it before walking around her desk and sitting down in the chair behind it. Taking a slow, deep breath, she slowly opened the first drawer on the right.
The only thing in the drawer was a small, black-velvet ring box.
Giselle reached into the desk drawer and gently took it out, so careful that anyone watching would have thought her handling glass as thin as paper. She opened it slowly, revealing a small diamond ring. Words were inscribed on the inner rim in Gaelic:
"Gra Go Deo."
"Love Forever" Giselle translated softly, smiling as a single tear trailed down her cheek. She slipped the ring onto the fourth finger of her left hand.
Another tear fell as she folded her arms on her desk and laid her head against her arms.
Only then did she allow herself to weep, grieving over the loss of her lost beloved husband once more.