Page 28 of The Lighthouse Keeper and the Mermaid
“Your livelihood is in town.”
“I could no doubt do carpentry here or travel back and forth. It is not so far a row. And you would stay the keeper of the house of course. The idea of my wife making as much money as I do is quite appealing actually.”
How strange. She thought she would be alone forever and now within the course of two days, as many men proposed to stay together for forever.
“Mr. Wilson.”
“Oh please, do not reject me with quite so little thought.”
“I haven’t said a word yet,” she said, smiling incredulously.
“No, but I know that face quite well.”
“How can you when you see it twice a year at most?”
To that, he actually laughed. “Then at least let me come visit you. Let us talk. Let us see. And then you can reject me.”
She laughed. “Why bother if you think I’ll reject you later still?”
“Simple,” he said. “I don’t.”
CHAPTER 28
She could think of no good reason to say no to the only person who had even been her friend in town or kind to her, so they arranged for him to come next Monday.
It felt a bit like she was betraying Kallias in her heart, but she told herself that this was to protect him as well. Rather than have Mr. Wilson show up at random days—for she was sure he would have shown up at least once more regardless of what she had said—now she would be prepared to meet him and Kallias could hide. And in time, she could reject him, and it would all feel quite natural.
“Kallias!” she called. “He’s gone!”
She doubted he would be able to hear from any decent distance, and when no white-haired mermaid popped up, she sighed and headed back in to finish her chores for the day.
She wondered how far he had gone. He had seemed to start to say something about ‘her kind’ once and the dangers of being too close to shore. She made a mental note to ask him. Because while she didn’t want him to be afraid ofher, she had to admit, the land could be just as dangerous as the sea.
CHAPTER 29
She twisted the gears for the lighthouse as the sun played near the horizon, and then, putting back on her sea-soaked clothes from the morning—which had dried but still had rippling lines of white salt on them—she headed back toward the rocks.
She didn’t see him at first, and the sadness that crashed over her heart was unreal. She didn’t blame Mr. Wilson; there was no way for the man to know she had had a special day planned with a mermaid that he had then ruined, but she felt robbed all the same.
She sat on the rock and dangled her feet in the water, hoping he’d come.
It was only a minute before a white head popped up some fifty feet away, and her smile was instantaneous. “Kallias!” she beamed, jumping to her feet and waving.
The corner of his lip twitched into a smile, but then his head dipped back under the water and he glided toward her with speed and grace she could only envy. He popped up beside her and she smiled.
“You look really good swimming,” she said. “Like really, really good.”
His smile was reserved. “Is he gone?”
“Yes, he’s gone.”
“You don’t usually have visitors,” he said, almost factually as if he knew.
“No,” she agreed. “Not normally. He’s a carpenter. That means he works with wood. My boat sunk that night so….Wait, now I can actually ask you. It was you who saved me, wasn’t it?”
He nodded.
“And you were trying to save the captain?”
