LEGEND OF THE MER (35 page)

“Tempest, give me Tempest!” 
Little
Rose cried as she reached over the side of the boat for the dolphin.

Cole handed her back to Lana and Makoa took the bag of oranges from her.  Little
Rose grabbed onto Tempest’s dorsal
fin as
he swam
near Tit
us.  Even little Jedediah
put out his hand and touch
ed
him.

“I see, she has her own personal mode of transp
ortation,”
chuckl
ed Cole
.

“Yeah, she does
.
”
Lana
smiled
.

“So, who is this little merwalker over here?” Cole asked smiling at Talei.

“This is our daughter
Talei, which means precious.  She is nearly one year old,” answered Micah as he picked up his
daughter so Cole might see her better
.

“She sure is that; I remember Lana at that age
.
”
Cole
smiled
to Lana.

“You know Dad; I want to thank you for all you must have done for mom and me.  I couldn’t help but see you both in Tarra and Micah
.
”
Lana smiled brightly to him.

“Yeah, it’s an adjustment to become part of the mer family when you’re an islander like Micah and I,” he said smiling to
Lana and then
Micah.

“Yes, but I have a blessed life,” answered Micah and Tarra kissed him on his cheek.

“Well Rose, it looks like it turned out to be a mermaid day after all
.
”
Cole smiled to her.

“Yes, it truly has.  Thank all of you so much for allowing me to visit with you,” Rose said genuinely grateful.

“You are now a part of our family,” said Titus with Jedediah still in his arms.

“Y
es, I guess I am at that
.
”
Rose
smiled
.

~~~

Lana and her family visited for a few hours more.  It was hard to pry little Jedediah away from Titus when it was time to go; he was so taken with him.

Micah agreed to meet Cole at the
Marina
in an hour with Lana.  She made sure to bring the same suit and disguise she had worn before.  Lana and Micah needed to arrive at the
Marina
together so everyone could meet them.  She planned to see Rose afterwards up at the house for a brief visit.  Titus planned to meet Lana at the dock later.

Lana put on her suit
after she got onto the
Island Traveler
.  She was glad that the wrap was big enough to cover her now very large belly.  Lana chose not to wear the blonde wig.  The people of
Safe
Harbor
Island
knew that she had white hair and had accepted her odd appearance; they believed her to be an albino.

When Micah pulled into the
Marina
, he quickly spotted which slip Cole was at and he gently drove his boat in.  “Good job Micah, boy what a beauty.  I can imagine what she must have cost,” said Cole as he came aboard.

“Yes, she was expensive; I was able to get her with a wedding gift from my brother-in-law
.
”
Micah
grinn
ed and gave a wink to Cole.

“Yeah, that brother-in-law of yours sure knows how to give good gifts. 
That was nice of them.”

“Hey Dad!” Lana called as she came out of the cabin and ran and hugged him.

“Hey kid, I was just admiring Micah’s yacht.”

“Isn’t it wonderful; I was able to visit each day and help with some meals for Micah and Talei.”

“I bet you enjoyed that.  This trip couldn’t have been easy for you in your condition.”

“No, but it really wasn’t that bad with the yacht.”

“I think she especially enjoye
d the bacon and eggs,”
Micah
chuckled
.

“Oh, I’m sure she did.  That’s always been a favorite m
eal of hers,” laughed Cole
.

“Yeah, and I plan on getting some from you too and some of your famous pancakes
.
”
Lana smiled to her father.

“Anytime kid; it’ll be my pleasure,” he said as he hugged her once more and kissed the top of her head.

Before they left, Cole introduced Micah to the Harbor Ma
ster, his friend Marty Thompson
and some of the loc
als.  Then he drove Lana and Micah
home with him in his jeep.  Micah went with Cole for a quick tour of the lighthouse and Lana went into the keeper’s house where Rose now lived with Cole and Jedediah.

It felt strange for Lana to be in the old house again.  Her bedroom was now Jedediah’s.  There were still some of her things all about.  She realized how unimportant things were to her now.
 
I really live
such a simple life with Titus and Rose
.  She smiled to see little Jedediah sleeping peacefully in his crib. 

“Do you mind Jedediah having your room?” Rose asked her.

“No, not at all; I really like him having it.”

“We thought about putting him in the office, but it was nice to have him in the room right across from ours.”

  “I agree;
it’s the best room for him.  Believe me, my home is in the ocean with Titus and little Rose, and of course this new little one that will soon be arriving
.
”
Lana smiled as she rubbed her tummy.  “So what did you do with your cottage?”

“Marty and his family are staying there now.  Their son Robbie was born a few days after Jedediah.”

“That’s great, I know that he and Catherine had been trying to have a baby for a
while now.”

“Yes, they had.  So tell me, are you really happy Lana?”

“Yeah, I never knew there could be so much happiness.  Titus is everything that I could ever want in a husband and a father.  I’ve always belonged in the ocean; only I didn’t always know it.”

“I’m happy for you Lana; you deserve to have the best things in life,” Rose said as she hugged her.

“Are you happy Mom?”

“Yes, just hearing you call me that makes me happy; like you, I never dreamed of ever being this happy.  I thought that I would never marry and just be content to teach other people’s children.  Meeting you and your dad changed all that,” she laughed.

“I want you to know how very much I always liked you.  I couldn’t believe it when I found out that you were gonna be my mother
.
”
Lana smiled.

“I’ve always felt the same way about you Lana.  Isn’t life wonderful when all your plans go out the window and get replaced by a much richer life than you could have ever dreamed?”

“Yeah, that’s so true.  Well, I should probably get going.  I don’t want to be too long from Titus and Rose
.
”
 
Lana smiled as she hugged her mother once more
.

“Thank you for coming; you know our door is always open Lana.  This is still your home too.”

“Thanks Mom, it’s good of you to say so,” Lana said as she waved and headed out the front door.

As Lana walked across the beach towards the dock, there was a jogger getting ready to pass her.  She waited for him to pass and then he stopped and said, “Lana, is that you?”

“Yeah,” Lana said a little hesitantly as she just realized that it was Jody Harper.
 
Oh no,
she thought
.

“Wow, it’s been what, three years since our senior graduation?”

“Yeah, how are you doing Jody?”

“I’m good; I’ve been away in
Virginia
for college at Tech.  I guess that brain of mine was good for something,” he laughed.  “I’m hoping to help build the car of the future; you know, help save the planet.”

“That’s really nice Jody; we all need to do our part,” said Lana as she was beginning to worry that Titus might not like the idea of her talking with Jody and so near the dock where he might just do something about it.  “Well, I should get going, I was just gonna lay out a while on the dock.”

“Oh, okay.  So I see you’re expecting a baby; I heard that you got married.”

“Yeah, I married a Chief’s son from
Kaloki
Island
in the South Pacific.”

“All of
Safe
Harbor
is talking about that yacht of his; she’s a real beauty.”

At that same time, Cole was showing Micah the top of the lighthouse and they both looked down to see Lana talking with Jody.  “Oh boy, that can’t be good.  Micah, I think you should go and talk with Lana and that guy.  His name is Jody Harper and he danced with Lana at the prom a few years back.  You might say that he made Lana feel a little uncomfortable and Prince Titus sort of took care of the situation.  I know he won’t appreciate him talking with her now,” said Cole with concern.

“I will go,” said Micah as he quickly went down the stairs; he knew just how upset Titus could get.

Lana looked out past the dock and saw Tempest jumping and knew
,
it’
s only a m
atter of
time before Titus
let
’s
his emotions run wil
d!
  She looked back to see Micah standing beside her and she breathed a sigh of relief.  “Jody, this is my husband Micah.”