Chapter 24

Chapter

Twenty-Four

Reid hugged his mom, and waves of white-frosted, auburn hair pressed against his cheek. Her light, floral perfume filled his nose and reminded him of days past. "This was a pleasant surprise."

She patted his back. "Missed my boy."

The hostess showed them to a booth near the back of the restaurant, but Reid wasn't complaining. Between the regular tourist bustle and local, noontime lunch crowd, the place was crowded, but it was quieter back here. "So, what's new?" his mom asked, unrolling a linen napkin and laying it across her lap.

Reid followed suit. "I'm not really sure where to begin."

"Bad news first. Save the best for last."

A waiter stopped by to introduce himself and fill their water glasses, but he was gone as soon as he'd arrived. Too many tables to serve to linger any longer. And yet, it gave Reid just enough time to think through what he wanted to say.

This was a short trip. Telling his water-fearing mom about interacting with people-eating mermaids was not on the table. So instead, he said, "There's no bad news to share. Just a heavy caseload is all. Should ease up once summer's done." While there was no guarantee of that, he didn't want his mother to worry.

She studied his face a moment before putting on her glasses and picking up a menu. "Do you want to talk about any of the cases?" She asked it casually, but he noted the concern.

"Standard stuff stacking, really." Another lie. "I think I'm just ready to take some leave."

"Any good news then?"

He rubbed a hand behind his neck. "Yeah, actually."

His mother peered at him from above the rim of her glasses, a smile forming. "That's a special someone sort of blushing." She smacked his arm playfully with the menu. "Don't leave me in suspense. Tell me."

Annaliese Kruetz, daughter of longtime Marquette County judge Greta Roth, did not leave such things up for debate.

Despite his best efforts to keep it cool, a shit-eating grin fought its way to the forefront. "It's brand new, but I'm seeing someone. She's no one like I've ever met before." There. That was one truth at least.

"Tell me about her."

"I don't know. She's playful. A little mischievous. Could easily kick my ass." He sipped his water, giving himself time to think. "She's observant. Misses nothing and is probably the most literal person I've ever met, but it makes her sweet and thoughtful too. Feels like she can stare straight into me sometimes, you know?"

His mother's smile grew. "She sounds delightful. A local?"

"Sort of. More…regional."

"I'd love to meet her, you know, once it feels right." She was trying to play it so cool, but he could tell she was chomping at the bit for more information. "What's her name?"

"Nireed."

"That's…" she trailed before her expression darkened, every bit of her body language tensing. "A strange name."

The waiter chose that time to return to take their orders. Reid picked at random, and his mom seemed to do the same, before handing over both their menus with a tight smile.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. It's just I've heard that name before. Read it in an article, I think."

Shit. Was his mom putting two and two together? She read articles from scientific community publications sometimes. It wasn't beyond reason she'd have read the ones coming out of this area, what with all her business trips here. And the pieces about merfolk and Nireed's captivity would be the most notable ones.

But if that were the case, why would she be so cagey about it?

Conversation for the duration of lunch was amiable but stilted, and he got the distinct sense that they were both trying too hard to keep it going, much of it either small talk or things they'd already spoken about over the phone in the last few months.

Over and over, he wondered whether he should tell her the truth, but if his mom had already linked Nireed-his-maybe-girlfriend to the mermaid studies and science journal articles, then why wasn't she asking the obvious? It was alarming to think that this might be the sort of something not even his mother could bear.

When lunch was done and the bill paid, Reid asked, "Would you like to meet for dinner?"

Distractedly, his mom waved a hand before typing something into her phone. Odd. She was normally more attentive. Either work was particularly strenuous or something else was going on here. "I would, if I didn't already have plans," she said in a clipped, brusque tone. "Breakfast tomorrow?"

"Sure. Seven early enough?"

She nodded curtly, finishing a text before locking her screen and shoving her phone in her purse. "Give me a hug."

He did, but it was awkward.

Why was his mother acting all squirrelly?

Tailing his own mother like a goddamn private investigator was not how he'd wanted to spend his afternoon, but with how weird she was acting, he had to make sure she was all right. If she'd connected the dots about Nireed, maybe this odd behavior was some kind of manifestation of her thalassophobia, and if it was, he wanted to be there if things took a turn for the worst.

From afar, he watched her stop at an ATM, then duck into a coffee shop, where a person sitting at a window seat inside stood up and hugged her. He couldn't see what the person looked like through the sun's glare on the shopfront window, but it couldn't be the business acquaintance she was here to see, could it? He certainly didn't hug anyone at work. But maybe in the civilian world hugging clients and colleagues wasn't weird.

She was probably fine, but curiosity got the best of him, and he plopped down on a park bench that gave him direct line of sight to the front door while also remaining tucked out of view from the folks inside. The tree and trash can next to him helped.

When an hour passed, he started feeling like an idiot. What the hell was he doing stalking his mother and staking out her business meeting? She was a capable, responsible adult who could call her therapist if she had an episode. She didn't need her son lurking around, checking up on her.

Reid was just about to get up and walk away when his mom stood, exiting the coffee shop with her acquaintance in tow.

He immediately sat his ass back down, floored by what he saw.

The younger woman she was with had dark auburn hair just like his. It wasn't a rare color, but it wasn't common either, and more to the point, this woman was the spitting image of his mom when she was in her early thirties, minus the perm and flashy eighties clothing.

Who was she? And why did she look like they could be related?

He only had an uncle on his dad's side, no kids. His mom didn't have any siblings and neither did his late maternal grandmother, so cousin was out of the question.

"Would you like to stop by the house for dinner tomorrow?" His mother's lookalike asked. "Killian's making lobster mac ‘n' cheese."

"I'd love to. When should I come by?"

"Any time after six is fine." The woman shifted awkwardly, looking mildly uncomfortable. "So, um, have you told Reid about me yet?"

He leaned forward, pretending to play a game on his phone, all while straining to hear.

His mom sighed. "Not yet."

"Mom, you really need to."

Mom? His vision narrowed down to a single point, at some weed sprouting up from a crack in the sidewalk, his surroundings blurring at the edges. He gripped the edge of the bench for support, feeling wobbly even as he was sitting.

Did this strange woman just call his mother mom ?

"It's not fair to him or to me," the woman continued. "And I really hate keeping this secret from Nireed. It feels like lying. She's seeing him, you know, and I think she really likes him. That makes it harder."

Wait, this woman knew Nireed? And his mom had a secret child? What the fuck was going on here? An affair? Was his mom living a double life?

"I want to meet my brother," the woman added gently.

"I know, I know. But the truth is so difficult. You know that."

The woman rubbed his— their —mother's arm. "I do, but he deserves to know he has a sister. And really, that's all. I don't see why you'd have to tell him the how of it—not unless you wanted to. The sooner you get it off your chest, the sooner you'll be able to move on."

The how of it?

"I need to think about it some more."

"Okay."

"I'll see you soon, Lorelei."

Lorelei. He knew that name. Had heard it recently, in fact.

Was this the same woman Nireed called from his cellphone several days ago, whose number he looked up online? Racing to the internet app on his phone, he looked up the Haven Cove Museum of Oceanic Discovery's webpage, beelining to the contact page and the staff directory he'd pulled up before. Emails, phone numbers, just no headshots.

But after a little tapping around, he found a Meet the Staff page he hadn't noticed before, and there she was, smiling at the very top of the page. Lorelei Roth, Museum Director.

Lorelei Roth .

Not only did she look like his mother's younger twin, she shared a surname with his maternal grandmother, Greta Roth. How hadn't he put this together sooner? The past few days had been a whirlwind of opposites, starting with horrifically traumatic and ending on wildly orgasmic, but still. He should've thought more of it.

And the Yooper accent she'd slipped into over the phone…

Lorelei hugged his mom one more time, whispering something he couldn't hear, before leaving. His mom lingered outside the coffee shop, watching her go with a wistful smile.

Fuck. He had a sister. A goddamn sister!

His mother kept it from him his whole life. And what was worse, if that conversation was any indication, she hadn't ever planned on telling him. Launching off the bench, he approached his mom. Her back was turned to him, so she never saw him coming. "Does Dad know?"

She jumped, whirling around with her eyes as round as saucers. "Reid!"

Before she could even think of making up excuses, he snapped, "Don't deny it. I heard everything."

"What? How? Were you…spying on me?" She sounded angry.

"The way we left things at lunch, I thought you were having an episode. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"It's been an hour!"

"Not the most important thing at the moment. I have a sister?"

His mom looked skyward, taking a deep, frustrated breath. "Yes."

He folded his arms across his chest and repeated. "Does Dad know?"

"Yes. I had her before I met him."

No cheating then, that was a fucking relief. "Why was she saying, ‘how doesn't matter?' And what's Nireed got to do with any of this?"

"Keep your voice down." His mom hissed, glancing all around them. People were staring. "Let's go back to my rental to talk."

"Fine." He gestured curtly for her to lead the way and followed her a block up the road. She unlocked an unfamiliar sleek, silver sedan with Maine plates and slipped into the driver's seat.

Taking the passenger's side, Reid slammed the door behind him a little more harshly than he should've, making his mom jump again, and in that split second, she looked too much like a frightened deer. He hated that he'd done that. The thought that he might scare her, his mom, made him sick to his stomach.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, forcing calm into his words. It was one thing to be upset about her lies, another to be aggressive.

"I'm only going to say this once, so listen closely." She'd gone ghostly pale.

The sick feeling in his stomach deepened. Whatever she was about to say was bad, but he nodded to her to continue.

She squeezed the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip, a hard set to her jaw. "I was assaulted. Here, in Haven Cove." Each short, clipped sentence was a sucker punch. "Lorelei was the result, and Nireed knows your sister, because she's not human. Not completely."

He barely choked the words out. "My sister's a…mermaid?"

His mom nodded, eyes growing distant. "I was out for a night swim. My then-boyfriend was on shore when I got yanked under. I thought it was a shark at first. Until I didn't." Her grip tightened. "It dragged me behind some rocks on shore. By the time my date found me, it was done. And that's all I'm going to say about it."

He wanted to yell, scream, punch the dashboard. He wanted to hug his mom, too, but she was so stiff and tense, he didn't think she'd appreciate being touched right now. If that fucker was still alive…

"Grandma Greta took Lorelei in after she was born and raised her." Her leg began to bounce. "I couldn't keep her, and not just because of what happened, but also because I sincerely thought she was a monster. I'll never forget those eyes. Such a terrifying shade of green. And the teeth and claws…Your grandmother believed me when I said I'd been assaulted, but not what by. Same with your father, until, well, the merfolk studies were released. My therapist hadn't believed me until then either."

Angry tears stung his eyes. Anger for his mom. Anger at his mom.

All these years, he thought he never saw Grandma Greta, even over the holidays, because of her demanding job and a strained mother-daughter relationship. But in truth, it was because she was busy raising his secret older sister. His secret mermaid, possibly flesh-craving, older sister.

"Why didn't you tell me?" His voice was weak, strained.

"Because it's my business. Mine." Tears rolled down her cheeks as she slapped her palm against the steering wheel. "I'm more than just your mother. I'm my own damn person and rehashing what happened is extremely painful, especially when no one else believed me when I said a freaking merman did it. And you're my child. My son . When and why would you ever have to know your mother was raped unless it happened to you too?"

Another wave of hot tears wet his cheeks, rage curling tight in his gut. "Is he alive?" He'd find that vile, oversized fish and kill him.

"No." His mom exhaled heavily, her hands falling to her lap. She looked so drained, the lines around her eyes and mouth deepening. "Lorelei talked to Undine and the other merfolk about it. Lorelei's got distinct tail and fin coloring, so they were able to piece together who her…father…was, and he's been long gone, it turns out. Undine's and Nireed's mothers tore him apart."

He let that sink in. The anger, the relief. As much as he would've liked to kill the fucker himself, it was better that monster wasn't still in this world, hurting people for the last thirty-something years. "Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I hug you?"

She began to sob, shoulders quaking as she nodded, reaching for him. He enveloped her in his arms and hugged her tight, not caring a fucking whit that the car's gear shift was digging into his leg.

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you too." She squeezed him fiercely, protectively. "So, so much."

They remained like that for a long while.

Sniffing loudly, she eventually pulled away, wiping her eyes. "I could've made something up, but try to understand I wasn't in Lorelei's life, and I never planned to be. I was hurt and scared, and when you were born, that feeling increased a hundred-fold." She took his hand, cradling it in both of hers. "All I wanted to do was protect you. I'd have nightmares of you two swimming in the lake together or at a pool party. And every time, they ended with her transforming into a monster and killing you."

His gut twisted in sympathy for his mother, so desperate to put the past behind her, but it never allowed her to forget, did it? These nightmares, the thalassophobia, now her son demanding answers. One way or another, circumstances dredged up the truth time and time again, and for most of her adult life, the people she loved and trusted most never believed her.

That must have been maddening.

He was still angry and upset. If he hadn't been eavesdropping, he might've gone his entire life never knowing he had a sister. In a family as small as his, that shit mattered. One day, when his parents were gone, he'd have no one left. There was his dad's alcoholic brother, but with the self-destructive lifestyle he lived, he would probably be gone too.

Maybe Lorelei would've defied their mom's wishes and tracked him down. Her wanting to meet him certainly sounded earnest and genuine, and the thought brought some comfort.

"I'm sorry I kept her from you." His mom stared at their clasped hands. "If it makes you feel any better, I only told her recently."

It didn't, but that wasn't something he wanted to argue about. He'd much rather move forward and give her the comfort she needed. The apology would have to be enough. "It hurts," he said, squeezing her hand. "But I get it."

"Thank you for understanding. I know none of this was easy to hear."

Silence fell between them.

There were so many things Reid wanted to ask her. Why are you back in Lorelei's life if you thought she was a monster? What changed? How long have you two been meeting up? And why would you tell her about me, but not me about her? But it all sounded too aggressive and accusatory, especially with how prickly he still felt.

"You seem close," he said finally, hoping it would get her talking.

"Trying to be. I've a lot of time to make up for."

"So not a monster after all, huh?"

"No more than your Nireed." She smiled. "Definitely someone worth knowing."

Your Nireed.

Longing rolled in like high tide after a storm. It had only been days, but he missed her, and while they hadn't put a label on anything, she did feel like she could be his. He certainly was hers. The little Starfish had suckered herself onto his heart.

There was nothing he wanted more right now than to hold her. To share the secret that was burning a hole in his mind.

That he had a sister.

A mermaid just like Nireed, and possibly her best friend.