Adam had seen Sukie to bed and then told her not to leave the room. "I have to go out, Sukie. Please stay here. I won't be long." She had promised that she wouldn't leave but he still locked the bedroom door as well as the back and front doors and took the keys with him. As he strode down the street, Pulling his jacket collar up about his ears, he told himself that he wasn't keeping Sukie locked in but keeping any evil out yet he knew that it was the fear that she would leave, that he would arrive back to an empty house and not have any knowledge of what had become of Sukie and that he couldn't bear. Adam knew himself too well and if Sukie vanished, he would wander the shore calling to her, looking for her and then search the city of Boston until he found her or until he had exhausted all possible measures and accepted the unacceptable.

Ian Clancy's small house wasn't difficult to find; it was beside the creamery, Sally's Sweet Shop. Adam looked at the sign: "Ice Cream, Delectable Treats, Saltwater Taffy" and imagined his mother and Ian Clancy as children clutching their nickels in their small fists to buy a scoop of ice cream or a handful of chewy taffy.

Adam knocked roundly on Clancy's front door and waited. There were still lights on in the front room so Adam waited and then pounded again. There was a door knocker but Adam needed to use his fist; better the door receive his rage than the old man.

The door was slowly opened and Ian Clancy stood in front of him wearing a robe.

"Hello, Adam. Won't you come in?" Clancy stepped aside and Adam entered.

"You don't seem surprised to see me."

"I'm not. Sit, sit, please." Clancy went back to his chair beside the fireplace and Adam took the one on the other side. The room was small, smaller than the one in the Stoddard house and although it bore a few touches of a woman, it was obvious that they were old, more than likely introduced by Ian's deceased mother. "May I offer you something? Some sherry perhaps."

"No. I'll come right to it-how you know about Sukie? Why you asked her about the sea? You saw us on the beach, didn't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"The other day—when Sukie went into the water, when she tried to swim out and I had to drag her back—you saw us, didn't you?" Adam realized he was furious, furious at being spied on, at Clancy having seen Sukie naked and struggling in his arms as he had forced her out of the water and back to the house.

"No, I didn't see you or Miss Sukie. I knew nothing of it until now but I'm not surprised. The sealskin…you locked it away didn't you?"

"Yes, but I don't see what that has to do with anything. Why are so fixated on the sealskin? I locked it way only because I promised you as it seemed harmless enough to indulge your eccentricity." Adam shifted to the edge of the chair." Do you recognize Sukie from anywhere? She claims no family but there has to be someone, somewhere…is she from Boston or another town?" Adam waited as patiently as he could but he wanted to beat the answer out of Clancy who sat sipping a small glass of sherry.

"I had mentioned the legend of the Roane to you, the faery women, the seal-fairies, the selkies..."

"What does that nonsense have to do with Sukie?" Adam stopped, his mouth open. The word selkie—so much like Sukie. Had he misunderstood her? Had she said she was a "selkie"? No, that was insane.

"There is a legend, an old legend about the Roane, about the magical breed of seals who, when they shed their skin, can walk among the humans as a beautiful woman. If a person finds her shed skin, keeps it, hides it away so she can never find it, the faery woman is his as his wife and a wonderful wife she becomes." Ian Clancy waited.

Adam snorted in derision. "Nonsense. Children's tales—or addled, old men's tales."

Clancy smiled and chuckled. "Perhaps, perhaps. There is a way you can find out, though."

Adam's heart pounded in his chest. "I suppose I should give Sukie the sealskin and then see if she changes into a seal and takes off into the water. She'd think I'd lost my mind."

"Perhaps, perhaps not. But if you want her, want to keep Sukie with you always as your wife, your lover and the mother of your children, burn the sealskin or cut it to pieces so it will no longer fit. If it's altered in any way, she won't be able to return and you'll have the wife every man desires. I saw the two of you together, I saw how you feel about her."

Adam wanted to respond—What about Sukie? Could she be happy being enslaved to a man not of her choice? I could never-would never do such a thing. Love can't be forced, it is a choice, it's given, not taken. But Adam said no more and stood up. "Good night, Mr. Clancy." He left Ian Clancy sitting by his fire. Looking into the flames.

Adam started home and after a few steps, broke into a run. The streets were empty and all he could think of was that Sukie had managed to get and tossed his grandfather's bedroom, found the key and with it, unlocked the chest and found the fur, her skin, and left him. He would have lost her forever and a sob escaped him. But he also told himself it was all nonsense. He was losing his mind, losing any hold on reality he had. There were no such things as selkies or faery women or anything else. Superstition, legends and fairy tales had no place in his world. The world he knew worked by physical law and the only beings in the oceans were fish and sea mammals. Even the biblical Leviathan was now in those enlightened times known to be the Great Blue Whale. And yet, no matter how much Adam tried to talk himself into a state of rationality and logic, the fear was deep in the pit of his stomach.

Adam paused in front of the blue door to compose and settle himself. "Don't be a goddamn fool," he told himself. He unlocked the door and all was quiet. Adam took another deep breath and slowly let it out. He took the stairs and all was still and quiet. He knocked lightly on Sukie's door, heard her voice ask "Adam?" and then he unlocked it and let himself in.

"I've come to put more wood on the fire." He bent down and placed more wood on the already burning logs. He stood and watched the dry wood catch and then turned to Sukie. She was sitting up in bed, watching him closely.

"You're upset," was all she said.

"No, no, I'm not." Adam moved to the bed and sat beside her. He put out his arms and she fell into them. Adam stroked her soft hair, now unbound and falling about her shoulders. "Sukie, where did you come from? Did you come from the sea?"

She pulled away and he looked into her dark eyes—so liquid and luminous-otherworldly. "Yes."

His breathing became rough. "You can't have. It's impossible."

"I am of those that have lived for hundreds of years, those who live in the water and spend part of the time on land watching people, learning their ways but some are caught. You have caught me and therefore, I am yours, Adam."

Adam dropped his head with resignation. "Come with me, Sukie." He stood and reached out for her hand. She slipped it trustingly into his. Once they were in the other bedroom, Adam lit the lamp. The room was cold. He turned to look at her. "I love you, Sukie. I've known you only briefly but you have my heart—completely. And because I love you, I must…I want you to be happy."

"Happy is an odd word. There are different ways to be happy—various feeling of happiness. I am happy when the sun is shining on my skin. I am happy in your arms in the dark, of the warmth you show me, the pleasure you give me. I am happy when I see the ocean and feel the salt on my skin and the smell fills my lungs." She reached up and touched Adam's cheek and he moved his face to capture more of her caress as he pressed her hand against his face. Sukie smiled gently. "And I am happy when I see your face—it's so kind—unlike other men. They have cruel eyes but not you. You have eyes that shine with goodness. We will have many children with dark eyes and black hair—children who yearn for the sea as I do but who have learned to live on land as you have. We have a certain kinship, Adam, you and I, and I would rather be pressed to live as your wife than any other man's."

Adam walked over to the highboy and felt for the key. He brought it back and after unbuckling the two leather straps, he unlocked the sea chest and lifted the heavy lid.

"Oh!" Sukie gasped. She grabbed the skin and pulled it to her, then turned to Adam. "You have given me my life again." She smiled and laughed with delight. "Oh, thank you, Adam." She rushed from the room, almost dragging the heavy pelt.

Adam followed her down the stairs and she dropped the pelt at the back door as she struggled to open it.

"Wait," Adam said and he pulled out the key and unlocked it. He picked up the skin and Sukie looked at him with fear. "I'll carry it for you," he said opening the door, amazed again at its seductive softness.

Sukie practically flew across the yard and down the rocky decline to the shore. Adam followed her path and then stood a few feet from her as Sukie unbuttoned the nightgown and stepped out of it. A gust of wind tossed it across the sand and dropped it into the ocean. Then Sukie looked at Adam and put out her hands.

"Here, Sukie," Adam said, his voice breaking with emotion. None of this made sense to his logical mind but Adam knew only one thing—he was going to lose Sukie forever. Sukie took the pelt from him and began to step into it as he watched.

Sukie paused. She looked at the man who had been her human companion, her mate or as he called it, her lover, for such a short time. He was the man who was giving her back her freedom and then she looked out at the crashing waves. A pod of seals were in the water, watching…waiting. Tears welled in her eyes and fell down her cheeks, as salty as the sea. Then Sukie stepped out of the skin and looked to Adam, picked up the heavy pelt and held it out to him.

Adam was confused. Sukie stood before him under the stars, her beauty shining. "Sukie…I don't understand."

"Take it, Adam" He slowly reached out and took the heavy skin from her. "Hide it, Adam. Lock it away and keep it from me. Burn it if you like. I choose my life…I choose to stay with you."

"Oh, Sukie." Adam dropped the fur and pulled her into his arms. "Oh, my love," he murmured. They dropped onto the pelt where they joined in the presence of all the creatures on land and in the sea. And the seals that bobbed offshore waiting for Sukie's return to them, dove back into the water and left her forever.

~ Finis ~