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My friends in the US and overseas…please give your opinion.

Chapter 37

Well, don't you two make a lovely couple

Ryn stands at the edge of the shore. Her jeans show moist spots on her legs. Dressed in a hurry after spending an entire day which stretched into the wee hours of the morning seeking her daughter. She still worried over the actual seclusion of this cove. The hidden beachfront had been discovered one night by a carload of teenagers. Xander's appearance and sermon concerning the law outlining the drinking age for alcoholic beverages scared them away.

The lawman made it clear this beach area will be patrolled every night. Thus, the offending teens would need a new place to break the law. And the knowledge of this hush-hush entrance for the undersea population connected to Bristol Cove would stay safe.

Her seclusion would be broken by a welcome sight.

Walking toward her is Ben and a little boy with an awkward toddler stride. Little Ted may soon lose the adjective before his name due to inherited growth spurts.

"Any news?" Ben asks.

"Oh," she can not speak. Her face awash in tears.

"Ryn, it'll be ok. She can take care of herself."
"Stop…no one has seen her. Cami and the whole tribe looked for her." She falls into his arms. "She's gone."
Only the calls of her child stall her distress.

"Mama," he kicks at the remnants of a wave as it recedes back to the sea. "Mama," he waddles toward her as she kneels on the sand with arms wide open.

"I'll inform Xander. Maybe Nicole or that new agent," he exhales. "Joe," he says. "Yeah, maybe they can find out something."

"Ben, I searched the usual place. She did not leave her clothes."

"Could it be she stayed on land." He asks.

"No!" Her answer is sharp. "One of the waterproof bags from the Navy is gone."
Picking up the boy, she turns to Ben.

"I know I talk about choices. That people must make their own choices…but." She needs to breath to continue. "But her and Maddie have been acting strangely." She shakes her head as Little Ted's fingers play with her wet hair.

"Don't worry about Maddie, we'll talk to her." He reaches for the baby. "Let me take him. You've been up all night." Little Ted rests on his father's chest.

"If we have lost them?" She pauses to explain something to her lover. "I've been texting and calling Maddie all night." Her eyes emit a new round of tears. "Ben…is it the way we are? Did we drive them away?"

"Ryn," He uses one hand to pull her to him. "We both love them. And they love us." They move from the approaching waves as the high tide increases.

"Hope just is having a hard time understanding our relationship." Her eyes blink as her face shows signs of dread.

"But what if she never understands? What if them leaving us means they can't deal with it?"
"Ryn, I'm sure Maddie is just out. She looked like she needed time alone." He is interrupted by his son's wiggling. "And Hope," he puts down the boy. She's been through enough and has grown in both her body and her mind." The family continue to retreat from the shore. Even the curious Little Ted recoils from the cold morning sea water.

"Ben, where do you think they can be?"

Ryn's question could be partially answered if she could view the parking lot of the Beach Front Inn.

The parking lot behind the Inn

Standing beside the SUV an attractive young woman continues to mutter to herself.

"What the hell am I doing here?" She scans the surroundings to check if anyone is in earshot. Running her hand through one side of an indescribable hairdo, "Damn! Look what he's done to me." She turns from the driver side mirror. "He's a bastard." The disgusted woman pulls the oversized sweatshirt back up to her shoulder. "Look what he's made me do." Maddie stares into a cluster of puffy, pure white clouds. "I look a mess," as she pushes the out of control locks of soft black curls away from her face.

After a sleepless night, she rose to shower. Standing with almost as much water streaming from her eyes as from the faucet, she fought the feeling she experienced in the Mercedes. No amount of vulgarity toward him could halt the surge in her loins as she remembered his touch, his breath over her face. Now in a short distance to seeing him again, those feelings emerged.

"I can't take it. I have to see him. He must explain."

A brisk walk brought her to the front desk. A request in a no-nonsense tone often used by a female on a mission caused the clerk to ring Joe's room almost immediately.

"I'll get it." His voice whispers to the nude and contented figure to his side.

"Hmm, if I was Tia," she chuckles. "I would kill that damn clerk for disturbing this moment."

"Yeah, hello." Joe's tone is calm. As the young man at the front desk explains the disturbance, his facial features tense.

"I'll be right down. That type of communication," he needs to think fast. "It has to be answered promptly.

As he hangs up the receiver, long fingers glide down his bare back.

"What is it, my darling?" Angel whispers.

"An envelope from the D.O.D arrived."
"My baby," she sits up and puts her arms around his waist. "If it was important, it would have been hand delivered?"
"You're right." He has to think of something. "You know, I have more going on than cloak and dagger super-secret mermaid stuff?"

"What could the Department of Defense want? If not that?" After her words, a slithering tongue wiggles about the back of his neck.

"Could be about my papers for retirement I know you got a little stash of money hid in Europe, but that pension will come in handy when we blow it all."

He goes to put his pants and a t-shirt on.

She throws him a kiss. "Don't take long, I have a little surprise for you when you return." Angel grits her teeth and hisses.

"Oh…I can't wait." Joe's right eyebrow shoots upward.

The dining room

Sitting at the round table overlooking the water, Maddie and Joe wait for the right moment to express their thoughts.

"Maddie, I don't know how much time I have," he needs to swallow in an effort to stifle a dry throat. "Your life, and I mean…your life." He stresses the last two words. "It is in danger if you stay here any longer."

"My sanity is at stake if I don't get an explanation about last night." Her head leans over the wooden tabletop toward Joe.

"Explain what? Last night was a mistake. You have to get out of here." He starts to rise from the chair.

"Sit the hell down!" Maddie's voice fills the small dining area. It still resonates as a mother and teenage daughter sit at a mahogany table a short distance for Maddie and Joe.

"Shh!" He puts his hand up in hopes to quiet her. And the growing rage.

"Shh, yourself," in a lower volume "She's a woman that knows how horrible a man can be and ," sneaking a peek at the daughter, "she is aware of men!" The irate woman's words are a bit above a whisper, but compelling. "She must watch intense teenage dramas on Hulu."

Maddie ends her tirade with a smirk. "She knows about men."

As Joe tries to explain, with nothing resembling the truth, the young teenager uses her phone to text a friend.

Wil call. Face. B quiet hf

As she holds the I-phone on her lap positioned to observe the little table near the window, Maddie can no longer take Joe's excuses.

"I refuse to believe you felt nothing. I refuse." Still spoken in a low level, her words rip through Joe's ears. "I never felt the way I did in the car." She inhales putting her hand to her forehead.

"You took all the sorrow, all the baggage I've been carrying around for this last month. You erased it." The once strong voice takes on a frail tone. "I refuse to believe you could do something like that to a woman and not feel the same thing." She sniffles, slender fingers wipe her eyes.

Across the dining room, mother and daughter look at each other as if the conversation near the window is of no interest.

"Your Aunt Bonnie will love this." Whispers the older woman, as she also sends a text with instructions concerning the face time call. As she situates the cell for the best possible angle. Both mother and daughter pay no attention to the figure walking along the wall and to the table overlooking the sea.

"Joe," she places her hand on his. "What are you so afraid of?" Before he can answer, "if you didn't care about me…any other guy playing games would have taken me right there. Right in the front seat."
"Maddie, don't."
"I was ready to climb over the console and rip those expensive pants off you." As a tear rushes down her cheek, "and I felt you. You wanted me." Her face moves closer to his. "What is the matter. What do you fear?" She takes a breath. "Joe, what do you mean…my life is in danger?"

Sitting back in the chair, Maddie's face takes on a frozen expression. Her eyes are wide as her lower jaw drops.

"Maddie, what is…" Joe halts his words as strong fingers dig into his shoulder.

He sits up in the chair. The stunned man's chest expands as fear of discovery tenses his upper body.

"Well, don't you two make a lovely couple." The voice brings his vision to the fair skinned fingers gripping his shoulder. He mirrors Maddie's expression as his eyes see the young blond teenager standing behind him.

For now, Hope's location is known.

Note to reader:

Hey! Tell what you think.

Please.

GJ