Carrying the unopened box in his arms, Ben walked into the foyer to find Lily sitting on one of the couches and looking through the theme park brochures that Melinda had given her just a few moments ago, trying to decide what one she wanted to go to, before seeing Ben walking over to her and she looked quizzically at the box in his arms.

'Oh, that's Mum's treasures in there,' Ben said, and went to sit down next to her, putting the box down on the ground carefully, as not to break anything inside and Lily smiled as she reached out towards it, wanting to open it and look inside.

'Oh, no, Lily, it's better if I open it,' Ben said, gently stopping her, 'they're very special and personal to me and I'm going to look at them later in my room, since Mum has left some things for me and what Dad had stored away to gather dust for thirteen years in the attic.'

Although she was slightly disappointed, Lily nodded and understood. She knew better not to go through people's private things unlike Daffodil, who had a rather bad habit of snooping and 'borrowing' things without permission, mainly Marigold's stuff which irritated her since she was very protective of her property and had a temper like a killer whale whenever anyone, mostly Daffodil, took anything of hers without asking.

Lily wouldn't dream of doing that and what she had collected in the grotto had been left on the surface, dropped into the ocean or lying in ancient shipwrecks, so it hadn't been stealing and she understood that Ben had wanted to look at his mother's things in private.

'That's alright, Lily and I'll deal with that later, but for now, let's decide what theme park you want to go to tomorrow,' Ben said, as he laid out the brochures on the couch for Lily to look at.

He had wanted to bring his laptop down from his room but he couldn't be bothered and he didn't really need it as Lily was quite content to look at the brochures, which were fairly recent and she was engrossed in looking at all the various parks and their rides, roller coasters, attractions and animal sanctuaries which contained many strange land animals that she had never seen before and sea creatures at a place called 'Sea World.'

That made Lily flinch when she saw the animals being held in huge tanks, thinking that they were held captive while humans gawked at them for their entertainment and she had a terrible thought of Aurora and all the sea creatures that inhabited Aquaria being in those tanks.

'Not keen on Sea World, are you?' Ben said, when he noticed Lily's expression, 'fair enough, I'm not so keen on it myself, standing around all day to see a few dolphins do tricks and peering into tanks of aquatic life, which is hardly exciting but they do have good rides like the Corkscrew and Pirate Ship..'

Lily shook her head again and a thought entered Ben's mind as he remembered seeing Lily's aversion to seafood at the barbecue and going to Sea World, having seen sea creatures in tanks, although he knew that they were well looked after but Lily seemed keen to avoid it.

Could she… Ben thought, then shook it out of his mind as he then said,

'Okay, fine, we won't go to Sea World, then, but there are many to choose from, like Movie World, which is, as the title suggests, is a movie related theme park and is very popular.' as he picked up another brochure with huge cartoon characters and humans in costumes smiling and waving outside the entrance,

'Lots of movies have been filmed there, like the first Scooby-Doo movie, Peter Pan, the 2003 version and House of Wax, which in my opinion, is the stupidest movie I have seen and that wasn't just because Paris Hilton was in it and she is hardly what anyone would call a good actress.' Ben said and Lily smiled and snickered slightly, in spite of not knowing what Ben was talking about but she looked interestedly at the brochure and at the cartoon characters.

However, her attention soon turned to the Dreamworld brochure, the theme park that Ben and Melinda had constantly talked about and one of his favourites, which was something that Lily could see and it was every bit the exciting and wonderful place that Ben had described.

It was like the Neptune Carnival, only much better and more exciting and it didn't have any sea creatures, only the strange land animals which were different to Ruby, the only land animal she had seen and interacted with so far and it all looked so enticing to her.

Lily held up the Dreamworld brochure and pointed at it eagerly to Ben, who chuckled at her response. Obviously, hearing him talk about it had convinced her to go and that was certainly the case, seeing the girl's eagerness in her face.

'Oh, you want to go to Dreamworld then?' Ben said and got an enthusiastic nod in response, 'I guess all the hype you heard from us won you over, didn't it?' and Lily nodded again.

'Alright, Dreamworld it is then,' Ben said, smiling, then saw Lily pick up the Movie World brochure, also keen to go there as well.

'And we can also go to Movie World the next day, maybe. I know I said that I also liked Wet n' Wild but fun as it is, is just water slides and pools and my actual favourites are Dreamworld and Movie World. You'll like them, Lily, they're really fun and I promise that we won't go on any scary rides if you don't want to.

And you can see many animals in the wildlife sanctuary and experience Aboriginal culture and get to meet and greet cartoon characters and have your picture taken with them!' Ben said and Lily nodded, already excited about visiting the theme parks and she couldn't wait until tomorrow.

'That's great, we'll leave after we take Ruby for her morning walk, which she'll want you to come since she really enjoyed you walking her today and some breakfast. Dreamworld is a fair drive away since it's in Coomera but I don't mind driving down the highway, I can show you some more things.' Ben said.

Lily nodded while getting up from the couch and walking up the staircase to her room, but before she did so, she quickly walked over to Ben and hugged him as her way of saying thank you for everything he had done for her.

'Aw, you're welcome, Lily and thank you for being such a great friend,' Ben said, hugging her back while yet again trying to deny his growing feelings for her which were going from strength to strength, as was their relationship, the two of them now closer than ever before Lily went up the staircase again and waved goodnight to him.

'Night, Lily, see you in the am,' said Ben and watched her as she went upstairs, excited about going to his favourite theme park tomorrow with Lily, then remembered that his mother's box was still sitting beside the couch and his mood changed as he picked it up and looked at the large portrait that dominated the middle of the foyer before going up the staircase.

Lily smiled to herself as she repeated the routine she did last night in her room, changed into her new pyjamas, which were pink with vintage flowers on them and flopped down on her bed, taking off her bracelet and putting it on her bedside table, with Senna still sleeping soundly on her pillow, not having stirred since Lily had left her there when she went down for dinner, so she was spared another of Senna's lectures tonight.

That wasn't to say that the crab wouldn't be on her case tomorrow morning but it was nice for Lily to go to sleep without Senna constantly reminding her about her missed chances to kiss Ben and that her time was running out, now that she had only two days left.

But there was always tomorrow as Lily drifted off to sleep, anticipating another fun day with Ben and exploring the theme park that he and humans loved so much.

Elsewhere, Ben closed the door of his room and sat cross-legged on his bed, staring at the musty old box and he sighed as he started to peel off the yellowing sellotape and slowly opened the flaps.

It felt like he was peeling a Band-Aid off or having a cast taken off when he broke his arm playing rugby at school. He knew that it was going to hurt and that old wounds which he thought had healed over time would be reopened.

But having opened up the areas of himself that had been closed off for years by telling Lily about his life and his mother, it was the only way that he could heal inside even if his father hadn't and with trembling fingers, he opened up the box and after being greeted by a musty smell, he saw the many items that were familiar to him.

There were old copies of Cosmo, Marie Claire, Vogue and Elle which had his mother on the front cover and she was every inch the beautiful and down-to-earth model that everyone in Australia and the world had adored, as well as the women's magazines and newspaper articles that featured his parents, all the Disney and mermaid movies that he and his mother had watched every day, Lara's clothes and her wedding dress which the public had gushed over when they saw it in the magazines and many women replicated for their own weddings, now faded, crumpled and yellowed with age.

There were also her china mermaid statues, some Ariel dolls, including the one in her designer dress and the plush mermaid doll he had held in the portrait in the foyer, her jewellery box decorated with seashells which contained her precious jewellery and a smaller box that had his parents' photographs inside, the ones that hadn't been in the magazines, as they were personal ones.

Ben smiled as he looked at his parents, with their laughable eighties and nineties fashion choices and how happy and in love they were as he saw Lara smiling and flashing her engagement ring with Phil standing next to her, grinning like a Cheshire cat, having just proposed to her in front of his teammates and a delirious crowd, their wedding, them standing outside their first house in Brisbane with a pregnant Lara smiling and rubbing her bump lovingly.

The next photos were of a new born Ben in his mother's arms at the hospital, with Lara looking exhausted but extremely happy to have a child in her life while Phil looked adoringly at his new son, seeing a future Broncos player in him, that made Ben chuckle and smile at his baby self that all of Australia cooed over when he made his first appearance on the cover of The Australian Woman's Weekly; him on the beach making sandcastles and swimming in the sea, riding on Phil's shoulders, snuggling up to his mother, various family outings to Dreamworld, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sunshine Coast and Noosa, his first day at school and…

Ben's eyes filled with tears as he found the last photos of his mother which were taken in the few weeks before she died, looking terribly frail with no hair as she fought as hard as she could against the cancer and was a shadow of her former self, with her holding him tight as she lay in the hospice, treasuring their last moments together and it was the last time that he would see her again.

Digging deeper into the box, still blinking back tears, Ben found two blue envelopes at the very bottom which had To Ben, on your 18th birthday and Ben written in his mother's achingly familiar and beautiful handwriting. Ben paused, then reached for one of the envelopes, opened it and unfolded the letter which was the birthday one and saw the date, 24th January 1997, the familiar seashell border and letterhead on top,

From the heart of Lara Burgess-Steele.

My dear little boy, Benjamin, the letter read,

Happy birthday! I'm writing this letter for you in the hospital, not too long after meeting you for the first time and I can say that I have truly been blessed by such a gorgeous little angel with your feathery blonde hair and blue eyes like mine. Holding you in my arms was a truly wonderful feeling and I don't think that I'll EVER want to put you down in your cot!

Your father is over the moon to have a son and he reckons that we have a future Broncos player in you, although I'm not too sure about that but whatever you decide to do, we'll support you.

You might think that it is strange for me to be writing a letter to you for the future, but seeing you sleeping so peacefully in your cot next to me, I had this sudden urge to write my thoughts on paper and I can look over your shoulder when you read this in eighteen years' time so that I can chuckle at my young foolishness as you read about yourself.

As much as you resemble your father, with the same heartwarming smile and your cute little pout when you're not happy like he is when the Broncos lose or when he is having a bad day (but I know that you can cheer him up, you won't care what happened to him, you just want him to play with you!) I hope that you still have your blonde hair when you're eighteen, as to have some resemblance to me; although Dad thinks it's ridiculous that we should expect a baby to look like anyone and that you just look like yourself.

However, I reckon once you get older, my model genes will shine through and you'll have plenty of girls fawning over you!

If I ever remember this letter, I'll drag it out in front of you and we'll see how similar you and your father look then.

I'm getting tired now, my little angel, so here are some last scribblings and random thoughts from a very-worn out mother. May you always be kind and loved. May we always be together forever. May I see you grow into a handsome young man who will make us proud.

May you always have blonde hair!

Love for always, from now until your 18th birthday,

Your Mother.

Ben chuckled as he folded the letter carefully and put it back in the envelope, which he placed on his bedside table near the photo of his mother. While he read it, he had actually imagined that she was behind him, looking over his shoulder and chuckling about what she had written, like she had said.

His mood changed suddenly when he pulled the other envelope from the box, the one that he both wanted and dreaded and contained the letter on the same stationery that had been hidden from him and when he opened it, the date, 14th October 2002, a mere four days before his mother died, was the first thing he saw and immediately his eyes filled with tears, even though he hadn't started reading yet.

'No, pull yourself together,' Ben said to himself, 'Mum left you this letter for a good reason and I'm going to read it, no matter how painful it will be.'

He took a deep breath and blinked back tears while hearing his mother's sweet, loving voice in his head as he read it,

My darling Ben,

By the time you get this letter, I will be with all the angels in heaven, watching down on you, with the imprint that you have left on my heart and will always cherish. I had wanted to get to know you more, my love, but sadly that wasn't to be and although our time together was heartbreakingly brief, I have treasured every moment of being your mother and all the times we have spent pretending to be mermaids, looking for their treasures, building sandcastles on the beach, telling you wonderful stories about mermaids and being in our own little world.

The only regrets that I will have are not being able to see you grow up, start high school, cheering you on from the footy field (that is, if you still want to follow in your father's footsteps), teach you how to drive, see you graduate from school, start uni, see you get married and have children, all those precious milestones that I will never get to see.

Remember when you asked me if you will ever see a mermaid in your lifetime, when we talked about them and believed that they existed? Well, one day, you will indeed find a mermaid and she will bring you good luck and happiness and that the right girl for you will be waiting somewhere. That way, it will keep my memory alive and you will always think of me whenever you see a mermaid.

I also want you and your father to be there for each other. Although he has been away a lot, he loves you very much and he'll need to be a tower of strength and to be there when you need him the most, even though I won't be.

Although I will never see you grow up, I know that you will make me proud in whatever you decide to do, whether you are a mini-version of your father or just your own person, which I know you are and if you do indeed find someone special, I hope that she will be the one that makes you happy and that it is true love, as that is what I want from you, to find someone for love, just like I did with your father.

Finally, whenever you're feeling sad, lonely or frightened, look up to the sky and I'll be looking down on you. Remember that I will always be with you, even if not physically and don't ever feel that you are alone because you aren't and never will be.

Remember all the good times we had together and you will find your mermaid and true love one day and may all your dreams come true.

Lots and lots and lots and lots of love forever,

Mummy.

The last sentences were soon blurred as Ben's tears dripped down on the page. He hadn't been sure when he started crying, but once he had started reading his mother's last letter, he couldn't stop and he was glad that he was the only one in his room so that no one could see him cry the tears that he hadn't shed since his mother died and had held back during the day when he had remembered his mother and told Lily about her.

'Oh, Mum,' he managed to choke, as he picked up the photo of her from his bedside table and hugged it, 'I miss you so much, I had always believed that you would always be there for me and I really need you now. I'm just…so confused right now.

I just read your letters to me and you had told me that I should find the right girl for me and that I would see the mermaid that would bring me the good luck and happiness that you said.

Two days ago, I nearly drowned on my birthday when our yacht that Dad named after you broke up on the ocean in a terrible storm and I was rescued by a mysterious yet beautiful girl who had the most beautiful voice as she sang to me.

She disappeared after I regained consciousness and I just couldn't get her or her voice out of my head. I looked all over for her and Dad and my friends thought that I was crazy since she was nothing more than an illusion but I know she's real but I just can't find her.'

Ben swallowed and blinked back tears as he thought of Lily,

'I may not have found her but I did find someone else… I found this girl on the beach, dressed in a curtain. She appeared literally out of nowhere without saying a word, the only survivor of a shipwreck and she is beautiful, I have to admit, just like my mysterious girl.

But she's so..unusual! Like last night, she came to the post-birthday barbecue we had and she was fascinated by Mia's charm bracelet like she had never seen one before, started brushing her hair with a fork and blew into Dad's pipe like she was mistaking it for a trumpet!

It's like she has absolutely no knowledge of how our world works and the human way of life! But everyone in town and at Pacific Fair mistook us for a couple when I took her out into and bought her some clothes and I do have these growing feelings for her but the weirdest thing of all…there is something familiar about her but I just don't know what!' Ben said, flopping down on his bed, while still holding the photo close to him.

He then composed himself and went over to his wide window, which gave him a perfect view of the beach and a beautiful starry sky, with one particular star shining brighter than the others. It was as if his mother had heard him and was indeed looking down at him like she had said in the letter and telling him,

Follow your heart, Ben and remember what I said. Look at how much happier you are with her and all the good luck you're having since she came, in fact if I didn't know any better, I say that you have found your mermaid.

'You're right, Mum,' Ben said, smiling, 'well, maybe not about the mermaid but you're right about Lily. I am much happier with her, as the guys had noticed when they met her and after my near-drowning, my luck has changed for the better.

I'm taking her to Dreamworld tomorrow and you should've have seen her when we went into town today! Everything she saw excited and fascinated her, even the little things like a bench or rubbish bin! What we take for granted, she took joy in! Who knows how she'll react when she goes to a theme park for the first time tomorrow!

Speaking of which, I better get some sleep as I'm driving all the way to Coomera tomorrow but thank you for your letters, Mum and for making me feel better. Love you lots!' Ben said, blowing a kiss towards the sky.

He then went back to his bed, putting the box on the floor and the photo and letters on the bedside table, kissing the photo before turning out the light and fell asleep, feeling good again and excited about taking Lily to Dreamworld.