Chapter 5

The suspense was killing her. Her long slender body reached over the washbasin as Blue tried painstakingly to eavesdrop through the open kitchen window. What on earth could her father be arguing about?

“Blue!” The impact of her mother’s scolding sent litres of blood dashing to her head and her heart rate soared. Slithering down the kitchen counter, her back now facing the window, Blue showered her mother with one of her famous and adorable declaration of innocent-but not really- smiles.

“What? The window was dirty, so I thought I’d clean it, especially since I’m so much taller than you, my dear mother!” she beamed, sucking in her upper lip as mischief fleeted across her face.

Audrey shook her head and sighed as she glared at Blue. Her daughter’s long streaks of amber hair contoured her mischievous face. This child would be the death of her, she thought. She tried hard to keep a straight face and resist the adorable look Blue was giving her, but it was so hard.

Blue lured her into the web. “Come on, aren’t you as curious as I am.” It had been the first time she had ever met her uncle and the shocked look on his face when they met had been disconcerting. And then her uncle had given her father the angriest look she had ever seen on a person. After that, her uncle stormed out of their house. That had been almost twenty minutes ago when they remained engrossed in a heated argument in the garden.

Curiosity soon got the better of Audrey, and she finally joined Blue. For a while, they both stared out of the window watching the two brothers argue.

“Darn it! If only we could hear what they are saying,” Blue complained as she strained her ears even further.

“Grant, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Larry drew in a deep, calming breath as he tried to fathom out why his brother was accusing him of cheating on his wife.

“Don’t play games with me, Larry!” Grant’s anger was so intense that he began to tremble uncontrollably. “To think, all this time I’ve lived in agony, wondering what could have happened to her. All this time. And for what? Just to discover that she had given me up for you.” The words twisted his heart into a dozen tiny knots as he gulped down gallons of salty air while clenching his fists in rage.

Confused, but patiently, Larry stood and waited for Grant to tell him why he was so upset. The last thing he expected, though, was the blow that landed neatly on his jaw, which sent him sprawling to the ground.

“What the...” Blue jumped off the kitchen counter in a flash and flung the door open before storming outside. With a feisty temper as red as her hair, she made a beeline toward Grant.

“How dare you! I don’t care who you are – you will never lift a hand to my father again, you hear me!” she yelled and Audrey came rushing out and tried to drag a raging Blue back inside.

Larry picked himself up from the ground, wiped off some dirt from his Bermuda shorts and faced his brother again. “Now what did you go and do that for?”

But Grant’s attention was fully focused on Blue. Seeing his brother’s daughter again just added further fuel to his already scorching anger. His burning glare of contempt at the sight of her did not go unnoticed by Blue.

Once inside, Blue hissed, “what is his problem?” Her voice was high-pitched with irritation.

“I don’t know, Blue,” Audrey responded despondently. “But it’s business between your father and your uncle. So, let it be.” Even as she spoke to try and calm her daughter’s fiery temper, she felt a little anxious herself.

“I think you’re wrong, mom. Did you notice how he glared at me? I don’t know what I did to him, but it sure seems clear that his problem lies with me too,” Blue argued. “And I’m telling you now if he hits dad one more time, I swear, mom, I’m going to give him a whack he will never forget, and you won’t be able to stop me this time” she threatened.

“Come, let’s just go sit down, sweetie, and have a cup of herbal tea,” Audrey insisted nervously but Blue refused to step away from the front door even though the two men took their conversation a little further away from the house.

“Look, Grant. How much do you know about Blue’s mother?” Larry asked Grant as realisation dawned on him.

“Apparently not as much as you.” His sarcasm was rife with fury.

“Come with me. I need to show you something.” Larry walked ahead without looking back to see whether Grant was following him or not, but he heard his brother’s heavy footsteps.

Halfway up the hill, Grant noticed a tiny white gravestone protruding from the ground. A large solitary oak tree hung over the grave as if in a protective stance.

As Grant neared the grave, he swallowed hard. Could it be? Did the love of his life lay buried there? He wanted to turn back, but his legs seemed to have a will of their own and continued to climb up the hill. Tears started to gather in his emerald green eyes, and slowly the transfer of anger into sadness settled in. When he reached the gravestone, he collapsed beside the tiny grave, which only had the name VENUS engraved on it. The tears then just poured out, tears that he had trapped behind the doors of pain and sorrow for many years.

“Venus...” Grant choked. There were so many things he wanted to say to her. So many questions he desperately needed answers to.

Larry quietly knelt beside his brother, placed his hand on his shoulder and waited in silence as his brother grieved. If only he had known, he would have reached out to his brother years ago. He cleared his throat to tell Grant the truth. “Audrey and I found Venus lying on the beach giving birth to Blue.” He waited for the information to sink in before continuing. “Before she died, she made us promise never to let anyone know of her child’s true identity. And she also made us promise not to allow Blue into the sea.”

The memories came flooding back and Larry suddenly recalled how Venus had mentioned his brother’s name just before she had died. Cold shivers ran up his spine and only then did the realisation hit him. Of course. He should have known. Blue’s emerald green eyes were exactly like Grant’s and so too was that blazing red hair. “Oh, my word!”

Larry’s outburst sucked Grant back into the present. He turned and cast Larry a quizzical look.

Larry just stared at Grant, his mouth hanging open, while he shook his head in disbelief.

“What is it?” Grant asked, irritation clinging to his voice.

Larry blurted, “Blue’s your child!”

“What?”

“It’s all so clear to me now. Blue has your same red hair and your green eyes. And there’s also the fact that Venus called out your name before she died. Unbelievable! I just thought I had heard wrong. I mean, it’s not like she comes from the land, so knowing you were not even a consideration of mine. And besides, you left the island eight months before Blue came into our lives.”

“Blue is my child, not yours?” The mere thought of having a child with the only woman he had ever loved was so overwhelming that he did not bother to correct his brother’s mispronouncing of the word 'land' instead of 'island'. “So, Blue’s not yours?” he repeated, just to make sure.

“That’s what I have been trying to tell you since you arrived,” Larry answered. “I never cheated on anyone.”

“But I don’t understand. Why would Venus disappear if she knew she was pregnant with my child? We loved each other, so it doesn’t make any sense.” Grant swallowed painfully as the knob in his throat swelled even more. They had been so young and very much in love, why would she leave him, especially under those circumstances? And why would she have hidden it from him?

“You’re asking the wrong person! I know nothing about her. I have Blue, an unusual blue-coloured gemstone amulet, and memories I’d rather forget.”

“Amulet? You have Venus’s cyan amulet?”

“Yes, she said Blue was to have it,” Larry replied. The topic of what Venus was and not who she was, was one that Larry was anxious to discuss, but he wasn’t sure how to broach the subject. What if his brother had no idea that Venus was a mermaid? He decided to tread lightly. “You know, she made me swear not to allow Blue to ever swim in the sea.”

“Why not? Venus loved the sea.” Grant remembered back to when they had just met. Quite innocently, on one of his regular jogs along the beach, when he still worked on the island together with Larry and Audrey, he stumbled upon a stark naked and extraordinarily beautiful woman strolling along the beach. She had been collecting seashells. With a smile, he recalled how she had been more frightened than ashamed of his scrutinizing looks. But it wasn’t long before he had won her trust, and they had become friends and then passionate lovers.

“You know, still today I don’t know where she lives, I mean lived,” he sighed despondently. “She refused to tell me anything about herself, despite my insistence. I mean, I was madly in love with her. Who can blame me for wanting to know everything about her, right?” After her disappearance, Grant had blamed himself. He thought that his constant questions and nagging had driven her away. “If only I hadn’t left! Maybe she’d still be alive. Oh, Larry, I should have been here for her. For her and for Blue.” He sobbed unashamedly once more.

“How could you have known?” Larry stated, his own heart aching at seeing his brother’s anguish. “If only I had known that Blue was your daughter...”

Larry was confident now that Grant was unaware of the unbelievable fact that Venus had been a mermaid. The question was, should he inform Grant of this fact or should this secret be buried with Venus?

Larry eventually decided he would keep it a secret for now. Things were complicated enough, and Grant had a lot to process right now. Larry just couldn’t believe that he had finally discovered who Blue’s real father was. And to think – it was staring at him in the face all these years. How could he have missed it?

“What happens now?” Larry asked as the two men prodded down the hill.

“I have no idea! It would be selfish if we dropped the truth on Blue, wouldn’t it? I mean, it would devastate her, don’t you think?” Grant asked doubtfully.

Larry frowned. Audrey, too, would be devastated if Grant took Blue away from her. “Maybe we could just leave things as they are,” he asked hopefully.

Grant nodded. “Perhaps. You know, all these years I have stayed away from the island because of the painful memories of Venus leaving me without even a goodbye. Had my heart and pride not been so weak, I’d have discovered the truth years ago, I would have been here for both of them.” But where had she disappeared to? There were just so many questions and Venus had always been so secretive. He crunched his teeth together in frustration. And now finding out he had a daughter; it was all so difficult to wrap his head around. He still couldn’t believe that Blue, that beautiful, fiery-spirited young woman was his own daughter.

“I didn’t want to tell anyone,” Larry began. “Things were less complicated by just pretending that Blue was ours.”

“I understand.”

Both Blue and Audrey were surprised to see the men traipsing down the hill, free of their demons. But Blue still eyed Grant suspiciously.

As they approached the house, Grant regarded Blue thoughtfully as she and Audrey sat outside on the patio watching them return.

“Just in time for some cold refreshments,” Audrey invited.

The competition between their heated fight and the sun’s heated rays had clearly taken its toll on them, for they gladly accepted her offer and each downed two glasses of lemonade.

Grabbing a chair, Grant gathered his strength to speak to his daughter. Daughter? Unbelievable!” he whispered in disbelief.

“Excuse me?” Blue was still not ready to trust this stranger, uncle or not. If he hit her father again, she would definitely pounce on him this time. Her choice of words made her smile. Feline! she whispered to herself.

“I just remarked how lucky my brother was to have such an amazing daughter,” he quickly replied. It pained him to think how much precious time had been lost between them. All this time she could have been in his life. Should have been in his life. Should he rather tell her? But that would be so unfair to her and to Larry and Audrey.

Blue glanced at him and then turned her gaze to Larry before regarding him again, but this time she forced a stiff smile.

Grant noticed she had a distinctive snobbish look about her that almost made him smile, but he choked back the smile seeing that she was challenging him with a provocative stare. Her emerald green eyes were fiercely protective over Larry. Another tug of regret pulled at him. That love she had for Larry could have been him if he hadn’t left the island. He again cursed himself for his hasty decision to leave.

“Larry tells me you want to be a Marine Biologist,” Grant changed the subject. “Following in their footsteps I see.” Grant opened the line of conversation, hoping she would forget about the fight he had had with Larry.

“Yep, the sea has intrigued me since I can remember,” Blue honestly replied but she wasn’t going to dismiss what had happened between her father and her uncle, not without obtaining some answers first. Her curiosity was growing like a tidal wave. The marrow in her bones told her there was something amiss and she was determined to find out what it was.

“Aud! Can you please come and help me?” Larry stood up and beckoned his wife to follow him into the house.

Audrey gave Larry a quizzical look before complying, unsure whether leaving Grant and Blue alone was such a good idea. Blue lacked any form of subtlety, and her boldness was usually heightened when she was angry.

Larry felt he had to tell Audrey the truth; that Grant was Blue’s real father. He knew this would upset her, but he was left with little choice. He had never kept secrets from his wife, and he wasn’t going to start now.

Blue was relieved when her parents went inside. Now she was free to interrogate her uncle without constraints. “So, what exactly do you do?” Blue pressed, ready to grasp at every piece of information just to get to the bottom of what was happening. She had never met her uncle before, only heard of him, and now all of a sudden, after so many years, he comes to visit, without warning, and then gets into a fistfight with her father. This was a mystery she had to solve.

Grant cleared his throat. “I left the island and opened a wildlife sanctuary in Cape Town,” Grant replied, careful not to let any information slip out that shouldn’t, but at the same time was eager to keep the conversation going so he could get to know her better.

“Oh yes, I remember dad telling me that you were a vet or something,” Blue recalled. “But really, why would anyone leave our little island paradise?”

Grant laughed nervously.

Bull’s eye. Ooh yeah! There was definitely something juicy about to come out. Blue smiled slyly. Keep digging!

By her sheer look of determination, Grant knew she wasn’t giving up, so instead, he gave her a straight face. “Sometimes, Blue, you will find that memories can create unsurmountable walls in your life and when you finally have the courage to break them down, you discover what wonders have been waiting for you.”

What did that mean? That was far from good enough. “Any memories in specific and what wonders?” she asked highly annoyed by his cryptic reply.

“Are you always so inquisitive?” Grant asked with a mischievous grin.

“Yep!” Blue wasn’t going to quit, but she thought she might slacken the ropes a little.

A short awkward silence ensued. Let him stew. After a few seconds, she asked, “what brought you back here?” So much for trying to slacken the ropes, she scoffed at herself.

“You just won’t rest until I give you some answers, will you?” Grant said, with a half-grin.

“Nope,” Blue reciprocated his half-grin with one of her own.

“Turning forty-five had everything to do with it. When one grows older, being alone tends to make life seem pretty empty and you then realise just how important family is. So I decided to make a change. Of course, your dad and I have always been close and if it hadn’t been for – well for certain events that happened a long time ago, I would probably still be living here on the island. I used to treat all injured animals on the island, from dolphins to ducks, to even the horses we kept here,” he informed her.

Gold strike! Blue smiled smugly, knowing that she was getting closer to the truth. “What kind of events?”

Just then Audrey walked down the garden steps leading into the garden carrying another tray of refreshments.

Blue immediately noticed the tremble in her mother’s hands and as she looked up, she noticed the distraught look on her face too and suddenly she was suspicious all over again.

“Mom, are you all right?” She jumped up. It didn’t take a genius to link the arrival of their guest to her mother’s distress too. If only someone would tell her what was going on. Why were they leaving her out of family matters? Wasn’t she also a part of this family?

“Nothing, my darling,” Audrey lied and tried to force a smile.

“Yeah right! And my name is Sherlock Holmes.” Annoyed, Blue stormed away and headed towards the beach.

“Remember, not too close...” Audrey began and Blue finished her sentence for her.

“Yeah, I know… not too close to the water,” Blue shouted with irritation. This was the hardest thing in her life. She desperately wanted to be a Marine Biologist, like her parents, but not being able to touch seawater would make it near impossible. It was just so unfair, especially since she could feel she had a connection with the sea just as the tides shared a connection with the moon. So ironic, she thought bitterly to herself; such a vital part of each other, yet so far apart.

After a deliberated sigh she kicked off her sandals and allowed her feet to draw in the warmth of the heated sand. Daringly she placed her foot on the wet sand where just moments before a wave had washed ashore. A tingling sensation ran up her leg and she hastily pulled her foot away.

“Why do I have to have this stupid allergy?” she cried out loud facing the vast blue sea as if expecting an answer to come to her. This was not the first time she asked the question and she knew it wouldn’t be the last. How many times hadn’t she been tempted by the thought of running into the sea, despite the consequences? Too many. Sometimes the call of the sea was so powerful that she often found herself in a trance as she approached the water. But she would always pull herself out of her trance just in time and run like the wind away from the sea, into the safety of her home.

Something was missing from her life and not long ago when she mentioned that maybe she needed to meet a man to make her life feel more complete, her mother almost choked and then blurted that she was not old enough to even think of such things. She had already finished her schooling and was about to start her studies as a Marine Biologist so, why wasn’t she old enough? A grin flitted on her lips as she wondered what her mother’s reaction would be if she did decide one day, to visit Long Harbour to meet someone and then bring him home to meet them. Her mother was just being overprotective or maybe she feared losing her. But didn’t her mother know by now that she would never lose her because she loved the island dearly? She had no intention of leaving the island or the sanctuary. It was her life.

Another sigh escaped her lips as she now sat cross-legged on the warm sand, watching a yacht anchored close to the island’s shore. It had been there for approximately two weeks now and this started to bother her. It was too close to the island for her liking. Her parents had assured her that its presence was nothing to be concerned about, but she wasn’t so sure. Yachts came and went, but not this one. It just sat there, like an ugly blotch on a peaceful canvas of blue sea and sky. Besides, never before had a yacht been anchored this close to their island.

“What you are up to?” she asked out loud and the wind carried her voice over the waves. Perhaps she should visit Long Harbour while on a supply run and make some enquiries. The yacht club should have answers. They would most likely know who the yacht belongs to and the reasons for it being anchored so near to the island and for so long.

Living on the island was great but it had its disadvantages, like taking an hour to reach the Long Harbour. But she had to admit, she loved their monthly supply runs from the island to the mainland. But if she went this time, she would have to at least spend an entire day there to make the necessary enquiries as well as to do some Christmas shopping. It was still a few months to go before Christmas, but it would be a good excuse since her parents would probably not be enthusiastic about the reason behind her wanting to go. She’d keep that to herself for now until she had concrete evidence that something was amiss.

Copyright © 2022 Ursula Graetz

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