brightened the horizon I staggered home to bed.
I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, and surprisingly, I slept soundly. At noon I woke to look out my window onto Abby’s beautiful sunny garden. It always reminded me of Ethan, and I wished he was in it. Last night seemed like a dream, but I knew that I’d seen Stella again, only this time she’d delivered a warning, and her confusing words replayed endlessly in my mind.
The redhead she mentioned must be Olivia, but I didn’t need to be warned to be wary of her. It struck me as odd that Stella would appear to me as her younger self, and I wondered if perhaps the warning she sent had been meant for my mother. Maybe it was some sort of wrinkle in time, like a recording of an exchange that had really occurred long ago.
My mind kept straying back to Stella. The second time around, the thought of seeing a ghost didn’t seem as weird, and I wondered what Ethan would think if I told him. When I told him, I reminded myself.
If I was going to stop him from working himself to death, then I had to change too. I knew that my secretive nature only made him more anxious. Maybe if I could learn to be more open, he could learn to deflect my influence, and gain the immunity to my muse powers that he clearly had to Evie’s.
I spent the rest of the day with Abby, painting the walls of the nursery a soft sky blue and standing on a chair to brush some fluffy white clouds across the ceiling. I finished off the room with a border of vines twining up and around the window.
“I can add some pink flowers later,” I smiled at her, “If it’s a girl…”
She laughed, rubbing her belly as she addressed it, “Hear that sweetie?” Dutch and Abby had decided to wait to find out the sex, repeating the old saying that they didn’t care what it was, as long as it was healthy. Abby sat down in her new rocking chair with a little groan and watched me paint.
“Is everything okay with you?” she asked, “Are you and Ethan getting along?”
“I’m fine,” I reassured her, “Ethan and I are going to spend the whole day together tomorrow.”
“That’s good,” she rocked slowly, “He could use a day off. He sure has been working harder than usual lately.”
I nodded in agreement, all of my worst fears confirmed.
Charlie the cat slept curled up alongside me that night, purring madly whenever I stirred as if to try and entice me to stay. I patted him absently, and though I was tempted by the siren call of the waves, I denied myself the satisfaction. Ethan was coming early, and he said I’d need my rest. I wondered what great new surfing break he’d show me, and I remembered our trip to Monterey with a shiver of anticipation.
I tried not to dwell on Stella, but eerie dreams plucked at my mind all night long, and I couldn’t help but wonder about the afterlife and what it might be like for her. It was funny, for Ethan thought her passing made me doubt my choice to remain mortal; on the contrary– I had a renewed faith that I was exactly where I was meant to be. Stella had shown me that common ordinary people could be every bit as mysterious and amazing as mermaids.
I was reminded of a line from another Shakespeare play, and I struggled to recall it. “There are more things in heaven and earth”, I remembered it going, “than are dreamt of in your philosophy”.
Evie certainly understood this, but I wondered what my father and Ethan would think of my ghostly sightings. I pet the cat again and rolled onto my side, snuggling deeper under the covers. I was going to do my best to make tomorrow a perfect day.
My fate was in my own hands.
CHAPTER TWENTY
RIDE
Sunlight streaming into my little room woke me up, and I rolled out of bed and hurried into the kitchen. Ethan was already there, talking with Abby and politely eating her tofu scramble. When he looked up to see me his face broke into my favorite smile, and only Abby’s presence kept me from hurling myself onto his lap.
“Good morning sunshine!” she chirped, “Let me get you a plate.”
“OK, but just a little,” I shrugged, smiling at Ethan. If he could take it, so could