LEGEND OF THE MER (39 page)

“You better believe it; you’re not gonna have too much privacy on that
Mer
Island
of yours.  I plan to take the three of us there and try some of those sweet bananas and coconuts that you and Titus are always bragging about
.
”
H
e
smile
d and kissed the top of her head.

Lana visited with her dad and Micah for a short while and then she could no longer contain herself and jumped in the water and swam to Titus.

Lana had such a wide grin on her face and she went and hugged Titus and kissed him deeply.

“Well hello to you too; what is the secret?”

“My dad, mom
and Jedediah are all
traveling
with us to the South Pacific!  He bought another schooner
and he named her the
Bonnie
R
ose
!
”

“Lana, that is wonderful news; I was dreading the journey without them.  I knew how hard it would be for you to leave once more.  Who will take care of the lighthouse while he is away?”

“His friend Marty; I guess it’s gonna be awhile before his insurance money comes in and dad says that this will give him an income so he won’t lose his lobster business in the meantime.  Dad’s going with us for the entire time and returning to
Safe
Harbor
in the spring
.  Thank you Titus;
for allowing me to give my dad the pearls that
used to belong to
my mother and gran
dmother
.  I know my m
om would’
ve wanted dad to have them
,” Lana said kissing Titus deeply once more.

“
You are welcome;
I like this, perhaps we will have a wonderful time after all, if you keep
up this excitement,” Titus chuckl
ed as he held her tightly and gave her a lingering kiss of his own.

~~~

After the guard
had sealed up the city of
Torbist
and the cavern once more, King Titan began to call all the mer to line up for their journey back to the South Pac
ific.

Cole with the
Bonnie
R
ose
, and Micah with the
Island Traveler
, waited further out.

Lana found it hard to decide how she would make the first part of the jou
rney.  In the end, she knew
she belonged with Titus and her children.  It was enough just to know that her father and his family were coming along.  She knew that there would be
plenty of occasions for them
to get together like they had with Micah.  It was going to be a real vacation after all.

As before, Titus and Makoa brought up the rear of the pod with half of the guard.  They each carried their spears as before.

Lana knew that none of them took the other mer for granted anymore.  They would always have to watch ou
t for King Thaddaeus and his mer
.

King Titan was certain that there would be more trouble from them one day.  For now, they all hoped that they had a bitter taste of war and would not wish to repeat it.

W
ith Lana’s father and Micah helping to keep watch above the ocean as well, Lana felt safer than ever.

~~~

After a few days of
traveling
, the mer stopped in the open waters and all gathered and visited with Cole and his family as well as Micah.

Little Rose loved playing with Talei and Jedediah.  Landon,
Laken
,
Victoria
and Kristina played with them also.

Uly
had fun teasing the little mermaid
s and they thought that he was so funny.

Tempest gave rides to all of the children.

Lana visited with her mother and father; Micah joined them on the schooner.

Titus took care of little Tarrock while he visited with Tristan and Makoa.

Sirene visited with Tarra as they two sat on the bench
along
the aft
of the yacht right next to the schooner.  “So Sirene, you do not have too long to wait and you and Tristan will have a little one of your own,” s
ai
d Tarra.

“Yes, we are so excited.  We know that we will have our baby mer with us the next time we travel back to the
Atlantic
.”

“I plan to have my next one after we return to Torbist,” Tarra said as she smiled brightly to Sirene.

“Princess Tarra, are you with child?”

“Yes, but I have not had a chance to tell Micah.  He has been so busy.  I want to wait until we reach the grotto.”

“That is wonderful and I am glad that he cannot read our thoughts,” Sirene
giggl
ed.

“Yes, there is some advantage to that,” Tarra
giggl
ed also.

Rose made a
nice lobster bisque with corn muffins and Lana was so glad to have her on the trip.  “Thanks Mom, I love your meals,” she said as she buttered her muffin.

“You’re welcome, I love cooking; only I never had a family to cook for before I married your dad.  He really decked out the galley for me
.
”
Rose smiled to him.

“You deserve the best babe
!
”
H
e kissed her.

“Anyone who can cook this well does deserve a Chef’s galley,” s
ai
d Micah.

“I don’t think I ever really thanked you Micah.  I know that Cole might not have been able to complete it all in time if it wasn’t for your help,” said Rose.

“You are welcome; it was fun and it gave me a fulfilling purpose.”

“You’ll have purpose enough just trying to help guard the mer; trust me, it isn’t easy,”
chuckl
ed Cole.

“We do try and keep a low profile
.
”
Makoa
smiled
as he swam up
to the schooner
.

“Yeah, well for nearly an entire summer, your head guardsman hung out at my dock every
day,” Cole
chuckl
ed once more.

“When you have a daughter that looks like that; who could blame me.  And by the way, it paid off
.
”
Titus smiled brightly as he came and
reached up, handing
little Tarrock to Lana while giving her a kiss.

“Yeah, yeah, but you put a lot of new grey hairs on my head doing it,” said Cole while shaking his head with a grin.

“I told you that you got older,”
said
Makoa
with a half grin
.

“Just wait till you have a daughter that comes of age
Prince
Makoa; then you’ll understand,” said Cole.

“That will be many winter
s from now; first I have to find a suitable mate
.
”
Makoa smiled to Lana
.

S
he tried to ignore his implications of her daughter Rose.

“Who would ever want a guy like you?” Titus teased as he jumped on top of Makoa taking him under the water and splashing everyone on the schooner.

Tristan could not stand to just watch and he dove down and wrestle
d with the two of them and then
all three came up laughing.

Micah could take it no longer and he too jumped in with the mermen.

Then Cole, feeling his old self coming back to life, jumped in too.

All of them began to play a game with a large conch shell much like humans play football.  Cole had played it with Titus and Makoa before and they taught it to Tristan and Micah.

It wasn’t long and many of the other mermen also joined in and all of the mermaids cheered on their mate or intended.

Rose and Lana cheered from the schooner and Sirene and Tarra cheered from the yacht where the mermen had moved it further out to make two equal boundaries.

“Do you think that your father will be alright?  They look like they’re playing a little rough
.
”
Smil
ed Rose.

“I think he’ll be fine; they all know to be careful with him and Micah, but at least they’re in the water
.
”
Lana
grinned
.

“Yes, I guess I can be thankful for that.”

~~~

Cole had been a good teacher; Micah learned how to sail his yacht while at
Safe
Harbor
.  Now the two of them enjoyed a little friendly competition as they raced their boats side by side.  Cole was able to follow the mer by reading their thoughts and kept them on course.  He loved being in the open sea again.

That next week, Rose had asked Titus to find her some crabs.  She had a stuffing recipe that she wanted to try.

Lana left little Tarrock with Princess Cassandra and she took her daughter along, of course Tempest was her taxi.
 
Makoa joined them as they all began to fill their net bags.