“Are you scared? Were you scared I wouldn’t swim good like today ago?”
“I wasn’t afraid like I was yesterday.” I let out a long, silent breath, and when I talk again, I keep my voice cheerful. This is a new life. A new place. I’ve already met an adult to talk to who is also great with my son. I have a bigger, better space for him, in a way more beautiful place. “I am afraid, little man. Afraid that I need a second cup of coffee. Watching you swim made me tired. Are you tired?”
“No!”
Of course not.
Chapter Six: Mercer
Madelyn.
Madelyn is beautiful.
Madelyn is a wonderful mother.
Madelyn does so much—alone. With no help!
Thoughts of her rattle around my brain during my entire, uneventful shift. I tune out Samantha’s chatter about the new guy she met online, stuffing away my dismay and confusion at how quickly humans switch from partner to partner.
I just keep thinking about how it must be for Madelyn, caring for a clever, curious chatter-ball of energy like Zack, what it must take to keep him fed, entertained, bathed, safe, educated... How hard it must be to be the only parent, the only breadwinner, to have to be a full-time mom and work at such tedious tasks to keep the bills paid.
Something in my heart rebels at the fact that Zack has to know little phrases like “pay the bills.”
He should only know simple childhood joys. He should have an otter. No, a puppy,” I mutter to myself.
But Madelyn would have to walk, feed, and pay for the care of a dog. Alone.
Where is the boy’s father? Where is a mate for that beautiful, loving woman?
It’s all I can do to stop myself from yelling, “Here!”
When Madelyn shook my hand today, I could see us together. With Zack. Hand-in-hand as he walks across the stage at graduation. I’ve never been to one, but I could see everything so clearly.
I know that’s a kraken thing. It’s the same as when she kissed me, and I saw so many flashes of a future with her.
She’s mine... But she’s so strong. She’s alone. She didn’t lose her mate and jump from one to another like Samantha did.
What if she’s like my mother? My father left, a slave to the “old ways” of hedonism and worshipping his own pleasure. Other krakens offered to fill the void he left over the years, and she always told them no. Strong, independent... In love with only one man, one who didn’t deserve her. Protective of her only son, when other kraken families have a dozen children over their long lives.
I suddenly think about Madelyn accepting me, and the brothers and sisters we might create for Zack. Little girls with Madelyn’s blonde curls and turned-up nose, and maybe her coloring, but with long, graceful tentacles. Beauties on land or in water.
No one better lay an unworthy hand on my little girl, or mess her about the way Madelyn’s mate did.
“Why are you growling?” Samantha suddenly asks.
“I am not growling,” I snap.
“You totally were.”
“I hate unworthy human men.”
“Ohh. Oh, dude, I didn’t even know you liked the guys like that.”
“What? No! I am not contemplating how poorly I have been treated, but how poorly my mother was treated, and how poorly another single mother I recently met has been treated, and how if someone ever dares to mistreat my daughter in such a fashion, I will, by Poseidon, take him out to the depths and—”
“You have a daughter?” Samantha interrupts my threat—which is probably a good thing.
“No, I don’t. A hypothetical daughter,” I mutter.
