Hey, just wanted to say thank you everyone for the well wishes. I'm already doing much better again. Good enough today to work from home ;-) Argh this book publishing stuff is so much more than the fun part (writing). Working on my newsletter today ^.^ (Subscribe to it on my website if you're interested: robinoconnor.ink)

Anyway, enjoy the chapter! I hope you all like it.

*

Truth

I was turning nineteen at the end of that summer and to my great joy the Undaunted had put into the harbor just days prior to it. The huge salvage ship the McLarens owned was there for some maintenance before they'd head out again in another week. This time without Dev and Mitch aboard as part of the crew.

It meant the whole McLaren family would be there plus Mitch to celebrate my birthday with me and I was looking forward to it. I'd get to have all my friends in one place and my dad had promised to be there. This time I felt I could trust he'd come true on that one since he'd been home every weekend since our talk and shared several dinners with Matt and I. I thought my dad and Matt had gotten to the point where they sort of got along and were even starting to like each other.

On the morning of my birthday we were sleeping at the big house and Matt woke me up with soft kisses and the smell of pastries and fresh cut fruit. A big cup of coffee waiting for me, made just the way I liked. He grinned at me, "Morning beautiful. Eat up, we promised to catch the lobster ourselves remember?" I groaned, "Not even a happy birthday? You just dive into work?" But it was good-natured because he knew as well as I did that I loved swimming and catching lobster was kind of fun.

But he did have presents for me. A proper holster and diving knife, the one he'd had custom made for me by his navy buddy. And more special, a silver working tool set that he'd seen me eyeing weeks ago on my laptop. I hadn't even known he'd noticed.

"Matt... This had to have cost a lot!" I said in shock as I stared at the two gifts. I actually had no clue how much money Matt and Thorne made with the Stonefish but Matt's truck was a rusty old piece of crap, at least it looked that way from the outside. He smiled gently, "Don't worry Dani Darling. I wanted your first birthday present to be something to remember okay? And this won't hurt my bottom line, don't worry."

Matt knew my dad was rich, knew I was never short on money and always declined to take home any tips. Unlike previous guys I'd dated he had never once asked for money and tended to quietly pay for things instead. I had the sense that he would never ask for money actually and that was really nice. But that didn't mean I expected him to pay for expensive things, I was not a high-maintenance kind of girl.

As if he read my mind he sighed and gently cupped my chin, "Listen Dani, you remember that you were the one who figured out my family owns Sharkfell Island right?" It was a very simple hint but I gasped in surprise, "Oh... I forgot about that. You guys are so normal! Your truck..." "Now who's a snob?" he teased but then he added, "You're the same Dani, you wear inexpensive stuff, only your own-made jewelry. Dev and I hadn't a clue about your dad's money either until we saw this house."

So we were the same really, hardworking and happy to keep things quiet and not draw attention to the fact that our bank accounts were flusher than others. Not like Jamie at all. I wondered briefly if that was partly why she felt so threatened by me.

"Now come on! Let's catch some lobster!"

*

We came out of the sea together on the beach behind my house. Matt got dressed first and waited patiently for me to follow him and dry off. Then we headed for my house further up the beach, toting our catch and talking about the best way to cook them later that afternoon. We weren't expecting the other McLarens to show up yet for another hour so we had time to set up the outdoor grill.

As we came through the gate into the backyard I stalled, surprised to see my dad standing at the edge of the pool, hands clasped behind his back. Incongruously he was still wearing a business suit and looked utterly out of place on the pool deck.

"Dad! You're home early," I called out and he spun around to greet me. "Dani! Happy birthday baby," he said, smiling and then hastily stepping back instead of hugging me when he saw the net with lobsters I was holding. "Uh... Did you guys just buy those?"

"No, caught them all ourselves," I told him, lifting the net and holding it out to him and laughing when he danced back. "Oh, great, that's great." Turning to Matt who was carrying the harpoon and the string of fresh fish we'd caught along with our towels I said, "Who knew my dad was so squeamish?" While I headed toward him again, waving the bag of wriggling lobsters.

Matt interceded before I accidentally herded my dad into the pool and took the lobsters from me, "Here I'll take care of the food prep, you talk with your dad." His eyes were surprisingly serious and when he nudged me towards my father I didn't catch on to what he meant until he eyed the pool and the sea in succession and then mouthed 'tail'.

My dad caught on quicker in fact, seeing my distracted expression he turned to look at Matt and caught the final head nod toward the sea just as Matt stepped inside. "Your boyfriend seems to want us to talk?" he said, a slightly amused expression on his face. In the past weeks he and I had grown much closer and we'd found our natural balance again, the one in which he liked to laugh and tease. It had made him look years younger.

"Am I invited to a wedding? Going to be a grandpa?" he asked, grin widening to show he fully expected an outraged denial and wasn't actually serious. With nerves suddenly roaring through my stomach all I managed was a weak grin however. His eyes turned dark, "I was joking. You're not actually pregnant are you?" he said while stepping in to grab my hands, "What's wrong guppy?"

"Nothing like that dad, nothing's wrong," I told him, "Come on, let's walk a bit on the beach." He followed me down the path to the secluded, private cove behind our house while I fidgeted all the way debating on how to tell him about my mermaid tail. Matt was obviously right that this was the perfect moment and doing it now meant I wouldn't have an eternity agonizing over how to say it either; which I absolutely would if I chickened out now.

"Just tell me Dani," my dad said, "Whatever it is you need to say, I promise I wont get mad." That actually made me laugh, "I'm not worried you'll be mad," I assured him. I was more worried he'd faint or just didn't believe me.

"It's just a bit hard to believe, to understand," I tried to explain, "So I'd like your assurance that you'll hear me out and let me show you before you say anything or start judging." He was looking more alarmed instead of less which made me far more nervous but he nodded and promised to hear me out.

"So..." I started and pointed off shore towards the distant shape of Sharkfell Island, "I went there a couple of months ago on a dare." My dad looked at the island with a pensive frown, "Isn't that privately owned?"

Surprised he knew that I nodded, "Yeah, by the McLarens actually," I said, finding myself smiling despite my nerves. My dad swivelled to look back at our house and where we left Matt, "That where you met that one?"

"No, I went to school with Devon, Matt's younger brother. You'll meet him this afternoon." I gestured back out at the island, "It was a prank from Jamie, she intended to strand me there after she'd dared me to touch some imagined tree." My dad growled a curse, "That girl again! Why didn't you tell me!"

Warmed by his protective anger I grabbed his hand and squeezed, "I had it handled, mostly. You'll understand better in a moment." He squeezed back and I took a deep breath and continued, "So I arranged for a charter guy to come pick me up beforehand because I knew what her plan was. Then while I waited around I decided to explore and fell into a cave."

His expression was growing more and more alarmed so I hurried on, "I wasn't hurt but I had to dive out through this pool of water and the light did something weird as I got in... Long story short, I got out of the cave, Matt found me and got me home. I was going to call you the next day and talk about it but when I showered something really weird happened."

I paused, afraid to look at his face for this next bit so I hurried out, "And that's how I found I can now turn into a mermaid." When I glanced up at his face after a deafening silence I fully expected him to still be gaping at me in utter disbelief and possibly look at me as if I'd gone nuts. But his face was thoughtful and his eyes appraising.

"I suppose you think you can prove this?" he asked in a neutral tone of voice and I let out my pent up breath. "Of course, I can irrevocably prove it, right now, that's why I took you to the beach." At his nod I stepped away and waded into the water, allowing the change to slide through me when the waves were knee high.

Draped across the sandy shore I pulled off my wrap so that my dad could better see what had happened to my lower body, then I curled my strong tail sideways so the long fin and shimmering red and gold scales were visible for maximum effect. I looked up only once to make sure he was still there and then I waited.

After a long moment I heard splashing and then suddenly my dad was kneeling next to me in the water, heedless of his fancy suit. "Shit Dani, this is real?" he asked and his hands hovered next to my knee, at my nod he touched my tail and stroked over the scales. "What the hell? How is this possible?" he asked but his eyes were still fully on my tail and he didn't seem to expect an answer, not that I really had one anyway.

"It's beautiful," he said, then added, "You're beautiful, can you swim like this?" he asked and I snorted, "Of course I can swim, like this I'm built to swim. I can stay underwater for nearly twenty minutes." Okay so I might be bragging a little bit there I realized but it was incredible to talk to my dad about it, to show him.

He laughed, a little edge to the sound that told me how much he was struggling to adjust his world view. "Wow Dani... this is crazy," he said and finally we shared a look, "Show me?" I nodded and pushed myself away from the sandy beach to deeper water before diving under and swimming a loop near shore where he could see. Daring to do a jump out of water the way I'd been practising with Dev, just to show off a little.

To my surprise my dad didn't hesitate to wade in even further, so that the water lapped at his chest, his suit utterly ruined. I circled around him, spinning lazily with my head and shoulders above the water so I could watch him. Then I lifted a hand and focused on lifting a globe of water and swirl it around in the air. I couldn't hold that for more than a few seconds but it was enough to utterly stun my dad. "Holy hell," he muttered, eyes wide as saucers. "You can't be doing this..."

Eventually I was floating in front of him and I told him, "I'm not the only one. All the McLaren's are like this. They helped me out when this happened, I wanted to call you but... I didn't know anything and I was scared you'd want to seek professional help and... well. There's no one who knows how to deal with this I bet, not in a way that I'd like." Just the though alone of being found out by some doctor and then experimented on; terrifying.

"I would have protected you," he said, hurt by the thought I hadn't trusted him, but then his eyes turned sad. "But we weren't on good terms then.... I can see why you would have been hesitant."

I urged my dad to shore and then demonstrated how I could dry myself and him off. Leaving him in a dry but salt stained and rumpled suit while I myself donned my now dry wrap which was durable and looked fine after this abuse. "I'll explain everything okay? I'm glad you know," I told him and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "Anytime Dani, you can tell me anything."

When we walked through the gate into the garden the rest of the McLaren's had arrived. Clara immediately noticed us and started grinning widely, "Is this your dad Dani?" she asked kindly as she headed over, hands outstretched. Before she reached us my dad leaned in to whisper, "So she's got a tail too?"

"No, I married into the family," Clara declared, proving she had good hearing. "I'm glad Dani told you, welcome!" She shook my dad's hands and then with a wink my way turned to hook her arm through his and point at the people sitting or standing around on the pool deck. "My husband Thomas, he's got a tail."

"I see," my dad murmured, slightly stunned. "That's Orly and Dev, my sons with tails," she added, grinning, "And that's Mariana and Mitch, their respective significant others, both without tails." To my dad's credit he rolled with it and went around shaking hands, even laughing when they asked if he went for a swim.

When my dad went to change his clothes Matt and I worked the grill and he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "Good talk?" When I smiled he smiled back, "We'll invite him for the next full moon, yeah?" Just then my dad walked back outside and from the warm look on his face I could tell he was happy to see me and Matt like that.

Yeah the two of them had finally gotten over their issues and were starting to bond. So I could happily join the party and relax, enjoying all the people I loved in my life.

*

Yup, and now he knows. ^. ^ Unraveled this story line... up to the next. Anyone else think the Corenths are going to make an appearance soon?