His head jerked up when he heard Scarlett's melodious voice, his feet stumbling against a rock. And as he was falling face first into the great ocean surrounding them, he caught a glimpse of her vibrant red hair surfacing a short distance away.

Dorothy grabbed him by the arm and he lifted his head out of the water sputtering. "Am I hallucinating?" he croaked.

"If you are, sir, I am, too," Ms. Peterson replied.

"Mommy!" His daughter barrelled towards them, shooting past the three of them and right into her mother's waiting arms.

"Wait, Jessa." He tried to reach for her, but almost lost his balance again, his head spinning. She couldn't be here. She was gone. Dead. Yet, standing in front of them was his wife, or part of his wife. Her other half was sporting a tail, just like the mermaid beside him.

"You go, too." The black-haired mermaid said, pushing him towards his wife. But he couldn't make his feet move.

Ryan closed his eyes. "This isn't real. This isn't real."

A moment later, he felt the soft touch of a palm against his cheek. "Ryan, open your eyes," came her soft, angelic voice.

He shook his head, refusing to give into the trap. It couldn't be her. It was a hoax, a game of some sort. Maybe he was sleeping. Ryan pinched his arm and then slowly opened one eye and found himself staring into the most amazing, familiar emerald green eyes he'd ever seen.

"It's really Mommy, Daddy," his daughter squealed with delight. "She's a mermaid!"

His eyes traveled down her hourglass figure and back up again, then back down as he took in her tail. Reaching out, he poked her shoulder, and Scarlett chuckled. She was as firm and as solid as anything else he could touch.

His heart thumped wildly against his ribcage and he shook his head incredulously, tears welling in his eyes. "Have you been here this whole time?"

She nodded as a bittersweet smile played on her lips.

"Why didn't you show yourself? I spent weeks on the beach crying out your name. Hoping and praying that you would somehow hear me and come back."

"No allowed," the injured mermaid said.

"I don't understand?"

"They have a law that doesn't allow us to reveal ourselves without consequences. I could only watch you from the water," Scarlett said.

"Some nights I could swear that you were right beside me. I could smell you."

"I was never far away."

"Has she been here, too?" Ryan nodded towards the other mermaid.

"Cascade has been my guardian ever since I joined the pod. She was assigned to teach me their ways and keep me from getting into trouble."

"Storm, my trouble," Cascade said with a lopsided smile.

"She tried to get me into deeper waters before the storm hit, but we got separated. I had wanted to stay just a little longer to watch Jessa play," Scarlett said, giving their daughter a squeeze.

"Need to listen," the black-haired mermaid wagged her finger at Ryan's wife.

When Ryan looked back at Scarlett, she shrugged her shoulders. She was never one to really listen to anyone, so why did she stay away from them for so long? If she loved him, loved their daughter, how could she have just abandoned them? He wouldn't have let anything stop him from coming back to her, law or not.

"Tell him why you no come," Cascade said to her. "He no understand."

"Rule number 2 of the Mermaid Code says that all who see us must become us," she said, waving her hand with a flourish over her green tail. "I couldn't take your life away from you."

Ryan cupped her face with both hands, brushing his thumbs across her soft delicate skin. "My life is wherever you are. If yours is in the ocean, mine is, too." He slipped an arm around his daughter and his wife. "I love you, Scarlett—always and forever—with or without legs."

Leaning forward, she dropped a soft kiss on his lips and whispered, "I love you, too."

THE END