The Ocean's Daughter (Sequel to Sirene)

This is just the first half of the chapter, I'll only be able to get the rest update when I come back from camp, in about 10 days. Sorry there isn't much and that it is taking such a long time.

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Chapter 5.

“Ah, Captain and Mrs. Morrely, how good of you to come.” Miss Patterson smiled as the butler let them into the house. “And who is this with you?”

“This is  good friend of mine, Lt. Wesley Chesterton, I took the liberty of inviting him, I hope you don’t mind Miss Patterson.” Robert Morrely introduced.

“Not at all, any friend of Leslie Brighton and her husband is more than welcome here. I have to say, you are the first guests that arrived. You are very punctual sir.”

“It comes from having a career in the army.” Robert chuckled.

“Leslie,” Beth called out with joy.

“Dearest Beth,” Leslie held out her hands and took both of Beth’s. “Congratulations on your engagement, I can hardly wait till it becomes official. Oh, please let me introduce, this is Lt. Wesley Chesterton, he is a friend of my husband’s.”

“Is he also in the navy?”

“Yes, in the same command as my husband.”

“Welcome sir, I am glad you could come.” Beth held out her hand, which Wesley took and placed a kiss on it.

“Please, go into the parlor, the other guests should arrive soon.” Beth motioned for the trio to move forward. “I hope you are well, Captain,” she said as Robert walked past her.

“All the better for seeing you, Miss Warren.” Robert politely said with a smile. As the husband and wife and Wesley approached the parlor, the soft sound of a piano playing filled the air.

“I thought Miss Patterson said we were the first to come,” Leslie said with a puzzled look, “and both Beth and Miss Patterson are in the hall, who could be playing the piano then?”

As if in answer to her question, a soft, angelic voice suddenly blended in with the notes of the piano. The trio froze for a few second, spellbound by the song as it drifted all around them.

“I think it’s coming from the parlor.” Robert stated at last.

“What an enchanting voice,” Leslie’s voice had dropped to a whisper, “and what a strange language, I can’t understand a word she is singing.”

“It’s Gaelic,” Wesley said, “the language of the Scots.” He seemed very agitated at the voice and hurried in front of his friends to the parlor. Sitting behind the piano was a young woman, her auburn hair gathered up stylishly on her head. She was dressed in a deep green dress with white Irish lace around the collar. Her back was turned to him so he couldn’t see her face. Robert and Leslie caught up with him and the three of them watched in complete silence until the girl had finished her singing and turned around to face them.

“I know that song,” Wesley spoke up before the other two had a chance. “I know it because I heard you sing it once, it was several years ago, but I remember it as though it was yesterday. The very song you were singing a moment ago, I recognized it instantly. Do you know what this means?”

“That you have a very good memory?” Oceana slowly stated, lifting one eyebrow.

“No, I mean, well yes, that too.” Wesley stuttered. “But that is not what I was leading too. Don’t you remember, on the shore, in Scotland, about three years ago? You were singing this song and I chanced upon you, and then you just disappeared. I turned away for a second and when I looked back you were gone.”

Oceana didn’t betray her surprise, but all in an instant she remember the young man standing on the shore, staring at her. The black hair, the dark brown eyes, tall, strong build, tiny cleft in the clean shaven chin, this was without a doubt the man who had chanced upon her on the beach. Her mind raced as she wondered how best to present herself and how to behave now that there were no waters to jump into and hide in.

“I remember.” She said at last.

“I didn’t know someone could just evaporate like that within such a small space of time.” Wesley still couldn’t believe that the ‘siren’ as he had called her was sitting right in front of him. “Where did you suddenly disappear to?

“Mr…”

“Chesterton, Wesley Chesterton.”

“Mr. Chesterton, the general idea of a person suddenly disappearing is so no one will know where he is or what happened to him. If I were to tell you where I went off to that would entirely defeat the purpose of my vanishing in the first place.” Oceana smiled mysteriously.

Wesley stared wide eyed at the girl, not knowing what to make of her. Robert and Leslie were silent as well. This whole encounter was turning out to be very strange indeed.

“So um…who are you? Are you a friend of Miss Warren’s?”

“I am indeed. She invited me to visit her for a few weeks.”

“And may I enquire after your name?” Wesley was too anxious to find out about this mystery girl to care about the proper way to go about such things

“Wesley, wait till Miss Warren comes to properly introduce us.” Leslie reprimanded.

“Oceana is my name.”

Wesley, Robert and Leslie were all a little taken back by the strangeness of the name and the fact that she had provided no last name, but tried not to show it.

“And the rest of it?” Wesley prodded.

Oceana bit her lip, wondering just how much to give away at one time. “It’s just Oceana.” She stated at last.

“Just Oceana?” Wesley was confused, “you mean you have no last name?”

At this moment, Beth walked into the room. “Oh, I completely forgot to introduce you all. Captain Morrely, Mrs. Morrely, Mr. Chesterton this is…” Beth caught Oceana’s stare.

“Will you please excuse us for a minute,” Oceana said with a polite smile as she grabbed Beth and dragged her out of the room

“Oceana, what is the matter with you?” Beth hissed angrily. “Stop this behavior at once, we’ve got guests out there.”

“Think of it this way,” Oceana said, ignoring Beth’s angry question, “at the ball no one knew who Cinderella was and where she came from, I am determined that this Cinderella is going to have it just the same.”

“What?” Beth was perplexed.

“I don’t want you to go telling them anything about me, my full name or where I live.”

“Oceana, for the love of mercy, there is such a thing known as manners and proper behavior, I can’t go against them.”

“Beth, I don’t know how to make you understand this, but I knew I never would fit in with the type of society that is going to be out there and so the less they know about me the better. When I leave after your wedding I don’t want them all discussing the strange Miss McNeil, just let me be something they can forget.”

“Does it have anything to do with that Chesterton fellow you were obviously talking too when I came in?” Beth crossed her arms in front of her.

Oceana groaned, sometimes Beth was just a little too perceptive. “Maybe, I met him once before, accidently, at the beach. He heard me singing and now he’s obviously going to be asking me a lot of questions and oh…Beth, just trust me, it will be fun for all of us if we keep me a mystery.”

“Oceana, we are no longer little children, we can’t play games like this, you’ve got to grow up.”

Oceana’s eyes sparkled with mischief, “maybe someday, but for now I’m not really inclined to resign to being all mature and grown up. Oh come on, Beth, let’s keep it simple. I’ll be Miss Oceana and that will be the end of it.”

Beth sighed as Oceana’s pleading eyes stared into hers. Oh why did it seem Oceana had some power over her and make her do such illogical things?

“Very well,” Beth found herself relenting, “I shouldn’t do this, I really shouldn’t, it will go against all the rules of decency but I’ll give in to you this once, just this once mind you. And you owe me young lady, and don’t ever ask me to do such nonsense again. Remember I am getting married in six months and I am more than inclined to resign to being all mature and grown up as you put it.”

Oceana gave Beth a kiss, her eyes glowing with her victory. Together the two girls went back to where the perplexed guests were waiting.

“Please excuse our sudden disappearance.” Beth said, “For those of you who don’t know her, please allow me to introduce Miss Oceana, she is a friend of mine from childhood.”

“Miss Oceana…” Wesley was still trying to get to the bottom of all this.

“It’s just Miss Oceana.” Oceana confidently stated.

Wesley was not at all convinced though and was determined to find out just who this mysterious young lady was. As Beth and Leslie gushed over dresses and summer fashion, and Robert tasted the port wine and chatted with a young lawyer Wesley approached Oceana.

“Where are you from, Miss Oceana?”

“And why are you so interested to know, Lt. Chesterton?”

“Well, if you will pardon my saying so, it is not every day that you meet someone who introduces themselves as ‘just Miss Oceana’ with no last name attached.”

Oceana shrugged in reply.

“And there is also that disappearing act you pulled up in Scotland, are you from there? You accent does suggest you are, but there is a tint of something I can’t quite place. Like it’s not all together Scottish. Are you from Scotland?”

“As in, were my parents Scottish?” Oceana finally turned to face Wesley, “no, they weren’t.”

“You speak of your parents in past tense?”

“I do, they’d died a long, long time ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thank you, but don’t be.”

“So…” Wesley paused for a minute, “who were your parents?”

“My father was a sailor,” Oceana said, then paused, contemplating if she should go on.

“Ah, you are a sailor’s daughter?” Wesley’s eyes brightened, “we he in the navy?”

“Not at all. He was in trade.”

“Ah, from England?”

“France.”

“French, that is what it is,” Wesley suddenly realized, “there is a slight tint of French in your accent. And what of your mother? Was she also French?”

“Oh, Mr. Chesterton, don't ask me about her, because you won't believe me if I told you."

"No?" Wesley lifted an eyebrow. "Try me."

For a moment, Oceana thought not to say anything, but backing out of a challenge was simply not in her nature and the look on Wesley's face and the tone of his voice made her speak in a frank, honest voice, "my mother was a mermaid."

Wesley’s eyes went round as he stared at Oceana in disbelief. “Your mother was a what?”

“A mermaid.”

Wesley chucked nervously. “Are you playing some trick on me, Miss Oceana?”

“Do I look like I’m playing a trick on you, Mr. Chesterton?”

“So what you are trying to tell me that you are…half mermaid?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I am telling you.”

“Telling you what?” Beth had noticed Wesley’s surprised behavior and had decided to come over and make sure everything was alright.

Wesley looked from Oceana to Beth and then back to Oceana. “Ummm.”

“Oh no, no, Oceana,” Beth caught on, “please don’t tell me you are going around with that wild story.”

“He asked me about my parents, Beth, I’m sorry, I wasn’t going to tell anyone, it just somehow happened.” Oceana protested.

Wesley glanced back up at Beth.

“Oceana, I, you, we,” Beth was trying to figure her way out of this situation, “I had thought you would have known better. I suppose I should have ordered you to strict silence. We are not ten anymore, you can’t go about making such claims. People will think you have completely lost your mind!”

“Miss Warren, do come here for a moment,” someone called.

“Excuse me please, I shall be right back,” Beth said, and with an angry, warning look at Oceana walked away.

“Do you actually remember your mother being, well, half fish?”

“She wasn’t half fish, not all mermaids are half fish. Think of it more like a siren, they have bodies like humans but live under the water. And the answer to your question is no, I don’t remember my mother at all, she died when I was five months old.”

“Aha, and your father?”

“His ship crashed upon the rocks before I was even born. It’s all a very tragic story, I can tell it to you sometime if you wish.”

“Miss Oceana,” Beth suddenly called, “would you be so kind as to come and play the piano forte for us. We are all in great want of good music and no one can play as well as you.”

“I think Beth is trying to get me to be quiet before I completely embarrass her and ruin the party.” Oceana whispered with a giggle. “I should be happy too,” she called out and rising from her seat went over to the piano.

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There is more to this chapter, I just don't have the time to put it up. I hope you liked this part and I'll get the other half up as soon as I can.