Together, they carried her up the stairs and into the house, laying her carefully on the bed in the guestroom. It pleased him that Jessa laid out the towels exactly as instructed. The woman's hair was damp and water still dripped from under her scales.

"I'll go grab the first aid kit," the nanny said, disappearing out of the room.

He sat down beside the mermaid and moved her black hair away from her face, his thumb brushing her cheek. Her skin was softer than he'd expected from one living in the ocean. And he couldn't believe how much of a color contrast there was between her hair and her face, especially while lying on the white pillowcases.

Soon, Ms. Peterson returned to the room, and they worked on the bump on the woman's head, while his daughter stood there sucking her thumb. Something she hadn't done in years.

"Is she going to be okay?" Jessa asked, her bottom lip trembling.

How was he supposed to answer that? They were travelling in unchartered waters. No one, to his knowledge, has ever seen, much less taken care of, a mermaid. He didn't even know if they could survive being out of the water. Should he treat her like an animal or a person?

"Should we call the SPCA or something?" he asked, rubbing his thumb and index finger on his chin.

"If someone finds out about her, they'll turn her into a science experiment," Dorothy said, as she wrapped a bandage around the woman's head. "They'd dissect her and do whatever other experiments they can think of."

"I suppose you're right, but what if she's dangerous?"

"I highly doubt she is."

"Well, I'm not going to risk Jessa. I want you to make sure she stays away from her," he whispered to her.

Ms. Peterson nodded and took his baby girl's hand on the pretence of having to go get the mermaid something to eat. His daughter was all he had left of Scarlett, his wife. He couldn't even visit the love of his life's grave because it was nothing more than a stone, her body wasn't found after their boat capsized. Now, he had the living embodiment of the ocean in his guestroom, reminding him of what he'd had and lost.

Ryan rubbed his chest, trying to ease the ache building inside him. Scarlett was his angel, his high school sweetheart. Nothing had meant more to him than her. He could see every piece of her soul in their daughter—same smile, same eyes, hair. Jessa was her clone in every way, right down to her love for all things water related.

They were supposed to grow old together, celebrate their 50th anniversary far down the line, like his parents did last year. But a wild freak storm took her away from him. Only he and Jessa made it off the boat before it sunk. The rest of the crew perished, along with his forever angel.

Sometimes, he could still smell her perfume when he walked along the beach, vanilla and strawberries. That's why he generally avoided going out there. It was too painful to remember the past. They always used to take walks along the beach, listening to the waves beat against the sandy shore. Oh, how he loved her, still loved her. He imagined that he always would until the day he died and joined her on the other side.

Looking down at his finger, he twisted the simple wedding ring around and around. On the inside his wife had engraved the words, "My forever love." Even though she died last year, he couldn't bring himself to remove the band that joined them together.

When a pale webbed hand covered his, he jumped and was torn from his reverie. He glanced down and saw pure silver eyes looking back at him, wet with tears. They bore deep into his soul, matching the pain he felt inside, as though she were on the journey through the dark with him.

"Pain." she said, her voice raspy.

"You're in pain?"

The woman shook her head. "No. You pain.

He tilted his head and studied her. "I don't understand."

"Wa-ter. Take me b-back to wa-ter," she said, her brow furrowing as she strained to pronounce the words. How did she even know English? Did the universality of the language reach even to the deepest sea?

Reaching up, she touched his temple. "From here."

Holy cow, they're telepathic, he thought with a start. "You can hear my thoughts?"

She nodded. "Please, take me to water. I help."

"Are you well enough?"

Though noticeably weary with the dark bags under her eyes and in pain, she gave him another nod. She pushed herself up to a sitting position, wincing as she brought her hand to her injured head.

"Okay, I'll help you get back to the water." Getting up, Ryan went to the door and called for Dorothy.

Together, with his daughter hanging in the background, they carried the mermaid back to the water. They took her into the shallows a few feet before putting her down. He half expected her to swim off, but instead, she closed her eyes and laid her hand on top of the water, which seemed to glow under her touch.

"What the heck?" he muttered, scratching his head.

"Wa-watch," she stuttered, pointing out to the open water..

A glowing bluish tinge spread over the surface of the ocean as the mermaid beside him hummed softly. He didn't know what was going on, but a spirit of peace came to rest upon his heart as something warm moved through him. The vanilla strawberry scent swirled around his nostrils. He took a deep breath, breathing her into every pore of his body.

"Ryan."