Getting used to the regulator was the hardest part. It was a soft rubber mouthpiece that fit between her teeth, providing air on demand when 242 Melissa Good she inhaled through her mouth. The air was dry, and the biggest problem Kerry had with the entire affair was getting very thirsty.

Ironic. Here she was, totally immersed in water and her biggest worry was where to get a drink.

Dar motioned her over and pointed to a dark form that was moving through the water back towards the boat. Kerry adjusted her gear again, loosened in the different stress of the water, and swam towards her lover, turning her head to watch Andrew approach, take one last look around then head for the surface with liquid, undulating motions.

Wow. Kerry ended up next to Dar, and unfastened her writing slate and underwater crayon. She scribbled on the surface quickly. He’s like a fish.

Dar nodded, tendrils of escaped hair bobbing. She cupped her hand and made a swimming motion, then pointed as her father reentered the water with her mother right behind him. He had his gear on now, a mini-malist rig that was mostly padded straps and pockets, with a streamlined tank. It was all black, of course, as were his fins and mask, and he moved through the water in a totally natural way.

Surprisingly, Cecilia looked also very much at home, despite the fact that it must have been years since she’d done this. She adjusted her gear much the way Kerry had, then started off, peering around with interest and obvious enjoyment.

Your mom is having fun.

Dar couldn’t really smile, with the regulator in place. She took the slate. It was the one part of his world she could share fully.

Ah. Kerry nodded in understanding. Then Dar moved closer, took the slate back, and tucked it into its Velcro fastening at her hip. She turned to find a tiny mouthpiece held out to her. Attached to it was a tube, which went to a slim pack she’d thought was extra padding around the back of Dar’s tank. Curious, she spit out her regulator and fitted the soft rubber inside her mouth, then cautiously sucked on it, her courage rewarded with cool, sweet water. “Rgle!” She looked at Dar in delight.

Dar looked smugly pleased with herself and her new toy. She waited for Kerry to finish her drink then she rolled over in the water and swam over the reef towards a thick cluster of the colorful rocks where schools of fish swarmed.

Kerry exhaled in wonder, as the sun’s rays cut through the sea and lit up the reef like something out of a dream. She lifted her camera up and took a few lazy shots, then let a bit of air out of her BC to sink closer to the living coral.

Never touch it. Dar had drilled that into her, and as she swam along a foot over the reef, she caught the motion of her lover tucking her trailing gear up so it wouldn’t strike the fragile surface. She slowed her pace and watched the rock with interest, spotting a tiny bit of motion and peering closer to see the almost clear, tiny shrimp skittering over the surface. A silver shape came into view and she turned her head to see a clown fish chasing a tiny purple and orange fellow by, as a flat, omipototent grouper Eye of the Storm 243

observed, swimming slowly past Kerry with a wary eye on her.

Ooo. A school of silver fish, tiny and nervous came right at her and she went still, letting them split around her, their tiny bodies brushing with the lightest of touches over her skin. A touch on her arm distracted her and she followed Dar’s tug towards one side of the reef, looking where the taller woman pointed.

A ray. Not just a little one either, six feet wide at the least and settled into the silt, depending on camouflage to prevent its being eaten. Dar pulled her closer, and she put a hand out very tentatively when her companion did, touching the surface of the ray with nervous fingers. It was soft, almost velvety, and she could feel the flinch as the ray felt the contact.

Dar floated closer, running her hands along the animal’s back and over the rounded edge of the front of its fins, surprised when the ray decided to vacate its nest for quieter waters. It lifted off the sand and moved away powerfully, taking the human that was annoying it along with it.

Kerry focused quickly and snapped off a few shots of the ray towing Dar, until it settled to the ground again and Dar released her hold, floated up and turned around with both thumbs up. A motion caught her attention again and she turned in the water to watch Dar’s parents exploring the other end of the reef, with Ceci floating delicately over the rocks and Andrew circling around her with his supple, relaxed movements. Kerry noticed they’d left the spear gun behind.

They drifted closer together, then Dar suddenly ducked towards the rock, grabbed something, then headed for her father. Andrew looked up and spotted what she was holding, then back-finned, shaking a finger at her in mock warning. Kerry swam closer, then realized it was a lobster in Dar’s hand. One with tiny, grasping claws she was aiming right towards Andy.

He tumbled in the water, then flipped over and tried to get behind his daughter, who rolled right with him, plopping the lobster right against his chest.

The lobster, strangely, resented this, and grabbed and flapped, making the ex-SEAL squirm in mid-water, batting at the creature with his hands until it swam off, glaring daggers at Dar with its beady little stalked eyes.

Dar had exactly ten seconds to laugh, then she had to make a hole in the water, because she had a tall, dangerous looking creature coming after her, aiming to do scurrilous things to her unprotected kneecaps. Dar took off, racing ahead of her pursuer with powerful strokes in a curving path around the reef.

Kerry stayed in the middle of the curve, resting on her back in the water and snapping shots of the action as it progressed. Andrew was faster, due to his longer length and powerful kick, but Dar was more flexible and she turned and whirled in mid-stroke so quickly he kept missing her when he lunged. Ceci found an empty spot of sea bottom to perch on 244 Melissa Good and watched, shaking her head slowly as her husband and child tumbled around like a pair of demented manatees.

Kerry took a few shots of her, then swam over, settled on the silt and tucked her hands around her knees. Ceci turned her head, then lifted a hand and opened it, revealing a beautiful cone shaped shell, covered in what looked like hieroglyphs.

Kerry took a picture of it, then glanced up to see gray eyes watching her with reserved interest. She pulled out her slate. It’s nice today.

Ceci nodded in agreement then took the slate. The only thing it lacks is ice tea.

Kerry grinned and held up a finger, then handed the older woman her camera and dove into the chase above her.

NOBODY WAS REALLY sure whose idea the campfire was. But the island provided enough dry, fragrant wood to make one and the sandy ground seemed safe enough to light it on. They’d taken hunks of dead coral, though, just in case and made a circle around the flames.

It was an almost surreal scene, Ceci decided. A tiny island in the middle of the coastal Atlantic, with a view on one side of nothing but black sea broken only by the faint buoy lights. On the other side, the skyline of the city spread to either side, the lights of the beach hotels going north and the outlines of the city buildings to her south.

Above her, the stars floated, obscured by clouds drifting by, and far off against the horizon a storm was brewing, where intermittent lightning burst into view.

It was gorgeous. She leaned against an amiable palm tree and felt the warm sand between her toes, as the breeze brought a whiff of the spicy, boiling mixture in the pot they’d jury rigged over the fire, filled with fresh things captured from the nearby water.

Dar sloshed up out of the water, adding one last thing to the pot with a piratical grin. “Got one.” She pulled her mask off and continued on, dropping her snorkel and mesh bag on a towel and hesitating, then taking a seat relatively near her mother. Kerry was on the boat fixing up something or other and Andrew was still hunting under the waves.

Ceci eyed the smooth, tanned back an arm’s length or so away and considered her options. The day had been pleasant, really—though they were both uncomfortable with each other, Andy and Kerry were doing their respective darndest to smooth things out. The older woman paused, then reached behind her and picked up a folded towel, glancing at it a moment before she cleared her throat gently. “Dar?”

The dark head turned, firelight glinting off pale, wary eyes which met hers, then focused on the towel she held out. “Thanks.” Dar took the fabric and leaned back, opening up her posture a little. They eyed each other. “You…um,” Dar shifted, “might want to think about some aloe.”

“Ah, yes.” Cecilia nodded ruefully. “I feel as red as those lobsters are going to be in there.”


Eye of the Storm 245

“Mmm. I think I got a little burned too,” Dar admitted, stretching her long legs out in the sand and wiping them dry.

Wet, disheveled, and covered in sand, Ceci found this version of her daughter far more familiar than the one she’d been dealing with. Dar’s hair was longer now, beyond shoulder length, and her body lengthened and grown into a woman’s proportions that still held a distinct note of her tough, combative youth.

A gulf of time was between them. Ceci studied the strong profile, sadly at a loss for words.

Dar looked up at her suddenly. “Something wrong?”

A gust of cool wind made her shiver, and the words escaped without much thought behind them. “I keep waiting for the alarm to ring and wake me up,” she murmured, regretting the statement almost as it came out of her mouth. She looked away.