She drew in a shuddering breath. Her lips parted. David’s heart stopped. He waited. Not a muscle moved in his body.
The struggle to form words showed painfully in Kamilah’s dusky features. Then she suddenly closed her lips, compressing them into a tight line. David’s heart dropped like lead. His pent-up breath came out in a whoosh. He closed his eyes and his chin sunk to his chest. He shouldn’t have even dared to hope. Hope only bred despair.
“The…mermaid,” she whispered.
His eyes flared open. She spoke! His heart stumbled and kicked into a light stutter.
“She…she needs help,” Kamilah said hesitatingly, shrinking back from the sound of her own words. But to David it was pure music, her little voice sweet like rain on the sands of a drought-ridden desert. A ball of emotion expanded painfully in his throat. Kamilah hadn’t uttered a single word in twenty-one long months. Not since the accident. Not since she’d watched in horror as the ocean had swallowed her injured, drowning mother. Not since she’d witnessed her own father fail to save his beloved wife from the choking grip of the sea.
David had begun to believe his baby daughter might never speak again. And now that she had, he was absolutely terrified he’d do the wrong thing, say the wrong words, make her stop again.
He couldn’t even begin to find his own voice. All he could do was take her soft cheeks into his hands, stare into the depths of her dark eyes and let the emotion spill hot and wet over his face.
“Daddy?”
His heart clenched. Oh God, how could a word be so painfully sweet?
She tugged at his shirt, her eyes widening in dark intensity. “She…she’s dying, Daddy.”
Confusion clashed with the euphoria in his brain. He’d been so focused on the sound of her voice, on the fact she’d spoken, that he hadn’t heard the meaning in her words. He blinked, registered. With cognizance came a hot thread of panic. Was his sensitive little girl losing her tenuous hold on reality? Was she reliving the accident? Imagining things?
“Who is dying, Kamilah?”
“The…the mermaid.”
“Mermaid?”
She nodded.
He hesitated. Hell, it didn’t matter. Did it? Whatever it took to keep her talking, he’d play along, even with an imaginary mermaid. They could deal with the rest later. “Where is this mermaid?”
“Half-Moon Bay.”
“You were at Half-Moon Bay? In this storm?”
Something shuttered in her eyes. She turned her face abruptly away from him.
“No!” Don’t turn from me. Not now. “It’s all right, Kamilah. Look at me. Tell me, baby, what’s wrong with the mermaid?”
Those huge dark eyes lifted slowly to once again meet his. “She’s hurt. You have to help before the sea takes her away again.”
“Yes,” he said, desperately trying to second-guess his child. “Yes, of course I’ll help. I’ll go find her.”
Hope lit Kamilah’s eyes making them once again dance with life. It made David’s heart soar. It made every molecule in his body sing. “But listen, Kamilah, you must stay here, in the palace, with Fayha’, okay? The storm is much too dangerous for you.”
Her little fists clutched at his shirt. David tried to move but Kamilah’s grip tightened, balling the fabric. He realized then that she wasn’t convinced he’d actually go. She wasn’t sure if she could trust him. Like she hadn’t been able to trust him to save her mother.
A maelstrom of emotion crashed through David. He sucked in a deep breath, hooked his finger under her chin, lifted her face gently. “Listen to me, Kamilah, I promise to look for your mermaid. If she’s hurt, I promise I’ll help her. I won’t let you down, baby.” Not this time. He’d do anything to keep that sweet little voice talking. Whatever it was out there in that storm that had cracked her open, he’d find it. And he’d make damn sure it stayed on his island.
“Come here. Give me a hug.” He swooped her up into his arms, felt her warm little body close to his. He felt her tiny hands creep up behind his neck and hug him tightly back. Warmth flooded him. Hot tears spilled down his face. For the first time in nearly two years he had found a connection. He was sure his heart would burst with the sheer joy of it.
With new fire in his blood, David set his daughter down. He had a storm to brave, a mermaid to find. And he had a little girl to get reacquainted with.
The wind was ten times more powerful on the battered beach of Half-Moon Bay. Froth whipped off the surface of the sea in fat globs, and bullets of hot rain beat against his face. David squinted into maelstrom. What had disturbed Kamilah? What had she seen?