The Gilded Stone Read online

  Especially after the siren reared its head.

  The sea creature appeared to me three months ago, demanding I uphold my end of some fickle bargain I’d blindly made… and forgotten about. Back when we were all stranded on Shellbed Isle after retrieving Peter Easton’s lost treasure. But a lot had happened since then. I’d found out just how much those wretched creatures have meddled in the lives of Cobham women. For hundreds of years. I felt no obligation to keep my promise to the beast.

  Still, she kept coming.

  Twice more. The siren appeared to me by the water, insisting that I keep my promise of a single favor. When my curiosity finally caved and I gave her an inch, I asked what she wanted of me. I wasn’t prepared for what the creature said. Yet, part of me expected the words before she spoke them.

  She wanted me to return to the past.

  Her voice rang in my memory as I stood and stared out the picture window that looked over the ocean by my house. The sun was high in the sky and cast a warm glow over the crystal waters. I gripped a rolled-up blanket and a basket of food in my hands as I stood there thoughtfully, swaying gently to the waves of thoughts in my head.

  What if the siren appears again? When I’m by the water with Henry. Would he be tempted to go back? He’s found comfort in the little life we’ve built here in this quiet corner of the earth. But he’s yet to fully adjust to the modern world. Things like cars and technology unease him. I took him to St. John’s once to do some sightseeing and catch a movie. He just about lost his mind in the theater.

  If he knew there was a way back, would he take it?

  After the children were born, we’d made a promise to one another. No searching. No going back. And definitely, no telling the kids that time travel was real. We threw everything in a trunk and locked it tightly before burying it deep in the woods. But that was before. When we were high on the thrill of time travelling and saving everyone from my evil sister. Now that the dust has settled, I often wondered if he longed for the sea. For the past.

  For the life of a pirate.

  A hand touched the small of my back and I gasped as the sensation ripped me from the dark daydream. “What are you thinking about?” Henry asked quietly against my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.

  His fingers trailed up my back and gripped my ponytail, tugging ever so gently, but enough to tip my head back. His warm mouth touched the crook of my neck and I smiled.

  “Just wondering if it’s too cold to take the kids down to the beach,” I replied and let myself melt into his embrace as he held me from behind.

  The blonde scruff on his face tickled my skin as he continued to leave tiny kisses along the side of my throat. “They’ll be fine,” he assured me and then let out a single, raspy chuckle. “They’re the offspring of two ruthless pirates.”

  I set the blanket and basket of food down on the table before I spun around in his arms. “Only one of us was ever a ruthless pirate.”

  Henry arched an eyebrow and those dark eyes glistened in the sunlight that poured in through the window. Like embers in a fire. He chuckled, low and raspy.

  “You’re right. I was a simple man, swayed by your merciless ways and harlot looks. The ruthless pirate queen.”

  I laughed and playfully slapped his chest, but it only made him hold me tighter. One arm wrapped around my waist, his other held my face, fingers twisted in the loose curls that had escaped the elastic band that failed to hold it all in place. His lips came to mine in a hard, warm press and all my worries melted away.

  No matter the darkness in my life, Henry was always there to chase it back. I could feel his love like a tangible thing, something real, something never wavering. I suddenly felt like a fool for worrying he’d ever leave me for a second chance at a life of piracy. He belonged here with me, and I with him. Our foreheads pressed together as we stood in the dining room, locked in one another’s embrace.

  The alarming sound of little footsteps bombarding down the stairs stole my attention and the kids came stampeding through the kitchen shouting, “Beach!”. They whipped between Henry and me, severing the intimate moment, and threw the patio door open before barrelling down the backyard toward the water.

  Henry laughed as he grabbed the basket of food and tucked the blanket under an arm. He offered his free hand. “Shall we?”

  With a heart full of love for the little family we created here, I took his hand and walked together to the ocean.

  ***

  I lay back on the quilted blanket as the setting sun warmed the ocean surface with colors of orange and purple, my journal opened by my side. I wrote in it as Henry nursed the fire he built and readied the hot dogs for roasting. I loved evenings like this. Arthur and Audrey were squat in the sand, building castles and digging holes for the incoming tide to flood. Life was good.

  Most of the time.

  I don’t know why I write in this journal Lottie once gave me. But I do. At first, it was a way for me to feel connected to my friends in the past, even though I knew they’d never read the words on the pages. Still, I documented every major milestone, every thought, memory, or feeling. Its papers now worn and browned from the years of use, their numbers running out as I neared the end.

  I glanced up with a smile as the kids squealed with delight at the chilly water that rushed in. But a second look froze me in place. My heart stopped as the blood in my veins seared with a painful dose of panic.

  Audrey was gone.

  “Arthur, where’s your sister?” I asked as I leaped to my feet. My head whipped around in alarm. “Arthur!”

  Henry was at my side. “What’s wrong?”

  “Audrey’s gone,” I quickly replied and took three long strides toward my son. He was visibly shaken, and I knelt down to take him in my arms. “It’s okay, baby. Where did Audrey go?”

  “I don’t know, Mommy,” his sweet little voice said sadly. Snot dripped from his nose as his eyes filled with tears. “S-she gotted swallowed up.”

  My eyes widened and Henry tensed as he turned and peered out over the water.

  “What do you mean she got swallowed up, baby?” I pressed gently, trying my best to hide the stone-cold fear that was taking over my body.

  His blonde little head slowly turned, and he pointed toward the sea. I heard Henry inhale a sharp breath of air before running and diving into the water. I scooped Arthur up in my arms and held him tight to my chest as I began frantically pacing the shoreline, my eyes scanning every nook and cranny. Every jagged rock. Every tide pool.

  But my little girl was nowhere to be found.

  I stood on a slick rock as the wind whipped through my hair and a realization struck me with a painful truth. Tears streamed from my eyes and my lips trembled as I choked out a single whisper.

  “No…”

  My shaking arms gripped Arthur firmly as his head nestled into the crook of my neck, a place he often took comfort when he was scared.

  “No!” I screamed at the water. “Bring her back! Please!”

  The cold waves beat against the stone on which I stood, gently flooding over its surface. I felt helpless. I felt like plunging into the ocean and giving myself in exchange for my daughter. Do what you will with me but give her back.

  “Mommy?” said a musical little voice from behind me.

  I spun around and my heart sprang to life at the sight of Audrey standing on the rock as if she’d always been there. I knelt down and grabbed her with one arm, the other still holding her brother, and squeezed as tears of relief poured down my face.

  “Oh my God, baby,” I cried and kissed her soaking wet face. “Where have you been?”

  She leaned away and stared up at me in a daze. Her long blonde hair, caked with sand and saltwater, clung to her cherub face. She didn’t answer me.

  “Audrey,” I said and gave her a little shake. “Are you alright?”

  She blinked a few times and then her eyes finally focused on me, as if seeing me for the first time. Her lips, greyed and purple, turned up in a smile. “Mommy, why are you crying?”

  “We couldn’t find you,” I told her. “I was worried.”

  “I…” she glanced around, taking in her surroundings. “I was right here.”

  Henry came running over, splashing in the water with every giant step he took, his arm swinging as he fought to get to us as fast as he could. He grabbed Audrey and took her in his arms, kissed her head. We exchanged a concerned look but said nothing in front of the kids. They were already too shaken up. He knew something was wrong, and I feared my only worry for the last three months was forcing its way out. I’d have to tell him about the siren.

  “Let’s get you two back to the house and dried off before bed, hey?” he said to them. He peered up at me, still standing on the rock, and held out his free arm. “Here, let me take him.”

  Slowly, I nodded and let Henry peel Arthur from my side. He held them both with ease and walked out of the water, toward our home. My emotions were all over the place, holding me a prisoner in my own body, nailed down by fear. Could the siren have been behind this? Could it truly go to such an unbelievable length to get my attention?

  Before I stepped off the long rock that jutted out of the shoreline, something pressed against my bare foot. A tiny pebble lapped at my toe as the wet surface sloshed about. I bent down and picked it up, rolling it between my fingers as I brought it to my face. A new sense of fear washed over me as I realized it wasn’t a stone at all. It was a pearl. A message–no–a warning.

  The siren was done being patient.

  The pearl, such a tiny thing, meant so much more than anyone could ever imagine. Make a wish and come back to the past …

  … or I take your children.

  Chapter Three

  The sun shined in through the large window of my bedroom and warmed my face from an odd angle. My tired eyes pried open and blinked away the sleepy film that covered them, a low moan escaping my chest as I let out a yawn. I stretched my arm out for Henry but found nothing more than a cold heap of blankets on his side of the bed. What time was it? With a grumble, I rolled over and checked my phone. Nearly noon.

  I peeled the sheets off my bone-weary body and swung my legs over the side as I gripped the edges of the mattress to heave a sigh. This week had wreaked havoc on my nerves and the physical toll that stress was putting on my body was beginning to catch up with me. Every day, I obsessed over the siren’s warning. The pearl that sat in the drawer of my bedside table; carefully tucked away in a small locked box. Why did the creature want me to come back to the past so badly? My mind had long spiraled into a swarm of possibilities and I couldn’t break free of the thoughts.

  Were our friends in trouble?

  Did someone die?

  Had Benjamin settled into his new life, free of the curse?

  I often wondered about him. The man who stumbled into my life with such a force, with such a heart. He wore it on his sleeve, and it made being his friend easy. I knew he loved me, but I also knew he respected our friendship. I helped to break the curse that held him a prisoner aboard The Black Soul for over a hundred years, but I sometimes worried that he never adjusted to life in the eighteenth century after we left. Did he feel out of place, like Henry often did here in this time?

  I stood and plucked my robe from the hook on the back of our bedroom door before wandering out to the hall. Strange. The house was completely silent, aside from the sounds of the push and pull of waves just outside.

  I walked downstairs as a heavy aroma of freshly brewed coffee greeted my nose and I smiled. Henry must have made it before taking the kids outside. I poured myself a cup and grinned as I recalled those first moments of Henry’s life here in the future. How he cooked food and boiled water over the wood stove for months before feeling comfortable enough to use the gas stovetop.

  Everything he’d done to build a life for us here had been for me and the kids. How could I ever think, even for a second, that he would leave me for the chance to resume his old life? The man I pulled from the past was nothing less than eager to leave that all behind. I’d do well to remember that.

  The unnatural silence that filled the house made me uneasy. I was so used to the vibrant sounds of the kids bouncing off the walls from the moment the sun comes up. It felt strange to stand in the kitchen, surrounded by the stark quiet. Henry must have taken them for a bike ride down the road to mom’s house. But when I opened the front door and found their little bicycles, haphazardly thrown on the lawn as they usually were, I realized I was wrong.

  I walked back through the house with my warm coffee mug in hand, sipping carefully as I strolled toward the large picture window that overlooked our beachy backyard, expecting to find them playing on the swing set Henry built for them. But the empty swings blew in the afternoon breeze that came in off the ocean. My eyes scanned along the sandy line that met the long grass of our yard and my heart squeezed in my chest. All the blood rushed to my tightened chest and my fingers went numb. No, he can’t. The coffee cup slipped from my hands and crashed to the floor with a sound that screeched against the walls with a painful echo.

  Henry was lifting the kids in the boat.

  “No,” I frantically whispered and ran for the patio door.

  I ripped it open and bolted down across the lawn, my bare feet catching on all the jagged rocks that hid beneath the long green blades. But it didn’t phase me.

  “Henry!” I screamed. “Henry, stop!”

  His head popped up, a look of fright and confusion on his face as I finally approached the boat and gripped its edges. I took a second to catch my breath.

  “Dianna,” he said with concern. “What’s wrong?”

  “You can’t take them,” I said, exasperated.

  “What? I’m just -”

  “I said you can’t take them!” I snapped. Tears swelled in my eyes. Desperation had taken hold of me and my fears were rearing their ugly heads. “N-not on the water. Please.” I begged him with my eyes as his searched for some answers within mine. “I can’t handle it… not after last week.”

  Arthur tugged at my sleeve. “Mommy, I want to go in the boat!”

  I plastered on a smile and leaned down to his sweet little face. “I know, baby, but not today. Some other time, I promise.” I scooped him up, life jacket and all, and lifted him from the boat before doing the same with his sister. “Why don’t you guys ride your bikes?”

  “I don’t wanna ride bike,” Arthur whined. “I want to go in the boat with Daddy.”

  “I made sure they were wearing life coats, Dianna,” Henry assured me. A look of hurt flashed across his face as his glistening black eyes continued to search my frantic stare. “They’re safe with me, I swear.”

  I shook my head. “I know. I just… I can’t…”

  My throat tightened as I thought of the siren taking my children and I struggled to contain myself. I wrapped my arms tightly across my chest. Henry reached out and grasped my arm comfortingly as he lowered his voice to a soothing tone.

  “Alright.” He stepped closer and rubbed his hand over the cotton sleeve of my robe. “It’s okay. I’ll take them fishing down by the creek where it’s safer. There are only a few inches of water there and I won’t take my eyes off them.”

  I inhaled a blubbery breath of air and nodded as my shaking hand wiped at the wetness streaming down my cheeks. Relief struck me hard. Not because Henry promised to watch them by the creek, but because I knew it was nowhere near the ocean. The siren was a creature of the sea and had no bearing on fresh land water.

  His finger slipped under my chin and tipped my head up to look at him. He wiped at the tears that pooled over my lips and placed a gentle kiss there. When he pulled away, I immediately felt myself calming. Henry had that effect on me. My anchor in the madness of the world.

  “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine,” I insisted with a shrug. A poor attempt to brush off my nerves. “Just shaken up after last week, you know?”

  “Why don’t you head back to the house and relax?” he replied and turned to grab the fishing rods from the boat. He spun around with a playful grin. “I’ll bring home supper.”

  I laughed, surprised by how good it felt. “Okay. You guys have fun.”

  Henry kissed me once more before running off after the kids who were playing happily on their swing set, my behaviour already long forgotten. Their cherubic faces pinched with laughter as Henry ran up and gave them each a big push, sending them soaring on their swings. The sounds of their innocent squeals of delight warmed my heart and forced my breathing to calm.

  I stood there on the sand and watched as Arthur and Audrey hopped down and followed Henry like two little ducklings. The three of them disappeared around the front of the house, toward the safety of the treeline on the other side of the road, away from the ocean and all the dangers that awaited them. I’d saved them this time, but how long could I continue with this? How long could I prevent my family from going to the ocean? And worse…

  How long until the siren lost her patience altogether?

  ***

  I closed the storybook in my lap and stood from the rocking chair that sat in the corner of the kids’ room. My old bedroom. Henry and I divided the space with two twin beds for Arthur and Audrey to share. Their sleeping faces were soft and pink. They slept soundly as I bent down to tuck them in and kiss those sweet little foreheads. They were my world. Two tiny creatures nestled in their beds; a stuffed animal gripped tightly in each of their arms. I would do anything for them. If only they knew the adventures I had while they were safe in my belly. I sometimes wondered if I would ever tell them. One day.

  As I was nearing the door, Audrey spoke. Her musical voice croaky and tired.

  “Why are you scared of the water, Mommy?”

  I spun around slowly and stepped softly back to her bed. “What do you mean, sweetie?”

  “You don’t like the ocean anymore?”