Evermore by Brenda Pandos Page B

looking for you.” She stopped, smile melting away. “What’s wrong?”
    I choked down a swallow, my mind too overloaded to be mad at Lucy for lying. Even if Fin had asked for my hand in marriage, we’d need to get married now before I showed. I had wanted more time before we sprung the wedding on them, on everyone.
    “Oh, nothing.” I tried to smile, appreciative that Mom had been a lot nicer lately. A baby, as horrible as it sounded, would ruin everything.
    “Are you sure?”
    I opened my mouth to tell her, then closed it. All I’d ever wanted was a close relationship where I could tell my mother anything. But with this, I didn’t even think I could tell Fin.
    Then my heart stopped. Pearl. I had to stop her from saying anything before it was too late.
    “I just remembered something.”
    Darting out of the house, I ran down the path to the beach toward Fin’s dock. Heart pounding, I scanned the houseboat, not seeing them. I let out a groan, then slumped to the sand.
    Nothing was working out as expected, and though it would disappoint everyone, I knew we shouldn’t hold the wedding. What we should be doing is figuring out how to erase me from history.
    “Ash?” Fin called from the houseboat.
    I twisted toward him, barely keeping my tears inside. A frown disfigured his lovely face. He’d been working so hard to make everything as normal as possible for me, even to the point of convincing his dad to build us a cottage.
    He crossed the yard and walked over to me. “What’s going on? Where did you drive off to?”
    “I…” I swallowed down the lump growing in my throat.
    He moved closer, then gently took my shoulders between his hands. My muscles stiffened under his palms.
    “What’s wrong? You’re scaring me.”
    “Nothing.”
    His blue eyes were intent on mine. “What did Pearl say to you? Is this about the wedding?”
    I ground my teeth together. If I told him I was pregnant, he’d want to sing my problems away and elope. “Where did Desirée go?”
    “They went back home.”
    I let out a soft sigh. Knowing the closeness of their relationship, Pearl would tell Desirée everything and then my secret would be out.
    “You don’t want Girra here, do you?”
    I tried to think, but couldn’t. “It’s not that.”
    “It’s Tatchi, isn’t it?”
    I shook my head, my heart racing.
    “It is. Just tell me, Ash. I’ll do whatever to fix it.”
    “It’s not something you can fix,” I blurted out.
    His jaw grew taut. “What do you mean?”
    My eyes prickled with tears. “I don’t think we should have the wedding.”
    “What?”
    “Let’s just elope and be done with it.”
    His expression hardened. “Wait, what?”
    “I don’t need all of this fuss.”
    “Okay,” he said slowly, eyes tight. “I don’t know what’s going on, but eloping won’t solve anything. We’re technically already married in mer culture though we didn’t have a ceremony. But that’s the reason we’re having a wedding. To satisfy your human culture along with the mer.”
    “Our human culture,” I corrected.
    Fin took my hands. “Ash, I’m not human, and technically, neither are you. I only live here. Everything else is… pretending for us.”
    “I see.” Though he was right, his words cut me like he’d rejected a part of me. I dropped his hands and swiveled away from him.
    “Ash, please,” he begged.
    My mom appeared on the trail, waving at me.
    I pushed the tears off my cheek, then grated. “Don’t you dare sing to her. You hear me?”
    I popped to my feet and left him there to greet my mom.
    “Hey,” she said as she approached. “I’ve been calling…”
    She stopped and frowned.
    “I don’t have my phone on me.”
    “Ash, what is wrong?” she asked. “You haven’t been the same since you’ve been home. Is everything okay at school? With Fin?”
    She put her arm around my shoulders, and something inside my stomach fluttered. Was it the baby? I withheld my gasp and held my tummy. “I’m