2

‘Mama. We have company.’

‘Oh, do we?’

My mother stood at the doorway of our little cooking hut, the Kumin, which was hand-built by my father and attached to the side of our cottage house.

Her hair had been hastily coaxed into a soft bun and her lips covered generously in a rose-coloured lipstick, something she hadn’t used since my cousin’s wedding five years ago. She’d also changed out of her faded floral shift dress and was now wearing her favourite going out skirt and a fitted t-shirt with a scarf knotted around her neck despite the heat. Word got around quickly here.

I grinned as my mother pretended to look surprised at the sight of Frano.

‘Mother, this is Frano Tollin, Frano, this is my mother, Maria.’

‘Pleased to meet you, Mrs...’

‘Please call me Maria,’ my mother said, her cheeks tinting pink as she drank in the visual sight that was Frano shirtless with damp, tailored pants clinging to his muscular thighs.

As Frano bent to press his lips against my mother’s hand, she threw me a quick wink. I knew what that excited wink meant. It meant that mother was happy with me for the first time in my life.

Perhaps she had visions of Frano sweeping us away from the bay and into a life of city lights and fancy apartments.

Thank God he was most likely lying about the bank accounts all over the world. I’d seen no sailing boat out in the bay. He was a stranger with only pants on his body and a knife. A handsome stranger. But a wealthy one? I’d have to see it to believe it.

And anyway. No amount of money would take me away from the ocean. I’d live and die in the ocean, like my father.

Mainland life would never be for me.

So, if Frano Tollin had designs on me, he’d have to understand that nothing could drag me away from my beloved ocean.

Nothing at all.

My mother shooed us away and into the kitchen and I hastily added an extra setting to the dinner table, which had already been set for the two of us.

My face burned with shame as I reached for a coffee mug from the credenza and quickly replaced my glass – one of the only two glasses in the house.

‘No. No. I prefer drinking from a mug. Please,’ said Frano, switching the glass I’d placed at his setting for the old brown mug.

I glanced up at Frano. Manners. Mama was going to love him. It was going to be a long and embarrassing night. I could tell.

‘If that is what you wish,’ I said.

Shortly after a prolonged and awkward silence, my mother entered the room and placed an enamel pot with a lid on it at the centre of the table.

Just as I was beginning to wonder how we’d share our two fishes between the three of us, mother surprised me by lifting the lid and revealing four grilled fishes.

Mother normally only prepares one each for us per day. The rest she sells.

‘I had a strange feeling that we’d need extra tonight.’ She threw me a wink. ‘God works in mysterious ways, my Nada. He surprises us sometimes.’

‘You mean the same God you’re always cursing about?’ I muttered.

‘Nada!’ My mother shot me a murderous look.

Frano grinned.

‘This looks delicious’, said Frano. He closed his eyes and inhaled the delicious fragrance of freshly grilled fish basted in garlic parsley and olive oil.

‘Of course it is delicious. My daughter caught this fish.’ My mother gazed at me with pride and I wondered if I'd ever seen it until now, because it felt so foreign at this minute.

Frano nodded at me, his brows raised, clearly impressed.

A soft smile curved his lips and again I felt myself blush in his presence.

‘You must show me your favourite fishing spot.’

My father’s voice instantly spoke up in my mind. As though his spirit had been waiting for somebody to ask.

‘My father shared with me sacred knowledge of our waters, handed down to him from his father and his father’s father before him. I do not share this knowledge to anyone. Not even my mother.’

‘Nada!’

I smiled a false smile at my mother, enjoying the playful look on Frano’s face. He liked that I wasn’t fawning all over him and falling at his feet. This man liked a challenge.

I did too.

‘Ladies please take a seat.’ Frano indicated the seats with a wave of his hand and after we realised he would not sit until we did, my mother shot me a look with raised brows as if to say this man has manners.

I knew that mother would be thinking of the city and thinking of what Frano could do for us. But when I looked at his handsome face and watched as he poured us our own home-made wine, I wondered other things.

Who was this man? Why was he here? Why did he wash up at our beautiful bay with only trousers, well-tailored trousers at that, and a knife strapped to his leg – a knife bedecked with jewels. I’d seen them glinting in the setting sunlight as we’d made the journey to my cottage.

He was handsome. Said he had money in banks all over the world. But all I really knew about him, about him as a person, was the fact that he gave me a stomach full of fluttery butterflies.

‘Frano,’ my mother said, between a mouthful of fish and a quick sip of wine. ‘What do you do for a living?’

Frano finished chewing his food and took a long drink of wine and after he swallowed he answered.

‘I deal with pearls.’ He glanced over the table at me and winked then turned his attentions back to my mother.

My mother's eyes widened. She couldn't have been more embarrassing.

‘Pearls you say? There must be a lot of money in pearls.’

‘Mama...’

I felt my mother's foot stamp on my little toe and I let out a small squeak, covering my mouth and swearing beneath my breath.

If my mother kept behaving like this, I would get up, run from the table, dive into the ocean and never return to this house again.

‘So Frano,’ I said. ‘Where do you come from? And what are you doing here in our little bay?’

My mother frowned at me. A curl of hair had fallen onto her forehead. She brushed it away angrily and turned to Frano and smiled.

‘Nada, surely this young man does not wish to give us his life story. Let him eat his dinner first.’ Mama dipped her fingers in the lemon water she had never once provided at the table in my entire life of eating fish. ‘Let us talk more about the pearl trade. I'm very interested in this. My husband, being a fisherman and all. Actually, my late husband, you know. Very sad. I live a very lonely life here. The village people all have their families. I’m all alone in my little cottage. I need to be where people are. A city. Like Split.’

She stared into space, then blinked and smiled at Frano. ‘My other daughter and my sister live in Split. I’d love to live there eventually, but...’ she shrugged. ‘Being a widow, I don’t have the money.’

I felt like sliding down my chair and melting under the table. My mother was beyond embarrassing.

Frano nodded his head in understanding.

‘I’m sorry to hear of your troubles. But you have a beautiful daughter for company. To have someone like Nada in your everyday life would be priceless,’ he said, staring right at me, a serious look on his face. I turned away because of the fluttering in my stomach.

‘Oh, Nada is not so priceless, believe me,’ my mother said, finishing her wine and placing the empty glass on the table. ‘She is stubborn like her father and I’m sure if she could grow fins and a tail she would dive into the sea and disappear forever.’

Frano’s gaze intensified as he stared at me.

‘How fascinating,’ he whispered, his gaze growing more heated until it was like staring into hot embers.

‘Now, about the pearls. Do you have any with you?’

Frano nodded. ‘I do.’ Then he half smiled at me. ‘But I'd like to answer Nada’s original question if you please.’

Mama sighed, rolled her eyes and stabbed her fork into the last of her fish.

‘Nada if I told you that I was from the most beautiful city in the world, you still wouldn't be able to guess where I'm from.’ He smiled at me and the twinkle in his eyes made me laugh.

I took a sip of wine and swirled the bittersweet liquid around in my mouth.

‘Okay, then.’ I thought for a long moment. ‘Paris?’

He shook his head.

‘New York?’

‘Do I sound like I have a New York accent?’ he said, speaking in a poor imitation of said accent. I giggled.

‘Rome,’ I said, arching one brow.

Frano shook his head once more, then he leaned across the table and patted the back of my hand at first, before he began stroking it. His touch sent lightning bolts of fire to my lower belly.

‘You can guess into the night and you will still never guess the name of my city, my little mermaid, Nada.’

It was strange. My father was the only other man to call me this. Was this a sign from my father in spirit? Was he telling me that this man was the man for me? Someone who loved the water as much as me? A man who emerged from the water as though he lived there?

I shook my head. No. I was being silly and creating wild tales inside my head. Mermaids or mermen didn’t exist.

‘Any more guesses? You’ll never guess, Nada. Never. Ever. Not unless I tell you myself. Or perhaps show you.’

Show me? Why was my mind imagining an underwater city? No. That couldn’t be true. I was being ridiculous. My father had told me too many tales of underwater cities when I was a child. It was something my mother had always scolded him about – filling my head with fanciful tales.

But I was curious. I needed to know as much as possible about this strange and beautiful man, Frano Tollin.

After we finished eating, mother dominated the conversation once more. In order to prevent me from derailing the conversation, she made me clear the table and wash the dishes myself, despite Frano’s offer to assist me. God only knows what she was speaking to him about.

By the time I finished cleaning up mother was heading towards our two tiny bedrooms, her arms loaded up to her chin with something – most likely fresh sheets.

She must have been making up my bed for Frano. My pulse quickened to imagine his face against my pillow, his naked body on my sheets.

‘Nada?’ Frano called from outside the cottage, where he stood beside our creeping wall of grapevines, heavy with sweet scented fruit.

I met his gaze and secretly admired the way the moonlight glinted against his now dry, raven hair.

‘Will you take a walk with me?’

I sighed with relief. A break from my mother. Yes. That is exactly what I needed.

‘Yes. I will. Thank you.’

‘Wonderful.’

Frano laughed. I was coming to like the sound of his laugh and considered saying something silly just to hear it. But I couldn’t think of anything even mildly amusing to say. The man had me dumb-struck.

‘I will show you the village. It’s a short five-minute walk.’

Frano reached out and took my hand into his own, bringing it to his lips. ‘I’d rather we sat on the beach and watched the water,’ he said, his voice husky, making my skin tingle with excitement. ‘If you don’t mind, that is.’

‘Okay.’ I didn’t need much encouragement. I always felt claustrophobic in town anyway. The ocean was so vast and open, so wide and un-stifling. It was the only place I felt truly comfortable.

When we sat down on the cool pebbles, the hypnotic hushing sound of the ocean lapping at the shore, I sighed with relief. My happy place.

‘You love the sea, I can tell.’

‘Yes. Always. My father took me fishing with him as soon as I could walk. I love it. I feel I am with him when I am at sea, as though I haven’t lost him.’

Frano took my hand again.

‘You sound like me. I love the sea so deeply it hurts to be away from it.’

A feeling of warmth spread across my heart. To find another soul, a stranger, who knew what it was like to be me, was crazy.

‘Where are you really from?’

Frano turned to face me and raised my head to meet his eyes with the gentle touch of his fingers.

‘I thought you’d never ask, Nada.’

My stomach swirled in anticipation and my heart pounded, despite my sensible head telling me to stop being stupid. That the man was obviously a rich boy who fell of his fancy yacht and needed a place to stay for the night. He probably wanted to spend a pleasurable night in bed with a wanting woman and that was that.

My stomach fluttered. Would I be a sinner if I wanted to spend a night with Frano? To share my body with a stranger? My mother would think so.

But to me, it sounded magical.

His blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight.

‘Nada. I am from an underwater city called Marin. It is a domed underwater city, with oxygen chutes so that we may breathe underwater. I am an explorer and came across it while looking for mermaids.’

I smiled, but the seriousness of Frano’s face took my smile away. He believed every word he said, I could tell by the intensity of his eyes.

‘Nada. The only way you will believe it will be to see it.’

I couldn’t breathe. He was either a madman or telling the truth.

‘Will you come with me, Nada? Will you come with me tonight?’

My pulse whooshed in my ears as my heart beat faster. Was this truly happening? Was I being offered by the most beautiful man I have ever met, to go see a magical underwater kingdom? Had I drowned at sea and died this afternoon? Because that is the only explanation I could come up with.

I stared out at the sea, willing the moonlit bay to give me a sign of some sort.

‘Nada. Please, speak to me. Do you think me strange?’ He leaned in closer. ‘Have I scared you, my love?’

My love. The words made my pulse race.

Why did I have such strong feelings for a stranger? Did this mean I was in love? Love at first sight? Is that what people were always talking about in books?

‘I am not scared, Frano. Just... perhaps of myself.’

He took my hand and pressed his warm lips at the centre of my palm and I gasped as my lower belly fluttered.

‘What are you so afraid of in yourself?’ He whispered. ‘What scares you?’

I moaned softly as he bent his head and started to kiss my neck. Tiny kisses that lit a hundred tiny fires across my skin.

When his lips reached mine, I slipped my arms around his neck and moved to sit on his lap.

Frano’s lips moved over mine softly at first, until the kiss became heated. I drew back when I felt his tongue brush mine but after a split second, allowed him in, letting him explore my mouth and me doing the same.

‘Oh Nada,’ Frano said, after several minutes of sensuous kissing that made my head spin. ‘I must return to my city. Will you come with me? Be my guest for as long as you wish?’ He drew back so that he could stroke my face and gaze into my eyes.

He seemed so sincere. But in the back of my mind I kept telling myself don’t listen to him. He only wants to have sex with you, right here and now. Then he’ll leave.

But I didn’t care. I wanted to play along with this wonderful fantasy that I wished and hoped was true.

‘Yes. I will come.’

Frano stiffened, his eyes wide.

‘Are you joking?’

I shook my head.

His mouth broke into a wide smile and he threw back his head and laughed then kissed me, hard on the lips.

‘Oh Nada, you have made me the happiest man alive. Now I have a Queen for my kingdom.’

My heart started pounding. Beneath the moonlight, beside the sea, Frano’s handsome face... none of this seemed real. I must have been dreaming.

‘You’re a king?’

He nodded. ‘Yes. I founded the city so I am the king. Come. We must leave as soon as possible.’

‘I need to get my things, pack something.’ Though I only had a few possessions, I didn’t need much.

‘No need. I will retrieve them when I return. But we must leave tonight. My people are expecting me.’

‘So, you weren’t really going to spend the night? Did you know I was going to say yes?’

He smiled softly. ‘No. But I hoped. If you had said no, I would have slipped out of your little cottage at midnight, returned to my people, and then returned here to court you again and again until you said yes.’

I laughed and it came out shaky.

‘Are you having second thoughts, my love?’

My heart swelled to be called ‘my love’ again by Frano.

Would I ever find a man like him? And if I said no my mother might force me into marriage with Jani in the city. I hated cities and the thought of Jani touching me was enough to make me want to retch. How would I survive a lifetime with someone that I had absolutely no attraction to, mentally, physically or emotionally?

Frano was my only lifeline into a new world – if he spoke the truth, that is. But I was willing to take that chance. Anything was better than life with Jani in the city.

‘No. I will come with you. But first, I need to say goodbye to my mother.’

Frano sighed and looked away.

‘I am so sorry, Nada, but your mother is on her way to the bus stop as we speak. She said a neighbour would drive her to the stop so that she may catch a bus, then take a boat to Split.’

My warm blood turned cold. No. Mama would never leave without saying goodbye. She wouldn’t. No matter how grouchy she was day in and day out, she still loved me. I knew this deep in my heart.

‘No,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘Why would she leave so suddenly? When did you discuss this? I should have been told.’ I jumped to my feet, the beach pebbles cool beneath my soles.

Frano stood and gently cradled my face in his hand.

‘Please don’t be upset when I say this, but... as soon as I handed over a little bag of pearls to your mother, she was off. While you were doing the dishes. She was making the bed for me, thinking I was going to stay the night. But she herself was not going to stay. She told me to say goodbye and that she’d write.’

‘Does she know about your underwater city or that I’m coming with you?”

Frano shook his head. ‘No. She doesn’t. But I have left a letter.’

‘About the underwater city? She’ll think you’re a madman and have the policija after you in a blink.’

‘No. I simply wrote that we were travelling the world on my yacht. It is best that she doesn’t know the truth. Don’t worry. She will be able to buy an apartment outright and more with the pearls I gave her.’

I nodded, feeling as though the life had been squeezed out of me. My mother had shown her true colours. I suppose that settled it. I had nobody here. Apart from my elderly neighbours on the hill beside us, whom I loved dearly, there was nobody left in the bay for me.

I gazed up at the stars and slowly smiled as they blinked down me. The moon seemed to be happy too. My father would be pleased too, I was certain of it.

In a sense, my mother had set me free. Perhaps I should thank her for her parting gift.

I reached for Frano’s hand.

‘I am ready.’

He brushed a lock of hair aside that the breeze had blown across my face and kissed my forehead.

‘Here. Take this.’ He pressed something to my lips. A pill of some sort.

Oh God. What was I doing? Placing my life in the hands of a stranger?

I closed my eyes and pictured my father smiling, urging me on to see this glittering underwater city.

‘I will see it through you, my little Nada.’

I parted my lips and Frano placed the small pill on my tongue.

‘Good girl.’ He stroked my face, my lips and kissed me too as I swallowed the pill.

‘The effects will be quick so listen carefully. I will take you to a pod and strap you into a shuttle with me and after a while we will find ourselves in the city of Marin. Do not be afraid for I will be with you all the way. You will wake up drowsy but I will see to it that you are safe until you feel whole again. Ready my love?’

Already his voice sounded far away, I turned and fell against him, he supported me as the bay around me, my tiny cottage on the hill and its tiny lights shimmered.

My beloved bay, Pupnatska Luka, blurred in front of my eyes and I whispered to my father, ‘stay with me.’

Everything turned black.