A dark head bobbed up. Sarah held her breath, entranced. Even Ginger froze, one paw flexed and velveted. How many times had she been this close, in her lifetime? Her mother Faithie told her of her own christening, but she was a baby. That was the first. The second time was when she was twelve and alone in a sailboat and lost in the fog. The mermaid nudged the boat toward Seal Rock and parked it there (close to the greatly affronted seal family) until the fog cleared and her bemused mother rescued her. Her wedding day. The christening of her little Lydia. Every hurricane that slammed into the little island. All the times that had mattered—Kiereyes was there.

Kiereyes