Sydney

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

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It was a bright beautiful day out. I was ready for my wedding! Halloween was near. I was out shopping for flowers. And for a necklace set to wear at my wedding. Mother and gram ordered a cake for the wedding. Things were falling into place for Finn and I. Rafe was staying at home with my gram while Charlotte and Riley took me out shopping while Finn was at work.

"So how are things at work?" I ask Charlotte as I look around a little store at the mall.

"Jordan is being a pain. He is making my life a living hell now that you have been gone" mutters poor Charlotte as we check out a*****e. I wanted to find these ladies perfect bridesmaids' dresses. But what could a mermaid wear? Crystal was going to be my maid of honor. This was going to be a tough one.

"What is Jordan doing now?" I ask her curiously.

"I barely got the time off for this! He makes me work late. Being harder on me since Finn escaped. He is watching my every move. I swear to you Syd, he followed me home in his old crappy car when I stopped to pick up Finn" warns Charlotte. Jordan had always been a creep. But this was getting to be a bit much!

"What does Jordan have to do with Finn?" wonders Riley.

"Jordan knows there are merpeople. He had hired me to track them down. He kidnapped poor Crystal and Finn. Then Charlotte, gram and I had to save them" I explain to Riley.

"He is looking for Finn. And his family" warns Charlotte.

"We will keep them safe. I will never let anything happen to Finn's family" I promise Charlotte.

"Would that Jordan guy try to get Hudson?" worries Riley.

"Does someone care for Hudson?" I tease my cousin. Her face turns a little red.

"He asked me to be his date at the wedding. I agreed. He only is interested in me because of that true love spell. He does not really like me. He wants to be human like his brother" laughs Riley.

"You never know. Those Orland brothers are super sweet. You could lose your heart to Hudson" warns Charlotte.

"Hudson and I are only friends. That is all" laughs Riley. She looks away. Her poor face was a bright red. I think someone did have a crush on Hudson though.

"Yes Jordan would kidnap Hudson and Crystal if he saw them out in the open" I warn Riley. "He will stop at nothing. He would sell them to the black market. Or even worse. The government"

"Horrid man" grumbles Riley. I nod.

"I will never let anything happen to Hudson" she warns me. I grin.

"Someone does care for Hudson" I point out.

"I do care about him" she admits. She grins shyly.

"Like I said those brothers are handsome. I would snap one up quick" jokes Charlotte.

"They are handsome" I agree with her.

"Look Syd what about these colors?" Riley changes the subject as she picks up a dress off the racks. The dress was a pretty warm fall color. A light brown. The middle of the dress had a little orange bow tied in the middle of it.

"Beautiful" I say. It was pretty perfect. "But what about Crystal? How am I going to get a mermaid dressed up?" I giggle.

"Well maybe just get her matching headbands for our hair" suggests Charlotte.

"Good thinking Lincoln" I joke as she grin.

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I have the ladies try on the dresses there. Charlotte and Riley loved the dresses. So we got them. Then Charlotte helped me pick out fancy head pieces to wear. One that hopefully Crystal would love to wear also in the wedding. This was the wedding of a life time. A merfamily and humans joining forces! This was huge! I kind of felt like royalty. A little bit.

"I can't believe you and Finn are really getting married. Here we never thought you could be with him" Charlotte reminds me.

"I know! I am so happy" I gush. She hugs me after we head home from a good trip to the mall. Charlotte drops Riley and I off at the house. I notice my father was there sitting on the front porch. Holding little Rafe. My heart about stops.

"Dad?" I stammer as I rush to greet him.

"Did you think I would miss out on my only daughter's wedding?" he says softly.

"Dad, I am glad you are here" I tell him. I hug his neck.

"Where is your wife?" I ask him.

"I did not get married. I did not feel right about it after all. We broke up" he explains to me. "We were to different"

"Oh wow. Dad, I am sorry" I say softly.

"Good to see you uncle. I will be in the house showing the others the dress" Riley excuses herself as she heads in the house.

"I was having a midlife crisis. I was. I did not handle it well" he sighs.

"I am glad you are here" I tell him.

"You are?" he wonders.

"Of course! You can walk me down the aisle at my wedding. If you want" I offer.

"Of course I want that! I wish you could have told me you were having a baby. I missed out on so much" he sighs as he hugs Rafe.

"There is a lot more to tell you" I giggle. "I can't wait for you to meet Finn"

"I look forward to that" father tells me as he smiles.

"Come on inside" I say. He gets up as he holds little Rafe as we walk inside the house.

"Look at these dresses! They are perfect!" gram tells the others as Riley shows off her new dress.

"You did well picking these out Syd" says mother.

"Riley found them" I say.

I wanted to go find Crystal to see if she would approve of the head pieces.

"I am going to find Crystal" I tell my family.

"Who is that dear?" father wants to know.

"Crystal is my soon to be sister in law. She is my maid of honor" I explain. "You can always find Crystal at the beach"

"Have fun" father tells me.

"Riley want to come?" I ask my cousin. She nods.

"Let me change first. I would love to see Hudson" she says. She smiles and heads to my room to change her clothing.

"Did you hear your father did not marry after all?" mother whispers to me suddenly.

"I know. He told me. Think you and dad would ever try to get back together?" I cannot help but ask.

"That ship has passed. No sorry" mother tells me. "I want the best for him though"

"Too bad" I say. Mother nods.

"I am ready!" calls out Riley as she comes back out.

"Let's go to the beach!" I say as I grab the bag with the head piece. I plan a kiss on Rafe's cheek before heading down to the beach with Riley.

"Crystal? Hudson?" I call out once we were down to the ocean's waters.

No answer. No one was out swimming. A few folks were power walking along the beach.

"Crystal? Hudson?" I call out.

"Hudson?" calls out Riley.

Nothing.

We walk down the beach to see if we can spot them some place. Nothing.

"Syd! Sydney come look over here! This looks bad!" calls out Riley with worry. We were under the boardwalk. There were some fishing nets under them. Large ones. I wade in the cold waters to see what they were. And why they were there. My heart begins to pound faster.

"Jordan" I mutter softly.

"Think he planted these here?" she wonders.

"I know so" I grumble with anger building up in me.

I began to pull the nets to the surface that were hooked up under the board walk. There were so many! I could not reach all of them! I see a note on the net. I pull it off. It was a tag. It read "Property of Jordan Do Not Remove" I rip the tag off.

"Crystal! Hudson!" I call out desperately. Nothing.

"We have to get Charlotte, gram and Finn. Something is wrong. I feel it. Something is really wrong" I tell Riley. She nods. We head back to the house as fast as our legs would carry us.

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