The Saturday night before I left for Maine, Evelyn begged me to read her a bedtime story. Amused, I agreed, but when she showed me the front cover of the book, I choked on my tea.

The Selkie Bride: A Scottish Folktale

"Are you sure you want me to read that to you?" I chuckled nervously, "Don't you want to keep reading that one Egyptian mythology book?"

"I finished that one on my own, Sam! I want to read this one!" She held up the book, and wiggled it back and forth, "You promised to read the one I picked!"

I sighed, the air coming out uneven.

"Alright, c'mon. Let's go upstairs."

"Yippee!" She shouted, dancing ecstatic little entrechats all the up the stairs.

As we settled in, Evelyn nestled in the crook of my arm, I opened the picture book conscientiously.

Chickening out, I slammed the book shut again.

"You know what, aren't you a little old for picture books? Let's go find a good ol' fashioned chapter book. I'll read double tonight--"

"Sam~, you promised~." She pouted, lower lip quivering.

Swayed by her puppy dog eyes—the girl could cry on cue!--I sighed, and relaxed back onto the bed. Opening to the title page, I read, a bit ruefully,

"The Selkie Bride: A Scottish Folktale."

I paused and turned to her, eyebrow raised quizzically,

"You really want to read this?"

"Mm-hmm!" She nodded emphatically up at me, then refocused on the book.

"Oh-kay then! Here goes nothing."

This is starting to sound more like a siren story than anything else. Are we reading the right book?

I continued reading.

"Uh oh," I commented, as I turned the page, pointing to the accompanying picture, "what is the fisherman doing there?"

Evelyn answered quickly,

"He's holding a seal, and a girl is crying!"

"Why would the girl be crying?"

She thought for a minute, then inferred,

"Maybe he hurt one of her friends and took them?"

"Maybe, let's find out."

Butterflies danced in my stomach, and my throat was dry, but I thought I said something that appeased my sister, and continued to read.

My heart dropped into my stomach. Was that how Andrei felt? Because I was human and had taken his coat? But I'd given it back right away! Was he stuck on land with me, now that we were... engaged? Dating? Were we even doing that?

I kept reading in a daze.

"I don't like that fisherman. He's mean to the girl and won't let her go." Evelyn stated, matter-of-fact and a frown on her face.

"Me too, kiddo. Me, too." I agreed, somberly.

My heart, already nestled in the pit of stomach, ached. My mind had started to overlay Andrei's face and voice onto the girl's. Instead of a girl with long, ginger locks and pearlescent skin, and tears streaming down her face, I saw a young man with long, sandy blond hair, deep brown eyes that lit up like brandy in the noon-day sun, and prominent smile lines pulled down into a frown, tears pouring down his own face, too.

Shaking myself, I turned the page.

Evelyn gasped,

"Her son is going to help her! She's going to escape!" She gently slapped my forearm multiple times in a row.

"I'm not a high-hat, dude, chill!"

I reprimanded, moving my arm out of her reach.

"Sorry~, keep reading, please!"

I shook my head, a slight smile tugged at the corner of my mouth, but it disappeared as soon as I took in a shaking breath.

"She's free! She's free!" Evelyn cried, ecstatic for the selkie girl-now-woman.

At every 'free' my sister gave, my heart panged.

"I'm so glad she went home. I think her family was sad she left, but happy she was with her friends again." Evelyn speculated, cuddling into her warm comforter.

"Thanks for reading to me, Evelyn. I'm gonna miss you when you go back to Michigan."

My aching heart softened and I ruffled her hair.

"I'll miss you, too, kiddo. I'll see you in the morning."

She 'mm-mm'ed' an affirmative, and I turned off the lights as I left the room. Down in the living room, the adults and the older cousins were chatting. I stayed there for a bit, vaguely remembered answering a few questions about when my flight left, before I found myself alone on the porch outside.

Noticing tension in my hand, I looked down to see I still held onto the selkie picture book.

I sat down on the bench, and gently rested the book beside me.

She'd loved him.

She'd loved him, but left anyways.

She didn't belong on land, she belonged to the sea, just as the fisherman belonged to the land, but never the sea.

The fisherman forced her to stay in a place she didn't belong for his own sake.

He disregarded her own needs for his own.

Was I doing the same to Andrei?

A tear trickled down my cheek as a coyote wailed in the distance.

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