The Ocean's Daughter (Sequel to Sirene)

Chapter 18

The long awaited wedding day proved to be rather cloudy, but at least there was no rain. Beth was so nervous she had trouble eating anything for breakfast. Miss Patterson fussed how she might faint while walking down the aisle, and this frightened Beth into taking a little nourishment.

Much to her relief, Beth did not go into a swoon during the wedding procession and everything went just the way she had hoped. Robert stood at the altar with the priest and his cousin James, who was serving as his best man. Even Oceana was on her best behavior and didn't come up with any smart comments during the ceremony.

"I now pronounce you Man and Wife."

Oceana smiled broadly as Robert leaned over and kiss the now Mrs. Blackwood. How happy she was for her friend. "Oh God, help them to have a very happy life." Oceana silently prayed.

The wedding reception was a small, but never the less grand affair. Oceana was busy trying to hide from a young gentleman who had been ogling her ever since she had followed Beth into the church. She guessed he must be one of Dr. Blackwood's relatives. She was so busy looking behind her to make sure she wasn't being followed; she failed to notice the person standing in front and collided straight into her.

"Thousand apologies," Oceana sputtered.

"Ah Oceana, I still see you do not watch where you are going," Miss Morgan said with a smile. "Don't trouble yourself, I am not hurt."

"Oh, Miss Morgan, how wonderful to see you again." Oceana stated, while inwardly cringing. Miss Morgan had not changed greatly, she was a little bent and her hair was completely grey. But she still carried herself with a great dignity and respect.

"It is good to see you too, Oceana. To think I have not seen you in nearly ten years. You have certainly grown to be a very beautiful young woman. Miss Patterson tells me you are a school teacher now?"

"Yes ma'am, I teach at the village school."

"And how do you find teaching?"

"I like it very much. There is nothing I love more than being surrounded by children. Though of course there are plenty of challenges."

"I should say. Now you understand how hard it was for your teachers."

"I am sorry for all the trouble I caused." Oceana's eyes searched for a way out of this awkward situation.

"That is alright, I am sure you learned a great deal during your stay with us. Though why you chose to ran away is still a mystery to me."

"I just wanted to be with the people I loved most." Oceana caught her escape. Not far off she noticed Leslie Morrely serving herself some punch. "If you will excuse me, Miss Morgan, there is someone I must talk too. It was wonderful to see you again, and I wish to thank you for all the hard work you did for me. Those years at the orphanage were good for me and I learned a lot. Once again, I am sorry if I made it hard for you." Oceana curtsied and hurried off to where Leslie was standing. She was about to call out to her, but at the right moment, Leslie turned and caught sight of Oceana.

"Why, if it isn't Miss Oceana," Leslie exclaimed. "I am so glad to see you in London again. We didn't see or hear from you ever since you left. You remained quite the mystery you wanted too."

"It is good to see you again, Mrs. Morrely."

"Oh, I beg of you, call me Leslie, and I shall call you Oceana. There is no need to be so formal, we know each other from before."

"Very well, Leslie, it is a lovely name. How have you been these two years? Have you heard from your husband?"

"Heard from him, I should say so, he is present at the wedding. Robert, dear, come over here." Leslie waved to her husband.

"Is it just me, or are there too many Roberts in this world." Oceana couldn't help thinking to herself as Captain Morrely came over to where they stood and gave a bow.

"Ah, Miss Oceana, how glad I am to see you. You make a lovely bride's maid."

"Thank you, Captain Morrely," Oceana curtsied at the compliment.

"Now, I hate to interrupt your conversation with my wife, but I must steal her for the next dance. I must confess I am quite starved for her company."

"Seriously, Robert," Leslie blushed at these words.

"Well my dear, it has been a very long year for the two of us. Speaking of separation, my dear Miss Oceana, there is a young man here who has been very curious as to where you have disappeared too." Captain Morrely smiled mischievously at Oceana and with a bow led his wife away to the dance floor.

Oceana bit her lip as her eyes began carefully scrutinizing the crowd of guest. Of course, when Leslie had said Captain Morrely was present, Oceana had guessed that if the captain had returned, the rest of the crew must have returned with him, but she didn't expect Wesley to be at the wedding. There, she caught sight of him. He was dressed in full uniform, his tall form making it easy to spot . He had his back turned towards her, and from the way he was peaking above the crowds, she guessed he was trying to find her.

An impish smile appeared on Oceana's lips. This had to be played out correctly. She made her way to where Wesley stood, careful to come from the back so he wouldn't notice her. As soon as she was standing directly behind him, she took a deep breath and spoke out.

"If the shoe fits, I'll wear it."

Wesley whirled around and a smile crept onto his face when he found himself staring into the seaweed colored eyes. "Miss Oceana," he sputtered, "what shoe?"

"The one you asked me to leave behind after the ball so you could find me later. Didn't you see it, behind the pumpkin, in the courtyard? You had better have it because I want it back!"

Wesley put his hand to his mouth to try and suppress his chuckle. "And if I return it to you, will you in turn agree to this next dance with me?"

Oceana lifted an eyebrow as though deep in thought. "Well, it seems like a fair trade. I am free to dance at the moment anyway."

"Excellent." Wesley extended Oceana his hand and Oceana gracefully took it. Wesley couldn't hide his look of admiration as he led Oceana to the dance floor. The two years he had not seen her had been very kind to her. If he had thought her beautiful when he first laid eyes on her, now she was perfection itself.

"Only I should warn you, I am terriblly out of practice." Oceana said as the music started.

"Don't worry, I'm the one leading."

"I do have one question for you, Lt. Chesterton. I don't quite remember seeing you on the guest list. That being the case, how did you get in and what are you doing here?"

Wesley laughed. "I tagged along with Captain Morrely. He said he could get me in without any trouble. I shall be honest and say my one motive for coming was in the hopes of seeing you."

"How very wicked, Lieutenant."

"Desperate is a better word I think. But then, I was present at the engagement ball and I figured I might as well be present at the wedding. Only I do find it a little strange that Miss Warren was engaged to a Mr. Burmmington and ended marrying a Mr. Blackwood. How did that come about?"

"Oh my," Oceana groaned, then let out a giggle. "It is a long, complicated story, and not one I'm going to tell right now. So much has happened since you went away. How long have you been back?"

"Our ship docked in London some two weeks ago. I have been given a full two months leave. Where I will sail after that I still do not know. May I ask how long you will be in London?"

"A full month. I promised to keep Miss Patterson company while Beth is away on her honeymoon."

"Is that so?" Wesley smiled with satisfaction. "In that case, I do hope I shall see more of you while you are here."

***

"Good lord, what is he doing here?" Beth caught sight of Wesley dancing with Oceana.

"Who?" Robert asked.

"That Lieutenant, Wesley Chesterton. I didn't know he was here! He must have come with Captain Morrely and his wife. And look at that, he already found Oceana."

"You know him from before?"

"Yes, Oceana met him on her last visit to England. He was very taken with her and she enjoyed his company very much."

"Do you think it could lead somewhere?" Miss Patterson, who had been standing next to the newlyweds, asked.

"I don't know," Beth slowly replied. "They hardly know each other. He set sail for India and has only recently returned."

"He is in the navy, which means he will constantly be away at sea, that does put him a little on the downside. But then he is related to William Chesterton, so that makes him a pretty good catch. I have no doubt Lt. Chesterton is nothing short of a perfect gentleman and I think Oceana could do a lot worse."

"Miss Patterson, are you planning to turn match maker?" Robert looked at the woman with eyebrows raised.

"I won't have anything better to do while you are away. If he is as taken with Oceana now as he was two years back, I won't be surprised if he comes to call on us soon. I suppose I will take it from there."

"Only be careful, Miss Patterson," Beth pleaded. "The two of them are not what they present themselves to be."

"Beth my dear, don't be ridiculous. If I can somehow get Oceana a good husband, I shall do just that. And seeing as he is a sailor, and Oceana has a love for anything that has to do with sea, this may all be a lot easier than we think."

"All I ask is that you are careful, Miss Patterson. I never thought I would say something like this, but Oceana does claim to be half mermaid, and you know mermaids and sailors never boast of having happy love stories."

"Goodness me, Elizabeth, what is this nonsense? This is not some silly fairytale, you know as well as I do that Oceana's claim is foolish and the sooner she grows out of it the better. Everything will be just perfect, we've just got to give it a little time and prodding, and who knows, we may be celebrating another wedding before the year is up."

Beth smiled and looked back at where Oceana and Wesley were just finishing their dance. She sincerely hoped everything Miss Patterson was saying was true.

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So yay, Lt. Chesterton is back. Things will start getting pretty interesting now :) NaNoWriMo is starting this tomorrow, and that will take up a lot of my time, but I still plan to update this story weekly. Chapter 19 will be posted on Monday, November 3rd, and after that updates will be every Monday :)

Thanks to everyone who is reading/following, I'm soooooo thankful :) I really never thought this story would go very far when I started writing it :)