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Akil set off for the beach, standing on the edge and looking out across the sands. It was busy, families gathered for picnics and groups of teens sunbathing and splashing in the waves. He scanned the scene carefully, looking for a single figure walking alone, but couldn’t see Clem anywhere. He was going to have to play this one by instinct. He navigated his way through the crowds, until he reached the quieter section a little further away from the harbour. There was still no sign of her.
‘Where are you, Clem?’ he muttered, looking around, his attention snagged by a piece of material waving in the wind, the same green as the dress Clem had been wearing earlier. He walked over to see the dress neatly folded on a rock, her shoes underneath and, turning, he looked out at the sea. There she was, swimming strong and sure like the naiad he called her, complete in her own natural habitat.
Akil didn’t stop to think, unfastening his shirt, kicking off his trainers and discarding his trousers, leaving his clothes in a heap on the sand beside her dress. He walked quickly into the surf and struck out to join her.
The sea was coolly refreshing, filling him with hope and anticipation as he recalled the last time they’d swum together and the time before that—swimming usually ended up with them in bed, salty damp limbs curled around each other. It didn’t take him long to reach her; she’d stopped to tread water, her face tilted up to the sky, and he swam up to face her.
‘Nice day for a swim,’ he said, and she started, submerging for a second then resurfacing with a gasp. His heart pounded at the sight. She was in her underwear, a pale lemon lace, that clung to her wet curves, her hair sleeked back.
‘You scared me,’ she said through her splutters.
‘I scared you? You’re not the one who found a small pile of clothes on the beach with no sight of you to be had,’ he pointed out and she smiled up at him.
‘I was bored waiting for you and the water looked so refreshing. I feel more like me when I’m in the sea, like a different person, a better person.’
‘I’m sure you were a mermaid in a different life.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said suddenly, the smile dimmed. ‘I am so sorry for what I said earlier today. It’s not that I didn’t love you, that I don’t love you. I do, Akil.’
‘I know,’ he said—and he did know. Knew with every fibre in him.
‘But I was scared. Scared of what my life might be like here if my father decides he doesn’t want me here, scared of what my life would be like if you tired of me, if you found me too complicated. Your life is so different from mine, Akil, what you need in a partner is so different from who I am. It’s not as if you’re unaffected by Court decisions. If my family don’t want me around then that will affect you. Affect things that are important to you. I don’t want that to happen to you, but, more than that, I don’t want to see the look on your face when you realise I’m hampering your career, that I’m in the way. I’ve seen the look before, you see, on my father’s face. I couldn’t bear to see it on yours.’
Akil fought to find the right words. ‘Clem, you will never see that look on my face, because I will always be proud of you, always want you by my side. I don’t know what the future holds for you and your family, although I hope it will be better than what you anticipate, but even if they wanted to banish you completely, never recognise you, I’d still be proud to call you mine. I’ll always be proud that you’re mine. And you are mine,’ he said possessively fiercely, exultant as she nodded.
‘I said that all I wanted was someone to love me, and put me first, then here you were offering me just that and I was too terrified to reach out and take it. I’m still scared, Akil,’ she admitted. ‘I like to project this image of myself as fearless, and in some ways I am, I can go on stage in front of thousands without a single nerve, but when it comes to my heart I’m the biggest coward of all.’
‘I meant what I said, Clem. I love you and you will always have a home with me if you want one. I don’t want some dull and respectable marriage of convenience to further my career, I want a straight-talking, big-hearted English girl who is happiest in the sea, and thinks nothing of trying to cram twenty activities into one day. I want you and I love you, and I think you and I can do great things here in Asturia; you’re alreadydoinggreat things.’ He swam closer and touched her cheek, willing his truth into her. ‘The work you have started in the hospital is inspiring, Clem. I meant what I said earlier. I’m sure we can find ways to expand it if that’s what you want. But if your family make it too difficult for you to be here and that really hurts you, then I’m open to other possibilities. I’m not saying it would be easy, politics isn’t really the kind of career that translates well to other countries, but I’ve had invitations to lecture before and offers of fellowships. I could make it work.’
Clem gazed at Akil wonderingly. ‘You would do that for me?’
He smiled into her eyes. ‘I hoped you might know by now that I would do anything for you.’
It wasn’t just the words, it was the sincerity in his voice and Clem knew that he meant every word, that Akil would walk away from the promise he’d made his father, from the title, from his life here if she asked him to, not because it would be easy or he wanted to, but because her happiness mattered to him. But that kind of strength had to run both ways.
‘I don’t want to run away. I love it here. I love it here because of you, because of the Asturia thatyoushow me, the country thatyoulove. The country you dedicate yourself to with your job, with the volunteering you do, with everything you are. How could I not love it? You inspire me with everything you do. I hope that if I stay I can be the kind of asset you need. I’m not really sure how to work a room, but I can learn. It’s just another form of acting after all.’
Akil laughed at that, pulling her closer, and she moved in to meet him, her hands on his shoulders, legs entwined as his lips met hers in a brief kiss that sent them both back under the surface. She held onto him as she kicked her way back up, kissing him again as soon as they hit the air.
‘My naiad,’ he said, smoothing her hair off her face, and she leaned into the caress. ‘Could you bear to come back to shore?’
‘Maybe this once,’ she said, holding his hand as they made their way through the waves back to where they’d abandoned their clothes. It was still so warm that the water began to dry on her skin as soon as they left the sea, and she pulled her dress over her underwear while Akil shrugged his shirt back on, leaving it open. She reached out to run her hand down his chest, enjoying the play of muscles and his intake of breath.
‘I’ve got something for you,’ he said, looking uncharacteristically nervous as he picked up his jeans and slid his hand into the pocket. ‘I don’t want you to feel like you never have a home, Clem. This is yours, for always, to use every day, I hope, but if not whenever you want to.’ Clem blinked as she looked at the key, attached to a beautiful turquoise oval of sea glass.
‘What’s this?’
‘It’s a key to my apartment,’ Akil said, smiling down at her. ‘You said the first time you visited that it felt home like. I’m glad you think so because I’d like it to be your home for a while at least. Maybe at some time we could look for a place together, somewhere by the sea, with direct access so you can swim to your heart’s content.’
She turned it over, letting the sea glass catch the sun and watching the metal glinting, the symbolism almost more than she could take in. ‘You’ve given me a key?’
‘Maybe it’s not the most romantic of gifts...’
‘It is, it’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever received.’ She stepped over the sand and cupped his face in her hands, kissing him fiercely, putting all her love and longing into the embrace. ‘It’s perfect, Akil, it’s absolutely perfect. Thank you, and yes, I would love to have a key to your apartment and yes, I would love to stay there with you and one day move to a house by the sea. I need to go back to Cornwall first. I need to pack up my mother’s things and decide what I need and move Gus across. I hope Tiger won’t mind a roommate.’
‘I know parliament is due back, but I would love to come with you, to see the place you grew up and meet your friends.’
‘That would be perfect. I don’t believe in ghosts, but the cottage still feels like my mother. I would love her to meet you. I know that sounds silly...’
