Ch. 26 - Resort Getaway

It was the start of another lovely day on Sunlit Tides as I made the children breakfast.  Since the girls were now in school I decided the old soul stone was due for some roughing up. 

"I want you all to be well behaved for your fathers while I'm at the resort.  And be sure to keep up with your homework, Cyrena that goes especially for you," I chided as she rolled her eyes.  Cyrena was really starting to become a handful with that rebellious attitude.

I had caught her skipping school the other day and her principal had called to inform me that her grade had dropped to a C.  She had been moody the past few weeks hopefully spending some quality time with the pack would do some good.

With the kids visiting with their fathers I threw a dinner party for my older children and their spouses.  Blasius and Lee annouced they were expecting and Alcander was fretting over the new sports car Octavio bought Kelly for his birthday.  

Of course after convincing them I had cleanup under control the dishwasher decided to break down.  After the zap it gave me while trying to fix it I'm positive the thing is in league with the oven.

And to top it all off I had gnomes.  The things were harmless really but once you got one more were bound to show up.

With a wave of my hand I cleaned myself up to call in a repair for the dishwasher.

I decided to give myself a new look since I would be staying at the Serenity Retreat Resort for a week during its grand opening.

Dressed in my beach resort best I set about the task of washing dishes.

Through the window I could see the girls finishing up the last of their homework.  From the sound of their giggles I knew Cyrena must have been telling them of the pranks she pulled on Blasius from the tree house.

With two teens itching to get behind the wheel I was not the least bit surprised when everyone missed the school bus with said teens more than willing to take one of the cars and drive to school.  I told Calictus and Cyrena the fate of their driving skill was in the hands of their father before piling them all into the van to head for school.

After dropping the children off I returned home to tend to my garden.  If all went well at the resort all the extra food would come in handy.

Once my harvest was brought in I got on my blog to let my followers know I'd be at the resort hosting cocktail parties during the opening.

Here it is Serenity Retreat Resort.  Not the largest of the resorts popping up around the island by far but I had a good feeling about the place and the man behind it.  Serenity was a nice little starter resort for the proprietor who had sunk everything he owned into it.  He had offered me use of the V.I.P suit during the grand opening and any other time I wanted with hopes of boosting his business.

"Aphrodite Divine checking in," I told the desk clerk.

"Oh yes Ms. Divine we've been expecting you! Your V.I.P room is ready.  There are wind surfing lessons starting in an hour if you'd like to attend, complementary of course."

The clerk's tag read Derick as his name.  "I'd be delighted Derick."

Wind surfing was fabulous!  I zipped around on the water while taking in the beautiful view of the island.  This is why I enjoyed coming here in the first place.  I was so happy to see it restored to its full glory once again.

After wind surfing I swam around leisurely in the water trying to deiced if I wanted my next father candidate to be a blond, brunette or red head.

"It's not safe to be swimming alone so far from the shore," said a voice that startled me from behind.

Brunette it was I decided when I turned to face him.  "You don't have to worry about me drowning.  I'm not your average swimmer." I told him giving him a dazzling smile.  "Should you be out here on your own sneaking up on solo swimmers instead of watching for sharks?"  

The man returned my smile with a gleam fierceness in his eye.  "The sharks learned long ago not to mess with me," he said before launching himself out of the water in a powerful and graceful arc over my head revealing his tail.  "I'm not your average swimmer either."  He winked at me before diving beneath the waves to disappear.

I tread water for a full five minutes alone staring blankly into the water.  A merman, I just met a mer-MAN!  I hadn't even thought about having a romance with one of them when I came to the mortal world because they are just that elusive.  Finding him again was my new goal during my stay at the resort.

Three days and a terrific tan into my week stay at the resort I had decided to end my search for the mysterious merman.  I needed to find a new father candidate before I left so I headed to the resort's bar to check for potentials.

"Bartender I ordered fish not these fried batter bits," said a familiar voice from behind me as I sipped my drink.  Time for some late night fishing I thought as I smiled into my drink.

"So you don't use any tools to catch fish at all?  You just snatch them up and eat them raw?"  I asked while joining the merman in the hot tub as he re-hydrated.

"The fish is more filling that way.  I find the other foods on land do not satisfy quite the same way."

"So what brings you land if not the food then?" I asked my curiosity piqued.   "Mermaids are the rarest of the rare sights seen on land."

"I'm looking for the goddess Aphrodite.  I heard that she restored this island and is living here now.  My people wanted to send her an offering as thanks for restoring the lost reefs of their ancestors."

I smiled my luck could not have been any better had I charmed myself.  "Well you are in luck," I said sliding into the seat next to him.  "I am Aphrodite patron goddess of Sunlit Tides.  So what was this offering you mentioned?"

The merman smiled then leaned over to capture my lips as thoroughly as I had been planing on capturing him.

He told me his name was Cody Ambrose and that he was the offering his people wanted to give to me.

I told Cody I didn't need a live in servant but he could help me in my quest to have one hundred children and keep me company for the duration of my resort stay.

Cody was anxious to please so we didn't waste any time in adding to the merfolk population of the island.

After plenty of sun, surf and Cody I invited him over to the temple when it was time to check out.

This lovely little speed boat was waiting for me when I got home.  The card and bouquet of flowers said it was a thank you gift from Serenity's owner.  Business was booming and he was already looking at locations for a larger second resort.

Cody would be leaving soon to announce that we were expecting and help with the restoration of the ancient dwellings in the reef.  I just wanted him to try one food of the dry land that he had to love.

"Snow cones can help keep you hydrated and they are pretty tasty too.  The kids would eat them all the time if I left this out year around," I told Cody as I made his cone.

Cody took one bite of the snow cone and inhaled it and three more after it.

"Life on Sunlit Tides is going to be amazing," he sighed contentedly.