Rita has a 'Tiny' Secret

Veridia was drying herself off when another mermaid swam into the private pool, her head popped above water and she smiled, “Hello Veridia”

Veridia didn’t recognize her from the pod, or any of the other pods that they had visited over the few years they were away, “Hello?”

The mermaid pulled herself out of the water with practiced ease, she began drying her tail and she finished before Veridia. However that might have been because she was distracted at trying to figure out who the mermaid was.

The mermaid in question walked through the grotto looking for Rita, not finding her she decides to go into the main house. She gets to the kitchen when she spot sher, “MOM”

Rita turns around and her face lights up, “Ridia”, she walks around the counter just as Ridia slams into her, hugging her.

“I’ve missed you mom”

Rita hugs her back, “I did too, are you done with learning abroad?”

Ridia smiles, “I think that might be, I’ve been thinking about going to school at the highschool in town”

“I think I know someone who could pull some strings”

Ridia walked around and sat on the counter, “Really?”

They both tried to keep a straight face, but it wasn’t easy, they both ended up laughing. When they got themselves together Ridia thought it might do good to tell her mom about the visitor downstairs, “By the way mom, Veridia is down stairs”

Rita’s face lit up again, but a different kind of happiness crossed her face, “I suppose she needs me, I’ll be right back sweetie”

Ridia pursed her lips, “Yep, before or after you kiss her”

Rita stopped in her tracks, “What?”

Ridia laughed and jumped off the counter, she walked over to her mother and took her hands in her own, “I know that look, it’s the same one you had when you look at pictures of my father, I would know that look even if you tried to hide it”

“Hide what?”

They both turned to see Veridia walked towards them, Ridia let go of Rita’s hands, “Nothing”

Veridia looked skeptical, “Who are you, by the way?”

Ridia extended her hand, “Harriet Veridia Santos”

Veridia froze, she looked at Rita who was avoiding eye contact, Veridia took Ridia’s hand and shook it, “Nice to meet you, Santos you said”

Ridia nodded, “Yes, and I’m beginning to think my mom didn’t tell you about me”

Veridia looked at Rita, “You have a daughter?”

Rita nodded, “Yeah, I had her shortly after Harry died, hence why her first name is Harriet”

Veridia looked back at Ridia, “What do I call you, because I doubt you grew up getting called Harriet”

Ridia smiled, “Everyone pretty much calls me Ridia, unless I’m at a formal thing, then I get Veridia”

Veridia nodded, then looked back at Rita, “Is there a reason that her middle name is my first?”

Rita paled, of course she knew that Veridia now knew that, but she had really hoped it would just slip her mind and that she wouldn’t ask about it, “It was” she tried to clear her throat by coughing, “The doctor asked me for her name, and I had only ever thought about her first name”

Veridia nodded, “And so when you needed to provide a middle name?”

Rita started wringing her hands together, “It was the first name that I thought of”

Ridia looked between the two of them, then she nodded shortly and clapped once, “I’m leaving, have fun mom”

Rita looked back as Ridia left, then she looked back at Veridia. She tried not to portray how nervous she was, but she didn’t quite think she accomplished that.

Veridia smiled, “What did she mean by ‘have fun’?”

Rita looked at the ground, “She um . . . . she thinks there’s something going on between us”

Veridia flushed, for once glad that Rita couldn’t look her in the eye, “Like, how?”

She took a deep breath before answering, “Ridia thinks that I have feelings for you, romantic feelings”

Veridia made a small squeak, she blushed even harder, “Do you?”

Rita whispered, “Maybe”

Veridia walked up to Rita, she grabbed Rita’s hands, “What do you want?”, she tried to look straight into Rita’s eyes.

Rita looked back up at Veridia, her voice wasn’t louder than a whisper, “You”

Veridia pulled her close, she whispered in Rita’s ear, “I want you to”

Rita turned her head, looking at Veridia, “Can I kiss you?”

Veridia lowered her head, pressing her lips to Rita’s. She pulled her close, Veridia’s hand traveling up into Rita’s hair trying to bring her impossibly close.

Rita put her hands on Veridia’s waist, not bothering to pull her close since Veridia was already holding her extremely close.

When Veridia let her go she was panting, she was looking at Rita with a smile on her face, “Was that okay?”

Rita nodded, “Yeah, Veridia” She looked her in the eye, “Where did you learn to kiss like that?”

She just shrugged and pulled Rita close, “I don’t know, maybe you just had bad kissers before now”

Rita shrugged, “Maybe, but it doesn’t matter now”

Veridia smiled, “Can I kiss you again?”

Rita nodded, “Always”

Veridia pulled her close and kissed her again, this time not pulling her as close. She kissed her until they both needed air.

..

Ridia came back into the living room about thirty minutes after she left the first time, she saw her mom laying down with her head on Veridia’s lap. Veridia smiled at her while playing with Rita’s hair, Ridia smiled, “I see she finally figured it all out”

Veridia nodded while smiling at Rita, “Yeah, eventually, with the help of my persuasion she told me what she wanted”

Ridia made a disgusted face, “I don’t need to hear this, just make sure that if you two start fornicating that we don’t hear you”

Veridia laughed out loud, “Don’t worry child, we are far too old to act like that”

Ridia pursed her lips, “Hmm, well still, I don’t want to be hearing that all day”

“Good to know”

Ridia looked around and then just walked down to the grotto.

..

Rita woke up shortly later and got confused on why Veridia was in such a fluffy mood. It wasn’t until she explained to Rita what Ridia had said did Rita finally understand, and she was mortified on what Ridia had said.

Veridia told her not to worry about it, seeing as how Rita was never a loud child to begin with, she could only imagine that transferred over.

Rita was mortified, she almost left when Veridia pulled her close, laughing. They spent the rest of the day sitting on the couch and laughing.