Chapter 3

Their wake up call came early.  Getting up at 3 AM was not David and Brie Draiman’s idea of fun.  But, they had a long flight ahead of them.  David was looking forward to showing his wife all f his favorite places in Israel.  He was even planning on taking her to the beach in Tel Aviv to take her scuba diving.

As they waited for their oldest son to arrive to take them to the airport David checked the tickets and itinerary one last time.  “Hmm… it seems I misspoke last night”, he said as he sipped his coffee.

“What do you mean, baby?” Brie asked.

“I told the kids that we’d be waiting landing at O’Hare for a flight to leave the country.  Actually, we’ll be getting on a plane out of Los Angeles to fly into Tokyo by the time they’re all up.”

“Lovely.  I’ll get to see a little bit of Japan”, she said as she smeared cream cheese in a bagel for breakfast and added a little turkey pastrami before taking a bite.

“Yeah, because we’ll be there for 3 hours.  I’ll take you to lunch while we’re there and we’ll check out some of the street vendors.”

“Ooh, sounds like fun”, she said after she finished chewing.  “Where do we go from there?”

“Jerusalem where Ben will meet us and take us to our hotel.”

“Nice.  We’ll get to see Ben.  I’m loving this trip already.”

“Don’t forget to bring your dive certification, baby.”

“It’s in my carry on, love.”

There was a knock on the door.  “That’s got to be Malachai”, David said as he closed his laptop and put it in its travel case.  After slipping the bag over his shoulder he reached out for his wife’s hand.

She stood and grabbed her carryon and took his hand.  “Are we ready to go?”

“Let’s go take the honeymoon we never had.”

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Jeremiah walked into the kitchen yawning; his pajama pants barely hanging on his narrow hips.  “Dude, I need coffee”, he said.

“Did you know you look a lot like a lion when you yawn?” Jake asked as he poured the steaming liquid into a cup for his little brother.

“Did you know you’re really fucking random too early in the fucking morning?” Jeremiah asked in return.

“Blame that on you niece, the future veterinarian,  She fills my head with all kinds of random fucking facts about animals that she learns on Discovery Channel.  ‘Daddy, did you know…?’ insert random fact here.”

Jeremiah laughed.  “Oh, that’s fun.”

“Beware, bro, she’s started doing it to everyone.  Nobody’s safe.  Not even you and Jona.”

“I’ll be sure to warn Jona”, ‘Miah laughed.

“Speaking of Jona, how are things with you guys?”

“What do you mean?”

“Behind closed doors.”

“Oh.”  Jeremiah took a sip of his coffee.  “Let me put it this way; I spend a lot of time with Rosy Palm and her five sisters.”

Jake’s eyes grew wide.  “Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack, big brother.  But, you know?  I’m cool with it.  She’s been hurt a lot so I’m cool about it.”

“You, my little brother, are the Patron Saint of Patience”, Jake laughed.  “I couldn’t do it.”

“Well, I won’t lie, Jake.  There are times when things get heated  and she’ll stop and say, ‘I’m sorry, ‘Miah, I can’t.’  I just thump him down and pull her close and hold her.”

“You are a FAR better man than I am, ‘Miah.”

“I think for Jona, it’s a trust issue.  So many guys have treated her like trash,  She just wants to be sure that I’m not going to be like them before she gives me that part of herself.”

“Are you telling me she’s…?”

He nodded as he sipped his coffee.  “Yep, and that’s cool too.”

“Ok, let’s get off of that topic because you amaze me and I’m still in shock.  When do you plan on making things official?”

“After I ask her father for permission to marry her.”

“Wow.  How long after?  I mean, it took Colt a couple of months to propose after asking Dad if he could marry Maddie.”

“I’m not going to wait for months because I want to do it in front of her father.”

“What do her parents think of you?”

“They fucking adore me and I’ve only ever spoken with them over the phone.  Her Mom  says, ‘Miah, you’re such a gentleman.  You’re so sweet.”

“And her Dad?”

“Skyler Mason is a tough nut to crack, but he seems to like me.  He says, ‘It’s not often one finds a young man that’s so respectful.  You’re a good kid, Jeremiah’.”

“What does he think about your parentage?  Does he believe you when you say that your father is David Draiman?”

“He does and he thinks it’s pretty cool.  He’s been an avid fan of Disturbed since he was a kid.”

“That’s pretty cool, Miah.  Do you think he’ll let you marry his little girl?”

“Yeah.  Now, I’ve got a question for you.  Why all these questions about Jona and her family; especially about our sex life?”

“I just wanted to check up on you, ‘Miah, and make sure that you’re happy.”

“Jake, you remember what James and I were like in High School, right?”

“Yeah, polar opposites.  He was the playboy and you stayed to yourself, maybe had two or three girlfriends the entire time.  Then he started dating Brittan regularly.”

“Well, it pretty much continued that way when we got to school.  One day I was in town, minding my own business when I spotted this BEAUTIFUL girl in one of the herb shops.  I was getting some Oat straw for a tea or something like that.  I was immediately intrigued.  I had to chase her because she thought that I was James, the man whore.”

Jake laughed.  “Being an identical twin blows, it seems.  Makes me glad I’m a fraternal twin.”

“Well, James played up our last name and the fact that because of you, Dad, Malachai and Jordan, we’re legacies.”

“So, how did you manage to convince her to go out with you?”

“I told her, after WEEKS of trying to convince her that I’m not James, ‘Give me ONE date to prove that I’m not my brother or anything like him.  Just because we look alike doesn’t mean that we’re the same.’  She gave me a chance, I took her to dinner and we went star gazing in the country.  We talked all night.  Just talked, then I took her to breakfast in the morning.  Since then, she’s been mine.  We decided to get an apartment together off campus.  We sleep together, but we haven’t slept together.”

“Wow.  How do you do it, Jeremiah?”

“I love her, Jacob.  That’s how.”

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Jona came into the room about thirty minutes later.  “Good morning, Jacob”, she said with a bright smile, her brown hair freshly brushed.  She kissed Jeremiah’s cheek softly.  “Good morning, baby.”

Jeremiah smiled and turned his head to kiss her cheek.  “Good morning, beautiful.  How did you sleep?”

“Not bad.  I couldn’t help but recall what you’d said to Maddie yesterday when she asked you how she looked.”

“Oh, yeah, about that, I only said that the way I did to get Maddie off my ass.  I know how you would have reacted, Jona.  You would have looked at me with that cute crooked smile of yours and said, ‘Miah, that wasn’t very nice’.  The smile would have said, ‘I don’t know whether to laugh or frown at you for that’.  I just didn’t want any part of her search for a pity party.  I understand she’s pregnant, but she needs to stop looking for someone to validate that she looks like a hippo that’s about to explode.”

“The Goodyear blimp on steroids”, James’ voice called from the kitchen doorway.  He came in the room hand in hand with Kimberly.

“Where’s Hunter?” Jake and Jeremiah asked in unison.

“Still sleeping.  Do we know where Mom and Dad are?”

“Not a word”, Jake said with a shake of his head.  “I sent them both a text, but if they’re in the air they have to have their phones off.”

“Do you really think they’re going to call or text before they’re on the way home to make sure that there’s someone there to pick them up?” Miah asked.

“I’m sure they will just so we know that the plane didn’t crash and they didn’t go out like those guys that song  ‘American Pie’ is about”, James laughed.  “We were singing…”

Jake and Jeremiah joined him. “Bye, bye Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry, them good ole’ boys were drinking whiskey and rye singing, ‘This will be the day that I die.  This will be the day that I die.”  They all laughed.

“I’m sure every time one of us sings that song we make Mom and Dad feel super old”, Jake added.

“Oh, I know”, James said.  “Why do you think I do shit like that?  For my health?”

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When they touched down in Jerusalem that evening, they were greeted by a familiar face.  David smiled when he spotted him.  “Ben”, he smiled.  “How have you been?”

“Hi, David”, Ben said in return as they hugged.  “Welcome back.”

“It’s been too long”, David laughed.

Ben pulled back from the hug and moved to his sister in law.  “How are you, Brie?” he asked as he hugged her.

“I’m good, Ben.  Excited to finally see where my mother’s family comes from.”

“Well, I’m sure the two of you are rather tired, so I can either take you to your hotel and come get you in the morning for breakfast, or you two can just take over my guest room for the night.”

Husband and wife exchanged a look.  “What do you think?” David asked his wife.

“It’s up to you, baby.  I really don’t care either way”, she said.

David looked out the window of the terminal they were at.  “Take us to a hotel, please, Ben.  We don’t want to impose.”

Ben nodded.  “No problem, though you wouldn’t be imposing.”

“We just want to rest for the night go on tomorrow with our plans.”

“Ok.  Let’s go get your bags and get you two settled in somewhere so you can get some sleep.”

“Yeah, sleep.”  David looked at Brie out of the corner of his eye and winked.  All she did was smile in return.  Neither of them planned on sleeping that night.  All they wanted to do was get somewhere so that they could be husband and wife and not have to worry about being  parents first.  Their children were all grown now and they needed this time alone together and that’s just what they were going to do- be alone together.