Chapter 11

The next morning Jeremiah was up before his angelic Jona.  Jake was up with Delilah making breakfast.  “We decided to give Mom a break after that marathon yesterday”, Delilah said.

Jake pour his younger brother a cup of coffee and studied his face.  “You got some last night”, he said as though he were there.

‘Miah blinked at his older brother.  “What?”  He was a little out of it still.  The night he’d had was insane.  First, he got engaged.  Then, he made love to his fiancée for the first time ever.  Finally, he’d had a fucked up dream starring their Grandfather.

“He’s not all together right now, Jake.  Leave him alone”, Delilah said with a laugh.

“That stupid grin means he got some.”

“Yes, Jake, Jona and I slept together last night”, ‘Miah said with irritation in his voice.

“You had sex.”

“NO, we made love.  I don’t pound into women and never have.  I was gentle and took my time.  Now, leave it alone.”

“Sometimes a woman needs her man to take charge and show her who’s boss”, Delilah said.

“Not Jona.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I’m her first.”

Delilah’s eyes grew wide.  “Seriously?  She was a virgin until last night?”  She was a little too loud for ‘Miah’s liking.

“Why don’t you fucking announce it to the world, Delilah? I don’t think they heard you in Zimbabwe or Australia.”

“I’m sorry, ‘Miah.  I just found that hard to believe.”

“Weren’t you a virgin before Jake?”

“Yeah.  I’d been hurt a lot and needed to trust him first.”

“Doesn’t it make sense then, that Jona wanted to be sure that I wasn’t going to hurt her?  That I was going to belong to her and her alone?  She’s been hurt a lot too.”

“Why are you so defensive, ‘Miah?”

“I’m not defensive.  I’m agitated.  What I do with the woman I plan to marry is between her and me.  To be the wise Yoda from Star Wars, No other way around it, there is.

David and Brie walked into the kitchen from their morning run.  “Lay off of him”, David said.  “There’s no need to be nosy.  If he wanted to share the details of what he may or may not have done last night with Jona, I’m sure he would.”  He grabbed two bottles of water out of the fridge and handed one to his wife.”

“Jeremiah’s a private person.  Just leave him alone", Brie said sternly.

Jeremiah rubbed his hands over his face and sighed.  “Mom, Dad, can I talk to you guys a moment?”

“Sure son.”

He looked at Jake and Delilah.  “ALONE, please?”

They shrugged and left Jeremiah alone with their parents.  David and Brie pulled up a stool at the  bar and look at Jeremiah with concern.  “What’s going on, ‘Miah?  Not having second thoughts are you?” Brie asked.

“No, far from it.”  He took a deep breath and sighed.  “I didn’t sleep very well last night.  I normally don’t like Jake’s ribbing, but it particularly struck a nerve this morning because I’m not very well rested.  I had one of my dreams last night.”

“You mean one of the prophetic dreams you and a select few of your siblings are prone to having?  Dreams like your mother sometimes has?” David asked.

Jeremiah nodded.  “Yeah.  I saw Granddad Cartwright.  He said he came to warn me that I’m going to be the one to pass this shit on to my children, and that means ALL of my children.”

“Yikes!”, Brie said.  “What do you think your grandfather meant?”

“I think he was trying to tell me in an obscure way that Jake, Maddie, Jessi, Mom, and I aren’t the only psychics in the immediate area.  He said something along the lines of, ‘I’m sure not knowing that you’ve both passed something like this on to your children will freak her out.’  I think that he was telling me that at least one of the Mason’s has the same gift we do.”

“I had a sneaking suspicion about that.  Skyler just strikes me, you know.”

“That gut of yours again, love?” David said.

“Yeah.  He sets off all sorts of bells in my head.  He sees things, too.  I can tell.”

“Do you think that Jona does too?” Jeremiah asked.

“I do, son.  I think they’re both afraid of their gift; they’re afraid that if they talk about it, people will think that they’re crazy.”

Jeremiah sighed.  “Looks like I need to be the first one to talk about it with Jona.  Not a conversation I’m looking forward too, but it has to be done.”

---------------

After everyone had gotten up and eaten breakfast, Jona and Jeremiah prepared to take her parents to the airport so that they could go home.  Kaylian and Brie hugged.  “I’ve had so much fun in the short time I’ve been here”, Kaylian said with a smile.

“I’ve loved having you here.  We’ll definitely have to do this again.”  Brie smiled and handed her a card.  “I’m going to give Skyler one as well, but if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to email or call me.  Ok?”

“You got it.”  Kaylian turn to say good- bye to David.

Skyler moved to Brie.  “Thank you for having us, Brie”, he said.  “You have a lovely home and a wonderful family.”

“I think your wife’s a little jealous, but I’m willing to share”, Brie laughed.

“Thank you, Brie”, Kaylian laughed.

“Hey, my grandkids love you.  If they like you, then you’re family”, Brie laughed in return.

“Thank you for having us, Brie”, Skyler laughed.

“Thank you for coming, Skyler”, she laughed in return.  “Come back and see us.”

“We plan to.  Would Thanksgiving be too soon?”

“Absolutely not.”  She shook his hand and then handed him a card.  “If you should need to talk, feel free to shoot me an email or give me a call.  And, if you’re not comfortable talking to a woman, here are my son’s Jacob and Jeremiah’s emails and cell phones.”  She handed him another card with Jake’s information embossed on the front and Jeremiah’s hand written on the back.

He took the card and stuck it in his pocket.  “Thank you.  I’ll be sure to use it.”

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The trip to the airport was a fairly quiet one.  It seemed like everyone was deep in thought.  Jeremiah was for sure.  He glanced over into the passenger seat at Jona and saw that she was asleep.  He smiled and laid his hand on her thigh as he drove.  God, she is so beautiful when she sleeps.  Angelic and perfect.  What did I do to deserve her?, he thought as he drove.

“Admiring the woman you love?” Kaylian said from the back seat.

“Shoot.  Got caught”, he laughed.

“You’re good for her, ‘Miah.  You’re such a sweet boy.  She couldn’t have found anyone better.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Mason.”

“Has my husband told you to call him Skyler or Dad?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Then feel free to call me Kaylian or Mom.”

“I don’t see myself calling either of you Mom or Dad.  My parents are still amongst the living.  So, I think I’ll call you Kaylian.”

“That works for me, ‘Miah.”  She took a deep breath.  “You seem like you’re deep in thought.  What’s on your mind, Jeremiah?”

“I’m just thinking.  I didn’t sleep a lot last night.  When I don’t sleep, I get pensive.  Part of why I majored in Philosophy is the fact that I can talk some serious nonsense when I’m sleep deprived and it strings together and makes perfect sense, but NO sense at all.”

“That’s quite a talent, Jeremiah.”

He smiled.  “Thanks.  Thankfully, I’m not the only one in my family with the same gift.”

---------------

After saying their good- byes to Jona’s parents, Jeremiah drove them home.  Now, he had to have a 

conversation that he was dreading.  Once they were on the highway he knew he had to tell her about his dream.  “Jona, honey, I need to talk to you about something and I need you to keep an open mind.  Can you do that for me?”

“Of course, ‘Miah.  What’s going on?”

“Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve had these dreams that usually warn me when something big is about to happen.  Sometimes it’s good news, sometimes it’s bad news; usually it comes true.”

“Ok.”

“Last night I had one of those dreams.  I was informed that I was going to be the member of my family to keep this gift alive in my family by passing it in some form to our children.  I was also told that I wasn’t the only one that had this gift.  So, I guess what I’m trying to get at is do you have dreams that had a weird tendency of coming true?”

She was quiet for a long time as she stared out the window.  “Not even my parents know”, she said quietly.

“You never told them?”

“I just thought they were dreams.  When they would come true, I’d be shocked, but I never thought they were more than just dreams.  I thought that if I talked about them with people that they’d think I’m crazy, then your Mom talked about how her talking about her dreams and how they saved your Dad’s life.  Then I kinds started thinking, ‘Whoa, I’m not alone’.”

“Not around my family you’re not, baby.  I’m not the only one of my siblings that has the gift either.”

“Really?  Who?”

“Jake, Maddie, and Jessi all have as well.”

“Wow.  Do you think your Mom would talk to me about the dreams she has?”

“I’m sure she will if you talk to her.”

Jona smiled and leaned in to kiss Jeremiah’s cheek.  “I love you, ‘Miah.”

He smiled.  “I’d kiss you back, but I have to drive; but I love you too.”

---------------

When Jona and Jeremiah walked into the living room, they saw David and Brie sitting on the couch.  David had a huge frown on his face.  “It don’t want it, baby.  I didn’t do anything to deserve it”, David said.

“Apparently you did according to the nomination committee”, Brie said.

“What’s going on?” Jeremiah asked.

“I’ve been nominated for the Kennedy Center Honor for Achievement in Music”, David said, the frown on his face set deep.

“That’s good”, Jona said.

“No, Jona, it’s not.  I haven’t done anything to deserve it and I HATE tuxes.”

“Dad, it’s not that bad.  So, you have a pretty award that fastens to your lapel and has a rainbow ribbon.  It’s just another award.”

“That comes in its OWN display case”, Brie joked.

“Not funny, love.”

“Are you kidding me?  I thought it was hilarious.”

“What do you think I should do, baby?”

“I think you should just graciously accept it.  I’ll go with you to the ceremony.  I’m sure that Reckless Disregard would happily play at this thing in your honor.  I’m sure that ANY of the kids would be happy to speak in your honor.  Hell, I’m almost willing to bet that it wouldn’t take much convincing for Marc to put together the video and dub in the voice over for whomever we get to speak.”

David sighed.  “Why don’t you just take control of organizing this whole mess?  I don’t want to know anything about it until the beginning of December when we fly out to D.C. for the ceremony.”

She smiled.  “Are you sure you want me to do that?”

“Yeah, I want you to put it together.  You did great with the rallies during the Occupation.”

“Ok, as long as that’s what you want, I’ll get it done.  It’s a good thing I have a few months to pull it together, unlike with the rally at Lake Tenkiller.”

“It wasn’t that bad, and you had plenty of really good help.”

“Jeremiah, you want to help your mother organize a huge honor for your father?”

“Sure, it give me something to do”, Jeremiah laughed.  “I’ll get with Marc about that video.”