James was glad to pick up the Mason family. When he spotted Jona’s little brother, he tried not to laugh when he introduced himself. “Nice to finally meet you, Damian. I’m James, Jeremiah’s twin. You’ll meet ‘Miah when we get back to the house.”
The young man nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
“Come on, everyone; let’s go get your bags and head back. Mom’s had dinner on all day.”
“James, please tell me she didn’t do a marathon cooking session like she did when we came up the first time”, Kaylian said. “If she did, I’m going to feel horrible.”
“No worries; she didn’t. She did something in the slow cooker. I think she made a huge roast or something. I don’t know to be perfectly frank. I think the only thing she spent a lot of time on was making challah for the meal.”
“You’re mother makes challah?”
“All the time. I think that it was a special request from Dad this time around.”
“Is there anything your mother doesn’t do?”
“Make a lot of sweets. Dad sneaks out upon occasion and gets something sweet when he has a sweet tooth.”
“Does he share?” Skyler asked with a chuckle.
“Not usually. ‘I’m in my fucking sixties. I’ve earned this raising you mean little fuckers’, is usually his reply as he sneaks into his office to hoard the cookies or pastries”, James laughed.
“That’s funny as hell”, Skyler said. “I like that. I’ll have to catch him in private to tell him so.”
“I think I’m going to tell your mother about it”, Kaylian said as she laughed.
“Oh, Mom knows. She figured it out about two or three years ago. I think she figured it out not long after Jake graduated medical school.”
---------------
James opened the front door and let Jona’s parents in behind him. A young man that greatly resembled their godfather came in. Jeremiah was sitting in the floor with is laptop on the coffee table when he spotted the boy. He couldn’t help himself. He picked up his phone and snapped a picture; quickly sending it his Uncle Danny. “I found your REAL doppelganger, Uncle Danny. I think he’s my future brother in law”, he said in the text as he laughed.
“Hey, dude, I want to laugh too”, the young man said.
“I’m sorry, man”, Jeremiah said as he tried to catch his breath. “I was raised better than that, but I couldn’t help it. You look JUST LIKE my godfather.”
“And which of Jeremiah’s brothers are you?” the boy asked.
“I’m Jeremiah Draiman. And you are?”
“I’m Damian; Jona’s younger brother”, he laughed in return as he extended a hand to shake with Jeremiah.
Jeremiah stood and shook his hand. “Then I really am sorry for that, dude. I just couldn’t help myself.”
“Nah, man, it’s cool. No harm, no foul.”
“You seem like you’re alright, Damian. Pretty easy going.”
“Yeah, usually.”
Jeremiah laughed as he nodded. “Good. You’re gonna fit in just fine here.”
---------------
Skyler wandered into the kitchen after getting settled in the guest room. He was hoping to catch Brie alone. Kaylian was busy holding the newest of the Draiman grandchildren and playing with the older kids, so he didn’t have to worry about her. Yeah, she knew about what he wanted to discuss with Brie, but, he wanted to talk with Brie about it privately. She was braiding bread dough when he walked into the kitchen and she was the only one in the room. He took a deep breath to steady himself before clearing his throat to let her know that he was there. “Brie, can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked as he took a seat at the island where she was braiding the dough loaves.
She smiled. “Hi, Skyler. Sure, what’s on your mind?”
He took another deep breath. She could see that he was nervous, so she let him approach the topic- whatever it was- at his pace. “SO… about these dreams you said you have…” He paused to find the right words. “Did you know of anyone with similar abilities?”
She smiled kindly at him. “As a matter of fact, yes; I do. Four of my children have dreams like mine; as did my father before he passed.”
He nodded slowly. “Which of your children?”
“Maddie and Jessykah amongst my girls. And, I gave you Jacob and Jeremiah’s numbers for a reason. They, too, have the dreams.”
“Do you think it’s possible for people to have something like your dreams… but while they’re conscious?”
“I’m a firm believer in that, to be honest. My father’s family is a little strange like that. We have all kinds of fun gifts in my family. Why do you ask? Do you have something you want to share with me, Skyler?”
He took another deep breath and nodded. “I have something similar to your gift. I have these moments where I’ll zone out and see things. I’ve thought I was crazy my entire life, so I never said a word about it and very rarely acknowledged the warnings. It wasn’t until I was 21 when the Utopian War was in its infancy and I first met Kaylian. She was almost 17 and her parents had surrendered to the Occupation, but even though she hated it she didn’t want to die. Over time, we fell in love and I told her she could come away with me to the safety of the Arizona Resistance group. So, she ran away with me- and for that the Utopians killed her parents. Two weeks after, I had a vision; the Utopians were going to hunt her down and killer her as a lesson to those that wanted to change their minds. I told her what I saw and to protect her, we got married earlier than we’d planned to change her name. It worked, because they could never find her and we heard they thought she was already dead. Since then, I trusted critical warnings, but still never told a soul. When I heard your story about saving David’s life, I couldn’t help but remember what I did for the love of MY life and realized that I’m not alone… and I’m going to be surrounded by people who get it.”
She listened quietly to his story and smiled softly. “Wow. You know, that actually sounds a LOT like a story my father told me about my grandfather.”
“Really?”
She nodded as she slid the bread loaves into the oven so that they could bake and wiped her hands on a towel she had laying in the counter next to where she had been working. “My grandfather Cartwright had been an officer in the RMC…”she began.
“Sorry, not to interrupt the story, but what’s the RMC?”
“The Royal Marine Corps. My father’s family was from Ireland. Anyway, my grandfather his entire life had a similar gift. He could touch an item or a person and see an event that the object or person would be involved in. Now, my Grandfather was alive during World War II. He fought alongside our marines on the beach at Normandy and liberated many of the camps. During the only pacific tour he did, he was leading his men through a jungle on Iwo, and haphazardly touched a tree to keep from tripping over the roots. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he saw that there was going to be a fire fight right where they were standing if they didn’t get moving fast. The Japanese were all over that island and they were closing in on them. He turned his unit around and took them right back to the boats they had come in on and took them back to the ship that the boats had come from.”
“Sounds like he saved their lives.”
“He did. Those men got to go home to their wives and children.”
“So, you don’t think I’m insane?”
“Nope. Can’t think of anything that would make you insane. You’re just gifted. There’s nothing wrong with that- especially in this house.”
---------------
They had all gathered around the table for dinner and Damian Mason finally got a really good look at just how big the Draiman family was. His eyes nearly popped out of his head. “WOW, I can’t believe your family is”, he said in amazement. He looked at his mother. “Hey, Mom; jealous?”
Kaylian nodded with red cheeks. “Yeah. I’m jealous.”
“She wanted a big family after the war ended, but I just couldn’t do it”, Skyler said. “After Damian turned
four, I fell ill. By the time I recovered, I didn’t feel that I could keep up with more than two.”
“What did you fall ill with?” David asked.
“Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I felt like I was chained in a dark hole all the time. I hated it. And when I realized I wasn’t really there for my children, I wanted to get better, FAST, but not a single doctor had a solution. My daughter- of all people- told me that I should eat more greens and ‘try some herbs’. Low and behold, over time I got better. But, once I got well, I still felt ‘off’ and just the thought of new babies made me exhausted.” He reached out and took her hand. “Luckily Kaylian understood, but I feel like I’ve cheated her out of her childhood dream to be married with a house full of kids. But, because I got better, both of my kids have decided that they wanted to be in the holistic field when they grew up to help others in a similar situation I was. Over the years, I did the acupuncture thing as well and that’s how Damian became curious about it. He was curious his entire life.”
“And because of the that, we encouraged him to be an acupuncturist”, Kaylian added with a smile.
Maddie looked at Damian. “How much longer do you have in acupuncture school, Damian?” she asked.
“About two years”, he replied.
“You want a job after you graduate and get your certificate?”
He smiled. “Sure.”
Maddie looked at her business partners. “What do you two think?” she asked.
“I like the idea, and NOT because he’s my little brother but because I know he’s going to be good”, Jona said.
“I think it’s a smart business move”, Delilah said. “We could always use a staff acupuncturist.”
“When you’re getting close to that certificate and your national license, give me a call. You can do a session on me as your interview”, Maddie said when she turned her head back to young Damian.
“Are you serious, Maddie?”
“As a heart attack. A lot of the clients I brought into the business have been wanting acupuncture and I’m not trained.”
Damian smiled. “That’s really awesome of you, Maddie. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me until you get the job.”
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