By the time Jordan decided to finally emerge from her little hiding spot Meagan had already arrived. It was time for her to greet her little sister and her nephew. Meagan was sitting on the couch getting the generalized update on what was going on. “Jake, that’s insane”, Meagan said. “Someone seriously tried to shoot Jordan with Jasmine in her arms?”
“I saw the ding in her Range Rover, Mae”, Jake said. “I saw the police report.”
Meagan shook her head. “Insanity. Pure fucking insanity. So, Mom and Dad know?”
“Yep. They’re the ones that issued the order to gather here at homestead. I mean, someone sent me a little wooden box with a green marble bag full of ashes through Miri, Meagan.”
“What?”
“Yeah, someone sent me ashes through Miri. It was delivered to her school with a note not to open the box, but to make sure that I get it. The note inside the box for me actually instructed me to send it to the police and to keep everyone close.”
“What about Mom and Dad when they come home for the holidays?”
“They’ll be here before that and they may be staying”, Jordan said when she walked into the room.
Meagan looked up. “Hey Jord.”
“Hey Mae.”
“Jake told me that we’re going to have to learn how to shoot. You up for the challenge?”
“As up for it as I’m gonna get”, she said with a sigh as she pulled her little sister into a hug. “It’s good to see you, little sis.”
Meagan smiled. “It’s good to see you too, Jord.”
Jordan pulled away. “Where’s Anthony?”
“He’s upstairs getting caught up with Levi, Miri, Ira, and Hunter. I’m glad I adopted an older boy rather than an infant. He’s actually much easier to take care of than Ira or Levi was when they were small”, Meagan laughed. “Plus, I just don’t have the time for a baby, you know?”
“Yeah. Working at NASA is bound to put a damper on that.” Jordan sighed. “Well, Mae, I think maybe we should start getting ready to do this shooting thing. What about you?”
“Yeah, it would probably be wise.” She looked over at Jake. “I’m going to go change into something a little more fit to lie in dirt in.”
“Good idea, Mae. Malachai, Skyler and Maddie are setting up a range in one of the many clearings on the property”, Jake said with a sigh as Meagan walked away. “Oh, Jordan, I would suggest you change into a more practical pair of shoes.” He glanced down at the heels she was wearing.
She laughed. “Good thing I packed a pair of hiking boots when Davi and I packed, huh?” and headed for the stairs. When she was half way up, she paused. “Oh, Jake. I talked to Mom and Dad a little while ago and they said that everyone that already knows how to shoot should be keeping their aim crisp and sharp with practice.”
Jake chuckled at the way she worded the newest order from their parents. “Crisp and sharp? I know they didn’t put it like that, but I get the message. How often did they say?”
“Mom said at least every couple of days.”
“Did they say anything about training the in laws?”
“You could always call and ask, but they’re at the hospital with Jessi. She’s about to have the baby.”
“Nice. Almost wish we could be there, you know what I mean?”
Jordan sighed. “Yeah. It wouldn’t be nearly this hectic if we were there.”
He smiled. “Yeah, I know. Hell, I might even get to catch”, he said with a laugh.
“Haven’t you been asked to move to Jerusalem to work at one of the hospitals out there?”
“I’ve been invited. I’ve considered it a few times, but I’m not going to pull Lilah from her massage practice. And, you wanna know something cool?”
“What?”
“I’ve seen her actually stop a seizure using her body- mind training. It was the most amazing thing.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I had a young woman in at CSMC that was having really bad seizures- Grand Maul. Lilah had come up on a break to bring me some lunch and the girl started seizing. We both ran in and she acted purely on instinct and grabbed the girl’s head, one hand on each temporal lobe and she started talking to the body. It was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen. The girl stop seizing. Once the seizure ended she carefully disconnected and the girl was breathing on her own, and then she looked at me and said, ‘Jacob, run an MRI and a CT scan. I bet you anything that she has a brain tumor’.”
“Wow. And, here I thought that body- mind therapy was just to release trauma from muscles so that people can move on.” She laughed softly. “I’m gonna go change my clothes, bro, so that ‘Chai and Maddie can teach me how to put a bullet between people’s eyes.”
----------------
Brie and David were sitting in the cafeteria at the hospital where their youngest daughter was giving them a new grandchild. Brie had to get something to eat because her sugar had crashed. When she checked it, she was very low. Her blood sugar was 85 and her normal level was 200. She was too low. So, she and her husband sat in the cafeteria and ate a late dinner. “I can’t believe she’s stuck at 8 cm”, Brie laughed.
David laughed as well. “No kidding. At least we know she’s fully effaced and they’re doing everything they can to get her to 10.” He popped a chip in his mouth with a chuckle.
“A petosin drip is better than nothing, I suppose. But, her doctor- though amazed that Jessi’s the baby of ten- is skeptical of massage so she won’t allow me to do anything that I know will work.”
“Things that you’ve tried and have seen results from, I know. You’ve told me on several occasions when you’d come home from having to jump up in the middle of the night to go deliver a baby somewhere in town.”
“I don’t miss those days.”
“I don’t miss you doing it either. When I wasn’t at home, of course, I didn’t mind. But, I did not like your phone blowing up at 2:30 in the morning because some of young woman who had never had a baby before and wanted to do it at home. Then you’re gone for hours at a time to deliver said baby. Thankfully, Maddie and Delilah had no problem covering your appointments while you slept. But, I didn’t like waking up alone most mornings when you had to run out and deliver a baby.”
“And you’re the one that encouraged me getting my midwife’s training after Malachai and Mandy started having babies.”
“So that you could deliver all of the babies our kids are having.”
“Well David, baby, I had to learn how to do all that stuff by jumping up in the middle of the night and running to the hospital, or to a patient’s house. I didn’t just learn to do that shit overnight.”
“What I find interesting about the whole thing is that you still managed to keep all of your clients, go to class, work at the hospital, and keep shit running while I was away. How did you do it?”
She laughed and checked her phone as it buzzed on the table. “I have no idea. There were times, though, that I wanted to pull my hair out because your children wouldn’t cooperate.” She sighed. “Guess the petosin drip worked. Adam just texted me to tell me that she’s fully dilated and if we want to witness the miracle of Abigayle’s birth, then we need to book it.”
“How’s your sugar?”
“I’m fine, baby. Feeling much better now that I have solid food in my body rather than a damn candy bar on the way out the door. Now, let’s go.” She stood and gathered her trash so that they could head up to Labor & Delivery to witness the birth of their twenty- fifth grandchild and he followed suit.
Thankfully, Jessi’s room was right across the hall from the elevators, so David and Brie were able to arrive in plenty of time to see that Jessi’s doctor was about to have her start pushing. They ran into the room and split up, each taking one side of the bed. David Adam and one of the nurses were holding Jessi’s feet so that she could push so her parents held her hands.
“Ok, Jessykah, with the next one, I want you to push with everything you have so that we can get this head out”, her doctor said. When the next contraction came on, Jessi pushed as her mother and the nurse counted. They managed to get three pushes and the head out with the first contraction. Both David’s and Brie were smiling from ear to ear when they say the head full of dark hair. “One or two more, Jessykah, and we’ll have shoulders and a baby.”
Jessi was covered in sweat as she looked at her parents. “I don’t think I can do it”, she panted.
“You’re doing fine Jessi, baby”, Brie said softly.
“I’m so tired. I can’t do anymore.”
“Jessi, you can do this, baby girl”, David- her father- said. “Just dig down deep.”
Jessi nodded at her father’s words. When the next contraction came on, she mustered every ounce of strength had left and pushed, letting out a scream as she bore down. Everyone counted out loud as the doctor maneuvered the baby’s shoulders out, pulling the tiny body from Jessi. Jessi relaxed against the pillows as she tried to catch her breath. The doctor looked up at Jessi. “Congratulations. It’s a healthy baby girl.”
The airways were cleared and Jessi was handed her new daughter with tears in her eyes as the little girl screamed with every breath. She was smiling from ear to ear as her baby was wrapped in a towel so that she could hold her for the first time. “Hi there, little Abigayle!” she laughed. “Welcome to the world, little one!” Her husband moved to stand at the head of the bed so that he could see his new daughter and her parents moved out of the way. All either of them could do is smile.
“She’s absolutely glowing”, Brie said.
David nodded. “I know. I remember each time you glowed like that after a baby was born. You’ve done it with each of our children together.”
“I glowed like that after Jessi and Marc were born, and after the quads?”
“You did. And you were beautiful.”
She smiled and cuddled into his body. “Well, why don’t we stick around to see just how much she weighs and how long she is, then we can go home for a little while and get some sleep. We can come over here tomorrow and see Miss Abby Sariah.”
David smiled. “I like that idea.”
-----------------
Jake offered to let any of the spouses that were interested train to use firearms. It only made sense to make the offer. A few of them were interested. Davina, Delilah, and Makayla’s husband Kylely were all interested. James’s new wife Kenna was interested, but she was pregnant and due in November. Neither James or Jacob would allow her on the range while pregnant. She wasn’t far enough along to know what she was having, but neither was willing to take the chance.
Jake’s stance was, Who better to teach those willing than people that have actually had to use the training in combat situations? That meant Malachai, Skyler, and his father’s former bodyguard- the fear provoking Morbus. Jake had put in a phone call to one of the last students of his Uncle in order to insure that everyone got the training necessary if whatever was coming ended up becoming war.
Two hours after everyone that needed to learn how to handle a firearm had gone out to the makeshift range with Malachai, Skyler, and Maddie, Jake received a phone call. “Hey Dad”, he said. “It’s midnight over there. What are you doing calling at that time of night?”
“Calling to give you the stats of your new niece”, his father said. He sounded exhausted.
“Jessi had her baby?” he said with a smile.
“Yep. Get your brothers and sisters together because I’m not repeating myself and after I hang up with you, if I receive a phone call from any of you before 8 AM I’m going to kill you all.” He heard a grunt on the other end of the line.
“You ok, Dad?”
“Your mother and I have been at the hospital since noon. Your sister was in labor for a little over 12 hours seeing as it took an hour for her water to break. In that time, I had to have a heart to heart with Adam about him bolting from the room when Jessi had a contraction and screamed in pain rather than just breathing.”
“First time father jitters?”
“I have no idea, but I told him that he got to enjoy making that baby and he needed to get his ass back in the room and be with his wife.”
“And Mom got to coach until the two of you returned?”
“Yep. Where are your siblings?”
“Once everyone comes in from the range, I’m going to get the boys and Makayla down here and you can announce the stats of the new baby in the family.” As he finished the sentence, everyone that had gone out was walking through the kitchen door. “Hey, ‘Chai, could you get everyone over the age of 21 from upstairs? I’ve got Dad on the phone and he’s got stats on Jessi’s new baby girl.” Malachai’s eyes lit up momentarily and he headed for the stairs. It took no time before all of the adults were down stairs or inside so that they could hear their father’s announcement. “Alright Dad. It’s all you. What are the stats?”
“It’s a girl. Abigayle Sariah Yaron; 7lbs. 12 ½ oz, 21 inches long. Born at 11:23 PM Jerusalem time. Jessi is perfectly fine. Just exhausted. She was feeding little Abby when your mother and I left. We will be sending pictures as soon as we have them. You mother and I got out of there as quickly as we could because we both need sleep.”
Everyone laughed. “How should I expect the pictures, Dad?” Jake asked.
“One of us will email them to you and you can share them with everyone.”
“Where’s Mom?” Maddie asked.
“I’m driving at the moment, so your mother has her head on my thigh and is asleep. We’re both excited to have yet another grandchild, but we’re tired and comforting your baby sister is a tiresome job. You must have endless patience to do that, and I swear there were even times that your mother was reaching her wits end.”
“Whoa”, Meagan said. “Our Sainted mother, the most patient woman on the planet, was getting aggravated?”
“Yes, Leann. Your mother was getting aggravated, though not at your sister.” The sound of tires squealing sounded and then they all heard their father shouting in Hebrew at someone as he laid on the horn of whatever car they were driving came next.
In the background, they heard their mother speaking to the man she loved. “David, calm down. I’m sure that it wasn’t intentional. Calling the other guy a son of a whore is highly uncalled for. Calm down. Don’t you have the kids on the phone?” The children all laughed as they listened to the exchange. Their mother was doing what she did and keeping their foul tempered father from doing something rash and, frankly, stupid. Finally, they heard static, then their mother. “Hello children. Did you father give you the stats on little Abby?”
“Yeah, Mom. Abigayle Sariah; 7 12 ½, 21. Born at 11:23”, Jake replied. “What happened that Dad’s calling someone a son of a whore?”
“Some ignorant person that wasn’t paying attention to where they were driving just rear ended us.”
“And you guys are in the Chevy?”
“No, the Mustang.”
“OOOOHHHHH” , they all replied. “That Mustang is Dad’s baby”, Malachai said. “He’s going to kill the other driver.”
“No. You’re father’s talking to the police about the accident. Insurance is being exchanged, yadda yadda. Your Dad will file with the insurance company in the morning and if need be, he’ll sue for repairs. You all know your father.” There was a pause. “And here he is. I think I’m going to take over the driving for the moment because Dad’s pretty pissed. We’re going to let you go for now. Call if you need anything but please don’t do so before 9 AM our time. Good day, kids.”
They all chuckled. “Good night, Mom.”
---------------
After the enlightening conversation with their parents, Jake pulled his brother in law Colton into his home office. “Colt, have you been able to call your shaman yet?”
“No Jake. Sorry. I’ve been waiting on everything to calm down before I did that. Did you want all of the dream seers and Skyler present when I did?”
Jake laughed. “Stop reading my mind, Colt. It’s scary.”
“You and your little sister think a lot alike, Jacob. I read Maddie’s mind all the time. She’s easy to read.”
“Nice. Ok, well, when is the best time to call your shaman?”
“Now. Anytime really. He keeps odd hours. Unless he’s on a quest, we have nothing to worry about. He’ll answer his phone.”
“Then, I’ll get Jeremiah, Maddie and Skyler up here and we’ll just call him and see what he has to say.” Jake shook his head as he walked away. He walked half way down the stairs then called out to his brother and sister. “Jeremiah, Maddie; can you two come up to my office please? And, Miah, call Skyler and have him come up as well, please.”
Jeremiah nodded. “Be right there, Jake.”
Maddie stood and headed up the stairs. After the phone call from their parents, everyone else had kind of broken off into different conversations. She was just sitting and listening to what everyone was murmuring in their side conversations. She didn’t care, she was just gathering Intel if she needed it. Once Jake asked her up to the office she jumped up and headed up the stairs. She just sat quietly as she waited on her brothers, Jeremiah’s father in law, and her husband to come back into the office.
Skyler, Jeremiah and Jake came into the office and Jake took his seat behind the desk in the leather office chair he’d inherited when their father left it after moving to Israel nearly five years before. Jake loved that chair and let no one other than his four children sit in it. Well, maybe his wife, too.
Colton soon followed and took a seat on the arm of the chair that Maddie was sitting in after closing and locking the office door behind himself. Skyler and Jeremiah both sat close to the desk. Jake spoke. “Ok
Colton. Do what you gotta do, brother.”
Colton reached out and dialed the number of the office phone, putting the phone on speaker as they waited for the shaman to pick up his phone. “Hello Colton”, an older man said.
“Hello Albert. I suppose you know why I’m calling.”
“Ah yes, dreams of war, death, destruction… things that cannot be comprehended. What puzzles me it that you have four other people in the room with you, but you don’t have all of the dreamers. Where is your wife’s young nephew?”
“He’s playing with his other cousins”, Colton said.
“And your mother in law lives in Israel, correct?”
“Yes.”
“One of the men in the room with you, Colt, is not a dream seer. He’s a true seer. He has visions. Older gentleman. Skyler, if I’m not mistaken.”
“That’s right.”
“And you all want answers.” The older man made it a statement. “‘The Lord is my Sheppard, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Yea, and though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me’. Jacob. Your twin will need to stay very close or very bad things will happen. As for everyone’s visions and dreams, big bad things are coming. An old rival of your father’s is trying to come back to haunt all of you. Malachai and Jordan are in grave danger. As is Logan, but not nearly as much as Malachai and Jordan. When you speak again to your famous father, refrain from telling him that when they come out in June for the birth of the new baby- which will be perfectly healthy, Jeremiah, just to put your mind at ease- but, in June, your father and mother will not be heading home to help your baby sister with her new baby. Instead, suggest to your father that he bring Jessykah and her family back with him. The month of July will be a very eventful month because I can already see that Jordan will be stubborn like your father and she will be very much worse for wear. Let her exact her revenge after you rescue her.”
Jacob, Jeremiah, and Skyler all sat and looked dumbfounded. “You see all of this?” Jake asked.
“Yes, Jacob. In order to, in essence, prevent the visions you’ve all had from coming to pass and seeing the horsemen ride, Jordan must be allowed to avenge what’s going to happen to her. No matter how much you beg her not to go out on her own, she’s going to. Don’t take it personally. She’s just following her own fate, though she doesn’t know it. Tell your father everything I’ve told you other than what I’ve instructed you not to. Anything else?”
“How do you know who we are?” Jeremiah asked.
“And so much about us?” Skyler added.
“Well, Jeremiah, Skyler, I’m very in tune with my guides. I know things about you that I’m sure that none of you know about yourselves or each other. And, just a little warning for Jacob, you’re going to want to keep an eye on your little princess. She’s going to scare the hell out of you soon. Be on your guard.”
“Which of my little princesses are you referring to?”
“Green eyes, brown curls, or do I have to spell it out for you, Jacob?”
“Oh, that little princess. Gotcha. What do you mean she’ll scare the hell out of me?”
“Now Jacob, I can’t tell you everything. I’ve given you all that the spirits will allow me to. All I was doing there was giving you fair warning. Now, I have to hang up with you. Jacob, I recommend that you don’t call your father until midnight your time. He might be up and crawling around about that time. Your mother certainly will be, though. She’ll make sure he’s on his toes.”
“Our mother’s always been that way”, Maddie said, speaking for the first time during the entire phone call.
“Ah, Madison. I was wondering when I’d hear your sweet voice.”
“Hello Albert.”
“Well, Draiman Clan, Mr. Mason, I hope you all have a fantastic day. Keep my warnings in mind and the war to end all will not come to pass.”
And the line went dead.
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