Double Fated (Book One)

by C.K. Mullinax

  Chapter Fifty Four

  Allowing the happiness to spill out freely, helped us to regain our focus. We solved most of our additional problems, rapidly.

  Our expectant moms’ are spiritually sealed. They cannot safely walk on unsealed ground because there is a slight risk of it dangerously accelerating their pregnancy. There is no way to predict if it will happen.

  G-mom will make sure Reid takes his wife to a safe locale for their honeymoon. Grandma will help Momma-G get the Hosting Celebration moved to hallowed ground. The rest of them will keep their feet planted in the appropriate places at all times.

  Our mommies all need a check-up, but they don’t want an Ava’shay or Tarrish physician to know about our newest family members until their husbands’ know.

  G-mom remedied that issue by offering Doc’s services. He is the best gifted physician in the business. And, he’s not Ava’shay, Ay’sha, Tarrish or Vaydem.

  The tension mounted, once again, when the subject of me was brought up. I live in a sorority house that is definitely not on hallowed ground. Evidently, if my family seals my house something bad might be attracted to it. I didn’t give them time to elaborate. I told them I would pop home, at least every other day. I don’t want to miss a single minute of watching our babies grow. I was even considering dropping out this semester, but g-mom and grandma shot me “the look”. My parents want me to finish college, keep cheerleading, acting and living my full life. I will have to work on convincing them that I need, need, need my five new babies more than I need an education or college life.

  Maybe, I can get Haven to “pout” them into submitting to my will. I just need their permission to take a half-a-semester off from my college life. A video isn’t the same as feeling the babies’ kick, move and wiggle. I eventually tabled my inner debate because it was interfering with grandma’s concentration.

  Grandma and g-mom promised to remain available to me at all times in case I need something on unsealed ground. My dads’ and brothers’ can look out for me, too once they know about their wives’ pregnancies.

  Then, all our expectant mommies’ solemnly vowed to remain well inside areas that are safe and where they are guarded at all times. Typically, the dads’ provide them with protection. Until they know however, my vulnerable moms’ and sisters’ would be guarded by actual guards in the most secure settings possible.

  They also promised to refrain from channeling, ritual dancing and performing anything that uses spiritual power unless their lives are being threatened. And, they swore to eat, drink, sleep and stay mellow.

  Just when I thought we had made it through, the last issue arrived to destroy me…

  Grandma will be sealing our babies to us as soon as every family member knows about them. Each joining ritual increases and intensifies spiritual giftings. That is a good thing, except when it comes time for sealed mom’s to go into labor and give birth. The pain for our new mommies will be agonizing, debilitating and possibly lethal. Even knowing that, they refused to leave our little ones unsealed until they were born. There was no changing any of their minds either. Nothing will dissuade them.

  I listened in terrified silence as my moms’ and my sister, Willow discussed how their husbands’ would give them enough strength to keep breathing through the agony of labor. They explained how this happens and why. But, it was too complicated for me to understand. The best I could figure is their husbands’ can help them because they are full-blooded Ay’sha females.

  Then, Momma-G revealed that Reid can assist Fallon through labor, by shouldering some of her pain through her Ava’shay luminary ring position. When my family opens a sacred circle to perform a ritual, Fallon and Ember can use their luminary positions to re-direct the power. But, Fallon can’t redirect anything during the delivery. And, Ember can’t redirect anything for our sister, in this instance either.

  Even knowing their spouses could help out, I was petrified by the time they finished. Still, I was miraculously maintaining my overall cool. Chanting the mantra, “…together, we will all make it through this” and considering how I plan to carry all five babies, simultaneously from birth until I arm-deliver them to college helped me sustain my outward composure.

  I thought I had my terror contained. Then, Ember took her turn.

  Ember is part Ava’shay and a luminary like Fallon. She is also part bloodline gypsy and a full-fledge matriarch. Feeling like at least one of those things would have her more than covered I was thinking we’re almost home-free.

  Then, my free-home got levied, bombed and subsequently, demolished. I slowly dissolved into a total basket case.

  Ember casually mentions that, on occasion, she unintentionally, but seriously injures herself when she channels because her astronomical spiritual power isn’t always controllable. The tension would have hit, but suddenly my sister squeals that she just felt the baby channel.

  It was almost thrilling for me until she laughs about how she’ll have to be extra cautious while she’s giving birth. If she’s not careful enough, the baby’s epic spiritual power will combine with her epically, epic spiritual powers. Then, life on this planet will cease to exist.

  Everyone laughs, including me. Low and behold, they aren’t laughing at her joke, but at her take on reality! The humor was lost on me at that point…

  As if she isn’t facing enough danger already, Ember will get yet another massive infusion of extra spiritual power courtesy of our next joining ritual. That’s how it happens! Our family sealing rituals exponentially and permanently increase our gifted members’ giftings. Their powers blend, so they expand while taking from the others!

  I don’t know what keeps their spirits from exploding, already!!

  Willow resumes the outward, although reserved, worry. She expresses her concern that her daughter’s body might still be too immature to safely deliver an Ava’shay baby.

  Fallon, sounding equally mellow, reports that Ember’s body is indeed very young to be undertaking pregnancy in this realm. And, she asks if anyone has a suggestion?

  Momma-C offers a ray of sunshine when she reveals her Vaydem lineage might make-up for some of the difference.

  Grandma gives us another sliver by declaring Ember’s Tarrish heritage could provide her with tenacious strength. She uses Tray as an example to bolster her assumption – calling my sister ‘spiritually sturdy’.

  I was barely clinging to my mental stability because my intellectual mind knows those are mostly educated guesses. But when Momma-G offered Ember a ‘couple of reminders’, I lost my grip entirely.

  Momma-G smiles and breathes deeply while she reveals her friendly-Ava’shay reminders. Jaysen can’t help Ember in labor…or relieve her of any pain…or withdraw a channel from the baby while she’s in labor like he did in the Hallows with the twins. Her Ava’shay power, along with Jaysen’s spiritual power, must be utilized by the baby during labor to protect him/her from harm. So, Ember will use her luminary position to redirect their combined powers into the baby.

  Jaysen can’t help her by shouldering any of her agony! Or take care of their baby! Labor might take hours! My Ember mitigates the labor and delivery on her own…life and death hangs in the balance.

  Grandma knew when I snapped. She excused us, dragging me out of the room before any mom knew what was happening.

  Forcibly calming me took some major effort on her part. She had to use a bunch of channels, her matriarch spirit, move the Houses (whatever that means) and finally have a private motherly chat to talk me down.

  “I can’t lose any of them…I wouldn’t live through it…that includes the five little ones that I can’t hold, just yet…I’ve gotta keep everybody…” I whimpered, sobbing on her shoulder.

  “The Creator does with us what He needs. We handle things, only as they come and together, as a family. I know what you’re feeling…I’m wearing those same shoes you slipped on back there. But, I need you to think about this
and respond honestly. If I had the power to reverse your roles and you were in Ember’s position, would you wait to seal our baby growing inside of you?”

  “No!” I exclaimed with certainty.

  “Would you give your life in exchange?”

  “Yes!”

  “You’re sure – no reservations, qualms or hesitations?”

  “Absolutely, I would give my life in exchange for any member of my family here or there or in their mommy without giving it a second thought…”

  “We plan when we can. But, we never rush ahead and worry about what ‘might’ happen. When we try that future living, our thoughts turn dark and they scare us. We will sacrifice our all if that’s what we’re called to do. Our sealed love compels us, sustains us and remains constant no matter where our spirits are geographically, physically located.

  “Do you ever doubt g-daddy takes care of g-mom? Or, better yet, do you believe that he’s responsible for sending her those blessings she tries to count?”

  “I’ve never doubted him…or her,” I stated.

  “You just struck at the heart of my real question. You’re terrifyingly perceptive…like Zander. I wish we had time to explore that fascination right now.

  “For expedience, I will drive right to the heart of the matter. That’s an honest “g-daddy” perception. If you think back though, you did doubt g-mom once. You questioned, wondered and worried…still, you couldn’t get her to commit to being sealed to us or tell you why she had reservations.

  “She exchanged a Hallows vacation for a gambling trip to France – the most perplexing decision of all. But, her running was necessary. It provided both of you with time to learn a valuable lesson.

  “You learned that even when g-mom isn’t geographically within your reach she is still “with you”. Your heart goes everywhere you do. So, she’s always tagging along and she’s there to stay.

  “Lizzy unlearned something while she was skirting us. We have to “unlearn” fiction, in order to face the truth. Humans, along with 98% of everyone else kicking around breathing, occasionally get stuck-on-stupid.

  “Mind you, that’s not an insult. My own stuck-on-stupid move cost me nearly fourteen years in a Tarrish prison. I needed the time to learn my lesson. The Creator uses everything. And to him we’re children, remember? Falling and getting hurt shapes us into better kiddies…well, as long as we get up and analyze where we went wrong before we take off running again.

  “Those ‘fictions’ are our arrogance…plain and simple. Anyone vulnerable to occasional bouts of getting stuck-on-stupid tend to cling harder to their arrogance, than the things they know to be truth.

  “G-mom thought she had ‘it’ all decoded…to get something good, I have to surrender something of equal value. More specifically her arrogance in that case was…I had to give up my soulmate, Pritchard to get the love of my life, my Bunny Baby, Krista. Back then, Lizzy truly thought that sealing to her family meant she would have to surrender her baby in exchange. Her fiction delayed the inevitable, but it changed nothing.

  “If you’ll remember, the truth knocked her to her knees in the Arboretum and horrified you. She was barely breathing. But, she used her very limited oxygen supply to demand we seal our daughter. You know spiritual bonds take drastic physical tolls. She was in no real shape to perform your sealing that instant. Debating with her would’ve been pointless. I still get amazed thinking about how she found the strength to hold you when she had absolutely none to give.

  “Let’s cut to the chase before I captivate myself pondering over the wondrous puzzle that is our g-mom. We don’t ever ‘lose’ anyone we love, Krista. They sometimes get relocated and we catch up later. But, they are never ‘gone’. Love is indestructible.

  “Life is a mysterious book with chapters written and hopefully, ones yet to come. The divinely inspired tales contained within the pages are authored by a solitary Being that knows everything. Keep in mind, that Author doesn’t even have the capability of getting stuck-on-stupid…”