They had taken a break to join the others for lunch, and now they were to meet Aunt Neave in the yoga room for another round of lessons.
“You ready?” Decker grinned at her as he ushered her into the corridor.
“I suppose.” She sighed heavily.
“Chin up. You’ll get it, babe. You just have to let go of the doubts.” His hand was warm on the small of her back as he led her toward the fitness rooms.
When they entered, Jade saw that a long scarf trailed from Aunt Neave’s hand.
“I’ve just the thing, Jade. We’ll blindfold you. You and Michael can hold hands, and he will be able to see. If you can’t look down, I don’t think your concentration will be broken.”
Jade froze. Sheer panic set in. “But I won’t be able to see,” she rattled off in a rush of breath. She shook her head.
“I don’t think I can, I-” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“I will be able to see, and I will hold on to you,” Decker assured her. “We’ll just try it once and see what happens. I promise I won’t let go,” Decker suggested.
Jade took a deep, gulping breath and then another.
“Just once?” he breathed against her ear. He gave her that heart-stopping, sexy smile that made her draw in a breath and her knees go weak. He knew what he was doing.
“Okay.” She exhaled deeply. She let her arms fall to her sides. “Once. I’ll try it once. You better not let go.” She gave him a wary look.
He laughed. “I promise. You will not fall. I won’t let you.”
“Okay. I’ll try it.” She squared her shoulders. She could do this. She hoped she could, anyway.
“Good.” Aunt Neave came behind her and tied the scarf around her eyes.
Decker embraced her, his arms securely around her. “Let’s do it this way.”
She felt his warm breath against her ear. He took her hands and placed them on his shoulders. “Clasp your hands around my neck.”
She did, and felt quite secure holding on to him with his strong arms tight around her. She leaned into his hard body, and started her breathing and visualization.
After a few minutes, she did feel lighter. When she realized her feet were no longer on solid ground, she gasped.
“Don’t think about it,” Decker’s calm voice reassured her. Then his warm lips covered hers, and he kissed her. She got lost in that hot, deep, hungry kiss. So lost, that she was only vaguely aware that her feet were once again on terra firma.
The silk scarf slid from around her head and she blinked. She looked around.
“We’re in the bedroom? We flew here. I flew?” She waited for Decker to explain.
He flashed a sexy grin. “Yeah, babe, we flew. Good job.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her temple.
“You flew, I just held on.”
“You still flew, from the fitness room to our bedroom. You’ve done it, so now you will believe it can be done.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I flew.” Smiling, she did a little dance then pushed up on her toes to give Decker a kiss.
“We need to fly back. Will you try without the scarf this time?”
“If you hold me like you did this last time.”
He nodded. “I will.”
Decker’s thumb rubbed over the smooth silk scarf he still held in his hand. With a mischievous grin, he tossed it onto the bed.
“The silk feels nice. I’ll leave that here for later.” His eyes darkened. He gave her a look. The kind that made her think he wanted to devour her and held the promise of untold sensual delights for later that evening.
“What…oh?” She actually blushed as the realization hit her. “Okay.” She actually shivered in anticipation as she tried to imagine exactly how he intended to use that silk scarf.
He embraced her, instructed her to put her arms around his neck as he said, “Look into my eyes, Jade. Don’t look down.”
She gave him a nod, and held that brilliant blue gaze. She immediately felt them rising. She closed her eyes when everything became blurry. She held on tight.
“Open your eyes, babe.”
She did and felt her feet touch the floor.
“Excellent. You’ve done it Jade! You flew. We’ll need to work on it a bit more before you go solo.” Aunt Neave clapped and gave her a hug.
“I did it. I flew.” She grinned. “Twice.”
“Take a deep breath, dears and try again,” Aunt Neave told her.
Jade inhaled deeply. She felt Decker squeeze both her hands that he held securely in his. They were sitting on the floor in his mother’s fitness room, in lotus position, facing one another. The goal was for her to relax. She hadn’t fared well on her solo flight. In fact, she had sunk back down when she realized her feet weren’t on the ground.
She exhaled again and let go of all of her fearful and heavy thoughts. Be lighter, light enough to fly. Let go of fear. Breathe in light, breathe out doubt. Fly. Float. Glide. Soar like a bird, a fairy, even an angel. Be light as a feather. Just fly!
She felt herself sink deeper into the guided meditation. She did feel as if she were floating through the clouds. She saw Decker smiling in front of her as they glided through the white wisps of clouds. She could hear her heart beating, as well as his. He reached for her in the cover of clouds and kissed her. It truly felt as if they were one. It was just the vision. They were in his mother’s workout room.
“Marvelous!” She heard Aunt Neave’s voice. It sounded far away. “Stay calm dears, and slowly open your eyes. Whatever you do, don’t panic. You must stay calm and in the moment.”
She opened her eyes to find Decker’s brilliant blue gaze upon her.
“Good, now carefully look down, but if you panic you’ll sink like rocks!” Neave instructed in a calm voice.
Jade’s breath rushed out when she realized they were levitating about ten feet in the air, closer to the vaulted ceiling than the floor. She did panic when she looked to see the polished light wood floor far below her. She felt herself begin to drop, but Decker’s hands held hers. His soothing words kept her floating.
“Careful, babe. I don’t want you to get hurt. Look at me. Breathe deeply. That’s it. That’s my girl,” he coached her and calmed her in soft, soothing tones.
They continued to glide across the room, even if it was rather slowly. Aunt Neave stood waiting, beaming at them.
“We’re going to drift down, babe. Imagine just floating down and landing like a graceful bird.”
She nodded, afraid to speak for fear it would break her concentration or Decker’s. She looked into his brilliant blue eyes and pictured it in her mind’s eye. Together, they softly descended to the floor, landing on their feet in front of Neave.
“Oh my God! I looked down and I didn’t drop. You held my hands, but I wasn’t wrapped around you while I was flying!” She grinned at Decker then turned to Aunt Neave. “We flew!” She did a fist pump in the air. “Well, sort of.”
He laughed. “Yeah, we flew.” He drew her in for a big hug. “Nice job. I bet you’ll be flying solo by tomorrow.”
She blew out a long breath. “I sure hope so.”
“Very good, my dears. We will work on it every day. Once you increase your speed, Jade, and fly solo we can actually go places. We will work together for a time before either one of you can truly fly any distance. You must never try it alone unless I give you the go ahead.”
“Flying is very cool, Aunt Neave, but I don’t think that will help us defeat Ciaran.” Decker turned to her with a solemn expression on his face.
“Defeat, no, but you can successfully elude him if you happen to find yourselves in a dangerous situation, don’t you think? It will help others when you learn to bring them along with you.”
Decker nodded. “You’re right. I see where it will definitely come in handy. What next? We’ve been working on flying for hours.”
“Blocking, shielding, and cloaking. You must learn defense before you can go on the offensive, Michael.”
“Okay. Let’s do it.” Decker was eager to learn every possible thing he could to protect Jade, his brothers, and the girls.
Two hours later, their taskmaster released them.
“There’s a bit of time before dinner, my dears. You can clean up and rest if you like. You must take some time this evening after you’ve retired, when the two of you are alone together, to practice floating about your room. The more you work at it, the faster you will progress.”
“In our room?” Jade cocked her head at Aunt Neave.
“Oh, you’d be surprised what manner of things a couple can do while they are floating in the air.” She gave them a mischievous smile and a bold wink.
Jade blushed.
Decker grinned at her then laughed. Yeah, he couldn’t wait to try that.
They sat at the large table on the huge deck area. Since there really hadn’t been time to prepare a meal and they were all exhausted and hungry, cousin Niall waved in a sumptuous feast.
“I do enjoy American food. I hope you don’t mind. We’ll have Irish another night.” He winked while unrolling the apple green cloth napkin at his place setting.
“Oh my goodness, no, I don’t mind, Niall! Not at all. I’m famished, and this is foodie heaven.” Harper giggled as she looked over the array of food that had just appeared on the table. There was a bit of everything, from hamburgers and hotdogs to grilled steak and ribs. Side dishes galore, and an array of appetizers and desserts appeared on the table along with pitchers of iced tea, water, lemonade, and some Guinness chilling in a bucket of ice.
“It’s Irish beer.” He shrugged. “I’ll own to having a taste for the Guinness tonight.” He opened his Guinness and raised it. “Sláinte.”
Liam took one, opened it, and echoed the toast. “Sláinte!”
“Cheers! I love Guinness!” Brody grinned as he plucked one from the ice and opened it. He took a swig and sighed contentedly. “The food smells delicious. I’m starving. I’ll have some of everything.” He reached toward the steaks, still steaming on the platter.
“You couldn’t possibly eat all of this.” Harper shook her head in disbelief.
“Watch me, woman. All that fire we’ve been working with makes me hungry.” He laughed at her snort of disbelief and forked a huge steak onto his plate. He reached for the hot dogs next.
“Trust me, he can!” Liam laughed as he stabbed a steak and placed it on his plate. “I think I can put it away tonight. All of this work today has increased my appetite.”
“You’ve all used a great deal of your energy today,” Niall began. “Brody and Harper did very well. They mastered today’s lessons. Fianna, tell us of Liam and Erin’s day.”
“They were brilliant! They made a great deal of progress today. They are naturals.” Fianna turned to smile proudly at them.
Niall looked to his aunt and asked, “And Decker and Jade?”
“Oh!” Neave clapped her hands together and smiled happily. “They are doing quite well. They’ll be able to fly anywhere they want to in no time. They both picked up the shielding and blocking very quickly and though there is more work to be done on the cloaking, progress was indeed made.”
“You flew?” Brody asked Decker. He turned to Niall. “I want to fly.”
“Patience, Brody. The element of air comes easier to your brother and Jade. You must master your work with fire first before you move on to the other elements.”
“Fire?” Liam looked to Brody. “Uh oh. I always thought you had the tendency to become a pyro. I think we’re in trouble!” he teased, earning an eye roll from his brother.
Harper pointed to the unlit pillar candle in the centerpiece on the table. “Shall we?” she asked, quirking a brow at Brody.
He looked to Niall. After receiving a nod of approval, Brody rubbed his hands together and smiled. “Sure.”
Sitting across the table from one another, they bent forward, closed their eyes for several seconds then opened them and concentrated upon the candle. Within seconds, the wick sparked and sputtered then grew into a bright, steady flame.
Brody turned toward the chiminea. With a flick of his hand, flames engulfed the logs. A triumphant smile lit his face as he looked to Liam.
“Show off.” Liam grinned at his brother. “Shall we?” Liam turned to Erin who sat beside him.
She grinned mischievously. “Why not.”
He took her hand and they closed their eyes. A tiny dark cloud appeared above the table. It moved to hover above the candle then sprinkled rain down upon the wick. The flame sputtered out. The cloud and rain dissipated as a thin column of smoke drifted up from the candle.
“Don’t rain on my parade!” Harper pointed at Erin and Liam then joined in the laughter with everyone else.
“Who’s showing off?” Brody elbowed his brother in the ribs.
Liam snickered then ignored him as he took a bite of his steak. “Dang, this is the best steak I’ve ever eaten.”
“So, when can I see you fly?” Brody turned his attention to Decker. He looked to Jade and raised his brows in anticipation.
“I’m not very good at it yet, so not tonight!” Jade shook her head.
“We’re going to work on it some more.” Decker gave Jade a reassuring smile before turning his attention back to Brody. “We don’t want to show off or anything.”
Liam chuckled.
Brody laughed. He shrugged. “Okay. Whatever.” He looked to Niall and Fianna. “Do you want to watch a movie tonight? We have a media room and tons of movies on hand.”
“Actually, we’ll read more from the book tonight after dinner. Perhaps a movie after that, maybe at nine?” Niall proposed.
Brody shrugged. “We can do that. We haven’t had much time to look at Mom’s book these last two days. We only made it through a couple of sections yesterday afternoon.”
“There’s more to learn from the book,” Aunt Neave assured them. “You’ve all worked hard, so tonight we’ll give you a little break and find out more of what you mother worked so hard to prepare for you.”
They settled in and ate their delicious meal.
“This looks like china and crystal,” Jade commented as she picked up her plate and glass to take into the kitchen.
“It’s a gift for you, my cousins, from Ireland. It is Belleek. The goblets and pitchers are Galway crystal. Consider it a gift of thanks for the hospitality you are giving us here in your lovely home in the desert, complete with vivid red rock vistas and fiery sunsets.”
“Thank you. We’ll be sure to use it for all the Decker family gatherings in the future.” Decker picked up an unused dinner plate and studied it. “This is very nice. What kind of flowers are these, lotus flowers?”
“Yes, they are lotus flowers,” Fianna offered. “We use several different patterns of Irish porcelain at the hotel for different events. Our favorite Belleek pattern is this one, the Serenity.”
Serenity. A vision popped into his head of a Decker family gathering in the future. He swore he could feel Jade’s energy, though he couldn’t quite see her. He thought he heard her voice. There were several kids running around. In the rather misty and distorted vision, he could see little bodies scurrying about, and heard their joyous laughter. His brothers were there, he could feel them, see their blurred images. He also saw, along with all the kids, two other women. Could they possibly be his brothers’ future wives? As the image was blurred and wavy, he couldn’t see enough to tell what they looked like.
He thought he felt Aunt Neave’s presence, and he saw the images of his Irish cousins, Niall and Fianna, with two others, a man, and a woman. Their spouses maybe? Was it just his wish for the future? The hope for family, laughter, good times and love. He took the vision as a sign. A good sign, actually.
Yeah, he smiled. This group had a lot to look forward to in their future. He believed that. They just needed to get rid of a certain demon in their present so they could all move forward.
The vision solidified his determination to see it
done. Was it a vision of what could be, or what would be? He was going with it being a premonition of what their future would be. He believed that he and Jade had a future together, hopefully a lifetime to live together. It wasn’t just that she was his foretold one, but it became clearer to him with each passing day that she was the perfect woman for him. He believed that together with his brothers, their cousins, Jade and her friends, they would find the way to defeat this demon. They would have a Decker and O’Flynn Christmas dinner, complete with the family china from Ireland every year if he had anything to say about it.
“I am happy to give the gift to you. We’ve plenty at the hotel. This is just one of many new sets we recently ordered. I can easily order another for the dining room. We like to keep several hundred of each place setting on hand for events. You can keep the cloth napkins as well, for when you don’t want to use your little paper things.” Niall picked up one of the yellow paper napkins out of the napkin holder left on the table from lunch.
Decker laughed. The bright apple green napkins were nice too. “Thank you, Niall.” His expression grew somber when he remembered his mom always insisted on using her good cloth napkins for special family meals. He suspected it just might be an old family tradition. If not, it would become one now.
After everything was cleared from the table, the leftovers packed up and stored in the refrigerator, the china and crystal hand washed, dried, and put away, the group gathered in the large dining area. Aunt Neave opened the notebook and looked to each of her new charges.
“Some of those who have battled Ciaran O’Sullivan before you have either documented what methods they used or told me the strategies they tried, and what seemed to work. Also recorded in the notebook are things that didn’t work. I have gathered and kept all the records I had. Many years ago, when you boys were young, I gave a copy to your mother. She spent much time researching, and she recorded her findings here, in this book. Things changed when your mother married your father.” She looked to each one of the brothers before continuing.
“The times were changing, for there were telephones, radio, and television. Even phone books. In later years, the computer age came upon us. It was easier to find someone who didn’t want to be found. Your grandparents and parents could no longer hide in plain sight as the O’Flynns who had come before them. It was just before the wedding of Gregory John Decker and Mary Kate Flynn in Boston that Ciaran made contact with her father. Because of that, their wedding was a private, family only ceremony.”
Decker's Fate (The Decker Brothers Trilogy Book 1) Page 31
