Chapter 191: Catherine and David

Tuesday, June 29, 1971

It was still dark outside when I felt the train come to a stop. The lights from the train platform outside flooded my stateroom, bathing Izzy and me in their light. It seems I had forgotten to close the curtains again.

“Oh, well,” I thought. “I wonder what time it is?”

I felt like I had been ‘rode hard and put up wet’, as my Granddaddy Brown used to say. Izzy had indeed got to be on top, and on the bottom, and finally on her side as I cradled her breast in my hand while I slowly made love to her from behind. And that’s how we had fallen asleep.

Now, I needed to pee. And I needed a shower.

But first, I scanned the train and found almost everyone else asleep. Except for Kip, who was having a cup of coffee in the Dining Car. And I could sense Mikeya and Kalani discussing something softly out in the parlor. I scanned around outside the train and found a group of armed men scattered all around us. It didn’t take but a second to determine that they were from the State Department’s Office of Security. I had been expecting this. I widened my scan and double-checked to make sure that there was nothing that shouldn’t be there before I finally relaxed.

“All clear,” I announced to Kip.

“Thanks,” was his one word reply.

Then, rising slowly so as not to wake Izzy, I closed the curtains before making my way to the bathroom. The shower felt good, and after I finished, I found I wasn’t sleepy, so I threw on some jeans and an Izod, since I never did find all my t-shirts.

When I exited my stateroom, Mikeya was just telling her mother goodnight, so I got a kiss as well before she made her way to her stateroom.

“You seem to be up early,” Kalani told me.

“Well, at least I have been to bed. You, on the other hand don’t seem to have even gone to bed yet.”

“You know what they say, ‘A queen’s work is never done...” she replied and we both laughed before she continued. “ But seriously, Michael. I am afraid I have been way too lax in my duties lately. It seems that I have been easily led astray by one very handsome Prince. And now, I must pay the price.”

I sat on the floor by her chair and placed my head in her lap but didn’t say anything.

After a while, she laid aside the papers she had been reading and sighed. “I am afraid that I am going to miss you terribly, Michael, but it is time. I must resume my duties, if only until the next heir is born. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to spend that time longing to be by your side.”

“Kalani, I am going to miss you as well, but we both know that we have to do those things that we are called to do. Hopefully, the time will be filled, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t miss you.”

“Here it is, on the eve of the greatest time in my country’s history and all I can think of is having to tell you goodbye,” she said with tears in her eyes.

“Come, my queen. Let me hold you once more before we are resigned to our fates,” I said as I stood and led her back to her stateroom.

It would probably have sounded more romantic if I could have reported that we went to her room and made tender love the rest of the night. But the truth was, it was late and she was tired from all the preparations. So what really happened was that I just held her as she fell asleep in my arms.

It was light outside when I opened my eyes. I lifted my wrist to check the time, but caught myself.

“I am going to HAVE to get me a watch!” I thought for the millionth time.

“He’s awake!” I heard, along with more than a dozen giggles.

“It’s about time!” someone else added. I think it was Nicky.

“So ... that’s what you were talking about,” said Aida. “But I never did feel his passion last night.”

“That’s funny. Neither did I,” replied someone else.

That was enough! I got out of bed and headed for the bathroom in my stateroom, careful not to wake the still sleeping queen. I didn’t bother getting dressed, simply because I had never undressed. I washed my face and brushed my teeth. I’d shave later when I got dressed for the ceremony.

“Could anyone tell me what time it is?” I asked.

“It’s almost eight-thirty,” Catherine replied. “I’m in the Dining Car.”

I made my way forward and took a seat across from Catherine. A cup of coffee slid in front of me seconds later.

“Thank you, David,” she told him for me as he slid into the booth beside her.

“Yeah, thanks,” I mumbled. For some reason, I was having a hard time getting awake. So the three of us sat there silently. I soon figured out that they were waiting on me. Around us, the car was quiet except for Karla working busily in the galley. I hoped it was breakfast. I was starved.

“Are you awake yet?” Catherine finally asked me. “David and I have something we’d like to discuss with you.”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Then would you call Nicky and Grace? I want all of you to hear this at the same time,” she said. She had her primitive shield in place, so I didn’t try to scan her. It would seem that she had something to tell both of us so I’d let her do it in her way.

“We’ll be right there!” Nicky said happily when I relayed the message.

Five minutes later Nicky and Grace bounced in and I stood to let them slide in. They both promptly leaned over the table and hugged Catherine, and Nicky squeezed David’s hand.

Catherine looked at David, who was holding her hand and then at us. “Children, David has asked me to marry him.”

Grace beamed. I think she was expecting this. Nicky squealed in delight and launched herself over the table to hug her grandmother again. I just looked at David and smiled. Then taking Catherine’s hand in mine, I told her how happy I was for her.

“When’s the happy occasion?” I asked.

“Well, Michael, we know that you are planning on being mated with Hanna and Abby while we’re on Tapato, so we were wondering if you would mind if we asked Kalani to marry us there as well,” David spoke for the first time.

“I think that would be wonderful!” gushed Nicky.

“Yeah. That would be fantastic!” Grace added.

“Well, I know this seems rushed and all, but in reality, David and I have known each other for over six years now. And we have spent so much time together that it just seems like a waste to wait any longer,” Catherine confessed.

“And I have been in love with her for much of that time, I just never thought that she’d feel that way too,” David added.

“Uh, that’s why ... we wanted to ask you ... could you do something for us, Michael?” Catherine stammered hesitantly.

In the entire time I had known Catherine, this was the first time I had ever heard her stammer.

“You know I will if I can,” I replied, still not scanning her.

“We’d like you to do that thing ... where you share your heart with someone. Only we’d like you to share my heart with David. He says he has loved me for years, but I don’t think he really understands how I feel for him. I’d like you to show him, if you would.”

I looked at them as I ran her request through my mind. Not to approve or disapprove it, but to figure out how I could honor her request. In the past, when I shared myself, it had come naturally, but I had never even thought about how to share someone else’s heart with a third person. I took my time thinking it through, but I was still not sure I could do what she wanted.

“You don’t have to do this, Catherine. I believe that you love me,” David told her.

“I know. But I want you to experience my heart the way Michael can do it. Please?” she asked him.

David nodded his head as he patted her hand in his. I made up my mind on how to attempt this and without a word, I placed my hand over hers. I hoped that they had meant for me to do it here and now.

“Couldn’t you just do like you did for me and Catherine that time? Down in New Orleans?” Grace asked.

“You are so smart, Sis!” I told Grace as I took Catherine hand in mine.

“Think of David,” I told her and began to gather her energy into me. I knew that her love for me had empowered me many times, but I was unsure if her love for David would do anything. It took a few minutes of experimenting, kind of like turning the dial on a radio, looking for the strongest signal. But soon, I found it and began to relax into it as the old one had first taught me.

I was surprised. While it was not coming in as clear as her love for me had in the past, it was clear none-the-less. And powerful as well. Strangely, I felt the twin rings on my finger begin to vibrate. I continued to gather up her love for David and began to detect some of her love for Nicky, for Grace, and for me. I just added it all together and then reached out for David’s hand with my other hand.

David bolted upright when he first felt it. Then, sighed as he settled back down. His eyes narrowed before finally closing as he focused inwardly on the emotions I was sharing.

I had planned on just sharing a few moments with them and then stopping. But as I shared Catherine’s love for David with him, David began to share his love for her back. And the more they shared, the more power I felt. I became lost in their love, much the same way I can get lost in sharing my own love with someone.

I lost track of time and place as I marveled in their love. This was a new experience for me and I found myself getting more and more excited as I flexed the growing power inside me.

“Michael?” Bieta asked. “Is that you? What are you doing?” Then to someone else, she said. “Ca ... Can you feel him?

Then, “It’s Michael! And he has unleashed some sort of highly advanced power.” Then she paused.

“No, my husband. I am contributing nothing. I would not even begin to know where to start. I have never witnessed such beautiful, raw power as this!”

I could hear her words, but I was afraid to break my concentration on Catherine and David to respond to her. However, I grinned as I imagined how she was taking all this.

“MOTHER? You’re here?” Narvenia squealed excitedly in my mind.

“No, my daughter. I am in the Council Chambers with your Father.”

“Then how ... how do I feel you?”

“I do not know. This is not of our undertaking. Your young subject seems to have tapped into a new and totally unknown source of power,” Bieta told her.

“I don’t understand...” Narvenia whined. “I was just thinking of you, and you’re ... you’re here!”

“Are you well, my daughter?” Bieta asked her.

“Oh yes! And I am learning so much and I have so much to share with you!” Narvenia cried happily.

“Then let us not waste this opportunity,” Bieta told her. Immediately they both reached for the golden cuffs on their wrists.