Chapter 51: Grace

Sunday, May 30, 1971

After lunch, Grace and I excused ourselves and began walking the trail that wound around the other end of the lake from the Dining Hall. We held hands and talked as we walked, with Grace telling me about her graduation ceremonies and seeing all her friends one more time before everyone went their separate ways. I told her a little more of what she missed here. She had several questions about me reaching out to her in Tennessee and how I had accidentally hurt Catherine.

As we passed the Pavilion and started up the path to the warm springs, we fell into that kind of wonderful silence as we each thought our own thoughts. My heart was filled with love and I could hardly wait to share that love with Grace.

We mounted the steps to the tiny cabin that Catherine had arranged for us and stopped.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked.

“Yes, Michael. I’m sure,” she said demurely.

With that, I bent down and picked her up, one arm under her knees and the other around her back and then stepped across the threshold. There I stopped and kissed her with all the love and passion I could muster.

“Take me to bed, Michael. Take me to bed and then take me!” she cried.

Grace stretched her nude body languorously beside me, reaching above her head to touch the rustic headboard as she pointed her toes.

“O-o-o-o! I can’t believe I fell asleep,” she said lazily.

“You expended a lot of energy,” I replied.

“I think WE expended a lot of energy. You fell asleep too,” she giggled.

I just smiled. My name used to be Phil Brown. And up until two weeks ago, I was a fifty-six-year-old loser, stuck in a dead-end job, a dead-end marriage, and a dead-end life that I hated.

Finally, I thought “Fuck this!” then put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger. That was on Monday night, May 16^th, 2011.

The next thing I know, I’m waking up in the body of a sixteen-year-old accident victim. Somehow, I’ve traveled back in time some forty years, to 1971. I also discovered that I now possess empathic abilities.

You know, the ability to sense what others are feeling. And since most emotions are tied to thoughts, I can usually sense those thoughts as well.

It’s not like mind reading. I can’t detect any thoughts that don’t have some emotions with them. But here’s the kicker: in addition to sensing emotions, I’ve found that I can also share MY emotions with others!

And in just a few weeks, after jumping through some legal hoops, I’ll be emancipated. Then, if everything goes okay, I should become the head of the ninth largest privately-held company in America. Added to all that, is the fact that the healthy young body, which I inherited, also came with an extended family.

And what a family!

The matriarch of the family, my grandmother, Catherine, helped my grandfather build the Wagner Empire. I’ve already become dependent on her wise council, and her uncanny ability to keep me grounded.

My new body also came with a twin sister. Her name is Nicole, but she goes by Nicky. Next to Grace, I love her the most. Our parents (maybe I should say ‘her’ parents, as I never knew them) were killed in the same accident that caused my new body to be in a coma.

My new grandmother, Catherine, has a twin sister, named Liz. And Liz has twin daughters, Sarah and Debbie. Sarah and Debbie each have a set of twin daughters, plus Sarah has another daughter named Randi, the only non-twin in the bunch. Talk about twins running in the family!

Then there’s Anna. Anna is ... well ... she’s very special to me. She is my doctor, and also one of only four people who are aware of my past life and my time traveling. The other three who know are Catherine, Nicky, and now, Grace.

In the last two weeks, there have been several other special people entering my life: Sydney, Sandy, Rose and Eve, and tomorrow, Mikeya and Ileana.

Then there’s Vickie, another young empath, who happens to have a submissive personality, in search of someone to take care of her and meet her special needs.

But, out of everyone I’ve met so far; Grace, alone, has captured my heart.

“Michael?” The melody of Grace’s voice broke my reverie.

“Yes, love?”

“Tell me again about the visions, or whatever you call them. What do they mean?”

“I wish I knew. You heard what Catherine (I can’t really think of her as grandmother, especially since I’m older than she is) told us about them this morning. And what she said makes sense, about how that someone or something has gone to a lot of time, and effort, and energy to set all this in motion, but we don’t know who or what. So, for now, all we can do is follow where they are leading us,” I told her.

“Do you think we’ll ever know?” Grace asked me.

“I hope so,” I replied deep in thought. “All I know is, it feels right. My life feels right. Not like before.”

“Was it really that bad? I mean ... before?” she asked as she stroked her fingers softly across my forehead.

“I think it was Thoreau that said ‘The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.’ Well that was me. I was desperate for love,” I told her sincerely.

“But, I mean, killing yourself? Was that really the answer?” Grace asked, trying to understand.

“I won’t try to defend what I did, or the choices I made. I’ll admit it was the coward’s way out,” I said with true ignominy. “But, for some incredible reason beyond any plausible explanation; I seem to have hit the universal jackpot! I still find it hard to believe I received the opportunity to live my life over again.”

I sighed as I looked at Grace. It really is overwhelming when I think about it. I doubt I’ll ever be able to understand how I could possibly be this lucky.

“I guess that’s why all of the other things that are happening to me seem almost tame, compared to what has already happened to me,” I said.

“Do you think you’ll ever find what you couldn’t find the last time?” Grace asked.

I thought for a moment, gazing into her eyes. Finally, I answered.

“I already have.”

Grace and I walked slowly, hand in hand, down the winding path back to the resort’s Dining Hall. It was almost time to meet the Ratu. That’s the title that Kalani’s mother, the former queen of Tapato, is called.

Twin Springs Ranch is a clothing optional resort, which is also an actual working ranch of over 55,000 acres, nestled in a long, narrow valley between the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Black Mountains in Southern Colorado. It is also home to the Wolf Creek Institute, a premier school for budding artists.

The ranch has been in Anna’s family for four generations, dating back to the late 1800’s and my new extended family and I have been hiding here for the last nine days.

However, the need for hiding seems to have passed, and now we are just enjoying ourselves, before we leave to go back home to Tennessee on Thursday. With a side trip to New York first.

“Grace?”

“Yes, Michael?”

“Will you go with me to meet the Ratu?” I asked.

“Of course. I told you, my place is by your side. I know it will take a while for me to learn how to do for you what Catherine does. I just need some time, and experience. And the only way to get it is to stay by your side.”

“I think I like that idea!” I grinned.

“Don’t get any ideas, buster! I’m too sore. And besides, you have two young mothers-to-be depending on you to be ready for them tomorrow,” she laughed.

As we approached the Dining Hall, I scanned ahead. My new family was already there, but the Kapaemala’s hadn’t made it yet, so I turned my scan towards their cabin about a hundred yards away. It wasn’t hard to locate the four women frantically trying to get ready to meet the father of their future queen.

Grace led me straight to Catherine who rose as she saw us approach.

No words were exchanged as Grace wrapped Catherine in her arms. I stood back as they hugged. One of them, having recently lost her son, and the other, having lost her mother. For the bond Catherine and Grace were forging went beyond mere words. Finally, still without speaking, they turned to me and I stepped forward, wrapping them both in my arms. I sensed that I was their adhesive, the commonality of their equation.

“Are you okay?” Catherine asked Grace softly.

“Oh yes! It was wonderful! Michael was wonderful! And you are wonderful! Not just for getting us the cabin to use for the afternoon, but for understanding what I needed, even when I didn’t. Thank you Cath ... uh ... Mom!” Grace exclaimed.

Catherine beamed as they hugged again. Nicky joined them then and the hug became a group hug. I stepped to the side as one by one, the other family members joined in. Well, the females anyway. I stepped over to where John was sitting.

“What’s that all about?” he asked me.

John was one of the good guys. Married to Sarah, and father to Randi, Julie, and Jennifer, I had seen him undergo major changes in the last ten days trying to be a better husband and father. Moreover, I respected that. However, he was still a guy, and therefore clueless when it came to female flock mentalities.

“Would you like me to tie you in?” I asked grinning.

Part of my gift, the ability to share emotions, allows me to sense a person, and then connect to another and allow either or both to feel each other.

John, having experienced my ability before laughed as he said, “I’ll pass. I was really just wondering why they were doing that. But I realized I don’t want to know bad enough to wade through that much estrogen to find out.”

I laughed at his quip.

“Well, it seems Catherine has a new daughter, Nicky has a new sister, and the others have a new cousin or niece,” I explained. “But even with my ability I’m not sure I could tell you why they’re doing that!”

This time, we both laughed.

Vickie and her mom came in and joined John and me. Vickie is the only other empath that I’ve ever met so far. But that doesn’t mean much as my exposure to the rest of the world since I woke up, consists of a few days in a hospital and a few more at a nude ranch. Not exactly a representative sampling.

Vickie just looked at me and smiled. I could tell she was trying to scan the group. Finally, I saw her leave her mother’s side and join Nicky. Vickie’s mom, Helen, raised her eye to me in question as she asked, “What’s going on?”

“Family moment,” John replied.

“Well, this family sure has its moments! This has got to be the hugging-est family I’ve ever seen,” Helen replied.

“In that case,” I said as I reached out to hug her, “I guess I should start coaching you. Because you’re rapidly becoming a part of it.”

Helen was staggered for a moment. She hadn’t expected to be included as family when she accepted Catherine’s offer to become the family nurse and move to Tennessee with us. She understood that the position was created primarily because we wanted Vickie and her empathic abilities near us for right now.

“I ... ah ... I mean I’m just the hired help,” she replied.

I scanned her quickly. It had been a long time since she had felt any family ties at all. It had been just her and Vickie for the longest time. I watched as she decided it might not be a bad thing. For both Vickie and for her.