The Quelling Tide (The Gifted Realm Book 7)

by Jillian Neal

  “Uh.” Her voice faltered as she removed the screw top jar from the crate.

  Dan stepped in. She didn’t have to do this alone. “Tutu believes that just about anything can be cured if you eat lots of island food, take long walks in the waters of Kauai, take long baths with her prescriptions, take long naps, and have long love making sessions.” He stated firmly and watched his mother fight her abashed scowl.

  If he wanted his parents to accept his sex life, he supposed he had to admit to himself that it was probably part of their marriage as well, although he wasn’t certain of that.

  “This is for that last part.” He held up the jar of oil of Ohia lehua lubricant.

  “And she just sells this in her store?” Mrs. Vindico was trying but she couldn’t bite back the harsh words.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Fionna shuddered from the emotions assaulting her by way of Dan’s mother, but she went on. “We have quite a few customers in your age bracket that find it helpful.”

  “It’s part of life, Mom.” Dan quipped. “That’s what we do here on the farm. We cultivate life.”

  Fionna turned and Dan wrapped her back up in his arms. She’d been strong long enough. He let her hide in him, and felt Halia move against his waist.

  A sudden smile lit her beautiful face as Dan’s hand moved instinctively to her stomach. “Did you feel that?”

  “Yeah, baby.” He stroked his hand over her stomach pressing lightly until Halia responded again.

  The Governor had edged to the counter and was studying a few of the things Tutu had provided. “I wonder if she has anything for my shoulder. It’s been hell on the golf course.”

  Fionna pulled away from Dan. “Oh, yes, sir. The lavender and rosemary oils will help, and Tutu has oils you can put in a compress to relieve sore muscles.”

  Dan drew a deep breath and tucked Fionna back into his chest. “We’re gonna go. Think about what I said, and use whatever you want. They all really do work.” He guided Fionna out of the cottage.

  “This is so not how I saw this working when we left for the airport this afternoon.” Fionna confessed on their walk. “I didn’t even feel this.”

  Dan nodded. “Well, I think everyone’s pretty shocked they’re here, even them.”

  “I heard what you said there at the end.” She whispered as they meandered to their home. “I don’t want you to cut off your family for me, Dan.”

  “Hopefully I won’t have to, but, Fi, I won’t let her hurt you. She needed to be given some boundaries. What she said to you on the beach that was out of line. I won’t have it. That will not happen on my watch.”

  “You’re just amazing.” Fionna choked as tears rolled down her cheeks.

  Dan halted their progress and wrapped her up in his arms. He let her cry. “Shh, baby. It’s all over. We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but she has her ultimatum, and I’m not backing down.”

  “I know,” Fionna shuddered as she tried to quell her tears, but the water flowed from her. It always would.

  Several minutes later, they entered the cottage. Papa had fallen asleep in one of the chairs.

  Fionna grinned as she kissed his cheek. “We’re back. Thank you.”

  Papa stood and gazed at Fionna adoringly. “You okay, Maylea?”

  She nodded and leaned back against Dan as he nestled her in his arms.

  “Can’t fight the tides, Daniel. No matter how big the fire.” Papa stated wisely.

  “I know, sir. The water is always the stronger force.”

  “Pa’ipunahele,” Papa whispered as he kissed Fionna’s cheek and waved good-bye.

  Chuckling, Dan kissed the top of Fionna’s head. “Hey, you’re my favorite love too.”

  “You’re getting so good I hardly ever have to translate for you anymore.” She gifted him with one of his smiles.

  “Ko Aloha, Makamae E Ipo.” He husked in her ear and felt her energy sooth as she let her eyes close to hear his vows. “Nau ko`u aloha.” He whispered kisses on her cheek as he told her how much he loved her. “Na'u `oe.” He breathed his claim of ownership and felt her heart pick up pace as she began to pant. “Nou No Ka `I`ini,” His voice turned to gravel as she spun and laved his mouth with a kiss.

  “And what do you desire to do with me?” She urged in a heated pant.

  “Come here, Maylea. I’ll show you.” His voice was low and breathy. He burned for her. He needed to bury himself deeply in the cool, soothing waters of the incoming tide.

  Dan awoke to someone knocking on their front door. He sighed. He didn’t want to move. Fionna was curled against him. Her breasts and belly were on full display against his skin.

  Halia was awake as well though Fionna was sound asleep. He smiled as he felt her glide through her mother’s womb. Dan eased from the bed still astonished after three months time at how comfortable they were.

  Pulling on a pair of shorts, he closed the bedroom door after covering Fionna tenderly.

  He headed to the door having no idea what might be coming.

  “Hey, Dad.” He rubbed his eyes and yawned deeply.

  “I thought farmhands got up with the sun?”

  “Yeah, well, not here. Here we sleep.” Dan allowed his father into the cottage.

  “I can’t blame you. That bed is astounding. I’ve never slept better.”

  Dan nodded his agreement.

  “I plan to order one when we get back.” Governor Vindico informed his son.

  Dan paced to the kitchen to start the coffee. “Good luck with that. Papa makes the beds from the island koa, and the mattresses are made of Hawaiian cotton, so you’d have to have it shipped over. It’d probably cost you as much as your house.”

  “Really?” The Governor sounded both impressed and disappointed. “There anything he can’t make?”

  “He’s probably the strongest Occamy Predilect I’ve ever met.”

  “Your Mother’s still asleep. I can’t think of the last time she slept so late.”

  Dan nodded but gave nothing away as waited on the coffee to perk and then poured his father a cup.

  “I just thought I’d see if I could help out today. I’d like to spend the day with you, son.”

  Dan offered his father a smile. “Sure, if you want, but you’re on vacation, Dad.”

  “Well, I was kind of hoping if I helped out that maybe we could work some and then see a little of the island with you and the girls this afternoon.”

  Genuinely touched. Dan smiled. “That’d be great, Dad. It means a lot to me, and sure.”

  Governor Vindico drew a long restorative sip of the Kona coffee that was Fionna’s favorite.

  “Have a seat.” Dan gestured to the table. The Governor took the seat that suited his stature. He was several inches shorter than his son and not nearly as muscular.

  “Tutu doesn’t believe furniture should match. She believes it should be comfortable for the people sitting in it.” He gestured his hand with his own coffee mug to the table where they were seated.

  “Smart woman.”

  Dan was exceedingly thankful that his father happened to have chosen the chair that placed his back to their bedroom. Fionna opened the door dressed in a loose pair of polka dotted, boxer, pajama shorts. They were slung low under her bump, but that was all she was wearing.

  Dan’s eyes goggled as she grimaced and closed the door back quickly. Fairly certain that his father hadn’t seen anything, Dan tried to smooth over his momentary panic.

  She made another appearance a moment later. This time she’d added one of Dan’s t-shirts over the shorts. It was pulled tightly against her bump.

  “Hey, baby doll.” Dan kissed her head as he stood to make her coffee.

  “Good morning, Governor.” Fionna managed after her first few sips.

  “Good morning, sweetheart. Did you sleep well?”

  “Yes, sir. Halia woke me up. I guess I should get used to that though.”

  “Oh, you definitely should. I don’t think Dan slept through the night until
he was fourteen.”

  Fionna giggled and shook her head at her husband.

  Papa and Dan showed the Governor how to harvest the Awapuhi that was ready to be cut.

  Mrs. Vindico encouraged Fionna to go on to her yoga class with Malani, while she and Tutu looked after Aida.

  That afternoon, Dan and Fionna took the Vindicos to South shore and then on to Poipu where Dan paid for the table to enjoy The Beach House restaurant, one of Kauai’s more prestigious restaurants.

  The next day they made their way North and spent the day shopping and enjoying Princeville and Hanalei. They stopped in for ice cream and coffee at Dan and Fionna’s favorite shop.

  “That’s where Mommy and Daddy got their swirly tattoos.” Aida announced to her grandparents when they passed the tattoo parlor along the boardwalk.

  “What does that one mean, son?” The Governor quizzed. Dan was impressed with the lack of judgment in his tone. His father had not been pleased with Dan’s tattoos when he’d gotten them years before.

  “It’s the symbol of Hapai. It means pregnancy, or more appropriately in this case, to carry forever.”

  His Father gave him an understanding and heartfelt nod as he slapped his shoulder.

  Fionna’s cell phone chirped, and she pulled it from her purse. “Oh my gosh!”

  “What?”

  “Malani’s water just broke! I have to go! I’m the person that’s supposed to tell her she wants to be casted!”

  “Well, you two go on. We can take Aida back to the farm.” Mrs. Vindico offered very kindly.

  “I want to see Aunt Malani’s baby.” Aida begged.

  “Baby girl, it won’t be here for a long while. You go with Gramps and Grandma, and Daddy and I will take you to see her tomorrow, okay?” Fionna begged.

  Disappointment shadowed Aida’s face, but she nodded her agreement.

  “Thank you!” Fionna embraced Mrs. Vindico, which seemed to shock her.

  She and Dan flew to the truck, and Dan did his best to get to Wilcox Memorial Hospital in a hurry. Fionna had been given a checkup there just a few weeks before.

  He sat in the waiting room with Malani’s father, Tutu, Papa, Kai’s parents, and his brother. He called his parents to check on Aida several times. They’d helped her water her garden, and then she’d fallen asleep with the Governor as he’d read to her.

  At four-thirty, Dan smiled. His head lifted from his drowsy state. He heard the customary shrieking wail of a newborn as she drew her first breath.

  Fionna appeared after several long minutes. She pulled off her mask and beamed at him. “She’s so beautiful!”

  “What’s her name?” Dan tried to envision the people that would be waiting on him to appear with the news of Halia’s birth.

  “Leialanie Maylea.”

  Dan nodded his understanding and guided her to him as she began to cry.

  Epilogue

  ~Last Week of August~

  Stepping out of the shower, he tried not to feel the harrowing sense of loss that twisted and tossed ominously in the pit of his stomach.

  He toweled off and glanced at the packed suitcases on the bedroom floor. They were leaving in the morning, headed back to Arlington, back to a life Dan hadn’t truly missed in anyway at all.

  He’d signed a contract to teach all year; he reminded himself. If Fionna and the girls wanted to move to the farm after that, then they could. He ran his brush through his wet hair.

  Fionna had been in tears off and on all day long. She’d spent the morning with Malani holding little Lanie with both women sobbing that they wouldn’t be back together until the next summer.

  Aida had wondered around dejectedly to all of her favorite places on the farm verbally telling each of them goodbye, effectively breaking Dan’s heart.

  There were meetings he had to attend before school started the next week. He and Fionna were posing for pictures for the first of many articles and brochures for the Auxiliary International Adoption program.

  They had to get Aida set to start second grade. She was to meet her teacher Thursday night.

  He reviewed all of the reasons they had to leave though none of them seemed viable at that moment.

  He’d helped Papa plant what would become the fall harvest. He tried desperately to keep the feeling of the volcanic soil, the feeling of growing life, cemented in his mind and in his soul. He would need that to get through the next nine months until they returned.

  He noted the crates and crates of oils, lotions, ointments, and teas for Fionna, Aida, and for little Halia stacked beside the luggage as he moved into the bedroom.

  He pulled on the khaki shorts he’d laid out after packing everything else but what he planned to fly home in. He saw it as he located his t-shirt. There was a note on his pillow.

  Praying that Aida hadn’t written he and Fionna to declare that she was moving in with Tutu and Papa and refused to go back to Arlington, Dan lifted the paper.

  Ko`u Aloha. Dan began translating. My love, he smiled as he went on.

  E Kipa Mai. Come to me, he felt his heart begin to pick up rhythm. Nou No Ka `I`ini, I desire you, he felt his face pull into a hungry grin. “Wailele,” was the next word. The waterfall Dan recalled the word as he stood and located his shoes quickly.

  Nau ko`u aloha No Kau a Kau Maylea,” was the parting line. My love is yours for eternity your Maylea Dan read quickly.

  Letting that vow wash over his soul, he folded the note carefully and slipped it in his wallet before he rushed out of the cottage.

  Aida was spending the night at Harper’s house. They were having a going away party with the other little girls from her hula class. Dan broke out into a quick run towards the north end of the farm.

  He slipped out of his shoes as he came into the vegetation that surrounded the waterfall.

  Her clothes laid on the stone bench beside the falls. His heart beat disjointedly as he saw her partially obscured form behind the rapidly falling water.

  She was bare in the water, letting her hands feel the warmth of the spring as she pulled them rhythmically through the water.

  Overwhelmed by her beauty, Dan undressed quickly and stepped into the water hidden by the surrounding plants and bushes.

  He half walked and half swam under the falls.

  “Hey, baby.” He husked as she gave him his smile. She moved to him and laid her head against his chest. Their naked bodies melded in the water.

  “You know, I used to date this really phenomenal woman that had a waterfall fantasy.” She felt his cock swell against her.

  She feigned offense while trying not to giggle. “And what did you do with her, Mr. Vindico?”

  “Well,” Dan let his hand slip down her slick body. He placed one to her extremely pregnant swell and the other to her lush backside. “First, I married her, and then I promptly knocked her up.”

  He reveled in her delighted giggle. “So, what you’re saying is this is your fault.” She wrapped her hands lovingly over her belly.

  “All mine.” He growled as he let his hands move over her breasts gently squeezing and kneading them. He slipped her puckered nipples between his fingers as her breaths came quicker. Her energy rolled through the water in craving hungry pulses.

  “What does my sweet Maylea want?”

  “I need you.” Her voice was low and raspy in her need.

  “I’ve got everything you need, baby doll. I just need the fantasy so I can make certain it comes true.”

  A shuddering moan escaped her as she writhed in his hands. “Turn me around. Make me take you against the rock wall. Tell me how bad you want me, and what you’re going to do.”

  A low thundering growl echoed around them from deep within Dan’s chest. She was exquisite. “Every time I see you, Maylea, I want you. Every time I think of you of how good you feel when I pull you over me, when I fill you up, I know nothing will ever feel as good as that, baby doll. God, you make me hurt. I ache to fill you full of me, to hear you make those sweet sounds
you make only for me, to feel you ripple around me. It’s incredible.”

  A breathy moan permeated the air around them. “That’s it, baby. I want to hear you.”

  She went wild as he leaned and devoured her mouth. He sucked her tongue and dragged his teeth over her bottom lip. Nipping the swollen skin, owning her.

  “I want to take you rough, baby. I’m gonna pound those sweet lips until you’re screaming for me, and then I’m gonna slow it down and make it last. I’m gonna make you beg me for more, because the only thing you want is for me to set you free. But I’m not going to let you have it until you just can’t stand it anymore.” He could feel her heart race as she wrapped her hands around his throbbing strain letting the water lubricate him as she began to torture him with her hands.

  “Give it to me, please.” She began her begging.

  “Be a good girl and spread your legs for me.” Dan commanded. No longer able to access her from the front while she stood, he traced his hands down the center of her backside.

  She was frantic and the fear of leaving the island still pulsed under the drowning emotions of her desire.

  “Let’s see if I can take the edge off a little, sweetheart.”

  She tensed and pitched against him. He let his fingers trace tiny figure eights over her clit as he moved his mouth to her right breast.

  “Mine.” He let his tongue sweep over her nipple in languid vacillations, then flicked it against them with more force, as her moans spilled in heady need from her lips.

  “All mine,” he growled as he moved up her breast sucking and marking the thin skin at the top of their swell. As he sucked her, he dipped fingers inside of her letting the warm water move to her most sensitive spots as he caressed her deeply.

  “Yes, more, please!” She arched her back pushing him deeper. Her energy spun in tight rapid twists frantic to be loosed.

  “You need to come for me, baby. I can feel how badly you need to let go.”

  She shuddered and pulsed around him as her breath caught and her temperature spiked hard.