The Simpatico Series Box Set (3 books in 1)

by Dermot Davis

  He knew that he had made it when he saw a familiar cleared area. Several candles were strewn about; the very ones that Fiona liked to use. The view of the sky and the ocean was dramatic as he stopped to drink in the success of his accomplishment. Free, he told himself; free at last. While taking in his next breath of freedom, his body collapsed to the ground.

  Fiona hovered and said a final goodbye to the world that she was about to leave behind. Looking around the room, she thanked the house for providing her with shelter all these years. Giving appreciation to her father, she said a silent prayer that he be well, always. She then turned her attention to the body on the bed and thanked it, again, with deep love and grace.

  About to make her final command on earth, she then took the silver cord of energy in her etheric hands. I wish to separate, she began to say, but was interrupted as Simon burst through the door. “Fiona! Fiona!” he yelled as he carried the crumpled white sheet in both his hands.

  Losing control, Fiona was sucked right back into her body with great force. Everything was dark and quiet.

  “Fiona,” her father called again, shaking her awake. “The white sheet! It was on the tree! Just like you said it would be! Fiona,” he yelled again, shaking her madly. "The sheet! The sheet! Wake up!"

  Fiona's eyes opened.

  "Oh, thank heavens," Simon said and held up the sheet. "He made it, darlin'," he said like a crazy person. "He's here and he made it!" Weeping and distraught that his only child, his priceless Moon child, might die, he had come to a decision. He determined that that it was far better to keep his daughter alive by supporting her rather than to remain obstinate and lose her; in one brief second, Simon had made the biggest U-turn in his entire stubborn-minded life.

  Smiling hugely at the white sheet before her, Fiona felt a new-found surge of energy run through her body.

  “He made it!” Simon exclaimed tearfully. “Your boyfriend escaped!”

  Heartened by hearing the word “boyfriend” come from her father’s mouth, Fiona smiled. “My boyfriend made it,” she softly repeated.

  “What do we do?” he asked. “Where would he be? In the guest house?”

  “No,” Fiona said, springing herself into action. “The cliff,” she said. “I’ve to meet him on the cliff.”

  “I’ll take you,” Simon said, now totally on board. “Let me take you; you’ll never make it by yourself.”

  “Okay,” Fiona agreed, knowing that she would not make it alone. “We must hurry.”

  Driving hastily towards the park, Simon drove well over the speed limit. “Please, Goddess, be there,” Fiona said, clutching tightly the sheet to her chest. Seeing the blood on the sheet for the first time, she got a terrible fright. “Hurry,” she said urgently. “Please hurry, daddy!”

  “Don’t worry, kiddo, we’ll find him,” Simon said.

  Yes, but in what condition, Fiona thought to herself.

  “Which way?” Simon asked as he parked as close to the hiking trail as he could.

  “Towards the cliffs,” Fiona said, jumping out of the car. Feeling dizzy once her feet hit the ground, she steadied herself by holding the car door.

  “You’re not going to make it walking,” Simon said. “Stay here and I’ll go,” he suggested.

  “No,” Fiona said firmly. “I will make it!” she said with clenched teeth. Stepping away from the car, her feet buckled. She fell to the ground.

  “Get on my back,” he said as he scooped his daughter up. “I’ll carry you.”

  “A piggyback?” Fiona asked as her father stooped down for her to jump on.

  “Yeah, it’ll just be like old times,” he said lovingly.

  “Okay,” she said, hopping up on his back.

  “See?” he said, straightening up. “You’re as light as a feather.”

  “That way,” she said pointing. “Just follow the path.”

  Running through the woods with Fiona bouncing up and down on his back, Simon smiled. There was no one else in the entire wide world that he would rather be with. There was no other place he would rather be than running through the woods with his daughter on his back. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so close to his little girl.

  “There he is!” Fiona yelled and slid down off her father’s back. Lying face down on the dirt, Andrew looked like he was no longer of this world. “Andrew!” Fiona cried as her legs went from beneath her. She fell on top of him. “Andrew! Wake up!” she said as she shook him.

  Kneeling down, Simon placed his fingers on Andrew's neck to check for a pulse.

  “Oh, Andrew,” Fiona cried, “I’m here now. We’re together!”

  Trying hard to concentrate, Simon pressed his fingers harder.

  “He’s not gone,” Fiona sobbed, “he can’t be! Andrew!” she yelled in his face. “Come back! Come back, do you hear me?”

  “I think I felt something!” Simon said, adjusting his position.

  “Andrew, I love you,” Fiona pleaded. “Don’t leave me here alone, do you hear? Don’t you dare leave me all alone,” she said, looking around to see if his spirit had already left his body. “I can’t live without you,” she continued. “You know I can’t live without you. I will come to you, I swear it, my love.”

  Simon gasped in shock and horror to realize that she meant it. “I think he has a pulse,” he said frantically and pressed on Andrew’s chest while trying to remember basic CPR.

  “Stop messing around, Andrew,” Fiona demanded. “I know you can hear me!”

  “Yes!” Simon yelled, when Andrew’s body shuddered. “He’s alive! Bloody hell, he’s alive!” he said ecstatically.

  When Andrew opened his eyes, he saw a familiar face. Staring directly at him with tears in her eyes, Fiona looked like she had been sitting waiting for quite some time. “Hello handsome,” she said with a smile. “Decided to join us, after all? I’m so glad.”

  “Where am I?” he asked, realizing he was in a bed in a strange room that looked familiar.

  “You’re back in the guest house,” Fiona said. She had a bit color in her cheeks now, had gained a few pounds, and was now looking more like her old self.

  “You look beautiful,” Andrew said. “Have I told you lately how beautiful you look?”

  “You’ve been asleep for a long time,” Fiona said, so delighted to have him back.

  As his eyesight became clearer, Andrew could now see Simon chatting to Dr. Weiss in the background. “Your father?” Andrew asked like it was a question.

  “It’s all different now,” Fiona said, “he supports us.”

  “He does?” Andrew asked.

  “He called you my boyfriend, I couldn’t believe it,” Fiona said happily. “More importantly, how are you feeling?”

  “Like I just got run over by a truck,” Andrew answered drily.

  “That sounds about right,” Simon said as he approached. “Glad to have you back, Andrew,” he said, as if he meant it.

  “Thank you, sir,” Andrew said.

  Pulling up a chair, Simon sat down facing Andrew. “I’ve spoken with the doc and he thinks that you would get better care in a hospital, obviously,” he said. “However, the good doctor is a friend of mine and he has agreed to treat you here. He'll do the best he can but I have agreed that if you relapse, or if your condition gets worse, we'll move you.”

  “It won’t,” Fiona interrupted, feeling giddy with excitement.

  “Don't worry," Simon continued, seeing a worried look appear on Andrew's face. "If your condition does get worse, there are other avenues we can explore without including the authorities.”

  “Oh, good,” Andrew said, as if remembering the whole sorry mess he had landed himself in.

  “As for your legal concerns, I don’t want you to worry,” Simon continued.

  “Daddy knows people,” Fiona said, unable to stop smiling.

  “I have access to the best legal representation,” Simon said casually. “Talking to them briefly about your case, they assure m
e that they can find all kinds of angles and defenses to make it all go away.”

  Andrew held Fiona’s hand while looking at her beautiful face. For a brief moment he considered that he might have died and gone to heaven. Listening to her father tell him that he was going to make all his troubles go away helped only to strengthen his uncertainty.

  “Worst case scenario, some community service but nothing to concern yourself with. You concentrate on getting well,” Simon said and stood up. “You’re very welcome to our family,” he said and extended his hand for a handshake.

  As Andrew took Simon’s hand, the young man couldn’t prevent a tear from falling down his cheek. Simon was surprised to feel himself emotionally moved. He shook the boy’s hand, then quickly dropped it.

  “Thank you, sir, so much,” Andrew said softly.

  “Simon. Call me Simon.”

  “Yes, sir,” Andrew replied as Simon smiled, patted his daughter on the head and left the room. “I feel like I’ve just died and gone to heaven,” Andrew admitted.

  “How do you know you haven’t?” Fiona asked sweetly. She then gave him a wink along with that mischievous smile of hers that Andrew adored so very, very much.

  ###

  * * *

  SYNERGY

  We Are Stronger Together

  by Dermot Davis

  * * *

  SYNERGY

  Chapter 1

  Andrew and Fiona walked hand in hand to their most special place in the entire world: a tree-dotted cliff in the Pacific Palisades of Southern California. Looking out at the Pacific Ocean, with Catalina Island sitting calmly off-shore, and the skyline of Los Angeles partly smog-obscured to the south east, they felt like they were masters of their domain.

  Feeling the happiest they had ever felt since their initial meeting, it seemed finally as if all of the obstacles which had previously blocked their path were now swept away, for good. Emerging victorious, from the severe emotional, physical and spiritual challenges with which they had been tested, they felt vindicated in the pursuit of their shared love for one another. They felt stronger now in their love together and felt blessed that the future was theirs to decide their own fate, as a couple.

  Sitting down on the cool earth amongst the scattered clusters of hardy grass that boldly managed to grow in the drought-cursed terrain, Fiona opened the picnic basket with a broad smile on her face. Soon the flaming orange and golden sun would set and the salty, fresh ocean air would become even cooler. All week she had imagined herself sitting beside her soulmate, their bodies touching as they sipped a chilled Chardonnay and idly watched the darkening blue-black sky as twinkling stars lazily appeared above them.

  “You love it out here, don’t you?” Andrew asked, knowing exactly the reason for the smile on his beloved’s adorable face.

  “I’ve been coming here to this exact spot ever since I was a kid,” she said fondly, as she sipped her chilled, delicious wine. “It feels as if the land were part of me and that I am part of it.”

  “Thank you for sharing it with me,” he said with genuine gratitude as he surveyed the scenic vista before him. Blue-green waves crashed below them, against the golden and brown-shadowed dunes of the cliffs below. The land was warm and cooling as the sunlight faded and the day turned into night.

  “Yes, and you are the only other boy that I’ve ever shared it with,” she said, eyes twinkling, with a smile.

  “I wasn’t thinking…” Andrew said defensively but stopped himself when he realized that that was exactly what he had been thinking. “Well, I’m glad that you chose me, Fiona,” he finally said with a hint of petulance. “My special place used to be the inside of a discarded sewage pipeline left to rot beside the concrete drainage run-off that passes for the LA river,” he added sardonically.

  “Charming,” Fiona said as she lit some candles. “You must take me there sometime. You know that I’m always eager to share in whatever special places helped to form your character, however rustic and quaint those places might be.”

  “Oh yeah, rustic and quaint just about describes that part of LA,” Andrew laughed. “I’ve always loved how you can put a positive spin on everything, no matter how dark and seedy something is,” he said, helping himself to a cold leg of chicken.

  “Everything can be transformed by the light, even the darkest and the ugliest things and experiences,” Fiona said brightly as she lit the final candle. “If we have a light, we should never give up shining it even into the darkest places. Don’t you think?”

  “Ugh,” Andrew groaned. “You’re so New Age I sometimes wonder how we ever got together.”

  “You’re just the same, Mr. Cynic. Just because you were born into a redneck family, you think that’s what you are. What’s the story about the swan that grew up among the ducklings?” she asked with mock seriousness, her finger placed Sherlock Holmes’ like in the corner of her smiling mouth.

  “I wasn’t born into a redneck family,” Andrew objected as if the accusation was beyond outrageous. “Just because I wasn’t born with a golden spoon in my mouth doesn’t make me a redneck! Any there’s nothing wrong with being a redneck, anyway. Don’t be racist... or prejudiced, I guess.”

  “Fair enough, point taken,” Fiona said as she returned to sit before the picnic basket. “Are you ready to ask a question?” she asked, pulling out the I Ching book from the basket.

  “If we must,” Andrew answered as he stripped the remaining meat from the chicken bone.

  “Don’t you want to know how your court case is going to go? That’s pretty serious.”

  “Yeah, it’s serious,” Andrew replied as if the mere mention of it had hit a nerve. “But your father sounded pretty convincing, when he said that the best lawyers in the country were handling the case and there was absolutely nothing to worry about.”

  “Okay, okay,” Fiona said in an attempt to calm him down. “Touchy, touchy… my bad.”

  “I don’t mean to sound alarmist or anything,” Andrew said, pulling himself back from a minor panic attack. “But the thoughts of going back to… that place,” he said carefully, as if he couldn’t even say the word ‘prison.’ “Creeps me out, to say the least.”

  “You’re right,” Fiona said agreeably. “If my dad said that there’s nothing to worry about, I believe him. Money and power always win in this country, why would they fail us now, right?”

  Looking frightened, Andrew hugged his legs as if he had suddenly gotten cold.

  “Let’s ask a general question about us, how about that?” she asked as she took out the foreign-looking coins. “Just see where we’re at and what might be ahead, okay?”

  “Sure,” Andrew answered.

  “Want to help me form the question?”

  “I don’t know, just a general question?”

  “Cool. A general question about us,” she said as she shook the three coins in her cupped hands.

  For each toss of the coins Andrew drew a corresponding hexagram on the earth with a strong twig. Once the six lines were drawn, he looked at them quizzically. “I don’t recognize that one,” he said as he noticed the symmetry of the lines, two broken and four unbroken

  “We haven’t gotten this one before,” Fiona said excitedly, sensing that it was a particularly positive one, for a change. “It’s hexagram number 30,” she then said, looking it up in her divination book. “The three lines above are mirrored by the three lines below which denotes fire over fire.”

  “Sweet,” Andrew said even though he didn’t fully understand. “What does it mean?”

  “It means Synergy,” Fiona explained. “The combined action of two individuals is greater than the sum of their effects individually.”

  “That’s us,” Andrew exclaimed enthusiastically, relieved that the reading, for once, didn’t seem to portend bad news.

  “The Fire is the synergy of wood and air which creates heat and light. Light brings clarity and healing to all,” she read. “See, I told you,” she said looking up from the bo
ok.

  “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” Andrew said. We covered it in college,” he said humbly.

  “There’s no moving lines, so that’s a pretty strong one for us,” she said proudly. “We need to stick together is what it means,” she then said giddily, edging closer to her man.

  “I don’t have a problem with that,” Andrew responded. “I have been living in your guest house these past few months, after all.”

  “You can’t live in my father’s guest house forever, Andrew. When are you going to build us a home someplace?” she teased playfully.

  “Build you a house?” he asked like she suggested he capture the moon for her. “I’m still recovering from my wounds, remember?”

  “Oh, please, you’ve been all healed ages ago. You love milking your “wounds,” just to get all of my attention.”

  “Yeah, so?” he answered, knowing that she loved to tease him. “I want all of your attention, always, every day, every moment of every day, forever, so sue me,” he said, smiling.

  “Are you really going to go work for my father?” she then asked seriously as she laid her head upon his lap.

  “Do I have a choice?” he asked. “I kinda figured that was the deal.”

  “What deal?”

  “That he gets his fancy lawyers to get me off and I pay him back by going to work for him. Did I misunderstand?”

  Fiona looked up at the dark sky and thought for a long moment. She tried to remember the conversation that she had had with her father when he laid out his plans for Andrew. Did he really put it in those terms; that Andrew had to work back what he would owe him in attorney fees? Knowing her father, that sounded about right, she considered.

  “How long would you have to work for my father?” she asked, realizing that it could be a problem. “Paying back those kind of attorney fees… that could be a small fortune, right?”