by Brian
Isabella turned and walked away from him. She didn’t know where she was going, all she knew was she needed some time to think. She knew she still loved Eoin, but she knew she just could not accept him sleeping with whomever he wished. She soon found herself in front of a bar she had never been to. Walking in she asked for a beer. Soon one become three and she was starting to not feel any pain. Not realizing what was happening, there was an intake of breath. Gohlcan had appeared. He picked up Isabella’s cellphone and dialed the number marked “my love”. Seeing this he snorted with laughter. “Yo Eoin, it’s me Gohlcan, care to join me at the bar?
“Where are you, what have you done with Isabella? Eoin yelled into the phone.
“Hey, hey…don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything to her. I came in and she was here drowning her sorrows. So, get your ass over to…” he looked around for the name and finally found it… “Colby’s bar”
Relieved to know that Isabella was ok he answered “I know where that is. I’ll be there in a moment.”
When Eoin had arrived Gohlcan was drinking yet another beer and had one waiting for Eoin.
Putting his face in his hands Eoin said “I fucked up big tonight.”
“What do you mean? What did you do?”
“I let my ex-girlfriend give me a blowjob and because she could see it in her mind, Isabella saw what happened. Now she won’t even speak to me.”
“Oh well, you know it’s a man’s world dude. If she doesn’t like it…there are plenty of other fish in the sea.”
Eoin looked at him and shook his head “Man, if you only knew what you were missing. The love of a woman is amazing. Especially if she is Isabella. You’re going to have to bring her back. I need to speak to her.”
“Aww come on, let me at least finish my beer” Gohlcan said with a grin
Eoin smiled back relieved that he had finally come to his senses and knew what he had to do. “Go ahead, but hurry back. I need to get my woman back,”
A short while later Gohlcan left and Isabella came back “What do you want Eoin? I told you to just leave me alone. Can’t you even give me a chance to think?”
“Gohlcan came into you and called me over. I knew you wanted to be alone. But as he and I were talking it occurred to me just how important you are to me and I don’t want to lose you. Can you ever forgive me?”
Isabella on one hand was relieved to hear his words but on the other hand she knew they could just be words. Thinking quick she answered “I can’t make a decision so quickly. I really need to think about it.”
Eoin sadly said “I understand, but will you please still go with me to Washington?”
Thinking about it she made a decision. “Yes, I will go. But don’t expect me to be intimate with you. You really hurt me Eoin. I don’t think you realize how much.” She said with vehemence.
“I know, I don’t expect anything.”
“Also, I want this vacation to myself. I don’t want spirits popping in and out all weekend.” Isabella told him “I will sleep over tonight because I know the plane leaves early, but I am sleeping on the couch.”
“But…never mind…I agree” Eoin said not wanting to start another argument.
That night Eoin offered the bed to Isabella saying he would take the couch. She gratefully accepted.
Chapter 51
As they were at the airport waiting for their flight, Isabella felt somebody knocking from within but didn’t know who it was. After telling Eoin, he steered her into a quiet corner and saw that he was face to face with Gohlcan.
“Hey, dude. What’s up?” Eoin said as he greeted him.
Looking around, Gohlcan said, “So what trouble are you getting into now? I could give you even more fun if you came down with me.”
“Yeah, well if you went up with me, you would be in a much happier brighter place, surrounded by the love of God. You wouldn’t have to answer to anyone, except God. But my flight will be leaving soon, and I can’t get into a spirited debate with you now.”
Both men began laughing, neither understanding the bond that they both felt.
“Where are you going?” Gohlcan asked nonchalantly.
Eoin had once again asked for a ring of protection. Only this time he had asked for a very strange request. He had asked if Gohlcan could come in through the ring of protection, he had explained that he felt as Gohlcan would decide to go up soon and wanted to be there when it happened. But even then, he did not want to say exactly where they were going.
“Umm, just on a short vacation,” Eoin answered.
“I get it. Don’t worry about me; I won’t say anything. But if I need to contact you, can I?”
“Yeah, of course, you can. Make sure you ask first. Isabella kind of gets tired of people coming in without asking.”
“Yeah, that isn’t a problem,” Gohlcan acquiesced.
“I have to go now. We must get to our gate. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
Isabella’s body slumped against Eoin as she came back, feeling confused and out of sorts.
“Can’t we even go out without them interrupting? I am getting so tired of this! I thought we had a ring of protection around us.”
Eoin knew she was getting tired of being a revolving door, yet he also knew that if they were to be fighters, she would have to get used to it. Biting back a harsh retort, he spoke to her in a soft, soothing tone.
“It was Gohlcan. He just wanted to talk. I know I can get him to go up, but it’s going to take time and patience.”
Suddenly Isabella started feeling guilty about her tirade.
“I know, but I was counting on having some time off. Eoin, you don’t know how much energy it takes out of me.”
“I know baby, it will be over soon, and then we can get on with our lives.”
He led her slowly toward the boarding gate, a brief time later, as they sat on the plane, Isabella fell into a deep slumber.
“We will be making our decent into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in about three minutes. Fasten your seat belts and make sure your trays are in an upright position. Please keep your seat belts on and do not leave your seats until we are safely in the boarding zone. Thank you for flying Country Spirit Airlines.”
Hearing this, Isabella woke with a start. “Are we here already? That was fast!”
“No, actually you’ve been asleep for the last two hours” Eoin laughed. “Everybody heard you snoring” he teased.
Isabella started blushing furiously. “Oh my gosh, are you serious? I am so embarrassed!”
“I’m just kidding, it was just a snort every now and then...I’m kidding. Eoin laughed. Isabella looked at him, punched him lightly in the arm and tried to suppress a laugh but failed. Rolling her head back she let out the kind of laugh that pleased Eoin completely.
A few minutes later the plane landed, Kyle and Alicia met them at the baggage area. After checking in to their motel, Kyle explained that they’d recently discovered an Ethiopian restaurant, and wanted to share it with them. Always up for a new experience, Eoin and Isabella agreed and had a wonderful time that night catching up with their friends. The Ethiopian food was delicious they had Injera, a flat sourdough-like bread, covered with something called wat, a thick, spicy meat. It was delicious. For desert they had some sweet sanbusa turnovers filled with raspberry cream. By the time they finished talking and eating they were so full that they felt as though they were ready to explode.
They finally arrived back at their room but were not sleepy, so they sat and talked about their evening when Isabella suddenly stopped in the middle of a sentence.
“What’s the matter, honey?” Eoin asked.
“I hear someone knocking but I don’t know who it is. What should I do?”
“Um, I’m not sure. Why don’t you ask who it is?”
Her eyes quickly opened wide. “It’s Gohlcan.”
“Let him in. It might be important.” He watched as Isabella’s feminine features transformed into the hard-edged charact
eristics of a man.
“Hey man, what’s up?” Gohlcan greeted Eoin.
“Uh, not much, what’s going on? You haven’t told anyone where we’re at, have you?”
With a wave of his hand, he said, “Nah, don’t worry about that. I just put a block up behind me, so they won’t be able to find anything out. I was bored and needed some stimulating debate, so I thought I’d drop in,” he said with a sly grin.
Eoin was unsure how to handle this situation. On the one hand he knew that he must be wary of Gohlcan, but on the other hand, he still felt an affinity for him, so after weighing his options, Eoin decided to let him stay.
“Dude, I still think you should give up all the ugliness of below and come up with me. You would be so much happier.” Eoin smiled at him.
“Yeah, as I said, I don’t like rules. I like to be in charge, with no one to tell me what to do. I like the ladies, and if I go up there, I’ll have to become a holier-than-thou monk! No thank you!” Gohlcan retorted.
“It’s not the way you think. It’s different. You have to trust me,” Eoin answered back at him.
After going back and forth for a while, Eoin started to worry about Isabella.
“Is Isabella ok? Is anything happening to her?”
“Of course not. Your Isabella’s in my private room where no one can touch her,” Gohlcan answered.
“Well, we are on vacation, and I want her back. So maybe we can talk after we get back home.”
“Sure, no problem hombre. I’ll talk to you later.”
Isabella came back, safe and sound, but very groggy.
“Baby are you ok?” He rushed to her side, where she was swaying. He led her to the bed and helped her undress.
“I'm exhausted.” She closed her eyes and fell sound asleep in his loving arms.
Chapter 52
Although they had not made love since their arrival, a desire for intimacy was starting to surface again between Eoin and Isabella as they walked hand in hand to their destination. They had made plans to meet Kyle and Alicia at Bellingham Bay early the next morning for a much-anticipated surprise. After getting lost a couple of times, Eoin and Isabella finally were met by Alicia and Kyle on the ferry dock. They explained that they were going to a Champagne brunch and river cruise.
When they had first come out from their hotel, the chill in the air seemed mild to Eoin and Isabella, but when the ferry started moving at a swift speed, their faces and extremities began to feel numb. Their breath came out in cloud like puffs, causing even their tongues to feel cold. No matter how tight Isabella pulled her jacket around her, she couldn’t stop feeling cold. Eoin pulled her into his arms, he placed her hands inside his jacket and she quickly began to warm up. Her anger had begun to wan and was replaced with a feeling of love for Eoin. That day they all enjoyed their time together and Eoin and Isabella took in sights that they had never seen before.
When the cruise was over, Kyle invited them to their house to meet the rest of their family. They all sat down, talked and watched a movie while enjoying a nice Italian dinner that Alicia had put together. During the film, Isabella whispered to Eoin that Gohlcan was knocking again. Eoin told her to tell him it would have to wait, as there was no way he could visit now. Eoin was suddenly anxious to head back to their hotel room as he wondered what Gohlcan could have wanted. After the movie was over and dinner cleaned up, Eoin told their hosts that they were tired after a long day and needed to get back to the motel room.
“You need to call him. He keeps asking if he can come in and I keep turning him down. I have a feeling this might be important.”
Eoin nodded, hugged Isabella. He told her to be careful.
Eoin immediately sensed an anger surrounding Gohlcan that he had not felt before.
“Dude, what’s the matter? Are you alright?”
Gohlcan slapped his hand on the bed with a force that frightened Eoin, then began to pace back and forth from the door to the window overlooking the street without speaking. Eoin could practically see the steam coming out of his ears. Suddenly Gohlcan began to curse, half yelling, half talking, and making no sense.
“I can’t believe he would do that to me. Me! He wouldn’t be where he is without me. Argh! I won’t do anything for him anymore! He will see how much he needs me once I am through with him!”
“Uh, are you alright? What happened? Who did what to you?”
Gohlcan finally looked straight at Eoin.
“Tell me more about your God. Tell me what will happen if I go up.”
Eoin was beside himself, but he knew he had to get to the bottom of what had happened first.
“Tell me what happened. Why are you so angry? Who are you angry at?”
“Can’t you see my face? Can’t you see what he’s done to me?” Gohlcan looked at him with irritation.
“Umm, no. I can’t. You are in Isabella’s body, remember?”
Gohlcan closed his eyes.
“Damn, you’re right. I forgot. When I got back yesterday from our visit, Magus was right there waiting for me. He wanted to know why I had put a block on our conversation. I tried to squirm out of it, but he wouldn’t let me. He wanted to know where you are, but I wouldn’t tell him. Suddenly he brought his henchmen out and had me beaten. I can barely see out of my eyes, my face is all bruised, and my entire body is aching.”
Gohlcan again began to pace.
“Oh no! Are you okay?”
“I’ll be okay, but as I said, tell me about your God above. If I go up what will happen?”
“As you go, you will feel the warmth of God’s hands taking you up, and a sense of peace you’ve never known. Then when you get there, you will sleep for a few days. Soon after that, there will be a celebration of your homecoming.”
“Will I be able to lead? I don’t want to be a peon ever again. As for sleeping, I don’t need sleep. I won’t go to sleep.”
“From what I understand, everyone sleeps,” Eoin explained. “As for leading, I am not sure.”
“Whatever. Can I take my books with me? I’ve put too much into my writing to leave it behind.”
“Yeah, I don’t see a problem with that. So, you have decided to go up?”
“I just said so, didn’t I? I must get my things together. I’ll be back in a minute,” Gohlcan said quickly, and with that, Isabella was back.
“What happened? I feel different. Is everything alright?” Isabella asked.
“Yes! He is going up. I am very excited. I hate to ask, but do you mind if I call Talitha? I need to speak to her!” Eoin told her.
Rolling her eyes, then quickly closing them, Isabella prepared herself and instead of Talitha, Eoin found himself with Martha.
“You must not make promises that you aren’t sure of,” she said.
“What do you mean Martha? We are bringing another up, isn’t that good?
“You have promised him that he could bring his books above and he cannot.”
“Why? They are his books,” Eoin answered, suddenly dreading the answer.
“Those books are of the dark, and he will now be of the light. He cannot bring them with him,” She gently explained to him.
“Oh geez, what have I done? How am I going to tell him this? He might change his mind!” Eoin groaned, realizing he had made a big mistake.
“You must tell him. He will understand. Don’t worry. It will go well with you.”
She left, and Isabella came back. Then without a word, she waved goodbye and once again he was speaking to Gohlcan.
“Alright, I’m ready to go. I got all my things together. Ha! They will never know what happened to them,” Gohlcan said.
This statement caused Eoin a little worry.
“Gohlcan, you have to be going up for the right reason. Not because you want to get even with them. You have to want to be a follower of God.”
Although Eoin was afraid of Gohlcan’s reaction, he remained confident.
“Well, how am I supposed to know that if I don’t know enough
about your God? But I do want to go up to find out. It’s not just about getting even. So, let’s go already.”
“Umm, I do have to tell you something. I misspoke, and I am so sorry about this. You can’t take your books with you.”
“What? Why? I put a lot into these books. What do you mean, I can’t take them?” Gohlcan demanded.
“Well those books are of the dark, and now that you are going to the light, you can’t take them with you,” Eoin said with growing unease.
Expecting Gohlcan’s temper to erupt once again, Eoin closed his eyes and prayed. Opening them, he saw Gohlcan thinking for a moment
“I guess that makes sense. Hold on. Let me see what I can do.”
Gohlcan closed his eyes and put his hand on his chest. Then, he spread his hand out as if he was covering something up.
“Ok, they’re gone. If I can’t use the books, then they can’t either. I burned them to a crisp, along with everything else I owned down there. I’ll start new with everything. Let’s get on with it, man. So, tell me what happens after I go up?”
“From what I understand, you will go to Martha’s class and learn the ways of God. You will learn of--”
Gohlcan suddenly interrupted Eoin.
“Wait a minute. Am I going to be taught by a woman? No way! No woman can teach me anything! Don’t they have any men who can teach me?”
Eoin looked at him, not knowing what to say. Then, after a moment, Eoin spoke what was in his heart.
“Martha is one of the most intelligent women I have ever met. She will teach you much. Don’t deny yourself this experience until you see for yourself. Don’t give up on God, just because you THINK you can’t learn from a woman. Trust me, you will.”