Divine (35 page)

We stood up and he
moved next to me in the fish-filled ocean, wearing a happy smile
across his handsome face. I watched him roll his hands underneath the
clear water and pet all of the animals around him, laughing as they
rubbed up against his fingers, excited fish acting as if they were
little puppy dogs.

I crossed my arms and
smiled warmly at the sight. “How are you so sure they won't
hurt us? I mean, there's little sharks all around; won't they bite?”

“
Nope,” he
shook his head as he stood up. “I'm controlling them; they
won't do anything.”

I pulled my head back,
surprised by the new fact that I had just learned. “You
control
them? Seriously?”

“
Yeah. I mean,
that's exactly how I get them to come to me. I can pretty much
control the ocean and anything that's in it.”

“
Hmm,” I
pondered loudly, “does that mean you can control me?”

He looked over at me
with a charming smile, piercing me with the yellow flickering of his
beautiful eyes. “No, but I sure wish I could . . .”

“
Oh really? And
what would you have me do, exactly?”

He laughed and looked
away at the dark clouds in front of us. “If you only knew.”

Jeez, you always
know what to say to leave me wanting more.

He smiled over at me
with excitement peeking through the sparkles of his eyes.“I
have two more presents for you.”

“
Two
more
presents? You're spoiling me.”

“
Well, showing
you what I can do with water isn't really a present. But I have
something for you that I think you'll really like.” He bent
over and slid his hands back into the water of fish. “Okay,
where are you at?” he said quietly to himself.

I looked out at the
water in front of him. “What are you looking for?”

“
Something
special. It's young so it's taking it a little bit to get through
this massive bunch of fish . . . Oh, there it is; I see it now,”
he confirmed cheerfully.

I bent over and peered
through the thickness of the slick animals, trying to figure out what
he was calling to him. “I don't see it . . .”

His fingers sunk
deeper below the blanket of fins and gills and then he brought them
back out of the water with a splash. “Here it is,” he
said as he turned and held his cupped hands out in my direction. A
giant orb of yellow ocean water filled his palms, housing a single,
perfectly cubed Boxfish.

“
Oh my gosh,
Jonah, you got me my favorite fish!” I pushed forward through
the animals around me and stuck my face right up to the bubble of
water. It was absolutely breathtaking with its bright yellow color
and black little polka dots that covered over its tiny square body. I
stood up and shook my head in amazement. “I can't believe you
remembered.”

“
Of course I
remembered, I remember everything you tell me.”

I smiled and looked
back down at the beautiful specimen. “It's perfect.”

“
Why don't you
name it?”

“
Hmm,” I
thought for a moment. “How about Fred? I think Fred sounds
cute.”

Jonah chuckled lightly
at the name I chose. “Fred, huh?”

“
What,” I
returned the laugh, “you don't like Fred?”

“
No, I like the
name. It's just, well . . . it's a female.”

“
Oh,” I
nodded. “Well I guess I'll have to think of a girl's name
then.”

His lips turned in a
momentary frown. “Nah, don't change it. I like the name.”
He lifted the bubble in the air above us and made the husky
announcement, “Her name is now Fred.”

Our faces shined when
we smiled at each other as if we had just named our first born child.
He brought his large hands back down in front of our faces and we
both stared at her through the translucent orb.

“
I wish I could
hold her,” I said softly toward the yellow box.

“
You can touch
her if you want.”

“
Really?” I
perked up. “Isn't she poisonous?”

“
Yeah, but I
won't let anything happen.”

I smiled excitedly and
brought my hand up, slowly pushing my finger into the sphere of
crystalline water. She stayed perfectly still while I gently stroked
her smooth skin. “Is the water warm enough here for her?”
I asked.

“
Yeah, wherever
she goes I'll make sure that it will be warm enough.”

“
Because you can
control everything in the water . . .” It wasn't a question,
but an understanding of his unique ability.

“
I want to tell
you something about Fred,” he started softly, sending a serious
note through the tone of his words. “She's just like me, in a
way.”

“
She's like you?
How?”

“
Well, she will
always know when you're in the ocean, and she'll always find you.
She'll be your friend for life.”

I pulled my finger out
of the sunny bubble and looked up at him. “Really? You can make
her do that?”

“
It's already
done.”

I moved in closer and
looked into her round little eyes. “You hear that Fred? It
looks like we're going to be friends for life.”

Jonah smiled as he
lowered her back into the swimming cluster of fish. She swam away
from his hand and came over to my legs, swimming in tiny circles next
to me.

I pushed my way through
the water to see if she would follow me, and she did, swimming
gingerly behind me the whole time. “Awe, Fred, you're so cute,”
I said as I bent down and scooped her up into my palms. I moved her
up to the surface of the water but was disheartened when the salty
liquid drained past my fingers, leaving her in a small puddle on my
hand. “Oh, I'm sorry,” I told her as I quickly lowered
her back into the glowing sea. “I wish I could hold you in a
bubble like Jonah can, but for now I'll just have to hold you
underneath the water.”

I stood up and looked
at Jonah, a few feet of fish-filled water between us. My vibrant
smile hit him just as a rush of cool wind did, an omen of the summer
storm that was quickly approaching.

“
Do you like
Fred?” he asked.

“
I love her, you
know that. I think it might be the best gift anyone has ever given
me. Actually, it
is
the best gift that anyone has ever given
me . . .”

He smiled pleasantly
and looked over at the fast approaching darkness, watching as a bolt
of lightning radiated it's electricity through the billowy clouds.
“We better get on to your last gift; we can't be in the water
when that lighting's striking over us.”

I shook my head in a
happy disbelief. “I can't believe there's something else you
have for me.”

The water splashed
around him as he walked toward me and then stopped, planting his
shirtless body directly in front of me. “Now, this might scare
you a little,” he admitted hesitantly.

I looked at him
carefully through narrowed eyelids. “Um, it's never a good sign
when a sentence starts out like that.”

“
I know,”
he chuckled. “But just remember that I won't let anything
happen to you. Just keep that in the front of your mind, okay?”

I looked out at the
cove of translucent yellow water.
What can he do that would scare
me so much, especially with the way the water looks right now?

“
Okay,” I
said while looking back at him with a nod, unsure of what to expect
next.

“
Okay, good. But
first I have to get rid of all these fish.”

“
Oh, okay. Well,
bye Fred,” I called down to my water-covered legs.

“
Don't worry,
Fred can still hang around. She'll like what I'm going to show you.”
He lifted his arm and pointed out away from the cove toward the dark
water past it. “Okay guys,” he spoke peacefully to the
creatures, “go on, get outta here.”

I watched in amazement
as the fish all turned and swam their way out of the clear area of
the water. The little crabs around my feet crawled sideways over the
smooth rocks around us and sauntered away, following after their
swimming friends.

I easily spotted Fred,
still hovering gently in the water next to me. She was a beautiful
fish, and a wonderful present; Jonah had really outdone himself. “I
can't believe how incredible you are,” I breathed, still filled
with admiration for the man who I considered to be my soul mate.

“
Yeah, Fred
is
pretty incredible.”

“
I meant you,”
I snickered, shooting him a friendly glare.

He smiled at my
compliment and took his hat off of his head, tossing it to the sandy
beach. “Are you ready for this now?”

“
Yeah,” I
shrugged my shoulders with a sigh, “I think so.”

“
Well, I'll need
you to turn around with your back facing the ocean.”

“
What? So I'm
basically going in blindfolded?”

“
Just do it,
Ash,” he chuckled lightly, planting his warm hands gently on my
shoulders and turning me around, doing the work for me.

I must have looked like
a nervous wreck because he waited with a gentle focus, giving me a
moment to collect myself. I took in a big breath of salty air and
breathed it back out, giving him the go ahead.

“
Okay,” he
said as he placed a hand on my bare stomach and took a step forward,
making me step backwards into the deeper water.

I kept my eyes on his,
which were still shimmering a glorious happy yellow. My comfortable
breaths turned shallow when the water reached my stomach; the panic
was starting to set it.

“
Hey,” he
cooed smoothly, “it's okay. Look down around you; there's
nothing to be afraid of.”

I followed his
instructions and looked down through the pristine water. It was so
beautiful how it glowed; it was perfectly clear and emitted a yellow
light through its deepness, just like Jonah's eyes did. I smiled when
I saw Fred next to me, following us on our journey.

He slid the fingers of
his hand along my stomach and encircled my waist with his arm,
pulling me tightly against him as the water reached my chest. A
short-lived moment of relief washed over me when he stopped walking
us out, but knowing Jonah, there was still more excitement ahead.

“
Are you ready?”
he asked once more, bringing his other hand up out of the water and
placing it lovingly on my cheek.

I draped my arms around
his neck with a quiet laugh. “I think so.”

He smiled softly and
then leaned forward and kissed me, slowly at first, and then becoming
deeper the longer our lips stayed pressed together. My blood boiled
as his hand moved up and down the tiny bubble-covered skin of my
back, feeling my smooth body in his grasp.

Why does he think
this will scare me?

I
couldn't help but wonder why it was such a big deal. I
wanted
to be in his passionate embrace.
And it all happening in the deep waters of his cove made it even
better and more riveting than I could have ever imagined.

He gently pulled his
soft lips away from mine, breathing deeply as the waves gently
crashed against our molded bodies. “Remember what I said,”
he advised me softly.

His mouth delicately
pressed against mine once more, but this time it wasn't for a kiss.
My eyes widened as I felt his warm breath gently blowing past my lips
while he moved forward, gently taking me underneath the surface of
the ocean.

The crisp water covered
over my head and filled my ears, giving me the overwhelming belief
that I was drowning and sending my already rampant heart into a
palpitating frenzy. My gut instincts were fighting the situation,
warning me to get out from Jonah's strong hold and resist suffocating
in the salty liquid. I squeezed my eyes shut and kicked as hard as I
could to get away.

Jonah grabbed onto the
side of my cheeks in an attempt to bring me back to reality. I opened
my eyes and saw his worried face under the yellow luminous water,
begging me to listen to what he was trying to tell me in the silence
of the sea. He brought my face to his and gently breathed another
breath of air into my mouth and pulled back, nodding to see if I
understood what he was doing.