"Up here?You crazy? I know my limits."
Carlos nodded and relaxed. "Cool . . . but if you hear something before me, you'll let a brother know?"
She laughed and stepped closer to the tree and then pressed both palms against it. "Oh . . .feel this ," she murmured, then opened her arms wide and hugged it, placing her cheek against it, then lifted her tank top in the back to spread her wings.
He hesitated. "I feel kinda out of my element, hugging a tree. I know some things stay between man and wife, but . . ."
"Oh, come on, Carlos. Feel it-it's deep."
Grudgingly he came near the tree and placed both palms against it. But the sensation that rippled through his hands and then traveled up his arms to send a warm implosion into the center of his chest made him sigh.
"Whoa . . ." he murmured and stepped closer to open his arms. He laid his head against the smooth, dark wood and the entire tree felt like it shuddered.
"Didn't I tell you?"
"I feel like I could go to sleep standing up, girl."
"It'slove flooding your system, infinite joy," she said in a breathy whisper.
"I never felt anything so profound in my life," he murmured. "Like everything that ever messed with me is just draining out of my body through the soles of my feet, and the grass is sending renewal back up into a closed loop . . . till I just wanna lie down."
"I know . . . the warmth is comforting, isn't it? My belly feels so good and tingly that I want to laugh and cry at the same time."
"Stay there as long as you want to, D . . . maybe all that is good for the baby, you know?"
"You finally said it," she whispered, her voice cracking.
He lifted his head when he heard her voice break. "Said what,corazon? "
"Saidthe baby, notit ."She swallowed hard and drew a shaky breath. "Words have power, especially this close to the Source."
"Then I'm ready to step into the water with you and put up a prayer," Carlos said quietly. "If words have power, up here, and intent is everything since they can see your heart . . . and there's battalions of angels keeping everything cool . . . yeah-I want a word sent."
He slid around the tree and clutched Damali's hand. They both peeled themselves away from it with effort, and the tree groaned in discontent.
"You hear that?" she said in a delighted squeak. Then she went back to the tree and stroked its trunk and kissed it. "Bye, tree . . . bless you . . . thank you for sharing the love with me and my family." She turned to Carlos with a wide smile. "Say good-bye."
For a moment, he just looked at her.
"Everything living has the life force of God in it. Everything alive is divine . . . you must honor it all, especially while up here."
"How do you know all this stuff?" he said, walking back to the tree to pet its trunk. "Bye, tree . . . thanks for being so cool and sharing the love." He gave the tree the kind of hug he would have given one of his brother Guardians, which tickled Damali no end.
"I guess the tree knows what you mean," she said, laughing and then stepping down into the water.
He watched her eyes cross as she hugged her body and her eyelids went to half-mast. Sunlight dappled her wings through the thick canopy, and he wished he were an artist and could draw what he was witnessing.
Golden sunlight hit her dark locks, sent prisms against her sun-fired skin, and rained speckles of fluttering sunbeams across her white wings. Pollen spores bowed and curtsied before her like tiny pink fairies, nature's ladies-in-waiting. There was a collision of color all around her, his possibly pregnant angel in jeans rolled up to her knees. The sight stole his breath, shook his reason, but made him walk forward.
The moment his feet hit the quiet water, he hugged himself and closed his eyes.
"Oh, God, Damali, what's happening?" he whispered.
"All of life, the abundance of it, and the infinite possibilities in it, is at your feet."
"You feel that?" he croaked through a gasp."That current?"
"Yeah . . . the All One connection."She flapped her wings to stay upright as Carlos came closer and hugged her.