Angel's Messiah (38 page)

“Father,” the voice said. “I asked Little Mother to tell you I am happy, but would be happier still if she weren’t so sad.”

A shadow fell behind the rainbow and something stepped through to stand in front of us. I blinked my eyes, then rubbed them. The voice had become a full-blown hallucination and I was seeing Gina.

“I am
not
a hallucination, Little Mother,” Gina said indignantly.

I looked at Danny. He was mesmerised by my hallucination. Somehow I had projected Gina into his mind as well, and we were witnessing the same vision.

“Little Mother, I’m very cross with you,” Gina chastised me. “Father knows I’m real. Can’t you accept it as well?”

Danny brushed the hair away from my eyes and kissed the top of my head.

“It’s her,” he whispered.

“No,” I cried. “I’ve finally gone mad.”

Gina knelt down beside us and touched my hand. It tingled. I felt tears running down my cheeks as I fought to come to grips with how real this hallucination was.

“Don’t cry, Little Mother, I’m here. I’ve come to get my wings and say my goodbyes.”

Okay, this was weird. Why would a hallucination tell me it was only here temporarily? I mean, that kind of defeats the purpose of having a hallucination if you know when it’s going to end.

“Father, can you explain it to Little Mother please?”

Danny nodded his head. “Helena, Gina is undergoing her resurrection. It means she can be with us for a short time before she must ascend to heaven permanently. This is the final gift she has been granted.”

I sat up. “Gina?”

Gina held out her arms. I climbed into her embrace and clung to her desperately.

“I’ve missed you, Gina.”

“I’ve missed you too, Little Mother — Father and Uncle Drake as well. It’s a pity I can’t see my uncle before I must leave. Perhaps you can pass on a message for me.”

“We’ll do whatever you ask, Gina,” Danny replied.

“Thank you, Father. I know Little Mother is a bit overwhelmed by all of this. She’s so young, isn’t she?”

Danny laughed. “Yes, she is.”

“I’m older than Gina,” I said.

“Gina means you’re young to immortality. Gina may not be very old, but she has all the knowledge in the heavens at her disposal.”

Gina nodded her head in agreement.

“How long can you stay?” I asked.

“As long as it takes to say my goodbyes,” Gina replied.

“Then I refuse to say goodbye,” I said smugly.

“It doesn’t work that way, Helena.”

“Father is right, Little Mother. Once
I
have said my goodbyes and collected my wings I shall leave.”

I prayed Danny had disposed of Gina’s wings and she’d be stuck with us in Eden for eternity.

“They’re in your room,” Danny said.

“Bloody hell,” I cried out, “why didn’t you get rid of them?”

“And leave her wingless?” Danny asked in disbelief.

“She’d have to stay with us then, if she had no wings with which to ascend,” I said.

“Little Mother, I could not stay, even if I wanted to.”

I was stunned by Gina’s comment. She had as good as told me that she didn’t
want
to stay with us.

“I love you deeply, Little Mother, but our paths follow different directions. I go to our Father, where I shall be spoilt once again,” Gina said happily, clapping her hands.

I reached up and kissed her cheek. “I love you, baby. I only want you to be happy.”

“And I shall be,” Gina giggled, “though our Father will have his hands full with me. I shall cause all sorts of trouble in heaven, but all will love me. Wait and see.”

I laughed. She was such a cheeky thing. I could just imagine her telling off God for something she didn’t agree with, or stomping her foot because she wasn’t getting her own way. She was her mother’s daughter.

“That’s better, Little Mother. Now is a time for laughter, not tears.”

29.
Peace at Last

Gina stood up and beckoned us to follow her. She headed towards the cottage and climbed the stairs to the ballroom. A small two-seater couch appeared and Gina sat down.

“Come sit with me, Little Mother,” Gina said, patting the seat next to her.

Danny laughed and gave me a gentle push in Gina’s direction.

“Do you wish to attire me, Gina?” he asked.

I looked from Danny to Gina. Some exchange had taken place between them that I’d missed. Gina smiled. When I looked back to Danny I couldn’t help but laugh. She had chosen to dress him in tights, a billowy shirt with puffy sleeves and a short pink velvet waistcoat. He did look funny.

Danny was good-humoured about it and gave a flourish as he bowed.

“It’s not quite what I’d imagined flamenco dancers would wear, Gina,” he said.

“Oh, flamenco,” she said and giggled. “I thought you said flamingo and that it was a dance related to ballet, like Swan Lake.”

For the first time in a long time I had tears rolling down my cheeks from laughter, instead of sadness. I would miss Gina when the time came for her to leave. She said and did the funniest things. Gina looked at me, laughing and crying at the same time.

“Little Mother, I do
not
like the colour of your eyes,” she said.

“It’s not something I can control, Gina.”

“Close your eyes, Little Mother.”

I thought Gina was upset with me. I did as she asked and she leaned forward to kiss my closed eyes.

“You can open them now,” she said.

Gina gazed into my eyes and smiled.

“What?” I said.

“They’re the colour I remember now,” she said. “I like this colour much better. Please don’t change them again.”

“Like I said, Gina, it’s not something I can control.”

“You’re wrong, Little Mother. When the fire goes out your eyes pick up on how you’re feeling and takes on that colour. You just need to make sure you’re happy when the fire goes out.”

“You make it sound like they’ll turn red again,” I said.

“Little Mother, you are a woman of great passion. If your eyes do not change at least once a year I’ll be
very
surprised.”

Danny laughed. “Can I place an order for blue next time? I think blue would be very becoming on you.”

“Shut up,” I mumbled. “You two are always picking on me and making fun of me, just because I’m not an
old
immortal.”

“We love you all the same, Little Mother. Now then, Father, shall you dance for us?”

Danny changed his clothes into what he thought was appropriate attire for a flamenco dancer. He kept the shirt Gina had given him, loosely laced at the front, and swapped the tights and slippers for comfortable black pants and black boots with a heel suitable for tapping. It still wasn’t quite what I imagined a flamenco dancer would wear. He did look good though, and that was all that mattered to us.

The music and singing began. Danny launched into his routine. Gina started clapping to the beat. After a minute or so she stopped and sat there with a huge smile on her face, entranced by her father’s dancing. Danny had come a long way since our waltzing days. I remembered a time prior to that, the very first time I’d taken him dancing, and how awkward he’d felt because I’d danced rather seductively around him in such a public place. He didn’t know what to make of it at the time, though after many months of dancing with me he realised I’d been having a bit of fun at his expense.

We clapped wildly when Danny finished. I wolf-whistled, something neither of them had heard me do before. The next ten minutes were spent trying to show Gina how to do it, and listening to her making blowing noises instead of a loud and shrill whistle.

While Gina practiced her whistling I let Danny twirl me around the dance floor. It was just like old times, better times.

“I’m very impressed,” I said. “I didn’t think you were that keen on dancing.”

“What makes you say that?” he asked, pulling me closer for a slow dance.

“Sometimes it felt like you were resisting.”

“Ah, but it was so much more enjoyable when I made you work for it,” he chuckled.

“That’s it,” I laughed. “You’re going to be wearing tights every time we dance now, I’ll see to it.”

He nuzzled my hair and nibbled my ear. “It’s nice to have you back, Mrs Malakh.”

“It’s nice to be back, to have us all together again.”

“Little Mother, it’s my turn now,” Gina said impatiently.

I stepped away from Danny and instead of Gina taking her father’s hands to dance she took mine. Danny laughed and went to lounge on the couch. Gina rested her head on my shoulder and hummed what seemed to be a lullaby.

“That’s nice, Gina. What is it?” I asked.

“I learned it in heaven,” she confided. “There’s a lot for me to learn there. I don’t want to learn
everything
they want to teach me. Some of it is
boring.
”

I laughed. “That’s life, Gina, or in your case the afterlife.”

“That’s funny, Little Mother,” Gina giggled, then sighed. “I shall miss you most of all.”

“I know, baby. I’ll miss you too, more than you can know.” I kissed her cheek and pushed her away. “Now go dance with your father before he thinks you’re playing favourites.”

I watched Gina and Danny dance slowly, talking softly and laughing. I imagined what a snapshot of their dance would look like as an oil painting. Downstairs, over the fireplace in the living area, my painting appeared. It may not be a masterpiece, but it would be something Danny and I could look at every day to make us smile, once Gina was gone — a snapshot of a moment in time when life was good.

“Can we go and paddle in the stream?” Gina asked.

“Of course,” I said. “Whatever makes you happy.”

Gina was as playful as ever and scooped up handfuls of water to splash us with. We ended up in an all-out water fight and didn’t stop until we were all soaked through. We sat on the bank of the stream and laughed.

“Shh,” Danny said, pointing to the other side of the stream.

Hundreds of butterflies of varying size and colour were fluttering in our direction. We sat quietly and watched them as they gently glided for a few metres, flapped their delicate wings, then glided again. Gina held out her hand and a butterfly alighted on her finger. Others followed and soon Gina’s arm was a mass of moving colour. She held out her other arm and more butterflies were drawn to her. They landed on her hair, her crossed legs, and settled on her feet.

“It tickles,” she said, trying not to laugh.

I leaned against Danny and rested my hand on his leg. She was beautiful. It wasn’t only physical beauty — she had a beautiful soul as well. Something emanated from her that I had difficulty putting my finger on.

“Even the butterflies love her,” I murmured.

“Any creature with half a brain can do nothing less,” Danny said. He sounded
so
like me. “She’s perfection.”

Gina gently shook her arms and the butterflies took off as one, flying up into the sky, until the light breeze carried them away.

“I can’t believe the amount of paperwork I was required to fill out in heaven,” Gina complained. “I told Barnabas — he’s the angel assigned to help me acclimatise to heaven, as if I need to,” she snorted. “Anyway, I told him it should all be computerised, like the Internet. It took me the whole week I was in heaven to get through it all.”

“It may have only been a week to you, Gina, but it was almost seven months here,” I said.

“Really?” Gina asked and giggled. “I keep forgetting about the time differences, just like I did in the mortal world.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I have trouble figuring it out as well.”

Gina sighed as the last of the butterflies finally disappeared from view, even for an immortal.

“It’s time to go home,” Gina said.

“Already?” I asked.

“Yes, Little Mother. The time for goodbyes has come. I wish to say goodbye to Father first. Please don’t be upset, Little Mother. I’ll meet you at the swing. Go now.”

Gina shooed me away just as she’d done with the butterflies. I wondered what she’d say to Danny in her goodbye to him, and whether it would differ to her goodbye to me.

I didn’t sit on the swing. Instead I sat on the grass and made a daisy chain. It would be my parting gift to Gina, if she was allowed to take something back. I took great care and was very meticulous about ensuring I used flowers of the same size, and trimmed the stalks so they were all the same length. I wove the chain together, and as I worked I hummed the lullaby Gina had been humming when we’d danced earlier in the day. When I’d finished I held the delicate chain in my hand. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the colour of the flowers could reflect Gina’s mood, similar to the mood rings I remembered being so amazed with as a little girl. It had been disheartening when the colour didn’t really reflect the mood I was in. I only wanted it to work for Gina though. It was my gift to her and was meant for no one else.