Forgiven (Book 3, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (11 page)

“All life is important to me
,
Lilly.  Yours is no exception.  Plus, I felt you could help bring my children back to me.  You’ve shown them how precious life really is.  That it
’
s not to be taken for granted.  Their pride was their downfall
in the past
.  You’ve given them a chance to show how much they’ve changed.  They care about you more than
they do
themselves.”

God began to fade
,
h
is body bec
o
m
ing
completely transparent.

“I will help guide you when I think you need it,” God said.  “Don’t loose faith.”

And then I woke up.

When I first woke up
, I immediately
told Brand about my dreamscape visitor
.  H
e wanted
to know what God said word for word so
I talked him into waiting
until
Will and Malcolm
could be with us.  I didn’t want
to
have to
repeat the same story three separate times.

I phoned
W
ill to invite him over for breakfast but felt I owed Malcolm an invitation in person.

When I phased to his house an
d
called out for him, he was instantly at my side.

“Good morning, dearest,” he said, a genuine smile of surprise on his face.  “Don’t suppose you came to tell me what a horrible mistake you made yesterday and how you’ve left Brand to pledge your undying love and loyalty to only me?”

The twinkle of amusement in his eyes told me he was joking.  I breathed a little easier knowing our relationship would forever stay as it always had been:  him making suggestive
remarks
and me gently turning them down.  Even though I knew in his heart he meant them to a certain extent, I also knew he
now
understood our relationship could never go beyond
the love of
friendship.

“I had a talk with your father last night,” I told him, immediately wiping the smile from his face.

“What did
H
e say?”

I held my hand out to Malcolm.  “Come on.  We’ll all talk about it over breakfast.”

I told my angels what God said.  They all sat transfixed by my retelling of the conversation and didn’t attempt to interrupt me until I was completely done.

Malcolm sat back in his chair at the table crossing his arms over his chest letting out a deep sigh.  “He’s still as obtuse as ever,” he grumbled.

“So
H
e didn’t tell you exactly how you
’
re supposed to find out who your father is?” Will asked.

I shook my head.  “He seems to think I have to learn that on my own to awaken something inside me.  What that is?  I have no idea.  I hope it’s not anything bad.”

Brand
covered
one of my hands
with
his underneath the table.  “There is nothing
in you that could ever be bad.”

I smiled at him and looked away feeling shy all of a sudden from his praise.  I met the gazes of my two other fallen angels and noticed them staring at me like the
y
completely agreed with Brand’s statement.

“Who besides me makes you feel like you do right now?” I asked them, hoping the questi
on would spur an answer which would help me figure out who my father was.

“I guess,” Brand said, “I feel like I did when I was with my brothers in
Heaven
.  When you’re around, I feel a calm and happiness I haven’t experienced since then.”

“He’s right,” Will said.  “I’ve always felt it around you but could never quite put my finger on it until now.”

“You bring out the best in us, dearest.  We would do anything for you no matter how outrageous of a request you might make.”

“He still loves all of you,” I told them.  “And He’s proud of how far you’ve each come trying to right the wrongs you’ve done in your lives.   He seems to want to forgive you and bring you back closer to Him.”

No one said anything.  They each seemed to consider my words and how they related to each of their stories.

“If you’ll all excuse me,” Malcolm said, “I would like some time alone to think about things.”

“Me too,” Will said.

They both phased away.

Brand and I
decided
to
try and
keep things as normal as possible
for the rest of the week
.  There really wasn’t anything else for us to do until Samyaza contacted us with new information on the whereabouts of King
Solomon
’s ring.
  We met all our classes during the day and came home in the evenings to spend time with
one
an
other.  I think I was averaging two cold showers a night and desperately prayed for the ability to warp time to make Saturday come more quickly.  Unfortunately, time is a stubborn thing and moved at its own irritating
ly
slow pace.

On Thursday afternoon, I received a phone call from Will.

“I was talking to Malcolm today,” he told me.  “He said you spent a whole day with him
not too long ago
and
I was wondering
why I wasn’t given the same opportunity to spend time with you before you got married.”

“He asked me to,” I said in way of my defense.  The idea Will would want the same thing
as Malcolm
had never even occurred to me
quite honestly
.

“Well, I’m asking you.  Can I have some time with you alone before the wedding?”

“Of course,” I said, silently wishing Malcolm had kept his big mouth shut.  All I needed was to have another emotional day with someone who proclaimed they were still in love with me.  “When would you like to get together?”

“Considering your wedding i
s
the day after tomorrow, I would like to do it now if you have the time.”

I didn’t have a good excuse to not go but did ask him to give me half an hour to get ready.

“How should I dress?” I asked.

“Casual, bring a light jacket.  The wind might get cold.”

When I told Brand, he seemed to take it all in stride.

“So you don’t mind?” I asked him.

“No,” Brand answered.  “If I were
W
ill
,
I would probably feel a bit slighted if you refused to do for me what you did for Malcolm.”

“Does it make me a bad person to say I don’t want to go?”

Brand smiled.  “No, it doesn’t make you a bad person.  I know this will be hard for you because you don’t want to hurt Will anymore than he already is.  But, apparently he needs this just as much as Malcolm did.  You were able to let Malcolm know the two of you can only be friends.  I think you need to let Will figure that out too.  It’ll be better for all of us in the long run.”

When Will picked me up in his car, he instantly phased us to a spot I never thought I would see again.

The sun glared off the water of the gulf coast almost blinding me with its brilliance.  There was a
man and a woman
on the beach flying a
box
kite on the ocean breeze coming off the water.  Will got out of the car
without saying a word,
and I followed him.

He stared out over the water while I came to stand beside him.

“Do you remember this spot?” He asked me.

“How could I forget it?” I said, remembering this was where Will had given me my first kiss. 
The kiss which had broken my heart with its tenderness before Will shattered my heart by acting like it never happened afterward.

“I’m sorry I
was
n’t strong
er
back then, Lilly,” he
said in a low voice
.  “
To be honest, you scared me
a little
.”

I looked at Will.  “I scared you?  How?”

“I’d been feeling something grow between us for a while before
we
kiss
ed
but just chose to ignore it.  I told myself it was ridiculous to think I could be in love with a human.  I think Lucifer knew my feelings for you were growing
too
and he would make condescending jokes about how I must think I was
a
human.  After we kissed, he told me that if I ever tried to do it again, he would force me to leave you and put another demon in my place to watch over you.  By that time, I couldn’t afford to lose you or Tara or Utha Mae from my life.  You had all become too important to me.”

“That’s why you stopped talking to us?”

“I had to.  Even if I couldn’t be with you all like before, at least I was able to share in your lives from afar.  It was better than not being near you at all.  I thought I should tell you the real reason I acted the way I did before you married Brand.”

“Thank you for telling me,” I said, knowing it had been hard for Will say.  “But it doesn’t change anything.  I still love Brand.  I’m still going to marry him.”

Will nodded his head.  “I know.  But, I thought you should have the whole truth.  I hoped it would make it easier for you to understand why I can’t give you away at the wedding.”

We both stared across the calm ocean surface not sure what to do next.

“Hey,” he said, “do you remember old Ms. Cane?  The principal’s secretary back at Dalton Elementary?”

I remembered Ms. Cane well.  Who could forget that head of hair?

“What about her?”

“I found out she got married not too long ago.”

“What?  I thought she would stay an old maid the rest of her life.”

Will shrugged, “Guess not.  She ended up marrying Principal Wright.  You know his wife passed away a couple of years ago.”

From then on Will and I spent at least two hours reliving events from our childhood and laughing over things which happened to us as kids.  They were things which help build a person’s life and form them into the adult they eventually become.  It made me realize how similar Will and I were because most of our life had been shared with one another.  I knew I would never
again
love Will l
ike I did the night he first kissed me.  And I was all right with that fact now.  It took me a long time to get over him breaking my heart, but I had finally found the one person in the world who my heart had always truly belonged to.

After classes on Friday, Tara and Malik rod
e
to
Dalton
with me and Brand. 
We were supposed to meet Utha Mae and my mom at the church to help with the decorations.  For the most part, the sanctuary w
as
already bedecked with the churches own Christmas décor. 
Two twelve
-
foot Douglas fir trees stood tall on either side of the choir section
behind the pulpit
.  Each was tastefully decorated with twinkling white lights, red and green mesh ribbon,
glass
gold
-
filigree painted balls, red and white glittery poinsettias, and gold painted sprigs
.  At the altar was a classic white sweetheart arch festooned with white gauze, red and white roses and greenery.  Basically all we had to do was put the finishing touches
on
the pews and reception area.

Pastor Ryan also wanted us to do a run through of the ceremony just to make sure we knew what
to expect
.  It was going to be a simple, quick wedding.  I didn’t think my heart could take anything too drawn out.  The sooner Brand and I were married, the better.

Brand asked Abby to stand in as his ‘best man’.  As she and Tara walked down the isle side by side, I stayed at the front of the church waiting for the bridal march music to begin.  I felt a familiar hand grab one of mine
hanging at my side
.  When I looked behind me, I saw Malcolm.

“Abby told me Will refused to walk you down the isle, dearest.” He came to stand
be
side.  “I would be honored to do the job if you’ll let me.”

I reached up and hugged
Malcolm tightly
around the neck realizing
he
had
just
officially reached best friend
status
.

“Thank you,” I told him, knowing what he was doing couldn’t be easy for him.  To hand me over to Brand would be just as hard for him to do as it would have been
for
Will.  But
,
unlike Will, Malcolm was putting my needs first.  God was right.  Malcolm had indeed changed.