“Almost died, got a miracle from an angel, fell in love, met your sister. You might want to spread things out a little bit next time. Save some excitement for another day.”
Lissy’s mouth fell open, and he stuck a tongue depressor in it. “What are you talking about?” she garbled, her tongue trying to escape from the wooden captor.
Doc Rafe gave an exaggerated grimace. “Uh oh, did I spill the beans?” The girls looked around in confusion, and the boys shared a wince.
“We hadn’t quite figured out how to tell them yet,” Maddock admitted.
“Tell us what?” Maddy’s arm reached for his. Her eyes shifted back and forth with apprehension.
The boys bit their lips and clamped their teeth as they looked at each other, silently begging the other to say it.
“We’re, uh…”
“What happened was…”
The doctor rolled his eyes and grabbed the two of them by the shoulder, bringing them front and center. “What these knuckleheads are trying to tell you is that they’re angels, and all that miraculous stuff that happened tonight is because of them.”
No one made a single sound for several seconds. The girls blinked slowly.
“Well, half-angels if you wanna be specific, but whatever…” Doc Rafe chuckled.
“Cheydan?” Lissy whispered. “When I asked you earlier what happened…”
Cheydan gulped and moved closer, taking her hand. “I said I did a miracle.”
“That thing you did to me?” Maddy turned to stare at Maddock.
He nodded slowly.
“You’re a…”
“Celestia Divisa — it means heavenly division,” Cheydan explained, switching into intellectual mode. He felt a lot safer there. “Our bodies are human, but our spirits are angelic. We each have special gifts that we use to help others.”
“And you can do miracles?” Lissy whispered, and Cheydan nodded. The girls shared a look of disbelief and incomprehension.
“Then why don’t you just heal her?” Maddy asked the question Lissy wasn’t brave enough to voice.
“Healing isn’t my gift —”
“Mine either,” Maddock interjected.
“Or I would’ve done it in a heartbeat.” Cheydan’s voice was thick with emotion as he squeezed her hand. “My gift is patience. All I could do was make you willing to wait.”
“Doc Rafe here is the healer.” Maddock slapped him on the back, and Lissy’s eyes grew wide.
“You’re a… half angel, too?”
Rafe nodded with a sly grin.
Maddy glared at him. “Well then, why didn’t you heal her?”
Maddock grabbed her hand, rubbing her knuckles to sooth her. “It’s not that simple, Maddy. See, we can do small things easily, but miracles are kinda… overwhelming.”
“Like how Cheydan collapsed?” Lissy asked, and the boys nodded.
“So what would happen if you tried to heal me?” Lissy turned to Doc Rafe. “Would it hurt you?”
Rafe chuckled nervously and fiddled with his tie. “Yeah, but at this point I think it would hurt Cheydan more.” Lissy tilted her head, questioning.
“What the guys are beating around the bush about is that, when we do a miracle for someone, we usually fall in love with them. You can’t exactly pass that out like Band-Aids.”
The girls bulged their eyes and glanced from the boys to each other.
“It usually has the same effect on the human,” Rafe explained, and the girls’ cheeks burst into identical flames.
“What’s your gift, Maddock?” Maddy whispered.
“Generosity.” She nodded, unsurprised.
“So, when I didn’t want to meet my sister and then you did that thing to me, you were filling me with generosity? And you did that, even though you knew it would make you fall in love with me?” Maddy stared unsurely at Maddock.
“It wasn’t like it was a sacrifice, Maddy. I was already in love with you.” He reached up and stroked her cheek, wrapping the other hand around her waist.
Cheydan imitated his brother, sitting next to Lissy and touching her face. “Same for me, Lissy. God brought us together on purpose. He knew we needed to be together.”
“I thought you were just being nice to me because you felt sorry for me. I didn’t think you liked me… that way,” Maddy murmured.
“How can you say that, Maddy? You’re all I’ve thought about since the first day I saw you, buying a can of tuna and a banana!”
Maddy chuckled, burying her face in his chest. “Then why didn’t you ever try to kiss me?” Her voice was muffled by his shirt and her insecurity.
“I was trying to be a gentleman. I didn’t want to do anything you weren’t ready for.”
Maddy’s eyes grew moist with tears, and she gazed at him, wondering how she ever got so lucky. “Maddock?” she whimpered.
“Maddy?” he murmured back.
“I’m ready.”
Maddock’s face split in a wide smile, and he wrapped his arms around her, one hand guiding her head towards his mouth. “It’s about time,” he grumbled and captured her lips with his.
Chapter 22
“You know, you’re going to have to break apart this love train pretty soon so I can wheel you down to surgery. T minus 30 minutes.” Doc Rafe poked his head in the girls’ hospital room.
Lissy and Maddy were laying next to each other in hospital beds, their hands clasped across the small space between them. Cheydan and Maddock were on either side, each holding the other hand of the girls they loved.
In the few weeks since the girls had met, Maddy had spent almost every spare minute at the hospital getting to know her sister. Maddock and Cheydan had joined her, and the four had quickly bonded.
Maddy still harbored a touch of jealousy over the life Lissy had led, but now she was grateful that Lissy’s adoptive family had been able to provide all the medical care she’d needed over the years, care she probably wouldn’t have gotten if their mother had kept her.
Lissy envied Maddy’s health, but her gratitude towards Maddy’s offer of a kidney overshadowed her envy. Doc Rafe had promised that the transplant would be successful, even suggesting that Lissy would most likely have no need for anti-rejection medicine because Maddy’s kidney would be genetically identical to her own. The problem with Lissy’s kidney was not genetic, and Maddy’s kidneys were perfectly healthy.
“So, what’s the first thing you want to do when you’ve recovered?” Cheydan asked, stroking his fingers through Lissy’s silky hair.
Their hair was one of the very few things that helped to tell the girls apart. They both had similar long, brown locks, but the shine and texture was slightly different due to Lissy’s illness. Cheydan imagined that in a few years when Lissy was completely well even that difference would disappear. Lissy had a few more scars from previous surgeries, but the scars they got today would match.
Not that he had any trouble telling them apart, even though they did look identical. Like he and his brother, their personalities were different enough that it was easy for him to know which one was which. That, and only one of them made his heart pound like a jackhammer when he was near her. It was almost like she gave off a pheromone that grabbed a hold of him and lured him to her on an invisible leash.
Lissy’s eyes lit up as she imagined the perfect celebration. “I want to go on vacation! I saw a commercial for Myrtle Beach once, and I’ve always wanted to go. I want to parasail, go to the water park, ride the rides at the amusement park, play in the ocean. Cheydan, will you take me there sometime?”
Cheydan glanced at his brother and saw the twinkle in his eye. Did Lissy know that Myrtle Beach was his family’s favorite place to go? He and his family had spent a week there every summer for more years than he could count, and had enjoyed every single activity on her wish list.
“Oh, that sounds like so much fun! Can we go, too, Maddock?” Maddy begged.
“I’m pretty sure that can be arranged,” he assured them.
“I hope I can find a bathing suit that will hide the scar. I suppose a one-piece would, but I’d rather wear a bikini.” Lissy’s words sent a ripple of anticipation through both boys’ stomachs as they imagined the girls in skimpy suits, frolicking on the beach. They let out identical groans.
“Maybe it can be a graduation present for the both of you,” Cheydan suggested.
Maddy had gone back to school and made up the work she had missed, and she was on track to graduate with her classmates if she kept up her studies while she was recuperating from today’s surgery. Lissy had already finished her home-school classes.
“Can we come in?” Zeph’s voice sounded out in the hallway, and he and Eve peeked around the doorway. Zeph held two bouquets of daisies, and Eve had a hand on the tiny baby bump just starting to poke out of the middle of her dress. “We wanted to stop by and pray with you before your surgery. Is that okay?”
The girls nodded. Neither one would have called themselves religious before, but falling in love with half angels had a way of turning even the most wayward into believers. Zeph and Eve joined hands with Cheydan and Maddock, forming a circle.
“Zeph, do you think everything will be okay after this?” Maddy asked once Zeph had finished praying.
“Do I think you and Lissy are going to recover and keep my buddies happy for the rest of their lives? Most definitely. You four are perfect for each other. Is this the last bit of trouble you’ll ever face? Definitely not.” The girls’ brows drew together in apprehension at Zeph’s words, but the boys didn’t look worried.
“The Lord promised us we’d always have trouble, but he sent some special people to help us through. And you each got lucky enough to snag one to keep forever. Besides, if you hadn’t had any of your past troubles, you wouldn’t be where you are. Sometimes a few troubles can do you good.”
Maddock chuckled at the way Zeph was starting to sound a lot like Dominion Connan, and it made him wonder how the old man was doing. “Are you going to visit Dominion while you’re here?”
Zeph nodded. “It might be our last chance. I don’t think he’ll make it much longer. I expect to do his funeral at the next quarterly ceremony here in town.”
“It will be a really full ceremony. We already have two first miracles to celebrate!” Eve winked at the boys. “Any chance of a wedding?”
Both sets of twins reddened simultaneously, and none of them could answer. After the excitement of their first miracles, the boys had spent an evening plotting together about how they would eventually propose to the girls. Marriage was a foregone conclusion, if not an immediate one.
Once a Celestia Divisa fell in love, they were in love for life. They just had to wait till the timing was right, which meant as soon as they thought the girls could handle the idea. They didn’t know the girls had spent their own secret night fantasizing about their futures with the Engel twins as their mates.
Cheydan thought it would be best to wait till he was finished with college before considering marriage, but Maddock was eager to tie the knot. Maddy was still living at the shelter, and Maddock thought getting married would offer a solution to both her housing needs and his waning self control. But the idea of a double wedding appealed to them both. It was a dilemma they’d have to devote more thought to once the surgery was out of the way. First, they had to make sure both girls were healthy.
“Let’s just hope the girls are well enough by then to attend.” Cheydan squeezed Lissy’s hand and offered her a gentle smile.
Zeph and Eve said their goodbyes, offering hugs and well wishes to everyone before heading off to visit Dominion, but there was one last visitor before the nurse arrived to wheel them off.
High-heeled shoes clacked unsteadily down the hallway towards the girls’ room, and the scent of rose perfume pulled a gasp from Maddy.
“Aunt Ricki?” she said, as a world-weary version of the girls appeared at the door.
“I got your message,” she said, walking cautiously into the room. Maddock had encouraged Maddy to call her and let her know what was going on, and Maddy had reluctantly agreed.
“You didn’t have to come,” Maddy said. What she meant was, she wished she hadn’t. Maddy had cut the emotional ties to her aunt the minute Ricki took her boyfriend’s side over Maddy’s, but Maddock had been working on helping her learn to forgive. He’d also spent a lot of hours praying for Ricki, in hopes that someday she and Maddy could reconcile.
Ricki sighed, tugging nervously on her short denim skirt and tight red blouse. “Steve got arrested,” she admitted, her eyes shifting awkwardly between her twin nieces and their angelic boyfriends. “He hit on some young girl. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
Maddy gulped at the apology. She never expected that.
Ricki came a little closer, hovering near the bed, her hands patting her pockets for a pack of cigarettes, then dropping when she remembered where she was at. “I’m glad you’re okay, and I’m glad you found your sister. Kinda makes me miss mine.”
Maddy thought she saw a small tear shimmer in her aunt’s eyes.
“Anyway, I just wanted you to know you could come home when you get out of here. I mean, if you want to. If you don’t have anywhere else to stay.” She looked curiously at Maddock, wondering about the handsome twin that was holding Maddy’s hand.
“Thank you.” Maddy didn’t make any promises. She didn’t really want to go back to Ricki’s house, but with Steve gone, maybe it would be better than the shelter.
Maddock desperately wanted to tell Maddy she could stay with him, but he didn’t think his self control could handle having her that close.
“Well, I just wanted to wish you good luck. I gotta get back. Maybe I’ll come visit tomorrow, see how you’re doing. Probably should get to know my other niece.” Her nervous chuckle dissolved into a phlegmy cough.
“What was that?” Maddy asked as soon as she left, glancing wide-eyed at Maddock.
“That was an answer to prayer, Amanda.” He grinned and squeezed her hand.
Maddy smiled. Ever since he’d found out her real name was Amanda, that’s all he’d called her. He said it meant lovable and that it was perfect for her. She’d since learned how important names were to the Celestia Divisa. Although, she still had a hard time believing she was lovable. Maddy just liked the way their names rolled off the tongue. Maddock and Amanda. Much better than a mispronounced nickname.
Lissy smiled at Maddock’s explanation. He didn’t know it was doubly true. Ever since she’d met her aunt, she’d longed for a relationship with someone who once knew her birth mother, someone who could help her reconnect to her past. Cheydan had encouraged her to pray about it.
Now she had a chance to know both her past and her future, with Amanda and Ricki and Cheydan and Maddock. She finally felt like her life was complete.
“Who’s ready to swap organs?” A giddy voice called from the hallway, and Doc Rafe poked his head in again.
The boys simultaneously planted loud, wet kisses on the girls’ cheeks, and Maddock wrapped his arms around his brother’s shoulder as the nurse wheeled the girls out of the room. “You know what’s more perfect than finding the perfect girl, Cheydan?”
Cheydan turned his head to smirk at his brother, and they responded in unison. “Finding two of them!”
Chapter 23
Cheydan zipped his suitcase shut and looked around his hotel room with disdain, annoyed that his brother had managed to strew his belongings all over the room already. Their annual family vacation to Myrtle Beach was the only time they ever had to share a room, and Cheydan was praying that this year would be the last time. Next year, he hoped to be sharing a room with Lissy, as husband and wife.
Lissy and her sister, Amanda, were next door in a non-connected suite. Maddock had griped when their parents insisted on that minor detail, but Cheydan saw the wisdom in it. Gazing at his girlfriend in a skimpy bathing suit all day was going to make it hard enough to resist going to her at night. They didn’t
need the convenience of connected rooms.
Maddock’s voice rang out from the bathroom — he liked to sing in the shower, and Cheydan took the opportunity to practice the proposal he had planned for that evening.
“Lissy, you’re my love, my heart, and my life. Will you be my wife?” he said into the mirror for the hundredth time, analyzing every facial expression for sincerity.
Maddock snuck up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re not really going to say that to her, are you, bro?”
Cheydan jumped and grabbed his chest to contain his galloping heart. “Holy geez, Maddock, I thought you were in the shower! And what’s wrong with it?”
“You sound like a dweeb, that’s what wrong with it.” Maddock peeked over Cheydan’s shoulder into the mirror, finger-styling his hair.
“Then what would you suggest I say?” Cheydan scowled.
Maddock plopped on Cheydan’s bed, musing the bedding. “Well, don’t rhyme for one thing. You’re not writing a cheesy greeting card. Don’t overthink it; just say what’s in your heart. The right words will come out.”
Cheydan rolled his eyes at his brother. “Wing it? That’s your great advice? That may work out okay for you, but I prefer to follow a plan, not just shoot from the hip and hope for the best.”
“Well, you need to scrap that plan and start over, bro, or she’s gonna turn you down!”
Maddock jumped up and headed for the door. “Come on, it’s time for dinner and I’m starving.”
Cheydan looked at his watch and winced. “I don’t have time to start over. I wanted to propose tonight.”
“What?” Maddock stopped in his tracks, his mouth hanging open. “Why tonight?”
Cheydan smoothed his shirt and straightened his belt, checking his reflection in the mirror one last time. “Because I wanted the rest of the trip to be like an engagement celebration, and besides, now that I’ve decided to do it, I’ll be a nervous wreck until it’s over. I want to enjoy this vacation, not stress out through the whole thing.”
Date with Destiny Collection: Angel Romance Series: Books 1 - 4 Page 42
