by Linda Opdyke
“Goodbye, Jack,” she said softly and extended her hand to his.
“Goodbye, Kelly Jo,” he answered gently, suddenly sorry that his death was her final downfall. He reached for her hand.
“Don’t take her hand!” Robert ordered.
Too late. Jack’s hand touched Kelly Jo’s and in a flash they disappeared.
A second later, Jack found himself beneath a wide oak tree, dizzy and barely able to stand from the world spinning around him. Kelly Jo put her arms around him and laid her head firmly on his chest.
“It’s okay,” she said gently. “It’ll pass in a minute.”
Finally, everything stilled and Jack looked around. He took a step back from Kelly Jo and studied her with strong suspicion. “What did you do? Where are we now?”
Her smile was soft, her eyes bright with happiness when they met his. “Somewhere in the south, I think.”
“In the south? Are we back on earth?” Jack’s heart raced and he closed his eyes in pure joy. Robert had granted his heart’s wish after all.
“Yes, but we need to get moving before they find us.”
Jack’s eyes flew open. “What?”
Kelly Jo grabbed his hand and started walking, dragging him with her. “We just ran away from Heaven. And, oh, boy, are you in trouble!”
Chapter Four
Jack stopped dead, jerked on the hand Kelly Jo was pulling him with and yanked her straight into his chest. Her wings, still askew, vibrated from the impact and her short gown shimmered in the light of the southern sun.
Jack grabbed her upper arms and stared at her, his jaw agape. “You kidnapped me from Heaven and I’m in big trouble? You’re joking, right?”
“Come on,” she urged, pulling away from him and casting furtive glances all around. She grabbed his hand again and started to run, once again trying to drag him along. “If Big Bob catches us we don’t stand a chance.”
Jack dug in his heels and ripped his hand from hers. “You’re nuts,” he informed her. “I’m not in any trouble. But I think it’s safe to say you’re about to have the wrath of Heaven crash down on you.”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Do you have to sound so…so…hokey?” she asked him, then shot him an annoyed look. “And do you have to be so obviously pleased at the thought of me and Heaven’s wrath?”
“Yes,” he informed her flatly. “To both.” He threw his head back and laughed, looked around, then asked her sweetly, “How loudly do I need to call Robert to be heard? Or is he so used to your antics that he’s attached a tracking device?”
She took a firm stance and folded her arms over her chest, and though her words were tense they rammed home.
“Jack, if you want a chance to regain your earthly life…”
“That you took,” he reminded her.
“…then that chance is through going with me, not with Big Bob,” she continued as though Jack hadn’t interrupted. “He’ll have you in tow and raising your hand to say here to Peter’s roll call at the Gates lickety-split. Once Peter puts his black Sharpie check mark beside your name your opportunity to return is gone.”
“Well, gee,” Jack answered sarcastically and put a thoughtful finger to his chin. “Which is better? Running from an angel who will escort me to the Pearly Gates or running with the angel that killed me and is now attempting to coerce me into helping her do…I can’t imagine what, but I’m guessing it isn’t good.”
Kelly Jo glared at him. “Big Bob warned you not to take my hand. You did it anyway. So you weren’t kidnapped, you came willingly.”
Jack threw his hands in the air. “That’s it,” he informed her and stretched his long form out beneath the tree. He squinted up, between the branches, into the sunlight dappling the deep green leaves. “I’ll wait right here. Run if you want, to, but I’m not getting involved any further than you’ve already dragged me.”
“Nobody dragged you,” she said testily, kneeling in front of him. “You took my hand because you felt sorry for me and you might as well admit it, Jack, you were torn between wanting to help me and going with Big Bob.”
“No,” Jack answered, looking up at her. “I wasn’t.”
Summer-sky blue eyes mocked hazel ones. “Oh, you were. Big Bob saw it too, and that’s why he tried to hurry you away from me. So you couldn’t take my hand.”
Exasperated, Jack rose to his feet and scanned the sky. “Shouldn’t Robert have found us already?”
Kelly Jo came to stand beside him. “No. He’ll be looking for me in a small town many miles from here. I have to find a way for us to get there without being seen.”
“Don’t tell me anymore,” Jack warned. “Just tell me how to call Robert.”
“If I don’t get where I need to be in time, Jack, to that little town���the consequences will be devastating. Someone will die that isn’t supposed to die.”
“They already did,” he answered testily. “Me. Remember?”
“I need to fix something, to undo what I caused and I can’t do it alone.”
“Yep,” Jack said pleasantly, pointedly ignoring her and watching the sky for signs that Robert and or a posse had tracked them down. “It’s going to be a nice day.”
Kelly Jo gasped, but Jack ignored her and kept his gaze on the sky. She was not going to get to him. His resolve was stone that he���d not allow her to wheedle her way into his sympathies again.
“Oh, no,” Kelly Jo cried in horror, and despite himself Jack turned.
Kelly Jo’s wings were gone and her gown was nearly transparent.
Jack blinked twice. “You’re not wearing anything under that gown.”
Kelly Jo shot him a look and crossed her arms over her chest, then ran for the cover of a grove of bushes almost fifty yards away.
Jack was hot on her heels, involuntarily checking his own clothes, doing the gentlemanly thing and not fastening his gaze on her very exposed, very curvy behind. Everything about his own clothes seemed the same.
Just as her gown faded completely, Kelly Jo dove behind the bushes.
Panting for breath from running, Jack demanded, “What’s going on? If Robert found us and is carting you back to…wherever we were…does this mean that I’m staying on earth, that you’re the only one in trouble and I’m off the hook? I’m alive again?”
Kelly Jo’s head shot up above the bushes and though she carefully used her arms and long hair to cover her now completely naked body, her voice was curt. “No, Jack, it doesn’t. What it does mean is that my power is dissolving.”
“Oh, you mean like your clothes did?”
“Very funny,” she shot at him.
Jack laughed. “You made it behind those bushes just in time.” He couldn’t help it. He snickered and added, “Well, almost in time.”
Kelly Jo’s eyes snapped fire and she lifted her chin. “Voyeurism of an angel isn’t a good character trait, Jack, and Robert won’t like it.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “Voyeurism? Not from where I’m standing. Flashing is the word that came to my mind. Is Robert okay with you doing that?”
“Go find me some clothes,” she said sternly. “Steal some from a clothesline if you have to, but get something.”
Jack let loose with a rip-roaring belly-laugh. “I’m thinking….NO.”
She rose to her feet, then realized from the way his brows shot up in interest that too much showed, so she lowered to a near-squat, still using her arms and hair to cover herself. “Jack,” she said sweetly. “I’ll take the blame for everything…I’ll even call Robert if you want me to, but PLEASE find me some clothes.”
“Call Robert first,” he said flatly, his gaze holding hers level, despite where his brain ordered his gaze to travel.
Kelly Jo lowered her head, then sank to her knees. She nodded, then lifted her gaze to Jack’s. “I’ll call him for you, Jack, but I’m not going back.”
“Kelly Jo…”
“No,” she said quietly. “This is it for me and I’m not throwing aw
ay my last chance. For you or for anyone else. Even if it means I get kicked out of Heaven.”
Jack sighed. “Your theatrics are getting old, Kelly Jo. You won’t get kicked out of Heaven.” He studied her face and his alarm grew at the haunted expression in her eyes. “Will you?”
Jack heard the catch in her voice when she admitted, “Not actually kicked out.” Compassion stirred deep in his heart when she added, “I’ll remain where you first saw me. For a long, long time to come.”
From behind Jack, Robert’s voice boomed, “Kelly Jo!”
Jack spun to see a very angry Robert approach. “Where is she?”
Rattled at the punishment looming for Kelly Jo, Jack stammered, “Uh…uh…she’s uh…we were…her clothes…”
Robert shot Jack a look and again called Kelly Jo.
Jack turned to the bushes but Kelly Jo was gone. How she’d sprinted to the nearby woods without he or Robert spotting her he didn’t know, but somehow she’d made it.
“She’s naked,” Jack remarked, not with a little amazement.
“Yes,” Robert confirmed. “I’ve stripped her power. It should be nearly gone.”
Jack stared at Robert. Stripped was the operative word, all right.
Robert locked gazes with Jack. “I’ve permitted her only enough power for the both of you to return. You need to find her immediately, which shouldn’t be too hard, given her choices are limited without clothing.”
Puzzled, Jack asked, “Find her? You mean I can’t return with you?”
Robert shook his head. “No. You can only return through her, just as you came here through her power. Find her.”
“Can’t you just…do whatever it is you do…see through things or whatever…and bring her back here with your power?”
Robert scanned the entrance to the woods. “No. It seems that one of Kelly Jo’s final acts before I stripped her power was to use some of it to put up a field that blocks me from locating her.” He turned to Jack. “She’s made the consequences for her actions much more serious than they needed to be.” He gave Jack one final up-and-down look. “No one can see you in your current form, but they can now see her. Call to me as soon as you locate her. I’ll take it from there.” Robert disappeared.
Jack took a step back. Whoa! Robert was one ticked off angel and Jack was glad that he wasn’t the target of the anger emanating from him. Poor Kelly Jo.
Jack shook his head, as though to clear it. Poor Kelly Jo? She sure didn’t deserve any sympathy or soft feelings, after all the uproar she’d caused. So, then, why was he feeling sorry for her, almost regretting that he hadn’t gone along with her plea for his help?
He ran his gaze along the distant tree line, not at all happy about having to hunt down a troublesome naked woman.
“Pssst!”
Jack looked around, wondering if Robert had returned. Nothing and nobody but him and the clear afternoon sunshine.
This time the “Pssst!” was impatient, then followed by a whispered, “Jack!”
Bewildered, he turned to look in every direction. “Kelly Jo?”
“I’m over here.”
“Where?”
He started toward the woods, then heard “No, I’m here,” from the bushes.
Jack scoured the bushes but saw nothing. “Stop playing games and get out here and take my hand,” he ordered. “Robert told me…”
“I can’t,” she shot at him. “Get in here.”
Jack stepped into the bushes, still seeing nothing.
“Don’t step on me,” she cried. “Not with those big feet!”
Jack looked down. There on the ground was a small, framed painting, about 5x7. Standing against a background that mirrored where he stood was Kelly Jo, demurely posed, her arms and long golden curls covering vital areas.
Taken aback, Jack blurted, “What the…”
“I’m stuck,” Kelly Jo informed him. “My power is gone, so you need to figure out a way to get me out. Stick me inside your shirt and let’s get out of here!”
Chapter Five
Jack bent, scooped up the 5x7 and nonchalantly studied every aspect of the painting in the flat gold frame before his laughing gaze met her displeased blue eyes. “Not a very flattering picture,” he observed.
“It’s not a picture,” Kelly Jo informed him. “It’s a painting.”
Jack’s eyes continued to laugh, continued to study Kelly Jo’s carefully maintained pose, one that concealed charms Jack had already noted during her flight to the bushes. “Whatever. If I were you I’d ask for my money back.”
Kelly Jo’s tone held no love of Jack’s joke. “Ha ha ha. Now, if you don’t mind, shove me up under your shirt and let’s get moving.”
Jack couldn’t resist giving Kelly Jo just a small taste of the insecurity and upheaval she’d dumped nonstop on him. He chewed his lip in thought. “You know, when I envision holding a naked woman against my chest she’s not usually seven inches tall…I don’t think I want to…”
Jack nearly jumped from his skin when Robert boomed, “Jack!”, but his sleight-of-hand when he whirled to face him was lightning quick and he shoved the painting under the back of his shirt, praying it didn’t fall to the ground. Why did he do that??? He didn’t need Robert’s wrath on top of everything else and he was tempted to yell “She’s all yours” and toss the painting to Robert.
“What?” Jack asked as casually as he was able, wondering if Robert detected his pounding heartbeat.
“One more thing,” Robert said, giving Jack an if you’re up to something I’ll find out look. “If by some chance you fail to locate Kelly Jo…” He frowned. “Did I say something to amuse you, Jack?”
“No…no. I’m sorry,” he said contritely, doing his best to ignore that Kelly Jo was performing a slow, dragging tickle with her toes, starting at the waistband of his jeans and heading downward into the upper part of his boxers. Jack shifted back-and-forth on his feet when she wouldn’t stop, then swatted the painting with one hand. The toe-dragging stopped. “You were saying?” he asked Robert.
Robert’s frown was now strong disapproval in his dark eyes. “Should you fail to locate Kelly Jo, head northward to a town called Covey’s Creek. It’s a fairly large town but Kelly Jo will head straight for a second floor apartment at 17 Rosetta Street. She may be there already if she just dumped you here and used the last of her power to get there, but I doubt it.”
The toe-dragging tickling started again and Jack jumped, then swatted, all the while trying to maintain a casual air. “Uh, can’t you just take me there?” he asked Robert, his eyes widening as Kelly Jo pulled out his waistband and snapped it against his skin. “Cut it out,” he cried and gave a firmer swat.
Robert studied him.
“One of those long-legged insects,” Jack told Robert with a lop-sided smile. “You know what pests they make of themselves.”
“To answer your question, Jack, no, I can’t take you there. I need your eyes and ears on the ground because Kelly Jo is a master at concealing herself from me…”
“Really?” Jack quipped dryly. “She didn’t strike me as that bright. Owwww.”
Clearly annoyed, Robert continued, “Be aware that because I’ve stripped her power, if Kelly Jo is moving only on foot, by the time she reaches Covey’s Creek her memory will be gone.”
Jack stared. “Howzat again?”
“Within twenty-four hours she’ll resume total human form, but her memory of why she’s here will have faded.”
“You did that?”
“Yes. Her current time schedule puts her on a collision path with the event she wants to undo. She’s been forbidden to try.”
“But she’s here,” Jack argued. “Why not let it go, pretend she didn’t waylay me, pull a fast one and trick her way back down to earth…owwwwwww! Knock it off!”
Robert’s expression was unreadable as Jack swatted and muttered.
“Do you require help, Jack? Perhaps I can rid you of the pest…”
“No th
ank you,” Jack said hastily. “If Kelly Jo can’t remember why she’s here, how can she try to change an event?”
“She’ll automatically relive it,” Robert said curtly. “If she’s unable to reverse what she did, and without her memory guiding her that���s the most likely outcome, then she’ll be immediately removed from earth. The tragedy she caused will stand. And Kelly Jo will no longer have her wings.”
Jack eyed him. “You’re kidding.”
“Kelly Jo will spend eternity in the place where she summoned you. Alone. She knew that was the risk before she steered your car over the drop.”
“And if she succeeds?”
“She’s forbidden to try,” Robert repeated. “I’m counting on you to stop her.”
Jack held Robert’s gaze. “What happens to me?”
Robert’s dark eyes locked Jack’s hazel gaze. “If you succeed in stopping Kelly Jo I’ll reconsider returning you to your life on earth.”
“And if I fail?”
Robert smiled. “You’ll be welcomed into Heaven, where you would be right now if Kelly Jo hadn’t tricked you.”
Jack nodded, thoughtful. “But there’s no similar possibility for Kelly Jo.”
���No. Nor for you if you willingly help her.���
Stunned, Jack realized the fate of his soul rested on what he decided to do about the picture frame under his shirt. He held Robert���s gaze, knowing he really had no choice.
Resigned to his only reasonable decision, Jack reached behind his back.
Chapter Six
Jack bit back an oath as teeth chomped into his finger and he hastily pulled his hand from beneath his shirt and shoved it into his pocket. “Well, I’ll do my best to hunt down the wayward angel. I guess I’ll see you in Covey’s Creek.”
Robert disappeared before Jack’s last word filled the air.
Struck by a thought, Jack called, “Wait!”, but Robert was gone.
Kelly Jo smacked Jack’s lower back. “He’s gone. Get me out of here!”
“My pleasure,” Jack snapped, pulling the painting out and holding it in front of him. He scowled at Kelly Jo, who scowled right back.
