Anna (Book 2, The Redemption Series)

by S. J. West

  “I have got to start paying more attention to the books he reads,” Malcolm mumbles.

  “Well, you know what?” Millie chimes in happily. “I think that's a brilliant idea, Lucas! Anna is a lady after all. She should be treated with the respect she deserves and courted properly.”

  Lucas watches us expectantly, waiting for an answer from us.

  Apparently, he takes our silence as meaning that we are courting because his next question is, “Do you have a date planned for today? It sounds like you don't have anything else to do. You might as well get started on it.”

  I look over at Malcolm and see a thoughtful expression on his face. When his eyes meet mine, it's almost like he's looking at me in an entirely new light.

  “Would you like to go out on a date with me, Anna?” He asks, no humor in his voice like I thought there would be at Lucas' suggestion. He seems totally serious about this courting idea now that it’s been presented.

  I feel my cheeks flush because I know everyone is watching us and waiting for my answer.

  I nod my head and say, “Yes, I would, Malcolm.”

  Malcolm grins and looks down almost shyly before taking one of my hands underneath the table again and squeezing it lovingly.

  I have no idea what the day will bring, but I do know one thing.

  It will be a day I'll never forget.

  Chapter 15

  After I eat, I get up to put my plate on the counter by the sink. When I spin around, I notice Lucas staring hard at Malcolm.

  “What’s wrong, Lucas?” I ask him.

  Lucas continues to stare at Malcolm and begins to shake his head. “Something has got to be done about Dad’s hair. It’s a mess.”

  I look at Malcolm and have to agree with my son’s sensible conclusion.

  “I agree,” I tell Lucas. “It does need a trim.”

  Which I was going to do the night before, but Malcolm decided to stalk me for a kiss instead and completely diverted my attention away from the much needed haircut.

  Malcolm stands from his seat at the table and walks over to me to place his own dirty dish on top of mine.

  “Then maybe we should go back upstairs so you can cut my hair,” he suggests to me, promptly taking hold of one of my hands with his.

  “After Anna cuts my hair,” he says to all those in the room, “I’ll be taking her on our date. So, don’t look for us for a few hours.”

  “I thought you go on dates at night,” Lucas says looking confused by the notion of a morning date.

  “You can take a lady on a date anytime you want,” Malcolm tells him. “This one will last all day though.”

  “All day?” Lucas asks as his eyes widen in surprise. “That sure is a lot of talking.”

  I hear snickers come from table but ignore them.

  “Yes, it is a lot of talking,” I tell Lucas, loving the way his innocent mind works. “It’s the only way to truly get to know someone.”

  “Well you two have fun,” Millie tells us, walking over to the sink and rolling up the sleeves of her dress to her elbows. “We’ll be giving the house a good cleaning while you’re busy.”

  “Cleaning?” Lucas whines. “I hate cleaning.”

  “Let’s get out of here before she decides we need to help,” Malcolm whispers to me, playfully dragging me out of the kitchen like we’re making a great escape.

  I can’t help but laugh.

  We continue to hold hands as we head back up the stairs. I catch Malcolm looking at me out of the corner of his eyes, like he’s stealing glances at me. I don’t say anything about it because each time he does it he smiles. Anything that makes him smile like that is fine with me.

  Once we reach his room again, Malcolm allows me to walk in first. After he walks in behind me, he closes the door and turns the lock in the knob.

  “I guess you don’t want us to be disturbed?” I ask wondering what he has in mind for our time together…alone…in his room…all day...

  “Not during our date,” he says, walking towards me and taking my hand again. “But first, you need to give me a haircut so I can stop scaring our son.”

  We walk into the bathroom, and I notice we didn’t unplug the tub the night before. The water on the floor has long since dried, but I reach into the cold bath water and pull the plug to let it drain out.

  Malcolm sits in a chair by the window in the bathroom while I go grab the scissors Millie left out for me the night before. I walk over to Malcolm and try to imagine how his hair should look once I’m finished cutting it.

  “Have you ever done this before?” Malcolm asks dubiously.

  “No,” I say with a shake of my head.

  “Uh, should I have brought Millie in here instead?”

  “No. I feel confident I can do it. Worst case scenario we shave your head.”

  “I would prefer not to be bald,” Malcolm admits.

  “You worry too much,” I say walking behind him and running the fingers of one hand through his hair while holding the scissors in the other to cut with. I make my first snip of his locks and continue to trim the jagged mess Levi left on top of Malcolm’s head until it’s all even. I left Malcolm’s hair at a medium length on top and parted slightly to the right while cutting the sides a little shorter.

  “Can you do something for me?” I ask Malcolm as I make the last cut right above his left ear.

  “You should know by now that I would do anything for you,” he says lovingly.

  “Let your hair grow back out,” I tell him. “I liked it long.”

  “You did?” Malcolm asks, resting his hands on my hips as I stand in front of him. “Why?”

  Malcolm brings me in closer between his legs as I study his hair with a critical eye to make sure everything is even.

  “I liked the way it felt when I ran my fingers through it the first time we kissed. It felt like strands of silk, and I could easily imagine me pulling on it.”

  “Pulling on it?” Malcolm asks, sounding intrigued by the imagery. “And in what situation would you need to pull on my hair, sweet Anna?”

  I smile but say nothing because the scenarios running through my mind are not thoughts a lady should vocalize to a gentleman.

  “I guess you’ll just have to find out when we start making babies for Lucas to play with,” I laugh, remembering Lucas’ specific order of our life together.

  “Speaking of which,” Malcolm says, dropping his hands from my hips. “Are you through with my hair?”

  “Yes,” I say, taking a couple of steps back, “I’m done.”

  “Good.” Malcolm stands from the chair. “Then it’s time I took you to my bed.”

  I raise a questioning eyebrow in Malcolm’s direction.

  “Is that your idea of a date?” I ask. “Are we just going to lie in your bed all day, or do you have some other activities planned?”

  Malcolm grins. “Unfortunately, we won’t be doing anything in my bed that we can’t tell our son about.”

  Malcolm walks over to me and takes the scissors out of my hand, laying them down by the sink while grabbing hold of my other hand.

  “Let me explain,” he says, tugging me back towards the bedroom.

  Malcolm walks us over to my side of the bed, and we sit down. He takes my hands into both of his and holds them like they're the most delicate things on Earth. He glances up to meet my eyes but looks back down at our joined hands without saying a word. He seems hesitant to voice what's on his mind. I'm not sure if he's simply collecting his thoughts to make sure he says the exact right thing or if he isn't sure how I’ll take what he has to tell me. So, I simply wait until he's ready to speak.

  “What Lucas said at breakfast made me think,” he finally tells me. “Anna, you're not like any other woman I've ever had in my life. The way I feel about you goes beyond the physical attraction we feel for one another. The connection between us makes me feel alive for the first time in...well...more years than I care to remember. And I don't want to screw this up. I love
you, and I think you deserve to be treated differently from the other women I've had in my life up to this point. I've never had a problem satisfying a woman sexually...”

  “Good to know,” I chime in, smiling happily at him.

  Malcolm grins but shakes his head. “I'm not saying that as a boast. It's just the truth. My point is...I know I can satisfy you physically, of that I have no doubt.”

  “Me either.”

  “Anna...,” Malcolm says with a half groan. “Please let me finish.”

  “I'm sorry. Please go on.”

  “I don't want our relationship to be built on sex alone. Last night in our dream world, you said you wanted to become my best friend. Well, I want that too. In order for that to happen, I think you deserve to know as much about me as you can. Or, at least as much as I can show you. I don't want there to be any secrets between us. I don't want you to feel like you ever have to keep anything from me to spare my feelings. You and Lucas mean everything in this world to me, and you both deserve to have all I have to offer.”

  Malcolm takes in a deep, shuddering breath, and I know the next few words will be hard for him to say.

  “I think for the first time in my life I want to do everything right. I don't want to rush what we have growing between us, and I think every moment we spend together strengthens our bond. Plus, I want to be a better role model for Lucas than I was to my first son.”

  “Your first son?” I ask. “Where is he?”

  “He passed away a long time ago,” Malcolm says, pain over the loss entering his eyes making me wish I hadn't asked the question.

  “I think you're a wonderful role model for Lucas,” I tell him, squeezing his hands with mine to emphasize how much I believe in my words. “I don't think he could have asked for a better father than you. I see the love you have for him, and I think it's one of the most beautiful things about you.”

  “I could be a better father,” Malcolm says confidently. “And I hope to do that by showing him how a man should treat a woman once you give her your heart. I want to erase the way he saw me treat you back in Lakewood because I never want him to act that way towards someone he loves and plans to spend the rest of his life with.”

  I have a bad feeling I know where this conversation is going.

  “You're going to make me wait, aren't you?” I ask, secretly hoping he says 'no', but already knowing he will say...

  “Yes. I want to court you Anna Greco, and...I can't believe I'm about to say this to you...but I want us to wait until we're married before we make love. I don't want to have any regrets later on and think that I should have handled things better. I want to do things right the first time. I want to treat you with the level of respect I think you deserve. You're not just some woman I want to have sex with, Anna. You're the love of my life, and you are not someone I ever want to take for granted. You deserve the best of me, and that’s exactly what I plan to give you.”

  “So…does this mean I’ll have to kill Levi first?” I ask, knowing that will probably be far in the future, at least as long as he keeps my father prisoner.

  “Do you remember what I said to you in Cirrus about what constitutes a real marriage?” Malcolm asks.

  I think back to that particular conversation.

  “Yes. You said a real marriage was one of the heart.”

  “And did you give your heart to Levi the day you got married?”

  “Absolutely not,” I say, shivering in disgust just at the mere thought of such a thing.

  “Then you're not really married to him,” Malcolm tells me. “Having a marriage certificate means nothing, Anna. When we marry, I plan to make my vows to you in front of my father. He's the only one who can truly make us one.”

  “And how long will you make me wait for this wedding and wedding night to take place?”

  “Well...I haven't even properly proposed yet...”

  “The answer is yes!”

  Malcolm chuckles. “I do appreciate your enthusiasm, but that was not a proposal of marriage, Anna. Let me do this right for you, for us. I don't want either of us to ever regret not enjoying this time together. When we do make love, I want that moment to be engraved into your memory for the rest of your life as being one of the happiest.”

  I love the fact that Malcolm wants to treat me differently from the other women he's known during his many years on Earth, but I also know myself pretty well. If I didn't still have the poison in my system, he would be hard pressed to keep me off of him.

  “All I ask,” I tell him, “is that you not make me wait too long. Like I told you earlier, patience isn't a virtue that I possess, and I've wanted to make love to you since the very first night we met.”

  “Have you now?” Malcolm says, grinning at me with a pleased look on his face at this revelation. “Well, I didn't know my charms swept you off your feet so quickly.”

  “The moment I saw you, Malcolm,” I confess.

  Malcolm brings me into his arms and kisses the side of my neck.

  “I promise,” he whispers in my ear, his warm breath tickling it, “that I will make the wait worth it for you, Anna.”

  I sigh and close my eyes praying that I survive Malcolm's courtship of me with my sanity intact, but I highly suspect it will bring me to the brink of insanity instead.

  “So what are we going to do in your bed all day?” I ask him as he pulls away from me.

  “I want to show you my life, at least the important parts. Like I said, I want you to know everything about me. I don’t want to hide anything from you. Let me take you back to our dream world so I can show you who I was, who I am, and who I hope to be one day.”

  “I would love that, Malcolm,” I tell him, feeling like he’s truly opening up to me in a way he probably never has to anyone else, not even Lilly.

  “Since we’re being so truthful with one another,” I tell him. “I have a confession to make.”

  “Confession?” Malcolm asks, looking completely intrigued by my turn of words.

  “I read the letter you wrote to me,” I say, turning my head and nodding towards the nightstand on his side of the bed. “I didn’t know what it was at first, and I almost put it back. Then, when I saw that it was addressed to me, I had to read it. I’m sorry for invading your privacy like that.”

  Malcolm tightens his hands around mine lightly.

  “I’m glad you read it,” he tells me. “I’m glad you know how I felt when I first saw you. And that’s a moment in my life I want to share with you too.”

  “Then take me,” I tell him. “Show me everything.”

  Malcolm and I lie down on his bed. I rest my head against his chest and listen to the steady beats of his heart as I prepare myself to take a walk through Malcolm’s memories.

  Chapter 16

  The sun shines brightly in the sky overhead. I have to lift a hand to shade my eyes from its reflective glimmer off the white, sandy earth at our feet. I wasn’t disoriented at all by our location on the dune. In fact, I knew exactly where we were, even though the sand was covered with snow the last time I saw it.

  “This is where we met Levi to make the trade,” I say, looking over at Malcolm.

  “This place, especially this particular spot, is holy to us Watchers,” Malcolm tells me, taking hold of my free hand in our dream world. “It’s where we first came to Earth in the human forms we chose. We all arrived here eager to help humanity progress further in their advancements with our added knowledge. Before we came down, we spent a great deal of time observing human behavior.”

  “Why did you watch them before you came to Earth?”

  “Mostly, we wanted to learn which disciplines needed the most help in order to push humanity further along in its evolution,” Malcolm tells me. “All of us had our own specialties. Mine was architecture. I wanted to start this journey with you here because this is where my Earthly life began, and I felt like you should see the moment of our arrival.”

  Malcolm looks out onto the vast expanse of de
sert in front of us, and I follow his gaze and watch as the first moment of his life on Earth unfolds.

  As one, a group of Watchers appear before us. They’re all dressed in black feather cloaks, black leather pants and matching boots with silver buckles on the sides. As I scan their faces, I notice a trend among the Watchers. They’re all handsome and seem to exude a certain self-confidence that makes them even more attractive. Malcolm from the past is standing in the front row of the group and, to my eyes at least, stands out from the crowd.

  “I love the outfits,” I tell him, ogling Malcolm’s memory of himself with an appreciative eye. “Do you still have yours?”

  “Yes,” Malcolm says, looking over at me with a smile on his handsome face. “Why do you ask?”

  “Because I definitely want you to wear it for me one day,” I say.

  Malcolm chuckles.

  “Your wish is my command,” he tells me.

  “How many of you were there in the beginning?”

  “Two-hundred of us came to Earth.”

  Suddenly one of the Watchers phases in beside us. I recognize him as Mason, Jess’ husband and leader of the Watchers before Malcolm was given the responsibility.

  “Brothers,” Mason says to the crowd of angels in front of him. “Today is the day we have all been preparing for. We’ve been sent here by our father to help the humans progress further than they have so far, but remember, we are only meant to help them in their technological and cultural advancements. Be an inspiration to them, but don’t try to take them forward before they’re ready. We are their guides to the wonders our father has in store for them, and that is all we are meant to be. Now, go to the places you have chosen to spend your time and may God bless the work you are about to do.”

  As quickly as they came, the Watchers vanish.

  “Where did you choose to go?” I ask Malcolm.

  The scenery changes and I find us standing on a small, grassy knoll now instead of the dune. I notice a group of twenty men tugging on thick ropes wrapped around a large rectangular slab of stone. They grunt as they use their combined strength to pull the stone up the small hill towards a deep hole dug into the summit. I see Malcolm and some other men urging the laborers on to keep pulling the stone up towards the hole.