by Deena Remiel
“Are we ready?” Michael asked quietly.
“Yes,” Emma and Hannah answered together with eagerness.
“Then, let’s hold hands, and focus our combined energy on bringing life back to the dead and restoring the towns to their original glory.”
The Trinity’s aura burst through their fingertips and eyes, and fanned out towards the battlefield below. Michael felt as though they were the sun, sending rays of light and hope over the land. He had them stand this way until their aura faded completely, knowing that all that could be done was done. Gazing out, he blinked a few times to make sure what he saw was true.
Lampposts that had been uprooted and twisted like shoelaces were now casting a warm glow over the towns’ streets. Buildings that had been demolished were back to their normal state. Roads that had been pocked with craters from fireballs spewed by some demon of darkness were smoothly paved. Cars and trucks that had become charred skeletons sat pristine in their parking spaces. But the people, where were the people?
“Michael, where are the people?” Emma asked in a hushed whisper.
“I don’t know,” he replied, puzzled.
“I do.” They both stared at Hannah. Michael was surprised to see a smile on her face.
“Where are they, angel?” Emma asked softly as she touched her cheek.
“They’re home, sleeping. It’s the middle of the night! What would people think if they found themselves walking around the streets in the middle of the night?” Hannah reasoned. She raised her fists in triumph. “We did it! We really did it!”
“We sure did, Hannah. We sure did!” Michael picked her up and swung her around. “Hey, what’s the matter, honey? Just a second ago you were cheering. Now you look all sad.”
“It’s time to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye? Goodbye to whom?”
“Goodbye to the Ancient Warrior soul. It’s time for it to go.”
“I thought you’d be happy to be little Hannah all the time again, sweetie.”
“Oh, I will be. It’s just that, well, it’s been with me for a while now and I kinda got used to having it around.”
“Well, maybe you’ll come across it again when you’re older,” Michael suggested. “You never know.”
“Can you guys leave me alone for a couple of minutes while I say goodbye?” she asked.
Michael and Emma looked at each other and with silent agreement, Emma replied, “Sure, we’ll be over by the altar. Let us know when you’re ready to leave.”
Hannah sat on the ground and closed her eyes. Immediately she felt the hands of the Ancient Warrior soul on her shoulders. She opened her eyes and turned to find the angel, luminous as ever.
“I must go,” it proclaimed. “My duty here is done.”
“I know. I’m going to miss you.”
“Oh, I was a nuisance most of the time.”
“No you weren’t! You protected me, fought for me, and gave me courage when I didn’t have any!” She paused and reached out to the Ancient Warrior as she smiled. “There are big things ahead for me, you know. Will I ever see you again? Will you be there for the big things?” Hannah asked hopefully.
“Yes, my warrior, I will be there for the big things. I shall always look out for you. But I shall be there to watch from the sidelines as you come into your own.” With a breath of a kiss on each cheek and a wave, the Ancient Warrior soul faded from sight.
Hannah stood, feeling empty yet at peace. “Mama!” she hollered.
Emma ran over to her. “What is it, honey?” she asked nervously.
“I’m back, Mama, for good!” And she jumped into her mother’s arms, giving her the biggest squeeze.
“I’m so glad, my baby, so glad!” Emma choked through the tears and sobs. “Let’s go home then. It’s been a very long and busy day for you, and way past your bedtime.”
“Aw, Mama! But I’m not tired! Really!” Hannah argued jokingly.
“I’ve got two seats available for transport over to the Livingston residence,” Michael announced. “Do I have any takers?”
“Me!” Emma cried out.
“Me, too!” Hannah added, raising her hand.
“Well then, climb aboard!” Michael opened his arms and they both ran to him. “Angel Airways, ready for takeoff!”
Hannah looked out at all the in-between places as they flew home. Emma had eyes only for Michael.
***
With Hannah finally tucked into bed, lights off, Emma and Michael found themselves alone. With a quick glance and a nervous smile at Michael, Emma walked back into the kitchen, and began cleaning away all the pizza boxes and cans of soda left on the table. Shame, guilt, and doubt had wormed their way back into her mind since returning from the mesa. She’d behaved like an ass. She’d been so afraid to trust, yet wound up being the untrustworthy one in all of this. She wouldn’t be surprised if he had second thoughts and called it quits right here and now. But she’d be damned if she let him see her cry over it. She’d wait for him to leave.
Michael had followed her in, and as she reached for yet another empty box, he took her trembling hand. She froze and closed her eyes. I can do this. I can keep it together. She willed herself not to breakdown.
“Emma, cleanup can wait,” he reproved. “Come here, love.” He coaxed her into his arms. “Let me hold you. You’ve been through quite an ordeal that, quite frankly, could break even the strongest of us immortals.” He held her good and strong. “It destroyed me, you know, seeing you in that pit, thinking I’d lost you forever.” She felt his lips press against the top of her head.
His touch was so good and right and perfect. And I’m totally undeserving of his words and attention. “None of it would have happened if I’d just followed the plan,” she rebuked. “But I wavered and let everybody down. I don’t know. Something came over me, a compulsion, to go it alone. I thought I could pit one evil against the other and they’d cancel each other out. It almost worked, too. But at the end of the day, no matter how I look at it, it’s still my fault, Michael, and mine alone. My impetuousness is the reason I suffered and nearly died, and put you and Hannah through hell, literally, to save me. I’ll bear that black mark for the rest of, well, eternity it seems.” Angry, remorseful tears trailed silently down her cheek.
“We all have crosses of some kind to bear, love,” he admitted, stroking her hair gently and kissing her temple. “It’s what keeps us grounded. You did what you thought was right at the time for the sake of your daughter. No one is holding that against you. No one.”
He didn’t say we’re finished, did he? I didn’t hear him say we’re through. “You’re not mad? You’re not leaving, then?”
“Oh, I’m fuming that you put yourself in the hands of the Devil himself. But I understand. I would have done the same thing, truth be told.” He held her away from him. “And no, I have no plans on leaving you, ever.” She looked up into his eyes—eyes that forgave and told her she had nothing to fear ever again. “Do you remember it at all, Emma, the torture you had to endure?”
“I remember the hounds. I remember their eyes, their teeth, and their viciousness. But I don’t remember the pain or the fear they inflicted,” she affirmed. “That’s what you and Hannah released from me. I will always remember the hounds, and their capabilities, but I will never feel the paralyzing fear ever again. It may serve me well in years to come, I should think.”
“I know I promised you I’d make love to you for weeks upon weeks, but with Hannah around, reality has set in rather sharply. Would you settle for hour upon hour?”
“From now until forever is all I’m settling for, with some breaks in between for eating and working and taking care of Hannah, oh and—” Emma’s next words were smothered by what she thought was the most flaming kiss ever recorded in the history books.
“I can live with that,” Michael interrupted, lifting her off the ground as he plundered her mouth yet again with his.
Emma basked in the glory of Michael’s attentions.
Forgiven, accepted, and loved were more than she could have hoped for. Having her body worshipped by an angel sent her over the edge into pure bliss. Before they even reached the bed, Michael had peeled away her clothes as well as his. He unleashed wings that shimmered enticingly in the natural glow of the moonlight streaming through the window. Emma reveled in the splendor of their bodies touching, gliding, and moving in rhythmic harmony. His hands roamed all over her body, touching those places that had set her on fire before, and then found new ones to ignite. Emma’s hands, in turn, kneaded the muscles that had pulled her from the brink of death, stroked the wings that flew her to freedom, and journeyed across the expansive landscape of Michael’s body. He had teased her with his tongue, and she now teased him with her lips.
“Michael,” Emma whispered, frantic with a desire that would not be extinguished. “I need you inside me, now!”
“God, yes! Right—now—”
She gasped as he sought and found the shelter of her waiting love.
They came together in a fevered pitch of lust and love and unrestrained emotion. After, totally spent by their ardent lovemaking, Emma clung to Michael in her drowsy state as though afraid he would disappear.
“God, I want you all over again, my immortal lady. In truth, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to harness the passion and ecstasy you bring about in me. So be it.” He caressed her cheek with his thumb.
“Say you’ll marry me, Emma,” Michael whispered into her hair.
Emma’s grip unintentionally tightened. She leaned up onto his chest. “You know, forever is a long time when you’re talking about marriage. Are you sure you can endure forever with me, Michael?”
He laid his hands gently upon her face and professed, “I’m sure I can’t endure it without you.” He kissed her so sweet and tender, it brought tears to her eyes.
“I’ll marry you, Michael, now, forever, and always.”
Epilogue
“Okay now, push! Push! Real hard, Emma! That’s a girl!” Michael was yelling, sweat pouring down his face. Emma was huffing and puffing and pushing like crazy, her face turning beet red.
“Blow it out your ears, Michael! You want it so badly, you push! Ahhh!” Emma cried out. “In fact, why don’t you take over for me right now? Ohhh! If I’d known you could do this to me, you jerk, why I’d, oohh! Look at you, standing there, feeling no pain, you bastard! Ahhh!”
“One more time, honey, push real hard! Push for your scheming, low-down, son of a bitch husband! Push!” Michael yelled, taking no offense at the thrashing he was getting from the woman giving birth to his first child.
“That’s it, Emma, Michael. You have a beautiful baby girl!” The doctor proclaimed. A wail beyond all wails erupted from her tiny mouth.
“And she’s got a great set of lungs on her, too!” Michael boasted. With trembling hands, he cut the cord.
The doctor brought the baby to Emma after cleaning her up and checking her vitals, and placed her in her arms. Emma looked at Michael and then upon her baby, and brought her to feed upon her breast. She counted out loud ten fingers and ten toes. She closed her eyes for a moment and then they suddenly opened wide like saucers.
“Oh! Ready for number two, everyone, ‘cause I am!” Emma cried out. “Ohhh! Oh, dear God help me!”
The doctor rushed over and moved the nurse aside to take a look. "Here we go, baby number two.”
“Push, Emma! I promise this one will be quick!”
“Ohhh!” Emma bore down and as she took a deep cleansing breath, she heard the wail, as strong as the first, come from her daughter’s twin. Again, Michael cut the cord, the baby was cleansed, and vitals checked.
“A boy!” Michael announced, and brought him over for her to hold and check over. “Ten fingers, ten toes, just like your sister. Perfect!” she gushed, kissing his cheek and putting him to her breast.
Michael bent over Emma to plant a kiss on her forehead, but she looked up and he connected with her full on the mouth. He wasn’t one to shy away from her lips, so he lingered, drowning in the succulence that was his wife and now mother to his children.
“You know,” she said nuzzling his chin, “I didn’t really mean any of those nasty things I said, really.”
“I know you didn’t. Remember, I’m to forgive you for your scathing tongue,” he cajoled. “If there ever was a time that called for it, I’d say this was it.”
“Would you get our daughter, please, and then get our newly crowned big sister in here? I’m dying to have our family all around me.”
“Sure thing, love.” Michael brought their baby daughter to rest in her other arm, and then went to the hall to get Hannah.
The hallway was filled with anxious faces and frayed nerves. Ending the suspense, he announced, “It’s a girl! And a boy!”
Whoops and hollers filled the air. Michael was swarmed with hearty pats on the back and handshakes from the Brethren. All the while, he looked around for Hannah. She was a bit of a thing and was easily lost amongst them.
“Hannah? Where are you?” he called out.
“Over here, Daddy!” she yelled from on top of a chair a few doors down. God, how he loved that she’d started calling him that!
“Would you mind passing my daughter over to me, please? She has a sister and brother to meet!” he shouted to the crowd.
Hannah was passed through a sea of Brethren arms until she eventually came to rest in his. “Come on, big sister. Time to meet your new baby sister and brother.”
***
As the tumult and fussing finally died down, and all of the doctors and nurses left for a while, Emma and Michael were alone with their children. With the babies in Emma’s arms, Hannah next to her on the bed, and him standing by his wife’s side, he felt complete.
“Let’s welcome our babies, Blessing and Asher, to our family,” he suggested.
In an embrace that spoke volumes, they welcomed the babies. The Trinity’s aura began to glow and grow, encompassing not only the Trinity, but now the babies as well.
“I can’t wait to show you what wonders await you, my children,” Michael murmured.
“Welcome to our family, little ones,” Hannah cooed.
Emma softly whispered, “Welcome to Eternity, my angels.”
Michael returned Blessing and Asher to their bassinets, and then escorted Hannah out of the room to Kemuel’s waiting arms. He would be taking her back home and playing nanny for a while. Back inside Emma’s room, Michael walked over to the babies who were nestled snuggly in their bassinets sleeping like the little angels they were. In fact, Michael could already see their individual auras glowing.
He then tiptoed towards Emma’s bed and stopped. Emma’s eyes were closed and her skin was still dewy and blushed from her exertions. It was then he decided he’d never seen her look more beautiful, and was overcome by the devastating love he felt for her.
Emma stirred and caught him staring. She covered her face with her hands. “Ugh! Don’t look at me that way, I’m a mess! I’m all sweaty and gross, you silly man!”
He closed the distance between them in two strides, gently removed her hands and settled his own around her face. “You’re the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes upon, and you’re glowing. Like our babies. They are truly a blessing,” he stammered, choked with emotion.
“As are you, my angel.” Emma turned her face to kiss both palms. “You answered my prayer and forever changed my life, our lives. Any regrets?”
“Only that eternity won’t be enough time to show how much I love you.”
“Well, that settles it then,” Emma proclaimed with a playful glimmer in her eye. “We’ll just have to make eternity last forever.”
***
~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
It was the mystique of Arizona’s history and landscape that called to Deena and catapulted her career as an author. When she’s not writing novels and poetry in the wee, small hours of the morning or in the deep, dark of night, Deena teaches language arts to
middle school students. She currently lives in Gilbert with her husband and two children, but New Jersey will always tug at the heartstrings.
Visit Deena’s website at: http://www.deenaremiel.com
Book Two of the Brethren Series
Decadent Publishing
http://www.decadentpublishing.com
