Revelation (The Guardian Series Book 3)

by A. J. Messenger

  “I thought I was supposed to help you study for your physics exam?” he asks.

  “We can study after.”

  “Let’s study first. I’m not hungry yet.”

  I shrug and reach for my backpack on the floor to pull out my physics textbook. “Okay,” I say, “apparently I can’t argue with you since I’m past the seven month marker.”

  He laughs and I open the book between us so we can get to work.

  Two hours later, both of us now firmly in the hungry column, Finn calls Liz while I walk to the large, front picture window in his living room to pull aside the curtains and look outside to see if the sun has come out yet. My shoulders slump when I see that it’s still cloudy and overcast. As I let the curtains fall back into place something catches my eye. I push the curtains aside again and I immediately feel faint and grab the window frame for support.

  There, on the same corner that Avestan stood when Zeno was lying in the street, stands Alenna, watching me with an intensity that makes my legs feel as if they’re buckling beneath me.

  I quickly let the curtain fall closed and step to the side, away from the window.

  But almost immediately I stop and think what am I doing? Hiding like this? I step back to the window and pull the curtain open again and stare at Alenna with as much intensity as she’s directing at me. I can feel her energy, even from this far away, and my insides are quivering with fear, but I stand strong and give it right back, as best I can. I refuse to let her know I’m afraid. After a few minutes she turns and walks away and I breathe a heaving sigh of relief.

  I can’t help feeling that it’s just as Alexander and Edwin predicted.

  The dark guardians are closing in, before the baby is born.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I’m more worried than before,” I say as I lie in Alexander’s arms in his room. My head is on his bare chest and the steady metronome of his heartbeat plays in my ear as I trace the contours of his ab muscles with my fingers.

  “I know,” he says as he strokes my hair and bends to kiss the top of my head. “But I won’t let anything happen to you. Or our baby.”

  “Is Avestan in San Mar now, too?” I ask, lifting my head to meet his eyes.

  “No one’s seen him yet.” He slides down, resting his elbow on the bed and his head in his hand, until we’re on our sides, face to face. “It’s going to be okay,” he says, looking straight into my eyes. He glides his hand along the contours of my hip and then slides it forward to caress my very large baby bump. “Everyone is focused on protecting this baby, most of all me.” He leans down and kisses my stomach, his lips soft and warm on my skin.

  I nod. I keep bringing it up and I know I need to let it go. Worrying never solved anything. I’ve been extra cautious and Alexander has been practically at my side every minute. The other guardians are also doing all they can. I need to trust that there’s nothing else to be done for now and focus on school and our fast-approaching wedding and the imminent arrival of our baby.

  I also need to remind myself that I’m not helpless. I have power, too. Even if I feel like cowering in a closet most days.

  “Are you still attracted to me?” I ask. “Like this?” I look down at my large belly between us as we lay on our sides.

  “Do you really question that after the fun we just had, not an hour ago?”

  I smile. “Was that making love or hot sex?”

  “First time making love,” he laughs, “second time the latter. Would you agree?”

  “Yes,” I say, still smiling from ear to ear.

  “Declan,” he says, looking into my eyes, “you’re more beautiful to me every day that we’re together. And the fact that you’re carrying our baby inside you only makes you more so. I’d ravage you 24/7 if I wasn’t worried about tiring you out or hurting the baby.”

  I smile and push his arm. “It doesn’t hurt the baby. And I’m not tired.”

  “In that case, come here,” he says with a laugh, pulling me close for a kiss.

  “Wow,” I say, “this isn’t like you.”

  “I strongly beg to differ.”

  “No,” I laugh, “I mean it isn’t like you to not have a plan, building up to a big occasion like our wedding night.”

  “I do have a plan: to make love with you as often as possible.”

  I push his arm. “I mean a plan like holding off for a while, leading up to our wedding night. You know, the whole anticipation thing.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  “Truthfully?” I say, “No. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the way you elevate anticipation to an art form—it’s like, masterful, really.”

  He laughs.

  “But right now,” I continue, “when I’m feeling so big and I hardly recognize my body sometimes, it makes me feel good that you still desire me so much. In that way. Not to mention the fact that I enjoy making love with you.”

  “As do I,” he says with a smile, “as you well know.” He leans over and kisses me softly and his expression shifts to gentle sincerity. “I considered suggesting we hold off for a while leading up to our wedding, but the simple truth is, I love you. And I want you. And I desire you. All the time. Expressing it in this way is the most natural thing in the world, and what you and I have is so rare, and extraordinary.” He pauses and cups my cheek in his hand, holding my gaze. “Declan, I want to talk with you, kiss you, make love to you, and be with you as much as we can. I want to make the most of every minute we have together, and I want to etch these days and all these moments leading up to our wedding and the birth of our baby in my mind for eternity.”

  My eyes get teary as I lean over to kiss his lips. “Me, too,” I say softly. “I couldn’t love you more.”

  He kisses me back and pulls me into his arms. “Are you ready to feel intensely good again?” he murmurs as he kisses along my neck.

  I laugh. “Are you?”

  He smiles. “Always,” he murmurs as he kisses me again. “Let me show you how much I love you and how good you always make me feel.”

  And then he shows me, slowly, one more time, how much he means it, in every sense.

  Much later, as we drift off to sleep, I think back on what Alexander said, playing his words over and over in my mind, making me smile: I want to make the most of every minute we have together … I want to etch these moments leading up to our wedding and the birth of our baby in my mind for eternity.

  But something prickles at the edges of my thoughts, leading to a sudden shift in my interpretation as I slide into sleep.

  Is he savoring our time now because of what he plans to do after the baby is born?

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “I can’t believe it’s only two days until your upcoming nuptials,” Liz says as we sit in our usual spot on the deck at A-plus Coffee.

  “Upcoming nuptials?”

  “I’m tired of saying wedding all the time, thought I’d change it up,” she says. “Too weird?”

  “Not so much weird as formal, like you’re an old English aunt in a nineteenth century novel.”

  “That makes me like it more.”

  I smile. “Call it whatever you like as long as you’re there. Your parents are still coming, too, right?”

  “We’re coming together with Finn and his parents—the Warners and the Coopers, one big crazy clan,” she says dryly. “By the way, I should warn you that my mom is giving you a wedding present. I have no idea what it is but it’s in a frighteningly ginormous box. The good news is, Finn and I got you something normal that will hopefully counteract whatever craziness you find when you unwrap that thing.”

  I laugh. “Is it wrong that I’m seriously intrigued and looking forward to opening it?”

  “More misguided than wrong.”

  “I hope it fits in our new place, whatever it is.”

  “Again, seriously misguided,” she says. “When do you move into the guesthouse?”

  “On our wedding night. Alexander’s been getting it rea
dy. I haven’t even been inside since Travis moved out. Alexander says he’s fixing it up for us. But he’s just getting the basics in place. We’re going to decorate it together after we move in.”

  “I already talked with him about holding the baby shower there,” she says with a nod. “But I don’t understand why you wanted me to wait until after the wedding to throw you a shower. And why no wedding shower? You’re kind of being a party poop, I have to say.”

  I laugh. “Our wedding is so small, it just seemed silly. And I thought I’d be more relaxed afterwards for the baby shower. Plus, it’ll be closer to the baby’s due date.”

  She raises her eyebrows. “You’re cutting it a little closer, sister.”

  “Edwin already bought us a crib and all the essentials,” I say. “Alexander has that all set up, just in case. The baby shower can be for all the fun stuff like tiny little baby clothes and baby blankets and other adorable baby stuff I can’t think of right now because I have pregnancy brain.”

  She smiles. “I guess I’ll tell Finn to take back all those boring cases of diapers he bought for you at Costco.”

  “No,” I wail with a laugh, “I’ll need those.”

  “Well how are we supposed to get you adorable little baby clothes if we don’t know what the sex of the baby is yet?” she asks. “And do you realize I’m dying of curiosity? You’re killing me here.”

  I smile. “My profuse apologies for killing you by not finding out the sex of my baby, so I can be surprised. Think of it as payback for all those sex jokes about my mom and Chief Stephens.”

  She laughs. “All I’m saying is, I’d be waaay too curious to wait until the end. But I reluctantly respect your ridiculously impractical restraint,” she says, reaching over to give me a fist bump.

  “Very funny.”

  “And you’re still not planning on going on a honeymoon?” she asks.

  “We can’t,” I say, “not now, anyway. Not with school. And it’s not like I can travel anywhere far in my condition, anyway. But over the summer we plan to go to Australia.” I can’t tell her that we’ll be flying by light to anywhere we want. Alexander and I put together a list of places we want to go together.

  “Good, because without a honeymoon, what’s the point of getting married?” she says. “By the way, I predict that soon after your wedding there’ll be another one.”

  “What?” My heart leaps in my chest. “You and Finn are getting married?”

  She laughs. “Good God, no. I told Finn I don’t think I ever want to get married and he says he’s fine with that. He told me that getting married forces some people to stay together longer than they should and every day that we stay together, without being married, is a day that we chose each other, and that means more to him than a government-issued certificate that’s difficult and costly to undo.”

  I smile. “That’s both shockingly cynical and also very sweet.”

  “He has a way of doing that,” she says. “As you know. And I actually agree with him. Not that I’m knocking marriage for other people, like you and Alexander. That’s just me being me.”

  I smile. “Well, someday Finn’s probably going to ask you,” I say. “It’s orderly—it’s in his nature.”

  “And I’ll answer when and if that happens. But I told him I don’t want to get married until I’m settled in my career. Not before thirty at least.”

  “I thought you just said you told him you don’t want to get married at all?”

  “I’ve told him a few things …” she says, “it changes. It’ll probably take him ten years to put together a mental spreadsheet to analyze all the factors to consider before marriage anyway.”

  I laugh. “Well if you’re not the ones who are getting married then who are you predicting a wedding for?”

  “Who do you think? The object of all my good jokes: your mom and Chief Stephens.”

  “What? What makes you say that?”

  “You’re moving out of the house … the chief of police probably moves in—‘for protection’ they’ll say—and before you know it, bam … a tasteful wedding at a winery or something. You know how it works with old people.”

  I laugh. “You know what? I actually hope you’re right, but I don’t think my mom is anywhere near ready for that big of a step. I don’t even know if she’s slept with him yet.”

  Liz places both of her hands on my shoulders. “Oh my God, you sad little naïve girl,” she says slowly, shaking her head. “Yes, I know it’s hard to accept, but your mom is having sex. With a man. Possibly right now. And it could involve handcuffs.”

  I laugh so hard I spit out my tea. “Stop it,” I say. “You’re killing me. I don’t want that in my mind. And by the way, that is so far out of character for both of them, it’s crazy.”

  “I know. Exactly. That’s what makes it so funny.”

  I smile and shake my head. “The last time you said they were having sex they weren’t, so I think I can read what’s going on a little better than you on this.”

  She raises an eyebrow, accepting my challenge. “Well I hate to burn another image into your hard drive but the other day when I rapped on your door looking for you, your mom answered, in the middle of the day, looking quite disheveled yet paradoxically happy. Oh, and Chief Stephens’ squad car was in the driveway. Now I don’t know how you read those facts, but I read them as a little Afternoon Delight. And I’m not talking about the song from the seventies that my mother used to play incessantly.”

  We’re both laughing now, hard.

  “You’re under arrest, Judy Jane,” Liz says in her best deep-voiced impersonation of Chief Stephens, “for being too sexy under the law.”

  I can’t stop laughing.

  “… and I can assure you that’s not a nightsti—”

  “Stop,” I plead, holding up my hand and holding onto my stomach at the same time, as we fall into another round of paroxysms. “You’re going to make me go into labor.” Picturing Chief Stephens saying those ridiculous things to my mom … and Liz’s voice impersonation … it’s all too much. I think I’m going to pee my pants.

  Each time our laughter dies down we look into each other’s eyes and start giggling all over again. Finally, somehow, we manage to calm for good and we’re left smiling in the afterglow.

  “God, that was funny,” Liz says, taking a deep, cleansing breath. “Something about picturing your mom slays me … good ol’ Judy Jane.” She chuckles again and we both smile and sigh together, still catching our breath.

  “I hate to be a buzzkill after all that,” she says, “but I need to tell you something. Do you remember that creepy guy who came into Jack’s a long time ago and told me to tell you hello? The one who used to go out with Molly Bing? And who you told me later was mean to Charlie?”

  Any remaining laughter dies in my chest. “Yes,” I say as horrible dread washes over me at what she’s going to say next.

  “You told me if he ever came by again to let you know, so I’m letting you know. He didn’t say anything bad or anything like that, but he came into Jack’s and said to tell you congratulations on the wedding.”

  “You talked to him?” I can’t hide the alarm in my voice—not only at the fact that Avestan was here in San Mar, but that he approached Liz again.

  “I had to. He walked up and ordered a hamburger. What was I supposed to do?”

  “Did he say anything else?”

  “No, Jack came to the front and told me he’d finish taking his order because it was time for my break. Creepy guy changed his mind and left.”

  I nod, dazed.

  “But oh yeah,” she says, “I forgot, I guess he did say one other thing … but it seemed harmless. He also said to tell you he has a present. For you and the baby.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I sit, still dazed, after Liz had to leave to go to class. There’s no point in calling Alexander. I have a class in ten minutes and afterwards I’m meeting him at his house. I can fill him in then on the news that Av
estan is here, for sure now, and he’s delivering threats through Liz.

  I walk to class and manage to sit through a long lecture and discussion afterwards without retaining virtually anything. I look down at my notebook when class ends and see that I’ve been taking notes all along. Thank God the note-taking portion of my brain can apparently work on autopilot while the rest of my brain stews endlessly over comments made by dark angels.

  When I reach the parking lot where I parked my mom’s car, it’s quiet. I haven’t been riding my bike to school since my stomach got bigger because it was getting harder to balance and I was worried about crashing and hurting the baby. Justin was right about my butt becoming granite over time from biking all the hills at school, though, and I like the shape I’m in because of all that conditioning early on. Over the last few months I’ve mostly shifted to walking everywhere because it feels good and I like the exercise, but Alexander has insisted I either get a ride or take his or my mom’s car for this last stretch of time leading up to our wedding and the birth of the baby. Just to be safe. I’m glad he did because I’m tired and looking forward to getting home quickly. It’s dinnertime and the sun is preparing to set.

  I press the button on my key to unlock the car and as I get close enough to open the door my heart sinks because the front, driver-side tire is completely flat. Crap. I slide my backpack off my shoulder and, as I turn back to swing it up on the hood so I can pull out my phone, I gasp aloud. Malentus is standing in front of me with his hand resting casually on the roof of the car.

  “Would you like some assistance?” he asks. His voice is smooth, like a curl of black smoke that wraps itself around you, looking for a way inside.

  “Assistance with the tire that you probably flattened yourself?” I say, trying to hide my mounting fear with anger.

  “Enough pressure, applied correctly from all sides, can produce desired results,” he says, his eyes dark and self-satisfied.

  I peer to my left and right uneasily. Where is everyone?

  “Declan,” he says, “I know you may find this hard to believe, but I don’t want to hurt you. I’m here to help you.” The way he speaks slowly, with precise articulation, reminds me of where I’ve heard this before.