Forever Angels

by Simmons, Trana Mae

  "There is too!" Tess cried, forgetting that she'd ordered the angels not to be visible to anyone else. "Put me down!"

  Stone turned toward the barn door. "Honey, it's the strain. Just rest for a while and...."

  Tess kicked her legs and batted at his shoulders. "I told you to put me down!" She glanced up to see Michael and Angela fluttering their wings and circling over her head. "Tell him," she ordered. "Tell him you're the ones who brought me here, and you're going to find out for me what's...."

  Stone shifted her and tightened his arms. "Tess, just hush now. I'll have Flower bring a cool cloth to the bedroom."

  Tess doubled her fist and hit him on the jaw. Stone's head snapped back and his eyes widened in alarm, his arms slackening in surprise. With a lurch, Tess jumped to the floor.

  "Tess," Stone said in a soothing voice, holding out a hand. "I'll help you, Tess. Darlin', it's all right."

  Tess backed away from him. "You think I've gone insane, don't you? Well, you just go in and ask Rain and Silver Eagle about the two little imps who are flying around in here." She pointed at the ceiling. "He's Michael, and she's Angela. They told Silver Eagle they were my guardian angels."

  Stone made a lunge for her and Tess whirled away. She stumbled against a hay bale, and reached down for a double handful of loose hay on the floor. When Stone took another step, she threw the hay at him. Part of it hit Stone in the face, but most of it feathered past his head toward Michael, flying just beyond Stone's shoulder. Michael threw up his hands to protect his own face too late.

  "Ah...oh, Angie...I gadda...."

  "Michael, don't!" Angela wildly fluttered her wings and flew toward him with her hands extended — too late.

  "AACHOO! AACHOO!"

  Stone made another grab for Tess, and his arms closed on empty air. He fell to his knees, his stomach landing on the hay bale and the air whooshing out of his lungs. Stunned, he lay there for a long moment, listening to the deadly silence ringing through the barn.

  Slowly Stone pushed himself to his feet and stared around.

  "Tess?" he whispered in a tortured voice. "Tess?" louder.

  "Tess!" he shouted. "Oh, God, Tess, come back. I love you!"

  A sob broke from his chest. She couldn't be gone. His stomach heaved and his shoulders shook. He couldn't make it without Tess.

  But she wasn't there. She'd disappeared as suddenly as Rain said she had appeared on the hillside. What they had feared so long had finally happened — Tess had returned to the future.

  Stabs of agony tore through his chest, and Stone doubled his arms across his stomach. His head bowed, then flew up. She had to still be here somewhere.

  He frantically looked around the barn. The pregnant mare stared back at him in silence, and Stone raced over to fling the stall door open. Only the mare occupied it.

  He ran down the row of stalls and looked in each one. He stormed over to the tack room and jerked the door open. Grabbing one saddle, then another, he slammed them aside and looked behind the crossbar he used to hold them.

  Nothing. No one.

  He swiped at his cheek, then stared down in surprise at the moisture on the back of his hand. A small whimper left his throat — then a larger one. Sinking to the floor, he laid one arm on a saddle — and his head on the arm. He choked until he almost strangled, but at last the sobs of agony broke free.

  A long ten minutes later, Stone forced himself to his feet. Still half-blinded by tears, he stumbled toward the barn door. Flower and Rain had to be told. But at the door, he leaned his head against the wood. How could he tell them?

  ***

  Chapter 37

  Michael reappeared and flew to Angela's side. "Tess is on the ledge," he said. "She looks like she's sleeping. How's Stone?"

  "Terrible," Angela told him. "He's falling to pieces. Michael, we have to do something."

  "What? We're not allowed to change things — only Mr. G can do that."

  "Then we'll go see Him!"

  "I sort of got the impression you were a little bit afraid of Him, Angie. Anyway, He might be busy. Who knows when we could get an audience with Him? And besides, I'll probably end up getting fired, after this screw up."

  "We don't know it's a screw up, Michael. We won't know until we go find out." She grabbed Michael's hand and swooped up through the barn roof. "Where did you leave the car?"

  ~~

  Tess yawned and opened her eyes. What was she doing sleeping on the ground? Had she and Stone just made...?

  Suddenly she sat up, staring around her in fear. She lay on a ledge, and beyond her stretched the mountains. A cool breeze caressed her cheeks, and a falcon floated on a wind draft nearby, wing tips adjusted to spiral him in a wide sweep.

  "No," she whispered, trying to deny the truth spread before her eyes. "No," she whimpered, then "NO!" she screamed. "I'm not going to accept this! You hear me!?"

  She scrambled to her feet, nearly losing her balance as her feet tangled in her long skirt. She still wore the dress Stone had bought her. No one could try to tell her she had only been dreaming with this evidence on her back. She spread her hand in front of her, glad to see Stone's ring on her finger.

  Shaking a fist at the sky, she yelled, "You two angels come here! Take me back to Stone!"

  "Miss Foster?"

  Tess twisted around to see a male head peering down at her. "Are you Tess?" the head asked.

  "Yes," she told him. "Help me up there."

  "Sure." He reached a hand down and Tess grabbed it, pulling herself up to the trail. "We've been looking for you all day, Miss Foster. Freddy said you never checked in up on Mt. Marcy last night."

  "Today's Sunday? August 1? 1993?"

  "Uh...yes. Look, why don't you let us take you down to the first aid station, so they can check you out." The ranger glanced toward another man Tess hadn't noticed at first. "If you don't feel like walking, Phil and I can carry you."

  "I'm not going anywhere! I'm staying right here until Michael and Angela show up!"

  "O.K. Fine," the first ranger soothed. "Look, talk to us a while. How long have you been down on that ledge? Phil and I've been up and down this trail twice already today. We didn't notice you down there." He slipped a surreptitious look at Phil, who started to move behind Tess.

  "Get the hell away from me," Tess snarled. She reached down and grabbed a dead limb, backing away to the far side of the trail. "I am not insane. And I'm not hurt. You two just go on about your business and forget you've seen me. I'm not going to be here when you get back."

  "Now, Miss Foster," Phil said. "This is our business. We've been looking for you."

  Tess threatened with the limb as she backed a few feet down the trail, where she could see up through the tree tops to the sky.

  "Where the heck did she get that dress?" Phil said in an aside to the other ranger. "What the heck's going on?"

  "You tell me," was the reply. "She's obviously in some sort of shock. We've got to get hold of her."

  "Michael! Angela!" Tess shouted. "Get your butts back here!"

  Phil moved and Tess shook the limb at him. "I swear, I'll cold cock you with this if you come any closer," she warned.

  "Miss Foster...."

  "The name's Mrs. Chisum," Tess yelled. "And I'm going home to my husband! And my kids and my dog and my horse! Michael! Angela!"

  "Go get her," Phil told his partner.

  "Me? You're the senior ranger here."

  "Yeah, and you're in training to learn how to do things. Now go get that woman so we can take her down for treatment."

  "Huh uh. Not me."

  Phil blew out a breath and inched forward. Tess swung the limb as though batting at a ball, then clenched it in front of her.

  "Michael! Angela!" She threw her head back, her lungs straining as she took a deep breath to yell again.

  A huge red, white and black pepper box appeared in the air, and Tess dropped the limb from suddenly nerveless hands. Her breath came out in a sigh of hope, and she stretched
upward, toward the two little figures on the cloud that appeared below the pepper can.

  "AACHOO!" Michael blew out.

  Tess vanished, and both the rangers stood gaping at the empty air left behind when the cloud disappeared and the pepper box disintegrated, showering the ground below with black specks.

  Phil rubbed the heels of his hands over his eyes, then dropped his arms. "Uh...say? Have you seen anyone up here with us?"

  "Not me," his partner denied. "I haven't seen a thing. Guess we better start looking for that Foster woman again."

  "Yeah, they told us the woman's name was that, not Chisum, didn't they?"

  "Chisum? Never heard that name before."

  Phil walked over and nudged the mound of black specks.

  "Careful," his partner warned. "You stir that stuff up and sneeze, hard to tell what will happen."

  Phil jumped back. "Let's get out of here."

  "Right."

  ~~

  Stone sat at the kitchen table, staring at the picture he had taken of Tess. It was a little crumpled by now — and finger-spotted. Still, the picture had caught her very essence — green eyes smiling teasingly at him and that glorious hair sun lit by the rays from the window.

  Flower and Rain had finally gone to bed, after trying for hours to assure their father that Tess would come back. Neither of them had even wavered in their belief. Rain, especially, had almost angered Stone with his nonchalantness over Tess's disappearance, saying something about someone named Michael and Angela, who would take care of it.

  "Oh, for the faith of children," Stone whispered with a shake of his head. He hadn't bothered to question Rain, even though he remembered Tess shouting those same two names in the barn. His pain was much too fresh to discuss it with anyone. He almost felt as though Tess had died, and that it would take time to heal him to the place where he could even speak her name again.

  The door opened, and Stone's head jerked around. But it was only Silver Eagle. The Shaman crossed to the stove and poured a cup of coffee, then lifted an eyebrow in question as he gestured the pot at Stone.

  "Yeah, go ahead and pour me a cup," Stone said. "I'm not gonna get any sleep tonight anyway."

  Silver Eagle carried the coffee over and gave Stone his cup, then glanced at the wood box beside the stove and moved back a few paces.

  "Sit down," Stone offered.

  Silver Eagle shook his head. "Do you wish to talk?" he asked Stone.

  "I don't know." Stone shifted to sit across the table bench and took a sip of his coffee. "You weren't there. You didn't see her just disappear into thin air. We didn't even have time to say goodbye."

  Silver Eagle shrugged. "Maybe it was not the time for a goodbye."

  "Look, I've told you before that I want Flower and Rain to keep their Indian beliefs, but I don't believe in spirits myself. I've no objection to Rain seeking his vision in two years...."

  Skirts flying, Tess landed in the wood box with a thump. She screeched and jumped up, rubbing at her behind.

  "Thanks a lot, Michael!" she yelled. Then she flung herself at Stone, kissing him wildly and ignoring the coffee cup, which clattered across the floor.

  "I'm back! Oh, darling," she murmured between kisses, "I'm back."

  Silver Eagle slipped out into the hallway. He and the kids could welcome Tess later. After all, none of them had ever had any doubt that Tess would return.

  Stone clung to Tess, pulling her down onto the bench with him and burying his hand in her hair to hold her still. He kissed her, nuzzled her neck, kissed her again. She was real — not an imaginative figment. She gazed up at him with a hint of tears in her eyes, and he kissed them away before he claimed her mouth again.

  Suddenly Tess pushed at him. "Wait, darling," she insisted when Stone tried to kiss her again. "I have to talk to...."

  "If you tell me you're going to talk to someone named Michael and Angela," Stone groaned, "I'll...."

  "But I am. Didn't Silver Eagle and Rain tell you about them?" Tess shoved free and stood up as Stone reluctantly nodded his head and rose from the bench.

  "Well, anyway, they tried," Stone admitted, "but I really didn't want to hear about a couple of crazy spirits, who were supposedly sneezing you in and out of my life."

  "I'll make them talk to you this time, too," Tess promised. "After all, this concerns both of us. And I think it's just Michael who sneezes. He must have an allergy problem."

  "Tess, honey, isn't it enough that you're back with me again? I promise, I'll overlook any crazy ideas you have from now on. Just don't ever leave me again."

  "But that's just it," Tess said as she propped her hands on her hips and looked at him. "Don't you understand? We have to make sure I'm here on a permanent basis now. And I told them to go find out for me."

  "Uh...find out from who?"

  "I think Michael said Mr. G," Tess said. Her eyes widened just slightly. "Oh, Stone," she breathed. "Do you think he meant...God?"

  "Now, Tess."

  Tess whirled and raised her head. "Michael. Angela. Come out here so we can talk to you. And this time, let Stone see you, too."

  Nothing happened, and Tess started tapping her foot. "Michael. Angela. Did you hear me?"

  "Tess...." Stone's words froze in his throat when a soft poof sounded and a cloud appeared. On the cloud stood two small figures, one male and one definitely female. He groped behind him until he found the table, and sat down with a thump.

  "Hello, Stone," the female said. "I'm Angela, and this is Michael."

  Stone nodded his head stupidly, unable to utter a sound in his dry mouth.

  "Michael and Angela are my guardian angels," Tess explained, unable to keep her amusement from sparkling in her green eyes as she looked at Stone's stunned face. "They brought me here. Rain says they've been with me all along."

  "All along," Stone repeated.

  "Uh huh. They kept me from getting hurt when my horse threw me when we went after the wild mares. And I guess they protected me from Rose's bullets."

  "Well, that was Michael," Angela explained. "It's really him that's your guardian angel, Tess. I'm just here as sort of an...advisor."

  "Well, I want to thank both of you for what you've done," Tess said. "You brought me here to find Stone and the kids, kept me from making a big mistake with...." She sneaked another look at Stone. "With that other guy. All I want to know now is what you found out about me being able to stay with Stone — live the rest of my life here, from 1893 forward."

  Michael sat down and motioned for Angela to join him. "You're giving me a little too much credit, Tess," he said with a shake of his head. "You made your own decision back in New York, and I just changed the bullets in the rifles to blanks, so neither of you would get killed. You did the rest yourself."

  "Whatever," Tess said with a wave of her hand. "What did Mr. G tell you?"

  "I think I've got an answer for you, Tess," Michael replied. "Boy, let me tell you, we thought we'd have to wait in line for hours — maybe for a year or more. But Angie got impatient and just zipped right over everyone else's heads."

  "We had something more important to talk about than just whether or not we should grow peonies or bluebonnets in our gardens," Angela said with a sniff.

  "You'd have been proud of her, Tess," Michael began.

  "Michael," Tess broke in. "What do you mean that you think you have an answer for me. I sent you to find out something definite. I've had enough uncertainty the last few weeks."

  "O.K., Tess. But, like I said before, only Mr. G knows for sure. He did remind us, though, that marriages are made in Heaven. He assured us that Heaven wouldn't have any part in breaking up a sacred sacrament like a marriage."

  "That's good enough for me," Tess said with a sigh. "How about you, Stone?"

  "Huh?" Stone snapped his mouth closed. "Uh...yeah, I guess so. Say, are you two going to be around all the time from now on, too? I mean...all the time?"

  Angela giggled and shook her head. "We like to go for rides
at night," she told Stone. "Sometimes we even go in the daytime. And I think this will probably be the last time you'll ever see us. We aren't really supposed to show ourselves. We got reminded of that a while ago, too."

  "You're leaving then?" Tess asked softly. "Please. Tell me one more thing before you go. You both seem so perfect together, but I've never heard of a pair of guardian angels. You aren't going to have to separate, are you? You did say that you were only an advisor to Michael, Angela."

  "I talked to Mr. G about that," Michael said with a smirk. "You'll probably find this out some day, Stone, but men just weren't made to fly with wings. I told Mr. G that I needed Angie around for at least a million more years before I thought I'd ever be able to handle these stupid feathers. Now, I never learned to fly a plane, but maybe Rain can teach me a hundred years or so from now."

  "A p...plane?" Stone asked.

  "Tess will tell you about it," Angela said. "Right now, we really have to go. I promised faithfully that Michael would take at least one flying lesson each day."

  "I've just met you, but I'll miss you," Tess said softly. "Could we...could we at least hug before you go?"

  The two angels looked at each other, then nodded. Tess held out her arms, and Michael and Angela hopped to the floor, growing before her eyes until they were almost her same height. They spent a precious half-minute hugging, and Tess kissed each of their cheeks.

  Somehow, Stone managed to get to his feet and shake Michael's hand. He lifted Angela up and pulled her close for a second before he landed a kiss beside her ear.

  "Will Rain and Silver Eagle still be able to see you both?" he asked as he carefully lowered Angela to the floor.

  "You'll have to ask them," Michael told him with a wink.

  A soft wind sighed through the kitchen, and Tess and Stone both blinked. When they opened their eyes, the kitchen was empty except for the two of them.

  Stone grabbed Tess and whirled her around. After he pulled her close and kissed her soundly, he shoved her away and whacked her on the rear.

  "Go put on that pretty dress you wore to the social," he ordered. "And tell Silver Eagle and the kids to come on."