The Halo Effect (Cupid Chronicles)

by Allen, Shauna

  Noble took a bite of turkey and glanced around the table. This motley crew felt almost like a real family. Other than Jed and his parents, he’d never had one. That sorry excuse for a man sitting in prison didn’t count. Never had. He looked around and smiled, trying to enjoy the meal Braelyn had worked hard to prepare, and ignore the letter from his grandfather he’d left unopened at home.

  He glanced over and she caught his eye. She offered him a gentle smile, seeming to offer some sort of support across the table, which was crazy. How would she even know? He was just imagining things he wanted to see. But she sure did look nice today in a long, loose skirt and pretty pink sweater that looked soft as a cloud. Though he might prefer the biker look from the other day. He stifled a grin and winked at her. Let her wonder what he was thinking about.

  He stuffed in a huge bite of mashed potato and let himself relax. Holidays at Jed’s were never like this. His parents were cool and all, but Noble had never really felt like he belonged there. It always held the unspoken vibe of ‘We feel sorry for the poor lost boy with no family, so let’s have Jed’s friend over.’ They meant well, he knew, but it was always more uncomfortable than welcoming. But here, he realized, everyone had created a family of sorts. A family of lost souls.

  Michael tugging on his tie caught his attention. Poor guy. How could he eat with that thing wringing his neck like that? Noble didn’t even own a tie and there was good reason for that. He’d never worn a suit either. Not even to Mrs. Montgomery’s funeral. Not that he’d had one to wear even if he’d wanted to.

  “This sure is delicious, Miz Campbell,” Michael said, around impatient tugs on his choker collar.

  Braelyn glanced up with a sweet smile. As she studied him a moment, the smile slid off her face. “Just take it off, Michael.” She waited until he grasped her meaning and began to loosen his tie. “And thank you. I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”

  Ariel giggled and took a delicate sip of her water. “I wonder if Miss Kyle is able to hold down any of her Thanksgiving meal today. Her morning sickness hasn’t been easing off much.”

  Noble had a flash of Mrs. Gentry’s deviled eggs and had a moment of pity for Kyle. One good thing about putting up with the uncomfortable holidays. “I sure hope she’s able to eat. Today’s not a good day to be without an appetite.”

  Braelyn stood to begin clearing some of the empty plates. “Someone’s pregnant?”

  “Oh, sorry,” Ariel said. “Yes. Kyle works at the tattoo studio with her husband Jed. Noble’s friend? I think I introduced you once?”

  Braelyn’s brow unfurrowed. “Oh, right. I think I remember. That’s . . . that’s nice.” She took a step toward the kitchen. “Anyone need anything else?”

  Noble sensed the immediate change in her mood and jumped up to follow her with his own empty plate as everyone mumbled their general satisfaction with the meal and declined needing a thing.

  She stood at the sink and ignored him as she began to pile in the dishes before turning to grab a pie and some smaller plates.

  “Is something wrong?”

  She still didn’t face him.

  “Braelyn?”

  “Help me with this, would you?” She held up a slicer and pushed the pie pan toward him then began rifling around for the cookies he’d brought and a container of coffee.

  He studied her back, feeling the emotion rolling off her, but not sure what had caused it and even more unsure what to do about it. And, frankly, getting pissed off that she was dodging him. He watched her measure coffee grounds and start a pot brewing before pulling out several mugs. She opened the fridge and found a can of whipping cream. She set out coffee creamer and sugar. She did just about every damn thing but look at him.

  “Braelyn!”

  She jumped and stared at him with those wide, golden eyes of hers and he saw the tears she was holding in check. Immediately he crossed to her and yanked her into his arms. “What’s wrong, baby?”

  She held herself rigid at first, but gradually she melted into his embrace until she held fistfuls of his shirt in her hands and her face was buried in his chest. He stroked her back and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, wishing for once in his miserable life he had a right to something as precious as this.

  She eventually stepped back and peered up into his face. “I’m fine now.”

  “What got you so upset?”

  She shook her head. “It’s nothing. I just get a little emotional around the holidays sometimes.” She took a step back to distance them—in more ways than one. “It’s no big deal. Don’t worry about it.”

  She was such a liar. But he wasn’t going to get anything more from her right now. He picked up the pie slicer and got to work. Let her have it her way. “Okay.”

  They served coffee and dessert to everyone before Tristan wrangled Michael into the living room for some video game time. Ariel settled into the couch to watch while Braelyn excused herself to her room to change. Noble watched her retreating back, knowing she was still slightly uneasy about something, no matter how much she tried to hide it. Was nobody else attuned to her mood? He knew his only hope of getting to the bottom of it was to get her totally alone. He glanced over at the alien-and zombie-zapping bunch on the couch. They’d be at it for a while.

  Wait a minute. Why did he care? If she didn’t want to talk to him, why push the issue?

  He glanced over as she slipped back into the room, the soft smile on her face not quite reaching her eyes, the sweet, tawny eyes that had wound around his soul the first night he’d met her. And that’s when he knew exactly why he cared about her pain. God, he was in trouble.

  “Bray?” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

  She turned to him.

  He held out his hand without saying a word.

  She studied it a moment before peering back up at him. A heartbeat passed. Two. Then she placed her hand in his. He clasped her tiny fingers and led her toward the front door. “Be back in a few,” he called out to whoever was listening as he led her outside.

  She let him guide the way across the yard to his house then slammed the door shut after them with his foot and brought her to the living room wondering what to say to her now that he had her alone. So many thoughts muddled his brain, so much he wanted to do to her. For her. With her.

  Wait. Scratch those thoughts. Friends.

  Braelyn saved him from having to think too hard as she plopped down onto the couch with a hearty sigh. “Thank you.” She peeked at him from under her lashes as she let her head fall back. “You still have that Patrón?”

  She wanted a drink? “Um, yeah.”

  “Have a heart and give a girl a shot, will ya?”

  He eyed her, but complied, pouring them both a healthy two fingers. He sat next to her and offered her a glass.

  She sat up and grabbed the shot glass. “Thanks.” She chugged the contents in one smooth swallow. “Aaahhh.” She plunked her glass on the tabletop and relaxed back. After a moment, she eyed his still full glass. “You gonna drink that, or absorb it by osmosis?”

  He offered it to her. “Looks like you need it more than I do.”

  She didn’t take her eyes off him as she swallowed. God, he wanted to swallow her.

  Her gaze dipped momentarily to his lips. “You keep looking at me like that and I’ll be tempted to forget that strictly friends rule you imposed, Mr. Oh-So-Noble.” She reached out and traced the open V at the top of his shirt.

  Where were those alarm bells that were supposed to be warning him away from her? Why did her touch feel like home? How did a lost man like him even know what home felt like?

  “Noble?”

  He opened his eyes to her gentle call. He startled and shrank back when he realized he had practically wrapped himself around her like a horny teenager. “Shit. I’m so sorry
.” Fuck. Where the hell was his mind?

  She caressed the back of his hand. “Don’t be sorry. I didn’t want you to stop. I just wanted you to be . . . present. Seemed like you’d zoned out.”

  He jumped off the couch. This was getting way out of hand. “That’s not why I brought you over here.”

  Her brows furrowed and hurt clouded her eyes. She leaned forward and slammed the second shot glass down next to the first. “Why did you bring me over? Another reading lesson?”

  He paced away, running impatient fingers through his hair. “No! Damn it.” He spun back toward her. “I wanted to get you out of the house because I could tell you were upset.”

  Her face went blank.

  She wasn’t gonna give it up easily. He took a deep breath and moved back to her. “I’m trying to be a friend here, Sweet Cheeks. Tell me what’s bothering you.” He tilted his head when she started sputtering. “And don’t give me some bullshit ‘nothing’ answer.”

  She was silent for several moments as she stared down into her lap. He didn’t think she was going to answer. But finally, she whispered in a soft voice, “You’re gonna think it’s dumb.”

  “Try me.”

  She peered up at him from under her lashes. “Do you want kids one day, Noble?”

  “Hadn’t really given it any thought to be honest. I’ve been a loner most of my life and I haven’t figured it’d ever be much different. Why?”

  “That’s sad.”

  “Not when it’s all you know.”

  She bit her bottom lip and sighed. “Well, I do want more kids. Or, maybe I should say did. The older I get and the older Tristan gets, the louder my biological clock ticks. And with no male prospects on the horizon, it’s pretty freakin’ sad to me that my ovaries will shrivel up and die before they’ve been used more than once.”

  He held up a hand as tears started to leak from the corners of her eyes. So that’s what this was all about? Jed and Kyle having a baby? And why did the thought of her having a baby with some other guy nearly gut him? “Whoa, now. You’re nowhere near old. You have plenty of time to have more babies.” He nearly choked on the strangest thing he’d ever said to comfort a woman, but he soldiered on. “Don’t give up hope.”

  She hiccupped. “I’m not so sure, but thank you for saying so.” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “See, I told you you’d think it was silly.”

  “No. It’s not silly.” Just had to be a chick thing.

  She offered him her first genuine smile of the night and stood. “Thank you. I should get home. I still have company. Did you want to come back over?”

  He shook his head. “Nah. Think I’ll hang home if you don’t mind. Game’s on.”

  “I understand. It’s a loner thing, right?” Her grin widened.

  “Right.”

  He followed her toward the door, but she paused by the entry table. She picked up the unopened letter from his grandfather and turned toward him, a million questions in her eyes. A lame excuse about not having time to read it came to his lips, but he couldn’t get the lie out. He settled on a shrug. Ever since the night of the storm, he’d carefully avoided talking much about his grandfather with her. Their relationship was sticky enough without adding tar to the mix.

  “Everything all right?”

  He nodded. “Sure. Just haven’t gotten around to reading it.” That wasn’t exactly a lie. He’d just let it sit there for a while. A good long while.

  She didn’t seem convinced. “Oh. Well, we haven’t had a reading lesson in a while. You wanna read it now? Maybe it’s important.”

  He swallowed his knee-jerk retort. “Nah.”

  She smiled softly and handed him the letter. “Okay. I’ll see you later.” She stretched up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

  He stood motionless and watched her go. Needing to breathe, he slid down the wall to the floor and studied the letter in his hand.

  “Damn it.”

  He ripped it open and trudged his way through the words, immediately regretting that he’d let her leave as pain seared through him. His world would be forever altered again because some fucking parole board cared more about overcrowding and the pandering of some old man than the murder of an innocent woman.

  No wonder he needed a breath. Between this sucker punch and Braelyn’s absence, all the oxygen had suddenly been hijacked from his world.

  Chapter 27

  “Michael!” Gabriel snapped long fingers in his face. “Heaven to Michael. Brother, wake up.”

  Michael zoned back in and realized the weekly AA meeting was long over and his angel brothers and sisters had mostly trickled out except for a few stragglers, Gabriel and Ariel. “Sorry, Gabriel. I guess I spaced out a little bit there.”

  Gabriel sat down and shot a concerned glance to Ariel who was studying them both with wide, interested eyes. “Something on your mind?”

  Michael shifted uncomfortably, once again reminded of the limitations of the girth of his human vessel. “Nothing to concern you. It’s just the same worries with my humans that I brought to you last time.”

  “If it troubles you, it does concern me. What’s going on?”

  Michael bit back his usual happy-go-lucky replies and told Gabriel the truth. “After spending Thanksgiving with them, I see the potential. I see what Father sees. But I also see that they’re not going to allow it to happen. Their free will is going to kill it before it’s had a chance to begin and it breaks my heart.”

  He hung his head as he waited out Gabriel’s reply. As an angel, he’d witnessed human free will massacre love affairs over the millennia. Mostly due to selfish pride or ignorance. Anger. Vengeance. A multitude of reasons. But this was the first time he was truly stumped. Noble and Braelyn really appeared to care for each other. They had all the makings of the physical chemistry humans desired if the way they looked at each other was any indication. Tristan didn’t seem to have a problem with Noble.

  Michael had done everything in his power to orchestrate things so they’d be together. All the ingredients were there. So what was the problem?

  Gabriel reached over and clasped his shoulder. “Brother, have I ever told you about my most difficult assignment?”

  Michael raised his head, startled. “You did casework?”

  Gabriel smiled. “Of course. You don’t think I got to be leader of Love Detail with my good looks, did you?”

  Michael was speechless. He couldn’t picture Gabriel walking the earth, doing the hands-on work with humans. Not that he’d ever indicated that he was too good for it. He was just so wise that Michael had always placed him on a bit of a pedestal. Man, if he had been doing this for centuries, Gabriel’s assignment had to have been . . . His jaw dropped as Gabriel started talking.

  “Yeah, well, that Helen of Troy was no easy match. She had so many suitors, it was next to impossible. Well, it was impossible to match her with her one true love. Perhaps, if I’d been successful, the great war could’ve been avoided.” He glanced over with a wistful gleam in his wise eyes. “I felt guilty about that for centuries. Until I realized I’d done all I could. In the end, Odysseus chose by his own free will to seek Penelope instead of Helen, and to assist in giving away his love in some silly contest. I’m convinced it’s why he wandered around aimlessly all those years. Mourning. But what do I know?”

  Michael shook his head, confused. “But, Gabriel, I thought all of that was just myth.”

  “Ah, some, perhaps. And history has embellished details, certainly. But, those people were as real as the humans we deal with today, and their need for love just as strong.” He glanced down to his lap as he toyed with his fingers. “I took that failure personally. Like my calling as an angel, Father’s faith in me, was misplaced.”

  Michael swallowed as those words hit
home. The air around them became still. “What did you do?” he whispered.

  Gabriel glanced up, faith glowing in his eyes. “I prayed.”

  Braelyn slogged through the sleety rain two weeks after Thanksgiving and up the steps into the nursing home. She wiped the icy remnants from her cheeks and stomped her feet on the rug, wishing she’d worn her good old snow boots. But they were still packed away, as was most of their snow gear from Indiana. She didn’t figure they’d need it down here in Texas. But, dang it, that was one nasty cold front!

  Her very next thoughts were of Noble. She hadn’t seen him since she’d left his house after Thanksgiving dinner. She wondered if he thought she was an idiot for admitting how she felt about having another child. Good thing she’d stopped short of stupidly admitting she’d been dreaming of beautiful little black-haired babies. He would’ve kicked her out on her loony butt.

  But she could only be honest with herself and admit she missed him like crazy. Plumb, friggin’ crazy.

  She pushed all thoughts of her favorite sexy neighbor aside and followed the sounds of Christmas music to the dining area, which had been transformed into a winter wonderland. Ariel was busily flitting around the wheelchair bound residents plopping Santa hats on their heads as “Jingle Bell Rock” blared from the stereo in the corner.

  Braelyn glanced around at the tinsel and lights that hung from every corner, as well as the red and green streamers that were lining each table like huge scalloped cakes.

  Ariel turned and spotted her. “Oh! There you are! We were just about to have our hot chocolate and candy canes before we got started on the hand-painted ornaments for the tree.” She inclined her head toward the massive evergreen taking up an entire corner from floor to ceiling.

  Braelyn stepped closer, amazed at how much had been done in so little time. “You did all this?”