“What was that?” she shivered again.
“You heard that?” I asked amazed.
“Heard? No…I felt…something.” Her eyes were welling up with tears, one spilled over and ran down her pale cheek.
“You need to leave him Estelle,” I told her. Alex nodded.
“I can’t.”
“You must!” Alex said with intensity. “If not for you…”
She looked at him and narrowed her eyes. “If not for me, then for who?” she demanded.
“For the three of you,” I said, and she turned her gaze on me. “We know you love Henry and don’t want to live without him, but he is bound to do something he will regret forever. And you have to think of your own good and safety.”
“And who else? You said three,” she said, her voice shaky with fear of hearing what we were about to tell her.
“Your son,” Alex told her.
I looked at him with surprise, how did he know it was going to be a son? The Eternals had said child.
Alex approached Estelle slowly and looked intently into her eyes. “You must find strength and leave at once. Time is of the essence.”
“Yes,” I seconded. “You are stronger than you think, Estelle. You will be watched over and protected.” I promised this, all the while secretly hoping that the Eternals would make good on that promise.
Estelle’s face was now covered in tears. She looked from me to Alex trying to let the information sink in.
“OK,” her shaky voice said. “I will leave, but I have nowhere to go.”
“She will be taken care of, but she must leave now,” the Eternals assured.
We relayed the message and she nodded, then straightened up and walked out of the cabin taking nothing with her. We followed her, not knowing exactly what would happen to her next, yet she walked and walked on her bare feet with two angels in tow. Once in a while she turned and looked for us, and once reassured that we were still there, and not a dream that she had conjured up, she kept walking.
“I’m tired,” she said, the fatigue obvious in her voice. “Where exactly am I going?”
Neither Alex nor I knew what the Eternal’s plan for Estelle was, but we told her to be patient. It seemed that this was a recurring theme in mortal life—trusting, while walking in darkness—much like Estelle was doing right now.
The night seemed to stretch out forever. Never before did I experience such a slow passing of time. Estelle was showing signs of exhaustion, her feet were dragging and she kept tripping on roots and rocks.
“I can’t make it!” she exclaimed with a sob. Alex was at her side in an instant. He tried to help her up, Estelle stretched her hand to him, but their substance was incompatible and neither one made contact. This seemed to be the last straw for her and she started to weep.
Alex looked at me, clearly worried for Estelle’s well-being, but there was something more. He had feelings for her that were not there before our encounter with her. I tried to get into his mind to understand what these feelings were, but for some reason I was being shut out. He was keeping me out!
I felt a stab of irritation at this. Why wouldn’t he want me to know what he was thinking? All of a sudden I looked at Estelle and no longer did I see the frail little creature that I had seen just a moment ago and, much to my own vexation that old gnawing jealousy flashed back.
“Alex?” I peered into his eyes.
“Not now, Tess!” His eyes shone in the moonlight, they were filled with concern. I looked at his aura and it showed concern as well, but nothing more. This put me at ease somehow, so I took a step back. Alex was trying to soothe her, and was succeeding somewhat. Estelle got on her feet and started walking again.
From somewhere in the shadows I sensed another presence. I didn’t want to alarm Estelle, but I couldn’t get into Alex’s head to explain myself so I stayed back and then disappeared into the woods to go check it out.
The shadowy woods looked menacing even for someone like me who shouldn’t fear death or harm of any kind. A low cloud clung close to the ground and the moonlight shone weakly through the tree tops. I kept moving through the forest trying to pinpoint the presence that I was sensing, but it seemed to be moving.
I stood still and focused once more. Off to my right I felt a faint whimper, I turned toward the sound and I heard someone start. I could sense their fear so keenly that I almost felt the same fear myself. I tried to focus my eyes in the darkness, and there in one little heap sat a small child, crying very quietly.
I got closer, and the child seemed to freeze. He was afraid of me—he too could see me.
“Don’t worry, I am an Angel, I won’t hurt you,” I told him.
He had wrapped his arms around his knees, and he slowly peered at me from above them.
“I don’t believe in ghosts!” he said firmly.
“I told you I am an Angel, not a ghost, and whether you believe in me or not is irrelevant because I exist regardless.”
My belligerent tone seemed to put him at ease, so he lifted his head and looked at me straight in the eyes.
“You are pretty,” he commented, getting over his fear.
I smiled and crouched so I could be level with him. “What are you doing here all alone in the middle of the night?”
“I ran away from home!” he said, his stubborn streak showing on his freckled face.
“Why?”
“Because…they work me to death there.” He motioned with his head.
“Where?”
“At home, they give me too many chores,” he said, unconvinced now of his own logic.
“It seems like it’s either working to death or starving to death, for you now.”
He smirked and kicked a pebble at his feet. It went right through me and his face lit up with excitement at the spectacle.
“Wow, you really are a ghost! Sorry I said I didn’t believe in you.”
“What’s your name?” I asked him, trying to suppress a laugh.
“Jonas.”
“OK, Jonas, follow me, there is someone I want you to meet. She will take you home,” I said, and I got exited at the thought that perhaps this lost little boy was somehow Estelle’s saving grace.
On the way back to the road, Jonas asked me a million questions, but never waited long enough to get an answer. Once we were back on the road, I found Alex looking anxious and worried.
“Where have you been?” His eyes were shifting from me to Jonas.
“I sensed him,” I said defensively.
“Oh, I…” He looked down at his feet remorsefully.
“Wow! How many angels are there?” Jonas eyes were wide open with amazement at his luck, not just from finding one angel but possibly a whole bunch of them.
“Just two, Jonas, the third person is a very nice lady whom we are helping out,” I explained.
“Are you sure? She looks like an angel too.” Jonas moved toward Estelle as if he were under some sort of spell.
Estelle rested her head against the trunk of a tree with her eyes closed. She looked beautiful in the moonlight, her porcelain skin shone almost as much as ours did, her auburn hair glimmered in the moon light. Jonas’s approaching footsteps woke her up and she fluttered her eyelashes a few times to get her eyes focused. Then she squinted to make sure her eyes were not deceiving her.
“Who are you?” she asked with her sweet soft voice.
“Jonas, who are you?”
“Estelle.”
A big smile crossed his face. “Your name means Star.” Then he turned bright red all the way up to his ears.
“And how did you know that?”
“My mom and dad are opera singers, they sometimes sing to me a song about a star,” he said with a crooked smile.
“And why aren’t you with your mother now?” Estelle inquired.
Jonas explained his sad tale to Estelle, who upon hearing it to the end, resolved to take him home. She had a way with children, especially this one, who seemed to be a handful. As the
y made their way up the path, she not only was able to win his heart, but his complete trust and devotion.
My plan seemed to be working well so far.
“Alex, I’m going to fly ahead and look for the boy’s parents, I’m sure they are out looking for him and I intend for them to reward Estelle for her kindness with a ticket out of town.”
“Good idea,” said Alex, somewhat distracted.
About two miles down the road I saw a woman on horseback and a man on foot, holding a lantern and looking weary. I flew to the woman on the horse, who unmistakably was Jonas’s mother. The road was coming to a fork and the two of them were debating which way to go.
“This way!” I insisted. “Jonas is safe, please come this way”
The man holding the lantern stopped and looked as if he were listening.
“Monique, I have a feeling we should go this way.”
The woman exhaled. “Let’s hope this is another one of your hunches!” she said turning her horse. They resumed their calling for Jonas and were soon rewarded with a response.
“Poppa, Mamma!”
Once the horse was in view, the boy ran up to them.
“Jonas, you silly boy! What exactly were you trying to prove?” the father scolded, more relieved than mad.
Jonas looked down and rehearsed back the polished apology that Estelle had been practicing with him.
The father raised one eyebrow at the uncharacteristic good manners coming from his son. Then his eyes fell on Estelle, who stood motionless down the path. Her feet were bare, and bleeding.
The woman got down from the horse, and ran to her son, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him all over.
“Oh dear, silly boy!” she repeated over and over, while Jonas scrunched his freckled nose.
The man looked at Estelle, and she looked down embarrassed by her appearance.
“You must be the one responsible for finding him…and coaching him?” the man said with a rueful smile, so much like Jonas that it was almost comical.
“I am, sir. I found him, or rather, he found me up the lane.”
The man looked down at her feet and some of the bruises on her arms and bit his lower lip.
“May we be of some assistance to you, since you have been such a help to us?”
“I...I…” Estelle shrugged.
Jonas’s mom looked up from her child and surveyed Estelle for a moment.
“Arthur, she looks tired to me, perhaps she can come home with us tonight then we’ll sort this whole thing out tomorrow.”
“Yes! Can she stay with us, momma? Can she? She is very nice!” Jonas insisted while tugging on his mom’s dress.
The father smiled and swept Jonas up and onto his shoulders.
“Estelle, do you know how to ride?” the man asked.
Estelle nodded shyly and was helped up onto the horse. She turned in the saddle slightly as they walked away, and smiled back at us.
We waved to her silently, and watched her ride into her new life.
My pendant started emitting light that shone in the darkness of the night.
“I guess you are staying,” I said sadly, as I looked at Alex’s inert pendant.
He smiled and wrapped his arms around me. “I need to see this through, now that I know…”
I looked at him puzzled.
“Go ahead. You can read my mind now,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
“No, how about you just tell me.”
Alex wrapped one arm around my shoulders and started back toward Henry’s place.
“I was told that Estelle was to be my great-grandmother, and that the child she is carrying is Russell.”
My jaw just about dropped off entirely. “Are you serious? So, so… that means that…”
“Russell will be my grandfather,” Alex finished.
“And who…”
“I don’t know who my parents will be yet,” he said, sounding a bit disappointed.
“So why are you sad? This is good news. Most mortals get to spend a great deal of time with their grandparents.”
“I know…it’s just…I always thought we’d be brothers.”
“You’ll always have a special relationship with him.”
“I guess so. But I’ll have to obey him.” Alex grimaced. “I hope I get back to Heaven before he leaves, so I can give him a big thrashing…just so he doesn’t forget who can always pin him first.”
* * * * *
Chapter 26
I was sent straight to Spain, and I flew there filled with excitement, because this was to be my first Guardian Angel Mission. The only odd thing about this Mission was that my pendant didn’t say the name of the mortal I would be watching over. It just said “Baby girl DeLeon”, so once at the house I followed the sounds of a crying baby.
I was struck by the beauty of the little baby, she couldn’t be more than a day or two old, and she already had blond curly locks and shiny red cheeks. The odd thing about her was her aura. It looked familiar to me somehow, and so was the feeling I got when I was near her—like I knew her well.
I watched over her for who knows how long, focusing on that nagging feeling that I knew this baby. Then it hit me. One day as she lay facing up, I could swear she was looking straight at me, and her eyes… “For heaven’s sake, this is Celeste!” I said out loud. There was no mistake about it at all, this little creature housed Celeste’s spirit!
Now that I knew without a doubt, my mind started racing. How could this be? I didn’t even get to say good-bye to her before she left. I wonder if she thought that I didn’t care. I wonder…I looked down at her and she smiled back at me, and though her little mind was not mature enough to think coherently, but I knew her spirit knew me and depended on me.
No guardian angel was ever as dutiful as I was. I stayed by her side, keeping a constant vigil over her day and night. Her own parents were pretty much absent from Celeste’s life. She was raised by her nanny and me. Apparently, her parents were hoping for a boy, but due to some complications during Celeste’s birth, the mother could no longer have children and the father resented this.
“At least you’ll get all the pretty dresses you want,” I told Celeste, remembering how strongly she felt about this particular point back in heaven.
Celeste’s family lived in a large house on a plantation, in the outskirts of Leon, Spain. The rooms in the house were spacious and well furnished with solid and old looking furniture, which only meant that their family had been wealthy for a long time. Their wealth came from the wheat mill that had been run by the family for generations.
Wealth never interested me, but it had been important to Celeste, it was one of those things that she really wanted and didn’t think she could live without. She had been warned that wealth wouldn’t guarantee happiness, but she didn’t care, she said that she would be happy no matter what. And who could ever argue with her on that point? She always did have a playful nature, and mortality wouldn’t change that.
And here she was now, the only daughter of a wealthy family. The only problem was that her parents were too self-absorbed to give Celeste the kind of attention that she required. At least she had me, and Ester, her nanny. Ester was a stocky, firm, but sweet woman who filled in very well as the mother figure.
Her own mother, Doña Rosa, was more of a token figure who only received her daughter in her company, when she felt like it. She was a vane and shallow woman, who spent inordinate amounts of time decorating herself. She used the pretext of ill health to excuse herself from any and all responsibilities, and spent almost all her time parading around town.
Her father, Don Marco De Leon, was pompous and proud, and also concerned with appearances and looking grand and imposing to others. He somehow lost interest in his pretty wife now that she could give him no more children, so he filled his days with the minutia of his business.
“What lessons will you teach these people, Celeste? They are in for it, aren’t they? They have no clue that their little chi
ld will grow up to be you,” I said with a chuckle. “I hope they don’t change you. I hope you win.”
“Wow, nice place. Nothing like Max’s house, he’s dirt poor,” Leo commented.
I recognized the voice at once and turned excitedly.
“Leo! What are you doing here?”
He was looking around the room, taking in all the details.
“Are you Max’s Guardian Angel?” I asked with interest.
“Yes, I am. You know he’s almost ten years old now.”
“Really? That old? I didn’t realize there was such an age difference between them. We’re going to have to work hard at keeping him single long enough for Celeste to grow up.”
Leo chuckled, and shook his head. “You are just like Irene, always thinking about those things!”
“They loved each other!” I said, insulted. “We owe them that much!”
“I suppose so. Besides, she’ll kill me if she ever found out that it was me who dropped the ball.” He pointed to the helpless looking child who was presently taking a nap.
I laughed. “So, tell me about Max. What is he like?”
Leo shrugged. “Just like Max, he’s very smart and has learned a lot in spite of the fact that he can’t to go to school because he is so poor. His mother is a widow and he is the man of the house. They are very religious and Padre Fernández, the town’s priest, likes him a lot. He is like a father to him…and I have read his mind.” He looked at me with a meaningful look.
“Yeah, so…what is he thinking?” I encouraged.
“Padre Fernández wants Max to go into the Seminary, so he can get a good education.”
I was aghast, that couldn’t be allowed to happen. If Max became a priest, then he would never marry and that would devastate both him and Celeste.
“We can’t let that happen!” I rose suddenly.
“Well…this is why I came to find you. It’s not as simple as that, Tess. We have to think about it carefully.”
I shook my head. “No, it is simple. The priest would no doubt be open to listening to Angels. We have to convince him otherwise, before he proposes anything to Max and his mother. Besides, how will his mother manage without Max? You said so yourself, he is the man of the house now, he needs to support his mother.”
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