by Graham, Jan
Angel let the tears flow freely as she wondered what she would have been like as a person had her mother’s plans actually worked out and she had been able to grow up with the Shore family. Would she be a better person, much the same, or totally different? She certainly would not have had the scars her body had received over the years, no stab wounds, perhaps. But would there have been other trials? And what would her relationship with Christian and Daniel have been? Certainly not sexual as it was now.
The one remaining item in the chest was a red velvet bag. As Angel opened it, she smiled. Pictures drawn by her, her mother’s pearls, worn on her wedding day to Angel’s father, Faith’s wedding rings, a cassette tape, and two books—The Female Eunuch and Pride and Prejudice. Angel stared at the soft curl of hair tied with a purple ribbon and sealed in plastic. Was it hers? It must be, she finally decided, as she laid it on top of the items from the bag.
As Angel began to read through the few remaining letters that had been in the chest, she lay down on the floor amongst her new found treasures. As she read the last letter, emotional and physical exhaustion finally took its toll. Angel didn’t realise she had fallen asleep. All she knew was that her mother’s image filled her and a peaceful feeling of love entwined itself with her barren soul, quenching a thirst she hadn’t realised existed until now.
“Wake up and come and see this.” Christian shook Daniel awake. “Don’t make a noise. I don’t want you to disturb Angel.”
“Where is she?”
“You’ll see. Now come on, quietly,” Christian whispered as he moved stealthily out of the room.
As Daniel silently walked into the lounge area, Christian noticed him glance over at the sleeping Angel curled up on the living room floor. Angel’s naked body lay wrapped in the throw from the lounge, wrapping paper and gift boxes lay scattered around her feet, and the pile of glittering charms and stack of cards were near them. As the men crept over to her, Christian picked up the open photo album and passed it to Daniel with a smile. An open letter lay next to Angel’s face, her hand resting palm down against it on the floor, and the open wooden chest lay at her side.
“Did you hear her get out of bed?” Daniel asked, with a shake of his head Christian indicated no.
“I’ll put her back into bed,” Christian said as he leant down and picked Angel up off the floor. Angel stirred in his arms as he started to walk to the bedroom.
“My mum gave me birthday presents,” Angel whispered as she snuggled into Christian’s shoulder.
“That’s because she loved you very much.”
Christian barely got the words out through the lump that gripped his throat. He glanced back at Daniel, who was carefully placing the numerous items back into the chest. Angel didn’t stir again as he placed her into his bed and tucked her in. He wondered how much sleep she had actually gotten last night. When he returned to the lounge room, Daniel was sitting on the sofa reading the letter that had lain open on the floor next to Angel. Daniel was visibly moved as Christian approached.
“We should have been with her when she opened all of this.” He passed the letter to Christian and walked toward the kitchen. “I’m making coffee.”
Christian looked at the perfectly formed script in the letter. Its similarities to the engraving on the top of the chest could not be mistaken, the letter and engraving written by the same hand. He took a deep breath before he began to read.
Dear Angel,
Once more I want to wish you a Happy st Birthday. I hope you liked the card and gift I gave you. I assume styles of such things will have changed over time, but the sentiment of congratulating your daughter on becoming a woman I am sure remains the same. It probably seems like a lifetime since you and I were parted, and I guess with this day being your coming of age, then actually it is a lifetime since we last saw each other. I wish I had been there to share my life with you, but unfortunately the Gods had other ideas.
I pray your life has been a good one since I left you. I chose for you to live with Andrew, Caroline, and Francis Shore because they have been my strength and hope for many years now. I am sure that my cancer didn’t take me from you sooner thanks to their love and support. Their home is filled with love, understanding, and acceptance for all who enter. It is the home I longed to provide for you since you were born, and I am forever indebted to my beautiful soul sisters for caring for you after my death. I know your new brothers, Daniel and Christian, will be as loving and protective as the parents who raised them. Through them I hope you see what true siblings should be. Even though the boys are only in their teens, Andrew has already ensured his values and beliefs have been instilled in them. They are respectful and loving boys, and I know they will grow into loving and honourable men. For this reason I am assured that you will be cherished and protected by them always, even after Andrew, Caroline, and Francis are gone.
I asked Caroline and Francis to deliver a present to you on each birthday until the age you are now, twenty-one. I feel now you are old enough to truly value the chest of love that I put together in the last weeks of my life.
I pray the pain of my passing is now long behind you and that you are able to read my words without overwhelming sorrow. As I write this, I am picturing you wearing the many charms I have given you over the years. The bracelet is probably quite heavy, but I am sure it looks beautiful on you. I decided on charms as the gift you would be given for many reasons but mostly to appease my own need to reach out and surround you with my protection and love as you grew into the beautiful woman you are now. I hope that my gifts have assisted in protecting you in some way from life’s trials. Each charm has been blessed under a full moon. The crystals included on some of the charms are energised with the elements that enhance protection, strength, wisdom, hope, and of course love, which is the greatest protector from evil the universe has designed.
The red velvet bag that you have before you includes some of my favourite things. You may remember some of them, and others I know will be a surprise to you. I thought of the idea to include them when we watched The Sound of Music together the other day. I wish I could have included raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens like they sang about in the movie, but you can’t put them in a bag. They just don’t survive. Instead, there are books and music, diamonds and pearls, the drawings you did for me as gifts, and cards you made for me when you thought I needed to be told how much you loved me, a curl of your hair from the first haircut you ever had. I cherish each and every one of them just as I cherish you.
The photo album includes many pictures of our life together. I have made sure I included the time and occasion of the pictures in case your young mind should ever forget where they are from or who they are. I know you already have the framed picture of you and me and pray it has brought you some comfort over the years. I asked that your new mothers made sure that you had that as soon as you arrived in your new home. As you know, the picture was taken when you were five, and I was in much better health than I am now. I pray you remember me as the loving and active woman I was before my illness for that is how I am now in heaven.
I hope you like the jewellery box and of course its contents. Each piece of jewellery has been handed down from mother to daughter for many generations, each generation adding their own precious items to the box, and I am sure you will carry on the tradition when you have a daughter of your own. Each item is tagged so you know who it belonged to. You may remember your grandmother or me wearing some of the pieces at times. As your grandmother and I did, I hope that you will wear the jewellery rather than keeping it locked away. Beautiful things should be worn and shared, not kept in a dark place where they are never seen.
Finally, I want to tell you of my hope for you and what I would like you to have learned from me if we hadn’t been parted. My heart’s desire for you is that life never takes away your hopes and dreams. That you remain the lively free spirit you were born to be, untarnished by pain. If life strikes out at you, stand firm and hold onto the lov
e that surrounds you. If you ever feel you have been knocked down by injustice or fear, know that you have the inner strength and determination to stand up, take back what others would try to steal from you, and move forward. Most of all I desire that you will remember to always love freely and deeply, my dear Angel, just as I have loved you.
Your mother always,
Faith Wylde
The lump in Christian’s throat had turned into a trickle of tears that moistened his cheeks as he read the words Angel’s mum had so lovingly written for her. It was thirteen years after Angel was meant to receive them and many more years since the first gift should had been given to her, but at least she had everything now. Christian folded the letter and placed it in the chest that still sat on the floor. He carried the chest to the kitchen island and placed it down. Like Daniel, he wished they had been able to be with Angel when she opened the chest, but obviously Angel felt it was something she had needed to do alone. He consoled himself with the fact that at least both Daniel and he had been home and available to her had she needed them.
Christian finally broke the silence as he drank his coffee. “I want to go and curl up next to her and spend the day at home making sure she’s okay.”
“Ditto,” Daniel said solemnly.
“As much as I’d love to be cuddled up next to you both, I’m fine, so stop worrying about me. If I was the sort of woman that could break, I would have done so before now.” Angel’s voice sounded a little raspy as she entered the kitchen.
Christian and Daniel both looked over as Angel took a seat at the kitchen island. She was extremely pale with dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she needed to sleep for a week. Daniel poured her a mug of coffee which she grimaced at and pushed away.
“You don’t look fine,” Christian said as he leant over and took her hand. “Still beautiful, but you look exhausted.”
“And very pale, you looked like you wanted to throw up when I put the coffee down in front of you.” Daniel walked over to her and felt her forehead before taking her wrist to check her pulse.
“Is this little doctor-patient game going to end in sex?” Angel smiled as Daniel let go of her wrist.
“No, but it may end in you coming to the hospital with me for a check up.” Daniel frowned. “You’re very pale and you have dark circles under your eyes. What other symptoms do you have because you do look unwell?”
“I feel nauseated and faint. I dry wretched in the bathroom when I was washing my face just now. My diagnosis is I’ve had a very big weekend, both physically and emotionally, and I need to sleep and have something decent to eat.”
“Possibly.” A frown remained on Daniel’s face. “So what do you prescribe for yourself then?”
“Having a peppermint tea now then going back to bed. When I wake up I promise to eat something substantial and roam around the house doing nothing in particular.”
“Sounds like a good prescription to me,” Christian interjected.
“Plus, ringing me at lunchtime to let me know your status,” Daniel added. Christian knew his brother was concerned but at least the expression on his face had eased from a heavy frown to a slight crease at his brow. He was obviously happy to see Angel nodding and not giving him any argument.
He watched as Angel opened the chest and rummaged through it.
“I need to play this.” Angel held up the cassette tape her mother had left her. “Do either of you have any ideas how I can do that?”
“God, I haven’t seen one of those for years.” Christian took the tape from her hand and stared at it like it was something from the Stone Age. “Dad probably has something that will play it. I’ll give him a call on the way to work and ask him.”
True to his word, Christian telephoned his father as he drove to work. Andrew had to visit a building site about twenty minutes from the boys’ home and said he would drop the cassette player by to Angel when he had finished. Christian also elicited a guarantee from his father. Andrew had agreed to take Angel to the hospital to see Daniel if she was still unwell when he visited.
Christian had one more thing to follow up on today, and that was tracking down Steve. He hadn’t received a return call from any of the messages he had left, which was unusual behaviour for his friend. In fact, neither Daniel nor he had spoken to Steve since the day after Daniel’s welcome home party. If he couldn’t track Steve down today, then Christian had decided to ring the only other person who could probably give him the information he wanted, Steve’s wife, Kathy Jax.
Chapter Eighteen
Angel was woken by someone knocking on the front door. She grabbed her gown and glanced at the clock as she made her way to the door. She’d had been asleep for six hours, the day was nearly over, and Daniel and Christian would be home soon. She was surprised to see Andrew Shore when she opened the door, parcels in his hands and looking like an overaged delivery boy from the local supermarket. He greeted her with a kiss as he wandered toward the dining area.
“I have cold cuts of meat, some orange juice, fresh bread rolls, and the most decadent-looking cream cake you have ever seen. And the pièce de résistance…a boom box, straight from the ark I keep in the back shed.” He smiled as he placed the bags on the table.
Angel gave Andrew an excited hug and kiss before heading to the bedroom to get the cassette tape. She quickly discarded her robe and changed into some cotton shorts and a T-shirt before returning. Andrew had already plugged the player into the power point and was in the process of setting the table ready to eat.
“Can we listen to this as we eat?” Angel asked eagerly, hoping Andrew had no objections.
“Well, that’s the general idea of the visit.” He laughed, taking a seat at the head of the table and pouring two glasses of juice.
Angel didn’t realise how hungry she was until she looked at the food set out before her. She assured Andrew she was feeling much better, and if he wasn’t convinced with her words, he certainly couldn’t argue with the amount of food she consumed over lunch. The afternoon went by so quickly. They talked about everything they had in common and some things that they didn’t have in common as well. Andrew insisted on helping Angel attach the charms to the bracelet, eager for her to be able to wear it. The tape played on a constant loop as they chatted. Angel discovered her mother’s favourite songs were eclectic in taste as they listened to everything from Janis Joplin to Eva Perron, hard rock to ballads and most things in between. Angel decided that Andrew Shore was the most delightful man she had met in a long time, apart from his sons, of course.
Angel suddenly realised she hadn’t phoned Daniel with her status report. Andrew jokingly assured her she would be in trouble when Daniel arrived home, which didn’t help her anxiety as she looked for the paper with his mobile phone number on. She stilled before starting to laugh as she heard Andrew begin to speak in a very deep and serious voice.
“Dr. Shore, Senior here, young man. I am phoning with a status report on a very pretty patient I believe you may be wondering about.”
Andrew gave her a cheeky wink as she returned to the table, his mobile firmly attached to his ear.
“The young lady reports she is feeling much better, and given the fact that she ate like a demon at lunchtime, I believe her to be telling the truth.”
Angel laughed as she watched Andrew listening to Daniel’s response.
“Well, she does still look a little pale, so my advice on that front would be that you pick up four nice, big steaks on the way home from work and then precede to barbeque them while the patient entertains your dinner guest, aka me, until they are ready.”
Andrew gave a hearty laugh at whatever Daniel said in return.
“My contribution to all this is excellent company, fatherly words of advice over dinner and a delicious chocolate cream cake for dessert. Now hurry up and get home. Angel and I grow weak from our strenuous afternoon of talking and listening to music. We need sustenance.”
With that he flipped his phone closed and gave
Angel a wicked smile.
“You’re as cheeky as both of your sons.” Angel chuckled.
“And you are as beautiful and delightful as your mother,” Andrew complimented her in return before continuing thoughtfully. “Do you know anything about the human web theory?”
“No, what is it?”
“Six degrees of separation,” Andrew stated, “the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away from any other person on the planet. I didn’t pay it any credence until now. But now I think it has its merit.” Andrew paused, looking reflective.
“You were meant to be part of our family. The initial plan didn’t come to fruition, but now here you are. We could have been walking silently around each other our whole lives waiting for the right time to intersect, but then the steps fell into place. How unlikely was it that you and the boys would all be into kinky sex? You attend the same club on the same night, and you discover that you each have friends in common, which enabled the boys to contact you. Then Daniel assists your work colleague at the hospital, and you end up staying here. Some may say it’s fate or a mysterious force directing our lives. How many people do you know meet their soul mates through friends of friends, or at a place of commonality that neither of them is aware of until they finally get to talk? Then they discover they have more people, places, or events in common but have never met until the right moment. Six degrees is really all there is to explain it.”
“Do you think that Mum would approve of me being with Daniel and Christian the way we are now? You know, in a relationship.”
“I thought about that after you left yesterday, and I wonder if this was the way it is meant to be, rather than the way your mum and the boys’ mums had planned.” Andrew looked reflective. “If you had come to live with us, would the three of you have been able to see past an imposed sibling-style relationship to fall in romantic love with each other?”
