When the Halo Falls, a heavenly romance

by Maureen Child

  "What?" One word squeezed past a throat so tight, she nearly heard it squeak.

  "How far?" she asked again. "New York? London?"

  "I don't know," he said, letting his head fall backward. "Somewhere…”

  "Somewhere where you won't think of me?”

  He straightened up as she stopped directly in front of him. "I'll always think of you."

  "Then why run?"

  "Because I can't be what you want me to be."

  "Foolish man," she said, lifting one hand to cup his cheek. "You're already what I want you to be."

  He groaned at her touch and reached for her. Fiercely, he pulled her tightly to him, buried his face in the curve of her neck, and muttered something she wanted to hear spoken louder.

  Over the thundering of her own heart, Patience asked. "What did you say?”

  A shudder wracked his body, but he held her so tightly her breath was strangled. Then he lifted his head, looked her dead in the eye, and said what she'd been waiting a lifetime to hear.

  "I said…” He paused to pull in a great gulp of air. "I love you."

  She tingled.

  From the ends of her hair to the tips of her toes, she fairly sparkled. Clinging to his shoulders, Patience smiled up at him and said, "I've waited quite a while to hear those words. Would you mind saying them again?"

  He gave her a squeeze that should have snapped her ribs. Then throwing his head back, he looked up at the sky and shouted over her delighted laughter, "I love Patience Goodfellow, God help her!"

  #

  It was a small wedding.

  Davey and Lily stood up for the bride and groom and Treasure and Sam completed the guest list. But Patience didn't care.

  It was as if once Brady'd surrendered to their love, he wasn't able to wait an extra minute. He'd driven them into town, gone straight for the church, and told her to wait while he rounded up the others.

  Now they were here, in front of the Reverend Michaels, ready to pledge themselves to each other for always.

  “And now the ring," the minister said, looking at Brady.

  His eyes went wide. "A ring. Damn it — excuse me, Reverend —“ He looked at Patience. "I forgot all about a ring."

  "Do we have to have one?" Patience asked, not wanting to delay this wedding a moment longer.

  "It is traditional," the preacher said.

  "I can run back to the store," Treasure offered, already half up out of her seat.

  "No, wait," Davey said quietly, holding his magic ring tightly. "You don't need to."

  "What is it, Davey?" Brady asked, laying one hand on the boy's shoulder.

  "You can use my hoop," he said, giving the worn brass metal a loving caress.

  Brady smiled and looked down into those earnest brown eyes. The kid owned nothing but that brass circle he carried everywhere. And here he was, offering it up to them. Deeply touched, Brady gave the boy's shoulder a slight squeeze. “That's mighty thoughtful of you, Davey, but it's just too big."

  The kid grinned up at him. "It'll fit, Brady. You'll see." Then he held that circle close and whispered, "I need this to be a ring for Patience's finger."

  A soft, otherworldly hum rose up in the church, carrying over the sound of the growing storm outside. Every eye in the place was on Davey and that brass circle as it quivered and changed shape.

  "Holy —“ Brady murmured.

  "What the —“ Sam sputtered.

  "Well, call me a toad and spit in my eye," Treasure whispered.

  "It is magic," Lily said.

  When the brass hoop had become small enough to be a wedding ring, Davey handed it to Brady, giving it one last touch before releasing it.

  The ring lay on Brady's palm and he looked from it to the boy. He couldn't explain what he'd just seen, but then that didn't surprise him. Hell, he couldn't explain half of what had gone on in Fortune for the last two weeks. All he knew for certain was that Davey had sacrificed everything he owned for love. And that truth humbled Brady and made him more determined than ever to raise the boy and give him the kind of life he should have.

  Touching his shoulder again, he then turned to face Patience, who was staring at that ring as if she'd seen a ghost.

  "What is it?" he asked.

  “I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "I'm not sure but —“

  He reached for her left hand, ready to slide the ring onto her finger, but she actually fought him, pulling her hand back. Fine time to be getting cold feet, he thought wryly. Then frowning, he tightened his grip, bent his head and whispered, "With this ring, I thee wed." And he pushed the ring onto her finger.

  Patience gasped.

  That humming rose up again, growing in strength and beauty, filling the tiny church like organ music piped into a closet. The circle of brass glowed against her hand, becoming golden, then white, then it glistened with a brightness that went beyond white. It shone and pulsed, giving off a light that was nearly blinding in its intensity.

  Brady held on to her hand, confused, worried, not sure what was going on and somehow knowing he didn't want to know.

  He looked into her eyes and saw knowledge and clarity and… regret shining there.

  "Oh Brady." she said, over the heavenly music pouring down around them, "I love —“ And she vanished.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  "No!"

  Brady howled and his voice seemed to echo on and on in the small church. Panic filled him and he turned in fast circles, his gaze darting over the inside of the building as if perhaps Patience were just hiding from him.

  But he knew the truth. Down deep in his bones, he knew that Patience had disappeared because he'd dared to love her.

  And he'd already acknowledged that God would never stand for a sinner like him loving a woman like Patience.

  "What happened?" Davey shouted. "Where'd she go?"

  "I don't know," Brady answered, panic turning into a hard ball of fury in his belly. "But I'm gonna find out."

  "Lily?" Treasure asked from behind him and he turned to see the storekeeper rub her temples with both forefingers. "What in the heck are we doing in church?"

  "Is it Sunday?" Lily asked, looking up at Sam.

  "Don't think so," the sheriff said, shifting his gaze to Brady. “What's goin' on?"

  "Patience disappeared," Brady snapped, giving them all an incredulous stare.

  But Treasure just snorted a laugh. "Heck, Brady, you never did have any patience. Don't know how it could disappear on you."

  He frowned at her. Why weren't they worried? Didn't they know? Didn't they remember?

  "Not patience," he exclaimed, "Patience. Patience Goodfellow. My wife."

  "Wife?" Sam said, looking at him as though his brain had slipped off its tracks. "Now what woman in her right mind would want to marry you, old friend?" Shaking his head, Sam took Lily's arm and led her down the center aisle toward the double doors. "Wife," he murmured on a chuckle. "Isn't that something?"

  In seconds, the preacher, Treasure, Lily, and Sam had gone, leaving Brady and Davey alone in the muddy light streaming through the windows.

  “They don't remember her," the boy whispered and moved a little closer to Brady.

  His heart clenched in his chest. Going down on one knee, he took the boy's shoulders in a firm grip and asked, "But you do?”

  He nodded. Tears spilled from his deep brown eyes and he wiped them away with his sleeve. "Where'd she go?" he whispered, and the quiver in his voice told Brady that his was not the only heart breaking.

  "I don't know," he whispered, then pulling the kid close, Brady took comfort in those small arms encircling his neck. He held on to the boy tightly and stared up at the small wooden cross jutting up from the minister's pulpit. And when he spoke, he wasn't sure if he was talking to Davey or to a God who'd never paid much attention to him. "But I'm going to find her. And bring her back where she belongs. With us."

  Outside, the wind screeched and clouds scuttled across a dark sky, crashing into each o
ther, spitting snow on an already too cold town. Brady glanced out the windows and told himself it looked like the end of the world. And in his heart, it was.

  #

  Patience found herself standing in front of her superior in what seemed the blink of an eye. One moment, she'd been pledging her love to Brady and the next, she was here. On heavenly ground.

  "Have you lost your mind?" the angel asked.

  "And heart, Joshua," she said.

  "We've been trying to reach you for days now."

  The voices, she thought and wondered now why she hadn't remembered instantly who was speaking to her and just who and what she was.

  "Because," Joshua answered the unspoken question, "you didn't want to remember."

  True, she thought.

  "And that is unprecedented," the angel went on, stalking back and forth in front of her until his silvery robe snapped with every step. "No one has ever tried to forget heaven!"

  Patience glanced down at her left hand, where her halo still held the shape of her wedding ring. She rubbed it with her fingertips and the motion drew up Brady's image in her mind. What woman wouldn't want to forget she belonged in heaven if she'd found a different sort of heaven in the arms of the man she loved? She closed her eyes and groaned at the injustice of having to leave him.

  "It is not injustice," Joshua reminded her.

  Her eyes opened instantly. Lifting her chin, she said, "I do wish you would cease reading my mind. It's very rude."

  "Rude?" the angel repeated, clearly astonished. "You've broken every rule in heaven and you're upset by bad manners?"

  She sniffed and folded her hands together at her waist, her fingers still caressing her wedding ring. "I wasn't in heaven when I broke the rules, so it shouldn't really count."

  "Oh, it counts, Patience," he told her, wagging a finger at her as if she were a recalcitrant child. "The very halls of heaven itself have been rocked by your actions."

  A flicker of guilt tugged at her insides, but she fought it down. Love wasn't a crime. Not on earth and certainly not in heaven.

  "Love between a guardian angel and her charge most certainly is," he said, once again plucking a thought from her mind. "And you knew it."

  "All right, yes," she admitted, stepping in front of him to stop his ceaseless stalking. "I did know. But love can't be stopped. It can't be reasoned with. It can't be changed because it's inconvenient. It simply is."

  Joshua threw his hands high, then let them fall to his sides. Shaking his head until his halo wobbled and tilted in the air above him, he said, "Love has nothing to do with this mess, Patience."

  She glared at him, not even considering that most guardian angels would never think of contradicting Joshua. "You're wrong. Love has everything to do with this. I love Brady Shaw. And he loves me. We're married."

  Joshua actually shuddered. "Don't remind me." Then turning his back on her, he marched quickly to a small gold desk and lifted the leather-bound ledger lying in the middle of it. Flipping through the vellum pages, he finally stopped and stabbed one finger at the place he'd found. "Naturally," he said, "you have been removed as Brady's guardian."

  "Removed?" she said.

  "Another angel has already been assigned." He slammed the book closed, hugged it to his chest, and glared at her over the edge of it. "Your fate will be decided by… Him."

  "Him?" she whispered, unconsciously shifting her gaze upward.

  “These are serious charges against you, Patience."

  "I know," she said and couldn't bring herself to regret a thing.

  Joshua scowled at her as he read that emotion clearly. "And if I were you, I would return my halo to its proper place." Having said that, he turned his back and she was alone, dismissed from his presence.

  She stood in a long, winding corridor, down which hundreds of guardian angels bustled along on their own business, paying no attention to her at all. Feeling more alone than she ever had before, Patience protectively covered the tiny halo on her ring finger. And to no one in particular, she whispered, "It is in its proper place."

  #

  Brady didn't know what to do. Or where to look. She was gone as if she'd never been. No one in Fortune remembered her. No one but him and Davey. He stalked down the boardwalk, unmindful of the screaming wind and the snow slapping into his face. He was alone. Anybody with sense was holed up in their homes, waiting out the cold.

  But he just couldn't sit in that saloon for another minute, surrounded by memories of Patience.

  Shoving his hands into the pockets of his sheepskin jacket, he shrugged deeper into its folds. He kept walking until he was at the edge of town and still he didn't stop. Jumping off the boardwalk into the snow, he walked on, though it was heavy going.

  "Go back."

  He stopped dead in his tracks. Cocking his head to one side, he listened, thinking that maybe there was someone out there in the snow. But the voice was coming from within him.

  "Patience?” He said her name aloud and it felt good to hear it. "Is that you?"

  "Yes."

  It was her. He knew it. Felt it. His little voice was back. Only now did Brady realize that the voice he'd heard and trusted for so many years had stopped when Patience arrived in town. And now that she was gone, it was back.

  An angel? he thought and surprised himself by believing it instantly. It was, as strange as it sounded, the only explanation for what had happened around here in the last couple of weeks.

  "Where are you?" he demanded, needing to know how to reach her. How to bring her back to him. If she'd been here once, she could be here again. And he was willing to do whatever he had to do to find her. To hold her. To fill the emptiness she'd left in her wake.

  "I love you, Brady," Patience said, reaching out one hand to him. But her touch went unfelt as her fingers moved through his arm.

  "Damn it, Patience," he shouted, turning in one spot, his gaze searching the clouds overhead. "Come back to me."

  "If there were any way for me to come back," she said, "I would. Know that. Feel it." She filled her mind with his image, knowing this was the last time she would see him. She was already breaking more rules by being here. But she'd had to see him one last time. Had to tell him that she loved him and would always love him.

  "Patience, tell me what's happening," he shouted and she heard the desperation in his voice. “Tell me how I can get to you."

  "You can't," she said, sorrow rising up within her like a tide threatening to drown her.

  “There has to be a way!" he shouted, frustration ringing in his tone. "We can find it together."

  "I have to go."

  "No, don't," he ordered. "Don't leave me alone, Patience. I can't be alone anymore."

  Tears swam in her eyes, and his image blurred, but still she couldn't look away. "You'll never be alone again, Brady. No matter what else happens, I will always be with you."

  "Patience!"

  Her tears fell as his pain hovered in the air around her. "I will love you forever, Brady," she said one last time as she felt herself being torn from him. "Forever and beyond."

  And loneliness crashed down onto him, leaving him shaking in the cold.

  ONE WEEK LATER

  "You don't know what you're saying," Lily said, shaking her head.

  "I know exactly what I'm saying," Sam told her and laid both hands on her shoulders.

  Heat from his hands slipped down inside her, but she wouldn't give in to it. Wouldn't allow herself to hope. It was enough that she was free of the saloon, working at the Mercantile, and renting a room from Treasure. She still wasn't sure how she and the storekeeper had become friends. She couldn't remember how she and Treasure had bridged the gap that had separated them any more than she could recall how she and Sam had found each other, but she was grateful for both facts every day.

  She wasn't going to be greedy and wish for more than she could have. No matter how tempting Sam's offer.

  "I want you to marry me."

  There. He'
d said it again. And Lily's stomach jumped in response.

  “No you don't."

  "I love you."

  She backed up a step, though every instinct she had was screaming at her to leap into his arms and never let go. He followed her, keeping pace with her.

  Tears filled her eyes and heart. How long had it been since a man had said those words to her? How long had it been since she'd given up hoping to ever hear them again? Her heartbeat quickened and her mouth went dry. She folded her hands at her waist and held on tight. Nerves skittered along her spine and she glanced nervously around the room. Anywhere but at him.

  "Lily," he said, his voice soothing as though trying to gain the trust of a wild thing. "Do you love me?"

  Her gaze snapped to his. Oh God, she loved him more than anything. But she couldn't tell him. Couldn't allow him to go on with such foolishness. Her breath caught in her throat. "Sam," she said, swallowing hard, "don't do this."

  "Don't love you?" he asked, laying one hand on her clenched fists. "Can't help it."

  She huffed out a breath. "Try harder."

  He actually laughed. "Who are you trying to protect me from?"

  "Yourself."

  "Nope," he said, shaking his head and smiling, "I think you're trying to save me from you."

  '"Somebody has to! Sam, you're a sheriff," she said. "And I'm a —“ She choked on the word, not quite able to say it.

  "Shh…” He scooped her hair back from her face, threading his fingers through the soft, blond mass. "That's past, Lily. Hell, do you think I don't have things in my own past I'm ashamed of? When we're old and gray, I'll tell you some stories that'll curl your hair."

  She shook her head, wanting to believe, afraid to.

  "You and me," he said, "we'll sit on our porch and watch the grandkids and steal kisses in the sunlight and hold each other every night."

  She swallowed hard and blinked back a sheen of tears that wouldn't go away. Grandkids? He wanted to have children with her? Everything inside her ached for the wanting.

  "And I will love you until the day I die," he said softly, his voice carrying deep within her heart until it echoed there, trembling with the sweetness of it.

  "So," he interrupted her gently, "will you marry me?”