After the Fall (Broken Angel #2) (14 page)

Welita held out her handkerchief, and Naomi took it, wiping her nose. “And I keep thinking about that over and over in my head: if only Lash hadn’t saved her. And...and then I think I would’ve never met him. And maybe I wouldn’t be as happy as I was when I was with him, but then I wouldn’t be as miserable as I am now. Welita, I’m so confused.”

Like she used to do when she was little, she threw herself at Welita and dropped her head into her lap, weeping. Bear licked her fingers, trying to comfort her, and that made her cry even harder.

Welita rubbed her back and softly crooned. Spanish rolled off her tongue as she sang the lyrics to Señora Santa Ana, a song she’d always sing to Naomi when she was a little girl and feeling sick. Slowly, Naomi began to feel calmer. Somehow, Welita always found a way to make her feel better, even now when she was an angel, the one who was supposed to help humans, not the other way around.

“Mejita, one of the hardest days in my life was having to bury my own son. It’s something I wouldn’t wish on my own enemies. It helped ease the pain knowing that Javier was with your mother. Rebecca told me that when he went to the other side, he was reunited with her. And when you left with Lash, that was also hard. But like your father, I knew that you were with Lash, that you had a love that was everlasting with him.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Mad at Lash? How can I be angry with the person who brings light to your eyes whenever you see him? Even now when you speak of him, you say his name with such love. How could I be mad at someone with such compassion in his heart that he dares to defy orders? You two are the same—a perfect match.”

“Welita, I don’t know what to do. I was so hurt when he told me. I felt betrayed, like he took something away from me. I mean, I know it wasn’t intentional, and I think I understand what he was thinking when he did it, but I can’t help what I feel.” She thought about the struggle she’d felt when she wanted to leave Megan and protect Chuy. It was the hardest thing she ever had to do.

“Let go of your anger and believe in him. Believe in your love. Lean on it. Love is strength.”

“I don’t know if I can. I don’t even know if I can be a good angel,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Angels are supposed to be perfect. I’m not.”

“Ay, Naomi, angels are not perfect. No one is. We are all made in the Lord’s image, and He too feels anger, jealousy, so why not his angels? Why not you?”

“Angels are supposed to have faith. I don’t know if I have that anymore. I almost messed up my first job by...” She hesitated, not wanting to tell her about Chuy almost dying. “Well, there was a courageous person who I thought was going to die in a fire, and I was supposed to watch over someone else, and I didn’t want to.”

“You do have faith. I know you do. You’ve always been stubborn, Mejita. Sometimes it works for you, and sometimes it works against you. Can’t you see you’re fighting against Lash’s love because to accept it means to accept your place with the angels?” Welita cupped Naomi’s face and stared intently into her eyes. “Your place is with them now. Surrender yourself to his love, and the rest will fall into place.”

Naomi heard the sound of heels clacking down the hall, heading towards the room. Bear jumped off her lap and ran to the door, barking. “Someone’s coming.”

There was a soft rapping on the door. “Mrs. Duran. It’s Jane Sutherland. May I please have a word with you?”

Shit! Did Lucifer send her here?
Naomi listened carefully for any signs out of the ordinary.

“Don’t let her in,” she whispered furiously when Welita reached for her walker.

“Why not?”

“She’s dangerous. She works with Lucifer.”

Welita gasped and made the sign of the cross and muttered a quick prayer. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Luke Prescott is Lucifer.”

“Does she know?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then we must tell her.”

“She won’t believe you.”

“You don’t know that. There must be some good in her for Lash to see it and want to save her.”

“That was a long time ago. The senator may have been innocent back then, but she’s a powerful woman now. And may soon be the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. She and Lucifer together would be unstoppable.” Naomi shuddered at the thought.

“Mrs. Duran?” There was another knock.

Welita turned to Naomi. “Both of you showing up here at the same time is too much of a coincidence for me to ignore. I need to see it through.”

“Fine.” Naomi sighed. “But I’m staying here until she leaves.” She looked quickly around the tiny room. There was no place for her to hide. She couldn’t let the senator see her. She wasn’t sure if the senator knew about her death. More importantly, she didn’t want any information going back to Lucifer.

Naomi closed her eyes and wondered if she would be able to change into her angel form. If she replicated what she’d done before, she should be able to change back—she hoped. “Okay, let her in.”

J
ane heard Anita Duran talking to someone through the closed door, and she wondered if someone was visiting her. She thought maybe her grandson, Chuy, was there with her, but when Anita opened the door, she was surprised to find her alone.

“Mrs. Duran, I’m sorry to bother you this late in the evening. I’ll only take a few moments of your time.”

When she stepped into the room, a small dog ran up to her. “What a precious dog,” she said, reaching out to touch the dog.

It snapped at her.

“Oh!” She jerked her hand away.

“Bear! Don’t be rude to our guest,” Anita said. “Would you like something to drink, Senator?”

“Please allow me. I can get myself a glass of water.”

Jane watched as Anita nodded and slowly maneuvered her walker as she made her way back to the sofa. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea, digging up old wounds.

She grabbed a glass from a small open shelf in the corner of the room that served as a kitchen. Turning on the faucet, she made small talk. “It’s pretty hot out there—almost as humid as it gets in Houston.”

“Senator Sutherland, I don’t mean to be rude, but you didn’t come all this way from DC to talk about the weather.”

Jane took a sip of water and then turned to face her. “Actually, I’m in town to make an important announcement.”

“Your run for the presidency.”

“Why, yes,” Jane said, surprised.

“Don’t look so surprised. I watch the news.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.”

“No apology needed. Please, have a seat.” Anita motioned to the chair across from where she was sitting. “Why are you here?”

“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, Mrs. Duran, but I wanted to”—she gulped—“I wanted to ask you a question about your son.”

The silence in the room was thick. Anita’s brown eyes seemed to bore into her, and Jane felt beads of sweat collecting on her forehead. She wiped a palm on her skirt and slowly took a sip of water, hoping Anita would say something—anything to break the tension.

“Ask your question,” Anita finally said.

Jane let out a breath. “Your son, Javier, was he ever in a plane accident?”

“Yes, he was in the Flight 1724 accident when he was a boy. You and he were the only survivors. I thought you knew.”

She felt the blood drain from her face. “I-I-I was told that the Javier Duran I was with on the plane passed away years ago.”

“You were misinformed, Senator. I’m surprised. I thought someone in your position would get accurate information.”

“I got the information from a reliable source. Or at least, I thought so,” Jane mumbled.

“Who would that be?”

“Luke Prescott’s people.” Jane lifted the glass of water to her lips.

“That’s your problem right there. Mr. Prescott is Lucifer.”

Jane spit the water out of her mouth, coughing. “Excuse me?”

“I said Luke Prescott is Lucifer, one of the fallen. A powerful dark angel that walks the Earth.”

Something inside of Jane stirred when she looked into Anita’s eyes, and for a moment, she actually believed her.

Jane pushed the thought from her mind. It was preposterous. There was no such thing as the devil, Lucifer, or whatever name people called evil spirits. She wondered if Anita had lost her mind. Maybe that was why she’d been put in this home. “That’s a bit far-fetched, don’t you think? I mean even if Luke lied to me, that wouldn’t make him evil.”

“He
is
evil. I know because my Naomi told me so.”

“Naomi? The granddaughter who disappeared? When did she tell you this?”

“Just now.”

“Is she here?” The poor woman was having hallucinations. She made a mental note to have her personal physician check in on Anita.

“She’s sitting right next to me.”

“She is?” She recalled Luke mentioning a good psychologist, Dr. Ryan Dantan. Maybe she should give him a call and ask for a consult. She could fly him in from Houston—at her own expense.

“You can’t see her, and I can’t either at this moment. But she appeared to me earlier. She told me she wouldn’t leave until after you left.”

“I see.” Jane stood, walked to the kitchen, and placed the glass in the sink.

“Senator, even if you don’t believe me about my granddaughter, it’s not hard to see that what Luke Prescott is doing is harmful to us all.”

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

“All of my neighbors have been talking about it. My grandson works for Prescott Oil, and he sees it too. Whatever that company is doing to the land is bad. What’s it called?”

“Hydrofracturing.”

“Yes, hydrofracturing. It’s doing more harm than good. I even read that he plans to take it to other countries. What is happening here: the earthquakes, the bad water, will spread.”

“I’ve heard this all before, Mrs. Duran. The media has a way of sensationalizing everything. I honestly believe that we can do good for many more people.” She glanced over at a photo, noticing the dark handsome features of the young man she recognized as Chuy. “Your grandson has benefited from working with the company. He and many other families wouldn’t have had a job if it wasn’t for Prescott Oil.”

Distress washed over Anita’s face, and Jane felt horrible for what she had said.

“If it wasn’t for me, my Chuy would never have taken the job. It pains me that I couldn’t do anything to help him, and I ask for forgiveness every night for that.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Duran. I didn’t mean it that way.”

Anita sighed and smoothed her face. “Javier told me what you did for him when he was on the plane. I know there is good in you. Can’t you see that the person you’re supporting, the one you call friend, is creating nothing but destruction to the country you love?”

“I don’t see things the same way you do. Besides, that wouldn’t make someone a devil.”

She turned and headed to the door. She’d read the scientific reports and felt confident about hydrofracturing at the time. So why were Anita’s words stirring something inside of her? Stirring fear that maybe she was right. “Mrs. Duran, thank you for your time. Again, I’m so sorry to disturb you.”

“Do you believe in God?”

Jane stopped abruptly, her hand on the doorknob. What kind of question was that? “Of course I do.”

“Then why can’t you believe that what I’ve said is true?”

“Well, because...because...” Jane turned to face Anita, and she was at a loss for words. Thoughts flashed through her mind: what she’d overheard Luke telling Sal, Luke attempting to sway her vote, and the serious expression on Anita’s face.

Suddenly, she felt feverish, and a heavy feeling pressed on her chest. She couldn’t breathe. She had to get out. Now. “Good-bye Mrs. Duran.”

She ran down the hall and out of the building. Her heart slammed against her chest a hundred miles a minute as she plucked a set of car keys from out of her purse. She needed to leave, to get far away from there. Far away from the memories that fluttered through her mind: the presence of someone near her during the plane crash, protecting her; the same presence protecting her during the auto accident; Luke rising to the top of the corporate world in unprecedented speed, never aging, always the same. If she believed in God, how could she not believe in evil?

No. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be possible. Luke was not Lucifer. He wasn’t the devil.

Her hands shook, and the keys slipped out of her hand, falling onto the pavement. When she bent down to pick them up, a cold chill swept through her. She could feel someone watching her every move.

She glanced up and froze when she saw a pair of crocodile boots.

She blinked, and they were gone.

***

A
fter the senator left, Naomi reluctantly gave Welita a kiss good-bye, promising to watch over her and Chuy whenever she could. When she arrived back in Emma’s hospital room, Megan was asleep and Jeremy was nowhere to be found.

Looking out the window, she saw him in a grove of trees across the hospital parking lot, sitting on one of the tree branches. He must’ve seen her because he waved and gestured for her to join him.

After crossing the lot, Naomi glided through a field of wildflowers that were dispersed in small patches near the trees. Craning her neck, she watched Jeremy swing his legs like a little boy. He wore a silly grin that lit up his face. He almost looked like the Jeremy she’d first met in New Mexico.

He jumped out of the tree and gracefully landed in front of her. For the first time, she really looked at him and realized that he looked different from when they had first met.

Gone were his usual black suit and crisp white shirt. He wore a simple of pair of jeans that hugged his hips. A soft-looking black leather jacket was thrown over a simple white cotton T-shirt.

She eyed him carefully. It was something she could imagine Lash wearing.

“Why don’t you wear your suits anymore?”

His smile froze, and after a moment, he gave a forced laugh. “I gotta keep up with the latest trends. Besides, I had a feeling this assignment would require more wash-n-wear clothing.”

His eyes locked with hers briefly before he quickly diverted them. He walked a few steps away from her and plopped himself on the grass. “So guess what Chuy and Lalo are up to.”