After the Fall (Broken Angel #2) (7 page)

He held her tighter.

Cradling him in her arms, she crooned, “Lahash, my son. I have missed you so.”

“Mother,” he croaked. His memories of her may have been suppressed, but this, the warmth, the love he felt was there with him.

She pulled back, tears staining her cheeks. “I don’t have much time with you, and there is much I need to tell you.”

“Wait.” There was something he had to do before anything else. Something he’d always wanted to do but didn’t think he’d ever have the chance.

He turned and took Naomi’s hand, pulling her next to him. “This is my Naomi—the love of my life. We are to be bound.”

Hazel eyes lit up, and she placed a hand over her heart. “Oh, Lahash, you don’t know what great joy it brings me to have you two together again, after all these centuries. When I found out you were assigned to her, I knew—well, I hoped—that you two would find love again.”

Rebecca turned to Naomi and, reaching over with her small hand, cupped her cheek. “You do your grandmother proud, Naomi. She is the reason why I am here.”

“Where is she? Is she all right?”

“She’s doing well now, and she’s with your cousin, Chuy.”

“Now? What do you mean, now?”

Rebecca took her hand, and her face grew serious. “Don’t be alarmed when I tell you this. She had a heart attack soon after you left.”

“She had a heart attack?” Naomi’s voice grew frantic. “We need to find her. I need to go to her now. Please tell me where she is.”

“Your grandmother is not in any immediate danger,” Rebecca said calmly. “Chuy saw to her every need, and she was given the best medical care. She was given a pacemaker, and it helps her tremendously, but...” She looked at Naomi with worry. “They struggled with the finances.”

“Oh, Chuy,” Naomi sobbed. “I should’ve been here.”

Rebecca shook her head. “It was the first time I heard him pray.”

“Chuy prayed?”

She nodded. “It broke my heart. In all the time I’ve watched over your grandmother, it was the only time he’d asked for help, other than the time when you were in the hospital.”

Lash wrapped a hand around Naomi’s shoulder. He felt so helpless watching the guilt eat her up from the inside. He had to find Welita and Chuy for her. “Where are they? Why did they leave?”

Rebecca sighed. “They held out as long as they could. Chuy took on a second job to pay off the bills, even his friend tried to help him out.”

“Who? Lalo?” Naomi asked.

“Yes, Lalo. What a fine young man. He was devastated when his father decided to sell off his moving business.”

“Mr. Cruz sold his business!” Naomi cried in disbelief.

“He wanted to retire, and when representatives from Prescott Oil came into the neighborhood, they bought up the surrounding local businesses first. Mr. Cruz was the first to take their offer. But it wasn’t too long before the others followed.”

“No.” Naomi paled.

“I’m afraid so. Then after that, they made offers to the property owners, for the homes in the neighborhood. As you know, many of your neighbors rented their homes and had no choice.”

“But Welita owned her house.”

“She was the last to hold out. But with the mounting medical bills and Chuy needing a job, they had to move. So, Welita finally agreed.” Rebecca placed a hand on her shoulder. “It wasn’t easy for them. Welita wanted to stay.”

Naomi sank to the floor. She tucked her knees up to her chest and dropped her head. “I knew it was my fault. They drove them out because of me.”

Rebecca glanced at Lash with a sad, knowing look on her face before sitting down next to Naomi.

“Naomi, none of this is your doing. They’re safe. They live in North Texas now. Chuy placed her in an assisted-living facility so there would be someone looking after her while he and Lalo work. They live just outside of Gardenville.”

We’re new to the city. Just moved here from Gardenville.
Lash recalled Nathan’s teasing voice when he teased his wife, Deborah, about having to be careful living in a big city like Houston.

He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. It seemed like Welita and Chuy had been intentionally directed to North Texas. But why?

“I don’t get it,” he said. “Why go all the way to North Texas to work? Why not get a job here in Houston?”

“He was offered a very well-paying job there.”

“Where?” He asked.

She glanced at Naomi and then back at him. “Prescott Oil.”

“Prescott Oil? Prescott Oil!” Naomi slammed her hand against the floor. “You mean the same Prescott Oil that bought them out? The same Prescott Oil owned by Lucifer?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, Chuy,” she moaned and banged the back of her head on the wall. “If he knew who Luke Prescott was, he’d have never taken the job. Wait!” Naomi jumped up, her face looking hopeful. “You can tell them. You’re Welita’s guardian angel. Can’t you do that? Can’t you warn them?”

“It doesn’t work that way, Naomi.” Her voice was gentle. “We’re not allowed to interfere with human will.”

“But we’re not interfering. We’re just providing them with information.” Naomi’s face scrunched in frustration.

“Please believe me.” She stood and went to Naomi. “If it were in my power to do so, I would tell them. And I’m not her guardian angel anymore. My work with her is done. I’m only here because I knew you would worry, and I wanted to let you know what happened.”

“What? So who’s looking after her? And what about Chuy?” Naomi paced the length of the hall. “It’s not right. We can’t just leave them like this. We can’t let Lucifer use them as pawns in whatever crazy scheme he’s up to. Tell her, Lash.”

Lash gaped at her, wishing he could support her. He wanted to so badly. How could he explain to her the ramifications if they helped or that she’d lost her father because of his interference thirty-five years ago?

“Naomi, I’ve made the mistake before. It’ll put too much at risk if we interfere. Believe me, I know.”

Her face filled with pain. “I thought you were on my side.”

“I
am
on your side. It’s just...” He felt like kicking himself. She didn’t know he was the one who’d saved Jane, who’d been meant to die on that plane so many years ago. The same Jane who had killed her father.

“What?”

“I...” He glanced over at Rebecca, and she gazed back at him knowingly. Instead of being bothered that she knew, he felt comforted. But how did she know? She was forbidden to see Raphael, so he hadn’t told her, but somehow, she knew. “I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.”

Naomi reached out to him and placed her hand on his chest. “It can’t be a mistake to care for the ones you love.”

“Naomi, you’re new to our world. There are rules in place for all of our protection,” Rebecca said.

“Sometimes, rules need to be broken.” She turned back to Lash. “You broke them to be with me.”

“And I’d do it again, just to be with you.”

“So why not break this rule, for me?” she breathed, begging him.

“You need to tell her, Lahash,” Rebecca said softly. “No more secrets.”

“Tell me what?” Naomi asked.

Lash glanced at Rebecca, and she nodded with encouragement. This secret was a burden he’d carried with him ever since he fell in love with Naomi, and fear of what she’d do if she knew nagged at the back of his mind constantly. His mother was right. He had to tell Naomi his secret about her father’s death. If they were to be bound together, he had to be truthful with her.

He picked up her hands and kissed them. Then, he squeezed his eyes shut and prayed for the strength.

“Lash?” Her voice sounded worried.

He opened his eyes and looked deeply into hers. “No matter what happens, know that I love you more than my own life.”

“You’re scaring me.”

He took a deep breath. “I was waiting for the right time to tell you this. And, well, there is just no right time. I never told you about the assignment that got me kicked out of Heaven.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I was sent to watch over a little boy. A boy named Javier Duran.”

She inhaled sharply. “It
was
you. You saved him from the plane explosion. Welita told me it could only have been from divine intervention that he was saved. I thought it was luck because of where he was sitting. He was behind a twelve-year-old girl, right?”

He nodded. “Welita didn’t tell you who the little girl was?

“No. I didn’t think it was important to ask.” She furrowed her brow. “Why?”

“Well, the girl made it out alive because I saved her and she”—he gulped—“she wasn’t meant to live.”

“Why not? She was just a little girl.”

“Because she ended up being with Lucifer, and...” He looked over to Rebecca, who smiled sadly, her eyes shone with love and support. “That little girl was Jane Sutherland.”

There was a beat of silence.

Naomi’s face grew pale as she stepped away from him. “No,” her voice was barely above a whisper. “That’s not true. Tell me that’s not true.”

“Naomi.” He reached out to her, his heart breaking into pieces. “I’m sorry.”

She jerked back and shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “Don’t touch me.”

“Please, Naomi.”

“No, I can’t. I just...can’t.” She spun and fled out of the house.

“Naomi!”

He tore out of the house chasing after her. She shot high into the sky, her wings spread at full length, giving her the power to out-fly him.

He pushed with all his might to try to catch her. If he could only reach her, he could explain everything. Then maybe, just maybe she would understand and forgive him.

Faster, he soared up higher and higher. With one final push, he got close enough to reach out and grab her shoulders. He turned her to face him, and his heart stopped at the shattered look on her face.

“Naomi, I—”

“Don’t.” Her voice was raw. “I can’t be with you right now.”

He inhaled sharply as the pain in his chest crushed him. She looked at him one last time, turned, and flew away.

N
ot knowing where else to go, Naomi paced the path that went through the cherry tree gardens. It hurt too much to go to the mountain home she and Lash shared. Being in the beautiful gardens didn’t help, either. Everywhere she looked, she thought of Lash: his beautiful hazel eyes, his strong arms around her, the feel of his unshaven jaw against her palm, and then the torment in his eyes when he told her about saving Jane Sutherland.

She felt her heart breaking as she struggled between her love for her father and her love for Lash. If only he had listened to his orders, then she would still have her father.

She remembered the last time she saw him. It had been at her college graduation. She recalled the proud look he wore as she walked toward him with her diploma in hand. She smiled as she thought of him sitting on the porch next to her as they both gazed up at the stars that night.

She sank onto a bench under one of the dozens of cherry trees. A breeze blew gently, causing stands of her dark hair to brush against her face.

She was so confused. If she accepted that her father dying was somehow Lash’s fault, then how could she continue to love the person who basically shortened her father’s life? But then, if that hadn’t happened, she would’ve never known the love of her life.

She tilted her head back to look at the clear blue sky.

Why was this all happening to her? Fate. Free-will. Had Lash put something into motion that wasn’t meant to be? Was she meant to have lived her life on Earth with her father, her family?

She burst into tears. She couldn’t give Lash up, but she couldn’t even bear to look at him. She felt so lost. For weeks, she had struggled with missing her family. She wanted more than anything to feel like she belonged in Heaven, to have a home with Lash. And now, now it felt like Heaven was her Hell.

She heard footsteps approaching and quickly wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Raphael,” she croaked. She cleared her throat and forced a smile on her face. “How are you this morning?”

Raphael looked into her eyes, reached out, and brushed a stray tear from her cheek. “He told you.”

She nodded, choking back fresh tears.

“It is not easy being an angel, and to be an archangel, that can be even more difficult. Lahash has great compassion for others. It leads him to be ruled by his heart rather than by what his superiors tell him to do.”

“It’s not supposed to be like this. My father should still be alive. I’m supposed to be with him and Welita.”

“Perhaps,” he said. “Or maybe things are exactly the way they should be.”

She looked at him, surprised. “Are you saying his disobedience was meant to be?”

“I was just as surprised as Lahash when he was thrown out. For years, I went to Michael, advocating his return. Now, I am not quite sure of this, but it seems to me there is something larger at work here.”

More secrets. She couldn’t take it anymore. “This is too much. I can’t think right now.”

Raphael looked over her shoulder and spoke softly. “Gabrielle and Jeremiel are coming. I can divert them if you wish.”

She let out a breath. “No, I’ll be fine.”

She needed a distraction, anything to get her mind off how miserable she was feeling at that moment. Burying herself in training with Gabrielle was just what she needed right now.

Squaring her shoulders, she stood to greet her. “Gabrielle, I’m sorry for the late start, but I’m ready for my training session now. Is Jeremy joining us today?”

Seeing Gabrielle’s green eyes dart from Raphael to her, Naomi hoped her eyes weren’t too red and puffy, although she knew her voice sounded strained. She must’ve looked awful because Jeremy kept staring at her strangely.

“There’s other business we must attend to today. Where’s Lash?”

“Uh, he’s—”

“He’s in the Room of Offerings, repairing some of the damage,” Raphael interrupted.

Naomi shot him a surprised look. Raphael could be sneaky when he wanted to be. Lash had told her about the mess he’d made when he thought he’d never see her again. She had wanted to go with him to help him clean it up, but he’d kept putting it off.

“I see,” Gabrielle said, looking suspiciously at him. “It’s taken him long enough to do so. Well, then, let’s get straight to the business at hand, shall we?”