Joanne was silent. Matthew didn’t know how long the silence lasted. He waited patiently for Joanne to speak again. “So what now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what are you going to do now? In this life? Now that you’re mortal, you can’t go back up unless you die.”
“I can’t go back to heaven once I die. That’s based on what I tried to do before.” Matthew found himself replying, sullenly.
“So you’ll go to hell.” Joanne finished the thought. “You’ll be welcome there, I imagine.”
It was Matthew’s turn to be silent. He took a deep breath. “I’m stuck here.”
They both fell into silence. Father Dan came back with Rosie and the child ran over to her mother and crawled up on her lap.
“Momma, are you still angry?”
“Not right now, honey. I’m better now.”
“Can we go home?”
“Yes, we can, hon.” Joanne kissed Rosie’s forehead and scooped her up in her arms. Matt stayed seated, unsure of whether he should follow or not. He mulled it over in his mind.
“I’ll come with you, if you’d like.” He offered to Joanne, almost expecting it to be turned down.
Father Dan piped up. “Well, I have to go back to the kitchens. Joanne can show you around.”
“Bye Papa.”
“Bye Rosie. Bye Joanne.”
“Bye Dad.”
Matthew stood up and followed Joanne to the car. Out of courtesy, he went to the passenger side. Joanne chuckled.
“Angels don’t drive?” Joanne asked, one eyebrow raised.
“We drive. I’m being courteous.”
Rosie had frowned at the exchange. The child stayed silent as Joanne buckled her into her seat in the back.
“Okay. I’ll drive.”
Joanne drove the car down the hilly winding streets to a suburban area. Matthew watched the clean lines if houses, trees, and concrete sidewalks roll past. Joanne was busy talking, but the words were lost on Matthew. Suddenly, the car lurched to a stop.
“Shit!”
Matthew turned sharply to look ahead. A car had careened in front of her, blowing through the stop sign at the four-way intersection and had slammed into a tree. Matthew was out of the car before he knew what he was doing.
He reached the driver’s side and saw the man slumped forward on the dash. Matthew reached inside and gently pulled the man back. Matt could clearly see who the man was. Anger suddenly swelled inside him.
“Son of a bitch.”
Joanne had reached his side. “Who is it? Is he hurt?” She stopped when she saw him straighten up, his muscles tense. He looked upward at the sky.
“My Lord, please forgive him for what he has done, for I cannot.”
That made Joanne stop in her tracks. “He was an angel?”
“Was. I hope he goes to hell.”
Joanne fumbled in her pocket for her cell phone. While she was calling the police, Matthew walked over to a tree and leaned his back against it. Upon seeing the man’s face, the memory burst forth.
“You traitor! How could you!” Matthew roared. The angel staring at him didn’t back down.
“He needed to know.”
“You betrayed us. You betrayed Lord Lucifer.”
“Lord Lucifer?” the angel snorted in derision. “Seriously, Matthew. I thought you had better sense.”
“By all that’s holy, so help me.” Matthew growled at the angel, who laughed.
“Ha! By all that’s holy? Don’t you mean our Lord God? Our Father?”
Matthew didn’t pay attention to what the police and Joanne were saying. All he wanted to do was strangle the man for betraying the cause. He didn’t snap out of his reverie until Joanne placed a hand on his shoulder.
“You all right?”
“How is he?”
“He’ll live. He was just unconscious.”
“I should have strangled him.” Joanne flinched at the venom in his voice. “I should have broken his neck. He was already in one accident, so it would have been easy to hide.”
“Tell me.”
“What?”
“Tell me why.”
Matthew took a breath. “He was an angel in the employ of Lucifer. He told God what we were planning. He betrayed us; betrayed the cause. I hoped he rotted in hell, because Lucifer doesn’t take kindly to betrayers.”
He heard Joanne sigh. Minutes later, he was back in the car, only this time he was fuming silently that the man who betrayed him wasn’t dead.
“You know he did the right thing.” Joanne’s voice cut through his silence. “He betrayed you probably because he cared for you and didn’t want to see you go down.”
“You don’t know anything about angels, do you?”
“You mean the angels who tried and keep trying to take over heaven? God will only strike down those who do.”
Matthew fell into silence. It was pointless to argue with a human who had her own impression of what an angel was.
Joanne continued, “I’ll talk to Father Dan about this. He’ll know what to do.”
“Don’t you get it, Joanne?” Matthew looked at her.” There’s nothing you can do. Nothing. Nothing that Father Dan can do, either.”
“I’ll try anyway.” Joanne said, closing the argument. Matthew fell again into silence the rest of the way.
Chapter 4
Once Joanne parked the garage into the house, she unbuckled Rosie and let her run into the house. Matthew followed behind Joanne, stopping when he walked in, suddenly aware of her life. Pictures of people smiling dotted the walls; mingled with them were pictures of little Rosie.
“She’s grown so much.” He commented.
Joanne noticed him looking at the pictures and she smiled. “Pretty soon she’ll be in her teens. Heaven help me then.”
He brought her attention back to the court meeting. “What happened in there, anyway? In court? You never really answered the question.”
Her mouth set in a line. “He would be released on parole. He could go wherever he wanted. Including here.”
“He won’t hurt you.” Matthew attempted in vain to reassure her.
“Oh, he won’t? He may be the son of a priest, but that doesn’t mean he won’t hurt me or Rosie. He will.”
#
Her words proved true later that night. Matthew was sleeping on the couch in the living room. He awoke to hearing a muffled scream. Quickly, he got up and ran barefooted to Rosie’s room.
Rosie was still asleep, her soft snores fluttering her hair by her face. He then turned and raced into Joanne’s room, where he crashed right into the man holding a knife to Joanne’s throat. The man was caught by surprise and the knife skittered away on the hardwood floor.
The man came up on his feet, half-crouched, staring at Matthew who matched his posture. The man’s eyes flicked to the knife in the hallway and back at Matthew who still held his gaze.
“So, sleep with her yet?”
Matthew charged the man. The man ducked, and a flash of silver appeared in the man’s hand. A lancing pain across his side and Joanne stifled a scream with her hand. Matthew cried out and sank to his knees, blood dripping from his side.
The man smiled again, ready to drive the blade home, but what made him freeze was the tiny voice from the hall.
“Mommy?”
“Rosie, run!” Joanne lurched forward. Rosie ran down the hall, her little footsteps, echoing. Matthew saw the man knock her backwards with one hand. He knocked Matthew down with his foot. Matthew took the opportunity to grab his foot and yank down. The man lost his balance and fell forward, arms flailing. Matthew rolled over, grabbed the knife that the man had dropped and managed to get behind the man.
He took the man’s hair and yanked upwards, exposing the throat. Matthew slashed the knife across the throat, spraying blood everywhere while Joanne looked away. The man slumped down to the floor, dead.
Joanne recovered and sank next to Matthew who was gasping in
pain. The green eyes had tears in them.
“What can I do?”
“Nothing, Joanne. As you humans say, it’s all in God’s hands now.”
“What can He do?”
Matthew sighed and closed his eyes, still trying to breathe through the pain. “He can forgive me. Forgive me for what…I had done. Forgive me, Father.”
He fell into silence, not hearing Joanne sobbing beside him. He heard a deep soothing voice and opened his eyes.
“Father Dan?”
“No, son. Your father.” The deep voice intoned. “The Almighty.”
He swallowed. “I will go join brother Lucifer if it is your will, Father.”
“No, my son. You sacrificed yourself so another can live. That is a noble act. You will live again, my son. Here, in heaven you will have a place. Go now, and return to her.”
He felt someone shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes and gasped in the pain he felt. He looked around, and saw Joanne, sitting beside him in a chair. Matthew discovered he was in a bed, his side wrapped up in bandages.
“How do you feel?” Joanne asked softly.
“It hurts.” He heard her chuckle. “What happened? Where’s Rosie?”
Joanne took a breath. “Rosie woke up a neighbor who called the police. The EMTs got you and took you here. They were surprised to find you still alive.”
“And your ex?”
“He’s dead. Cops are saying it was self-defense, so no charges. Rosie was pretty shaken up. Mrs. Gamborn is with her now. She’s the neighbor Rosie went to.” Joanne explained.
Matt sighed in relief. He remembered the Almighty’s words. Go back to her. Matt took her hand she had laid on his arm in his and looked into her green eyes. He knew where he belonged now. He didn’t belong in heaven. Here, heaven was on earth…with her.
The End
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