Midnight Angel

by Betst St Amant

  Righting herself in her chair with as much dignity as she could muster, Madison scrawled her signature on the tiny screen. “Thanks, Tony.” She handed back the form and waited until he left the office before grabbing for the box.

  Shan was faster. “What do we have here?” She held the box out of Madison’s reach. Cutting open the flaps, she dove into the package.

  “Aha!”

  “What?” Madison questioned with pretend innocence, since she already knew.

  “Not really a collection, you said?” Shan grinned as she pulled an antique porcelain angel out of the box and fluffed its’ feathery wings.

  Feeling a blush creep up her face, Madison bolted from her chair and grabbed for the doll. She reached to put it in place on the nearest shelf, behind a row of smaller angels. “It’s nothing,” she insisted. She smoothed the wings back into shape and adjusted its position on the shelf. This one was truly beautiful. The angel’s delicate face was hand-painted, and her gown a deep velvety red—the same shade that reminded her of the dress she’d worn the night she danced with Carsten. But how could she possibly explain to Shan something that made no sense even to herself? How could she say that for some unexplainable reason, each time she bought an angel, she felt a little bit closer to her very own fairytale prince?

  “One day, I’m gonna learn about this secret you’re hiding.” Shan crossed her arms over her business suit and shook her head in mock pity. “You’re not the collectibles type, Madison. And you definitely don’t do things without a reason.”

  “I never said I didn’t have a reason,” Madison said softly.

  “What was that?” Shan raised an eyebrow.

  “I said, let’s go grab a latte. I’m parched.” She grabbed her designer purse and ushered her nosy partner out of her office.

  “I can take a hint,” Shan retorted as she locked the door. “Hey, aren’t we important enough yet to have someone bring us the lattes?”

  ~*~

  Madison stared out the window of the taxi; absently tapping her finger against the lid of her half-empty cup. A prayer rose within. “Lord, what is with these random flashbacks? Shan mentions my angel collection and it’s like my mind can’t think of anything but that night.” She prayed silently as she continued to gaze at the passing scenery of buildings after buildings. The nearest coffee shop was only a few blocks away from her office complex, but Shan had insisted that she didn’t want to walk in her new high heels. Now, because of the traffic, the taxi ride back was taking forever.

  “Get out of the way, you crazy—” The cab driver shook his fist out the open window as he let loose a string of expletives. Madison cringed. Shan giggled.

  “I just love New York,” Shan commented, stirring her coffee in little circles as she talked. “I couldn’t live without the big city bustle! The people, the drama, the action… I love it!”

  Madison bit her lip. The pollution, the crazy drivers, the lack of grass or anything green, for that matter…It was springtime in New York, but it was hard to tell aside from the weather. Unless one walked uptown to Central Park, it was difficult to find flowers or much greenery. But who had time for those indulgences? There was work to be done, always work to be done.

  She stared down at the lid of her coffee cup and thought wistfully of the lush acreage at home in Georgia. The plantation was always so beautiful this time of year, from the azaleas blooming outside her bedroom window to the clumps of honeysuckle covering the fences. Sometimes Madison doubted her decision to move to New York, but she knew her design business would never take off in Georgia. Maybe if she made a big enough name for herself, she could relocate and still keep her clientele. It was a thought she frequently entertained. However, there was the down side that came with spending too much time with her father. Ever since her mother had been killed in a car accident five years ago, her dad had become incredibly overprotective.

  Her stomach twisted as she remembered the past years of being told what to wear, whom to date, where to go… Her natural being was far more independent than that. She shook her head, forcing away the bad memories.

  Ignoring Shan’s ramblings about how fabulous city life was, Madison once again looked out her window and into the passenger side of another taxi. A man about her age sat perched on the backseat, leaning forward and drumming his fists in an impatient rhythm against the front seat. It looked as if he was as desperate to escape his taxi as she. Madison smiled in amusement, thinking that at least she wasn’t the only one with a lack of love for the city traffic.

  The man turned and glanced out the window right back at Madison. Madison blushed, embarrassed to be caught staring, and quickly ducked her head. Suddenly, she jerked her gaze back to the window and her eyes widened in shock. No. It couldn’t be. He had the same hair color, sure, and the cut was similar, but there was no way. What were the odds? Silly girl, Madison scolded herself. It’d been six years. She wasn’t remembering correctly.

  She dared to glance once more as her taxi began to pull away. This time, her gaze locked with his and in a heartbeat, she knew. No one else had eyes that color, eyes that reminded her heart of a clear winter sky in Germany. No one but him.

  2

  “Crazy,” Madison mumbled as she banged her head repeatedly against her desktop. “I’m going crazy. No, I’ve gone crazy.”

  “Maddie!” Shan burst into Madison’s office. “What are you doing to the desk?”

  Madison’s head snapped up. “What did you just say?” She hadn’t heard that nickname since it had come from Carsten’s lips six years ago.

  Shan slowly backed away from Madison. “I think I called you Maddie. Is that bad?”

  “You’ve never called me that before,” Madison replied. She stood up and put her hands on her hips.

  Shan threw her hands in the air in a sign of surrender. “It just slipped out. I don’t know why, I’m not exactly accustomed to seeing you assault your desk. I probably wasn’t thinking clearly.”

  Madison rubbed her pounding temples and sank back into her desk chair. “Never mind,” she muttered. “I’m sorry, Shan. I guess I’ve had too much caffeine today.” She watched as her friend slipped quickly out of the office. Madison knew what had her emotions all stirred up but refused to admit it.

  Madison executed a slow spin in her chair, desperate for clarity. “There is no possible way that the man in the taxi was Carsten.” She spoke the words slowly and deliberately. Maybe the more times she said it; the sooner she’d believe it.

  ~*~

  Madison straightened in her chair. It was almost time for her four o’clock appointment, and she didn’t want her new client to think she was crazy.

  She reached into the desk drawer for her client’s file. “Mr. Erlichman,” she read out loud, as she shuffled through the papers. “Interested in price quotes and design ideas for an inherited estate.” Madison had never decorated an entire house before, just individual rooms. This had the potential to be a very profitable job. Her spirits lifted. “Lord, I could really use this sale. Give me wisdom, please.”

  The speaker on her phone buzzed, and Shan’s voice filled the room. “Ms. Lawrence, your four o’clock is here,” she murmured in her professional voice. Madison bit back a grin and shook her head. Their receptionist had quit earlier in the week. Shan had volunteered to play secretary until they found a replacement, stating that “it would be fun”. Better Shan than Madison, in Madison’s opinion.

  “Send him in.” Madison rose to meet her new, and apparently wealthy, client. Satisfied that she projected the image of a professional, yet approachable designer, Madison trained a smile on the door and smoothed the front of her tailored jacket over her pencil skirt.

  The frosted glass door swung open. Shock overtook her and all thoughts of professionalism flew from Madison’s head. Her smile transformed into a gaping mouth.

  “You!” she gasped.

  The handsome German in her doorway responded only with a smile.

  Madison’s legs
went weak.

  She gulped.

  The room spun.

  She collapsed to the floor.

  ~*~

  “Is she all right?” Shan whispered.

  “I think she hit her head.” The male voice held concern.

  “No, that bump was already there.”

  “Why?”

  “She beat up her desk.”

  “She did what?” The concern turned to confusion.

  Madison forced open her eyes. She pulled herself to a sitting position, ignoring the pounding in her head. She tried to focus on the two people crouched beside her on the floor. Shan’s image swam into view along with a male figure that made Madison feel certain she was in a dream.

  “Wake up,” she commanded herself out loud. “Wake up! Right now.”

  “Oh, no, she’s gone cuckoo.” Shan tilted her head and spoke loudly to Madison, as if the increase in volume would make a difference. “You are awake, Partner.”

  A masculine chuckle sounded from Madison’s right and for the first time, she looked closely at the man who had entered her office and caused this whole commotion.

  “You really know how to make a guy feel willkommen—welcome,” he joked.

  “Carsten?” Madison whispered. “But how? Why did—I don’t understand.”

  “That makes two of us,” Shan responded, gaze moving from Madison to Mr. Erlichman and back again. “Who’s Carsten?”

  Madison realized she was still sitting on the ground and struggled to rise. Carsten’s arm shot out to steady her, and when his fingers touched her hand, it felt as if her entire arm burst into flame.

  Shan’s eyebrows rose. “Do you two know each other?”

  Madison glared at her partner. “Do I hear the phone ringing?”

  Shan shook her head innocently. Madison’s eyes narrowed further.

  “Oh, that phone.” Shan shot Madison a look that said you had better explain this later and then left the room.

  Madison took a deep breath to steady herself and attempted to twist her skirt back into its proper position on her hips. She briefly wondered if she had flashed anyone during her collapse, then realized it didn’t really matter. This situation couldn’t get any more embarrassing than it already was.

  Daring to glance up, she caught Carsten watching her with a steady gaze, and felt flustered once again. Why wasn’t he saying anything?

  “Maybe we should start over,” she began, trying desperately to put some edge of professionalism back into her voice. “I’m sorry about fainting. I don’t think I ate enough lunch today. We’ve been awfully busy. Perhaps you’d like a cup of coffee? Starbucks it’s not, but it’s hot, at least.” She rambled on, and with a sweep of her arm, motioned to the coffee system on the counter across the room. In doing so, she slammed her knuckles into the sharp corner of her desk.

  “Oh!” Madison stuffed her scraped fingers into her mouth.

  Carsten reached out and assisted Madison into her desk chair.

  “There now,” he said,” Let me see your hand.” Madison, rendered helpless just by the sound of his voice, surrendered her knuckles to his inspection.

  “Just a scrape,” Carsten announced after a brief check of her hand. He gently raised her hand to his mouth and brushed his lips across her injury. “All better,” he whispered, not dropping her gaze.

  Madison snatched her hand back as if it were on fire, certain her heart would at any moment beat right out of her chest and go bouncing across her office.

  “Perhaps we should begin discussing your business,” Madison stated, pretending she still couldn’t feel the imprint of his lips on her knuckles. She motioned for Carsten to take the chair on the other side of the desk.

  Obediently, he dropped into the suggested leather seat and smiled. “Business, you say?”

  “Yes. Business. You’re here for a reason, I presume?” Other than giving her a stroke at age twenty-five, of course.

  “Still in a hurry, aren’t you Maddie?” Carsten responded, his eyes gleaming with something indefinable. “I suppose some things never change, no matter how much time or distance has been spent.”

  Madison mentally caught her jaw before it dropped, and squared her shoulders. “I’ll have you know that I happen to take plenty of time for myself, thank you very much. As if it’s any of your business.”

  Carsten’s eyebrows rose and he leaned forward, elbows braced on his knees, to look her straight in the eyes. “What’s your favorite television program?”

  Madison’s mouth went dry and her mind raced to think of the name of a current series or sitcom, any show at all. But she had none, because she never watched TV. She worked nonstop. How does he know this much about me?

  “That’s what I thought.” He settled back into the chair.

  Madison closed her eyes briefly, determined to compose herself and regain the upper hand in the conversation. How can you regain what you never had, Madison? Her eyes flew open and she decided to concentrate on the file in front of her.

  “Your file mentions you have inherited an estate. That’s very interesting. Where is it located? How many square feet?” Madison went through the checklist questions like clockwork, having done so hundreds of times with other clients. She doodled on the edge of the page, hoping she appeared to be taking notes instead of reeling with shock.

  “Montana.”

  Madison’s head jerked up. She stared at Carsten in disbelief. “I’m sorry, I thought you said Montana.”

  “Big Sky Country, so I hear,” Carsten replied with a grin. “When do we leave?”

  3

  Madison wasn’t sure how much time passed as she sat in her desk chair with her mouth hanging open like a five-year-old seeing FAO Schwartz for the first time. What had just happened? The morning had started off normal enough. Never in her wildest imagination had Madison ever pictured the very star of her midnight dreams waltzing back into her life as casually as she strolled in to Starbucks every morning.

  She stared at Carsten across the desk. How did this man make time seem to stop? Madison remembered a snowy night not so long ago when the world ceased to spin and everything in the universe held its breath as an unlikely couple shared a heart bonding kiss…Madison’s cheeks warmed at the memory and she cleared her throat, snapping back into reality. Get it together, girl. That was a long time ago. Be professional!

  Reality, however, remained a bit cloudy, for the very object of her dreams was still sitting in his chair, now chewing a piece of gum as if he wasn’t a part of her personal life-altering catastrophe.

  “Let me get this straight.” Madison cleared her throat. ”You’re asking me to leave New York and go to Montana with you to decorate your ranch house?”

  Carsten nodded as though there were no reason at all for her to be so dramatic.

  “How did a German like yourself inherit a ranch in the States, anyway?” Madison drummed her pencil in an impatient rhythm against the file folder on her desk.

  “A close friend of the family just passed on, and I have decided to make it my home away from home while I am in America.” Carsten smiled warmly and Madison’s stomach did a flip.

  “Do you do a lot of business in the U.S.?”

  “Some.”

  “Whereabouts?”

  “Here and there.”

  Madison furrowed her brow and wondered why she rarely got a straight answer from him.

  “So, I ask again, when can we get started?” Carsten scooted forward in his chair and leaned eagerly toward Madison.

  He winked, and Madison tried desperately to remember all the reasons why she couldn’t run off to Montana with this man.

  “I don’t know how things work in Germany, but I can’t just take off across the country without notice.” Madison found it was much easier to talk while avoiding eye contact, so she again glanced down at the file on her desk. She shuffled some pages.

  Carsten waited in silence.

  Fighting a blush, Madison added. “Plus, it wouldn’t be
proper for me to stay there with you alone. Assuming, of course, there is no Mrs. Erlichman?” Her voice trailed off.

  Carsten propped his chin on his fingers. “No wife. I have staff there. We would not be alone.”

  “Women staff, included?” Madison held her breath. She told herself that knowing this could be a deciding factor, if indeed she lost her sanity and agreed to go, but even she heard a hint of jealousy in her tone as she tried to ignore the fact that his declaration of bachelorhood had sent her heart into an erratic rhythm. How had he remained single? Were all the women in Germany blind?

  “Certainly. The ranch is run by a dear friend of my father’s. If I remember correctly, her cooking is sehr gut.” Carsten smiled.

  Madison gulped and tried to think of another obstacle. She knew she could leave the business for a few weeks. Shan was more than capable of taking care of their pickier clients, and the rest could wait until she returned. This would, of course, bring in a great paycheck… Madison blinked as she realized how close she was to traipsing off across the country with a man she had met once in what might as well have been a dream.

  At least his sudden reappearance confirmed that the night long ago had, indeed, happened. Some days, she’d not been entirely sure.

  Her cellphone rang, a sharp interruption to her run-away thoughts. She glanced at the number, and didn’t recognize it. “Excuse me.” She turned sideways in her chair and flipped open the phone. “This is Madison.”

  “Hello. I’m calling in regards to the angel you recently purchased online.”

  Madison sat up straighter. “Yes, I received the package today. The delivery was very prompt. I appreciate that.” She glanced at Carsten, who was watching her with a grin. She looked away.

  “You don’t understand. I need the angel back.” The tone darkened.