Not wanting to argue right after our engagement, I’ve closed my mouth about the wedding destination for now, anyway. I have a feeling I’ll have everyone’s vote on my idea when our families get here. If mine is coming.
Kicking the door closed behind us, Blaine pads over to the bed and places me on it gently. “Here you go, baby. Climb in under those covers, and I’ll join you in just a minute.”
He heads toward the bathroom while I get under the blankets and snuggle down, already feeling sleep coming for me. Pulling my hand out from under the blanket, I take one last look at the gorgeous ring he gave me to make sure this is all real.
Blaine not only wants to get married ASAP, but start our family as well. He’s a man on a mission. I think it’s safe to assume that he will pursue me tenaciously until a little stick lets him know I’m carrying his child.
The light of the full moon that’s peeking through the sheer curtains reflects off the ring. It glimmers and glows with the light, and my heart skips a beat as I think about the future.
Mrs. Blaine Vanderbilt is the name I will soon carry. Nurse Richards will be no more, and Nurse Vanderbilt will be the one who watches over the sick children at the hospital.
Blaine comes out of the bathroom and catches me gazing at the ring. “You really do like it, don’t you?”
“It is a thing of great beauty, Blaine. You made an excellent choice. I know I’d never have chosen this for myself. It looks too expensive. And please never tell me what you paid for it. I’m already afraid to wear it. You know, because I might lose it.”
He climbs into the bed, laying out on his back next to me, and pats his chest, his gesture for me to lay my head on it. This is the way he likes to fall asleep every night since we moved in together.
His arm goes around me, holding me and making me feel safe, secure, and loved. Slipping my hand under the blanket, I settle in and know my dreams will be the sweetest ever. He’s made me happier than I was before somehow. I was pretty damn happy before he proposed, so that was some feat.
“Before I let you fall asleep, I want to ask you a question, and I want you to give me your honest answer,” he says as he runs his hand through my hair. “Do you really not want to be married in Vegas?”
“I really don’t. I didn’t have a lot of dreams about the day I got married, but I don’t think the sound of slot machines and tons of strange people being around is how I want to start our marriage. I want it small, with family and friends around. A quaint, little affair.” I turn to look at him and find him smiling at me.
“I don’t think they have slot machines in the wedding chapels there. But I get what you’re saying, and I don’t want you to go to sleep thinking we are on opposite sides. I will put my problems to the side and give you what you want. That day should be what you want it to be, rather than me being selfish about that.”
“Really? You would really put whatever is bothering you about the hospital out of your mind and actually enjoy having the wedding there? Because I want you to enjoy it too,” I say as I search his eyes for the truth.
His hand moves in a soft caress across my back as he looks into my eyes. “As a husband and father, I will have to make sacrifices. Being selfish is a luxury I no longer have. Let me do this for you and for us. Let me put into practice how I will need to be if I’m going to be a great husband and father, which I’m striving for.”
“Then I will let you do that. I think you’ll enjoy it more than you think you will,” I say and lay my head back on his chest, feeling even better than I did before. I have a plan now, and that fills me with a content feeling.
“As long as I’m marrying you on that day, that’s all I need. It’s all I should need, right?” he asks, as if I could argue with his point.
“Of course. Now let’s get some sleep. I’m half expecting an early phone call from mom telling me they’ve decided to join us for Christmas. You do realize that means they’ll be staying here for a few days?”
“Few days?” he asks, then chuckles. “Baby, they can stay until after the wedding, which will be next week. We can take them shopping for clothes to wear, and I’ll get the settlement all squared away. They will leave our house with a bank account the likes they probably haven’t even dreamt of.”
“My parents are going to be rich?” I ask as I look at him with renewed energy, as I just never realized what would happen for them if they accepted his settlement. I never thought about them being rich!
“Yes, they will be rich. I also will be throwing in a house for them. I have one on a Lake Tahoe and one on the beach in Miami. Which one do you think is more their speed?” he asks me with a grin as he runs his fingertips along my shoulder, sending chills through me.
“Lake Tahoe, definitely. How big is the house? It can’t be too big. Mom’s getting too old to clean a big house.”
“It comes with a staff. You should know that by now, Delaney. And it’s big. A log-cabin-style mansion,” he says, and my blood really gets pumping.
I sit up and laugh. “My God, Blaine! They’re going to think they’ve died and gone to heaven!”
“Pops wouldn’t let me give him hardly anything. A Cadillac last Christmas was the first thing he actually accepted. I bought that place for him and took him up there, and he flatly refused to live there. Even when I told him he could have Kate or Kent or both of them live there too, he refused it.”
“That’s kind of sad. You just wanted him to be happy. I’m sorry.” Leaving a kiss on his cheek, I lay back down on his chest and run my finger through the sunken line between his abs. “I wonder why he wouldn’t let you do that for him.”
“Stubborn pride and the fact he saw my money as bad money—money taken from people who really needed it and needed the things they purchased to be worth the money they paid for it. And he hated the fact that I ran small, privately-owned businesses out of business,” he says with a sad tone to his deep voice.
“But you’re changing all that. Too bad it took his death for you to see it needed changing.”
“Yes, too bad about that.” He kisses the top of my head. “Let’s go to sleep. baby. We have a big day tomorrow. We have to heat up all that Christmas dinner Roxy made for us.”
“At least I don’t have to really cook,” I say and close my eyes. “Goodnight, Blaine. I love you.”
“I love you, Delaney. Good night.”
BLAINE
The snapping of branches tells me someone is coming. From out of the darkness emerges a single light. It hovers six feet over the snow-covered ground. The sound of the footsteps stops, but no person stands where I thought I’d see one.
The full moon’s light overhead filters through the dense forest. How I got here, I don’t know. An owl hoots from far away and the light in front of me grows larger and glows brighter until there is nothing but light in front of me.
The flapping of wings fills my ears as the light is so bright I have to shield my eyes. Then it goes dark—completely dark—until the moon’s light has vanished.
My eyes adjust to the darkness as a booming voice calls out, “You’ve asked for something.”
“Who are you?” I ask as I begin to see two large, round, yellow eyes a few feet in front of me.
“Who,” he says.
“Yes, who are you?” I ask again.
“I am Who.” He moves a step closer, and somehow, I can see him. It’s as if he has an inner glow and he is a six-foot-tall owl. “And you asked for something, didn’t you?”
“I’m not sure what’s going on. Where am I?” I ask as I look behind me for any sign of light and only see large trees shrouded in darkness. “And why am I talking to a giant owl?”
“You are talking to an average-sized owl where I come from. And you are here, in the primordial forest. In this place, magic can happen. And what you have asked for requires magic.”
“You must be talking about what I asked Santa for when I met up with him yesterday. You have to be talking about Meagan Sanders. I aske
d for her to get better. Are you here to grant that wish, Who?” I ask the tall bird with fluffy, white feathers and glowing, yellow eyes.
“It is only you who has the power to grant that wish. Are you prepared to pay the price for her to get better?” He moves one wing out, showing the ultra-white underside of his easily five-foot long wing, as if he’s pointing in that direction. “If you will come with me, I can show you what it will take to make your wish come true. Then you can decide if you’re willing to pay that price.”
He starts hopping away and I follow him. “I thought prayers worked differently than this.”
His head spins around and he looks at me. “Oh, you didn’t ask for that in a prayer. You wished for it. That’s the difference. Yes, prayers require no trade. Why didn’t you think to ask for her health to be returned in that form? That would’ve been much smarter, don’t you think?”
“I suppose it would’ve. Can’t I change that now, though? Can’t I simply say a prayer now?” I ask and find the owl stopping and turning his body around too.
The tip of his wing touches my shoulder. The soft ends of the white feathers touch my cheek, and they are the softest things I’ve ever felt. “I’m sorry. Her life is in peril right at this moment. That’s why I came to get you. You made the wish instead of a prayer. You can always say one now if you want. No one can ever stop you from doing that, of course.”
I bow my head, close my eyes, and say, “Lord, I am asking for your help. Little Meagan Sanders is near death. She’s just a little girl. I’m asking for you to please let her get better. End her suffering. Please, Lord. Amen.” I open my eyes and look at the owl. “Do you think that worked?”
“How should I know? I’m in the wish department, not on the prayer side of things.” He shrugs his feathered shoulders. “Do you want to continue on with your wish or end things here and see what happens?”
“Will I have another chance to go through with this if the prayer doesn’t work out?” I ask as I weigh the odds.
“No, this is it.” He stares into my eyes with his yellow eyes glowing as if a fire is inside of them.
“I’m not sure what to do. Will I have a choice about what the payment for her life is?”
He shakes his head, and I find myself wondering what price I am willing to pay. “You know she is not yours to worry over. You don’t have to do a thing. You’ve made your prayer. Who would expect any more from you?”
“I’m just afraid of what will be asked in exchange for her life. You see, I’ve begun my life now. I have a woman I’m about to marry and we want children. We’re already working on our first. There are some things now that I will not trade. If I’m asked to trade any of their lives, I won’t do it.”
“I have no idea what you’ll be asked to trade. I do know it’s always something which is dear to you. I should let you know, most who are given this rare opportunity do not go through with it. They find the trade-off too hard to make.”
I think about what he’s said and wonder what I would give up for little Meagan to live. Then it hits me. “She is in God’s hands, isn’t she?”
The owl merely shrugs. “How am I to know that? I am in the wish department, remember? That God stuff is something I’m not a part of. I am the creature who hears a wish, and some I give the opportunity to see their wishes come true. Wishes come to me, while prayers go to another place. So, do you wish to continue?”
An odd sensation runs through me. With sudden clarity, I know what my answer has to be. “No. No, Who, I do not wish to continue. She is in the best hands she could be in. Who am I to get in the way of what God has in store for her? Who am I to judge him? Who am I to think I know better than our creator?”
A flash of light startles me and I fall back on the snow-covered ground. “Ouch!”
Chapter 2
DELANEY
“Blaine! Wake up and look outside. It’s snowing!” I shout, then feel terrible as he falls out of the bed, landing on his ass.
“What the hell?” he says as he looks at me with a disoriented expression.
I rush to help him up and stifle a laugh. “I’m sorry I shouted and woke you up that way. But I was so surprised when I saw the flakes of snow falling past the window. I got up and pulled the curtains back, and when I saw the ground already covered in snow and more falling, well, I got excited. Houston hardly ever gets snow.”
“Yeah, I know,” he says and looks around the room as I help him up. “It’s just that I was having a very odd dream, and in it, I fell on the snow-covered ground, and that’s when I woke up. It’s so weird.”
“You must’ve incorporated my words in your sleeping mind,” I offer as he looks completely out of it.
“Whatever it was, it felt real.” He takes my hand and pulls me down on my knees as he goes down on his too, next to the bed. “Delaney, will you pray with me for Meagan? She was near death in my dream and I’d like it if you and I prayed for her right now.”
Tears immediately spring to my eyes, and I nod. “But Blaine, you shouldn’t ask for what you want. You should ask for what’s best for her in his eyes. And you should ask for the strength to handle whatever that may be.”
“Okay, I think I have the ground rules down. And thank you for doing this with me and not making me feel like a fool about wanting to do this with you.”
Running my hand over his cheek, I say, “I am going to be the other part of you. Never feel like I’ll make fun of anything you do or want me to be a part of. Especially where God and prayer are concerned.”
“And that’s what makes you perfect wife material, Delaney.” He kisses my cheek, then gestures for me to bow my head. Taking my hand, he lays our clasped hands on the bed between us.
As he starts praying out loud, I echo his words silently in my own head. I can see he is passionate about having someone hear his pleas for the little girl.
“Lord, I am just a human. I have no control, nor want any. I only want you to hear me when I say I care for that little girl who may be close to death right now. I know she is sick for certain, and I’d like to voice my concern over her. Lord, I am asking you to help her. I am asking you to do what’s best for Meagan Sanders. I am also asking for your help for me to handle whatever that will be. And while I have your ear, I’d like to also ask for you to do what’s best for Terry, Colby, Tammy, and little Adam, too, as well as all the rest of the sick children in the entire world. I know that’s a lot to ask for, but I have the faith that on this day, the day you gave us your son and our savior, that you have the ability to make miracles happen. I’d love it if Meagan Sanders could be the recipient of one today. No matter what that miracle is, Lord, I will accept it. In Jesus name, we pray to you, Amen.”
My heart sores as I can feel it in the room, Blaine has completely given this over to God, and for the first time, I can hear it in his voice. He does believe!
Turning to him, I take him in my arms and hug him, then I feel wetness on my shoulder and know he’s crying. “Shh. It’s going to be okay.”
“I know it will. I do.” He sniffles and pulls back to look at me.
Seeing tears go down the handsome man’s face does more to me than I expected it would. It sends pure love in a rush all over my body. “I can see it in your eyes. You get it now, don’t you?”
“I think so. I think I understand that this world is not ours to control. We should do the best we can for one another while we’re here. But all the begging and pleading a person can do won’t stop even one thing from happening. All we can do is pray for the best to happen and for the strength to accept it if it means that person has to leave their body. And one day, we will all meet again, in another place.”
“That’s what I believe too, Blaine.” Kissing his cheek, I get up, pull him up with me, and take him to look out the window. “And we have snow on Christmas. Now, that’s a real gift from God, don’t you think?”
His fingers touch my chin, and I look up at him. “You are my gift, Delaney. He sent me to that h
ospital to find you. The moment I laid my eyes on you, I knew something was happening. Your hatred of me was a thing I had to make it past, but when I did, I knocked those walls all the way down. I will thank him for you every day until he gives me my last breath.”
His emotions get the best of me, and I start crying and have to hug him, hiding my face in his chest. “Blaine, you’re so sweet.”
“I think you are, and I’ll strive to be the man you deserve. You are an angel. You are my angel and you’re one to those kids you take care of too. I’ll never try to take you away from that. So you should be prepared for me to make myself just as much a part of that part of your life too.”
“You already are. Having you visit doesn’t have to stop with the holidays. You can still bring cheer to the kids who find themselves in that place that’s so scary to most of them and boring to nearly all of them.”
Lifting me up, he carries me back to bed. “We have a few more hours to sleep, and I’ve just decided to add something to our morning. A quick visit to the kids is in order, I think.”
Crawling back under the blankets, I watch the snow fall, as I’ve left the curtains open. “It’s just gorgeous out there. The full moon and the white snowflakes that seem to be dancing around in the gentle breeze. It’s hard to close my eyes with a scene like this going on.”
Putting his arm around me, he pulls me close so I can lay my head on his shoulder. Our heads touch as we both gaze out the window. “It is nice to see,” he says, then sighs. “I don’t believe this was on the weatherman’s radar last night. I wonder where this came from.”
“The North Pole, I suspect,” I say with a laugh.
As I lie here with him on our first Christmas, I have to thank God for him too. He is my gift as well. The best one I’ve ever had!
BLAINE
The morning is perfect. A nice blanket of snow completely covers the ground as we pull out of the garage in the four-wheel-drive truck. Snow is still falling, though nowhere near as thickly as it was during the early morning hours.
Under Her Skin Page 92