by Alexie Aaron
Mia walked with the two for a while and parted ways at Michigan Avenue. Mia headed to Father Alessandro’s parish house. He had told her that morning that he would make time for her.
As Mia walked, she observed the city. It had been awhile since she been there alone. The place was noisy but not unpleasantly so. She smiled at a group of tourists who blocked the crosswalk. She managed to help them navigate their way to Navy Pier. Avoiding the dead-walking was a bit harder. By the time Mia reached the parish house, she was exhausted.
The interior of the brick building was cool. She was informed that the priest would be down in a moment. Mia was invited to have a seat in the front parlor. She took one look at the ghost-filled room and declined. She leaned against the doorway and eyed the priests who had yet to catch a ride on the light.
“Sorry about that,” Father Alessandro said from beside her. “They’re worried about purgatory.”
“Aren’t we all,” Mia commiserated. “I’m to take you to lunch. Ralph gave me fifty bucks, so let’s spend it all.”
“I know just the place,” he said, extending his arm. Mia took it, and the two left the building.
“I’m happy that you were available,” Mia said, meaning it.
“I’m glad I was vague enough so Audrey insisted that you come,” he teased. “I’ll do anything to get to spend time with you.”
“I’m really touched. Also, filled with guilt. It’s been too long.”
“I understand the N’awlins trip knocked the snot out of you.”
“Which one?”
“Did you go again?” he asked.
“Come on, I’m sure Angelo would have tattled on me to Father Santos.”
“You have me intrigued,” the priest said. “I was aware that you had been down there with the Guiding Lights.”
“Yes, and I accidently got myself engaged to a teenaged demon, so I had to go back, and Angelo went along to help me.”
“I bet you didn’t have to twist his arm.”
“No.”
They rounded the corner, and Father Alessandro pointed out a sidewalk café. “They have the best Sangria in the city. Let’s get plowed.”
“Let’s.”
Only after the priest had ordered for the both of them and Mia had finished her first glass of fruited wine did the priest push her to tell him the rest of the story.
“I think Angelo’s error was to just read your mind. He didn’t take your heart into the equation. Don’t be too hard on the birdman, Mia. Angelo’s mother spoiled him, and he thinks he can have anything he wants.”
“He can’t have me,” Mia said firmly.
“Good. But you are in love with the farmer, aren’t you?”
Mia looked at him. He seemed for a split second to be out of focus. Did the wine already go to her head?
“Maybe a wee bit?” The priest moved his finger and thumb together and apart trying to get Mia to respond.
“Explain what it is like to be in love,” she requested.
Father Alessandro scowled at her a moment but then smiled, as he was never one to pass up a challenge. “You can’t wait to see him. You want to touch him and have him touch you even if you are breaking God’s laws.”
“By your description, I’m not in love with Stephen Murphy. I admire him and appreciate his friendship, but I don’t want to play hide-the-axe-handle with the man.”
Father Alessandro roared with laughter.
“You don’t have to tell me you’re in love with Ted; I can see it. Bernard says he could tell Ted was the man for you months before you caught on.”
“How do you know Bernard?”
“He and I play cribbage every other Saturday. I met him through, let me see, I believe it was Paolo.”
“Small world,” Mia said.
Their meal arrived, and they ate in silence. Mia watched the priest enjoy the complicated salad he had ordered. She picked at the things she liked.
“What has happened to your appetite?” he asked when the waitress took their plates away.
“I don’t know. I’m not dieting. I’m just not hungry.”
“You’re not sick?”
“No, not anymore, and before you ask, I’m not pregnant.”
“I have to admit I was thinking along those lines. You are glowing, but I think it’s something else causing this glow.”
Mia shook her head. “You and your riddles.”
“You’ve been touched by an archangel,” he said quickly.
Mia didn’t say no, and she hid the panic that was making her uncomfortable. She poured another glass of wine.
“Which one, Michael?”
“Sariel put his hand on me for a minute.”
Father Alessandro looked hard at Mia. “Where did you come across him?”
“I’ll tell you after you fill out this questionnaire of Audrey’s,” Mia said, handing the priest the roll of papers and pen she had with her.
“You’re a sneaky one. Alright.” He looked down and began to write his answers. It took him five minutes to fill in the information Audrey needed. The priest handed Mia the papers but kept her pen. “You’ll get this back when I’m satisfied with your story.”
“Well played, Alessandro, well played,” Mia said. “It all started with a Gris Gris bag the grandmother of my driver made for me…”
Father Alessandro moved his hand. Mia took off her glove and gave the priest full access to the memories.
He sighed when he saw the angel before him. He was well acquainted with a few of the messenger angels, but this was the first time he had seen, at least through Mia’s eyes, one of the four unspoken archangels. When Mia had finished, he asked her to remember Sariel again. When he was satisfied, he let go of her hand.
“Paolo and I used to joke about seeing angels. But I never saw a warrior. He was magnificent, and contrary to lore, he had a sense of humor.”
“I think he was laughing at me.” Mia said in an east end accent, “The cheek of the girl asking to use my sword. She nearly sliced off her own ‘ead.”
“It was a nice touch, you giving him back the Gris Gris bag. But, Mia, that’s not what brought him.”
“Maybe it was my prayer,” Mia said.
“I hope it was your prayer. I find comfort in prayers,” Father Alessandro said. “It doesn’t matter whether they are answered or not. It’s that we were given a voice and a way to connect with the Supreme Being that matters.”
“I thought I had seen him in the light once,” Mia said. “I know he called to me when I was dying after…” Mia stopped and sat up straight and recited, “Come, sister of the light, come home...’"
Father Alessandro looked at Mia for a long while in silence. “You need to be careful, Mia. You’ve been called. Not by the light, but by the angels.”
“Murphy reached into my heart and helped it to beat correctly again, Father. I’m going to be fine.”
“My dear girl, you aren’t listening. You’ve been called. He put his sword into your hand. If ever there is a fight for this piece of real estate we call the earth, you’ve been recruited to fight with the angels. I wouldn’t tell Father Santos about this. It will just confuse him,” Father Alessandro requested.
“And you’re scaring me,” Mia said. “First, I accidently attach myself to a demon, then I get picked for the angelic dodgeball team. I’m almost afraid to leave the house now.”
“I envy you.”
Mia leaned over the table and took both the priest’s hands in hers and said, “Don’t. I’m just that girl that screamed in cemeteries, nothing more.”
The two finished the pitcher of Sangria between them. Mia managed to pay the bill, and the hostess called them a cab. She had the cab driver drop off the priest first. She promised Father Alessandro that she would speak with him soon. She got back in the cab and headed to Mike’s condo.
~
Someone was leaning on the doorbell. Mike opened the door, and Mia fell into his foyer. She lay there giggling on the wood flo
or.
He shut the door and squatted down. “What’s so funny?”
“I like your floor. Mikey. It’s so slippery,” she said, trying unsuccessfully to rise from her prone position.
“Mia Martin, you’re drunk and it’s barely past noon.”
“Father Ales… Ales… sandwich ordered Sangria and…”
Mike saw her start to turn green. He scooped her up and managed to get her to the toilet in time. He held her hair back while she emptied her stomach over and over again. When she had finished, she tried to get up and passed out.
“Why do you do this to me, Cooper?” Mike said. “Force me to be a gentleman.” He took off her vomit-splashed clothing, being careful of the important document she had stashed in her back pocket. He carried her to his bedroom, laid her on her left side and tucked the covers around her. He added a towel to the pillow just in case she had anything left to vomit. He took her clothes and tossed them in the washer. He returned to the bedroom to see the beautiful woman had kicked off her covers and lay there exposed in just her camisole, bra and panties.
“Jesus Mary and Joseph, Cooper,” he said, pulling the covers back over her.
He sat down next to her and studied her face as she slept. He wasn’t exactly immune to Mia’s charms, but he felt less lecherous and more protective of her the longer they knew each other. He knew that he would never be able to speak of this to anyone. Ted put up with Murphy sniffing around Mia, but damn, Ted wouldn’t be pleased that Mike spent the afternoon in bed with his wife, even if she was unconscious.
The washer buzzed, and Mike left the bedroom to put Mia’s clothes in the dryer. He wondered whether or not the old priest had gotten Mia drunk on purpose. Father Alessandro was a rascal. It would amuse him to know the predicament he had placed Mike in.
His phone rang, and he ran to get it. He didn’t want Mia waking up and blundering around the apartment unsupervised.
“Mike, this is Ralph. Now I know Mia’s probably not there yet, but could you stall her? Take her to the movies or something. You see, Bernard and I ran into some old friends, and they have their grandson with them. We decided to combine forces and take the boys to the zoo.”
“That sounds like fun,” Mike said, worried that the Lincoln Park Zoo was only minutes away from his condo.
“I’d like to postpone dinner until seven if that’s alright with you?”
“Fine, I didn’t know I was invited…”
“Silly me, Mia’s not there yet. Bernard is making lasagna, and Mia was going to invite you over to eat with us. We called her and found that she’d left her phone in the diaper bag. I’ve already fielded Ted’s calls. He and Cid are at a trade show in Rosemont, and they ran into some friends that they want to eat with. I offered to have Mia and Brian spend the night so the boys could have a lads’ night out.”
“I could take them home,” Mike offered.
“That’s sweet of you, but I’d love to keep Mia here another night. She is so much fun.”
Mike looked in at Mia. She had the pillow pressed up against her nose and was drooling. “She’s a bundle of fun alright. I’ll have her there a smidge before seven.”
“Thank you! I owe you one.”
Mike looked down at Mia and walked over, sat on the edge of the bed, and pulled her hair back and braided it. Next, he brought back a cool cloth and wiped the drool off her face. Mia opened her eyes.
“Hello,” she said, still drunk.
“Hello, Mia, how are you feeling?”
“Woozy. Father Alessandro said some stuff, and I must have drunk too much.”
“You didn’t eat much.”
“How’d you know?”
“I was your handmaiden in the bathroom.”
“Oh. Sorry, Mikey. Why am I in bed?”
“You passed out.”
“Oh, I thought I seduced you.”
Mike started laughing. “Why would you think that?”
“Because I was thinking about it…” she said and fell asleep.
“This has to be some kind of cosmic joke,” he said softly. He got up and walked into the living room. “I finally have a great relationship with Meg Armstrong, who’s a wonderful woman,” he proclaimed. “Mia is in love with her husband, that undeserving knucklehead, who is a friend and colleague.”
“Who’s the knucklehead?” Mia said, walking into the living room wrapped in Mike’s top sheet.
“Your husband must be, to have you thinking about seducing me.”
Mia blushed. “No, he’s awesome, but too good for me.”
“So then why are you here?”
“I came originally for your advice.”
“How did advice seeking turn into you showing up drunk and wanting to make love to me?”
“Father Alessandro said something which set me off on a self-destructive path.”
“Tell me.”
“I asked him to explain the difference between loving someone and being in love with someone. He said, ‘You can’t wait to see him. You want to touch him and have him touch you even if you are breaking God’s laws.’”
“Mia, that’s lust. You asked a celibate old fart about being in love. So you can’t wait to see me? If I remember right, you don’t like me that much.”
“But I do. We used to be married.”
“That was a ruse. How much did that old fart pour down your throat?” he said, putting his hand on her head.
“My head hurts,” she admitted.
“I know, and it’s going to hurt more soon. Let’s see if we can get some water to stay down.”
“He said an angel recruited me. I don’t want to fight with the angels,” Mia said.
The realization hit Mike hard. “You’re scared. You want to run away.”
Mia looked at Mike, not denying anything.
“You chose me because I’m the only one your stupid, jealous husband would leave you because of. Oh, Mia, you’ve got to pull yourself together.”
“No, you’re the only one that expects nothing of me,” Mia said quietly. “I don’t have to save the fucking world. I don’t have to explain why I saved Murphy. I don’t know why I do some things. I just do them.”
“Ted doesn’t care about those things. He just wants you, honey.”
Mia started crying. “Mike, Angelo read my mind and told me that Judge Roumain was inside of Ted when we conceived Brian.”
“How can he know?”
“Sighted people can see beyond the memory. They can revisit the incident. How do I reconcile the fact that my husband was taken advantage of that way?”
“So you’d rather run away with another man than tell him the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’ll have to find someone else. Screw Angelo, that ought to do it.”
“I don’t like Angelo.”
“I don’t either. Murphy hates him. Gee, Mia, you could solve all your problems if you fucked Angelo. I bet you’d even lose custody of Brian.”
Mia didn’t like the sobering effect Mike’s words had on her. She got up and ran into the bedroom and slammed the door.
Mike got up, walked over and stood outside the door. “Mia, I know you’re tired and scared. You’re the one everyone counts on to bring us through scary situations.”
The door opened. Mia stood there and said calmly, “Mike, I had to fight the king of purgatory to keep all of you safe. That’s not normal behavior.”
Mike started to laugh. “Oh, Mia, nothing about you is normal. That’s why you have all these men after you. You’re accepting of our faults. You see things in us that we don’t see ourselves. You want each one of us to reach our fullest potential. That’s very sexy. You took insecure, doughy Burt and made him happy. I admit I wanted that. When you blew past me and into Ted’s arms, I admit to being rather pissed. But I understood. You wanted something real, and Ted is as real as it gets.”
“I don’t want entities, birdmen, ghosts, or men wanting me. I’m not some sex toy or sword maiden. I ju
st want to live my life, use my gifts to help the lost and the innocent. The last thing I want is all this attention.”
“I never imagined the pressure you’re under.”
“Ted and I were used in the most intimate of ways, Mike. He would never have been taken advantage of in that way had he not been my husband.”
“You need to find a way to talk to Ted and tell him what you believe happened. If you lose him, then he’s not worthy of you, Mia. But I suspect he will do his best to understand. I don’t know what you’re going to do about Angelo. He seems to have integrated himself into your family. Even Murphy respects him. Mia, when Murphy declared himself, why didn’t you just disappear with him?”
“Mike, there are laws you break and laws you don’t.”
“He’s in love with you.”
“He thinks he is, but he’s not,” Mia said. “He wants things from me that aren’t impossible but, according to Father Santos, things that are unpardonable. He would be sought out and sent to the Dark World. I won’t have that happen. He doesn’t deserve that.”
“Oh, Mia, you are such a complex person. On one hand, you want to save everyone, and on the other hand, you hate being the one that has to save everyone. You’re seeking out a negative solution to your present dilemma.”
Mia was so fully concentrating on what Mike was saying that she didn’t notice she had lost her grasp on the sheet. Mike pulled off his polo shirt and pulled it over her body before scooping her up and taking her away from the bedroom and the temptation that was starting to eat away at his resolve.
“When we were young, while you were dealing with being Crazy Cooper, I was the all-American, handsome, sought after male. But we had the same problem. We were getting attention we didn’t want. I dealt with it by using girls, then women, hoping a universal disgust of me would stop them from wanting Mike Dupree. You retreated further and further into your shell. You didn’t know how beautiful you were. All you knew was that Whitney Martin rejected you, and somehow that made you undesirable. That was the status quo until we came along.”
“I was pretty damaged by then,” Mia said.
“You were beautiful, but I was too damaged myself to see anything but a woman that wanted no part of me. Mia, had we met when we were children, we may have been able to save ourselves a few generations of grief. Or become mortal enemies. But destiny didn’t see it that way. Over these years, you healed me. But I see that I haven’t returned the favor. I can teach you how to avoid these lechers, be them human or not, but I won’t make love to you, no matter how much I want it to happen.”