by S. J. West
I looked at Brand. His brow was creased in worry.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, not understanding how knowing about Lilith answered our questions concerning Lucifer’s plans for me.
“Lilith wasn’t just the first woman,” he whispered, though I couldn’t be sure it was so my grandmother wouldn’t hear or he just couldn’t bring himself to say the words. “She was the only human who could phase into heaven anytime she chose.”
“How?”
“We never knew. God never told us how she was able to do it exactly.”
The pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place.
“Is that why Lucifer wants me? Does he think he can use me to get back into Heaven?”
“It has to be,” Brand said. “But I don’t understand why.”
“What do you mean?”
“Even if he possessed your body and used you to get into heaven, why would he do it? He has to know God would just cast him out again. We’re missing something.” Brand remained quiet, deep in his own thoughts about why Lucifer’s plan included using me to get back into Heaven.
When my grandmother came back out, she had a folded quilt in her arms. From what I could see, it was a white, hand-stitched quilt with pink material cut out and sewn to resemble the circular pattern of rose petals with green material cut out in the shape of leaves and pink piping along the edge.
“I want you to take this as a wedding present,” my grandmother said. “My mother made it for me when I married Amos. I always hoped to be able to give it to your mother when she married. Did she ever marry?”
“No,” I said shaking my head. I stood from my chair to take the quilt from her arms.
“Then I give it to you. I will pray that your marriage is long and that you both have a wonderful life together.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, touched that she seemed to feel enough of a connection with me to pass down such a precious heirloom.
Since the house was so quiet and the walls thin, we could clearly hear the voice of a man saying “Whoa”, a horse baying, and the rattle of a carriage as it came to a stop in front of the house near Brand’s car.
“That’ll be Amos,” my grandmother said, turning toward the sound. “Let me go out and tell him you’re here.”
She may have been outside, but they might as well have been inside the house. Brand and I could hear their conversation clearly.
When my grandmother explained my presence, I heard my grandfather say, “Since I have no daughter, I do not have a granddaughter. I will be in the barn until they leave.”
I could hear the crunching of his feet as he walked across the gravel from his horse drawn carriage to the large red barn beside the house. My grandmother had warned me this might be his reaction, but I was ill prepared for it. I couldn’t help but feel like someone had slapped me in the face. Brand came to stand beside me and put a comforting arm around my back.
When my grandmother came back in, I could tell the pleasure of seeing me had been tempered with my grandfather’s refusal to even be in the same room as me.
“He has some things to tend to before sunset,” she explained. I was sure she knew we had heard his words. She had probably lived in this house most of her life. She would know the walls weren’t thick enough to drown out their voices from the outside.
“We should probably be going,” I told her, not wanting to cause her any more trouble with my grandfather. “Can I write to you?” I asked unsure if that would be permitted.
“Please do,” my grandmother said as she walked up to me and put a loving hand on top of the one I had resting on the quilt. “I want to know all about your wedding and your life. Are you still in school?”
“Yes, I’m in my first semester of college.”
“Oh, how wonderful. We don’t school past the eighth grade, but I always thought it would fun to learn more. Please try to keep in touch and come see me again when you can. Perhaps your mother would join you. I desperately want to see her.”
“I’ll try to get her to come,” I said. “But I can’t promise you she will. I think she’s still hurt by what happened before.”
Even if my grandfather didn’t want to have anything to do with me or my mother, my grandmother did. What I had assumed earlier was true about my visit having one of two outcomes, except I had both of my hypothesis come to fruition.
“There’s one other thing,” Brand said pulling out one of Allan’s DNA kits from his jacket pocket.
“Would it be all right if we took a DNA sample from you? We only want to compare it to Lilly’s.”
“What would I have to do?”
It only took a second for Brand to collect the DNA he needed from the inside of my grandmother’s cheek. I thanked her once again for her help and hugged her before I left. I had no way of knowing if it would be the only time I ever saw her again or not, so I kissed her gently on the cheek and told her goodbye.
When Brand and I, stepped outside to get back into his car, I happened to glance toward the barn, wondering if I might catch a glimpse of my grandfather before I left.
He was standing at the door to the barn leaning against its opening watching us with hooded eyes. He stood tall in a plain black suit and white shirt with a straw hat on his head. His jaw was covered with a mustache-less long white beard. I couldn’t tell what the expression on his face was exactly from the distance between us. I assumed I was probably imagining the yearning I thought I saw in his eyes to come and speak with me. I didn’t know what else to do so I nodded my head to him curious to know if he would at least acknowledge my existence. After a few seconds, he nodded back.
I got into Brand’s car and we drove back down the gravel driveway. As we left, I wondered if given enough time, maybe my grandfather would change his mind about meeting me. I made a note to myself to put it on my wish list of things to do in the time I had left.
As soon as we left my grandparent’s home and made it back onto the highway, Brand phased us to his house. He turned off the engine and we both just sat in the car, each silently contemplating the information we had just received.
“What do you think it all means?” I finally asked, turning to look at him.
“I’m not sure, but I think we need to tell the others what we learned. Maybe they can help us, especially Will. He’s been around Lucifer the most. He might know information he doesn’t even realize is important and be able to piece things together.”
We went inside the house and Brand made a few phone calls. Malcolm came right over and Will picked up Tara and Malik on the way. We all sat around the dining room table. Brand and I told them the information we had gathered from my grandmother. Will and Malcolm were as surprised as Brand had been that Lilith was able to hide her child with Adam so completely.
“Well He must have known,” Malcolm said sitting back in his chair. “But why would He hide it from us?”
“He who?” Tara asked. “God?”
“Yes,” Malcolm answered.
“He must have had his reasons,” Will said. “But he allowed her other children to be killed, the ones she had with my kind.” Will sat back in his chair with a heavy sigh. “I guess I should have suspected Lilith’s connection before now. It just didn’t occur to me she would have had a child who actually survived.”
“Don’t beat yourself up too much about it,” Malcolm said. “None of us thought of it.”
“So you think Lilly has inherited the ability to enter heaven like Lilith?” Malik asked.
“It seems like a logical conclusion,” Brand answered. “But we still don’t understand why Lucifer would want to use her to go back.”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Malcolm agreed. “Even if he did manage to go there, he would just be kicked out again. Where’s the logic in that?”
“Do you have any ideas, Will?” Brand asked.
Will shook his head. “No, I don’t know what the purpose would be either. We’re still missing something important.”
; Brand sighed. I knew he hoped Will might have an insight the rest of us lacked, but it looked like Will was as clueless as we were.
“I have a question,” I said. “If Lilith’s children with Will’s kind were all killed, why let me live for so long?”
“Good question, dearest,” Malcolm sat back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. “A few of the angels were ordered to destroy her children almost as soon as they were born. It does seem odd that you would be allowed to live when they were not.”
“It must mean God has a plan for you,” Brand said to me. I felt like he was grasping for some sign to give me hope. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.”
I wasn’t so sure how reassured I felt by his statement. We knew someone powerful wanted me dead, at least powerful enough to enlist the help of a group of fallen angels and a jinn. Could it be God? That didn’t seem likely. He could probably destroy me without having to use go betweens to get the job done. But if it wasn’t him, then who was it?
“Where do we go from here?” I asked, not seeing any way for us to find out the information we needed to know.
Brand slid his hand across the table and cupped it over mine.
“We concentrate on our lives. We plan the wedding of your dreams and keep an eye out for other clues. Something else is bound to happen to show us where we need to look next.”
Brand was so sure God had brought us together for a reason, but what if the reason wasn’t the idyllic ‘love conquerors all’ scenario we both wanted it to be?
“Well,” Tara said, standing from her chair. “I don’t know about y’all but all this talk has made me hungry. Why don’t you show me how to make them cookies you made for me the other night Prince Charming?”
Brand tried to put on a happy front for me. “Sure, I can do that.”
“Prince Charming?” Malik asked, standing from his chair.
“Yeah,” Tara answered, following Brand into the kitchen. “Lilly got Prince Charming and I always end up with the toads.”
“Hmm,” Malik said following them to the kitchen. “Maybe you’re just looking in the wrong places. You need a man, not a boy.”
Tara laughed. “Well, if you see one that fits the bill, you let me know.”
I saw Malik raise an eyebrow at her but he didn’t say anything else on the matter.
“You know how to play chess?” I heard Malcolm ask Will.
“Of course,” Will answered, which was the wrong answer if he had any intentions of leaving early. Malcolm quickly had him talked into playing a game. He phased to his house and retrieved his own chess board and pieces even though Brand told him he had one stored in the hall closet. I had a feeling Malcolm felt like he held an advantage by using his own game set.
As I sat on a stool at the kitchen counter watching Malik, Tara and Brand as they made cookies while trying not to get cookie dough everywhere intentionally or unintentionally. I looked over my shoulder at Malcolm and Will playing chess. Malcolm must have felt me watching them because he looked up at me and winked as his lips stretched into a contented smile. I smiled back. I was most definitely home.
“Hey,” Tara said while she and Malik were spooning the dough onto a cookie sheet. Brand came around the kitchen counter and stood behind me, putting his arms around me, kissing me lightly on the cheek. “Are y’all going to the Halloween Dance?”
“What Halloween Dance?” I asked.
“The one they’re having at the school. Ain’t you seen the posters up all over campus?”
“No, guess I’ve had too much on my mind to pay attention.”
“It’s Halloween night at the indoor stadium. Y’all should go.”
“Are you going?”
“Yeah, I already got asked out. I’m sure Prince Charming over there would take you.”
“Who asked you out? I thought I made it clear I was going to get to interrogate the next person you dated. We don’t need another Leroy incident.”
“Girl, you let me handle my own love life. You got enough to worry about as it is.”
“I’m going to it,” Malik announced, surprising us all.
Tara stopped spooning the dough and looked up at him. “With who?”
“Your friend from the library asked me to go with her, Cheryl.”
“Cheryl?” Tara asked, putting the hand with the spoon on her cocked hip. “When did she do that?”
“She asked me for my phone number when you went to the bathroom that day you showed me around the library.”
I could tell Tara wasn’t exactly pleased with this revelation, but she didn’t say anything else just continued placing the dough onto the cookie sheet.
“Can I come?” Malcolm called from the table, waiting for Will to make his next move. “It sounds like fun.”
“You have to come with a student,” Tara told him.
“Will can take me then,” Malcolm said matter-of-factly.
“How do you know I don’t already have a date?” Will questioned, a bit miffed.
“Because I know you. I’m sure you’re still pining away for Lilly hoping she’ll come to her senses and leave Brand for you. I think it’s time you gave up that particular fantasy. They’ll be married soon enough. Besides, maybe we can find a couple of unattached females at the party. With me as your wing man, you’ll have as many women as you want to choose from.”
I looked over at Malcolm worried about his plans. I didn’t like the idea of him in a stadium filled with attractive, scantily clad co-eds all looking for a good time. It was bad enough Malcolm looked the way he did but with the added benefit of his intoxicating pheromone I couldn’t imagine anything but trouble coming from the combination of the two. But, it definitely helped me make up my mind.
“So do you want to go to a dance with me?” I asked Brand, turning around on the stool into his arms.
He leaned down and kissed me chastely on the lips. I could only assume because of our houseful of company.
“You know I’ll do anything you want,” he murmured.
“Cool,” Tara said. “We can go costume shopping together.”
I hadn’t thought about buying a costume. We would definitely have to go look for some when Tara and I went ring shopping. I told her as much and we made plans to go that Thursday since we both got off work early. Halloween was the following Wednesday so there wasn’t much time to waste.
Chapter 18
That Thursday afternoon Tara and I went to the best jewelry store Lakewood had to offer, Clive Jewelers. We had an afternoon of shopping planned between picking out Brand’s wedding ring and shopping for costumes for the Halloween dance. Brand didn’t seem to care what he wore so he basically told me to just pick out a costume for him that matched whatever I chose to wear. Tara told me her and her date, a boy named Aaron from her chemistry class, had already decided to go as a hippie couple from the 60’s. I had no idea what I wanted to dress up as and hoped something would jump out at me when we went to the store.
The jewelry store was empty with the exception of a blonde haired man dressed in a well tailored blue suit browsing the merchandise when we arrived. After only a few minutes, I could tell Tara was in a bind the way she kept switching back and forth on her feet.
“Why don’t you go to the bathroom,” I finally whispered to her, “before you have an accident?”
“Well, I didn’t want to leave you alone,” she said. “You know you’re no good at bargaining. You’ll just take the first deal they give you.”
“I promise not to buy anything until you get back,” I told her.
“Ok, I won’t be but a minute.” She quickly went out the door to find the public restrooms in the small strip mall.
I had no idea what type of ring to get Brand. Would he want something flashy? No, that didn’t seem like him. He would want something sentimental, but how do you buy a piece of metal that has sentiment to it?
“Looking for a ring?”
I looked to my right and saw the other customer I had
first noticed when first entering the store. He was a handsome man around my mother’s age with wavy dark blonde hair and an easy, disarming smile which instantly made me feel like I had met him before. The small fine laugh lines at the corner of his eyes gave his face a boyish charm and the way his shoulders were slightly slouched and his open stance gave him the appearance of someone completely nonjudgmental and friendly. I felt inexplicably drawn to him. His soft, light blue eyes studied my face for a moment like he was watching my reaction to him before he turned his attention back to the glass counter of wedding bands I had been looking at.
“I’m trying to find one for my fiancé,” I answered, not quite sure why I felt so comfortable telling a stranger what I was doing.
“Ahh, a hard decision,” he said with an understanding nod. His voice was as comforting as the accompanying smile. “It’s usually best if you pick something you like. As long as you like it, he’ll like it. Men aren’t that picky when it comes to jewelry for themselves. I’ll bet your fiancé doesn’t even wear any, does he?”
“Well, now that you mention it, no,” I hadn’t thought about that. Great, what do you get a man who doesn’t really even like to wear jewelry?
“I’d go for something simple and classic,” the man said, unintentionally answering my question. “Probably just a simple band of some sort without any fancy embellishments.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” That certainly narrowed down the choices presented in the glass case. Not that I could afford anything with a load of diamonds on it anyway.
“He won’t care how much you spend on it either. He’ll be more interested in knowing you took the time to consider what he would want.”
The stranger’s words made sense. It would mean more to Brand if I picked out something I thought suited him. Maybe I could even get it engraved to make it more sentimental.
“I just bought something for my girlfriend,” the stranger told me. “They’re engraving it for me now. You might want to think about doing something like that.”