Touched by Angels

by Peggy Webb

  "It will as long as you don't meddle with it."

  She flounced out, and he sat at his desk laughing. His life had taken a wonderful turn and was getting better every day.

  o0o

  They had a garden wedding. Gwendolyn, gussied up in a lavender dress the salesgirl declared made her look twenty pounds lighter, bustled around the large guest bedroom of Townsend Mansion, putting the finishing touches on Sarah and Jenny.

  "You look like two angels," she said, fluffing the white organdy flounces of Jenny's dress.

  "That's what Jake calls us. His angels." Sarah adjusted her veil, then smoothed the folds of her ivory satin gown. The salesgirl had argued with her over the gown.

  "It's not proper to wear white at a second wedding," she had said.

  Sarah didn't worry about propriety. She didn't even have to worry about being practical and sensible all the time. Jake had not only given her love; he had also given her a freedom she had never known.

  She hugged herself. "I'm so happy I must be dreaming."

  "While you're dreaming, dream off about twenty pounds for me," Gwendolyn said. "It might make me fit this dress that old fool talked me into buying."

  "Old fool," Jenny said, giggling.

  Gwendolyn pretended horror. "Now I've done it. Jake will kill me."

  "You should hear what he taught her to say." Sarah laughed. "On second thought, maybe not."

  The sound of harp music floated up from the lawn. Sarah leaned her forehead against the window, looking down at the fairy-tale setting. Wedding guests sat in folding chairs under a white canopy. White carpet made a path between the guests to the minister. Violets in pots were banked everywhere. And waiting for her was Jake, a single yellow rose tucked into his lapel. Jake, her husband-to-be, her true love, her hero.

  She bent over her daughter. "It's time to go, Jenny."

  "Go ake?"

  "Yes, my darling. Go to Jake. We're about to become a family."

  "Good, good, good," Jenny said, clapping her hands.

  "I've got a bug in my eye," Gwendolyn said, dabbing away with her white handkerchief.

  "As long as it's a bug of happiness." Smiling, Sarah lifted the hem of her wedding gown and started toward the stairs. Jake was waiting.

  o0o

  He strained his eyes for the first glimpse of her. He supposed he looked calm enough, all spit and polish in his tuxedo. But inside he was laughing at himself. There he was, nearly forty years old, and as nervous as if he were the first man on earth to get married. That's what he felt like, the first man on earth. Adam, waiting for his Eve.

  He saw her—Sarah with her white dress and her white veil. The moment she stepped outside, the sun kissed her, gilding her hair and cheeks, outlining her exquisite body in gold. She was an angel straight from heaven. His angel.

  She came toward him, her gown whispering along the white carpet, her face radiant. He almost lost his breath looking at her. Soon she would be his, to love and protect and cherish forever. He waited for the old feelings to come, feelings of a dark interloper, stealing a treasure he had no right to. He waited and waited.

  Harp music floated around him. Birds sang in the trees overhead. A ray of sunlight filtered through the branches and crowned his head. A benediction. Joy filled him.

  He looked at Sarah and winked. Her lips were moving, without sound.

  "My hero," she was saying.

  And Jake knew he was.

  Epilogue

  Two years later

  o0o

  "You're going to wear the carpet out." Gwendolyn tugged Jake's arm as he passed by her chair. "Why don't you do like the rest of the men? Read a book. Have a cigar."

  "I don’t smoke, and I've read every book on the market." He sank into a chair beside her and raked his hands through his hair. "What if she's not all right? What if something happens to Sarah? What have I done, Gwendolyn?"

  She patted his arm. "You've done what any normal red-blooded American male would do. You've driven me crazy."

  He laughed, then gave her a sheepish look. "Am I that bad?"

  "Worse. The next time you plan to have a baby, don't call me."

  "You'd be jealous as hell if I didn't."

  Dr. Reinhart appeared in the doorway of the hospital waiting room.

  "Jake? She's ready. You can come back now."

  He stood up to leave. Gwendolyn grabbed his hand. "Jake, good luck."

  Sarah was waiting for him, her face shining with happiness and effort and sweat, her abdomen great with their child.

  She held out her hand. "Jake."

  He took It. "We're in this together. Sarah. We're a team, a family. Everything is going to be all right."

  "I'm not worried." She smiled at him. "Are you?"

  He had spent the last six weeks in an agony of worry. Fear for Sarah and his unborn child had so consumed him that Gwendolyn had threatened to bar him from his own office.

  "No." he lied. "I'm not worried."

  "As Jenny would say. good, good, good—oh." Sarah grimaced.

  "Are you in pain?"

  "No." If lying would protect the man she loved, Sarah was not above it. "But I think this baby is trying to tell us something."

  As if some invisible prompter had cued him. Dr. Reinhart appeared right on schedule. He gently poked and prodded and peered.

  "It's time," he announced.

  Jake held Sarah's hand as she was wheeled into delivery. He held her hand and wiped her brow as she entered the final stages of labor. And he watched with awe and reverence as his child entered the world.

  "It's a boy," Dr. Reinhart announced, holding the baby high. "A perfect baby boy."

  "Another hero," Sarah said, clinging to Jake's hand.

  The doctor handed the baby to Jake, who didn’t try to disguise his tears. He wanted his son to know that it was all right for heroes to cry.

  o0o

  Thirty years later Vanderbilt University

  Sarah and Jake walked the Vanderbilt campus hand in hand. The newness of spring burst around them, trees with fresh green leaves, flowers pushing up from the soil, sprigs of grass trying to become a lush carpet.

  The crowd around them hurried by, chattering and laughing. Graduation always brought with it a party atmosphere.

  "That day when we stood on the dusty road beside the helicopter, did you ever think we'd come this far?" Sarah asked, tipping her face up to look at her husband.

  "I never doubted it for a minute." Jake took her elbow and brought them to a halt. He wanted to spend some time enjoying the sight of his wife's face before they joined the crowd. Sarah had changed very little over the years. Her hair was still soft and golden, with a few gray strands giving it highlights. When she was anxious, she still tended to push at it, causing that same curl he'd loved for so many years to come loose and caress her cheek. Laugh lines fanned out from her blue eyes, and she still made a perfect heart shape with her mouth when she was surprised.

  Sarah reached up and touched his face, smiling. "I'm glad you chased me until you caught me."

  Jake chuckled. "I still do."

  "That's because I let you."

  "If we weren't in a public place ..." Jake traced her lips with one finger, then cupped his hand to her cheek. "I love you as much today as I did the first time I ever saw you, standing by the side of that road with dust on your face."

  "And you're still my hero."

  They gazed at each other with so much love that a few people stopped to stare.

  "We're stopping traffic," Sarah said, laughing.

  "I guess that's because geriatric passion is rare."

  "Speak for yourself, Jake Townsend. I'm still a spring chicken."

  They joined hands and walked toward the green where folding chairs were set up for parents and friends of the graduates. Sarah and Jake had reserved seats near the front.

  The graduates filed in to the sounds of trumpet fanfare, first the undergraduates, then the masters candidates, then the doctoral can
didates.

  "Do you see him?" Sarah said, craning her neck toward the medical-school graduates for a glimpse of her firstborn son.

  Josh saw his mother and gave her a thumbs-up sign.

  "No, but I see her." Jake said, craning his neck toward the law-school graduates for a glimpse of his second daughter.

  Victoria saw her father and gave him a V-for-victory sign.

  There was a scurrying sound, and William slid into the reserved seat beside his parents. "Sorry I'm late. Got caught in traffic." When he crinkled his father's green eyes and smiled with a masculine version of his mother's mouth, his parents would have forgiven him anything. Besides that, he was their lastborn, their late-in-life child who was a bonus of their passion.

  The graduates took their seats, and the ceremonies began. At the back of the stage, sitting beside all the dignitaries in their black robes, was a woman dressed in white, her face as delicate as a flower.

  The president of Vanderbilt University came to the podium. Gripping it with his large hands, he leaned over and favored the audience with a beneficent smile.

  "Our graduation speaker today is a most unusual woman, a portrait artist of renown who has painted everyone from the President of the United States to the Queen of England's dog. Born special, she has succeeded against all odds. Two of her siblings are graduating today, a brother in the school of medicine and a sister in the school of law. We think it most appropriate that our address be given today by Jenny Love-Townsend."

  The audience rose to its feet as Jenny came toward the podium in her halting, dignified gait. Before she reached it. she lifted one hand, as graceful as a butterfly, and blew a kiss to her family.

  Jake reached for Sarah's hand as Jenny stood before the microphone. Tears stung the backs of his eyes. Jenny, firstborn of Sarah's womb, firstborn of his heart

  Jenny leaned into the microphone. Her hair, shining in the sun, looked like a halo.

  "My words are simple . . . and straight from the heart." Her voice rang clear and true in the spring morning. Amplified by the microphone, it soared across the green like the music of fairy harps and silver bells. Only the lilt and the occasional hesitation marked Jenny as special. "Claim success. Whatever success means to you, claim it. It's yours if you work hard and don’t give up. It's yours if you set goals and finish them. And it's yours if you have the love of friends and family."

  She paused and smiled directly at Jake and Sarah and William. Then she scanned the crowd until she located Josh and Victoria. Each of them received a smile that only Jenny could give.

  "Do take the time to love," Jenny said, her voice soft and compelling. "For without love, success is empty."

  She sat down to thunderous applause. Sarah and Jake wiped away tears, and even the unflappable William dashed a bit of moisture from his eyes.

  The president conferred degrees, and afterward there was such a crowd around Jenny that Sarah and Jake had to wait in line. Victoria and Josh separated themselves from the other black-robed graduates and made their way to join the family.

  "It's your turn next, little brother," Victoria said, ruffling William's dark hair.

  "Yeah, squirt," Josh added, giving his brother a friendly cuff on the arm. "You have some big footsteps to follow in."

  William gave them his famous grin. "While you two are arguing in a dusty old courtroom and cutting open dead people, I’ll be taking Jenny's advice."

  "Claiming success?" Josh asked, teasing.

  "No. Taking the time to love. I just have one problem."

  "What's that? Tell your legal-eagle sister. Maybe I can help you out."

  "I don't know whether to start with that cute blonde over by the law-school building or that foxy redhead waiting for me back home."

  Brothers and sister joined in laughter with Jake and Sarah looking on, smiling.

  "Are you proud of our children, Jake?" Sarah asked.

  "I'm proud of all of them . . . most of all Jenny."

  They held hands while the crowd swirled around them and their children's laughter lifted like kites toward the blue sky.

  "Mother ..."

  Jake and Sarah both turned at the sound of that musical, faraway voice. Jenny stood beside them in her filmy white Victorian dress. Her hair was caught back in a bow. For a moment Jake saw her as a child at her tea party in a weed-choked backyard in Florence, Alabama.

  "Daddy ..." She slid her hand into his. He caressed the slim, talented fingers.

  "I love you best in all the world. Daddy," Jenny said.

  She and Sarah exchanged a secret, special smile.

  -o0o-

  Author’s Note

  Touched by Angels is the first of a duo of romances I wrote in the early 90s. The book and its sequel, A Prince for Jenny, were much-loved by fans. I still have the beautiful hand-written letters I received, tucked away and tied with a ribbon.

  Nowadays, those letters would arrive in my email, which is a good thing, too.

  This book is from my early work, a romance that over years has become a classic. It’s a pleasure to bring Touched by Angels and its sequel back to you. This time, in e-format with beautiful new covers.

  These classic love stories put me in mind of the romantic movies we cherish year after year – Gone with the Wind, Sleepless in Seattle, An Affair to Remember.

  I hope you will enjoy rediscovering this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  I love hearing from readers. Please consider this your invitation to visit me at my website, www.peggywebb.com and on my Facebook page.

  Peggy Webb

  o0o

  Author Bio

  Peggy Webb is the author of more than 65 books, 200 magazine columns and two screenplays. Her debut romance, Taming Maggie, hit the number one spot on romance bestseller lists. Since then she has consistently appeared on the bestsellers lists and has won numerous awards, including the Romantic Times Pioneer Award for forging the way for the sub-genre of romantic comedy. During her tenure as an instructor of writing at Mississippi State University, Peggy left the lure of romance and turned her pen to murder. Currently she writes cozy mysteries. Her Southern Sisters Mystery series stars the zany Valentine cousins, Callie and Lovie, and a sassy basset hound named Elvis who thinks he’s the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll reincarnated. Peggy also writes novels under the pen name Anna Michaels. The Tender Mercy of Roses, her debut novel as Anna, was hailed by Pat Conroy as “an unforgettable story written with astonishing skill and clarity by a truly gifted writer.” Peggy lives in an enchanted cottage tucked in the northeast corner of Mississippi. She loves gardening, playing piano, singing in her church choir and trying to tame two dogs who think they are the boss of the household. Visit Peggy/Anna at her websites, www.peggywebb.com and www.annamichaels.net, and follow her on Facebook.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Epilogue