Angel Unawares

To Us

"It just doesn't seem like Christmas without Jade being here," Amber remarked. She and her mother had just opened their presents to one another and were eating breakfast together.

"Well, I can understand her not wanting to leave Trey all alone in the rehab center over the holidays," Helen replied.

"Yeah, I know." Amber was glad that her sister had found someone to love and sincerely hoped that things would work out between her and Trey. "It's too bad he couldn't go home for Christmas."

"Well, hopefully he'll get to go home soon." They finished breakfast and Helen did the dishes while Amber went into the living room and turned the television on. 'A Christmas Carol' was playing. Although Amber had seen the movie many times, she still loved it.

Aunt Maria came over for dinner, and to Amber's surprise and joy, Danny arrived a couple of hours after that.

"Wow! I thought you'd spend the whole day with your family, especially since it's your first Christmas to all be together in four years," she told him.

"Well, I had to come by to give you your present, didn't I?" He handed her a small box wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper, and she eagerly ripped into it. Inside the box was a silver necklace with a charm in the shape of a figure eight lying on its side. There was a small diamond near one of the curves.

"It's called a lemniscate," Danny told her. "It means forever and ever, and yes, the diamond is real."

"Oh, Danny!" She was so happy that tears came to her eyes as she hugged his neck tightly. "All I got you was a CD."

"Well, that's all right."

"I'll get it." She dashed to her bedroom and returned with her present, which she handed to him.

His face lit up as soon as he saw what it was. "Snow Patrol! You remembered what my favorite group was!"

"It's their most recent CD," Amber said a little shyly.

"Wow, I can't wait to hear it!"

"Want to come in and listen to it?"

"Maybe later." He gave her a mysterious smile. "Right now I want to take you somewhere special."

"Where?"

"You'll see!"

Within moments, they were sitting inside a huge theater with rows and rows of seats, a five-tiered balcony, and a huge chandelier hanging down from the center of the ceiling. "Where are we?" Amber gasped.

"This is the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow," Danny replied. "We're about to watch a performance of 'The Nutcracker Suite'."

Soon the dancers came onto the stage and began to perform, and Amber was mesmerized. Caught up in the moment, all other thoughts vanished from her mind as she was swept up into the beauty and grace of the performance. It seemed to end far too soon.

"I could tell you enjoyed that," Danny chuckled when it was over.

"It was magic!" Amber exclaimed.

"You should have seen how your face was shining," Danny told her.

"My gosh, a forever necklace, the Bolshoi ballet...what else could a girl ask for at Christmastime?"

"That's not all," Danny told her.

"You mean there's even more?"

"You bet!" Although she was really still stuffed from Christmas dinner, he took her to a very nice restaurant where she drank a Shirley Temple and he drank club water and they talked.

"I can't believe you're going to all this trouble just for me," said Amber.

"Why? Don't you think you're worth it?"

"I suppose that's not really for me to judge, but what I meant was that we're not really boyfriend and girlfriend or anything."

"What would you call us, then?"

"Well, if you were still...you know..."

"In my mortal body?"

"Yes!" She sighed with relief. "If you were still in your mortal body, then of course we could be boyfriend and girlfriend. But normally people don't just stay boyfriend and girlfriend forever. They grow up and get married and have kids, but that's not really an option for us, is it?"

He looked just a little sad. "I don't know. I'll have to check into it."

"What do you mean, 'check into it'?"

"Well, you know." His eyes went upward. "But there's no hurry about that. Why do you keep trying to rush things?"

"I don't really know. I suppose I'm just the kind of person who's always thinking ahead."

"That's a good quality to have, but it's also nice to just live in the moment sometimes. You know, just like you were back there at the ballet. You were completely absorbed, like nothing else in the world even existed, weren't you?"

"Well, yes, come to think of it, I was!"

"And that's a great way to be, too."

"Is that the way it is in heaven?"

"All the time!"

On the night of December 31, Jade went to the rehabilitation center alone. It wasn't the first time she'd come to visit Trey by herself, but tonight was special. They were going to ring in the New Year together.

Trey was up walking around when she arrived. "Hi, Jade!" he called to her when he saw her. She went to him and kissed his cheek. "I'm glad you could make it," he told her as they found seats. "The guys wanted a war movie marathon," he explained. 'Twelve O'clock High' was now being shown, and was soon followed by 'Midway' and then 'The Big Red One.' As hard as Jade struggled to stay awake, she was fast asleep within a couple of hours, her head resting on Trey's shoulder.

The next thing she knew, Trey was shaking her awake. "Hey, Jade! It's gonna be 2015 in five...four..." Suddenly wide awake, she listened as the guys counted down to the New Year, then cheered and passed around glasses of champagne.

"To the New Year, and whatever it brings," Trey said as he touched his glass to Jade's.

To us, she silently added.