Angel Unawares

Jade's Letter

"Well, we don't want to stand out from the crowd, do we?" he asked.

"The crowd?" She glanced around to see that all the other patrons were similarly dressed. Too stunned to say anything else, she went with Danny to buy the tickets and popcorn and soft drinks. "I can't believe how cheap everything is," she said in a low voice so that only Danny could hear her. "I've never seen prices like this."

"Me neither," he replied. "Cool, huh?"

Secretly she wondered where he got money from but thought that it might not be a proper question to ask. While watching the movie, she felt Danny's hand slip into her own, and a thrill went through her. "I hope you enjoyed it," he said as they were walking out together afterwards.

"I loved it!" she replied. "I wonder if Lexi ever got her sight back or not."

"Well, even if she didn't, she found out that she could still live a happy, successful life," said Danny.

"I couldn't imagine not being able to see anything but just light and shadow."

Danny laughed. "Well, you'll just have to be more careful on skates than she was, won't you?"

Amber grew quiet all of a sudden.

"Hey, what is it?" asked Danny.

She shook her head. "It just occurred to me that if Hector had been more careful...well, never mind."

"That really hurt you, didn't it?" Danny asked softly.

"Worse than anything in the world!" she exclaimed. "Jade was the one everybody felt sorry for, of course, but sometimes at night I used to cry in bed when nobody could hear me. I thought I'd never see you again. I didn't know you could come back."

"Only if there's a good enough reason," Danny replied.

"What was it like to be in heaven for three years?" asked Amber.

"It's kind of hard to explain," said Danny. "It's just more wonderful than you could ever imagine."

"Did you get to meet famous people who had died?"

"Yes."

"Wow! And you left all that behind just for me?"

"Not only for you. There are several others."

Amber was suddenly alarmed. "Are any of them girls?"

Danny laughed. "One's an elderly lady with cancer, one's a drug addict with HIV, and the other's a little boy with Down's syndrome, although to be honest, his mother needs my help more than he does. You have nothing to worry about."

Amber felt ashamed. "Not that I have any right to be worried. It's not like I own you or anything."

Danny gently lifted her chin with his fingers and gazed into her eyes. "It's all right, Amber. I understand."

"To be honest, I can't even believe you wanted to go to a movie with me. I always thought that to you I was just a little kid."

"Things change, Amber. You've grown up a lot in the past three years."

She thought of something. "Are you three years older now, too? Or do you stop getting older when...you know..."

"It's hard to explain. Time is different up there. People who are little kids when they die grow up to be adults, but nobody ever grows old. Even people who die in old age go back to being young up there."

"So if you're almost grown up, but not quite, when you die..."

"You'll finish growing up and then stay young. But three years doesn't make a heck of a lot of difference."

'You don't look any older to me at all."

"And I don't feel any older, either." He grinned and put his arm around her. "So if you're sixteen, and I still feel seventeen, what's the difference?"

Cuddling with Gideon in the afterglow following their lovemaking, Jade found her mind wondering back to the first time she'd ever made love. It had been awkward, sweet, and utterly unforgettable. Three months later, Danny's body had lain in a casket in the ground.

"What ya thinkin' 'bout?" Gideon's finger lightly caressed her chin.

"Oh, nothing. Just the first time we made love."

"Ah." He grinned and pulled her closer. A few minutes later, she heard his snoring.

Still wide awake herself, she wondered what the best way of getting in touch with Danny would be. Did angels use the internet? She could write a snail mail letter to him, but where would she send it?

Acting on a hunch, she gingerly extricated herself from Gideon's arms, made her way to her computer, and turned it on. When the search engine came up, she typed Danny's full name, Daniel Francis Green, into it. Instantly she was directed to the find-a-grave web page, where once again she typed in his full name, his date of birth, 2-14-94, and his date of death, 7-15-11. Right away a photograph of his grave marker came up, and she had to swallow a lump in her throat.

At the bottom of the right side of the page, she was given the opportunity to leave flowers and a note. She clicked on the icon and was directed to a page where she could write a note for the deceased. After several minutes of careful thought, she began to compose her missive.

Dear Danny,

Words cannot express the way I feel about you. When they told me that you were gone and I'd never see you again, that hurt worse than anything in the world. I wanted you back so badly, I would have done anything in the world to make it happen. When Amber wrote and told me that you had come back, for me it was like a dream come true. I can definitely understand your being upset about Gideon, but honestly, he's nothing to compare with you. You're my first and only true love. Please tell me that you're willing to give our relationship another chance. I promise you won't regret it.

All my love,

Jade