Missing Wings
Missing Wings
Humans have freewill. Do the divine? What opportunities would they encounter? What would come of their choices? Here is one possibility.
Excerpt:
Her words hit him like a thunderbolt. “You’re one of us!” He shook his head, marveling. Then the pieces fell into place and he clutched the hand holding his. “You couldn’t go back!”
She gave his hand a final squeeze, then reached for a picture frame sitting on the end table. “No, but I’ve never regretted it,” she said, looking at the photo with a proud smile. “It’s going to be a challenge explaining all of this to her. She doesn’t know her lineage. Aaden wanted her to have as normal of a childhood as possible.”
He was stunned yet again. “Your husband knows about us? About,” he waved his hand, “everything?”
“Of course! I wouldn’t have married him on a lie!”
Raphael was humbled by both of them. “He sounds like an extraordinary man.”
Her expression softened. “He is. We have a good life together.”
“It could have been our life.” He stood and walked to the window, staring blindly through the glass. “I shouldn’t have just walked away.”
She joined him, still holding the photograph. “Don’t punish yourself. I understand why you did. I would have done the same thing.”
He twisted to look at her. “You would have?”
“In your place? Not knowing we had conceived? Yes. What we do, it’s not something you can just turn off. You knew attempting to would have made you miserable, and how much that misery would have tarnished our lives.”
“But you did it. And you’re happy.”
She handed him the picture. “There was reason to be.”
Author’s Note:
Although never specifically identified, the characters of this story are portrayed as divine beings. I wanted their names to reflect not only their status, but the roles they played. A little google searching led me to a list of baby names inspired by angels, where I found three whose stated purpose reflected those of my cast. Not wanting to slight the human among them, I found an appropriate name for this character as well.
Also found in Choices: Tales of Determination.
