Then again, the Colonel’s chicken was nothing to sneeze at, it couldn’t be described as divine but it certainly tasted good.
The man smiled and shook his head.
“An angel?” she breathed as he walked to her.
“I’m not an angel, Fiona, I’m a messenger.”
“An angelic messenger?” Fiona asked.
“Um…” he hesitated, “something like that.”
“Are you here to take me to heaven?” she enquired, certain she knew the answer, certain that he was definitely there to take her to heaven but suddenly uncertain she wanted to go.
She hadn’t had a chance to say good-bye to Sally and Jason.
Or Prentice.
Or, even, Bella.
“No, Fiona, your work is not yet done.”
Fiona stared at him not getting a good feeling about this.
Then she asked, “My work?”
He nodded.
“What work?” Fiona went on.
“Before you…” he paused a moment then continued, “move on, you have to commit one selfless act.”
There it was.
She got it.
And she just knew it.
She had to give up Prentice and her family to Bella before she could move on.
“Tick that one off, Messenger Man,” Fiona state proudly, straightening her shoulders. “Last night –”
“You don’t think it would be that easy,” Messenger Man interrupted her and Fiona was back to staring.
Easy?
He thought that was easy?
That wasn’t easy!
It was, at first, frustrating. Then annoying. Then heartbreaking (okay, so all of the time it was heartbreaking).
And a lot of other things besides.
What it wasn’t was easy.
“I don’t get it,” Fiona told him and she went statue-still when his hand came up and rested on her arm.
She stared at his hand.
No one had touched her in fifteen months.
She didn’t know this man but his touch felt good.
She swallowed and looked back at him.
“There isn’t much time and there isn’t much I can say. You’re learning your way but you have to be faster, Fiona. If you don’t, they’ll win,” he told her.
“Who’ll win what?” Fiona enquired, confused.
“They’ll win…” he hesitated again before he said, “you.”
Instantly, she understood.
And it frightened the life out of her (figuratively, of course).
“The black,” she whispered and he nodded sadly.
“We can hold it at bay for only so long,” he explained.
“I don’t want to go there again,” Fiona told him in a horror filled voice.
“And you don’t belong there but you have to succeed and you have to do it soon.”
“But, Bella –”
“Has experienced a lifetime of pain,” he interrupted her. “One night of understanding is not going to erase that, Fiona.”
What he said made sense.
And it was also irritating.
“I’ve been doing everything I can,” Fiona informed him. “And it hasn’t been easy.”
“It isn’t supposed to be.”
“Well, then, you gave me a good task because it’s not,” Fiona shot back.
“There are dangers,” he warned, his voice was dire and Fiona felt her stomach twist.
“Dangers?” she whispered.
“To Isabella. There are dangers lurking,” he replied.
Oh no.
“What dangers?” Fiona asked. “Her father?”
He shook his head, clearly not going to answer.
Fiona’s irritation grew. “You have to help especially if Bella’s in danger! I wouldn’t know what to do!”
“Use your magic,” he advised.
Fiona, again, stared. What was he on about?
“Magic?”
“Yes, your magic.” When she continued to stare, he explained, sounding impatient, “You are her fairy godmother.”
Fiona broke her stare to blink.
Then she asked, “Fairy godmother?”
His brows drew together. “You didn’t know?”
“No,” she snapped. “I didn’t know. I’m Prentice’s wife. Sally and Jason’s mother. I thought I was a ghost. A fairy godmother is fat and jolly and has a magic wand and didn’t used to be in love with and married to the heroine’s handsome hero, for goodness sake!”
Messenger Man got closer and squeezed her arm. “There are those, not many, who slide straight to black. There are those, not many, who lived lives so filled with good deeds, they move directly on. But all the rest, Fiona, are put to one final test. Especially if they’ve lived lives, no matter how short, filled with bounty. You,” he squeezed her arm again, “had a life cut short but it was a life filled with bounty. You have to share your bounty before you move on. It might be difficult, my dear, but it is the way, the only way, for you to move on.”
Fiona sucked in the breath she did, indeed, breathe in this strange world.
“It’s hard,” she admitted quietly. “And it hurts.”
“Selfless acts normally do,” he replied, dropped his hand and, even though what he was saying was upsetting (and also kind of pissed her off), she missed his touch when it was gone. “But you want them to be happy, all of them, I know you do.”
Fiona nodded. “I do.”
“Then find your magic, Fiona, and do your deed so you can go home.”
“How do I find my magic?” she asked.
He shook his head but answered, “I misspoke, you don’t have to find it, you have to recognize it.”
She blinked and said, “What?”
But she asked nothing and no one.
Because he was gone.
Disappeared.
Vanished.
She stared at where his white-suited body used to be.
Then she looked to the blue sky with its fluffy white clouds and she shouted, “This moving on business better be worth it!”
She received no reply.
Chapter Eighteen
Carver
Prentice
The doorbell buzzed to Elle’s apartment and Prentice woke instantly.
This was unusual, Prentice was a deep sleeper.
But from the moment they arrived in Chicago, he’d been waiting for this.
And he was looking forward to it.
Therefore he rolled into Elle who had woken too and looked into her shadowed face.
“Don’t move,” he ordered.
“But –” she whispered, her voice sleepy but full of fear and Prentice felt his temper flare.