Jess smiles and walks up to me to place one of her arms across my shoulders.
"Now, let"s go back inside and get to the gift giving portion of this shindig."
"Gifts?" I ask in surprise. "Does Heaven have stores?"
"Hmm, not exactly," Jess says mysteriously. "But we put some things together that we thought might help you out back on earth."
Jess and I walk back into the house and find the others sitting in the living room. Lilly is the first to see me.
"Everything ok?" She asks, looking between Jess and me from her chair by the fireplace.
"She made it back from her impromptu trip to h.e.l.l in one piece, if that"s what you"re asking," Jess says. "I would say that"s a small miracle. Oh, and apparently h.e.l.l has given itself a drop dead gorgeous body and a name, Helena."
"Not exactly original," Caylin retorts. "But easy enough to remember I suppose."
"Well, I for one would much rather talk about happier things right now," Utha Mae says. "I want to give my baby the gift Tara and I made for her."
Utha Mae waves me over to the empty spot between her and Tara on the couch.
After I sit down, Utha Mae hands me a medium size glittery green box tied with a silky white ribbon. I pull on the ribbon and the box and ribbon disappear in a wisp of white smoke leaving only the gift inside it sitting on my lap. It"s a beautifully bound brown leather book with "Family Recipes" st.i.tched with gold thread on the front in a fancy script.
"We thought you might like some of the recipes that have been handed down from one generation to the next," Utha Mae tells me with pride.
"This is perfect!" I say, becoming excited that I might be able to surprise Malcolm by cooking something he wouldn"t expect me to know how to cook. "Thank you so much."
"It"s not just any cookbook either," Tara says, reaching over to flip the cover open to reveal the first recipe.
Each page has two recipes written in long hand on note cards bordered with gold cording.
"Touch one," Tara says excitedly.
I touch one of the notecards and instantly hear Utha Mae begin to speak about the ingredients I will need to prepare an apple pie. I touch the card again, and it instantly stops the oration.
"It"s well enough to have a written recipe," Utha Mae says, "but sometimes you just can"t tell everything by reading one. Good cooking is an art form, Anna. After all the time you spent with me in the kitchen, I kinda thought you might be able to cook, even if some people thought I was just wasting my time making this for you."
"I didn"t say it was a waste...exactly," Tara says. "I just figured it would end up collectin" dust is all. Didn"t I help you make it in spite of that fact?"
"Reluctantly, yes," Utha Mae replies.
"Well, I had no doubt in my mind you would be able to use my gift," Caylin says, handing me a small rectangular white glittery box tied with red silky ribbon.
I sit the box on top of the book and pull the ribbon. The white box and ribbon disappear leaving only a silver handled paintbrush with off-white bristles.
"If you"re ever in need of something," Caylin tells me, "just close your eyes, visualize what you want in your mind, and paint it in the air. When you"re done painting it, it will materialize."
"Anything I want? Can it make people appear?" I ask, thinking this might be a way to get my papa back.
"No," Caylin says regretfully. "It can"t transport people, only inanimate objects. Also, the object can only stay solid for about 2 hours. It"s not permanent."
I feel a little let down by this fact but try not to show it.
"Here, kid," Jess says tossing me a small purple glittery box tied with black ribbon.
The box lands on top of the recipe book. I pull the ribbon and find myself in possession of a black leather bracelet that has a silver angel wing charm on it.
"Tell Malcolm I had Caylin swipe that out of his vault for me," Jess says. "I think it might come in handy one day."
"What does it do?" I ask, a.s.suming it has some sort of magical properties.
"When you wear it," Jess begins to explain, "you can ask it to let you know how someone is feeling. But, be prepared to feel what they are because their emotions will come at you totally unfiltered. So be careful. Don"t ask if you don"t want to know."
I slip the bracelet onto my right wrist as Lilly walks over and hands me a box with a baby blue bottom and pink top tied with a ribbon which has a swirl pattern of the two colors mixed together.
"I know you will need this," Lilly says confidently.
I untie the ribbon and find myself in possession of a silver dumbbell shaped baby rattle. I pick it up and hear the crystal clear chime it makes.
"Guaranteed to make any baby stop crying almost instantly," Lilly tells me with a smile.
"Girl, that thing right there is priceless!" Tara exclaims. "Don"t you dare lose it if you want to keep your sanity with twins around the house."
"I wish I"d had one when I had my twins," Lilly says in all seriousness. "It would have saved Brand and me some sleepless nights."
"Thank you all so much for my gifts," I say. "I love them all."
"Well," Lilly says standing from her chair, "although I would love to keep you here longer, I don"t think Malcolm would appreciate me making you late to your own wedding."
"Is it time already?" I ask, thinking I"d only been in Heaven for a couple of hours at most.
"Time in Heaven moves differently than on Earth," Lilly tells me. "You should still have plenty of time to prepare yourself for the ceremony."
We all stand up and the ladies take turns giving me a hug goodbye.
"You take care of yourself down there, baby girl," Utha Mae says, looking nervous about what the future holds for me.
"Don"t worry," I tell her, even though it"s something I can"t seem to make myself do either. "I won"t let you down."
"Oh, child," Utha Mae says, leaning in to kiss me on the cheek. "That possibility never even crossed my mind. Just take care of yourself. That"s all I ask."
After the goodbyes are said, Lilly phases me back to my bedroom in Malcolm"s house.
"Oh!" Millie says, jumping slightly as she walks out of my bathroom just as Lilly and I phase in. "Gracious, you two almost made my old heart stop on the spot."
"Sorry, Millie," I tell her, guiltily finding her reaction a little amusing. I place my gifts down on the nightstand by my bed.
"No worries, my sweet. I"m just glad to see you back. The ceremony is only a couple of hours away. We should probably get started on getting you ready for it."
My eyes are drawn to something laying on my bed. It"s an exact duplicate of the wedding dress Levi destroyed when I went to Cirrus to retrieve it.
"Oh, Millie," I say, reaching out a hand to touch the silky fabric. "I can"t believe you made me another one so quickly!"
"Where there"s a will, there"s a way," Millie says proudly.
"It"s absolutely gorgeous," Lilly says looking at the dress. "Malcolm won"t know what hit him when he sees you in it."
"Can you stay for the wedding?" I ask her.
"No," she says with a shake of her head and a wistful smile. "Caylin and I thought that we should stay in Heaven for this event. This is your special time with Malcolm. We wouldn"t want our presence to take anything away from that experience. Just know that we love you both and wish you a happy and long life together."
"If you won"t stay," I tell her, "will you at least promise to come back one day?"
Lilly smiles, looking pleased by my request.
"Of course I will. I"m sure I"ll want to see the newest additions to our family. Something tells me they"ll be very special."
Lilly leans in and gives me a hug.
"Enjoy tonight," she says to me as she pulls back. "It will be one of the best of your life."
Lilly phases, and I look back at the wedding dress, feeling flushed with excitement as I realize tonight is the night I finally make Malcolm mine forever.
"Let me go make a bath to help you relax a bit before we get started," Millie says, making an about face and heading back into the bathroom.
I"m just pulling the sweater I"m wearing over my head when I hear someone yell, "Wait!"
I pull the sweater back down and look towards the door to the room.
Lucifer is standing there with one hand covering his eyes, shielding them from the sight of me almost half clothed.
"What are you doing here?" I ask apprehensively, knowing Lucifer phased to Cirrus earlier to help him find a reason to keep me from marrying Malcolm.
"Are you decent?" Lucifer asks, stoutly refusing to take his hand away from his eyes until I answer.
"Yes," I tell him, smoothing out the edge of my sweater against my hips.
Lucifer lowers his hand away from his eyes slowly, as if he"s afraid he might see something again that he doesn"t want to.
"Are you going to tell me why you"re here, or are you going to make me guess?"
Lucifer takes something out of his pants pocket.
"I"m hoping I brought you something that will change your mind about this wedding."
"You"re totally wasting your time," I tell him with absolute conviction. "There"s nothing you can say that will stop me from marrying Malcolm tonight."
"So you said before," Lucifer says, sounding unconvinced. "Which is why I went to find something that will hopefully knock some sense into you."
"Who are you talking to, my sweet?" Millie says, walking out of the bathroom.
Her eyes immediately find Lucifer in the room.
"h.e.l.lo, Lucifer," Millie says, looking confused by Lucifer"s presence but not exactly surprised. "Did you come to give your daughter away at her wedding?"
"Absolutely not, Millie," Lucifer says rather indignantly. "I"ve come to see if I can stop this travesty from happening at all!"
Millie looks even more confused. "Why on earth would you want to stop the wedding? Don"t you want to see Anna happy?"
"Of course I do," Lucifer says, as if Millie"s question is completely absurd. "But Malcolm isn"t the man to do that. I know him. He"ll eventually get tired of Anna and toss her to the side like he does all his women. I"m not even sure the word monogamy is in that man"s vocabulary."
Millie doesn"t look confused anymore. She looks mad.
"That"s the most ridiculous thing I"ve ever heard you say! Master Malcolm is one of the most honorable men I know. When he makes his vows to Anna, I have no doubt he will keep to them!" Millie says in defense of Malcolm like an overprotective mama bear.
"When have you known Malcolm to care about a woman for more than a few months, Millie?"
Millie defiantly raises her chin a notch. "That"s always been your problem, Lucifer. You never understood Master Malcolm"s true nature. How do you think he has been able to withstand your offers to remove the curse for all these years? Even you can"t say he doesn"t have a strong sense of morals. And if you honestly think he would ever betray Anna in such a way, you"re more of a fool than I thought you were!"
As I listen to Millie defend Malcolm"s honor, I wonder why Lucifer is allowing her to speak to him as an equal. I knew he and Millie had some sort of relationship while my mother was alive, but this interaction between them makes me believe she and he had a slightly deeper connection than I was previously lead to believe.
"We"ll see about that," Lucifer quips back. "I just hope I"ve brought some sanity into the situation."
Lucifer walks up to me and holds his hand out palm up.
I look down and see that he"s holding one of the crystal devices used to display real time holographic images.
"What do I need that for?" I ask, looking up from his outstretched hand to meet his gaze.
"Turn it on," Lucifer tells me, "and see for yourself."
Tentatively, I take the crystal and swipe my other hand over its controls to activate it.
I feel my eyes begin to burn with tears as I look at the figure standing in front of me. I faintly hear Millie gasp in surprise over the roar of the blood rushing to my head making me feel a bit faint.
"Papa," I sob.
Chapter 8.
I reach out a shaky hand to my papa, knowing it"s a futile attempt to touch him, but neither of us seem to care because he does the same thing. Our hands meet and fade into one another. We may not be able to physically connect to each other, but the mutual attempt at least makes me feel closer to him.
"Where are you?" I immediately ask, wiping at the tears on my face with the back of the hand that still holds the crystal. "Are you in Cirrus somewhere? Just tell me and I"ll come and get you, Papa. I can phase now."