CHAPTER 35

A long hour passed since the angels found that small shack to hide from the storm that hit the region at the end of the afternoon. Sitting on the wooden floor, they waited patiently until the deafening thunders and scary lighting subsided as the fire kept them warm. Andrew had thrown a blanket over Monica's shoulders and held her close, while she covered her ears and leaned against him, praying for those who were out in the streets of the town or even in the countryside like them. In her selfless heart, she hoped that these people too had found a place to stay until the storm was over.

The soothing movement of Andrew's fingers through her hair and his loving words trying to divert her attention from the slightly scary sounds coming from outside managed to put her heart at ease during the latest hour. But as soon as the storm started to move away, leaving only the heavy rain behind, the Irish angel's chatty mood began to come out once again and little by little, she was back to her true self.

Grateful for that, Andrew gently, and a bit reluctantly, disentangled from her embrace to revolve the wooden logs in the fireplace, so that it could keep them warm for a little longer. Monica took the chance to stand on her feet and look through the window, checking if there were any damages to the area around them.

"Even though I know it's mother nature's will, I'm glad the thunders are far away now." She sad, standing by the window, absent-mindedly making drawings on the foggy glass with her fingertip. Andrew finished his chore by the fireplace and joined her instants later.

"Yes, that's true. But we should wait a little longer until the rain stops." He looked through the wet window glass, surveying the area outside, and elected it was not time to leave the small shack yet.

"I wonder if Mr and Mrs Snyder will worry about us. We've been out here for hours..." Monica had a slight frown of concern for the elderly couple who treated her like a real daughter.

Chuckling, the blond angel shook his head. "I don't think they will, angel. You see, Mrs Snyder knows we're together and is probably imagining that we found a shelter to stay until the rain is over."

"I hope so. I would feel guilty if I caused her more worry."

"Don't. If you ask me I guess she might be telling Jonathan that I'm proposing you!"

Her soft giggling was music to his ears and he watched with eyes full of love as the glow coming from the fireplace illuminated her auburn strands, which she left loosen so they could dry. She was so radiant that it seemed she had regained her angelic form. Andrew suddenly saw himself hypnotised by her beauty; meek Gaelic features so perfectly drawn that one could only think that she had come out of a dream. Her cheeks were slightly blushed and there was a permanent spark in her sweet doe-like eyes that perhaps reflected the entireness of her soul.

"It would be 'I do'."

Her sudden words took him out of his contemplative mode and for a moment he was confused about what they meant. Monica turned her eyes away from her abstract drawings to look at him; her lips curved in a lovely smile. She saw his questioning expression and realised she had not been very clear. "Your proposal. I would accept it."

He was speechless for a moment, and the smile on his handsome face slowly faded away to be replaced by an expression of tenderness. The blond angel raised his hand and touched her cheek, his fingertip tracing a line along her jaw, caressing her porcelain skin as if it was something precious and rare.

And that is what Monica was to him – an angel like no other heavenly creature; made from a God's whisper to bring joy to those who were blessed enough to have her in their way, and Andrew himself was included among those.

He tugged a strand of hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek with tenderness. "That would be the greatest honour of my entire existence, baby..." The blond angel did not manage to take his eyes from her brown ones as it seemed he was looking at her soul.

She leaned against his touch, still smiling and lost in the evident love she could see written on his face, in his green pools that gazed at her with so much affection. "And of mine... My heart is always so full of love at your presence... Sometimes, in my selfish thoughts, I even wonder if the Father made our paths cross so that I could learn what it is like to experience these noble feelings that are etched in my heart..." She stated, and it was possible to see a hint of surprise in her eyes, as if Monica herself had not realised the weight of those words until that moment, as if she had just found out that her feelings for the one angel who was standing before her were much greater than what she herself knew.

He let out a slight chuckle at hearing those words. "Selfish thoughts" sounded the most absurd thing to imagine when it came about Monica, as she was certainly the most loving creature he had ever met. "Angel... it is me who learned the most important lesson of my existence." He inched his face closer to hers and reached for her hand. "You, baby, are the best reminder of God's love and my world would become empty if someday we had to go separate ways."

Noticing her slight flinch, he took her hand to his lips and kept on talking. "Not that I would allow it to happen... I love you too much to accept existence without you."

Moved, Andrew watched as a single tear fell from her eye and made its way down her cheek. There were no words spoken now, but he could clearly read the message in her soulful eyes, always so filled with trust and deep love. There was no warning either, for the two angels in human form suddenly realised that a strange yet familiar feeling had suddenly come out to the surface even though it had lain dormant in their souls for years.

Their faces were just a few inches from each other and that distance was slowly broken to be replaced by the sweetest caress that they had ever shared. Their lips met at the same time their eyes closed as now everything that mattered was the communion of loving emotions that burst through their hearts. Andrew let go of her hand and tenderly lay both hands on each side of her face; gentle thumbs caressing her temples as he kissed her lips more firmly and yet even so gently that she felt herself lost in his touch and in those loving feelings that were now taking over her spirit.

To her, it seemed that there was no other option other than accepting that sweet kiss and responding to it with the same intensity and tenderness. Frozen in time, both angels temporarily in human forms saw their truest feelings revealed to them in the most natural and easiest way.