Operation Christmas (15 page)

“Our family likes Christmas morning because attendance is light.”

The waitress came and took their order. Jess settled back in his seat, his hand wrapped a bottle of beer.

Madeleine took a delicate sip of red wine. “Have you been thinking about the robbery?”

“All day.”

“Me too. Who robs a bakery? It’s bizarre.”

“A sixteen-year-old smart enough to know Belmar makes a haul at Christmas.”

“But a bakery? Liquor store, I could see.”

“Probably never set foot in a liquor store and didn’t want to chance the clerk having a bigger gun than his. Now a bakery...hmm...there’s a cream puff job.” Jess grinned.

“Ha. You’re right. My only defense was an angel tin. Not much of a deterrent for a loaded gun, which by the way, belonged to his parents. Luckily, he wasn’t a very good aim.”

“What do you mean? He shot up several of my favorite cakes.”

“I happen to be tight with the baker. I’ll have him whip up your favorite. So. Jess. You going to tell me what happened in the hall last night or do you intend to pretend nothing happened?”

Lowering his gaze, Jess wiped condensation off the beer bottle. “I thought you wanted to hear what brought me there last night.”

“That, too. What
did
bring you flying through the door?”

“If you must know, I’d been circling the block, trying to see if you were working. After about ten times around, a parking spot opened up across the street.”

“Ten?” Her eyes widened.

“Maybe more.”

“Wow. I’m impressed.”

“Don’t be. I parked and thumbed in a text. The lights were on, but the store looked empty.”

“I was in the office.”

“Too long. I chickened out and deleted it thinking I’d call you after Christmas. Ask you out for New Year’s Eve.” Wear his damned fake arm to at least give the appearance of a whole man, while he lied about being busy and how sorry he didn’t call sooner.

“Why? Chicken out, I mean.”

“I don’t know, Madeleine. I thought I was pressuring you. When I looked up again the store was dark. I would have driven off had I not spotted something off. When I figured out it was a hooded figure, well...the rest is history.” That and an outline of Madeleine near the register had boomeranged adrenaline through his veins. The next thing he knew he wrestled a surprisingly strong kid to the floor with two arms
and
a gun.

“And the hallway. What happened there?”

He blew out a breath and shifted in his seat. “What? The angel thing?”

“Yeah. The angel thing.”

“I don’t believe in anything supernatural, but that’s not been my personal experience.”

“Then why don’t you believe?”

He shrugged. “Why do you?”

“I’ve no hard proof other than saying it happened to me. It’s personal and hard to explain.”

“It could be trauma induced.”

She shook her head. “One could argue that, but I don’t think so. He told me to talk, I saw the bright spot of light, and I felt him. Had I experienced one thing, maybe. Three. That’s harder to say it didn’t happen.”

“So you really do think this angel male?”

“I don’t know, Jess. That’s how it came across to me.” She held his steady gaze. “Like I said, I’ve no proof, but I felt this beautiful feathery brushing across my face when I ran to call for help. I’m guessing wings...as in angel wings.”

Jess tried not to blink. He wasn’t sure she was ready to hear what he had to say about angels or the endless hours he’d spent on the internet last night in search of anything related he could somehow twist into fact. None of which left him with any option but to believe without the solid proof Madeleine didn’t seem to need.

However, as a man missing a good portion of his arm, he knew for a fact, something unseen could be felt. This provided him the most compelling evidence. For the first time since returning stateside, the person sitting opposite him made him want to risk admitting the unbelievable. “What would you say if I believe you?”

Madeleine straightened in her seat. “In the hall. When we were leaving. I knew something happened there.”

He gave a shrug. “Something brushed my face. It felt like a cobweb, but I knew there weren’t any cobwebs. It made me back up. Then I tried to walk forward and hit an invisible wall of cobwebs. As nuts as it sounds, I realized not cobwebs—”

“Feathers. You’re not nuts or we both are. It was real.”

“Ah, hell.” He ran his hand across his mouth. “It happened to me once before.”
Man, did he tell her that?

Madeleine studied him with serious brown eyes. None of this was a joke to either of them. It was a damned mystery each struggled to understand. And if they were going to have any kind of meaningful relationship, she needed to understand where he was coming from.

“When?” she asked.

“When I lost my arm. I’m not sure I can explain this. It’s a day I try to forget. But I’m sure someone...some...thing, possibly a male angel, saved my life and that of another soldier.” His heart thumped against his chest. Madeleine sat still as a mouse. He continued before he lost his nerve. “I should be dead, Madeleine. No one but me and another Marine under me survived being engulfed in flames.” He shook his head. “Then yesterday. At the bakery...”

“Angels.”

Jess snapped his gaze her way. “You say that so easily. Why me? Why you? Why not Danny?”

“Do you think I haven’t asked myself that a thousand times? Who are we to question why help comes our way?”

Jess blew out a breath. “I’ve had trouble dealing with that why? I always figured the Marine under me had some kind of
in
with the man upstairs as I had no reason to believe my backside worth saving. I don’t even go to church.”

“Oh, Jess. That so, so not true.”

“My job was to keep my men safe. Bring them home to their families. And please, do not repeat this. Tamara doesn’t know I’ve considered the possibility of some kind of...hell, I can’t even say it out loud.”

“Divine intervention?” She reached out to grab hold of his hand. “It happened. Get over it. Since you’ve got mule brains too, I think the angel who helped you needed to smack you upside the head to get your attention so you’d quit denying what happened.”

“Look who’s talking.” They stared at each other a moment. “Besides, you were listening to Tamara at the Christmas dance. She tells me that all the time. Hell, if Tamara were here she’d do me some serious damage with talk of angels.”

“I doubt that.” She squeezed his hand, her eyes bright and round. “
Jess.
We encountered an angel. How cool is that? I’m just so, so glad you don’t think me some hysterical female, seeing apparitions.”

Oh brother.
Make or break time. Jess knew he had to say one more thing then let it lie. “I’ll not deny it happened, but you have to understand going forward, this discussion is over. This stays right here between us. I’ve told you what you need to know if you want to continue dating me. And that’s all I’ve got to say on the matter.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “I understand better than you think. Why do you think I didn’t say anything in front of my parents? There’s things I’ll share with you one day. Things about Danny’s death that haunt me...” She lowered her eyes but didn’t break their hand hold and sank her teeth into her bottom lip.

“Hey. Madeleine. It’s okay,” he said in a soft emotion-filled voice. “Yesterday was a wake-up call for both of us. Life’s short. Let’s not waste it wallowing in our sorrows.” A rock dropped to the pit of Jess’s stomach.
Damn.
Here he was again pushing her into his arms, when it had been last night and the events of the last two years speaking. Rehab. Depression. Peaks and valleys until all he craved was dull straight road. He’d found that in his father’s tool and die business. It became a place to bury his energies and live life until he bored himself to death. Then he found Madeleine. Hope and a new future emerged. He dared to dream the impossible.

“You’re right,” she said and startled him. “I’ve come to the same conclusion. I intended to tell you tonight.”

Jess held his breath.

She took her time to calm her emotions. In fact, he was amazed at both their composures given the topic of their earnest and somewhat strange conversation.

“Grams says the same thing. Until last night, it never really sank in. Jess, I’ll always feel some sort of love for Danny. He was my high school sweetheart. But I’ve realized the human heart is large and able to expand. I’ve never been with another man. But I want to be with you.”

An explosion of happiness ricocheted through Jess’s chest as he stroked his thumb over the silky skin of her knuckles. “I’m not sure who I’m loving more at the moment. You or your Grams.”

“It better be me, Jess Grant. Grams is a character. Prepare yourself for bluntness, if you’re going to hang around me. Crystal is nothing.”

“So I learned in the bakery last night.”

She laughed. “She’s a lovable piece of work.”

“Then we have a date for New Year’s Eve?”

“Absolutely.”

The hard conversation out of the way, they laughed and shared the crazy events of their short time together.

“Can you and Crystal come to Christmas dinner tomorrow?” she asked.

“Would love to but promised to take Crystal and my aunt out to dinner. I wouldn’t want my aunt to be alone.”

“Bring them both. There’s always too much food.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. Grams will have so many new people to distract her she might even behave herself.” Madeleine tipped her head. “Then again. Don’t plan on it.”

Grinning at each other, they dropped their hand hold when the waitress came and slid a steaming plate of creamy shrimp linguini in front of Madeleine. Steak sizzled on a platter for Jess. He lifted his beer bottle and indicated Madeleine do the same with her wine glass. He touched her glass. “To new beginnings.”

“And merrier Christmases.”

Jess thought his heart would beat out of his chest. Madeleine giving him a chance was the best present any tortured soul could receive. He had so much to be thankful for and felt like a weight had lifted off him.

Maybe it was the Christmas season. Maybe it was his need to believe what happened was real and he’d finally come to terms with that belief. He didn’t know. But another miracle had occurred. One he was ready to accept. He’d heard a military chaplain speak on the subject once.

Grace.

He and Private James were the recipients of grace.

What else did you call it? They didn’t deserve to live any more than the others deserved to die. They’re lives had been spared by the wings of an angel. Some fracture in the laws of nature had given him a rare glimpse into the unseen. A tall, bigger than life image he’d never forget and now dared to believe.

Incredible.

Epilogue

Two years later...

“Need help?”

Madeleine took hold of Jess’s extended hand. One she needed to extricate her ballooned body from the sofa. “I feel like a beached whale.”

“A beautiful beached whale.” He raised an eyebrow.

She shuffled her way to the Christmas dinner table, doubting she’d be able to eat much. Their baby girl was due to make her appearance into the world soon and there wasn’t much space left for a meal of any size. The building pressure against her pelvic bone made her think soon wouldn’t come quick enough.

She remembered being with Tiffany when her water broke. Caleb was over a week late. Tiffany had shouted a hallelujah then doubled over in pain. Madeleine would gladly do the same. Tomorrow. Today she wanted to enjoy Christmas with her family and eat a string bean.

“You feeling okay?”

She leaned into the kiss Jess planted on her cheek as his hand wrapped her belly. “I’m feeling ten months pregnant.”

“Beached whale. Ten months pregnant. Take your pick. You’re still beautiful.”

She beamed him a smile. By now, he fully understood how much this pregnancy meant to her when she feared she was unable to have a child. Filled to the brim with joy to be carrying Jess’s child made this a very special Christmas, indeed. He’d far exceeded her expectations in the life they’d shared as husband and wife over the last fifteen months.

Once the decision was made to see where their attraction took them, it hadn’t taken long to realize that would be the altar. The hurdles she expected to leap were non-existent. Somehow, whatever happened during the bakery robbery had bound them with a golden cord of love. Jess had even taken the young robber under his care as a big brother. “I’ve fostered a sister and many a rebellious young soldier,” he’d told her of the decision. “Crystal’s gone to college, so why not help Taylor?”

Jess’s experience around young men got the boy motivated in the right direction. Taylor’s busy, absentee parents meant well, and did generously supply all his basic needs, but not the kind of guidance or patient attention Jess seemed gifted with threefold. Madeleine knew he would be a great father, seeing how he handled Crystal and Taylor.