The Growing Years (The Angel Chronicles Book 3) Read online

  “What made you stop?” Charlotte asked softly.

  “I stopped because I could actually see what it was doing to me. It was making me ugly on the inside and the outside. I think with people when they sin, it changes just their insides, but with us, it changes our insides and our outsides equally. We can’t hide it or deny it as easily.”

  Charlotte touched the tattoos and the knobby mass of twisted bones on his back that marked where his beautiful wings used to be. “Do you think that when you return to the heavens with Cleo that the Creator will restore you back to what you once was?”

  Giving her a look that spoke volumes, Kavik shrugged his heavy shoulders slightly. “That is my deepest heartfelt prayer, little sister; however, if He does not…I will understand.”

  Charlotte reached out and took his hand, offering her love and support in her own unique way.

  Zareck cleared his throat then asked the question that had been burning in his mind. “So what made Cleo stop practicing?”

  Kavik gave Zareck a hard look. “What made one of the most powerful sought- after voodoo priestesses in all of Louisiana stop practicing her craft, you ask?” When Zareck nodded he smiled. “One praying grandfather. Cleo had one family member, just one, that was saved. That was her great grandfather on her father’s side. He prayed every day over every one of his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren until the day he crossed over into glory. He didn’t get to see the answer to all of many prayers, as so often is the case with humans. Often one plants the seeds, someone else waters, then yet another reaps the harvest. I cannot say all the family that he spoke the name of Jesus over was saved, for I do not personally know; however, I do know that several were, including Cleo. The prayers of the saints do not return empty and unheard.”

  The next week flew by as everyone prepared for the Thanksgiving holiday. Sabrina enlisted the aid of her mother and Keelie to help decorate the estate. Charlie was most excited about the huge Tom turkey that was always front and center in the yard. Edgar grumbled that they had better tie it securely because he wasn’t about to chase the thing around the yard in the rain like he did last year. Gideon carefully avoided looking his direction when Edgar made his declaration. He was careful to avoid anything to do with Edgar. He couldn’t bring himself to make amends with the old man. Sherrilyn’s words rang in his ears about not being prideful and accepting the fact that he needed help, but it was a bitter pill to swallow. Still not ready to clear the air, he went down to sit next to Leia and baby Kinsley.

  “Hi, Leia, how’s our girl doing?” The petit blonde angel was sitting next to the now four month old Kinsley as she napped under a shade tree in her carrier. Kinsley had been born with Downs Syndrome but was an absolute doll.

  “Hey, Gideon…she is doing good! She is feeding a lot better now; she is hardly choking at all.” Leia gazed down at the sleeping baby with utter adoration. Gideon wished she would wake up so he could play with her a little. He missed Charlie being able to see him, so he took every opportunity to play with Kinsley. The child’s mother, Keelie, was helping Sabrina set out the hay bales and the buckets of fall flowers. Gideon was very impressed with just how wonderful Keelie was with Kinsley. Although the baby was only four months old, Keelie already had plans for each stage of her development. Leia smiled when she noticed the wistful expression on Gideon’s rugged face.

  “They grow up too fast, don’t they? It never fails to surprise me. No matter how many humans I have been assigned to, I’m always taken by surprise when that third birthday rolls around.” She followed his gaze to where Charlie was rolling a large plastic pumpkin around to the front steps where her Grandpa Carl was waiting to fill it with potting soil. Once she had it by the front steps, Carl scooped the soil into it and let Charlie plant the yellow and orange chrysanthemums. They did the same with the second large pumpkin.

  “Charlie should be getting ready to start school soon, shouldn’t she?” When Gideon didn’t answer, Leia waved her hand in front of his face. “Ummm, hellooo???” she called out.

  Blinking his eyes, Gideon turned his head back to her. “Oh, I’m sorry, Leia…what did you say?”

  Chuckling under her breath, Leia repeated what she had said.

  Gideon nodded his head. “Yes, I still can’t believe that she is four. Where does the time go? When I first took this assignment, I didn’t think she could grow fast enough…now I just want her to stop altogether.” He paused to smile as Charlie laughed at Carl making faces at her from behind the pumpkin.

  “I believe Sabrina said she was going to start pre-k after the first of the year.”

  Leia’s green eyes sparkled with amusement. “I forgot that this is your first time to be a guardian, so you don’t know anything about pre-k or kindergarten, do you?”

  Gideon didn’t look at her when he responded. “No, not really, why? It’s just a bunch of kids coloring and learning their numbers, right?”

  Chapter 4

  Two months later…

  Gideon stood with his mouth hanging open at the sheer volume of the room. Kids ran everywhere yelling and screaming. Some were crying while others were clinging to their parents’ legs. The teacher, Miss Lacy, smiled and seemed to take it all in stride. Sabrina walked Charlie over to her cubby and helped her unpack her things. It had taken them two trips to bring everything that was on the supply list into the classroom. It was ridiculous! Charlie seemed eager to go and interact with the other children; Sabrina seemed a little sad to let her go. Finally the teacher asked that all the parents say their goodbyes so she could start the class. Sabrina waved at Charlie then slipped out, wiping away a stray tear that had escaped.

  “Ok, children! Let’s all gather around into a circle, please. Right here on the rug, we will all go around and introduce ourselves. That means we will all tell what our names are. Let’s start with you.” She pointed to a little boy with dark curly hair to start. Everyone stated names; some needed a little help, but Gideon beamed with pride when Charlie stood up and announced that she was Charlotte Marie Blakely, but that everyone called her Charlie. The rest of the day was a battle of will power to stay in the room near Charlie. Gideon had never had much experience with children and before being assigned as a guardian he would have said he didn’t care very much for them…he was right in his first assessment.

  By the time the final bell sounded, Gideon felt like he had just fought a major battle and lost. Never in all of his life had he experienced anything like pre-k! He adored Charlie, and even in her worst of moods she didn’t bother him, but multiply that by sixteen? Gideon felt like he had just found the seventh level of hell. He had never been so happy to see Sabrina than when she pulled up in front of the school that afternoon. He literally crawled into the backseat and hid his head under his wing. Charlie chattered about how great everything was, how much she liked her teacher and that she had made a friend named Lakyn. Then she scrunched up her face.

  “But I don’t like that Nate!” she declared with feeling. Sabrina laughed at her daughter’s unusual angry expression.

  “Who is Nate, honey? Is he in your class?” Charlie shook her head so hard her strawberry blonde curls bounced.

  “No, he is a big kid…and I don’t like him!” Charlie’s little face was now in a deep frown.

  “Why not, sweetie? How big a kid is he?” Sabrina questioned.

  “I don’t know…like in the second grade, I guess. He chased me at recess and pulled my curls! I don’t like him. If he doesn’t stop, I’m going to bring Moppet to school and make him bite him!”

  Sabrina chuckled. “Oh, Charlie, let’s not bring Moppet into it just yet…maybe Nate just wants to play with you. You should try to be friends with him.” Charlie turned and looked at her mother like she had grown a second head.

  “No…I’m not ever going to be his friend!” she announced with conviction.

  Over the course of the next few months Gideon grew accustomed to accompanying Charlie to school every day, although how the t
eachers did it on a daily and then yearly basis was beyond his comprehension. Luckily Charlie started at the first of the second semester, so he only had a few more weeks left until school was let out for the summer break. Charlotte busted his happy little bubble when she mentioned that Charlie was really just getting started, that she had at least thirteen more years of school, and that was if she didn’t attend college. Ignoring her saucy grin, Gideon left the kitchen and went in search of Edgar. He had let things go between them for much too long, and he needed to make it right. The elderly gentlemen had been slowing down. Gideon knew that his time in this realm was drawing to an end. As angry as he was about the whole situation, he felt a pain in the region of his heart at the thought of not having the old guy around. He walked to Edgar’s suite where he stopped and tapped gently on the door. He no longer felt comfortable with barging in as he had in the past. After a few seconds the door opened, and after a few seconds Edgar asked him inside.

  Gideon walked stiffly inside the room where he had spent so much time and took a seat. His wings felt big and awkward and he couldn’t get comfortable. Finally Edgar broke the uncomfortable silence.

  “So to what do I owe this great honor?”

  Gideon glanced up at the butler, who was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest. It took him a moment to realize that he wasn’t in his customary suit and tie, and it was the middle of the day.

  “I know I let this go on for too long…for that I apologize.”

  Edgar waited a moment to see if Gideon was going to say anything else; then he spoke again.

  “So is that what you came to say? That you’re sorry that you let it go on for so long? If so, then apology accepted. You may leave.” Gideon looked up in surprise at the coldness of Edgar’s reply. “What is it, mighty one? Did you expect me to be so grateful that you finally decided to grace me with your presence after months of giving me the silent treatment, that I would be nicer?” Edgar gave a short bark of laughter then shook his head.

  Gideon frowned fiercely. “Well, I didn’t expect you to tell me to leave thirty seconds after I apologized. That was ill-mannered of you.”

  Edgar stared at him with a mixture disbelief and resignation. “You throw a fit and get your wings all twisted in a knot after finding out that the Lord was kind enough to send someone ahead of you to be your guide…your teacher… then you don’t speak to me for months and yet I’M the one who is ill- mannered?” Edgar turned back to the window, bracing his hands on the sink. “Lord, he may be beyond what even I can help with,” he prayed softly.

  “Look, you could have given me some indication that you were not who you let me believe you were for all this time; was that too much to ask? A little honesty?”

  Edgar turned from the window and faced the warrior, who looked at him with flashing green eyes and twitching wings. Sighing deeply and praying for patience, he pulled out a chair and sat down wearily.

  “Gideon, how have I deceived you? Am I anything more or less than what I was before?”

  Gideon forcefully shoved back from the table and started pacing; then he turned and flung his arms out in agitation.

  “How can you even ask me that? You knew I was coming, yet you let on like you didn’t have a clue. If that’s not deceiving someone, then I don’t know what is!” He stopped and took a deep breath. “How can I trust you now?”

  Edgar shook his head. “I suppose you have to ask yourself, other than not telling you that the Lord sent me, when have I ever lied to you? Gideon, I’m not known to be real forthcoming with information; I believe we have had this conversation before. I follow a-tell-you-as-you-need-to-know guideline. Answer me truthfully: If I had told you everything from the very beginning, how do you think you would have reacted?”

  When Gideon didn’t answer, Edgar answered for him. “I can tell you exactly how you would have acted. You would have been resentful and angry, much like you are now, but without the benefit of really knowing me beforehand. I would have stayed a stranger to you.”

  The two men stared at one another for several long seconds, both of them knowing the future of their relationship was hanging on whatever was said next. Finally Gideon growled then shook his head and pulled the chair out and sat down.

  “Edgar, I still don’t understand why you were sent here or why you couldn’t have told me in the first place, but what I do know is you are my friend and I have precious few in this realm. So with that being said, I truly am sorry for acting so foolishly. I ask for your forgiveness.” Then he extended his hand across the table to the elderly gentleman who took it without hesitation.

  “There is nothing to forgive.”

  The next few weeks were quiet around the estate. Edgar and Gideon continued to map the tunnels of the estate and to prepare the other guardians for the attack that Gideon felt sure was still coming. The fact that the dark side had not reared its ugly head in so long did not put Gideon’s heart at ease; in fact, it worried him.

  “Perhaps there isn’t going to be any attack. Maybe the dark side sees that the estate is well-defended and has decided to leave us alone.”

  Gideon shook his head at Charlotte’s idea. “As much as I wish that was the case, I know it’s not. They are just waiting until the perfect moment…”

  Charlie’s fifth birthday was fast approaching and she wanted to have it at the farm so that all her friends could see Dandy and Stormy. The colt was now pushing a year old and was quickly growing into its long legs. The promise of what a beauty he would be was becoming easy to see. Seth was teaching Charlie how to lunge the colt on a ten-foot lead rope in the round corral. Gideon was sitting on the top rail watching the lesson. Charlie was like a sponge when it came to her horses. She wanted to know anything and everything, and Seth was a wealth of information. He was never too busy to show the little girl whatever it was that he was working on.

  “You see here, June bug, keep your shoulder just behind his shoulder; that’s called the drive line. See how it makes him move forward?” Seth shifted slightly to where his body was just behind the colt’s front left shoulder, and sure enough Stormy started to move in a circle around them. Seth held the lead rope, letting Charlie get the feel for it without the young colt pulling her all over the corral.

  “Look! He is doing it, Seth! Stormy is moving like I asked him to do!” Charlie was all smiles and pride as she watched her colt trot smartly at the end of the lead.

  “Why, sure, he is! You asked him real nicely, Charlie girl, and he answered real nice. Just you remember that…ask nicely first.”

  “What do I do if I ask nice and he don’t answer?”

  Seth chuckled as he pulled the colt in and let Charlie lead him into the barn. “Well, you just ask with a little more bite to your nice until he does, June bug, but just don’t ever let him win. I don’t care if you have to fight it out all night with him. Make sure that in the end he does what you ask him to do…understand?”

  Charlie gazed up at him with serious blue eyes. “I can’t ever let him win, Seth? Not ever? Why not?”

  They turned the colt out into the pasture where he trotted off to be with the rest of the herd. Seth picked her up and set her on the top rung of the rail fence.

  “Charlie, do you remember how little Stormy was when he was born? He wasn’t much bigger than Moppet or old Rhett, was he?” Charlie shook her head and Seth continued.

  “But just look at him out there now. From here he looks almost as big as the other horses, don’t he, and he isn’t even half grown yet! The point I’m trying to make is this. Stormy will grow to be a big strong horse, Charlie, and if he doesn’t respect you, then he will hurt you. He has to know you’re the boss.”

  Charlie shook her head. “Oh, no, Seth, Stormy would never hurt me! He is my friend!”

  Seth sighed and took off his weathered old hat, wiping his brow. “Charlie there isn’t anything more dangerous than a spoiled horse. Do you know what spoiled means?”

  “Does it mean getti
ng cookies all the time? Mama tells Edgar he spoils me because he gives me cookies when he isn’t supposed to.”

  Seth smiled and ruffled her blonde curls. “I reckon it’s something like that. What it means is getting your own way all the time. Not being made to do anything like chores or learnin’ your lessons. When you let colts get their way all the time, they can get real mean when they don’t get it, and you always have to remember that colts grow up. So if you’re trying to teach Stormy something, don’t you stop until he learns it. You can take a break for a few minutes or you can try a different way to teach him, but don’t let him get away with not learning it. Horses are smart and he will learn that if he can outlast you one time, he will try it every time. Do you understand me, Charlie?”

  She chewed on her bottom lip for a minute then nodded. “Don’t stop teaching him until he has learned it no matter if I gotta teach it to him all night!”

  “That’s it! If he respects you, then he trusts you; and if he trusts you, then he will do whatever you ask him to do, June bug, and that’s a beautiful thing.”

  The next morning dawned with a deep blue sky and cool September temperatures. Just right for an outdoor birthday party. Cars were soon pulling up as family arrived early to help. Devon, along with Carl, Evan and Seth, set up tables outside and rounded up enough chairs and benches while Sabrina, Cleo, Catherine and Keelie baked enough cookies and cupcakes to feed a small army. Edgar was assigned to keep Charlie and all three of the dogs out from underfoot. It was soon clear that that the old butler drew the short straw.

  Gideon snorted in laughter as Edgar tried without much success to keep the ever-hyper Scarlett hemmed in the barn. The black and white border collie was too smart and too fast for her own good. Edgar would no more get her caged in a stall with Moppet and Rhett than she would find a way to either jump out or squeeze out through the door before he could get it shut. The dog thought it was all a great game and would bounce at Edgar’s feet as he tried to catch her. Charlie didn’t have much better luck. She could catch the dog but couldn’t hold her long enough for Edgar to get to her. Finally Gideon’s aching sides couldn’t take it any longer. He told Edgar to distract Charlie and he would pen up the dog himself. Edgar sent Charlie in the house for a minute; then Gideon tried his luck with the dog while Edgar kept a lookout for anyone coming from the house. Scarlett was sitting at the end of the barn in front of the closed doors panting with her tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth, her bushy tail sweeping the hard-packed floor. Gideon approached her slowly, whistling and patting his thighs.