“Do you need to go by Mom’s place for anything? Like maybe a nice, warm bed?” Clay drove beneath the speed limit, not bothering to hide his reluctance to take her home.
Destiny squeezed the hand she held. The evenings were beginning to hold a definite chill, and Clay had insisted on tucking her in under a light car blanket. She allowed him to pamper her, rolling her eyes all the while, and promptly freeing one arm so she could hold his hand.
“I’ll be fine at home, Clay—I wish you’d stop worrying. They’re not going to release Marlon Shark any time soon, are they?”
Clay frowned. “I hope not, but you never know what kind of technicality might lead to that very thing. What could it possibly hurt for you to stay with Mom another night or two, just until we know he’s behind bars for a good long while?”
“Fine. It’s Wednesday. I’ll stay with Claire through Friday.” She narrowed her eyes and raised a warning finger. “But I’m going home Saturday morning. No arguments.”
“Deal.”
She snuggled against his side and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m feeling a bit invincible right now. Hanging out with angels will do that for you, I guess.”
“Oh, come on. Charmer extraordinaire, perhaps, but I’m no angel.”
She giggled. “I wasn’t talking about you. You’re sweet, Gallagher—cute, too—but I was talking about the real deal. Angels! You know…divine beings…winged creatures… messengers from Heaven.”
Clay stopped and turned off the ignition, then reached out to touch the tip of her nose. “Okay. Angels.” He shrugged. “I don’t suppose—seeing as how you’ve got such high and mighty associations, and all—that you’d deign to take a walk with a mere mortal while you tell me about it?”
They were parked near a walking trail that wound through a designated section of the foothills. Destiny hadn’t even noticed Clay taking a different road home. She’d been trying to find a way to tell him about her morning.
Outside the car, she shook her head. “What’s going on? What are we doing here?”
He took her hand and led her to the trail. “I thought we could both use a little break. A nice stroll in the moonlight seemed like just the thing.” He smiled, and her heart did a backwards flip.
“Sounds delightful.” A breeze lifted her hair, and she closed her eyes, enjoying the brisk coolness against her skin.
They walked in silence for a while, their hands linked and swinging between them. Tiny footlights lit the narrow path every few feet, but a glorious full moon grandstanded that meager illumination. A myriad of bright stars twinkled and danced in the clear night sky, which appeared almost close enough to touch. It seemed every light in Heaven burned specifically for their pleasure.
Finally Clay pulled in a deep breath. “Go ahead, then. Tell me about your angels. I have a feeling you need to get something off your chest.”
“You know me so well already.” She released his hand in favor of wrapping both her arms around one of his. “You’re right. I meant what I said about hanging out with angels.”
“I know you did.” Clay led her a few feet off the trail, where a log bench sat snuggled into a small grove of trees. He brushed off a scattering of pine needles and tossed a couple of pinecones out of the way. “Let’s sit here a minute.”
She sat, but refused to be deterred. “Did I ever tell you about the day my mother died?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. Will you tell me now?”
“You’re sure you want to hear it?”
He sat next to her on the small bench, slid an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close enough to brush her lips with his own. “I want to hear everything you have to say, mon cherie. No secrets. Okay?”
Destiny chewed at her lip, then closed her eyes and nodded. If Clay couldn’t accept her heavenly bodyguards, now was the time to find out.
She told him everything, starting with the wrenching conversation with her mother before she died. She sniffled through relating the precious woman’s insistence on bestowing her daughter that final gift of a beautiful scripture, specifically designated as a promise to Destiny. The comforting hug just moments after her mother died. The dream that gave Solomon’s Gate its name. Little Gracie’s mention of a man with “funny feathers.”
Her words slowed as she related her experience with the homeless man on the corner, how close she’d come to running him over with her car, and the startling message on his dirty piece of cardboard. She hesitantly admitted that the sign bore no such message when she read it the second time.
By the time she told Clay about the mysterious business card from Solomon Angellus, with its identical instructions to “swing wide the gate,” tears coursed down her cheeks and emotion shook her voice.
Clay listened with few interruptions. When she finally gulped in a huge gulp of the night air and whispered,”That’s it,” he was silent for a few minutes.
Destiny waited, wanting him to speak first, hardly daring to hope he might believe her, knowing she couldn’t blame him if he didn’t. Even a long-time Christian might have difficulty accepting her story, and Clay had only recently found a real relationship with Christ.
At last, he lifted one hand and brushed his fingers down the curve of her cheek. His voice revealed a world of awe and respect, and not a trace of disbelief tinged its deep timbre. “What a blessing and an honor, Destiny! Escorted by angels…” He shook his head, then chuckled. “And I thought you needed my protection.”
She smiled in the darkness. “I do. I always will.”
He dropped a kiss on her hair. “You’ve got it, m’lady. And it sounds to me as though you also have an answer. Didn’t I say you couldn’t close Solomon’s Gate? Even your angels are on my side.”
Destiny’s heart swelled with love for this man, who such a short time ago had found it hard to talk about God at all. Yet now he accepted the presence of divine beings in her life without hesitation.
She chuckled. “Guess I should listen to you more often.”
“I’m just sayin’.” Clay grinned. “Hey, do you still have that gold business card?”
“Yes, it’s in my purse. Why? You don’t believe me? And I was so proud of you a minute ago!”
“Destiny, I am as sure that every word you said is true as I am that I love you. I was thinking you should keep it somewhere safe. With everything that’s happened, it’s the only tangible connection to your special bodyguards. I mean, it’s literally been touched by an angel.”
“I thought of that. We’ll have to think of a special place of honor for it.”
“We will.” He shifted, obviously uncomfortable on the hard bench. “You want to start back now?”
“Sure.”
When she stood, Clay slipped an arm around her waist and matched his pace to hers as they retraced their steps down the narrow path.
“You know, when I was a kid, my mother hung a picture on my bedroom wall. A couple of kids…a stormy night…a rickety looking bridge…”
“And an angel watching over them.” Destiny remembered a picture like that, too.
“Yeah. The concept of angels as guardians isn’t hard to accept. Most of us have had some exposure to the idea, if only through visual images like that one, which probably hangs in half the homes in America.”
“Mm-hmm.” Where was he going with this?
“But I’m a little confused as to why angels are involved in your career? Not that I don’t think Solomon’s Gate is a good thing,” he assured her. “But why would God use divine manpower…angel power, whatever…for such a thing?”
She thought about it for a moment before answering. “Do you remember the scripture?”
“Of course. ‘He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.’”
She nodded. “You just answered your own question.”
“I did?”
“Yep. ‘To keep thee in all thy ways.’ That means every aspect of our lives. Every decision we make, every road we take, we are led by God and His messengers.”
“That’s awesome!” Quiet reverence added a huskiness to his voice. “It’s so simple, and yet, I wonder how many people—like me—never see what that verse really promises.”
Destiny nodded. They walked in comfortable silence until they reached the car. Clay settled her inside, then slid under the wheel. That’s when she remembered something he’d told her earlier.
“Hey, I thought you had something to tell me? How come I’m the one doing all the talking?”
“Oh, that’s right—I did.”
She waited, but he only sat watching her, smiling just enough to tease her with his dimples. She grabbed a wavy strand of hair and gave it a gentle tug. “Well? What is it, Gallagher? No fair reneging now!”
“I guess I did promise, didn’t I? OK.” He shot her a sidelong glance. “You’re sure you have no lingering affection for Carson?”
She swatted his arm. “Stop it, already! I like your brother, Clay. He’s a lot of fun. He’s a nice person. But he’s not you, so he never stood a chance with me. Not ever.”
“You’re sure?”
She knew he was teasing, but there remained something in his voice that said he needed to be reassured.
“You’re…you’re not thinking I ever cared deeply for C.J.?”
He shrugged, looking like an oversized, under-confident little boy. “I don’t know, Destiny. Did you?”
“No! A thousand times no! I was furious at myself because every time I looked at him, I saw you.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I can’t believe we’re even discussing this.”
He chuckled. “So then, you probably don’t want me to say anything else about…anything, right?”
She wanted to tell him no, she didn’t want to hear any more. But he had her and he knew it. Her curiosity demanded he finish what he’d started.
“Just spit it out already. I know it’s something good. You told me I was going to like it.”
“Yeah, but I’ve been thinking. What if you don’t?”
“Clay…” She all but growled his name.
“OK, OK. Testy, aren’t we? I just thought you might be interested in knowing that I ran into Carson today.”
“Yeah, well, you do share an office.”
“True. But I saw him at lunch. Wasn’t supposed to, mind you, but we kind of both wound up in the same place at the same time.”
He paused, and since she knew it was for effect, Destiny bit her tongue and refused to ask him where that might have been. So he nudged her with his elbow. “Want to know where?”
“OK, I’ll bite. Where did you see Carson today?”
“In the jewelry store down the block from our office.”
She giggled. Clay’s voice was triumphant, reminiscent of a child who’d caught his brother with his hand in the cookie jar. “Oooh, that’s shocking!”
“You missed the whole point, lady! A jewelry store. Doesn’t that ring any bells with you?”
At her blank stare, he heaved a frustrated sigh. “He was buying an engagement ring!”
“Oh!” Shock ripped through her body like lightning, and she let out an excited screech. “Oh, my goodness gracious! C.J. and Julie are getting married?”
“Only if she says yes.”
“I have no doubts whatsoever about her answer. Oh, this is wonderful! We’ll have to throw them a big party, Clay. Maybe Jenna will let us do it at her place.” She scrambled on the floor for her purse. “Turn on the light so I can find my phone. I have to call Julie!”
“Whoa, whoa!” Clay grabbed her hand. “No, you don’t. I don’t know if he’s asked her yet.”
“Oh.”
Clay took her chin in his hand and turned her to face him. “You’re a little off your game tonight, aren’t you?”
“Why would you say that?”
“Well, I thought by now you would have asked the obvious question.”
She thought back over what he’d told her, but couldn’t think of a thing. “I guess I’m a little out of it. What did I miss?”
He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a small black box. “You mean you didn’t even wonder why I was in the jewelry store?”
She gasped as the impact of his words finally hit her. “That’s not—Gallagher, you didn’t—oh, for heaven’s sake, what is that?”
He opened it and held it out for her inspection. “See for yourself.”
At her soft gasp, he slid an arm around her and pulled her closer to his side. “You like it?”
Nestled in the rich blue velvet of the box’s interior, the diamond caught the moonlight and refracted it a hundred times over. Her voice caught in her throat, and she had to clear it a couple of times before she could speak. “It’s beautiful!”
“So…maybe you’ll wear it?”
She looked into his anxious gaze, thinking her eyes probably rivaled the sparkle in the stunning diamond ring. “Does that mean what I think it does?”
He grinned and touched her nose in a gesture that was becoming familiar and precious to her. “It means I love you more than life. It means I can’t live without you. And it means…Destiny May, will you be my wife?”
She pulled his face down to hers and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Want to know what that means?” she whispered.
“More than anything.”
“It means I love you, too, Gallagher. It means I can’t live without you, either.” She kissed him again. “It means yes, I would be so happy to be your wife! It means—”
“Destiny?”
“Hmmm?”
“Shut up and kiss me.” He pulled her close and claimed her lips with his own.