Guarding Angel (Fallen Redemption #1) - First five chapters

Chapter 2

The next morning, the mood at the Wheaton breakfast table was subdued. Once the family finished with their meals, Lily cleared the plates. “Caleb, go help Ismene Taylor with chores this morning. Henry’s taking supplies to his sister in Port Tobacco, so she’ll be alone except for her daughters.”

Daniel grunted, considering making a snide comment about Lily’s inability to bear more children to help him around the farm.

Having decided it wasn’t worth the trouble of riling her, Daniel went outside and gathered the tools he needed for the day of work that stretched ahead. As he slashed at the weeds in the garden with a hoe, he replayed yesterday’s events in his mind. Each time, his wife’s tone was more accusatory, and each time, his heart rate rose.

You never get to the part where you slap her, do you? I tucked my hair behind my ear and brushed his shoulder. “Daniel, calm yourself.”

Daniel ignored me. After a few minutes, he threw down the hoe and stretched his back. My wings relaxed as he stormed away from, rather than toward, the house to berate Lily. One less confrontation with her meant one less opportunity for me to fail to tame my Ward in front of Oronis. He grabbed Thunder’s halter and led the horse into the barn. “Can’t stand how she talks to me,” he muttered as he tacked up the horse.

A few minutes later, Lily climbed the stairs from the cellar and noticed he wasn’t in the garden. She hurried toward the barn as he swung a leg over the saddle and I settled behind him. “Where are you going?”

Daniel pulled on Thunder’s reins, and the horse danced to the side. “The inn. We’re almost out of beer.”

“The market is two days away. Why don’t you bring some back in the wagon then? You won’t be able to carry more than a jug on Thunder.”

Daniel’s blood pounded in his ears. From where I sat on the horse’s hindquarters, I pressed a soothing hand into his back. He said, “It isn’t a wife’s place to question her husband’s comings and goings.” He spurred Thunder.

As we trotted away, Lily mumbled, “Proverbs 21:9. ‘It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.’”

The Wheaton farmstead disappeared behind us, and the modest log building on top of a hill came into view. The innkeeper, Oswyn, was a man who had been there as long as Daniel could remember. His earliest memories included this gathering place, where travelers and neighbors would meet to have a drink to escape day-to-day living and hear the latest news.

When we finally arrived at the inn, Daniel tethered Thunder to a post just outside the front door. From where he stood, he noticed something odd about the window. Gingham curtains framed the inside and a vase of blue flowers sat on the sill. He ran a hand over his beard, considering. I fluttered from the horse, peering through the wall.

Inside, a Guardian leaned beside the hearth, white wings relaxed, while a woman swept cinders from the fireplace. My fingers curled into my palms when I realized I’d been lax in marking the time. This was the day that would start a sequence of events with an unknown outcome. And I had forgotten it.

Humans live many times. When they die, they go to Heaven, where they’re rehabilitated and assigned to their next incarnation. As part of the Incarnation Plan, each human chooses his or her Incarnation Theme—or what to face in the upcoming time on Earth—during a series of Foresight Sessions. When they’re living their lives on Earth, the humans aren’t aware of the choices they made while in Heaven. Daniel was oblivious to the importance of this day, which marked the beginning of his selected trial.

Daniel had chosen the Theme of Temptation. And it was my job to ensure he overcame it.

He shouldered open the wooden door. “Oswyn?”