Earthbound Angels Part 1: The Heartthrob Fallen Celestial Stories Collection (14 page)

"Ronan," Kiara said briefly.

Graeme looked at the boy who was still not
saying anything.

"Hi, Ronan," he said. "I've got a huge kitchen
with a well-stocked pantry and refrigerator just inside. You can
come in and help yourself to any of it that you want."

Ronan stared at Graeme with the same violet eyes
that he shared with his sister. His were partly hidden by his
shaggy dark hair. Kiara took his hand, waiting to see what they
were supposed to do next. Graeme wasn't sure why Ronan didn't talk,
but he figured he could always investigate that more later.

For now, though, he felt that it was more
important to get them fed and cleaned up before calling his client.
So he led them inside his lovely, but huge, home.

For a second he forgot that Stella wasn't here.
When he remembered, he led the way to the kitchen himself. Kiara
seemed to be in awe of the place but she hid her feelings much
better than Ronan did. His mouth literally dropped open and his
eyes grew wide.

Graeme walked over to the refrigerator and
opened it.

"Here you go, Ronan," he said as he gestured to
the full refrigerator. "If you can't find something you like in
there, I'm sure the pantry will have whatever you want."

He went over to the cabinets and pulled down two
glasses and a couple of plates. Ronan chose a bottle of apple juice
and cradled it reverently in his arms until Graeme took it from
him. Pouring two glasses of ice-cold apple juice, he set them
before his guests at the kitchen dinette table.

He gestured for them to sit down while he tried
to figure out what to make these two for lunch.

Choosing to go on the simple side of things, he
made them each cheese omelets, and bacon and cinnamon toast. Both
of them ate as if they hadn't seen food for a very long time. To be
polite, Graeme made a small plate of food for himself even though
he wasn't hungry and joined them at the table. He decided to hold
off on questioning them until they had eaten and were a bit more
relaxed.

As he watched them, he found himself getting
angrier all the time.
How does something like this happen,
he wondered. He knew that
humanity was given everything it needed to survive. But this
happened because some people let it happen. There wasn't enough
love practiced to come around.

And that had always been the problem, right?

And he had already decided he wasn't going to be
part of that problem.
There's enough love to go around,
he thought as he gazed at the
siblings who were able to survive this far because they love each
other, without making it seem too obvious that he was at that very
moment, in awe of them.

Some people, he found, knew this to be true
because they practice it. That's enough reason for him to realize
there would always be a fighting chance for days that were better
than the long ago days when men opted to make war, and not
love.

When they finished eating, Graeme took their
plates and put them in the sink. They each took more apple juice.
All of them were still sitting at the table when Graeme's doorbell
rang.

Telling them he would be right back, he hurried
down the hall to answer the door.

And to his vast relief, he found Hollianne and
Dreama standing on the other side.

"Hey there," Hollianne said as she gave him a
hug. "The Calvary has a arrived. What's the big emergency?"

"Yeah," said Dreama with a friendly smile on her
face.

They'd met just a few weeks ago, the day he and
Simon Draco also met. Dreama was Simon's fiancee, the love of his
life. Graeme could feel that Dreama was indeed a special person,
and could understand why his fellow Eartbounder fell in love with
her.

He never imagined the words "falling in love",
which he had scoffed at when he was still an angel, felt so... real
now, and significant. How could he not think so, seeing how happy
and... and content Erick and Simon had seemed after finding these
two special ladies?

It was like they had found their way home.

"You sounded like you had a real situation on
your hands," she continued.

"Come in, come in," Graeme said, gratefully.
"I'm going to try to make this brief. I was hired to find someone
and I did find that person today. But it turns out that she's
homeless and is something of a mess."

Holli looked worried. "Really? Poor girl," she
said.

He nodded, but did not try to correct her about
the "girl" part. He'd just let her be the judge of that after
hearing the girl cuss. "She's also got a young teenager with her
that she says is her little brother. I've just fed them and now I
need some help in getting them cleaned up. Just come with me.
You'll see what I mean."

The puzzled women exchanged looks as they
followed him into the kitchen.

AS THE TWO women took in the sight of the
bedraggled duo sitting at his kitchen table, it was all they could
do not to gasp and wrinkle their noses somewhat at the unwashed
smell that wafted off of them.

To the ladies' credit, they recovered
quickly.

"Hi, there," Hollianne said once they showed
themselves to the siblings. "I'm Hollianne and this is Dreama.
We're friends of Graeme's."

The "girl" looked at them from the table. But
she did not look belligerent or defensive, like she was ready to
run at the next minute. Maybe she was like that with men? Good
points for her. Or maybe it was because she has already eaten.
Hunger could do make some people very pissy.

"I'm Kiara and this is my brother, Ronan," she
said softly.

"It's great to meet you!" Hollianne enthused.
"Now, I'll like it very much if you'll come with us upstairs. You
look pretty tired and I bet you could use a nice, relaxing hot
bath. Graeme has one of the best spa tubs ever made."

When Kiara glanced at Ronan, Dreama was quick to
jump in.

"Hey, don't worry about Ronan!" she said.
"Graeme has some of the most awesome boys' toys you've ever seen.
I'm quite sure that he and Ronan can find a way to pass the
time."

Kiara had to admit to herself that a bath would
be a lot like stepping into Heaven, and Ronan did seem to be okay
with Graeme. He didn't take well to everyone but he did seem to be
more comfortable with Graeme. She sighed. That was what had made
her feel she could let this go on for a while until she finds out
why they were here. If they were lucky, maybe Ronan could get a
bath, too.

And she knew some days were not that simple.

Graeme nodded to Kiara as if to say that he
would take care of Ronan so she got up from her chair. She stopped
and told Ronan that she would be going with these two women but
that she would be just upstairs if he needed her. It wasn't clear
to her why, but she trusted these people for some reason.

"Ronan," she added, "Graeme is going to stay
here with you. He's going to take care of you so don't be nervous,
okay?"

Ronan looked at Graeme and then back at Kiara.
He nodded as if he understood and agreed with her. She gave him a
quick hug and then walked out of the kitchen with Hollianne and
Dreama.

They climbed the wide and majestic staircase to
the second floor. Hollianne led the way to Graeme's huge master
suite and into his massive ensuite. Sure enough, there was a spa
tub there that could have easily held three people at once.

Hollianne set about getting the water started
while Dreama helped Kiara get out of the oversized unwashed clothes
she was wearing. By the time they had her comfortably in the tub
with all of the best toiletries one could want, Kiara had recovered
from being dazed and was a lot more relaxed with them.

They left her to bathe in private.

"OKAY, YOU NEED to go back into the city and get
this poor girl some decent clothes," Hollianne said to Dreama. "I
think she's probably a size 4 so start there. I'll keep her
occupied until you get back."

"Sure thing," Dreama said. "I'll be as quick as
possible."

Before leaving, she stopped into the Graeme's
game room where he was explaining to Ronan what an Xbox was. She
pulled him over to the side and told him where she was going.

"Do you want me to pick up some things for
Ronan, too?" she asked.

"Yeah, that would be a great idea," Graeme
agreed.

He went back in and examined the boy's clothes a
bit and then came back to her with what sizes he thought would
work. Dreama then hurried out the door and sped away in her
car.

So Graeme was left to deal with a teenage boy
who apparently didn't speak. Well, he had to start somewhere.

Graeme approached the vinyl gaming chair that
Ronan was sitting in as he deftly maneuvered the controls to the
game he was playing. This wasn't something new to Graeme, as he had
heard often of how children who didn't communicate otherwise were
able to flawlessly play video games. But from what he had seen so
far, Graeme felt sure that Ronan was more than capable of
communicating and was well aware of what was going on around
him.

It was just that for whatever reason, the boy
chose not to speak.

Moving another gaming chair into place beside
Ronan, Graeme lowered his large frame into it and picked up another
controller. Eventually, he was able to jump into the game that
Ronan was playing when he turned it into a two player one.

They sat and played silently for the next hour
without taking even a single break. Ronan seemed content and
comfortable with this scenario so Graeme didn't do anything to rock
the boat.

DREANA RETURNED FROM her shopping trip and
hurried directly back upstairs to the master bedroom.

She found Hollianne in the process of drying
Kiara's long dark hair. Kiara was currently wearing a plush navy
blue robe that looked as if it belonged to Graeme because it
completely swallowed her whole frame. Dreama put the many shopping
bags she held onto the bed before searching through them to find
the makeup she had purchased.

What woman could do without the usual makeup
supplies? She had bought some neutral colors that would match
anyone's complexion and coloring, figuring that Kiara could add to
the collection once she was on her feet and doing her own
shopping.

Hollianne did a wonderful job on Kiara's hair.
Since makeup was more Dreama's area, they switched places
seamlessly and Dreama started to apply some makeup to Kiara.

It became apparent rather quickly that the young
woman possessed a natural beauty and needed very little
enhancement. Her eyes were of the most unusual and gorgeous violet
colors that they gave her face a rather ethereal look. Framed by
her dark, shiny hair, she looked somewhat unearthly.

Dreama loved adding just the right touches to
Kiara's face before turning her around for Hollianne's approval.
The two women exchanged knowing smiles before Dreama went digging
around in the shopping bags once more.

She pulled out a sweater that matched Kiara's
eyes perfectly; along with a pair of jeans, a pair of bikini
panties and a matching French cut bra.

"Here you go," Dreama said as she handed these
things to Kiara. "Now go put these on and let's see how they
fit."

Kiara took the clothes from her with a look of
wonder on her face and disappeared into the bathroom.

While she was getting dressed, Dreama and
Hollianne stood whispering about just how beautiful this woman was.
They tried to keep down their voices because they could tell that
Kiara was already rather uncomfortable with the entire situation
and all the attention, and the last thing they wanted to do was
make her feel even more so.

But they were both thinking the same thing about
Kiara. They were very curious about what her story was. Who had
hired Graeme to find her and why had she been missing?

Neither of them had wasted any time questioning
Graeme about her because they knew from experience that he would
tell them what they needed to know at the right time.

Right now, though, it had seemed to be more
important for them to help him get her cleaned up. Just then, they
heard the bathroom door open and they turned eagerly in her
direction.

Then, grins split both their faces.

Kiara was absolutely breathtaking.

Even though she could stand to fill out just a
bit, otherwise she was perfect. Her diet had most likely
contributed to her too slender body but that could be easily
remedied. For the moment, her dark hair flowed well below her
shoulders, straight and thick. Her big eyes looked like those on a
China doll. She had a porcelain look to her unblemished skin that
seemed to accent her full lips. The sweater clung to her body in a
flattering manner, and the jeans outlined her shapely hips and
backside.

"Wait until Graeme gets a load of her!"
Hollianne said in a low voice.

"What?" Kiara asked.

"Oh, she was just reminding me to give you these
shoes," Dreama stepped in deftly as she handed her some stylish
casual boots.

"I can't thank the two of you enough for doing
all of this for me," Kiara said shyly, and rather distractedly.
"It's... it's been a long time since I've been so pampered."

"Oh, it was all our pleasure, I assure you,"
Hollianne replied with eyes twinkling. "Now, let's take you
downstairs. I'm sure Graeme is anxious to talk to you."

Dreama and Hollianne accompanied Kiara back down
the massive staircase. Hollianne took the lead once they reached
the bottom step.

They followed her down another hall to the game
room where they found Graeme and Ronan playing companionably. In
fact, they were so caught up in their game that they didn't realize
anyone had even entered the room.

Dreama discreetly cleared her throat, which made
Graeme jump and lose his concentration.