Part 9 (1/2)
I shake my head. ”No, it was meant to happen. If I hadn't followed you through, I wouldn't have found Leah.”
”She's one of you?” Faison asks. ”An archangel?”
I nod. ”Yes, she's the fourth. She's been stranded in that other reality since before she was born.”
”Then maybe it wasn't for nothing.”
”What wasn't for nothing?”
”John Austin's death here on our Earth,” Faison answers. ”If he hadn't died, I never would have wanted to leave here and you would have never found her. It means his death wasn't meaningless.”
I'm glad Faison sees it that way but I still have a bone to pick with G.o.d about it.
I see Faison look off down the street towards Mama Lynn's house.
”I should go talk to her,” Faison says. ”I never should have blamed her for his death. It wasn't her fault. It was just his time to go.”
”Do you want me to go over there with you?” I ask.
Faison shakes her head. ”No. I need to do it alone.”
Faison gives me a fiercely tight hug. ”Thanks for coming for me.”
I hug her back just as tight. ”I fight for my family, even if they don't want me to.”
I hear Faison sniff. ”I did. I just didn't know it at the time.”
I watch as Faison walks down the sidewalk towards Mama Lynn's house.
”Is she ok?” Mason asks me coming to stand by my side.
”She will be. She just needs some time.” I turn to Mason and give him my best doe-eyed look. Hey, it's worked for Faison all these years. Why not me? ”Could you do me a favor?”
Mason smiles down at me, obviously amused by my attempt at cajoling a favor out of him with my womanly wiles.
”You know I would do anything you asked,” he tells me.
”Could you phase over to Beau's store and grab us some cinnamon rolls for breakfast?”
Mason leans down and kisses me. ”Be right back.”
When I look back at where Leah, Chandler and JoJo are chatting, I notice Remy standing conspicuously off to the side of the group. He has a melancholy look on his face and I see him wipe away tears from the corners of his eyes.
I walk over to him.
”Are you ok?” I ask Remy.
”I'm just happy to see her back where she belongs,” he answers, sniffling. He wipes his nose on his coat sleeve and looks back over at me. ”I'll need to leave now, you know.”
I nod. ”I figured as much.”
”I don't want to tell her,” he says. ”I'm the only person she's had to count on her whole entire life. I hope she doesn't think I'm abandoning her too.”
”I think she already knows you have to leave,” I tell him, hoping the information will ease his guilt. ”She asked me who she would be living with when we came here. She's smart. I think she realizes you can't stay with her forever.”
”Who will be taking care of her? You?”
”We all will but I think she would be in better hands if she lived with my mother.”
”Could I meet her before I go?”
”When do you think you will need to leave?”
”Soon,” a familiar voice says behind me.
I turn to see my dad. I can't help but smile.
He walks up to me and gives me a hug.
”Hey, Jessi.”
”Hey, Daddy.”
”Of course,” Remy says, realization finally dawning. ”I should have known you were Zeruel's daughter. I knew there was something different about you.”
My dad holds his hand out to Remy.
”Good to see you again, Remiel. The six of us wondered what happened to you. We just a.s.sumed G.o.d sent you on a special mission we weren't supposed to know about.”
”Special mission,” Remy says, chuckling softly. ”I guess that's a better way of putting it than saying we were stranded in an alternate reality with no way to get home.”
”So I was told,” my dad says. ”I'm here to take you back with me when you're ready.”
”I need to do a couple of things first,” Remy tells my dad, looking over at Leah. ”I can't leave her just yet.”
”Take your time. I know how hard it is to leave them.”
My dad puts his arm around my shoulders instantly letting me know that leaving me was one of the hardest things he ever had to do.
I hear the squeak of a rocking chair come from my front porch. No one seems to notice Lucifer's arrival except for me.
”Daddy, would you mind phasing everyone inside?” I ask, keeping my eyes on Lucifer as he studies the people standing on my front lawn.
My father follows my gaze and realizes why I've made such a request.
Without saying another word, he and Remy walk over to my group of friends and phase them inside my home and out from under Lucifer's intense scrutiny.
I walk up to the porch.
”I was waiting for your return,” Lucifer tells me. ”I wanted to make sure you got back in one piece. I've heard wormhole travel can be a bit painful.”