Page 53 of The Angel and the Agent

“How did you turn out so well?” she marveled. He laughed before realizing she was serious.

“It’s nice you think that, but I’m an unproven quantity, remember? I’ve never been a husband or a father. I’ve never even been a boyfriend.”

“But you’ve been a soldier, a hero, a rescuer, a team member, an employee, a best friend. All of those things count for something,” she said.

“Where can I purchase your worldview? It seems way better than mine.” He took her hand. They walked a while longer in companionable silence, and then it started to rain. Amelia had been in too many rainstorms to count, but this was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Water seemed to come at her from every direction. She could swear it was actually raining backwards, as if coming up from the ground.

“It’s the wet season, did I mention?” Ethan yelled. He was standing right beside her, but she could still barely hear him. After only a moment, she was soaked through to the skin, despite the fact that she was wearing two layers. The town was still a couple of miles off. They tried to hurry, but what had been a road a few minutes ago was now ankle-deep mud. The bottom foot of the long robe became quickly caked with layers of wet earth. Eventually, when it became too heavy to walk, Amelia peeled it off and wrapped it around her shoulders. She thought it would be easier to walk if she took off her shoes, but Ethan stopped her.

“You can’t walk barefoot here. Too much bacteria your system isn’t used to,” he yelled.

She kept her shoes on and inched forward. If not for Ethan taking her hand and practically dragging her along, she likely would have gotten stuck and cemented in place, possibly forever.

The rain showed no signs of ending; it went on and on and on. At last they eked their way into the city, but it was now so late everything was dark. All doors and windows were closed. Somehow through the sheeting rain, Ethan located a church with an attached parish house. He pounded on the door and eventually it was opened by a little man wearing hastily gathered vestments. It seemed to take him a while to recover from his shock at seeing two Americans on his doorstep at what was possibly the middle of the night. Yelling to be heard over the drenching, howling rain, Amelia tried to explain their situation. After a further moment of confused staring, he came to his senses and invited them inside.

They hovered in the entry, rivers of water pooling at their feet. A few weeks ago when they’d gone swimming, Amelia still hadn’t been as wet as she was now. Even her ears felt filled with water.

“We were wondering if you have a room to rent for the night,” Amelia said at Ethan’s prompting. “We’ll pay cash, American. And if you have any food, that would be appreciated as well.”

The man looked between them. “Are you married?”Es-tu marié?

“No,” Amelia replied.Non.

His face fell. “I am sorry. There is a room, but I cannot let it go to an unmarried couple. A room in God’s house is not designed for sin.”

Outside the rain was still pouring in waves. She wondered what God had to say about sending two wet, hungry strangers back out into the pouring rain with no prospects, but she didn’t argue.

“What did he say?” Ethan asked. Amelia explained to him, and he glanced sharply at the man. She was afraid he would argue or, worse, physically force the man to keep them, but he did something even more surprising. “Ask him if he’ll marry us.”

“Ask who if he’ll what now?” she said, her head swiveling to look at him so quickly she wrenched a neck muscle.

“Just ask,” he said.

“Have you lost your ever-loving mind?” she said.

“Have you taken a look outside? Pretty sure I saw some animals lining up in pairs and looking for a boat out there. We need a place to stay. He has a place to stay. I don’t see the problem,” Ethan said.

“The problem is we’d have to get married.”

“I thought that was what you wanted,” he said.

“When did I ever say that?”

“You said you love me,” he reminded her.

“When does I love you mean let’s get married before our first date? There’s a timeline for these things and, I know dating isn’t your forte, but marriage usually comes at the end, not at the beginning.”

“It’s not a legal marriage,” he explained. “Just a religious one.”

“Oh, well, if it’s just a religious one…Did the rain wash away your sanity?” she said.

He eased closer, placed his arms on her biceps, and gave them a light squeeze. “Amelia, just ask the man.”

Slowly, she turned her head to regard the priest, if he was a priest. She had no idea. “Can you marry us?” she asked, her voice shaking.

“Oui,” he replied with a definitive nod.

“See? Problem solved,” Ethan said.

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