Page 32 of Achille's Earth Angel
“Oh, you’re back,” she replied, startled. She blushed slightly at the questioning look on Achilles face. “Did you get Epaphras sorted out?
“That piece belonged to my mother,” he replied softly, ignoring her question and pointing to the necklace in her hands. “Now it’s yours—if you like it.”
Ange stuttered. “I-I can’t take this, Achilles, it’s far too valuable. I would like to borrow it for our wedding though, if you don’t mind? It’s absolutely gorgeous,” she said wistfully, fingering the sapphires.
He dropped to his knee in front of her where she sat Indian style on the floor. “You are going to be my wife and it’s my gift to you,” he replied softly. “Your neck is far more beautiful for it to adorn than mine, and it needs to be worn.” He took the piece and stepped behind her to fasten it. “It fits perfectly,” he said huskily. “So beautiful.”
Ange felt like she was blushing and glowing all over. “Thank you, my husband to be. I’ll treasure it always.” She lifted her mouth for his kiss.
“Are you two lovebirds going to make me watch this all night? We have business to attend to, you know.”
Ange rounded on him suspiciously. “You’d better not be watching anything like some kind of pervert!”
Achilles hooted with laughter.
Hercules looked offended. “I’ve got better things to do than watch you two.”
“Hercules and I are going to see Zeus about Epaphras,” Achilles said, still amused. “It has to be done before he sets his decrees. Why, I don’t know, but once he decrees something, it’s then set in stone and can’t be changed in the laws.”
“So, you believe Epaphras?” she asked, still eyeing Hercules with suspicion.
Hercules grinned. “I remember being young once. Being married to Zephyr would be like a prison. You’ll never get out unless you kill the guard. I think I can convince Zeus to have a little pity and pick a better bride.”
“Does he want to get married?” she asked.
“No, but he doesn’t have a choice now. He should have left well enough alone the first time we chased him off. But he had to be a brat and keep it up. And by doing so, he played right into Delia’s hands.”
“I think they should both be married and settled down,” Achilles growled. “Poseidon is too easy on all his brats.”
Ange laughed. It was amusing to hear about the family squabbles among the gods. “You two go ahead. I’ll find plenty here to amuse myself.”
“You need to go to bed and get some rest,” Achilles ordered, turning her around and pointing her towards the door with a swat on her butt. “You can play with all this stuff tomorrow. I’ll even tell you where it all came from.”
She wanted to argue, but with her butt stinging and the warning glint in his eye she decided against it. Besides, it was his junk, maybe he didn’t want her messing with it without him. “Okay, fine.” She reached up and pulled his head down for a kiss. When his long arms wrapped around her, she forgot about Hercules until he cleared his throat.
“At this rate, we are never going to get there before morning.” He huffed and glared at them both.
Achilles released her with a smile and a kiss on her nose. “I’ll be back later, Angel. Lock the doors.”
“Finally!” Hercules touched Achilles on the shoulder and they disappeared.
Ange took one last longing glance at the boxes of gleaming treasures before making sure the house was locked up and that Trolley was on guard. Then she went to her bedroom so she could study the magnificent necklace that circled her breastbone in the mirror. The soft glow of the sparkling sapphires enhanced the blue in her eyes.
Her Dad would have loved all this, she reflected. She wished he were here to celebrate with her—to give her away at her wedding. She couldn’t help the tears that rolled down her cheeks and splashed on the stones she held in her hands. It was from her father that she’d inherited her love of history, and her fascination with the gods of Greek history. He’d used to tell her stories about them all the time. She’d assumed they were all made up, but now she wondered. Obviously, not everyone followed the rules in Zeus’s kingdom.
She’d also wondered why her father had never remarried either. And why he would go out every day to fish in spite of her fussing about him going out in the waters of this beach? Sometimes he wouldn’t even take his tackle box, and he’d just laugh at her and tell her a sea nymph would save him if he fell in and he wasn’t worried. He didn’t intend to let old wives’ tales spoil his love of the sea.
Ange fingered the lovely jewels, her mind expanding with Alex’s story and now her father’s tales. Could it be possible her father had met someone after her mother died? A sea nymph maybe?
Her thoughts now on fire, she remembered a book her father had been working on for years. He’d even talked about publishing it one day, but he hadn’t even tried. It was a story about a mortal man who meets a goddess and falls in love. She’d seen it among her father’s journals and papers, but she’d never once looked at it. Yesterday she’d just dumped it in the box with the rest of his things, thinking maybe someday she might read it.
Like a puzzle, pieces were beginning to click into place. When Alex had fallen overboard it had been on a fishing trip. A trip that had included her father, his father, and some cousins. But no one else had seen anything. Her father had said Alex just popped up like a cork floating to the top and pulled himself over the side of the boat to safety. The other men had all guffawed when the little four-year-old boy had told them there was a lady in the water.
Ange raced into her father’s study and rustled through the box that held his journals, triumphantly coming up with the book. It was just a manuscript of course, dog eared and raggedy, but her fingers trembled as she turned the first blank page to read the title within.
‘In Love with Delia’
