Angels Don't Cry

Her sister’s voice sounded suspiciously muffled, as though she’d been crying. Angel pushed open the door and walked into the room. Her sister was lying on her side, her knees drawn up to her chest. A wet washcloth was draped across her forehead.

“Are you sick?” Angel asked worriedly. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t feel well,” Aiden mumbled, rolling onto her back. “What do you want, anyway?”

In spite of her sister’s illness, Angel couldn’t help smiling. She sat down on the edge of the bed and held out her hand. “Aiden, I have the most incredible news. Look! Drew and I are engaged.”

Aiden’s head turned slowly toward her, her gaze dropping to Angel’s extended hand. Aiden’s face crumpled suddenly, and she turned her head away, covering her face with the washcloth.

“Aiden, what’s wrong? What is it?” But her sister’s sobs only grew louder. Feeling the first sliver of panic, Angel got up and closed the bedroom door. She came back to stand over the bed. “Aiden, you’d better tell me what’s wrong.”

A pause, then, “I’m pregnant.”

At first Angel thought she must have heard her wrong, but the words slowly sank in, and she felt her breath leave her body in a painful rush. Knees shaking, she sat down heavily on the bed.

“Are you sure?”

“I haven’t been to the doctor, but, yes, I’m sure.” Aiden’s sobs had subsided, but her voice still held a hint of hysteria.

“Who—?”

For the first time since Angel had entered her room, Aiden met her gaze. Angel felt a hard knot of apprehension twisting in her stomach.

“Drew.”

Angel’s heart contracted with the force and pain of a physical blow. Fear, as sharp and piercing as a knife, sliced through her veins. Stunned, she stared at Aiden, striving for breath. “You’re lying!” she finally gasped. “Why would you say such a thing? How could you be so cruel, Aiden?”

“I’m not lying,” Aiden denied angrily.

“How could you do this to me?” Angel screamed, jumping up from the bed and whirling toward the door. She couldn’t stand to look at Aiden’s face, couldn’t bear to think that there could be even a remote chance her sister was telling the truth.

“You broke up with him two months ago. You said it was over,” Aiden said, her voice suddenly sounding calm. “I didn’t think you’d get back together. It just happened.”

Angel wanted to slap her sister, slap that tear-stained face until she made Aiden admit she was lying. But what if she wasn’t?

“I don’t believe you,” she whispered desperately, as much for her own benefit as Aiden’s. “And I’ll never forgive you for this, Aiden!” Angel spun around and fled the room, her heart hammering painfully against her chest. Weak-kneed, her head spinning, she supported herself against the wall outside Aiden’s door. She closed her eyes against the fear, the dread.

Moments later she climbed over the fence separating the Lowell and Maitland property, and stood looking up at Drew’s open window. His light was still on, and she watched for long, heartsick moments as he paced back and forth across his room.

“Drew.” She called his name softly, aware that his parent’s bedroom was on the other side of the house. “Drew!”

He came to the window and looked out. “Angel? What are you doing?”

“I need to talk to you.”

Something in her voice must have alerted him. He stood silently for a moment, gazing down at her. “I’ll be right down.”

“Is it true?” she demanded when they stood face to face at the edge of the yard.

“Angel, what are you talking about?” he asked guardedly.

Already she could read the truth in his eyes. “You and Aiden. Is it true?” she repeated. She turned away from his stricken expression. “Never mind. You just answered my question.” She pulled the ring from her finger and hurled it toward his chest. For just an instant it was a flashing arc in the moonlight, a falling star, before it dropped to the ground and died.

Drew grabbed her arm as she tried to run away. “Angel, wait. Please, let me explain. It’s not what you think. It was only one night—”

“It only takes one night to make a baby, Drew.”

Even in the moonlight, she could see the color drain from his face. “Oh, God, no—”

“Oh, God, yes,” she mocked cruelly. “And just what are you going to do about it?” She jerked her arm from his grasp and left him, stunned, while she turned and ran back along the path toward home.

The lights were blazing in the house when she got there. Aiden had already spread the news, Angel guessed angrily. She let herself into the house and stood at the open door of her father’s study for a moment. Adam Lowell, his gray head resting wearily against the back of his leather chair, looked as though he’d aged ten years. A glass of Scotch sat untouched on the desk in front of him. Some small movement of Angel’s must have caught his attention, for he looked up. Immediately he stood and opened his arms to her. She fled into them.

He held her for several moments while, for the first time since her mother had died years ago, she wept openly in his arms. He held her and soothed her hair, and then he pushed her gently away.

“The time for tears is over now, Angel. You’ve had your cry. Now it’s time to look ahead. Your sister needs you.”

Angel pulled away in protest. “How can you say that? After what she did to me!”

“What’s done is done,” Adam replied calmly. “I never thought you and Drew were a match anyway. I always expected him to break your heart. Aiden needs him now. Don’t stand in their way, Angel.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She and Drew had belonged together ever since they’d met four years ago. She’d only been fourteen and he sixteen, but even then they’d known what they had was special. How could her father even suggest that she was standing in the way. It was Aiden. Always Aiden.

Adam’s position, however, remained firm. Calmly, gently but resolutely, he pointed out how difficult a time Aiden would have if she were to have the baby alone. In a town as small as Crossfield, an illegitimate baby was still very much a stigma. There would be gossip; Aiden’s life would be ruined.

What about my life? Angel wanted to scream. What about me? But she already knew what her father’s answer would be. Angel was the sensible one, the smart one. Angel was always the dutiful daughter and sister. She knew what had to be done, the right thing to be done. In time, she’d get over this. In time, she’d meet someone else....

Angel flew from her father’s study and up the stairs to her own room, slamming the door behind her. She was vaguely aware that the phone started ringing and barely registered when someone picked up, only to have it ring again a minute or two later. She huddled beneath the covers of her bed, feeling devastated, betrayed, and utterly alone.

“Angel? Angel, answer me.”

She could hear Aiden calling to her from the hallway as her sister jiggled the knob on the locked door. “Angel, please let me come in.”

“Leave me alone, Aiden.”

“I’m sorry, Angel. I’m sorry you’re hurt. It happened—”

“Shut up!” Angel barely realized she was screaming the words. “Shut up, Aiden! I don’t want to hear how it happened! I never want to talk to you again, do you hear me? I hate you! I hate you! I wish you were dead!”

Angel pulled the covers over her head, blocking the outside world, shutting out the pounding in her head, the pounding on the front door. Even when she heard Drew downstairs, urgently shouting up to her, she shut him out, as well.

Angel left town the next day. Her father arranged for her to visit a friend in Los Angeles for a while. After a few weeks she decided to enroll in UCLA, eventually completing her graduate studies there and securing a professorship in the history department. For eight long years she’d stayed away, until her father had called her home before he’d died. Even then, his last thoughts had been of Aiden.

“I’m leaving the farm to you, Angel. Aiden would sell the land, squander the money, but I know I can count on you to hang onto it. This place is all your mother and I ever had, all we ever worked for. I promised her before she died the land would be our legacy to you and Aiden. I’m depending on you to see that it stays in the family. With Jack managing her trust fund and you the land, I’ll rest easier knowing Aiden will always be taken care of.

“I know there’s still a rift between you two. Don’t bother denying it, I can see it in your eyes every time her name’s mentioned. But she’s your sister, Angel. There’s no bond stronger than that. I want you to forgive her, as much for your sake as for hers.”

Seeing him lying there, so pale and weak and clinging to her hand, Ann hadn’t the heart to deny him anything.