L. Castillo: After the Fall

“It’s not that.”

“What is it then?”

“Should we be together?”

He shot up, his face looking terrified. “Are you having doubts about us?”

“No, no! Not at all.” She immediately felt guilty for making him think that. “That’s not what I meant. You’re the only one for me. I can’t ever be without you.” She leaned over and kissed him deeply.

He sighed with relief. “What’s wrong then?”

“I just meant, should we be doing, you know, this?” Naomi pointed to his naked, his gloriously naked, body.

He pulled her to him and nuzzled her neck. “Umm, hum. Definitely.”

Naomi quivered as his hands stroked her breasts. She fell back into the bed. Yes, this was right. It felt so right. What was she thinking?

Her hands stroked his chest. He felt so good.

“God, Naomi. I want you so much.”

God!

“Wait, Lash,” she panted, trying to catch her breath. Slowly, memories of long afternoons in catechism classes and Welita’s lectures on chastity resurfaced. “I mean should we be together like this, since we’re not married?”

He pulled back and looked at her, stunned. “Married?”

She bit down on her lip, not sure how to broach the subject. It wasn’t like she was a prude or anything like that. Lash wasn’t her first. The thought of having sex before marriage never bothered her before, despite Welita’s and her father’s lectures about staying chaste. But things were different now. She was an archangel. Wasn’t she supposed to be a role model or something like that?

“Well, I don’t know if angels get married or have some kind of formal union. I mean, I don’t know if things like marriage mean the same thing here as they do on Earth.”

His lips curled into a smile. “They do. Many angel couples make vows of commitment to each other, Uri and Rachel for one.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Is that what you want?”

She looked deep into his eyes. “Yes. I want to be bound to you, forever.”

He cupped her face. His eyes were filled with so much love, it took her breath away. “There’s nothing I want more than to be bound to you too. I’ll talk to Michael tomorrow and make the arrangements.” He then leaned over and kissed her.

Slowly, she felt herself falling back into the bed, and his hands caressed her inner thighs.

She moaned, and the guilty feeling resurfaced again. “Lash, maybe we should wait until its official.”

He groaned and flipped on his back again. “You’re killing me, Naomi.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just, well, maybe it would be better if we did this the right way.”

“Why now? We’ve been doing this nonstop since you got here.” He sat up and gave her a smoldering look. “And if I recall, your loud enthusiasm was one of the reasons why I built our home up on the side of this mountain far away from prying eyes and ears. I think you may have even busted Gabrielle’s ear drums, based on the dirty looks she’s been giving me lately.”

Her jaw dropped, and her face grew hot. Besides having enhanced sight and strength, angels also had amplified hearing. Most of the time, that was seen as a positive. But when you were living in close quarters and wanted privacy? Not so much.

“I ... you... well...” She was so embarrassed.

He chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose. “You’re so cute when you’re flustered.”

“Argh!” She got out of bed and put on a robe. “I’m being serious.”

He leaned back against the headboard, his arms behind his head. “Tell me: what’s the real problem?”

She sat on the edge of the bed. He read her like an open book. “It’s what Rachel said about her and Uri. I don’t want that to happen to us.”

His eyes grew serious, and he reached out to stroke her cheek. “It won’t. I’m here with you. I’m not going anywhere.”

“But what if we get in trouble for doing this premarital sex stuff? I don’t want to take any chances.”

“Naomi, that’s not going to happen.”

“It’ll make me feel better if we make it official.” She leaned over and kissed him gently.

He looked at her and shook his head, laughing. “If it will really make you feel better...”

“Yes, it well.” She beamed. “Tell me what the ceremony is like.”

“Well, it’s not too different from the way you’re probably used to seeing. Michael performs a binding ceremony, and the couple makes vows of commitment to each other in front of witnesses.

“Have you been to one before?”

“Uri and Rachel had their ceremony a while back. It was 1987 or ’88. I’m not sure. It was definitely the 80s, though. He had this weird Flock of Seagulls hair thing going on back then.”

She laughed at the vision of Uri with his hair styled like a pair of wings to match the wings on his back. The style was all the rage back in the 80s. Her father’s love for alternative music and new wave bands introduced her to a wide range of strange looking hair and fashion. “Yeah, I can definitely see him doing that.”

Naomi’s laughter quieted, and she became somber again as she thought about the ceremony. She’d never seen herself being married or committed to anyone, not until she met Lash. She knew it was something Welita would have loved to see. And her father, he would’ve loved to walk her down the aisle with her arm in his. Tears pricked her eyes at the thought that her family wouldn’t be there to see it.

“I thought you were happy about this?” His voice was soft.

She looked up at him and forced a smile on her face. “I am. I’m committing myself to you.” She kissed his lips gently.

“Be honest. We don’t want to start our forever with secrets, do we?”

She sighed. “It’s just that I miss my family sometimes. They won’t be here to see this. And my dad, I’ll never get to experience this with him.”

Her eyes widened with surprise as his face paled. Without a word, he quickly got out of bed, went to the kitchen, and poured himself a glass of water.

She watched his back muscles tense as he faced away from her, silent. “Lash?”

He downed his drink before turning his attention back to her. His lips were wet as he spoke. “I wish there was something I could do to fix that for you.”

“Oh, Lash. It isn’t your fault my father is gone or that I’m here. I just need to keep reminding myself that by being here, I can take care of my family better.”

“Uh, Naomi.” He brushed the moisture off his lips with the back of his hand. “There’s something I need to tell you about that.”

“What is it?”

He licked his lips nervously and opened his mouth, about to say something, then closed it.

“Lash?” She felt panic set in. Something was wrong. Why was he acting so strange?

He shook his head and then looked at her with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You’re absolutely right. Together, we can watch over Welita and the others. Tell you what: let’s take a peek at them in the morning.”

“I’d love that!” She beamed and then suddenly frowned. “No, wait. I don’t think we should. Gabrielle was pretty firm about me staying away from the bridge for a while.”

“Ah, don’t mind her. We’ll be real quick about it.”

She struggled between wanting to follow Gabrielle’s orders and seeing Welita. She wanted so badly to tell her about her binding ceremony to Lash. It was the closest thing she had next to Welita being there. “Maybe I should go alone.”

“I want to go with you.”

“I don’t want you to get in trouble. You just got back!”

“Will you stop worrying? I’ll be fine. Besides, I wasn’t told to stay away from the bridge.” He grinned. “I’d love to see them. They’ll be my family too real soon.”