Free Heather Graham by Angel's Touch Page B

lips.
    “I almost didn’t come home,” he said very quickly. “I—I didn’t know that I wanted to be home, that I needed to be home. I love you so much, I—”
    He broke off, looking over his wife’s shoulder and suddenly realizing that there was a bag lady sitting at the table on his porch.
    “Who … who …?”
    “This is, er, Maggie,” Sharon said uneasily. “Everybody needs a little warmth at Christmas,” they both heard.
    Cathy Angel was standing in the doorway to the porch.
    Sharon looked at Jimmy.
    “Who… er…?”
    “Cathy, my wife, Sharon. Sharon, Cathy Angel. And Don—that’s her husband right behind her.”
    “Hello,” Sharon said.
    “Merry Christmas,” Cathy said.
    “Thanks.” Sharon stared at them, then smiled suddenly, her insight much like her daughter’s. “Thank you, really. You brought Jimmy home tonight, didn’t you?”
    “He really did want to be here,” Don said.
    “Okay, but now who—” Jimmy began again.
    “Maggie. This is Maggie St. Johns,” Sharon said.
    “Hi, Maggie.”
    “I can just leave—” Maggie began.
    “No!” Jimmy, Sharon, Don, and Cathy said in unison.
    “You’re welcome here, honest to God, you’re welcome,” Jimmy said to her. “Just sit tight for a minute, huh, Maggie? Promise me. Sharon, you come into the kitchen with me for just a second.” He smiled at Maggie, urging Sharon toward the kitchen. He propelled her into it, right behind Cathy and Don, holding her hand tightly.
    Sharon smiled at her unexpected guests a little awkwardly. “Can I get you something?” she offered.
    “No,” Jimmy told her. “Sharon—”
    “Jimmy, that’s so rude.”
    “Sharon, they brought me home. Trust me, they don’t want anything. I just want a minute with you.” He stared at Cathy and Don. “You know, it would definitely be a minor miracle if my father-in-law were to allow me a few more minutes alone with my wife. Perhaps, if the two of you were to talk with him and Mum for a bit, it would give me a chance…”
    “Is that on our list?” Don said to Cathy.
    “You are pushing it, don’t you think?” she replied.
    “What list?” Sharon asked.
    “Never mind. Jimmy, we’ll go in and have a conversation with your in-laws and keep them busy for a bit. You two … enjoy,” Don said. He took Cathy’s arm and led her into the parlor. “I guess he could be a grumpy old fellow, Sharon’s dad, eh?” Don said. “Reminds me of your father, Cathy.”
    Cathy kicked him discreetly on the shin.
    Then they went into the parlor. From the kitchen, Jimmy and Sharon could hear them beginning a conversation with Sharon’s parents.
    Sharon looked up at Jimmy, her arms locked around his neck.
    “Who are they?” she queried. Her eyes were shining. There had been tears in them, Jimmy realized. She was smiling against that beautiful, soft glitter in her eyes.
    “I told you, sweetheart, Cathy and Don. The Angels.”
    “Angels?”
    “Their last name is Angel. Cathy and Don Angel.”
    “They aren’t clients.”
    “No. They aren’t clients.”
    “Then who—”
    “I don’t want to know. I don’t even want to ask.”
    She shook her head. “They are angels. They brought you home to me.”
    He enveloped her in his arms. “I’m home forever, I promise it, every single night. I won’t stray, and I won’t fall.”
    “Jimmy—”
    “I promise it.”
    “If you falter, I’ll be here.”
    “You’ve been a damned angel,” he told her.
    “I love you so very much.”
    “That’s a damned miracle,” he told her.
    He kissed his wife, very tenderly. Took her hand. “Let’s go see the kids and the gorgons.”
    “Jimmy!”
    “Let’s go see the kids and my wonderful in-laws.”
    She arched a brow and started to laugh. Jimmy O’Connor began to leave the kitchen, then remembered the poor skinny creature sipping soup on his back porch.
    “Sharon, have you got anything that wretched creature could wear besides that old coat you’ve put over