Free Fallen Angel by Melissa Jones Page B

okay?” He asked when she hadn’t spoken for a long time. She didn’t answer, finally he pulled away enough to look at her face, her eyes were closed, and she was sleeping. He gently laid her back in the straw wondering if she had ever really woken.
     
    Angelica stepped out into the warm sun and felt like a new person.  Her muscles were sore but a bath had washed way the dirt, soot and smoke smell and she felt one hundred percent better.  She could hear hammering so she followed the sound and found Luke and Tom patching the hole in the barn roof. The sight of Luke on top of the steeply pitched roof made her breath catch. It was all she could do not to yell at him to get down, or at least to be careful. The last thing she wanted to do was distract him so she said nothing, she just stood there rooted to the spot watching with bated breath until he finally finished and climbed down.
    “ Well we don’t have any roof shingles but I think that should keep the rain out until our next trip into town.”  Luke said to Tom as they walked toward her.
                  “You don’t look to worse for the wear.” Tom smiled.
                  “Of course not, all in a day’s work.” She smiled brightly up at him and he laughed.  Luke rolled his eyes. 
                  “Heard you were a regular heroine last night.”
                  “What? Where did you hear that?”
                  “Rule number one in a place like this, there are no secrets, everybody knows everything.” Luke continued walking past her, pulling his gloves off as he walked.
                  “I am afraid you were misinformed.” She said to Tom after Luke was gone. “I didn’t do anything heroic, in fact I believe Luke would tell you I acted recklessly.” Tom laughed at that.
                  “Luke and I don’t always agree. The way I heard it told it was pretty heroic.”
                  “I hate to disappoint you Tom, I know you do love a good story, especially one you can romanticize but there was nothing special about anything I did. We were very fortunate that the damage to the barn was minimal.”
                  “Very fortunate indeed.” Tom smiled and walked away.  Angelica frowned and crossed her arms as she looked where the two men had disappeared. She thought they might even be more confusing than trying to figure out her own history.

Chapter 7
                  Luke watched as Angie walked through the field, Ice was trotting along beside her. She had her hands out letting them drag across the tops of the tall grass and wildflowers. He didn’t know what was happening to him. He wanted to stay away from her and yet he was unnaturally drawn to her. She was beautiful, the sun making the red shine out of her hair, but that wasn’t what drew him. He couldn’t explain it, even to himself and he had been trying. He just wanted to be near her, to talk to her, to hear her voice. His feet moved on a will of their own and his long strides closed the distance until he fell into step beside her.  She glanced up at him and smiled but continued to walk. She didn’t say anything and neither did he. They simply continued to walk through the field. They finally stopped beside a huge oak tree that was standing all by itself.
                  “It looks so out of place, doesn’t it? Out here all alone in the world. Like it sprang up in spite of the fact that there isn’t another one like it around.” He watched her walk around the wide tree trunk dragging her fingers along the bark. “Just a little lost acorn.” He smiled, he couldn’t help it, it was as if he no longer had control over his body. “I had to come out here, I had to see it up close.”
                  “Are you disappointed?” He asked.
                  “Why would I be disappointed?” She