"It is." Uriel smiled. “A trustee is managing things for you. I’ll set up a meeting. In the meantime….” He pulled out a credit card wrapped in a piece of paper. “This is a debit card for an active account. You don’t need to worry about money ever again.”
I flipped through the pages in shock, my mind stuttered over the possibilities. When I shut the book, Uriel was watching me. He had a velvet pouch in his hand, which he offered to me. “This was hers.”
My fingers trembled slightly as I opened it. Inside was a simple silver ring with a stone that seemed to shift colors in the light. When I looked up, I noticed Uriel wore a matching ring.
“Our parents had these made for us on the day we became adults.” Uriel twisted the ring on his finger. “The stone is from our home world. We never took them off. When Ariel died, I took mine off as well as hers and put them away until today.
I slipped the ring onto my finger. It adjusted itself to fit perfectly. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
The sheer amount of change in my life was daunting. I needed time to digest everything. “I think that’s enough for today.”
“Very well, Nick,” Uriel said, looking a little more at peace than when I arrived. “I’ll be around whenever you’d like to talk.”
Mumbling a distracted thank you, I went in search of Henry. I had an entire family I hadn’t known about and I wanted to share it with him. The first of many new things we’d share.
Henry
“They asked you for what?” Perseus's voice conveyed his outrage.
“They said I needed a note from a bank before they’d work with me.” Nick wasn’t any happier now than when this happened a few hours ago. “Evidently, no one my age in the history of the world had afforded a Maserati before.”
I’d been angry for Nick, but he handled it without my help. “Nick asked to speak to the manager, who came out looking ready to toss us out. He pointed out there were no other customers, so they weren’t going to lose any sales working with us, or we could leave and take our business elsewhere. A younger sales associate volunteered to help us. An hour later, we worked out a deal, Nick had the bank wire the money, and she’d earned a fat commission.”
“Bet that shut them up,” Ajax said.
“Not as much as when someone at Maserati called twenty minutes into our visit to rip the manager a new asshole,” Nick said with a satisfied grin.
I shouldn’t have made the call, but I was angry. “The Angelini family owns nearly twenty percent of the company. Asa concerned shareholder, I wanted the CEO to know how their sales staff treated me and my partner.”
“Good for you,” Ares said. “No one is too poor to be treated with dignity.”
Zeke and Orion came outside with a tray of food, and everyone got up to help.
Spending time with the Masterson family was perfect for Nick. Ares and Ruth stressed the importance of being close over appearance. They were one of the most important angel families, but they didn’t set themselves above others. There was genuine love between them, and Nick needed to experience what a true family looked like.
“You’re doing great,” Ruth said after we’d brought out the plates and utensils. “He radiates happiness.”
Around friends, Nick held up well, but he wasn’t always upbeat. “Mostly. We’ve had some sad moments as he goes through his mother’s things. Ariel made dozens of videos for him. He smiles and cries at the same time.”
“She was a beautiful soul,” Ruth swallowed hard. “And one of my best friends. We talked for hours while she was pregnant with Abraham.”
It was odd to hear anyone use Nick’s intended name. “It’s hard for him to reconcile everything. She did all these amazing things so he’d have a connection with her, but he struggles with being the reason she’s dead.”
“I’m not surprised.” She wiped a tear from the edge of her eye. “He’s a lot like her. Kind, forgiving, humble, and selfless.”
The universe was cruel to deny Ariel and Nick time together. “He’s working through it. Uriel is a big help. They’ve spent hours talking about her.”
“Uriel is a lot like Gabriel, only less outgoing,” she said. “It makes him appear aloof, but he’s a kind soul. He loved Arielmore than his own life. Everything he poured into protecting Nick, he’s redirecting into caring for his nephew.”
It helped Uriel had spent so much time with Nick when he was pretending to be Alex. I thought that would be an impediment, but it turned into a boon. “It’s working. They’re bonding in a way that’s helping Nick deal with things.”
Nick came out of the house with Zeke and Trevor. They were laughing, and it gave me so much joy to see Nick enjoy himself. Our eyes caught, and I smiled back. This was the life he deserved.
“Who’s hungry?” Orion bellowed. Hector, Perseus, Ajax, Vicky, and Brenda followed him out with trays of food. Ares trailed the food carrying two coolers, one on each shoulder.
Iglanced around the yard, taking in every detail. Zeke and Orion were relaxed in their chairs, fingers casually intertwined on the tabletop. Nick and Hector were talking about his car. Trevor was to Nick’s right, deep in conversation with Perseus. I wasn’t sure about Perseus’s sexuality, but if I had to make a wager, there was interest from both. Victoria and Ajax had grabbed beers and stood by the back fence. I didn’t want to know what that was about, but I’m sure it would reach me eventually.
