Amber and Jade

Saturday night, Danny called Amber. "I'm sorry for not being in touch sooner," he said. "I hope you didn't worry too much."

"Oh, no, that's all right." Amber was too relieved to hear his voice to get upset.

"Remember the little old lady with cancer I told you about?" Danny continued. "She passed over just this afternoon. She lived in a nursing home and was all alone because her family never came to visit her, which by the way, they're really going to regret. I sat beside her holding her hand as she took her last breath, and then I took her to heaven and waited until she was all settled in before I came back."

"Wow!" Amber whispered.

"Say, there's still time if you'd like to do something tonight."

"I'd have to get ready."

"Twenty minutes long enough?"

"Sure, I guess so."

"Tell Bailey she's welcome to come along as well. I've got a surprise for her."

Twenty-five minutes later, Danny rang the doorbell. He greeted Susan and both girls, then asked Amber and Bailey if they'd like to go roller skating. "I don't know how," Amber confessed.

"That's all right," Danny replied. "I'll teach you."

At the skating rink, a teenage girl was waiting for them just inside the entrance. Amber recognized her immediately from photographs she'd seen. "Brittney!" cried Bailey. The sisters embraced happily.

"Danny told me how much you missed me, so I came back to visit you," Brittney told her twin.

"How long can you stay?" asked Bailey.

"Only a couple of hours." Brittney looked a little sad.

"You mean you can't come home and see Mom and Dad?" Bailey was obviously very disappointed.

Brittney shook her head. "Sorry, no. I'm needed elsewhere, but we have a little while to skate together just like we used to. Come on!"

The sisters put on their skates and were soon sailing gracefully around the rink while Amber watched wistfully after them. "I could never skate like that."

"Of course you can," Danny told her. "All you need is practice!"

Amber put on her own skates, and her legs scissored frantically back and forth as Danny laughingly steadied her. He showed her how to balance, then to move slowly forward, and soon they were circling the rink together. "This is fun!" Amber exclaimed.

Soon the lights dimmed, a romantic song began to play, and couples began to skate holding hands or facing one another. Danny turned around to face Amber so that he was holding both her hands while skating backwards. Euphoria swept over her as she gazed into his eyes. "Being here with you is just so nice," he told her. "I love the way your eyes are shining tonight."

"I feel really happy when I'm with you," she replied. "Sometimes I even forget...I mean, lots of times, I forget and just feel like I'm with a regular guy."

"I feel just like a regular guy when I'm with you." He kissed her then, a soft, chaste kiss, not like the one he'd given her on the Rialto Bridge in Venice.

"Mom's talking about sending me to a psychiatrist and maybe even having me committed," Maggie told Bailey, Amber, and Danny. It was Saturday, and the four of them were walking up and down the mall. "I slipped up and accidentally mentioned going horseback riding with you, Danny, and now she thinks I'm schizophrenic and hallucinating."

"I'll stay with you when she comes to pick you up and take you home," Danny told her. "She's ready."

Maggie's eyes widened. "Would you? Really?"

Danny smiled and nodded.

"Great!" Maggie exclaimed. "I've been wanting her to see you again for ages!"

Mrs. Green came to pick her daughter up at four o'clock in the afternoon, as she usually did. Her eyes swept over the two other girls and then landed on Danny, and she instantly looked confused. He grinned. "Hi, Mom."

Mrs. Green's mouth opened, then closed.

"It's really me, Mom." He took a couple of steps in her direction but didn't touch her.

She began to shake. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"It's no joke, Mom. Really, it's me."

"Oh, Danny!" She began to sob heavily, and he held and comforted her as the girls watched awkwardly. A few seconds later, she reached for Maggie and pulled her into the embrace.

"You will come home with us, won't you?" Mrs. Green asked her son once she'd regained her composure. "I...I'll set an extra plate for dinner. It'll be just like old times."

"Of course I will."

"Dad's gonna be so happy to see you again!" Maggie exclaimed.

Amber longed to see the father and son reunion more than anything else in the world, but she understood how the family would want the first meal they'd shared together in over three years to be just the four of them. She looked into Danny's eyes and saw gratitude for her understanding. "We'll have you over for dinner soon, Amber," he told her. "I promise."

Mrs. Green looked surprised. "Amber?"

"Long story, Mom," Danny said. "I'll explain over dinner."

As Amber drifted off to sleep that night, she couldn't help but wonder how Danny's reunion with his father had gone.

"I don't know why I let you talk me into this," Jade grumbled to her friend, Iceas. The two young women were part of a group who'd volunteered to visit a rehabilitation center where injured veterans were receiving physical therapy.

"What's wrong?" asked Iceas.

"This is just so depressing," Jade replied. "It's not like I want to do this as a career or anything."

"Just think about how depressing it is for the people who have to stay here all the time," Iceas pointed out. "I'm happy for the chance to help bring a little joy into their lives. Aren't you?"

"I guess so." Jade looked around balefully at the stainless steel equipment, the bars, wheelchairs, and other devices, the young men with various disabilities who were using them. Suddenly her eyes fell on a dark-haired young man of about twenty-five. His face had been severely burned, and one of his eyes was obviously a prosthetic. Both his legs had been amputated above the knee. A wave of revulsion mixed with pity swept over her, but in the next moment, the young man smiled at her; the warmest, friendliest smile she'd ever seen.

"Hi! I'm Trey," he told her.

"I'm Jade." Somehow she found her feet moving in his direction. He held out a hand to her, and she shook it. It was warm and firm.

"It's very nice to meet you," he told her. "I don't see very many pretty faces around here."

Ordinarily Jade would have been offended by his comment, but for some reason, she found that it charmed her instead. "I'm a student at the university," she told him.

"That so? I was a soldier in Afghanistan. Until a few months ago," he added wryly, glancing down at his stumps.

"How did it happen?" she asked.

"An explosive device detonated below me while I was on foot patrol," he told her. "The army doc told me I was lucky to be alive, but I don't feel so lucky."

"That must have been very painful."

"I don't remember a bit of it," he replied. "One minute I was walking around doing my usual thing, and the next, I was lying in the hospital with bandages all over me."

"I'm awfully sorry." She couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Yeah. Well." He gave a weak smile. "I suppose I'll get out of here eventually. Say, you got a boyfriend?"

"Not anymore." She wrinkled her nose. "He just dumped me after three years of being together."

"Somehow I find that hard to believe," said Trey.

"What about you? Are you married or in a relationship?"

"I was engaged," Trey replied. "We were gonna get married after I got back from Afghanistan. I never heard a word from her after my accident. My sister wrote and told me she's involved with my best friend back home now."

"I'm sorry." Jade felt terribly awkward.

"It's all right," Trey said bravely. "It just wasn't meant to be, I guess. Say, can you stay for awhile? I was thinking maybe we could have lunch together or something."

As Thanksgiving approached, Amber's thoughts turned to her mother. Every year at this time, it had been her, Jade, Helen, and sometimes Aunt Maria. What would it be this year? Her, Bailey, Paul, and Susan? Although she'd grown to care for them all very much, she had, after all, known them for less than a year. She'd known Jade, Helen, and Aunt Maria for her entire life.

"Why don't you give her a call?" asked Danny. The two of them were strolling hand in hand at the park.

"She never wants to see me again!" Amber objected. "She hates me and blames me for Bruce's death."

"It's been a couple of months," Danny reminded her. "She's had some time to think it over. Maybe she's had a change of heart."

Amber shook her head. "There would be no use in going back to her. She'd only throw me out again."

"You don't know that for sure," Danny replied. "Would you like for me to go with you?"

"She always liked you,' said Amber. "But of course she doesn't know you're back."

Danny grinned. "So there will be that as an ice breaker."

"An ice breaker?" Suddenly Amber was giggling uncontrollably, and Danny joined in.

"Let's go," he said, taking her hand again.

Helen threw the door open as soon as they knocked. "Oh, Amber!" she cried, immediately grasping her daughter in a warm embrace. "Can you ever forgive me?"

Amber was too startled to say anything for a moment.

"It turned out that he wasn't what I thought he was after all," Helen continued. "After he killed himself, I was going through his things and found stacks and stacks of child pornography magazines. Stacks of them, Amber. Pictures of girls who couldn't have been any older than twelve or thirteen doing disgusting things." She took a deep breath. "I thought he was so perfect at first, so loving and caring and sweet. He had me completely fooled. When it came out what he'd done to you, I simply refused to believe it. I can't believe I listened to him over my own child. I can't begin to describe how I felt when I was forced to confront the evidence of who he really was. I wanted so badly to find you and tell you how sorry I was, but I was afraid you'd really hate me after what I'd done."

"I was afraid you still hated me," Amber finally managed to say.

"Of course not, sweetheart," Helen replied. "I love both you and Jade with all my heart. You two are all I have left. I'd love to have you come back home...if you're willing."

"I live with this really nice family now, Mom. The Andersons. Their own daughter died almost two years ago. They've been really good to me. I'd hate to just leave them."

"Could you at least come for Thanksgiving? Jade and Maria both said they'd be here."

"Of course I will, Mom."

It was then that Helen noticed Danny for the first time. "Who's your friend? He looks just like Danny Green!"

"He is Danny Green, Mom. He came back."

"But that's impossible! This is a joke, right?"

"It's no joke, Mrs. Cartwright." Danny smiled. "I came back for Amber because she needed me."

"So there really is an afterlife, then."

"Of course there is. How could you ever doubt it?"

"And you knew what was going on with Amber."

"Of course I did."

"Then you must really hate me for what I did to her."

"Of course I don't. You loved Bruce and so you couldn't accept that he'd really done what he did, so you blamed Amber for what happened, because at the time, there was no other alternative."

Helen slowly nodded. "You sound so mature, Danny. Nothing at all like the boy you used to be."

Danny laughed. "The things I've been through tend to do that to a person."

To Amber's surprise, Helen laughed as well. "I'm sure they do. Please say you can stay awhile. The three of us just have so much to talk about."

"So, how has it been going for you girls?" Aunt Maria asked her nieces. It was Thanksgiving, and the family had just sat down at the dinner table.

"I just met a new guy," Jade replied. "His name's Trey, and he was wounded in Afghanistan. I met him at the rehabilitation center. Some friends and I had gone there to cheer the veterans up, and we started talking and really hit it off. I've been back to see him a couple of times since then. He's supposed to go home in a couple of months."

"What will he do then?" asked Aunt Maria.

"He wants to start training for a desk job soon. You know, it's funny. I never before imagined that I'd ever be attracted to someone like him, but he's just so nice and so easy to talk to. I feel so comfortable around him, like I can tell him almost anything at all."

Aunt Maria frowned. "What do you mean, 'someone like him'?"

"Well, his face is badly burned, and he lost both legs."

Aunt Maria looked shocked for just a minute. "Well, it's good that you were able to look beyond all that."

"You know what? I'm not sure I would have been able to a year ago, or even six months ago."

"And what about you, Amber?" asked Aunt Maria.

"Mom and I had kind of a disagreement and I had to move out for awhile. I'm staying with this nice family, the Andersons, now." She blushed slightly. "Danny and I have been seeing quite a bit of each other, too."

"Danny?"

"Danny Green."

"But didn't he used to be Jade's boyfriend? The one who..."

"He came back a couple of months ago," Amber explained.

Aunt Maria nodded in understanding. As she claimed to have a special relationship with the spirit world, the news didn't shock her at all. "And Jade wasn't interested in resuming the relationship?"

"I was already involved with Gideon by then," Jade said. "I had no idea he was gonna come back. I thought he was gone forever."

"Oh," Aunt Maria said awkwardly. "Well, that usually is the case, isn't it?"

"He came back to keep me from doing a really stupid thing," Amber told her.

Aunt Maria's eyes widened in shock. She glanced from Helen, who was staring at the table top, to Jade, who looked puzzled. "Well, I'm glad that things seem to be going all right for you now."

"It was Bruce, wasn't it?" Jade asked Amber when the two of them were alone. "I knew that guy was bad news the first time I set eyes on him. I never should have gone to California and left you alone with him."

"It wasn't your fault," said Amber. "It was his."

"Well, I still feel bad that that happened to you," Jade replied. It occurred to her that it had been a very long time since she'd actually had a heart-to-heart chat with her younger sister.

"It's all right," said Amber. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask what it had been like to make love to Danny, to join their bodies together in the ultimate act of intimacy, but every time she thought about it, her heart began to beat faster and she just couldn't.

"Did you girls have a nice Thanksgiving?" Suddenly Danny was there, smiling at them. With the image of Danny and Jade, their bodies molded together in passion, still in her mind, Amber blushed deeply.

"What is it, Amber?" Danny laughed.

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head emphatically.

"Are you sure?" He smiled gently as his eyes sought hers.

She nodded.

"It was nice to see Mom and Aunt Maria again," said Jade, as if there never had been any awkwardness between herself and Danny. "How was your Thanksgiving?"

"It was wonderful," Danny told her. "Aaron was able to visit. It was the first time all five of us had all been together since...you know." Watching her sister chat comfortably with her former boyfriend, Amber began to feel left out. Danny reached for her hand and took it, and she felt a little bit better.

"So how's it going with Trey?" Danny asked Jade.

"Fine." She was surprised. "I didn't know you knew about that."

"Of course I did. I was the one who sent him back."

"What?" Jade and Amber were both startled.

"At the time of his accident, his soul briefly left his body. I was there to meet him, to tell him that it wasn't his time to cross over yet, that even in a crippled and scarred body, he could still accomplish a lot and live a happy life. That a very special woman would come along and change his life forever."

"Wow." Overwhelmed, Jade didn't know what else to say.

"Is everything really OK?" Danny asked Amber later, after Jade had left.

"Yeah, everything's fine."

"So it wasn't something you just didn't want to talk about in front of Jade?"

"Not exactly. I was just, you know, wondering what it would be like." She couldn't meet his eyes.

"I think that maybe you spend a little too much time thinking about that." Danny's voice sounded gently reproving. "There will be plenty of time for that when you're a little bit older. No point rushing it. It will get here fast enough."

"But sometimes it just seems like it's taking so long..." Tears of frustration were in Amber's eyes.

"I know. But it will be here before you know it." Gently he kissed her lips. "Come on. Let's go roller skating."

"Great job!" Jade exclaimed as Trey reached the end of the parallel bars. He'd just received his prosthetic legs and was taking his first steps on them. With obvious great effort and concentration, he swung his hip around so that he was facing the opposite direction and slowly began taking careful steps that way. He wobbled and shook a little but managed to make it all the way back, where he sank into his wheelchair in exhaustion. "Whew! That was the hardest thing I ever did!"

"Way to go!" Jade cheered. She went to him and kissed his cheek, which both surprised and delighted him. The first time he'd seen his face in a mirror after his accident, he'd immediately concluded that no woman would ever want to kiss him again. Jade was so proud of him that she didn't even give it a second thought.

"I'm gonna get out of here soon," he swore to both of them. "And when I do, I'm gonna take you on a real date."

"Before the term ends for winter break, I want each of you to submit a compilation of twenty of your best works," Mrs. Williams told her creative writing class. "It can include poems, character sketches, essays, short stories, plays, or any combination thereof. The compilation will be due on the day of the final exam, and it will be one fourth of your total grade for the class."

"So have you decided which of your works you're planning to include in your compilation?" Amber's friend Trendi asked her after the class had ended.

"Well, I'll definitely include my poem about Danny, of course," Amber replied. "I really liked your poem about Halloween."

"Yeah." Trendi giggled. "Well, Halloween's my favorite holiday. It's when they show the coolest movies. Zombie movies are my absolute faves. How about you?"

"I used to like them a lot."

"You don't anymore?"

"Not since...never mind. Let's just talk about something else, OK?"

Trendi frowned. "OK. You started your Christmas shopping yet?"

"Not really." It occurred to Amber that she had about twice as many people to shop for this year than she'd had last year. Last year it had been just Mom, Jade, and Aunt Maria. This year it was all three of them plus the Andersons and Bailey...and Danny, of course.

But what did one buy an angel for Christmas? She had no idea.

That weekend she and Danny were strolling up and down the mall together and she asked him. He looked startled at first, then laughed. "Just think of me as a regular guy. Whatever you'd buy for a regular guy, you could buy for me."

"You mean like a CD or a computer game or something like that?"

"Exactly!"

The mall was decorated with stars and wreaths, and in its center was a giant tree with tinsel and balls, in front of which sat a man dressed as Santa, with a line of children waiting to sit on his knee. "I remember doing that when I was little," Amber remarked.

"So did I," Danny replied. "I used to always ask for train sets, race cars, and cowboy stuff. I remember the year I was three I got the coolest electric train set. My Mom still has it packed away in the attic.

"Aunt Maria made a Raggedy Ann and Andy set the year I was six," said Amber. "I still have them sitting on my bed at home." In a home decor store she found a pretty vase in rainbow colors that she thought Helen would like, and in the same store, she found a set of bowls for Paul and Susan. In the bookstore, she found a book called 'The Girl On The Train' by Paula Hawkins that she thought Jade might like and a book called 'The Prince Of Venice Beach' by Blake Nelson that she thought Bailey might like.

After that, they went to the pretzel store in the food court for a snack and then Danny took Amber home. It occurred to her that hanging out with Danny was, in many ways, just like dating a regular mortal, with the exception of adventures such as the excursion to watch 'Ice Castles' and the trip to Venice, or course.

Unlike the first time she'd visited the rehabilitation center with Iceas and the rest of the group, Jade looked forward to the Christmas party there. Unfortunately, it didn't look as if Trey would be able to go home by Christmas, but his recovery was coming along nicely and he could now walk short distances with crutches on his prosthetic legs.

The group arrived to find the center's physiotherapy gym cheerfully decorated with a table laden with food and a large punch bowl filled with red punch. Trey saw them coming and his face lit up. 'Your boyfriend sure looks happy to see you," Iceas teased Jade.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Jade insisted. Iceas only laughed.

Soft music began to play, and those who were physically able to began to dance. Jade went to stand with Trey. "You don't have to just hang around me, you know," he told her. "If you want to dance with someone else, please, feel free. I want you to enjoy yourself."

"No, thanks. That's all right. I'd much rather hang out with you."

"Well, OK. But you have to admit, I'm kind of boring."

"I don't think you're boring at all!"

The music stopped, and people began to eat and drink. Jade grabbed some cheese and crackers and punch and took them to share with Trey. "It's funny," he remarked. "I remember how, on Christmas two years ago, I was with Ashley at a Christmas party and she brought me cheese and crackers just like you just did. That seems like forever ago."

"I remember four years ago," Jade replied. "It was the Friday before Christmas when I met Danny's parents for the first time. It was in a drug store, and 'Santa Baby' was playing. Funny how you remember stuff like that."

"Who's Danny?"

"My first serious boyfriend. He's with my sister Amber now."

Trey laughed heartily. "Still passing your hand-me-downs on to her, huh?"

"I hadn't really thought about it that way, but yeah, I guess so." Jade laughed along with him.

"It just doesn't seem like Christmas without Jade being here," Amber remarked. She and her mother had just opened their presents to one another and were eating breakfast together.

"Well, I can understand her not wanting to leave Trey all alone in the rehab center over the holidays," Helen replied.

"Yeah, I know." Amber was glad that her sister had found someone to love and sincerely hoped that things would work out between her and Trey. "It's too bad he couldn't go home for Christmas."

"Well, hopefully he'll get to go home soon." They finished breakfast and Helen did the dishes while Amber went into the living room and turned the television on. 'A Christmas Carol' was playing. Although Amber had seen the movie many times, she still loved it.

Aunt Maria came over for dinner, and to Amber's surprise and joy, Danny arrived a couple of hours after that.

"Wow! I thought you'd spend the whole day with your family, especially since it's your first Christmas to all be together in four years," she told him.

"Well, I had to come by to give you your present, didn't I?" He handed her a small box wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper, and she eagerly ripped into it. Inside the box was a silver necklace with a charm in the shape of a figure eight lying on its side. There was a small diamond near one of the curves.

"It's called a lemniscate," Danny told her. "It means forever and ever, and yes, the diamond is real."

"Oh, Danny!" She was so happy that tears came to her eyes as she hugged his neck tightly. "All I got you was a CD."

"Well, that's all right."

"I'll get it." She dashed to her bedroom and returned with her present, which she handed to him.

His face lit up as soon as he saw what it was. "Snow Patrol! You remembered what my favorite group was!"

"It's their most recent CD," Amber said a little shyly.

"Wow, I can't wait to hear it!"

"Want to come in and listen to it?"

"Maybe later." He gave her a mysterious smile. "Right now I want to take you somewhere special."

"Where?"

"You'll see!"

Within moments, they were sitting inside a huge theater with rows and rows of seats, a five-tiered balcony, and a huge chandelier hanging down from the center of the ceiling. "Where are we?" Amber gasped.

"This is the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow," Danny replied. "We're about to watch a performance of 'The Nutcracker Suite'."

Soon the dancers came onto the stage and began to perform, and Amber was mesmerized. Caught up in the moment, all other thoughts vanished from her mind as she was swept up into the beauty and grace of the performance. It seemed to end far too soon.

"I could tell you enjoyed that," Danny chuckled when it was over.

"It was magic!" Amber exclaimed.

"You should have seen how your face was shining," Danny told her.

"My gosh, a forever necklace, the Bolshoi ballet...what else could a girl ask for at Christmastime?"

"That's not all," Danny told her.

"You mean there's even more?"

"You bet!" Although she was really still stuffed from Christmas dinner, he took her to a very nice restaurant where she drank a Shirley Temple and he drank club water and they talked.

"I can't believe you're going to all this trouble just for me," said Amber.

"Why? Don't you think you're worth it?"

"I suppose that's not really for me to judge, but what I meant was that we're not really boyfriend and girlfriend or anything."

"What would you call us, then?"

"Well, if you were still...you know..."

"In my mortal body?"

"Yes!" She sighed with relief. "If you were still in your mortal body, then of course we could be boyfriend and girlfriend. But normally people don't just stay boyfriend and girlfriend forever. They grow up and get married and have kids, but that's not really an option for us, is it?"

He looked just a little sad. "I don't know. I'll have to check into it."

"What do you mean, 'check into it'?"

"Well, you know." His eyes went upward. "But there's no hurry about that. Why do you keep trying to rush things?"

"I don't really know. I suppose I'm just the kind of person who's always thinking ahead."

"That's a good quality to have, but it's also nice to just live in the moment sometimes. You know, just like you were back there at the ballet. You were completely absorbed, like nothing else in the world even existed, weren't you?"

"Well, yes, come to think of it, I was!"

"And that's a great way to be, too."

"Is that the way it is in heaven?"

"All the time!"

On the night of December 31, Jade went to the rehabilitation center alone. It wasn't the first time she'd come to visit Trey by herself, but tonight was special. They were going to ring in the New Year together.

Trey was up walking around when she arrived. "Hi, Jade!" he called to her when he saw her. She went to him and kissed his cheek. "I'm glad you could make it," he told her as they found seats. "The guys wanted a war movie marathon," he explained. 'Twelve O'clock High' was now being shown, and was soon followed by 'Midway' and then 'The Big Red One.' As hard as Jade struggled to stay awake, she was fast asleep within a couple of hours, her head resting on Trey's shoulder.

The next thing she knew, Trey was shaking her awake. "Hey, Jade! It's gonna be 2015 in five...four..." Suddenly wide awake, she listened as the guys counted down to the New Year, then cheered and passed around glasses of champagne.

"To the New Year, and whatever it brings," Trey said as he touched his glass to Jade's.

To us, she silently added.