Hope in Love Read Free

around me. I want her in
every way I can possibly have her. Do you understand?”
    “So have her. It’s never bothered you before.” Michael
looked directly at him.
    “Yael is not like the others. I need her to want me ,
and I don’t even know why.”
    Before he replied, Ram vanished. Michael smiled. Of course
he had made the right choice. The time had come for the angel of hope to feel
hopeful once again.
    After all, Ram was one of his and the Father’s favorites.
And Michael wanted to keep him from the depraved activity he sought so much of.
His debauched behavior had become a problem, and this assignment should take up
enough of his time to keep him under control.
    Things were changing for angels. Even the Father was aware
they needed to evolve to deal with men and all they had done to the promised
land given them. They had to become more like humans, live like men. Feel like
them. Or God’s children could never be saved.
    Gone were the white robes, symbolic of a gentler time. Of
course, some angels had taken their freedom to the extreme. Michael couldn’t
stand to lose the angel of hope from his ranks.
    The universe would not survive that blow.
    * * * * *
    She had needed to hear Ramiel say that she or the infant
would mean nothing to him. That was the only way Yael thought to keep her heart
and soul from him. She’d tumbled headlong into those fathomless blue eyes he
turned on her. She must find a reason to dislike him because he was right.
    She would enjoy her time with him.
    Still, the idea of creating a life to save others did not
appeal to her. But she didn’t have a choice in the matter. She could not even
blame him for that. The Fates decreed it. But they would not have to decree she
love her child. She’d cherish their babe, love her enough for the both of them.
So why did she feel this pull toward him?
    Her heart pounded. She’d never spoken to one of them in such
a curt manner. They were angels, supreme. She must do as she was asked. Deborah
made it sound like there was a choice, but there wasn’t. The damn Fates.
    Many lifetimes had been spent with these angels, and though
some were good, many were sexual deviants. Ramiel fit into the latter category.
She’d heard many stories. The heavenly halls rang often with legendary accounts
of his conquests, here and on Earth. Her heart wrenched at the fact that now
her name would be added to those horrid tales.
    She walked away from the palace, not ready to face her
benefactor. She didn’t notice the blooms on her favorite magnolia tree, its
scent held on the breeze. Nor did she see the brilliant colors of wild flowers
that flanked the walkway, or her precious blood-red lilies she had planted with
her own hands. She saw only the cold, desolate sea of pain that spread out
before her.
    I will give him only what I must.
    Yael grew tired of walking and thinking. As she went back
through Deborah’s gardens, she stopped and looked at the magnolia. Everything
was always in full bloom in Heaven. She breathed deeply of the fragrance of the
tree. It soothed her as no other in the garden.
    Maybe this wasn’t a bad idea. It would be like her home. She
would make Ramiel’s garden her garden and he would be hers. For a little while.
Her face grew warm with a flush as her body trembled. She must be careful. She
would tell Deborah that she intended to stay with the archangel until the babe’s
birth.
     
    “Are you sure this is wise?” Deborah paced Yael’s room. “If
you remain here, you will not have to suffer him often.”
    “It will be for the best.” She couldn’t say to her friend
that she really wanted to be alone with him. If they got to know each other, it
might be easier to bear. It would not seem arranged. She’d decided the only way
to do this was to pretend it was a mating of love, that she and Ramiel were
together because they wanted to be. Not because the Fates decreed it.
    Sometimes she could read Deborah’s mind, and the prophetess
thought it a