Read Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5 for Free Online Page A

blindly into Emiel's embrace, gripping his lover too tight but unable to stop himself. He was shaking so hard he thought this body might break, and his breaths came out fast and shallow.
    "It's all right," Emiel murmured in his ear. "It's all right. I have you, my love. I have you."
    "What…how…" He couldn't get the words out, and fortunately he didn't have to.
    "We could not go straight back to Heaven," Emiel said, filling Renat with a new and sudden grief. It wasn't that he had truly expected to be let back into the Kingdom of God, but that he hadn't was still painful. At least Emiel was with him. He could bear whatever this was, if Emiel was with him.
    "This is our new home. I searched for the right place for a century, and spent the last ten years making it ready for us to live here, and learning to be human," Emiel continued.
    To be human? Renat pulled back slightly, just enough space so that he could get a look at Emiel. The angel was wearing clothes, thin pants that clung to his skin and a simple blue shirt that buttoned down the front. His feet were bare, and his face was the same, but…different. His hair was still short, and brown, and his eyes were blue but not glowing with the grace of God. He had lost his grace. Emiel was no longer an angel.
    "No," Renat whispered desperately. "You must not lose your grace for me."
    "There is no lack," Emiel promised him. "We have a new grace now. We have souls, my love."
    "Souls?"
    "Human souls. That's what we are now, Renat, mostly human." Emiel lifted his hands to cup Renat's face. They felt the same as they always had, warm and loving. Renat leaned into the touch and let gentle fingers brush away his tears. "It was the only way we could be together again. We will live as humans, and if our lives are honorable then we both will be welcomed back into Heaven when these mortal forms have reached their end. We will go on forever, my love. This is only the next step." He leaned in and kissed Renat's cheek soothingly, and then his lips. "After all, what is one lifetime when we have already waited for so long?" he whispered into Renat's mouth. "One lifetime here on Earth, and then eternity together."
    "Emiel…" Renat leaned into the kiss, wanting to deepen it, but he forced himself to pull away as all those things he hadn't wanted to think about came rushing back. "I don't know how to do this."
    "I will teach you," Emiel promised him. "Our home is fairly isolated, so we don't need to worry about interruptions, or seeing anyone before you're ready. I chose a place on a lake because I thought you would enjoy it, after so long without such things." He reached over and trailed his fingers through the water, then brushed his wet fingertips across Renat's temple. "You can do this," he told Renat firmly. "You can do anything."
    "As long as I have you," Renat murmured, and Emiel's smile seemed to brighten the sky. "What does mostly human mean?"
    "Just what it sounds like. We have human bodies with human frailties. Human needs. But," Emiel said with a sly smile, "Our Father anticipated that this would get difficult sometimes, and so He left us with a little…reminder. Close your eyes."
    Renat obeyed, shutting lids that felt a little swollen from tears. Emiel shifted away for a moment, and when he came back to Renat's arms his chest was bare. Something soft fluttered against Renat's cheek, and when he opened his eyes he was looking into Emiel's grinning face, and surrounding them both were gently pulsing white feathers.
    After a brief moment of shock Renat tilted his head back and laughed. He laughed for what felt like the first time in his life, pure and joyous. The sound echoed across the water and slowly dissolved into the earth, a fitting introduction to the world for one of God's newest souls.
    THE END
    Author bio: Cari Z is a Colorado girl who loves snow and sunshine. She tried living the American dream for a while but soon traded it in for two years in the Peace Corps. She's back