“Rachel? Are you okay?” Naomi shook her shoulder, her brow furrowed with worry. She wasn’t used to seeing her friend so sad. Out of all the angels she’d met during her short time in Heaven, Rachel was the most cheerful, always chirping away about angel gossip. She wished she hadn’t asked Rachel about how she and Uri met. Naomi had no idea about their tragic past or that Rachel and Uri were ever apart. Uri, who had shortened his name from Uriel, was always by Rachel’s side.
When Naomi first met Uri, she’d been taken off guard by the way he winked and teased her. And he was a hugger, just like Rachel. She’d thought Lash would be jealous of the way Uri flirted with her. But then she noticed he was that way with everyone, even Gabrielle.
Heaven was not at a loss for drop-dead gorgeous angels. Although Lash’s dark, brooding looks were more her type, she had to admit Uri was attractive. His dark blond hair was worn short with long bangs that flopped on his forehead, highlighting teasing blue eyes. His most striking features were his full lips that always seemed to be in a puckered position. Many of the female angels drooled every time Uri kissed their hand “hello” or melted whenever he flashed a smile at them. And if Uri really wanted to get them going, he’d go heavy on his Russian accent.
Despite all the attention he drew, it was clear that his heart belonged to Rachel. Every time she walked into the room, his face would light up and grow even more breathtakingly handsome. It was like all the energy he radiated was because of her.
Rachel blinked a few times, and she shook her head as if bringing herself to the present. “Yeah, sorry. I got lost in memories there for a moment. What were you saying?”
“Ah, my love, allow me to explain to Naomi my miraculous resurrection,” Uri said to Rachel.
He leaned over the table and took Naomi’s hand into his. He paused and then glanced over at Lash. “May I?”
Lash nodded and leaned back into his seat. “As long as you rein in some of the charm.”
Naomi rolled her eyes. “He’s just holding my hand. Why are you holding my hand, Uri?”
“Tell me, my beautiful Naomi. What do you feel?” Uri gave Rachel a wink.
Naomi blinked, confused. “I, uh, well, I feel your hand.”
“Yes, you feel Uri’s hand,” he said, flipping the “r” as he spoke. “But, who is Uri?”
“What?” She glanced over to Lash, not knowing what to think. He shrugged.
“Is this Uri, flesh and bones?” He slid her hand up his muscular arm. “Or is this Uri?” He then placed her hand over his chiseled chest.
Lash bolted up in his seat. “Hey there, watch it now.”
“Shh.” Naomi waved a hand. “I think I’m on to something.”
“Looks to me like you’re feeling Uri up,” he mumbled.
Rachel giggled and picked up the cards from the center of the table. “Naomi’s right. You’re cute when you’re jealous.”
“I’m not...aw, give me the cards.” He snatched the deck from her.
Naomi could feel Lash pouting as he shuffled the cards. She wanted to put his mind at ease, but she was close to figuring out what Uri was trying to explain. It was on the tip of her mind.
“Are you saying that it was only your body that changed?”
Uri grinned. “Very good. This”—he tapped her hand against his chest—“is a new and improved Uri. You like?” He winked.
“Yes.”
He beamed, and she heard a muffled giggle from Rachel.
Naomi felt her face grow warm as she pulled her hand off his chest. “I mean...you’re a...a...a good friend,” she stammered.
She took a breath and tried to re-focus the conversation back to what they were talking about. “So, what you’re saying is that the real you, your soul, didn’t die. It was still alive.”
“She is a smart one, no?” Uri said to Lash.
He grunted.
“Let’s take that as a ‘yes’.” Naomi turned her attention back to the game they were playing. She swiped the pinto beans off the bingo card and looked for another one. Her current one had to be jinxed. She hadn’t won one game the entire evening.
She had introduced Mexican bingo to Uri and Rachel a few weeks ago, hoping to have some fun during her time off from training. Rachel loved it so much—probably because she won most of the time—that she and Uri came over every evening to play.
“I learn something new every day. I didn’t know it was possible for angels to die, or at least their bodies. It must’ve been a relief to know Uri was going to come back,” Naomi said.
The room went silent.
“Not everyone comes back,” Rachel said quietly. Her constant smile disappeared.
“Oh, but I did.” Uri got up from the table, lifted Rachel from her chair, and placed her on his lap. “It took many years, but I came back to you, my love.”
“Three thousand, three hundred eighty-six years, five months, two days, twelve hours, forty-eight minutes, and twenty-three seconds,” Rachel said under her breath.
Naomi gasped. He was gone for that long? Her chest tightened as Uri tenderly brushed a tear off Rachel’s cheek. If angels could die, then Lash could too, and there was no guarantee he’d be resurrected. All this time, she had thought there was nothing that could tear them apart. She’d thought she had forever with him.
“When did you die?” she asked.
“1400 BC. My return wasn’t until...hmm, let’s see, 1967 or so, when I was born into a human body. Not too much different than when you were born into your human body.”
“Only he was in Chernobyl instead of Texas,” Rachel poked Uri in the chest. “I finally saw him again when he turned nineteen.”
“Chernobyl in the ’80s,” Lash sighed. “I remember that.”
“Yeah, me too,” Rachel said. “I’d never been so happy and frustrated in my life. Believe me, Lash, I totally understand what you went through when you were assigned to Naomi.”
“Uri came back human?” Naomi turned to him. “You didn’t know you were an angel before?”
“Nope. It took much convincing from Rachel. Unlike you, I was not the most, umm, should I say, moral of humans.” Uri winked at her. “Of course, Rachel changed all that for me, and we were finally together again.”
“But three thousand years. I could never...” She looked over at Lash and took a deep calming breath. “I can’t even imagine.”
“Hey,” Lash leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Everything’s okay. I’m here,” he said as if he could read her thoughts and her fears about living a life without him. How had Rachel done it? All those years without Uri, watching him die the way he did, not knowing if he’d ever come back.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It didn’t come up.” He took the bingo card out of her hand and held her hands in his. “You don’t have anything to worry about. Uri’s situation is totally unusual. No offense, Uri.”
“None taken, my friend,” Uri said. “Naomi, Lash is not the most rebellious angel here, as much as he likes to pretend that he is.” He grinned, dimples flashing. “There are much worse things one can do than throw a few temper tantrums and mess up assignments.”
Lash scowled. “I wouldn’t call them tantrums.”
“What did you do?” Naomi couldn’t imagine Uri doing anything so bad that his punishment was death in Hell. He didn’t seem the type. “I didn’t know angels could be punished like that.”
“It wasn’t the archangels who punished him.” Rachel looked down at Uri’s bingo card, frowned, and reached over to the table to get another. “They would never do that.”
“Oh, I can see Gabrielle ordering something like that,” Lash said.
“Lash,” Naomi warned. Gabrielle was still a sore spot for him. Rachel had told her how Gabrielle and Lash didn’t get along. So, when Gabrielle was assigned to be her supervisor, she thought Gabrielle would be difficult to work with. Instead, she was very patient with Naomi and even gave her extra time to complete some of her training. She did notice that Gabrielle was all business and never interacted with any of the angels on a personal level. Naomi could understand that. It must be difficult for her to be second in command next to Michael. She hadn’t met him yet, but everyone spoke about him with high reverence, including Lash. The only time Gabrielle appeared to let her guard down was when she was with Raphael. If she didn’t know any better, she could swear Gabrielle was in love with him.