Page 29 of Praying for Thunder

Anita did her best to find the strength to speak of someone she could no longer talk to. “She was one, to me. With the most beautiful wings. She…” Anita swallowed, “was there when I arrived.”

Again, Dio nodded. “I sensed she was a little older than you.”

Her whisper was laced with agony. “Yes. And did her best to protect me.”

“Your last bit of luck.”

A sob escaped Ani, but she choked it down. “Yes.”

He confirmed, “Until now, Anita.”

Her lips trembled as her expression softened to an adoring look. “So it seems.”

“You ready for more?”

Preparing, she blew out air… “Yes.”

He dared to cross a line… “I felt your girls.”

As if he’d just stabbed her with a fire-hot poker, she winced, her chest caving inward.

“I know you were wronged, tricked, and not given what was promised.”

Her chest now heaved. “I was to be able to name them.”

“I know. I’m so sorry.”

“It is a mother’s right to name her babies.”

He swallowed. “And so much more.”

She crumbled into the mattress as if she had been standing. “So much more, Diablo.”

“Anita, I don’t think they would still be alive if it wasn’t for your brave choice.”

Sharply, she inhaled, her head jerking up from the pillow. “Are they? Alive?”

Rising to his elbow, Dio grabbed his chest. “You didn’t know? I mean…” He blinked. “How would you, I guess.” Reaching over me, he took hold of her hand. “Your blood is in them. I vow they are walking this earth.”

Wept. My Ani wept for a long while, thanking Dio for what she had desperately hoped for since her twin girls had been born.

Once calm again, she asked, “Tell me more about what you know, about that night.”

“Okay, keep breathing, girl. This is about Rosa. She,” he cleared his throat, “felt the one-night stand was a divine intervention, and she regrets none of it.”

Those details shocked Anita. “How would you know that? You didn’t touch her blood.”

“Even though I don’t remember your tattoo, when I came to, I… felt her.”

“Don’t remember—” Anita whispered, “What are you?”

His sigh was so weighted as he tried to simplify the impossible. “An improved human?”

“Is that what you would tell your Old Lady?”

After a delay, he admitted, “No.”

Aggravated, she declared, “If you’re trying to trick me, intrigue me into being an Old Lady, know this: I can’t be that for you.” Her eyes drifted shut as if being sucked into unwanted memories. “What I’ve seen them go through… for that fucking title.”