What a night this has been! I have so much to tell you, so let me not waste any time. In my last entry, I inferred that I had a plan to put into action. I did so this afternoon, with the help of a few of my seniors, whom I thank most fervently for their trust.
I was standing in Ramona’s bedroom as she agonized over what to wear—the obsession that human women have with their appearance wounds me sometimes, because it shows the deep-set antagonism against them in society; if they are not perfectly attired, they are criticized for it, and perfection is impossible to achieve. As I watched, wishing that I could assist, I became aware of another presence in the room.
Though I could tell that Nozomi wished for nothing so much as to go unnoticed, I turned to her, radiating warmth and welcome. “Hello, sister.”
Nozomi looked nervously from me to Ramona. “Kuya commanded me to come,” she whispered. “So I have.”
I could see in her mind the confusion and fear, which was a reasonable response. Even from our seniors we rarely receive direct commands—it is simply not the way of Cupids.
“I am sorry for strong-arming[1] you, as it were,” I said to her, “but this evening is very important for your charges. They will need you.”
Nozomi’s gaze flickered from Ramona, then back to me. “Asa’el—”
“I will be here,” I continued, as if she had not spoken, “but I will not interfere in your work. I look forward to seeing what you can do.”
She only looked at me, her wings drooping.
“I trust you, Nozomi,” I said to her, and I put all of my confidence and assurance into the words.
At first, I thought that she would leave, for I could not read her thoughts or her aura. But then she looked past me to Ramona, who was fussing with her hair in the mirror.
“She is so beautiful,” Nozomi whispered.
There was a wistful longing in her voice that gave me hope. I stepped back. “Perhaps you should tell her so. It seems like a wonderful way to introduce yourself.”
To my surprise, Nozomi did not hesitate. She drifted right behind Ramona, looking with her at her reflection, and whispered the reassurance into Ramona’s ear. Ramona jumped a little, feeling the chill that often comes with our words, but then her anxiety fell just a bit.
Self-conscious again, Nozomi looked back at me. I only smiled tranquilly.
Sighing, she came back to stand beside me. “Will you tell me what is happening tonight?”
“If you have been reading my blog, you already know,” I said. “And if you have not, then you should read the truth in your charges’ minds.”
“They are your charges,” Nozomi murmured.
“They were,” I said patiently. “Now they are yours, and they are under excellent wings.”
I could feel Nozomi’s doubt, but nevertheless she seemed a bit less hesitant.
Jesse arrived a few moments later to pick Ramona up. He praised Ramona’s appearance, kissed her warmly, and ushered her into the car. Though he said nothing, Ramona could tell that something was amiss, and she glanced at the clock.
“Are we late?” she asked. “I thought your parents weren’t getting there until seven.”
Jesse hadn’t started the car yet, so he could answer. They didn’t stop for lunch on the road after all, so they are already at the house.
Ramona’s anxiety rose. She was well aware that Jesse’s mother disliked to wait, and she worried that this would sour Allison’s mood and, by extension, her opinion of Ramona.
Beside me, Nozomi murmured, “She should not be anxious. It will inhibit her self-control and make an argument more likely.”
I am not sure whether Nozomi knew this from my accounts of Ramona, or from her own observations—if the latter, she is a very astute reader of character. “Perhaps you should tell her something that will calm her.”
Nozomi shrank back. “Oh, you should do it—”
“Nozomi,” I said gently, “I trust you.”
She searched my aura for the lie, but she could not find it. For a while we traveled in silence, Ramona fidgeting with her bag and watching the clock. Then Nozomi leaned forward, extending her wing to cover Ramona. “It is not your fault,” she murmured. “You had no control over the time of their arrival, and there is no way Jesse could have come more quickly from work. This will not reflect badly on you.”
She had to say it twice before the words sank in with Ramona, but finally Ramona’s fidgeting ceased. Nozomi leaned back and looked at me; I only smiled.
When they arrived at Jesse’s house, they found it already filled with succulent smells. In the kitchen, Allison was already flipping fillets of salmon on the grill while her husband was lowering asparagus into a warmed pan. “Oh, there you are!” Allison said, with a bright smile that soothed Ramona even more. “I hope you don’t mind. I was just so hungry, and there seemed no point in waiting.”
There never does with you, Jesse said with a wry quirk to his mouth, making his mother laugh. She crossed the kitchen to kiss his cheek, then kissed Ramona with equal warmth.
“We also didn’t wait on the wine,” Bill said, leaving the asparagus in favor of a large bottle of red. “Ramona?”
“Please,” Ramona said fervently.
Bill raised his eyebrows as he poured for her. “Long week at work?” he guessed.
Nozomi tensed. “Should we—”
But Ramona had already accepted the excuse and was off on a description of what she had been doing all week. It has been busy for her. The conversation continued along those lines, with Allison bemoaning her latest patients and Jesse describing long, dull days.
The lost opportunity worried Nozomi. “The longer it takes for the incident to become known to them, the more Ramona will be anxious,” she murmured to me. “I should have encouraged her to say something.”
I very nearly assured her, but I felt that I had already guided her too much. Instead I only said, “I am certain that you will find the right moment.”
Nozomi gave me a look that I can only describe as mulish, but then turned her attention back to the party, watching and listening intently.
She did nothing more for much of the remaining evening, until the food had been eaten and the wine exchanged for coffee. Ramona brought to the table a carrot cake she’d made for the occasion, warning the others laughingly that “I was watching a movie while I made it, so it might not be that good.”
Her fears were groundless—the others found the cake to be delicious, and said so. As Allison finished her last bite, she sighed and looked at her son. “You’d better get a ring on her finger quickly, Jesse,” she said, her accompanying signs emphatic. “Or else someone will snatch her up.”
Jesse and Ramona blinked and looked at one another, and Ramona turned bright red. It was impossible that Bill and Allison would not notice.
“Do we have some news on that front?” Bill asked, setting down his cup with a brilliant smile.
Allison clapped her hands. “Oh, how wonderful! But you’re not wearing your ring, dear!” She reached for Ramona’s hand, studying the bare fingers. “Did it not fit? I’ve been telling and telling Jesse that he needed to make sure to get the right size—”
As she went on, Ramona only stared, while Jesse’s signs failed to attract his mother’s attention. Nozomi was fluttering her wings helplessly, unsure of what to do.
Finally Bill noticed something wrong and caught Allison’s hand, halting her joyful talk. “Why don’t we let them tell us, Al?” he said, looking pointedly at Jesse.
Jesse looked to Ramona, who was now looking down at her plate in mortification. He put a hand on her arm, then explained, I did ask Ramona to marry me, but she turned me down.
“What?” Allison gasped, and looked at Ramona. We felt the mood in the room turn icy, and I could see that Ramona could feel it, too. “Why?”
“Oh, what do we do?” Nozomi was shrouded in her wings, looking at me in horror. “We have to do something or everything will be ruined! Asa’el, what do we do?”
I confess, for a moment I was tempted to take charge, to act to help these people whom I love. But that is no longer my place, and I trust Nozomi.
“What do you think we should do?” I asked her.
She opened her mouth to protest.
“Quickly, Nozomi,” I said. “They need you.”
Those words were the right ones. Nozomi halted, then turned back to our charges—her charges. Suddenly resolve filled her, and she bent over Ramona, whispering in her ear.
Ramona looked up with the same resolve, colored with the same fear and uncertainty. “I said no because I knew Jesse wasn’t ready to get married,” she said. She glanced at Jesse for confirmation and took courage from his smile. He gave her his hand, and she clung to it and turned back to his parents. “He asked me because he was afraid I would leave him, and I don’t want that to be the reason we get married. I want us to trust each other completely, and nothing but time will accomplish that.”
These words sank deep into me, and I looked at Nozomi, who looked back at me with bright eyes. We both smiled.
“But you don’t need to worry that someone else will snatch me up,” Ramona said, looking down at the table with a shy smile. “I love your son. And I’m not going anywhere.”
For Bill, this was clearly enough—he sat back in his chair and lifted his coffee cup to Ramona in salute, his eyes prickling. But Allison only stared, looking from Jesse to Ramona, and there was doubt in her heart.
Then, for the first time that evening, Nozomi did something I would not have done in her place, and proved herself beyond all doubt to be the best angel to take over this case. She darted across the room to stand behind Allison and wrap her wings around her.
“Look at your son,” she murmured. “He is happy. For the first time since his great loss, he is at peace. He needs no ring or ceremony to be certain of Ramona. You don’t need to fear for him anymore.”
Allison covered her face in her hands and burst into tears.
They needed no further action on our part. Ramona, concerned, raced around the table to see what was wrong, only to be seized in a fervent embrace by Allison. She whispered, “thank you,” into Ramona’s ear, and the two women held one another and wept together. Then they spent the remainder of the evening exchanging stories and building an attachment that I believe will last for years to come. Bill and Jesse excused themselves for a bracing glass of whisky, but they, too, felt the warmth and assurance of the evening’s events.
Nozomi watched all of this with an aura of faint disbelief, as if she could not really trust that it had happened. After a while, she turned back to me. “Did I do right, then?”
I would never have thought to speak directly to Allison so quickly, and if I had, I would not have been able to read her worry for Jesse so easily. And if Nozomi had not moved to reassure Allison when she had, that lady may have formed a resentment for Ramona, believing her to be denying Jesse what he truly needed. Instead, now she knows that Ramona is wise and wants what is best for Jesse, even if it means delaying her own happiness. This brings relief to a pain that Allison has felt for Jesse ever since Victoria’s death.
I did not say all this to Nozomi then, though I hope she will read it soon. Instead I smiled and bowed to her. “I am so glad and grateful,” I said, “that these people whom I love will have you to care for them.”
She demurred, of course, and I know that there is still work for her to do, fears for her to overcome—but I do believe I saw a faint flush of pride as she turned back to look at Ramona and Allison, curled on the sofa together, happily talking about hairstyles and shoes. It seems that Allison believes Ramona is beautiful, too.
“I really can do this,” Nozomi whispered to herself.
I can honestly say that nothing I have heard in all my work has brought me so much joy as those words.
[1] To “strong-arm” someone is to use overly forceful methods to get them to do something, though I have learned that these methods are not always physical. Don is fond of the phrase and uses it often to describe legal maneuvers.