In the Shadow of Angels: The Guardian Series 1 by Fanny Lee Savage Read Free Book Online Page B

has that effect on women. Maybe Norm was right, and he sold his soul to the devil for that smile and golden skin.
    Soft music plays in the background and the candle on our table flickers between us. I keep my eyes on the flame, trying to distract myself. Too many thoughts and memories are flashing in my head. I can’t seem to get a hold of myself. We rode in silence to the restaurant, and it has followed us in from the car.
    “So tell me Henri, what is it that you do for a living?” I ask, desperate for conversation.
    “Genetic research.”
    I choke on my water. He could have told me he was an astronaut, and I would have been less shocked. Over the years, though I’d never admit it because of how sad and desperate it is, I Googled him. I Facebook crept, and back when MySpace was the thing, I clicked through every Henri on the site. Nothing, it was as if he vanished.
    “Don’t look so surprised. Stephen is the one who sparked my interest. When you and Emily weren’t tormenting me, Stephen would show me what he was working on,” Henri says laughing. It’s deep and throaty and I melt a little.
    “We didn’t torment you,” I say. I can’t picture Henri, this version, or the skinnier, younger one, in a lab coat looking into a microscope. In reality, I shouldn’t be surprised.
    Daddy works for the state university doing genetic research in the agricultural department. He heads a small research facility only an hour’s drive from the plantation. His work involves the genetic modification of plants and animals, creating new disease resistant versions. He had worked with his father in the same department up until my grandfather’s death a few years ago.
    Emily and I had grown up knowing of his work, but never really talking about it. Even as we grew older and went off to school, our father didn’t bother to share his research, much less try to get us involved. This always hurt me. I loved to learn anything and everything. But then, I didn’t know he already recruited Henri to carry on his legacy. Henri admired, or more accurately, worshiped my father. Henri following Daddy in the science field shouldn’t be a surprise, yet it is.
    “Yes, you did. You two were terrible.” He smiles at some private memory he holds. It is strange to think this man that sits across the table, has his own version of life, one that involves me.
    “What is it that you do?” I ask.
    “My field of research focuses predominantly on genetic diseases,” Henri says. I watch his hands as he plays with his water glass, spinning it in small circles. They are strong, his fingers long, almost delicate. I had always loved the way his fingers played over my skin. I focus back on his face as he speaks, ignoring the pain that keeps needling its way into the dark places in my mind. “My research involves targeting the telltale markers in DNA that identify genes.”
    “So you study the genetic makeup of people.”
    “Yes.” He nods his head slightly as if to tell me that was ‘sort of” what he does. His eyes almost sparkle when he speaks. “Every person carries a DNA match of their ancestors. The scientific community can determine that all living organisms are in a sense related. When a person is born, the DNA from the parents is carried over into them. This is how we get hair color, or facial features that are similar. Or tragically, genetic diseases.”
    “And you study these diseases.” I watch his reaction. It is no secret his birth mother had died of an illness, though what, I never knew. Now, my mother, his surrogate, has become ill.
    “That is what I do primarily, yes.” Henri glances around the room, done with the conversation.
    After we eat, or rather, I try to eat, Henri takes us down the trail behind the restaurant to the beach. Now I know why he wanted me to wear flip flops. I carry my shoes in my hand. Henri leans down to roll up the bottom of his slacks, he had been wearing flip flops that he now carries as well. His feet