“No.” Hannah shut her eyes and slumped back in her chair. “What do I do?”
“Why, you get out of that Prius.” Celeste rose and asked, “Have you finished your lunch?”
Hannah had barely started it, but her appetite had disappeared when she started talking about her fears. “Yes.”
“Then come with me.”
Celeste led her outside of the boutique and along the path that led through the Angel’s Rest rose gardens and toward the hot springs. But instead of veering left to the pools, she went right. A moment later, they arrived at the structure that once had been a carriage house. Celeste opened a door on the side and pressed a button. As a machine began to hum, a wide door opposite them began to rise. The sunlight revealed a trio of gleaming vehicles. “My babies,” Celeste said. “My Gold Wings.”
Hannah had heard that Celeste rode a motorcycle, but she’d never seen her out and about on one.
Celeste crossed to a storage rack containing a selection of helmets and clothing. Lifting a helmet, she held it toward Hannah. “My dear, your healing heart is holding on to fear. That’s understandable, but for you to be free, to be alive, you must conquer your fear. Come join me on a ride.”
Hannah took a physical step back. “I couldn’t. I don’t know how. I’ve never ridden. I’d crash. Motorcycles are dangerous!”
“Hannah, you’re driving a Prius.”
“Not in real life.”
“Aren’t you?” Celeste’s blue-eyed gaze became knowing. She placed a helmet in Hannah’s hand, along with a gold leather jacket and a matching pair of chaps. “Allow me to share a little bit of history with you. Many, many, many years ago, I drove a Ford Pinto. It was a hand-me-down car from my sister who bought it thirdhand from a nun who had purchased it from a grad student at Clemson. It was powder blue and had yellow shag carpet inside. I did a lot of living in that car. It was a fine vehicle—until it caught fire. It was a fuel tank design flaw.”
“Oh, no. Were you injured?”
“Superficial burns. I will say it was an exciting moment in my life, my own crash below the bridge, so to speak. What changed my life was the man who helped me escape from the burning Pinto. My hero rode a Hawg.”
“A hog?”
“A Hawg. A Harley. That ride was the closest thing to flying I’d found on earth up to that moment.”
Celeste chose a helmet for herself and pulled on a white-fringed leather jacket. “It’s why I ride. Traveling in a car is like watching the screen in a movie theater. The screen can be huge with surround sound or even three-D effects, but you’re still a passive observer. Traveling on a motorcycle turns you into a participant. You are in the movie, no longer watching it.”
Yearning rose inside of Hannah, but fear held her back. “I kind of think we’re getting our metaphors and our realities mixed up here.”
“Not really. I’m inviting you to step out of the movie. Ditch the Prius and climb onto a Gold Wing and experience the life you are living.” Celeste laughed a soft, tinkling sound that reminded Hannah of wind chimes. “My message to you, Hannah Dupree, is that I ride not to escape life, but so that life doesn’t escape me. I leaped like a lunatic from the back of a Pinto onto the wings of a Hawg, and I’ve been soaring ever since.”
“You’ve never crashed?”
“I choose my route with care. I follow the rules of the road. But life is hard. Crashes happen. None of us get through without a spill or two, so you wear a good helmet and a good set of leathers for protection and hit the road. Then if you lose your balance or run into an unexpected obstruction and literally hit the road, you get up, dust yourself off, and climb back into the saddle.”
Hannah stared at the helmet, jacket, and chaps. She licked her lips.
Celeste said, “We will take a spin around the grounds of Angel’s Rest while I give you a safety lesson, and you grow accustomed to the ride.”
Hannah filled her lungs with air, and exhaled in a whoosh. “Does a Gold Wing go fast?”
“I’ll answer you this way. You can keep up with a Maserati if you want.”
Maserati Man.
Yes, she wanted. She absolutely positively wanted. Leap like a lunatic.
Slowly, deliberately, Hannah strapped on the chaps, slipped into the jacket, and pulled on the helmet. She slung one leg over the saddle of a silver motorcycle and met Celeste’s gaze. “So tell me how to start this thing.”
It didn’t take Hannah long to learn to handle the Gold Wing, and Celeste led her on a mostly back-roads ride through the mountains. Eventually, the drive took them around Hummingbird Lake. When the road to Boone’s home came into sight, Hannah gestured that she wanted to turn. They stopped the cycles in front of the house. Spying the nanny pushing Bree in a stroller along the path around the lake, Hannah waved.
She removed her helmet and stared out at the lake. “Thank you, Celeste.”
“So you enjoyed our ride?”
“I did. I loved it. I’m reminded of the advertising poster for Refresh that’s posted around town. It’s a photo of a white-water rafter with the caption LIFE BEGINS AT THE END OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.”
“You found your wings.”
“I did. I have.” She gave Celeste a sidelong glance and asked, “So does the Angel’s Rest Boutique sell wedding gowns by any chance?”
Celeste clicked her tongue. “We’ve sold a few. But you’ll want to make a trip to Redemption, Texas, and shop at Gillian’s Bliss Bridal Salon. Her mother is a genius. She’ll find you the perfect dress.”
“Hmm…” Hannah nodded. “Boone is taking me to see Enchanted Canyon in October. Can you buy her gowns off the rack, or do you need to order ahead?”
“I’m sure Bliss Bridal will provide whatever you need when you need it.”
“That’s good.” A wistful smile spread across Hannah’s face. “My girls would have loved Hummingbird Lake, loved Eternity Springs. I will miss them every day for the rest of my life.”
“Yes, you will.” Celeste linked her arm through Hannah’s. “I have a theory about the littlest angels, you know. My theory is that they are made guardians for new souls. They’re closer to the work. Experienced, so they know what to watch for.”
“You’re saying Zoe or Sophia might be Brianna’s guardian angel?”
Celeste’s blue eyes twinkled. “It’s a lovely thought, isn’t it? And speaking of little angels, here one comes now.”
Serena pushed Brianna’s stroller up the sidewalk toward the deck. Focused on the waving fist within, Hannah said, “I love her, Celeste. I love her so much already, and it scares me half to death.”
“Well, it’s a mother’s lot to worry about her children. That never ends.”
“But at least Bree has her guardian angel, doesn’t she?”
“Or angels. They sometimes work in pairs.”
Celeste spoke with authority. Hannah wasn’t about to refute the claim. “I’d like to spend a few minutes with Bree, if you don’t mind delaying our ride for a bit?”
“Actually, I need to get home. I have another appointment this afternoon. I’ll go on, and you can return the bike and retrieve your purchases at your convenience.”