Chapter 1: The Miracle

As the sun slowly begins to rise a small ray of sunshine breaks into the room. Nature's alarm clock causes him to squint behind closed, tired eyes. He opens his left eye and then his right . He looks over at the manmade alarm clock sitting silently on the nightstand and groans. Gradually sitting up, he takes a long stretch and joints still aching from the previous night's battle, awake. "Oww", he says quietly and wincing. Now sitting fully upright and with his back against the headboard, he looks over at her. He looks over and gazes at the figure next to him. He is gazing at his angel.

His earlier movements have caused her to murmur and shift her body position ever so slightly, but she remains on her side facing him and more importantly, she remains asleep. He can hear her long, slow breaths and an occasional snore. A small smile crosses his face as he observes the locks of brilliant red hair lightly covering the side of her face. Although he has looked upon her body countless times, his eyes are still drawn toward her uniqueness. "My wife has wings", he states to himself, shaking his head in mock disbelief. He reaches his hand out, taking care not to wake her, and gently rubs her left wing. He laughs internally with a degree of self-satisfaction as he realizes that very few people will ever know the warmth and softness of her feathers. However, his eyes narrow and his brow tightens, as he stops rubbing her wing and slowly reaches out to touch the miracle.