PART 2

“It’s the best roast beef sandwich I’ve ever eaten!” Christian spoke, with a pleased expression on his face and hearing that, Tess’s mood got better. They were all sitting at the Bed and Breakfast’s small restaurant along with some other few guests who were kept “prisoners” there due to the thunderstorm: three teenagers and their respective father, and a couple.

“Why, thank you, Christian. I’m glad you like it!”

“Tess cooks wonderfully, you see, Christian. She and Andrew are very talented.” Monica spoke, happily drinking a double mocha latte that she had been granted with after much insistence.

“Andrew is a cook too?” the boy wanted to know, more and more intrigued with the blond man’s many occupations.

“Yep! When I’m not working as a toll truck driver!” The angel of death had just entered the room, his hair still damp but he was wearing dry and warm clothes. He took a seat next to Monica and kissed her temple lovingly.

“That’s cool. When I grow up I wanna be a doctor. But it’s good to have a second option, like a music teacher.”

Smiling, the blond angel nodded his head. “It’s good that you’re considering the possibilities.”

“You can be anything you want, Christian. Keep on dreaming.” Monica said, covering his hand with hers.

“Thanks, Miss Monica.” He replied, and then suppressed a sudden yawn.

“Well, it seems that you’ll start dreaming already!” Tess rose from her chair and patted the boy’s shoulder. “From what Monica told me, you had a long day, son. Come with me, I’ll take you to your room.”

Nodding, he turned to his new friends and smiled sleepily. “Good night, Monica. Good night, Andrew.”

“G’night, buddy!”

“Have sweet dreams, Christian.”

Andrew noticed as Monica’s doe-like eyes followed the boy and how they were filled with sadness. As Christian and Tess disappeared through the door, the blond angel squeezed her hand.

“It’s not been the easiest of the assignments, right?”

She finally averted her doe like pools from the door and looked at their conjoined hands. “You mean besides the fact that you rescued us from a horrible thunderstorm when our car broke down in the middle of nowhere? Then I have to say that no, it hasn’t.”

“You wanna talk about it?” He said, caressing her cheek with tenderness.

But Monica’s usual selflessness stopped her from going on telling him about the latest events. “Aren’t you hungry? You’ve been driving and must be tired, I’ll ask Tess to-”

“I was sent to you at the moment Tess’ car stopped.” He gently interrupted her. “Right before that I was in my angelic form, and there was another little angel who I happen to love as much as I love you right here in my arms.”

Monica’s eyes were quickly filled with tears as she heard that, and a tearful smile broke on her face.

“And she fell asleep exactly at the moment I had to leave to go help her mom. Our little Angela has quite a perfect timing!”

The Irish angel nodded and her smile remained for a few seconds, as she recalled sweet Angela’s cute face and her joy whenever she was with her parents. But the lovely memory soon faded away and she let out a tired sigh. “Parenting is... one of the most beautiful experiences in someone’s life... a chance to expand one’s love even more... to put into practice a great part of God’s love. And yet they can be so mean sometimes, Andrew...”

“Humans are here to learn things that we, angels, know at the moment we are created.”

“Christian’s foster parents rejected him because of the colour of his skin.” She said, straightforward, as she had seen what was inside the couple’s heart.

Monica could also see all of Andrew’s indignation at hearing that written in his dark green eyes. “I believe that these two people will go through this learning process in the hardest way. And Christian... I guess we wouldn’t be sitting here if our Father didn’t have a special plan for this boy.”

The Irish angel nodded and got lost in her thoughts for a few seconds. And then she inched closer and kissed his face. “Thank you. For being there for us.”

Smiling, he ran his fingers through her long auburn hair. “I was gonna tell you that you didn’t need to thank me but if you keep on giving me some of these I’ll skip that part.”

A slight smile graced her face too. Not enough to erase the sorrow and disappointment at the human being’s prejudice, though.

“How have you been? Too many hard assignments lately?” She wanted to know, gazing at his green pools as if searching for any trace of pain her dearest Andrew might have felt while they were away. Whenever she did it, Monica was quick to consider all the possible ways to cast it away with some of her usual chatter.

This time, however, she was relieved she could not detect anything like that in his soul. Yet, what she saw intrigued her.

“No, not at all, angel. I was glad that all those I escorted Home were people of faith and were genuinely happy and grateful to stand before our Father.” His eyebrows knitted together and he bit his lower lip, as if trying to figure something out.

“What is it?”

“Hum... Nothing, I just... When I was sent to the road where I found you I thought the assignment would be different... I thought that I would be there as an angel of death. But I was wrong, especially because there were only you and Christian on the road.”

He regretted his words at the moment he saw the worry in her doe-like eyes. “Do you think we were running any risk, do you-”

“Oh, no, angel. Not at all.” Andrew took her hand to his lips and smiled. “I can assure you that all the time you and Christian were out there you were being watched by our Father and were not exposed to any possible danger.”

Monica let out a small sigh, her heart finally at ease. “Do you think that you’ll be able to stay here for longer?”

“Sure I will.” He rose to his feet and gave her hand a gentle tug. “Come with me. The storm has moved away and my guess is that we’ll have a clear sky for the rest of the night.”

X

Monica and Andrew’s lips parted briefly and she let out a soft sigh as Andrew kept on placing featherlike kisses on her face and delicate jaw before he captured her mouth once again. Under dim light, they had been sitting on the love seat that stood in front of the huge window located in a small hall on the second floor of Heaven’s Door Bed and Breakfast. By that time all the guests had retired to their rooms, including the young eight-year-old who had been escorted by an Irish angel, and even Tess had bid “her babies” good night in order to take a rest from her earthly duties.

From the window, it was possible to have an amazing view of the horizon, surrounded with green hills that curved into beautiful valleys now illuminated by the full moon and thousands of twinkling stars; a gift after the thunderstorm that had chastised the nearby villages hours before.

The two angels in human form had been sitting there for a while, admiring the lovely view of the moon and the way its light shone across those vast fields. But at least for the latest minutes they became rather oblivious to the beauty of the nature. Andrew ran his hands through her auburn hair as another kiss started, slow and sweet as fortunately there was not an impending goodbye for neither of them. Andrew had been granted permission to stay there together with Monica and Tess until that assignment was over and he was grateful for that.

“I don’t recall being that happy after facing such a terrible thunderstorm, you know Andrew...” Monica spoke, snuggling against his strong chest and letting out a contented sigh once their kiss ended.

As she closed her eyes, the blond angel kissed the top of her head and tightened the hold around her small form. “You’ve been driving for hours... must be exhausted.” He said, tenderly caressing her long tresses as she unsuccessfully covered a yawn.

“I’m not that tired. We can stay here for a wee bit more.”

She felt him chuckling at her sleepy words. “I can tell you’re tired, sweet angel... You’re practically dozing off against my chest. And for the record, you’re the second lady who falls asleep on my chest today!”

Andrew lowered his head and, highly amused, watched as a sleepy grin covered her meek Gaelic features. “I hope you’re talking about wee Angela besides me...”

Pretending to be considering a possibility, he frowned and cleared his throat. “Oh, well...”

He felt her gentle poke against his side and laughed at her mock indignation. Then, the blond angel kissed the top of her head lovingly and gave her a light squeeze. “Let’s go to our room, angel, it’s late.”

Reluctantly, she rose to her feet and allowed him to guide her along the corridor up to the second door on the right. And as much as she fought it, the truth was that exhaustion was starting to take over her human body and once they entered their room, Monica lay down on their bed and snuggled against the soft pillow.

Chuckling at the way she curled up in bed light like a little girl and immediately closed her eyes, Andrew opened up the closet door. “There must be a nightgown somewhere here, angel.”

When he turned around with the garment in his hands, however, he saw that his lovely angel girl was already sound asleep against the soft sheets. Shaking his head, he placed the nightgown over a nearby chair and sat by the end of the bed. Gently, so she did not wake up, the blond angel removed her shoes and covered her small form with a warm blanket.

“My sweet angel girl... You’re certainly the most adorable creature that there is in this world.” He whispered against her ear. “And I love you very much.”

Andrew kissed her cheek and lay down next to her, carefully pulling her closer to him. The way Monica would let go of her pillow and immediately snuggle against him always endeared the blond angel. Instants later, she was in his arms and Andrew was lost in admiration, tracing her beautiful face and the meekness of her Gaelic features, treasuring the moment as if it was unique.