PART 1

The ten-year-old boy watched with downcast eyes as his father left home early in that morning. Once again, the man had broken his promise to stay with him – it was Saturday and the day was bright and beautiful. And most importantly, it was his birthday and Alan would trade any fancy present that his father’s money could easily get him for a day spent at his side.

But his hopes were shattered when he saw Mr Sheppard enter the car that had been waiting outside. It would be a day with the employees of the big house and his dog, Spark, as his mother had passed away a few years before, leaving a lonely little boy and a broken-hearted widower behind.

The beautiful golden retriever came closer to his master and gave a small bark, as if calling for his attention.

“You wanna play outside, don’t you?” the boy spoke, gently stroking the dog’s soft fur.

The animal kept on looking at him as if replying to his master’s question.

“It’s ok, buddy. I won’t disappoint you. Let’s go!”

In the blink of an eye, the dog stood up from where he was sitting and followed Alan down the stairs.

X

“This is a lovely candy shop, isn’t it wee one?” Monica spoke, as she walked along the corridors of a huge shop filled with colourful candies, holding another angel in her arms. Angela was as enchanted as her mom as she captured each bright and lively details of the decoration around her with sparkling green eyes. The two angels in human form were together with a group of tourists that were visiting the biggest candy shop of the little town not too far from Utah. On Earth and after finishing a quick assignment, Monica thought about spending some quality time with her precious little one and do some of the things human beings used to do whenever they were reunited with their family members.

The only thing that the Irish angel resented was the fact that her beloved Andrew was not with them for the occasion. He had been called earlier and was somewhere in this world, fulfilling their Father’s plans and helping His children.

Following the group, Monica placed her little daughter on the floor for a while, as Angela could already give some short steps towards everything that raised her toddler’s curiosity. The angel, however, remained holding her tiny hand in hers as they passed by shelves filled with all sorts of candies and listened to the guide’s explanations of how that shop had been founded over a hundred years before and become the most famous in the entire country.

At a certain moment, Monica felt that Angela was pulling at her hand and pointing towards something that was on the opposite direction where the group was heading to.

“Hey, wee one, what is it?” her mother wanted to know, kneeling in front of her so they could be at the same level.

“Fwog...” Angela replied, with a sing-song cute voice and enthusiasm.

Monica frowned a little confused. “A frog? No, sweetie, there is no frog in here...” she said, but the words died in her mouth as she saw a huge banner with a chocolate frog, introduced by a wide-eyed green one, who was elegantly dressed in a suit and wearing a top hat.

“Fwog...” the little angel repeated, still pointing at the picture on the wall.

Giggling, Monica nodded her head in understanding. “Oh, I see! Yes, it’s Mr Frog, and he’s quite dazzling today, isn’t he?”

Angela turned her head and eyed her with a smile on her pretty face, accentuating the little dimples on her cheek and chin.

“Okay... Let’s see if we can get one of these chocolates for today’s dessert?”

Not really able to understand exactly what her mom was saying, little Angela kept on smiling as Monica gathered her in her arms again and walked towards the banner, certain to find a shelf filled with the frog-shaped chocolates. But a closer look revealed that they were over.

“Oh, wee one... I guess Mr Frog is quite popular!”

“Fwog, mommy...” she insisted, still pointing at the funny looking picture.

Monica let out a sigh and nodded. “Alright... Let’s see if we can find him somewhere else...”

Long corridors, many turns and quite a few doors on a huge building could indicate two things: the grandiosity of the construction and the perfect place for a geographically challenged angel to get lost. It didn’t take Monica more than a few minutes to realise that the group they once belonged to was nowhere to be seen and that she had no idea where she had come from; nor the way to the entrance gate.

“Excuse me...” she approached an attendant, who was also busy packing a huge load of candies on an entire set of shelves. “I’m afraid wee Angela here has become a fan of Mr Frog, but we’re wondering where we can find more of it...”

“Oh, it’s easy, ma’am. You see that corridor?” he pointed to the left and Monica nodded her head in understanding. “Well, just follow it and then turn on your right, and then left, and then right again. There will be a shelf filled with those right in front of you.”

What the employee didn’t notice was the confused look on the Irish lady’s face. Biting her lower lip, Monica tried to process the information she had just received and nodded again. “Okay... thank you...”

She did as the man had explained her, but the angel started to realise she was not where she was supposed to be when instead of more shelves filled with candies, she found a corridor covered with a red carpet and walls that held pictures of the factory taken 50 maybe 60 years before. They showed a man in a suit in most of them, and she could see he grew older as the images became more modern.

“This might be Mr Sheppard, the man who founded this huge candy shop...” she spoke, placing Angela on the floor again. “Well, looking at it in the past and comparing it to now no wonder one can perfectly get a wee bit lost!”

They were standing not too far from the door at the end of the corridor and heard voices coming from there. “Mommy...” little Angela pointed at the door and then looked up at her mom with a smile.

“You think there’s someone there who could help us to get the right path back to our group, don’t you little one?” she told her daughter.

They walked along the velvet carpet up to the door and Monica was surprised when Angela raised her little arm and knocked at the door; the contact of her tiny hand with the wood was soft and hardly heard.

“Oh, wee Angela, you never cease to amaze me, sweetie...”

She had just said that when the door suddenly opened and a man with a not very pleased expression on his face stared at them. He was wearing a suit and bore a strong resemblance to the man in the pictures hanging on the wall.

“But who are you?” he wanted to know, eyeing them with slight arrogance.

“We... we were visiting the shop and got lost looking for Mr Frog...” Monica tried to explain, a little embarrassed.

“This is a restricted area. I cannot believe it my employees allowed a stranger to get in here!”

“Oh, they didn’t see us, actually. They are all very busy and... you must be Mr Sheppard’s son, the one who owns the shop now...” Monica spoke, not minding the visible annoyance on the man’s face. “It’s a lovely shop, and a precious inheritance... I’m certain that your children might love coming in here.”

“I’m in the middle of a business appointment. I’ll call someone to take you two out of here and to a proper place...” he said, turning his back on her and returned to the room, but before he could close the door, little Angela let go off her mother’s hand and entered the room.

“Angela!” Monica spoke, immediately rushing to get her, aware of the fact that they had already disturbed the man twice more. But after she had just passed by the door and managed to grab the escaping little angel, Monica saw that she was in a meeting room and was surprised to see the one negotiating with Mr Sheppard.

“Daddy!” little Angela spoke, raising her arms to a very surprised Andrew.

“M-Monica? Angela?”

“Andrew?” Monica spoke, her lovely accent combining with the slight smile on her face as she saw her eternal valentine stand up from his chair and walk up to them. He raised his daughter in his arms.

“Hey, my little angel...” he spoke, kissing his daughter’s forehead. “I could expect anyone in here but you two, angel...”

“Actually, wee Angela and I got a wee bit lost, you know... while touring around Mr Sheppard’s shop...”

The blond angel managed to hide his chuckling at that piece of information as he bent down to kiss Monica’s temple.

“Andrew... do you know them?” the man wanted to know, demanding an explanation for such a brusque interruption.

“Yes, Mr Sheppard. These are my wife Monica and our daughter, Angela.”

“Oh... well, I didn’t imagine you had called them here, Andrew...” Mr Sheppard spoke, shaking hands with Monica, but still with a very serious face.

Noticing that Andrew didn’t know what to say, Monica spoke again. “Oh, actually Andrew didn’t call us here, Mr Sheppard. You see, I knew he was on an assignment... I mean, that he was working and I would never interrupt him, as... well, I’m not in this assignment myself...” she made a pause, trying to organise her thoughts as not to speak more than she should. “The truth is that as Andrew wasn’t home I thought about taking wee Angela here for an outing and I heard of this tour to your candy shop. And during our visit, Angela saw that chocolate with a frog face and she loves frogs, so we started to search for it and ended up a bit lost...”

The man let out a small sigh and nodded. “I know which candy you are talking about... My son... he loves it too.” Mr Sheppard’s voice trailed off as the memory of the little boy all alone in the mansion, and he did not notice it when Monica and Andrew exchanged a look of complicity, realising that her being there could have a reason.

But then the blond angel spoke again.“Well, I guess then you ended in the right place, angel. I had kept two of these chocolates as I knew our little one here would love them...” still holding Angela in his arms, he searched for something inside his suitcase under the curious and attentive look of his angel baby. “Here we are!” he said, giving the two funny looking bars to Angela, who smiled at him in a way that melted his heart for the hundredth time.

“See, wee Angela? We should never give up!” her mother spoke, kissing her rosy cheek. “It’s time to go now as we’ve already bothered Mr Sheppard too much!”

“Mr Sheppard, if you allow me, I’ll take them back to the shop.”

“Oh, that’s fine, Andrew. I’ll wait here.”

The blond angel came closer to the man and turned to his daughter. “Hey, sweetie, say goodbye to Mr Sheppard!”

And Angela, in her sweet manners, ended up surprising everyone again. With a broad smile on her cute face, she reached out and offered the man one of the chocolates she was holding.

Mr Sheppard managed a slight, embarrassed smile, not knowing what to do. “Oh, th-thanks, young lady, but you can take them with you...”

But Monica gave one step ahead and stroked the baby’s soft auburn hair. “I think it’s her way to tell you that your son will love it if you take him one of these...” she and Andrew exchanged another quick look, and watched as the man finally accepted the candy from Angela’s hand.

“It’s... it’s okay... Thank you, Angela. It’s very nice of you...” he said, feeling quite moved when the little girl looked at her parents with pleading eyes, as if asking for their approval to her kind gesture.

They left his office with Andrew still carrying Angela in his arms.

“He must be your assignment... I’m sorry we interrupted you...” the Irish angel spoke, slightly embarrassed as they walked along the corridor.

With a smile on the corner of his lips, Andrew nodded his head, secretly finding her clumsy manners rather adorable.

“Well, I guess your being here isn’t a complete accident, angel...” He said, and then looked at Angela, “And neither is yours, little angel!”

“So you were under the same impression too? That Mr Sheppard needed our presence for a reason?” Monica spoke, after one more of Angela’s cute smile.

“Yep. And I also guess that little Angela here has just accomplished an assignment!”