PART 1

PROLOGUE

The long corridors of the biggest hospital in town were full of people going from one place to another, either searching for help or trying to offer it to the desperate ones who never stopped passing through the huge doors. Some of them had light injuries, but the majority had blood covering their faces and clothes, and the nurses carried the most seriously wounded patients in stretches along the ER.

Cries of both pain and despair echoed through the halls, and, in the waiting rooms, members of different families waited with anguished faces for some news about their beloved ones.

In one of these corridors, Andrew wandered off, desperately running his hands through his dirty blond hair. He was badly hurt, that was evident. His right arm was in wrapped in bandages and he was limping. His head had many bruises, as well as the rest of his human body, and there were nasty cuts on his cheeks and forehead. His clothes were also filthy, all covered with a mix of dirt and blood. The blond angel had just received the first aids, but, due to the chaos that was spread all over the hospital, the dressings had been done urgently, as lots of other people, whose condition was 10 times worse than his, needed medical care.

But he didn’t seem to care about his unclean appearance or the physical pain he was feeling, nor about the blood that could be seen through the white bandage. His eyes were fixed in an invisible point up ahead of him, as if he were searching for something, perhaps an answer to all that confusion or at least a way to run away from that place. He had tears in his eyes, evidences of the great sadness and despair that flooded his heart, and not even Tess’ callings, coming from behind him, were able to make him stop.

But the blond angel wasn’t paying attention to them; he wasn’t listening to any sound at all – the turmoil of thoughts inside his head was already too severe and intense. And neither did he care about where he was going. A dead end corridor was the only obstacle that stopped him, allowing Tess to catch up with him seconds later.

“Andrew, please, look at me!” the oldest angel pleaded, holding his arm and trying to meet his eyes. She too was devastated, and had tears rolling down her cheeks: it was far too clear that they were both sharing the same sorrow and feeling exactly the same pain.

“We have to be strong, Andrew… We need to pray like we’ve never prayed before; with all the faith in our existence!” she spoke, her voice hoarse with emotion.

He stared at her helplessly, “It was all my fault… I let that happen…”

“Please, don’t say that! Don’t blame yourself because there’s no one to blame… It just happened…”

“And why did this have to happen, Tess? Why?”

“I… I don’t know…” she sobbed, “There were very few moments like this in my existence… When all the answers seemed to vanish… and all I could do was pray…”

Fresh tears rolled down the supervisor’s cheeks, while Andrew ran his fingers through his dirty hair once more.

“… I can’t imagine the world without her…” he miserably spoke, almost in a whisper, as some tears finally made their way down on his face.

The oldest angel nodded her head, crying desperately, “Neither can I, Angel boy… To think that my baby is inside that room, in so much pain… It hurts more than anything else in this world…”

“She’s suffering… I can even feel that!”

“I know... I can feel that too! But, right now, the only thing we can do is ask the Father to take care of her. He knows what’s best for her… Let His will be done…”

For some seconds, Andrew turned his face away from Tess, with a pensive look. Finally, he stared at the supervisor again; hurt and anguish filling his green eyes,

“I just hope He doesn’t ask me to be an angel right now, Tess… Because all I am at this very moment is a selfish creature who wants back what’s been taken away from me…”

CHAPTER 1

One month earlier...

It was a beautiful spring afternoon, with thousands of flowers which were blossoming in a huge variety of colours and smells, and the bluest of the skies. All of those who lived or visited that city at that time of the year were greeted by such pleasant scenario. Vacations hadn’t started yet, that was true, but all the beauty that surrounded the place, as well as the warm sun, were announcing that hot summer days were about to come.

That atmosphere of joy was one of the greatest responsible for the opening of the local amusement park two hours before the usual. There, observing the (still few) little visitors who entered the park hand in hand with their parents, a beautiful auburn lady, with long hair and sparkling brown eyes, smiled at the excitement in the children’s eyes. She was standing near the Ferris wheel and the expression on her face was one of satisfaction for being in such a joyous place.

Monica had been watching the little ones for some minutes when a tall, handsome man, with short blond hair and bright green eyes came from behind her. He was carrying a cup of coffee and, as soon as he saw her, Andrew smiled and slowed his pace. Quietly, he came closer to her and, as he gently covered her eyes, the Irish angel’s smile became wider. A second later, Monica let out a giggle and placed her hands over his:

“Double mocha latte mixed with cinnamon and extra cream?”, she said, and giggled even more when he uncovered her eyes and stared at her with a mock upset and hurt expression on his face:

“An angelic coffee machine?! Is that all I am?!” there was an exaggerated offended tone in his voice. Still laughing, the Irish angel wasted no time in wrapping her arms around his neck in a big embrace, which he quickly returned, a smile already forming on his face as well:

“Well, I have to agree that you’re the greatest responsible for keeping my caffeine level high!” she spoke. Rather shocked, he pulled away just enough to look at her face:

“And you confess!”

“Yes… But I can also say that you are the greatest responsible for many other things, such as making me smile and dance of joy, putting my heart at ease and taking me to beautiful places, like this one!” she held him tightly once more, “And I really missed those things, you know.”

“Me too, Angel Girl!” he said. Holding her once more, he kissed her temple and rested his cheek on the top of her head, “You have no idea how much. These 3 weeks away from you, as well as from Tess and Joy, were really tough! I’m glad I’m back!”

“So am I, my friend!”

With happiness evident in her eyes, Monica pulled away again and gazed at him, “But… Was I right about the coffee?”

Still pretending to be upset, he rolled his eyes and gave her the cup that was in his hands, “Yes… Including the cinnamon part…”

Grinning at him, she grabbed the coffee cup and, standing on the tip of her toes, the Irish angel placed a loving kiss on his cheek, “I love you, you know?”

“I know that!” he replied, as if there wasn’t anything new about her previous comment, and wrapped his arm around the giggling angel’s shoulder, “Now, c’mon, we can take a walk while you drink.”

“Well… I sure won’t have any problem in drinking it, but… when I received the call to meet you I was worried about our appointment with Tess, she had already told us to meet her and this is supposed to be in…” she glanced at her watch, “… 10 minutes…”

“Oh, don’t worry about Tess. I’m under the impression that she’ll be a little late…”

“She will? But… She told me that she was only going to find someone to take care of Joy during this assignment and then she would meet us…” Monica said, slightly confused.

The blond angel chuckled and led her to the Ferris wheel, “It’s just a feeling, Monica. But be sure that, as soon as she finds an angel who agrees to stay with our little one, she’ll meet us! Now come, I want you to try this!”

“Ok,” she agreed, and, without fully understanding what her dearest friend was trying to say.

*

Some time later, in the top of the Ferris wheel...

“It’s such a lovely view, isn’t it?” Monica sighed, and rested her head on Andrew’s shoulder. He was absentmindedly playing with a lock of her hair and nodded.

“Yes, it really is. I knew you’d like it!”

“Oh, yes, I do. Especially in a day like this: warm and sunny, with no clouds in the sky.”

“It’s possible to see the whole city from here.”

“And this is such a beautiful city! I’m happy that our next assignment will be here!”

Suddenly, the 2 angels heard an unmistakable voice right beside Monica.

“Well, I can assure you it won’t be on the top of a Ferris wheel, Miss Wings!”

Rather surprised, they looked at their left: a dark skinned lady, with shoulder length grey hair and black eyes was now sitting on the empty space next to Monica. Tess was sternly staring at them and holding a chubby black cocker spaniel puppy tightly in her arms.

“Tess…” both angels said, as they didn’t expect the supervisor to find them in a place like that. A tiny puppy bark drew their attention and Monica was quick to hold the little animal who was nearly jumping in her arms.

“Oh wee baby, come here with your mommy!”

After covering the Irish angel’s face with lots of tiny kisses, Joy turned to Andrew and barked once more, as if begging to be in the blond angel’s arms.

“Hey little one, did you miss you dad, huh?” he said, now holding the chubby dog that Monica carefully handed him.

“I missed you too, sweetie!” he spoke, also receiving dozens of kisses. But that cute scene wasn’t enough to send away Tess’ bad humour.

“I’m sure I made myself quite clear about the place you two were supposed to meet me! And I don’t remember having included the words ‘amusement park’ in my instructions!”

“Well… the view was so beautiful here that… we didn’t realise it was time to meet you, Tess…” the Irish angel answered, without knowing what to say and feeling a bit guilty for not following the supervisor’s orders.

Andrew, for himself, wasn’t all too worried about their delay, “We were going to meet you. We only stopped here for some minutes. But… weren’t you supposed to find someone to take care of our little one?”

The supervisor was even more distressed to be reminded of that detail.

“Yes. But what seemed impossible happened! All the angels are busy right now, on long term assignments! Sam, Adam, Rafael, Philip, Gabriel and even Emma! None of  them could stay with Joy for a few weeks!” she grumbled, causing the blond angel to chuckle secretly.

“How come, Tess?” Monica was equally surprised with that.

“I don’t know! There isn’t a single angel available to take care of our precious baby!”

“You know, that’s really unbelievable!” Andrew exclaimed, finding the situation really amusing. And the supervisor continued to talk:

“And there’s more! I was on my way to locate Ronald and see if he could do us this favour when I was told to stop looking for an angel and to take care of Joy myself!”

Monica and Andrew stared at her even more surprised, “You mean He told you…”

“That’s right, Miss Wings! I was clearly instructed to keep Joy with me all the time while we are working on this assignment!” the oldest angel didn’t seem to be all too pleased with that ‘extra assignment’, “But if you ask me, I guess Sam had something to do with that! And now, just because of a pair of shoes and some shoelaces, I won’t be able to stay with you full time and supervise you two properly!”

While Andrew was still trying to hold his laugher at Tess’ bad humour, Monica smiled somewhat pleased, “Well, try to look on the bright side, Tess. The 4 of us will be together! And aren’t you happy that you’re going to have our wee baby with you all the time?”

The supervisor took those words into consideration and looked at Joy: the puppy’s tiny black eyes and her cute and meek face made Tess let go of her previous annoyance:

“Well… yes… You got a point there, Miss Wings,” she reached out and took the little dog back in her arms, “I feel much better if I’m responsible for this precious baby. After all, I’m her grandma, and I can’t think of anyone better than me to take care of her!” the tone in her voice was a bit conceited and caused both angels to exchange an amused glance. Then, the supervisor became serious again.

“Now let’s get going, cause we are already late and it’s because of you two!”

The seat they were on was lowered and Monica, Tess and Andrew stood up and left the Ferris wheel, under a rather puzzled look of the attendant in charge of placing the visitors on the seats.

*

Tess, Monica and Andrew were now in front of a huge school building and lots of children and teenagers were leaving the place to go back to their houses.

“So, our next assignment is going to be here?” Monica wanted to know, immediately pleased with the atmosphere which surrounded the place.

“Yes, Miss Wings. Take a look over there…” the supervisor pointed to a woman who was leaving the building together with the students. She had blond hair and blue eyes and appeared to be in her thirties. But the most remarkable detail in her appearance was a 6 month pregnancy belly, which she was now absentmindedly stroking while walking in the side walk.

“Susan Baker has been a devoted teacher in this school for some years and the students really like her,” Tess explained.

“But it seems that pretty soon she will have to be away from them a little while...” Monica was especially pleased to see that a new life was about to start in a few months, “She must be very happy though…”

“Oh yes, in fact she and her husband can’t wait to hold their first child. She’s your assignment, Angel Girl.”

“Is there something wrong with her?” the Irish angel was immediately worried.

“Well, all I’ve been told is that you have to be close to her during the time we stay here.”

Decided to do the best she could, Monica nodded her head obediently.

“What about me, Tess? Where do I fit in?” Andrew questioned.

“See that group of children over there?” The students Tess was referring to were near the school gate waiting for the school bus, “The school bus driver is retiring tomorrow. And guess who is going to be the new one?”

Amused to be working with the kids, the blond angel smiled.

“I like this assignment, but… I can’t figure out what’s wrong here, Tess…”

“Yes, Monica is right. Aren’t we supposed to know anything else to deal with it?” Andrew agreed.

The supervisor sighed with a pensive expression on her face, “Well, all I’ve been told is that you two have to do the job you were assigned to. At the right moment, you’ll know why you are here.

Monica and Andrew glanced at each other, not missing an inch of apprehension on the supervisor’s eyes, as she too didn’t have any idea of what was going to happen in the next few days. But, decided to do their best, they nodded their heads yearningly and continued to look at the school building, wondering why their presence was so necessary in that place.