CHAPTER 22

She was warm and comfortable and her heart felt so light. Strong arms were cradling her close, and the presence of God was all around. She never wanted to wake up. The warmth of God's love filled her heart and He spoke to her without words. The sun rose a fraction higher and her dark eyes opened and watched it. Another beautiful day had begun and she had new understanding within her soul. However horrible and devastating things were, God still made each day perfect it its own way. He wept over the actions of some of His children, but in the end He found a way to right even the most grievous of wrongs. This time He was going to use her for that purpose.

A soft sound made her look down, and she saw that sometime in the night Faith had crawled in between herself and Andrew. She was curled up on her side, but one hand was outstretched. That small hand held a fistful of Monica's nightgown in its grasp while the other one held tightly to the doll the angels had given her.

Monica gently touched the girl's pale cheek and was not surprised when she found herself staring down into trusting green eyes. She smiled and playfully tapped Faith on the nose.

"You're smiling today," Faith murmured sleepily.

"Yes, well I remembered that I have a lot to smile about," Monica replied. "For one thing, I have you here with me, and that's a blessing I haven't been counting enough."

"I'm a blessing?" Faith scooted herself closer to Monica and tucked her head under the angel's chin.

"Of course you are. I am just so grateful that I've been given this chance to know you."

Faith tilted her head back and looked into Monica's face. "I'm glad too," she said, very seriously. "I used to miss my mama all the time." She bit her lip, and continued more slowly, "I still miss her, but now… it doesn't hurt as much now that I'm with you and Andrew and Tess. I was so lonely before you came."

"I know you were, and I'm just sorry that we weren't here earlier." The angel's words held a double meaning, known only to herself and the green-eyed angel of death who had just opened his eyes.

"You're here now," Faith countered. "That's good enough," she insisted with a bright smile.

Monica glanced at Andrew, suddenly feeling a little bit overwhelmed. She knew that she couldn't respond to Faith with the 'and we always will be' that she knew the little girl was hoping for. At the same time, she didn't feel ready to tell her why. As usual, Andrew gave her a little smile and jumped to her rescue.

"It looks like someone's been sleepwalking," he teased as he let his long fingers tickle Faith between the ribs.

She giggled helplessly, before quickly chasing her own fingers over Monica's stomach. "Monica was here first, so she was sleepwalking too!"

"All right! All right! I give!" the Irish angel laughed.

The three of them let out the last of their laughter and lay back on the bed, happily worn out. Monica was about to reluctantly suggest that she and Faith take a little walk, but Andrew spoke before she got a chance.

"It looks like it’s going to be a nice day… maybe one of the last warm days before fall," he said slowly. "We should go swimming."

Faith turned to look at him. "But I don’t know how."

"I’m sure that Monica could teach you," he replied, and he raised his eyes to meet the Irish angel’s.

Monica drew in a sharp breath. How had he known? It had been such a silly wish and she hadn’t told anyone, but as usual Andrew knew her inside and out.

"Would you, Monica?" Faith asked, oblivious to the silent communication taking place over her head.

"I would love to."

"Then I suggest we all get ready to go," Andrew grinned as he got up and scooped Faith up into his arms, much to her delight, before he spun her around and then deposited her back on her feet. She then scampered off to Monica’s room to change her clothes, having no doubts that there would be a swimming suit for her in the dresser.

The angel of death watched her go before turning around to find Monica looking up at him. She had gotten out of bed and now was staring at him with a teary grin on her face, "What?" He questioned, his own smile never leaving his face.

Walking to him, she stood up on her tip toes to kiss his cheek before wrapping her arms around his neck, "I love you," She whispered into his ear, before she pulled away and slipped from the room.

*****

Faith proved to be an excellent student and surprisingly didn’t have any real fear of the water, despite her story about almost "drowning". The angels now knew that drowning would have been impossible, given the fact that she was between worlds, but as Faith didn’t know that, it was a great relief that she had no real fear.

They swam and played until weary and now sat on the edge of the deck, towels wrapped around them and Faith positioned between the two angels once more. Tess had declined the invitation to join them, but had promised them a special lunch upon their return.

The oldest angel had been understanding and cheerful that morning and Monica knew Tess was being supportive of the fact that Faith needed to be told the truth and soon.

The truth was what the Irish angel was silently considering at the moment as Andrew patiently answered all the questions that Faith peppered him with. He seemed to know what it was his best friend was thinking about as he kept shooting concerned glances at her over the child’s head, as if to make sure she was all right.

Gazing up at the clear blue sky, Monica smiled as she felt the sunshine on her face and the wind gently blowing through her still dampened hair. Faith noticed her actions and smiled, "You are thinking about something happy, aren’t you?"

"Yes," Monica replied softly, saying a prayer for guidance in beginning to open the door, "I’m thinking about heaven."

"Heaven?" Faith scrunched up her face in confusion, "Why?"

"Don’t you ever think about how wonderful it must be?" The little angel persisted lightly, "How beautiful it is and how there is nothing to be afraid of there and about how you get to live with God?"

Andrew watched the exchanged quietly. He knew how much his friend valued her time at Home as they all did, but after a few assignments over the last year, Home had been a refuge for her like never before. Now she was trying to get Faith to see the security she felt there without actually telling the little girl she had been there many times before.

"How do you know it is like that?" Faith asked skeptically.

"Because God promises that it is, little one," Monica replied, looking over at her and smiling, "It is the best place you can ever imagine…even better than you can imagine and God never breaks his promises."

"Not ever?"

"Never."

Faith fell silent for a moment and Andrew felt himself holding his breath. Monica was trying so hard to lay some ground work and he didn’t want her disappointed, plus it would help ease Faith’s anxiety when the truth became known.

"So…when I die, I don’t have to be afraid?" She looked up at Monica and then over at Andrew as if she expected the answer to come from him this time. It nearly took his breath away.

"No, sweetheart. There is absolutely nothing after this life to be afraid of. You will never be alone on the way to heaven and never alone once you get there. Your heavenly Father will be waiting for you with open arms to love you for the rest of eternity." Andrew explained gently, knowing she was soaking up every word like a sponge.

"That’s an awfully long time. Are you sure? Maybe He’ll get tired of me and stop loving me like my daddy did…"

"He never will, Faith," Monica stated as she wrapped her arm around the small shoulders, "He will love you forever. He already does."

"But He hasn’t even met me yet. Maybe He won’t like me at all." Her expression was one of concern and the two angels exchanged a glance over her head.

"He does know you, honey. He knows every single one of us as He created us and He is taking care of you right now." The little angel’s heart was racing, wanting with everything in her for Faith to accept what she was saying.

"He gave me you and Andrew and Tess," She whispered, her eyes growing wide, "Wait. Is my mama in heaven?"

"She certainly is, Faith," Andrew replied warmly as he met his eyes with hers as she looked over at him once more, "She misses you and will be waiting for the day you are with her again."

"I miss her too," She stated softly with a little sigh before she smiled, "She used to french braid my hair. Monica, can you french braid?"

"As a matter of fact, I can," the little angel replied with a grin, "So what do you say we go and shower and change, I’ll braid your hair for you and we can enjoy the lunch that Tess is making?"

Faith nodded her head happily as she jumped to her feet and began skipping up the dock to the house. As the two angels rose, Andrew wrapped an arm around his friend’s shoulders and looked at her with concern, "Are you ready for this?"

Monica nodded her head as she smiled up at him, "It will be hard to let her go, but I know where she is heading from here and there is nothing sad about that. I think she is nearly ready and that is what is most important."

He hugged her tightly to him as they began walking up to the house, feeling the rush of pride for her once more. She had come so far in a year’s time and though not completely the same, she was now even more beautiful in his eyes and in the eyes of the Father as well.

*****

Inside the house, Tess was surprised when the phone rang. She knew that the only person it could possibly be was Sheriff Benson, and she hadn’t thought that they would hear from him so soon.

"Hello?" she said as she picked it up.

"Hello. Is this Tess?" Jake’s southern twang seemed amplified through the phone-lines.

"Yes, good afternoon, Sheriff."

"Well, it’s afternoon anyway," he responded with some bitterness.

Tess picked up on it and wished for some way to ease the man’s distress. She had quickly seen that this case was something he had never wanted to deal with. He had been sheriff for a long time without ever having to call the county coroner about a child, and he had hoped to continue that record.

"Whatever you have to tell me, Sheriff, it isn’t your fault. You can only do your job, and unfortunately sometimes even doing your best can’t prevent a tragedy."

Silence from the other end, and then, "Thank you, ma’am. Sorry to be so obvious about it."

"It just proves how much you care. There’s no shame in that."

"Yeah… well, thanks just the same." He cleared his throat before he continued. "I just got off the phone with the coroner and I thought you’d want to know. They aren’t finished, but the preliminary autopsy showed signs of a pattern of abuse." He paused, giving Tess a chance to digest that news, not knowing that she was already well aware of Faith’s history. "It’s not what I’d normally like to hear, but in this case, it’s enough to hold Tate over for trial. I’m gonna be sending some men up to go over that cabin with a fine toothed comb… get prints, you know. I just wanted to warn you. You might be able to hear them back there."

Tess moved into the kitchen and turned her back to prevent Jake from hearing the sounds of Faith and the other angels entering the house, laughing and talking. "I appreciate you calling to tell us. We all do."

"I’m sorry to be making this call at all," Jake replied, "and I’m real sorry that you all had your vacation interrupted by this."

Tess thought about the past weeks they’d spent with Faith. Things weren’t going to have quite the outcome they had hoped for, but the girl’s appearance was definitely more of a gift than a burden.

"Don’t you worry about it, Jake," Tess said, using his given name for the first time. "Sometimes God has a plan that we can’t understand at first, and I think this was one of those times."

There was another moment of silence while he thought about that. "Maybe you’re right, ma’am. You let me know if you need anything, and I’ll keep you informed about what’s going on."

Tess turned to watch Monica walking back down the stairs, and took note of the look of resolve on the little angel’s face. "Actually, I think we’re going to be heading on pretty soon, but thank you. We’ll be watching to see what happens."

Monica tilted her head in question as Tess said a few more words and hung up the phone. "Who was that?"

"Sheriff Benson, baby," Tess answered, not sure how much Monica wanted to be told.

The younger angel just nodded her head, not asking for any details. "I think it’s time, Tess," she said as she looked into her supervisor’s eyes. "Do you think you could get Adam here after lunch? I’m going to take Faith for a walk, but when we get back…" she trailed off and pressed her lips together as her emotions surged.

"I’ll take care of it, Angel Girl," Tess said as she grabbed Monica’s hand and squeezed it tightly. "You just do what you do best. Tell that girl the truth, and God will lead you both the rest of the way."