CHAPTER 41

Back into your arms

Monica could not stop her tears as she watched Andrew open his eyes after so many days of uncertainty and suffering. Her valentine was finally back to her, he was conscious again and she had to let him know about all the guilt and sorrow she had kept inside her heart, she desperately needed his forgiveness.

"I'm so sorry, Andrew... Oh, I'm so sorry..." she sobbed, exhaustion and the stress of the latest days were also included in her anguished words.

Her crying voice turned his full attention to her now. She was apologising and from the start he didn't understand why, and his face clouded with confusion. "Angel... please, don't cry, baby..."

"Please forgive me... you didn't deserve the way I spoke to you..." she was sobbing, "... I missed you so much..."

Little by little, the last moments they had spent together slowly started to come back to his memory, their little argument before he left for work, how badly he'd wanted to talk to her during the day but hadn't had an opportunity, and then the events leading to the tragedy that had taken thousands of lives away. And even if he was feeling tired and confused he had to do something to stop so much sadness; she was beating herself up with guilt and there wasn't a reason for that – Andrew had never been upset with her to start with, he didn't believe he would ever be upset with her.

"Baby... there's nothing to forgive..." he spoke, gently caressing her dark tresses. "I'm just so happy to see you..."

"It was so wrong of me... so unfair..."

"I was never mad at you... All I could think about was your being here not knowing what happened to me..."

She kissed his chest and raised her head, trying to suppress her sobs. Then she wiped away the tears from her face and managed to speak again. "You should drink some water... You've been here for days..."

Andrew watched as Monica quickly searched for the cup on the bedside table and filled it with water. Then, gently holding his head up, she made him drink a few sips. As he had enough, she replaced the cup on the table and took his hand in both of hers again.

"How... how long have I been here?"

"Fourteen days..." she kissed his hand, still not managing to smile. "... I've searched for you... I... I never gave up hope, Andrew... Even though everyone believed you were gone forever..." A lone tear fell from her eyes as she spoke, breaking his heart. "But there were times I... I didn't know where else to look... I started to wonder if people were right... if... you wouldn't really come back..."

"Shh..." He squeezed her hand gently. "I don't know exactly what happened to me after they found me... But I can see in your eyes what you have been through, my angel..." There were tears in his eyes and also sorrow to see his beloved angel girl so miserable and to imagine what it was like for her to spend so many days thinking that his human form could be dead and that she would have to remain on Earth all by herself for the years to come.

"I have so much to tell you..." her trembling voice was heartbreaking, but finally a small, trembling smile broke on her face as she concluded. "...one of them is that I love you... I love you so much, Andrew, and if you were to be away from me I guess I would still spend the rest of my eternity looking for you, no matter when, no matter how... I'd live for the moment I found you..."

Overwhelmed with emotion, Andrew motioned for her to get closer, so that she would rest her head over his chest like before. "Come here, angel..." He kissed the top of her head again and held her as tight as he was able to. "I love you... for always, baby..."

Careful, so as not to hurt him, Monica returned his loving embrace. For the first time in two weeks both angels in human form closed their eyes, feeling their hearts being invaded with a wave of peace they had not experienced over the latest painful days.

The bedroom door had been left ajar and Ella gently pushed it open slowly, expecting to see a crying wife at her injured husband's bed, praying for a miracle. But then, as she saw Andrew's hand gently caressing Monica's hair, the expression on her face changed from a very worried to an emotional one, and finally her lips turned into a broad smile. The miracle had already happened: two souls made from the same essence were joined again by their loving Father.

Without uttering a word, the old teacher gave a step back and closed the door in silence. It was their moment and she would allow them to live it. Besides, there was a place where she needed to go right now.

X

There were few people praying at the St. Paul's chapel at that time of the morning. Most of them had spent the night in a vigil, asking God to protect the brave men who were still working at ground zero. Sadly, now they were not looking for lives as almost two weeks had passed since the terrorist attempts took place, but there were families searching for their loved ones and those men were striving to give them an answer and the right to give their relatives a decent ceremonial and to bid them goodbye.

Ella walked up to a front pew and took a seat, making the sign of the cross afterwards. Her eyes were fixed on the altar and contradictory emotions were now taking over her heart. She had witnessed so much during her life, but nothing like that. Nothing as terrible. But at the same time, there was joy in the spark of her eyes, from where tears of gratitude were about to fall. She never knew how much she loved that young couple until now. Monica and Andrew had entered her life and quickly it seemed that they were like old friends; their presence inspired such peace and goodness and sometimes that fact even surprised her. There was something about the two she couldn't fully understand, but which she could feel.

But while her prayers were ones of thanks, the lady sitting next to her shed a few sad tears of guilt and remorse.

"Dear God... I think no words could express how grateful I am for this miracle.. My heart cries with those who have lost their loved ones in this tragedy, and it's for them that I pray too. But today I lived one of the happiest moments in my life when I saw that Andrew woke up from the coma, to know that he will come back to Monica and to their baby. They form such a beautiful and blessed family..."

The old teacher prayed in silence for a few minutes and when she was finished, she gazed at the altar and made the sign of the cross once more. Ella rose to her feet and was leaving when she passed by Tess, who was sitting on the other end of the same pew. And as she did so, she noticed how devastated the supervisor looked, as tears were falling from her eyes non-stop.

"Excuse me... are you alright?" the teacher wanted to know, placing a gentle hand over Tess's shoulder.

The angel wiped her tears and, raised her head, and managed a slight smile. "I... I'll be alright. It's just that... many things have happened lately..."

Ella took a seat next to Tess, feeling sorry for the lady. "Have you lost someone?" she was obviously talking about the terrorist attacks, but for Tess, the question had another dimension.

The angel slowly nodded her head. "Oh, yes... In a way, I did..."

"I'm sorry to hear it. But I know that prayers can bring comfort..."

Tess looked at Ella and remembered that she was the lady who she had seen with Monica at the hospital cafeteria a while ago, and also in some other moments, mostly leaving the school where the Irish angel worked. The two seemed quite close friends, and she could reckon that the Father had sent someone to walk with her "angel girl" during her stay on earth.

"Thank you. For everything."

X

Monica watched with anxious eyes as Dr. Sparks examined her beloved Andrew. Yes, he was awake, but still hurt and weak and his human form demanded all the care and attention she could offer. But when the doctor finally finished, he smiled, much to the Irish angel's relief.

"Well, Andrew, all I can say is that I'm surprised and obviously very happy to say that all your vital signs are intact. Along with the nurses and the doctors' care, I'd say you've been granted a miracle!"

Smiling, the blond angel nodded his head. "There's great power in prayer, Dr. Sparks. Monica and I have been blessed with so many wonderful friends. I know their prayers were a powerful instrument to me... to us." He said, once again taking Monica's hand once she approached the bed.

"I'm glad to hear it, son. You and your fellow fire fighters are heroes and deserve all God's blessings." The old gentleman looked at Monica and smiled. "And I'm sure He has sent someone very special to watch over you during your recovery so I can say with high authority that you'll be just fine!"

They smiled at that remark, exchanging an affectionate gaze. "Thank you very much, doctor."

When the doctor left the room, Monica turned her full attention to her husband, who was now less sleepy than a few hours before, when he woke up from a two week coma.

She took a seat at the edge of his bed and squeezed his hand. "I spoke to Ella and Mark just now. They are so happy..."

The memory of those two dear friends brought a smile to his lips. "I can imagine. And I was happy to know they are alright after all that happened... All the time I was there at ground zero trying to rescue those people I wondered about my closest friends..." he took her hand to his lips. "And I couldn't stop worrying about you, my angel..."

"And I about you, Andrew... What happened to you? On the day of the attack everything was so confusing and only two days later a pet shop delivered your wallet and the food for Bear... I just didn't know what to think..."

He wiped a lonely tear away from her face as the memories of that day came back to his mind. Never in a thousand years would he imagine the human being would be capable of so much cruelty.

"I was at the shop when I received the call to go back to work because there had been an accident with an airplane and there were people stuck in one of the towers... Only when I got there, I found out it hadn't been an accident and there was the second plane crashing against the other tower..." he was quiet for a moment, watching as a film passed by in his mind. "My co-workers and I entered the first building and people were desperate, angel... The look in their eyes, the way they begged for help was... everything was not just sad but disturbing as I kept thinking it could have been someone close to me... it could have been you..."

"I can imagine how you felt..."

"But we did manage to rescue many people... When we were leaving the building because we thought we had saved the last person we could, I heard a voice at a distance and came back. There was a young woman stuck underneath a pillar and she wouldn't be able to get away alone. When she saw me... she begged me to help her... she said she had become a mother just a few months before and couldn't abandon her baby girl... When I took her out, the building collapsed and I covered her up as she had no protection, no helmet... This is the last thing I remember."

Monica felt her heart ache with compassion. "I know... And she survived, Andrew..."

His dark green eyes were wide open at that piece of news. "Did she?"

She nodded her head, moved with emotion and aware of his surprise. "After the building came down rescue workers found you and the young lady and took you to this hospital."

"It's… it's the best news I could ever hear…"

"I know..." she spoke, thinking that there was another piece of news that she would to tell him later. "You were not wearing your uniform... many of you weren't so it was difficult to identify you..."

Andrew nodded his head, feeling guilty for that fact. "When I got the call they were desperate... They said people were jumping from the windows in despair because there was no way they could go down the floors..."

Monica's mind travelled back at that moment – a moment she would rather forget as she had witnessed all that horror. "I saw them..." She spoke, two long tears falling from her eyes, breaking his heart even more.

"Oh, angel... I'm sorry..." he frowned with concern and squeezed her hand.

"Never in my existence would I have thought I'd witness something like that, Andrew... What the human being was capable of doing..."

"I know what you mean... I have seen so much cruelty in my existence... I wish you didn't have to see it too."

"Do you know how I found you?" she asked, changing the subject.

"You mentioned Ella told you where I was..."

"Yes... As you were not wearing your uniform and you had forgotten your wallet at the pet shop they had no way to identify you... until they found this..."

She searched for something in the pocket of her jeans and finally showed him the paper badge that she had given him a few weeks before, when he gently agreed to talk about his job to her young students. "One of the doctors here and was also a guest at my class because he has a young son who happens to be my student... He found it in the pocket of your shirt and recognised it immediately. He contacted the school and Ella came here immediately. She wanted to be sure it had been you they found."

Andrew shook his head in amazement. "It was through your hands that they found me then... It had to be by the interference of an angel..." He kissed her hand as she bit her lower lip, her heart beating quickly once again when she realised the nightmare had come to an end and that her beloved valentine was standing there with her again.

"Oh, Monica..."

Imagining the little angel's ordeal during the time he was missing caused him great sadness. When they decided to stay on this Earth, he'd vowed to protect and take care of her. But then, she ended up alone and dealing with the possibility of their separation.

"I'm so sorry, baby... Sorry that you had to go through all this and I wasn't here for you..."

"Andrew..." she caressed his face. "And what about what you went through? You were helping innocent people! God knows how many lives you saved!" she said, a tear falling from her eye. "And you saved me too."

"I don't understand..."

"I was at St. Paul's when the towers collapsed. And the church would have collapsed too with the impact but a sycamore tree avoided another tragedy. A tree that was planted many years ago, by an angel in human form sent by God. Without it, all of us, the children, the priest...We would have been buried alive."

Andrew was speechless for a moment. "I... Are you sure, angel?"

"I was there, Andrew. I witnessed this miracle along with the others..."

"Dear Father..." he whispered, astonished to know that fact.

"Your small gesture made so much difference in this world, Andrew..." she tilted her head, eyeing him with love and tenderness. "...But it doesn't surprise me at all as you always do so many wonderful things for others... and especially for me..."

"Monica... sweetie... I love you so much, baby... and I promise you I won't leave you like this again... never."

On the following moment, the words ceased but the two angels in human form could still hear the loving messages emanating from each other's hearts. Andrew gently cupped her cheek with his free hand and their faces inched closer. She closed her eyes with the same expectation as their first kiss. Their lips touched for the first time in two weeks and the moment sent them to another dimension.

Andrew's wounds and Monica's exhaustion and sadness were wiped away by the power of that soulful kiss and once again, the Irish angel felt her soul being filled with nothing but Andrew's unconditional and eternal love for her. As for the blond angel, he finally felt alive again; being able to feel his sweet angel girl back in his arms after so much struggling to keep his human form alive was the greatest reward he could ever be granted with.

"I missed you... I missed this, angel..." he whispered, forehead resting together with hers once that caress was over.

A trembling and crying smile appeared on her face. "I promise you I'll fill you with kisses! It'll be part of your recovering!"

Chuckling, he brushed a tiny kiss against her lips and caressed her cheek. "I can't think of a better treatment. And each of these kisses will be returned with just as much love."