CHAPTER 6

Almost familiar

"Angel?"

Andrew's voice took her out of her reverie and Monica looked up at him. They had been cuddled up on the couch of their new home for a while after dinner, and neither of them had spoken a lot. The only source of light in the living room was coming from the side lamp, but it was possible to see that the painting Monica loved so dearly had been placed on the wall where Andrew had left it before their dinner break.

The blond angel had even thought that she had fallen asleep in his arms and was surprised to hear her voice.

"Sorry, I was thinking about tomorrow, you know..."

He gently stroked her hair. "I understand, baby..."

"I confess I'm nervous..."

He squeezed the hold around her. "I know, angel... but this is the beginning of our new life, the life we chose to live because of our love. And when I think about it I understand that nothing bad can come out of a love that is so intense."

Monica's smile and the lonely tear that feel from her face made him bring his face closer to hers and brush a loving kiss against her lips.

"Do you know what puts my heart at ease, Andrew?"

"What is, angel?"

"You... Your presence... And what I see in your eyes..."

"Well, then I am doing at least part of my job correctly!" He teased, watching as a sweet smile appeared on her face, much to his relief. She had allowed very little of her fear and uncertainty to be known by him over the weekend, but he knew her heart and he knew those feelings were there.

Pulling her closer, Andrew wrapped his arms around her waist and bent his head down to kiss her cheek, "Are you meeting your students tomorrow?"

"No. They don't start school for a week yet, but I have to organize my classroom and get everything ready for them," Her brow knitted in concern, "It must be rather frightening for them; leaving their home to start school, something they have never known before. I would imagine they would feel a wee bit lost."

Andrew's heart ached at her words, knowing that she felt the same way on Earth and not knowing if she would ever be permitted to return to her Home. At least her students would have all that was familiar to them at the end of the day. He swallowed the emotion in his throat and asked the question to which he dreaded the answer, "Angel, do you regret your decision? The decision to live in here, not knowing when our time on Earth might be over?"

She turned slightly in his arms to look up at his face, "Ah, Andrew, no," Reaching up, Monica laid a gentle hand against his jaw, "I'm here with you and no matter how frightened I may get, no fear comes close to the love and gratefulness I feel in my heart for that gift. Yes, I could have stayed in Heaven without you, but don't you see? That would have been my own private hell."

"Mine too," He whispered as he held her a fraction tighter, "In fact, Angel, I can't even imagine it."

"Me neither," Monica replied as they fell silent for a moment as her eyes drank in the picture that so reminded her of her other Home in heaven. She wondered if it would ever be their Home again, "Not going back to Heaven ever again, Andrew, would be hard, but the fact is that now, my home is wherever you are and right now, that home is in New York City."

"Your home, Angel," Andrew took her hand and guided it to his heart, "Is right here. You worked your way into my heart so long ago, not that it took much work on your part. A smile from you probably about did me in!"

She giggled, but it was interrupted by a sleepy yawn as the weekend of work caught up to her now totally human body.

"I think it's time we got some sleep, baby. Tomorrow is a big day for both of us."

Monica nodded as she rose to her feet and looked up into his eyes as he stood to face her, "You work all days this week, right?"

"Yes, as I'm in training."

"Okay, then you'll be home not long after me," She seemed pleased with the information and she was, though she had a feeling that Andrew was holding things back about his new job. He had told her he had a week of training before starting his regular schedule and as he didn't offer what his "regular schedule" was, Monica hadn't bothered to ask. She figured she would know soon enough.

"I'll walk you to work in the morning," Andrew insisted, "Though you'll be off work before me. I'll fix dinner when I get home, okay?"

She nodded again, trying to keep the worry from her eyes. Though they had only been in this new life a few days, they had more or less been together for most of it, and tomorrow, that was all about to change, "Okay. Good night then," Monica reached up on tip toe to kiss him, wishing with all her heart that she could curl into his arms in his bed, but that was one of the things they had discussed over the weekend. Unless it was an emergency, they were not going to tempt their human bodies with their love for each other. They had both felt a pull they had never felt before their first full day here and though it had been far from unpleasant, it had been enough to frighten them. God was blessing them by keeping them together and neither angel wanted to do anything to disappoint Him.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, Andrew returned her kiss deeply, wishing he didn't have to release her. Going their separate ways tomorrow was not going to be easy for him.

X

By lunchtime on Monday, Monica was wiping at the sweat on her forehead. She had spent the morning cleaning her classroom, despite the fact that the air conditioning in the building was not yet working and no one would be fixing it until the end of the week. She had all of her windows open, but the air was dry and sultry and even the fan she had dug out of her closet was doing little to help.

She had met a few of the other teachers and everyone seemed very friendly, but too busy to chat much. With only one week until the school would be buzzing with children, everyone was holed up in their classrooms preparing the rooms and lessons.

The little angel stood back and admired her handiwork on the large bulletin board in her classroom that she had been working on for the last hour. She had found plenty of supplies and now Monica nibbled on her lip as she stared at her rather close replica of the same picture she and Andrew had bought for their apartment. The biggest difference was that she had drawn every different kind of flower she could think of to represent how different all children were. There were lilies and lilacs, roses and daisies, gardenias and magnolias. She had felt like an angel possessed as she had worked diligently on her project and when a voice sounded in her doorway, she nearly jumped even as her heart leapt with hope.

"Well, I figured it was time I met the new girl!"

The voice was large and booming and for a split second, the angel was sure that the one she loved like a daughter loved a mother had come to her senses. "Te-." The name died on her lips as she whirled around to come face to face with the voice.

Though the woman was a smiling African American, she looked nothing like Monica's supervisor and the little angel had to blink rapidly to force back tears as she smiled, "You startled me."

"I'm sorry, honey. I sometimes forget how loud I can be and have to remind myself that I'm not always speaking to a room full of rowdy six year olds!" She grinned and extended her hand, "Ella. I teach in the room across the hall so we'll be neighbours."

Her disappointment slowly fading, she smiled and took Ella's hand, "Monica. It's so nice to meet you, Ella."

"Oh baby, that is one velvety accent you've got. You won't have any trouble keeping the kid's attention," The woman smiled and then her eyes caught the large bulletin board in Monica's classroom, "My, my, my, Monica. Did you do this?"

"Yes ma'am," her dark eyes were suddenly nervous. She had worked on her portrait of her heavenly home without even thinking about the fact that other eyes would see it and maybe judge it. The meadows in heaven had always been her favourite place at Home and she couldn't seem to get the image out of her mind now that she knew she may never see it again. Drawing the meadow was a way to work out the many things that were in her heart right now.

Ella was quiet as she gazed at the picture that had been done in a mixture of crayons and colored pencils, "It's lovely, Monica. And look at all the different flowers. I take it you are showing the children that even though they are different from each other, put together in a place where they can grow, they can be a beautiful garden."

"Yes. Thank you for your kind words."

"Just stating the truth, honey. You have vision and you're going to do just fine, so don't be so nervous."

The little angel grinned sheepishly, "How do you know I'm nervous?"

Ella chuckled and patted Monica's shoulder, "You nearly jumped out of your skin when I showed up. Calm, cool and collected teachers generally don't do that," She winked in Monica's direction, "But you're going to do just fine."

The sound of sirens interrupted their conversation and without even thinking, Monica walked quickly to the open window that faced the fire department, just able to make out the trucks that were pulling out onto the busy street. Was Andrew on one of those trucks, heading off to the danger of an out of control fire? She knew she was going to have to get used to the idea and that she needed to trust both God and Andrew, but when it came to his job, she just wasn't there yet.

"You'll get used to that sound, Monica. With the fire station so close, we hear it all the time and after while, it's like we don't hear it anymore."

The angel's hand rested on the window frame as she watched the truck slowly make its way through the incredibly busy street, "I'll always hear it," She whispered, more to herself than to Ella, "Andrew works there."

"Your husband?" Ella moved to stand beside her new friend. The young woman was trembling slightly as her eyes remained glued on the street though the truck had long since vanished from sight.

"No, my..." Monica didn't know how to explain Andrew. Boyfriend sounded childish and admitting they lived together made it sound exactly like what she and Andrew were trying to avoid, yet he was so much more than her best friend, "My soul mate."'

Ella was quiet as she took in everything about this new teacher. It was obvious that Monica was very talented and she was just about the sweetest little thing Ella had met in a long time, but the fear Monica now showed was generally not something one saw in meeting someone new. This young lady wore her heart on her sleeve, that was for sure.

"Soul mate, eh?" Ella wrapped an arm around the angel's shoulders and led her from the window, "That's a pretty special title for someone."

"Andrew's a pretty special someone," Monica replied as a blush rose to her cheeks, "We've known each other a long time."

"All that and no ring on your finger?" Ella raised an eyebrow as she looked at Monica's left hand.

"No. It's...complicated," That was as close as she felt she could come to expressing the situation between she and Andrew, but it was obvious by the expression on Ella's face that the woman wanted to hear why.

"True love, Monica, should be easy; not complicated."

"Yes, well, that is what Andrew and I think too, but there are those we are close to who are against our relationship for reasons I really can't explain."

Ella was further surprised at the apologetic look on Monica's face. This one was definitely different, "So you moved here to escape judgement."

The little angel nodded her head, surprised at how easy Ella was for her talk to. Maybe it was because the woman reminded her of someone else, though this saddened Monica because if only Tess had reacted more like Ella, she and Andrew wouldn't be trying to find their way through an all too human life.

Ella stood in front of her and took Monica's hands into her own, "True love, honey, is worth fighting for and those other people, the ones who want to judge you? They don't matter when it comes to you and Andrew, you hear me? Love sometimes doesn't come around more than once in a lifetime so when it does, you need to grab hold and fight for it. Love, Monica, it always wins out over all that other stuff. You remember that when things get tough."

Monica smiled, even as bittersweet tears filled her eyes, "I will. Thank you so much for what you said. It means more than you know."

Patting Monica's hand gently, Ella smiled, "I think you and I are going to be great friends, Monica."

"I think I'd like that. In fact, I know I would."