Epilogue

1 week later…

A week having passed since the fire and Denise’s turnover to the dark side, Monica and Andrew were soon released from the hospital and were given some time off of their work from the Father to rest after all they’d gone through…and to spend some time with one another.

Now, her ankle having healed completely, Monica found herself walking quietly by herself at a nearby park, the beautiful sunshine shining down on her now-shiny, auburn hair, which trailed down her back. Her heart still heavy after everything that had happened with Denise, and the guilt still not completely gone, the Irish angel decided to take a long walk by herself to clear her mind and do some thinking. It had been an hour since she left her best friends at the apartment they were still renting and now, Monica found herself standing on the sidewalk outside a park area, staring at several youngsters playing on the big toy near her.

Allowing her mouth to turn upward into a small grin, the young angel crossed her arms over her chest as she took in the beautiful sight of the sweet children. Feeling a few tears start to brim in her eyes, she quickly turned away from the kids and walked over to a nearby, stone bench sitting by a trash can and slowly lowered herself into it.

Resting her chin into the palm of her hand, Monica’s soft, brown eyes took in her surroundings, her heart starting to pound loudly in her chest. Not that far from that place was the small café where she had sat at, all alone, right when it all first started…her near miss with the truck…and her reuniting with Andrew, the best friend she ever had…

It’s just a few blocks from here, actually, Monica thought to herself, her mind traveling back to 2 weeks ago when she had first seen Andrew after 3 years since they were first separated.

Lowering her brown eyes to the ground beneath her, the Irish angel tried to force her mind away from the images of Denise’s angry face at the tiny café; her yelling at her in front of Andrew and others in the café; feeling herself falling into that sinkhole and spraining her ankle; Andrew and Tess coming to her rescue; the lie she told; being kidnapped by her former caseworker and the dark angel; Andrew coming to help her and, soon after, the fire.

And Denise’s turning over with Kathleen and the enemy…

Shaking her head with utter despair once again, Monica lowered her head into the palm of her hands, heaving in a quiet sigh as she closed her chocolate-colored eyes. Trying to stop the few tears in her eyes to roll down her cream-colored skin, she soon found it impossible to stop them.

Monica…you have to get a hold of yourself sometime…she tried to order herself as she weakly and tiredly raised her head. Opening her tear-filled eyes, they suddenly widened as she found Andrew and Tess walking towards her along the concrete path of the park. The gentle wind blowing her hair into her face, Monica raised her hand and brushed the loose strand of hair out of her eyes and quickly wiped at her eyes, brushing away the stray tears in them.

Looking closer at her friends, Monica’s eyes widened more with confusion as she suddenly noticed that Tess was holding the hand of a young-looking woman. She looked to be at around 17 years old with her shiny, chin-length, blonde hair and sparkling green eyes that matched Andrew’s. She wore a pair of beige pants and a green and cream-colored T-shirt with a gold necklace around her neck. From Monica’s viewpoint, she couldn’t tell what was at the end of it, though.

As her friends came closer, Monica shakily stood to her feet and took a hesitant step closer to her fellow angels and the young woman. As she was finally almost face-to-face with Andrew, she watched as Andrew stepped over to her and, without saying a word, wrapped his arms around her waist in a tight embrace. Her eyes clouding over with more tears, Monica tightly wrapped her own arms around her best friend’s neck in return, resting the side of her head against his soft shoulder.

Feeling Tess’ gentle hand run through her shiny hair as Andrew continued to hold her, the Irish angel calmly drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, forcing herself to remain calm.

After several minutes of just lovingly hugging his best friend to himself, Andrew gently pulled away from her arms and grasped her hand instead in his own. Giving the angel a loving look and a friendly smile, Andrew broke the silence as he started to speak, nodding over to Tess and the blonde-haired lady, who was still holding their older friend’s hand.

“Monica…We want you to meet someone,” Andrew started, his voice loving and calm. “This is Carla.” Turning back to Monica and watching her facial expressions, he shut his mouth for a moment, refusing to say anything more until Monica and Carla were introduced to one another.

A quizzical look showing on her pretty face, but finding herself smiling despite the circumstances with Denise and Kathleen the past week, Monica met Carla’s pretty, green eyes and extended her hand to the young woman.

“Hello, Carla,” she quietly whispered, shaking the girl’s hand. “My name is Monica.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Monica,” Carla replied with an over-friendly smile, her eyes shining with love. “A real pleasure…”

Nodding her head quickly at her words, Monica released her hand and dropped her own hand to the side, still grasping Andrew’s with the other. Turning over to her friends, the same quizzical look showed plainly on her features once again.

“What are you guys doing here?” she whispered, her heart turning heavy and pained once more.

Reaching her free hand out to stroke her “Angel Girl’s” auburn hair, Tess’ mouth turned upward into a warm smile as she turned from Monica to Andrew and back again.

“Well, Baby, we have something to tell you,” she responded, her voice a mixture of pleasure, happiness, but—for some reason—also sadness. “We have some good news to tell you, as a matter of fact. Some good news directed to you from the Father Himself.”

“What is it?” Monica asked quietly, not really sure what kind of good news could be directed her at this moment in time…especially by the Father…Her mind swimming with thoughts of what kind of news her friends were going to say to her just now.

            Tess quickly exchanged a look with Andrew and then returned her attention to Monica,

            “Baby, Carla is your new Caseworker.”

            Monica drew in a sharp breath, and against her will, tears flooded her brown eyes,

            “What?” She uttered, her voice barely audible.

            “The Father has given you a new Caseworker, Baby, “ Tess repeated gently, her deep eyes, gazing into Monica’s.

            Monica was silent for a moment, before she shook her head,

            “I’m sorry…” She whispered, turning away, ready to run far away from here and this situation.

            But Andrew was there to stop her with a firm, but gentle hand on her shoulder.  Coming around to face her, he placed both hands on her shoulders and looked deeply into her eyes.

            “I can’t, Andrew…I can’t…” She uttered, a quiet sob coming from deep within her heart.

            Andrew smiled softly at her as he steadily met her eyes,

            “Yes, sweetheart, you can.  It’s time to let it go now, Monica.  It was never your fault and God doesn’t make mistakes.  Denise had free will and she used it, but that doesn’t mean that the same thing will happen with Carla.  The Father has great faith in you, and so do Tess and I.  We know you can do this, Angel Girl.”

            “Monica?” The soft voice of her new Caseworker interrupted them as Monica turned around to face Carla,

            “I just want you to know that I know about Denise and I would never do anything like that.  I love God, Monica and you too.  Why, there are stories all over Heaven about what a wonderful Caseworker you were and I want to learn all that you know, so that I can do His work to the very best of my ability.  Will you teach me?  Please?”

            Monica looked into the young angel’s eyes, still feeling a little uncertain.  She then looked at Andrew and saw the deep love and pride he held for her.  Turning back to Carla, the Supervisor angel smiled for the first time in a long time,

            “Yes, Carla.  Of course I will.”

            With a squeal of joy, the Caseworker threw her arms around Monica, hugging her tightly,

            “I won’t disappoint you…I promise.”

            “I know that, Carla,” The Irish-tongued angel replied with a smile.  But her smile slowly faded as she realized the whole truth of this.

            She looked at Tess, then at Andrew, her heart beginning to pound loudly,

            “You’re both leaving, aren’t you?” She whispered.

            “Yes, baby,” Tess replied, her own sadness evident in her voice,

            “We have just enough time to say good-bye before we have to get back to work as well.”

            “I’ll leave you three alone…” Carla said softly, as she walked over to where some children were swinging on swings and she began to push them.

            Tess approached Monica and took her Angel Girl’s hands up into her own, her dark eyes shining,

            “I’m so proud of you, baby,” She said gently.

            “Proud of me?” Monica uttered, feeling tears once more forming in her eyes,

            “I was so afraid of disappointing you, Tess.”

            “Baby, you never, ever disappoint me,” She replied, her voice firm with conviction,

            “And I do love you, so very much.”

            A sob escaping her throat, Monica threw her arms around her former supervisor and dear friend,

            “I love you too, Tess and I’m going to miss you so much!”

            “I know, Angel Girl.  I’m going to miss both of my babies too.  But that promise still stands.  I am here whenever either one of you need me,” Tears coursed down the older angel’s dark cheeks as she hugged Monica tightly, her hand stroking the auburn hair she loved so much,

            “You’re gonna be fine, baby.  You’re gonna be just fine.” Tess whispered, before pulling away.  She lovingly reached out and swiped at the tears on Monica’s face, before she nodded her head toward Andrew.

            Monica slowly turned to face him, seeing the tears in his eyes as he offered her that gentle, loving smile.  Another sob tearing from her, Monica ran to him and wrapped her arms tightly around him.  Feeling his arms wrap around her, Monica wondered if there was anyplace in the world that could ever feel safer,

            “Oh Andrew,” She wept softly,

            “I don’t know how to do this again…how to say good-bye to you again…”

            “I know,” He replied, his voice husky with emotion as he held her tightly.  He kissed the side of her head, not trusting himself to speak for a moment as he just held his best friend close to him.

            “Thank you,” She whispered against the tears that refused to end,

            “For everything the last two weeks.  For listening and for being there…I don’t know what I’d of done without you…”

            “That is something you never have to worry about, Angel Girl,” He uttered tearfully,

            “I will always be here for you.  Remember, just call out my name and I will find a way to be here.”  He kissed the top of her head and then whispered softly into her ear,

            “I love you, Angel Girl.”

            “I love you too,” Came the shaky reply, as she felt him pulling away from her.  Grasping onto his hand, she met her teary eyes with his,

            “Go with God, my friend.”

            Tears now freely falling from his eyes, he reached to cup her cheek in his hand,

            “You keep that light inside of you shining for all the world to see, sweetheart.”

            Tess watched her two beloved babies for a moment, tears coursing down her cheeks, knowing how much they hated to leave one another, just as she hated to leave them.  But deep inside, she knew that they would be reunited again one day,

            “C’mon, Angel Boy,” She called out,

            “You can walk me Home.  I’ve got a choir that needs some work.”

            Andrew turned briefly to Tess and gave her a nod, before he looked back one last time at his best friend, managing a smile through his tears.  There were no more words that needed to be said and they both knew it.

            Monica watched as her friends turned to go and her eyes remained on them until they vanished from her sight.  She allowed a few more tears to fall onto her cheeks and then looking up, she saw Carla approaching her, her green eyes, so much like Andrew’s it almost hurt, were concerned.

            “You okay?” She asked softly, wrapping her arm around her new Supervisor’s shoulders.

            Monica nodded her head as she wiped at her eyes,

            “Yes, thank you.  It’s just really hard to say good-bye to them.  We worked together a long time.” Seeing the understanding in Carla’s eyes, Monica managed a smile.  She then remembered the necklace that the Caseworker wore and she took a closer look at it. 

            The gold emblem was an angel, and in her hand was a candle.

            ‘You keep that light inside of you shining for all the world to see…’

            Monica smiled as her eyes gazed up towards the sky,

            “I will” She whispered,

            “I promise.”