A PERFECT FAMILY

BY DEYSE

PROLOGUE

It was a sunny spring morning with the bluest of the skies, and any trace of the previous severe winter had been sent away. Everything was fresh, fragrant and new, as if the nature itself was vibrating in an explosion of colours and different and pleasant perfumes spread all around. In that vast field, covered with flowers and tall trees, a dark skinned woman, with grey hair and black eyes, and wearing light blue pants and a sleeveless blouse, had been walking for some time. It was quite hot at that time of the day, so she decided to protect herself from the sun under the shadow of a high oak tree. Fanning herself and a bit annoyed, the woman glanced at her watch:

"But where are these two?!", she mumbled, with some impatience. It was when she heard two familiar voices coming from up above:

"Hullo Tess!"

"I know we’re a little late, but something unexpected happened..."

The supervisor looked up: in the highest branches of the tree were Monica and Andrew, her two charges.

"What the heck are you doing there?!", she was more distressed than before.

"We were waiting for you, when this wee bird fell out of its nest. And mommy and daddy birds were so desperate, flying from one side to another, looking for him, that I just had to come here and put this wee one back to its home...", the Irish angel explained, carefully holding a small sparrow in her hand.

"I can’t believe in what my eyes are seeing!...", Tess grumbled.

"And I had to climb up here as well, because Monica couldn’t do it herself."

Andrew conjoined his hands and Monica placed her bare foot on them. Then, he gave her an impulse so that she could reach the branch above the one they were standing on. There, she found a nest with two other little birds:

"Oh Andrew, they are the cutest little things I’ve ever seen in my whole existence!", she exclaimed, with her knee propped on Andrew’s shoulder.

"I believe you, sweetie, but we’d better finish this ‘rescue mission’ because Tess’ face is not a cute one at all..."

Gently, she placed the small bird in the nest:

"Here you are, wee one. I hope you don’t try flying solo next time, it can be very dangerous outside. Remember to wait for your mommy and daddy to teach you!

She bid the birds goodbye and Andrew lowered her to where he was:

"Mission fulfilled?", he asked, with mock seriousness. They looked at the nest and saw that ‘Mr and Mrs Bird’ had just come back to their home and were somehow grateful for having their baby back. She smiled and nodded enthusiastically:

"Yes! And with success!"

"Great! So, now, let’s get down before Tess decides to cut your coffee and my pizza for a week!"

Monica looked down and only then she realised something:

"Oh my God... It’s very high in here, isn’t it?", a fearful expression on her face. Andrew couldn’t help but chuckle: his dear friend was so anxious to save the little bird that she didn’t even notice how high they had climbed:

"Don’t worry, Angel Girl, I’ll help you to go down. I’ll go first, and then you follow me; just step where I step, right?."

"OK...", she replied. But, before they started going down, the little angel took his hand: "Andrew..."

"Yes?"

Monica brushed a gentle kiss on his cheek:

"Thank you..."

He smiled; his eyes full of love for the Irish angel:

"You’re more than welcome!"

But, from the ground, they heard Tess’ strong voice echoing with the wind:

"Oh, no! Please don’t!", she exclaimed, with some (mock) disgust, "I don’t have all day long to stay here watching two angels pretending to be a couple of birds and kissing each other on a tree top!"

Laughing at that comment, they slowly started getting down; Andrew always careful and ready to help his friend, as her inability was pretty clear, as well as her fear.

"Can’t you do it faster?!", the oldest angel insisted.

"Calm down, Tess! Just a minute!", the blond angel said, jumping from the lowest branch to the ground seconds later.

"I didn’t ask you to come in here to look for lost birds, Mr!"

Andrew ran his fingers through his hair, annoyed with the grouchy tone in her voice.

"C’mon Tess, we didn’t take so long! And you weren’t here when we started to climb..."

"Andrew, can you help me out, please?"

Both angels turned to face Monica: she was hanging in the lowest branch he was before, afraid of jumping. Looking at that funny (and a little) pathetic scene, Tess rolled her eyes to the sky, with distress, while Andrew reached his arms up to take his best friend by the waist. She released the branch and wrapped her arms around his neck; and, an instant later, was safely placed on the ground.

"I’m very sorry, Tess. I had the idea to climb that tree and I asked Andrew to help me...", Monica explained, rearranging her hair and putting on her shoes, "I felt so sorry for that wee animal, we couldn’t let him here, abandoned on the grass and away from his parents, he wouldn’t have survived more than a few hours, the poor little one..."

Even being annoyed by her charges’ ‘extra assignment’, Tess tried not to show how touched she was by the kindness in the Irish angel’s heart, and how much she admired that quality.

"Well, never mind. As you seem to like animals so much, I think this new assignment is going to suit you perfectly, Miss Wings. You too, Mr, as I can see you love helping people!"

They looked at each other with curious faces and the supervisor kept on talking:

"See that little town over there?"

The two observed that, on the foot of the hill, lay a small but very beautiful town.

"It’s a lovely place, Tess."

"Yeah. A vacation here some time would be great!", Andrew agreed.

"It’s quiet, sunny. It must be a pleasure to live in here."

The supervisor was not enthusiastic with their comments:

"I didn’t call you here to choose a package tour!"

They tried to focus on their assignment, as the oldest angel was definitely in the mood for chatting:

"Does our assignment live there?"

"Our many assignments live there, to be exact, Angel Girl. That place is, in fact, too quiet and too calm and the people who live here can’t see half of the beauty you can!"

The two angels continued attentive to the supervisor’s words:

"In this city, we can see beauty, but, most part of the time, all we can feel is sadness flowing from some people’s hearts. The ones who live in here have lost their hope and faith a long time ago, and some of them will need an extra help to find it back."

After a brief pause, she spoke again:

"And even the one who is responsible for showing them the truth and transmitting the Father’s words needs to be told a few things about life, from an angel who is not pleased with his attitudes at all!..."

Monica and Andrew looked at each other, noticing the annoyance that suddenly became more evident in her already grouchy tone of voice, and the oldest angel faced them:

"But that situation is about to change, that I can assure you, or my name isn’t Tess!"

"So, our assignment is to bring hope for the ones who need..."

"Our assignment, Miss Wings, is to put everything in its proper place, better saying, is to put things where they belong to..."

Again, the younger angels exchanged another look, now a confused one:

"I guess I didn’t quite get it, Tess...", Andrew said.

"Well, in short, you’ll go on doing what you were doing before I arrived here: bringing lost birds back to their families..."

The two angels found that explanation was as confusing as the previous one, but didn’t have the chance to say anything else, as Tess seemed to be in a great hurry to start their assignment:

"And that’s enough talking for now, ‘cause there’s a lot for us to do there! Now c’mon you two, I wanna put things in action right now!"

CHAPTER 1

The town the angels were assigned to was a small, but pleasant one. The beauty of the countryside, combined with its peace and cosiness, made anyone feel as if that was one of the most perfect places in the world.

In a small ranch, not far away from the centre of the city, a little girl, of about 10 years old, with blond hair and blue eyes, was hanging on the white fence that kept the entrance of the residence. She was looking to the road that led to the farm and glanced at her watch every minute, with some anxiety evident on her freckled face. But, suddenly, a boy, riding a bike and being happily followed by a black spaniel, which barked enthusiastically, appeared at the end of the road, causing the girl’s face to light up:

"Hey Tom!", she waved at him with a big smile. He turned to the dog, also smiling:

"See Luka? It’s Rose over there!..."

A minute later, the two were together in front of the small farm.

"Hi Rose! We’re late, I’m sorry!

"I was worried already!", the girl said, stroking the dog’s head. The animal happily covered her face with many ‘dog kisses’: "Oh Luka, I missed you too!"

"I had to take the other children to the church, ‘cause Mrs Schmidt is a bit ill and couldn’t do it herself."

"Grandma is so stubborn! Why doesn’t she go to the doctor and get better soon?! Dad said that, if she doesn’t get better, he’ll lose his patience and will take her even if she doesn’t want to!"

"She said that she’s starting to feel better. I took the others to the Mass and, well, everybody wanted to play with Luka."

"Ok, I forgive you. But now Luka needs to get some rest. We can’t forget that she’ll be a mother pretty soon and cannot make so much effort!"

He smiled at that comment:

"Yeah, and your ranch will have new inhabitants!"

"To be honest, I really don’t know if that’s really good...", the girl frowned at that comment.

"Are things that bad?"

"Dad doesn’t say anything to me, but I overheard him talking on the phone on the other day. I guess keeping the ranch costs a lot of money and he doesn’t seem to have much left... And I can tell that he is really sad. To be honest, he’s been sad for all these years, since mom died..."

"Gee Rose, I’m really sorry!"

"I’ve even heard dad saying that only a miracle can save us..."

Suddenly, a soothing voice, with an Irish accent, interrupted their conversation:

"Excuse me..."

The 2 children looked at Monica with a puzzled expression on their faces and she smiled at them:

"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you..."

"Oh no, that’s ok Miss. We didn’t see you coming...", the girl said.

"I’m looking for Mr Schmidt’s ranch."

"It’s right here, he’s my dad! My name is Rose and this is my friend Tom."

"My name is Monica, I’m the new vet."

Rose’s eyes grew wide:

"Oh really?!"

"Now you have all of her attention, Monica. Rose’s dream is to become a vet and take care of all the animals in the ranch."

"Taking care of animals is such a lovely dream!"

"Thanks Monica. But... I didn’t know we had a new vet. I thought that nobody would apply for the advertisement dad put in the newspaper!"

"We should never lose our hope!"

Tom looked at his friend as if Monica’s words were his own. At that moment, a tall man, with brown hair and brown eyes, came closer to them. He had a rather sad and concerned look:

"Rose, you shouldn’t be here! You had a terrible cold and should be in bed!", he said worriedly.

"I’m sorry dad. I’ll go inside right now. Look, this is Monica; she read the advertisement you put in the newspaper asking for a vet!

A surprised expression appeared on his face:

"Well... Nice to meet you, Monica...", he shook hands with her, "...Is that true? Are you the vet we asked for?"

"Yes, and I hope I can start today, if that’s alright with you."

"Well... Don’t you wanna talk about your salary first? You see, I don’t think my offer is a very attractive one..."

"Salary is not what I’m worried about, Mr Schmidt. It’s in the work here that I’m really interested."

"So... that’s fine, you can start today!", he answered, with a still surprised smile. Tom climbed on his bike:

"I gotta go too, cause I have to finish delivering the newspapers and, after, take the other children back to the orphanage.", "Nice to meet you, Monica! Bye everybody!"

"Bye Tom!"

They waved him goodbye and Rose took Monica’s hand:

"C’mon in, Monica, I’ll show you the ranch. It won’t take long, I promise dad!"

"I’ll be counting the minutes in my watch, young lady!"

"Your dog seems to like Tom very much", the angel said, noticing how excitedly Luka wagged her tail still looking at Tom as he followed along the road.

"In fact, Luka is not mine; she is ours. When she was a baby, Tom saved her from being smashed under a car tire and he brought her here so that we could take care of her. Well... she ended up living here, as there’s plenty of space around."

"Oh so you two share her?"

The girl smiled:

"Yeah. But, pretty soon, there’ll be many others to share ‘cause Luka is pregnant. And I can tell that you arrived in such a good time!"

*

Tom came back to the centre of the city and, as he was absentmindedly throwing the newspapers into the neighbourhood yards, one of the papers almost hit Andrew’s head. But the blond angel was faster and caught it before the little accident happened. Only then, Tom saw what he had done and ran his fingers though his brown hair, rather blushed:

"Hey, you win! I surrender!", the angel joked, noticing how embarrassed the boy was.

"I’m really sorry sir! I didn’t mean to hit you...", he apologised, approaching Andrew: "It’s just that I’m in a bit of a hurry ‘cause I gotta finish this by midday..."

"It’s ok, buddy, I’m glad I saw you coming, as I was going to ask you some information anyway!"

"I’ve never seen you before... Are you new in town?"

"Yes. My name is Andrew, and I’m the new local doctor. Today is my first day here!"

Hearing this, the boy’s eyes widened in surprise:

"Oh you’re a doctor? Really?!"

"Yes, I am!", the angel answered, with a smile.

"So... if you knew that there was somebody ill right now, could you see this person?"

"Do you know anyone who is ill?"

"Yes, it’s Mrs Schmidt! You gotta see her, Andrew. She’s been ill for the last 3 days!"

"Sure, I can see her if you show me the way!"

"Oh cool! Follow me!"

Tom got out of his bike and guided the angel along the lane:

"Is Mrs Schmidt your relative?"

"Yes... Well... not really... Kind of..."

Andrew raised his eyebrows, waiting for a clearer explanation, which was soon given by the boy:

"Mrs Schmidt takes care of me and of the other orphans. She has a big house and we all live there. Everybody in the city knows her, she’s very famous! Besides, she’s my best friend’s grandma."

"Oh, now I understand why you’re so worried about her.", the angel concluded.

"I like her a great deal. She’s like a real mother to me."

Minutes later, they arrived at a beautiful old house and opened the door:

"C’mon in, Andrew!", the boy invited, "Hey Mrs Schmidt, I’m home!"

A short, blond middle aged lady came down the ladders of the living room and seemed surprised to see him there:

"Tom! I thought you were at the church, with the other children!"

"I’m going there right now, after I finish delivering the newspapers. But I had to come here first! See, this is the new doctor, he arrived at the city today!"

The angel smiled at the old lady:

"Nice to meet you, Mrs Schmidt. My name is Andrew."

"Nice to meet you too, Andrew.", she gently greeted, though quite confused.

"It seems that Tom here is a little concerned about your health and asked me to come by and take a look on you!"

Although she was surprised by Tom’s attitude, as she had stated very clearly that she didn’t need a doctor, the lady could not hide how touched she was by the boy’s concern:

"Oh, Tom, dear, I told you not to worry about me! All I have is a little indisposition, that’s all!"

"I’m sorry, I..."

"But that’s ok, I’ll let Andrew check on me and you’ll see that there’s nothing to worry about, all right?!", she cut him, not wanting to disappoint the boy. Tom smiled broadly:

"Deal!", he exclaimed, and took his bag, "I gotta go now, I guess I kinda late for everything today! Bye, Mrs Schmidt, bye Andrew!"

They watched until he disappeared through the door:

"Tom told me that you take care of the children who live here, but I think he also takes care of you, Mrs Schmidt!", the angel joked. She kept on smiling:

"Tom is an adorable boy. He arrived here when he was one year old, coming from a hospital in the neighbour state. He was weak, ill and undernourished, but, thank God, after a long treatment, which involved lots and lots of exams and tests, his health was restored. I practically raised him. He and my granddaughter Rose became friends and nowadays are inseparable and, I don’t want the other children to hear it, but I consider him like a grandson!"

"Well, so don’t let the young man so worried about you, ok?!", he said, taking a stethoscope.

"Fine, you’ve managed to convince me!"

*

The catechism classes were held on Sundays, after the Mass, and were attended by the children, including the 10 orphans that lived with Mrs Schmidt. There was a classroom in the backyard of the church, but, in that morning, the students were told to go the pews of the church and wait for their teacher. And it didn’t take too long for a dark skinned grey haired lady to come in and join them:

"Good morning children! I’m here because your other teacher had to leave the town for some time, to visit some relatives, and, in this meantime, I’ll be your new teacher. I’m Miss Tess!"

"Good morning Miss Tess!", they greeted, all in one voice. At that moment, Tom entered the church, breathing hard because of the rush of the morning:

"Excuse me...", he said, in a low voice, going to sit on his place, not unnoticed by Tess’ upset look. But she decided not to scold the boy, and started talking:

"Now children, I’m gonna start this class by telling you a little story about..."

"What does all this mean?"

Tess looked to the door near the altar, from where that sudden voice had come, already distressed and annoyed by the fact that somebody would dare to interrupt her:

"I beg your pardon?", she said, frowning at her interlocutor: a tall and chubby gentleman, who appeared to be in his sixties. He had grey hair, wore glasses and had a grouchy expression on his face. But a quick glance at his clothes was enough to identify who he was: wearing a black cassock and black shoes, he came closer to the angel:

"I want to know what’s happening here, Mrs!", the man insisted, as displeased as Tess.

"What does it look like to you? A carnival party?", she replied, without altering her voice, but crossing her arms in front of her chest, "I’m trying to give my catechism class here, but it seems to be difficult with someone interrupting me all the time..."

"Oh, so you must be the new teacher. Well, I’m Father Rosenberg and there are certain rules you must follow before you start working here. The first one is exactly about where the classes are held."

"The new teacher has a name, it’s Miss Tess, and I appreciate you keep it. Regarding the place for the classes, I’ve already found it, it’s gonna be right here, in the nave of the church!"

"It can’t possibly be here! This is not a place for classes, teachers or children running around, but for the Mass!"

"From what I’ve heard, the Mass finished 30 minutes ago and the next one will be at 6 o’clock in the evening. So, in this meantime, the class can perfectly be here."

The group of children turned their little heads from one side to another, watching attentively as the two adults discussed:

"Listen, madam..."

"It’s Miss Tess!"

"Whatever... There’s a classroom in the backyard where the classes are held every Sunday!"

"Surely you haven’t been there recently, ‘cause if you had, you’d see that there are several leaks on the ceiling and that it can even fall on somebody’s head at any minute!"

That information seemed to have some effect on him:

"That’s not possible! I wasn’t informed about it!"

"So you’d better go in there and see it for yourself."

"I will. And if there is really a problem, as the administrator of the church, I give you my authorisation to go on with the classes in here. But if there isn’t..."

"If I say there is, it’s because it is there! And, as you said, you’re the administrator of the church, not the owner. So I’ll go on with the classes right here, until that classroom is reformed. And now, if you excuse me, I’d like not to be disturbed again..."

Having lost the battle of words, and not pleased at all with the ‘new teacher’, the man had no other choice but to leave.

The children looked at Tess in amazement:

"Wow! Father Rosenberg is really bad humoured... Weren’t you afraid of him, Miss Tess?!", Tom asked. The angel’s eyes widened in surprise, as she had listened to the most absurd thing in the world:

"Afraid?!! Me?!! He is the one who should be afraid of me when I get bad humoured!!!"

*

Later, at night:

"It’s such a beautiful place and, yet, I could realise how much sorrow there’s around it.", Monica stated, looking at the sky full of twinkling stars and a beautiful full moon, which illuminated the green field that lay before her. Sitting on the roof of the main house, in the Schmidt’s Family Ranch, and unseen to the human eye, she and Andrew held each other close together, with Monica resting her head on his shoulder; both enjoying the countryside’s night air:

"Yeah, and it seems you can find all sorts of problems here: lack of faith, of money, diseases... all of them leading to unhappiness...", he said, absentmindedly playing with a lock of her hair.

Suddenly, they heard an all too familiar voice beside them:

"Which means that there’s a lot of work to do here, as I said before!"

"Yes, that’s true, and that’s why I’m glad we 3 are here to help these people, Tess!, the Irish angel said, with a hopeful smile and not missing the few traces of annoyance that still remained in the supervisor’s eyes.

"Um... yeah... I see... And since you agree that there’s much to do tomorrow, Miss Wings, don’t you think it’s time for angels who have many assignments to be in bed?!".

"We’ll stay here for just a few minutes more, Tess, don’t worry..."

"You two are the ones who should worry if you’re not punctual tomorrow morning, Mr!"

They looked at each other, noticing her bad humour. An instant later, the supervisor disappeared.

"Is it my impression or she’s grouchier than usual?"

"There’s a reason for this, Andrew..."

"And what is it?"

A smile formed on Monica’s lips as she spoke:

"... her assignment is Father Rosenberg!..."

Hearing that piece of news, the blond angel let out a loud laughter:

"Father Rosenberg, ‘the grouchy’?! So, she finally found her ‘soul mate’!"

"It’s not going to be easy for her, you know...".

"Yeah, we can say that the two really deserve each other!", he looked into her brown eyes with a playful smile on his lips, "You know, sweetie, if we were humans, I would even make a bet with you to see who manages to be the grouchiest!"

He tightened his hold on her and kissed the tip of her nose, both laughing.

CHAPTER 2

Rose woke up earlier than usual the next day and headed straight to Luka’s little house, which had been transferred from the yard, next to the barn, to inside the main house. The girl’s concern about the dog’s condition was huge and she dedicated part of her time to take care of the animal:

"Hey Luka! How did you sleep that night, hum?", she stroked the dog’s black fur while the animal covered her face with ‘kisses’. But, suddenly, Luka turned her attention to the door:

"What is it? Do you wanna go outside? Fine..."

The girl opened the door and the dog ran through it in a rush: "Hey Luka, where are you going?!"

Surprised with that unexpected action, Rose ran after the dog and was even more scared to see that Luka found the gate of the ranch half open and managed to pass through it:

"Luka stop! Don’t!..."

But the dog continued running, completely ignoring the girl’s command. In just a minute, she disappeared through the vegetation that surrounded the ranch:

"Luka don’t go in there!"

"Hey Rose, what’s going on here?!"

Tom was coming on his bicycle to take the dog for a walk, as he did everyday, and was surprised to see his friend running outside the house, still wearing her pyjamas:

"Oh Tom, thank God you’re here! It’s Luka, she got away and went in that direction!"

"Gee there’s a road in the middle of the trees there! Let’s get here!"

*

"Are you sure Tess isn’t going to be mad at us because we took her car?...", Monica asked, sitting on the passenger seat of her supervisor’s Cadillac.

"Well, she told us not to be late, didn’t she?", Andrew replied, with an ironic tone in his voice, "Besides, you said that you loved this place and I wanted to take you for a ride before we started our work!", he winked at her and a broad and delighted smile appeared on her face:

"And that was lovely! The first rays of the warm sun gently touching my face and this constant sweet smell of flowers all around..."

The blond angel smiled and, for some instants, looked at her with all the love in the world evident in his eyes:

"Have I told that, well, that’s why this scenario reminds me of you!..."

Slightly blushed, she planted a loving kiss on his cheek, completely forgetting about Tess’ temper:

"Thank you!"

*

"Luka! C’mon girl, I’m not mad at you!"

"Here Luka, come here!"

Rose and Tom started walking through the vegetation but there was no sign of the dog:

"Luka! Come here!"

"C’mon Luka, show up!... Why did she ran away after all?"

"I don’t know what’s come over her, Tom! I opened the door for her and in a second she was gone!"

"Luka!!!"

At that moment, they heard an all too familiar bark in reply:

"Hurry! It’s coming from that direction; it’s where the road is!"

They ran as fast as they could and found not only Luka barking repeatedly but also the reason for the animal’s sudden escape: a car had crashed on a tree and had its front completely destroyed. Inside of it, the driver, a woman, lay unconscious with her head leaning on the steering wheel. She was thin, had shoulder length blond hair and seemed to be in her thirties.

"Oh my God!... Tom she’s badly hurt!"

"So it was that Luka was trying to warn us..."

"We need help!"

"Yes, sure. You stay here with Luka while I go and get some!"

The boy climbed on his bicycle and followed the road that connected the nearby towns. And it didn’t take long before he found a red Cadillac coming in the opposite direction:

"Andrew, isn’t it Tom?", Monica pointed, and the two angels saw the boy wavering at them.

"Yeah, and it seems that something has happened..."

The blond angel stopped the car and Tom parked his bike next to their car:

"Andrew, Monica, I’m glad I met you!", he said, breathing hard.

"What is it Tom?"

"You gotta come with me right now, there’s been an accident, a woman is hurt!"

*

There was a little hospital in the city, to where the unknown woman was quickly taken. Andrew and another doctor immediately started to work on her, while Monica and the children waited outside, in the hall for nearly one hour.

"...ok, thank you sheriff.", Monica hung up the phone on the counter and turned to Tom and Rose.

"Did the police talk to her family?"

"No, they didn’t Tom. The sheriff searched inside her car, but couldn’t find any document or phone number. Besides, there was no car license, it seems that it was taken away..."

"Wow, that’s weird!...", Rose exclaimed. Mr Schmidt, Rose’s father, arrived at the hospital at that moment:

"Rose, what happened? What’s all this?", the man was surprised to see his daughter there, still wearing her pyjamas.

"There was a lady on the road, dad! Luka found her and took Tom and I where she was!", the girl answered.

"Tom and your daughter might have saved a life, Mr Schmidt.", Monica said. The man looked at Rose with pride in his eyes:

"Is it true sweetie?"

"Well, I guess so...", she was a little embarrassed by the angel’s comment, "I’m not under punishment, am I?"

He smiled and kissed the girl’s forehead:

"No! The fact that you saved a life more than makes amends! And how is the lady?"

"Andrew is examining her now..."

Monica had hardly finished that sentence when the blond angel showed up in the corridor:

"So is she going to survive Andrew?", Tom asked, as anxious as Rose. A smile appeared on his face:

"Yes, she will!", he announced, causing everybody to sigh with relief, "Fortunately the accident caused her some bruises and minor injuries, but nothing serious. She’ll stay under observation for just a couple of days. And more, she’s awake and wants to know you two!"

Andrew took the two children to the woman’s room and she greeted them with a smile:

"So these are my saviours?!"

"In fact it was Luka who found you...", Tom was as embarrassed as Rose.

"And who is Luka? Where is she?"

"She’s our dog and had to stay out of the hospital..."

"Oh... Then I’ll have to thank her later!", she joked, "So you two are brother and sister, right?"

"Oh no; we’re friends. My name is Tom; she’s Rose. What’s your name?"

The woman’s smile slowly faded away from her face:

"Well, I’d love to tell you my name, but the problem is that I don’t remember it..."

Rose and Tom looked at each other with amazement:

"You mean you don’t remember who you are?!"

"I have no idea, Tom."

"How is that possible?!"

"She’s got a temporary amnesia, Rose.", Andrew explained, "It was caused by the trauma of the accident."

"The last thing I remember was that I was driving along the road, in a hurry to get somewhere... but I don’t know where or why."

The two children observed her for some instants:

"Well, you’re not wearing any ring, so you’re not married...", Rose said.

"And your necklace has the letter M, so your name starts with it."

"And as you don’t remember it right now, I’m gonna call you Mary, right?"

The woman smiled:

"Are you children or two detectives in disguise?! Mary is a lovely name; thank you Rose."

A soft knock on the on the half open door interrupted that conversation: it was Mr Schmidt:

"Hey Rose, we have to go now, the lady needs to rest.", he said, giving a step inside. The girl took his hand and led him inside:

"This is my dad, Mary."

"I hope you get better soon, miss..."

"You should be proud of your daughter, Mr. I don’t know how to thank these two children for what they did for me."

He smiled, pleased to hear such comment about his beloved daughter:

"Thank you. I’m very proud of her!"

"She’s got amnesia, dad, and doesn’t remember her name. So we’ll call her Mary!"

"Oh, I’m sorry miss..."

"That will be temporary, I hope."

"It will", Andrew interrupted, "Your memory will be back with time."

A pensive expression appeared on the girl’s face and, after some instants, she spoke again:

"What if you stayed with me, at my house? I live in a ranch and there aren’t many people there, just me, my dad and Monica, our vet, but she leaves in the afternoon."

"Oh, I don’t wanna be a bother, really..."

"No, you can stay with us, can’t she dad?"

The man was taken by surprise by his daughter’s request, but there was no other way he could refuse it:

"Sure, if she wants, she’s welcome!"

"Great!"

They bid her farewell and left the hospital afterwards.

Monica and Andrew watched father and daughter leaving the hospital and sighed contentedly:

"The Father is really wonderful, isn’t He, Andrew? In a minute, that lady was in the middle of nowhere and without anybody to help her. And then, in a blink of an eye, everything changed!"

"Yes, Rose has even given her a name!", Andrew agreed.

"I like Rose a great deal, you know. She has such a kind and generous heart..."

He wrapped his arms around her shoulder:

"Yeah, just like somebody I know..."

Smiling, she gave him a tender and loving look:

"Well, besides Rose, I know another person whose heart is kind and generous. It’s a dear friend, who I happen to love very much..."

Slightly blushed, he lowered his eyes for some seconds, turning to face her again:

"See? I knew that taking you for a ride is always a good idea, Angel Girl!", his eyes were shining with love for the Irish angel. But, at that moment, Monica stopped smiling and a worried expression appeared on her face:

"Oh my Goodness! Andrew..."

"What is it sweetie?"

"We forgot to take Tess’ car back!"

Fearing the consequences of that oblivion, the two angels left the hospital in a rush.

*

On their way back to the ranch:

"You’re not mad at me are you dad?"

"And why would I be mad at you, sweetie?"

"Cause I invited Mary to stay with us without asking you first, and I know there isn’t much money left..."

"Well, you should have talked with me first, it’s true. But the answer would be yes, anyway. I don’t mind if she stays with us."

"Oh thanks dad! I was so sorry for her, I just wanted to help her. You know, we don’t have much, but Mary has nothing at all and I just felt sorry for her..."

Mr Schmidt smiled and tenderly stroked her hair:

"You’re so much like your grandmother. And your mother too... Always thinking with your heart and eager to help whoever it is!"

"You miss her a lot, don’t you?"

"Yes, I do. Very very much."

*

Tess rang the bell of the orphanage and, some seconds later, Mrs Schmidt came to answer the door:

"Mrs Schmidt, I’m Tess, I’m the new catechism teacher, can we talk?"

"Oh sure Tess. Please, come in."

Mrs Schmidt brought the angel some tea and the two sat in the living room:

"I’m sorry I didn’t take the children to church myself yesterday. I haven’t been feeling very well in the last few days."

"I know all about it. Tom told me."

"Tom is such a good boy. He’s been helping me so much with the younger children. I’m not as strong as I was 10 years ago!"

"In fact, it’s a big house and taking care of 10 children demands strength. Don’t you think you should hire a person to help you?"

The lady’s eyes saddened at that question:

"I would really love to Tess, but... the truth is that I’m doing everything possible not to close this orphanage."

"Oh don’t tell me that!"

"I’ve owned this orphanage for 15 years and all this time I’ve been dedicating most part of my time to take care of people in need. There are young adults in this city that lived here and whenever I look at them, and see that they are studying and working and have even formed their own families, my heart is filled with so much happiness for them. I’ve invested all my money here and got so much back!"

"Taking care of the ones in need is one of the most beautiful ways to honour God. And I’m sure that what you’ve got back is priceless.", Tess concluded.

"You’re right, Tess. Unfortunately, we live in a real world and we need money too. My son owns a ranch not far away from here and he and my daughter in law always helped me to keep this house. But she died some years ago and since then, things seemed to get worse each and everyday."

"I’m so sorry."

"My son helps me whenever he can, but I know the ranch is on the verge of bankruptcy. He’s sold part of the animals and it wasn’t enough to pay his debts. I’m sure that, in a matter of months, he’ll have to sell that place and it will break his heart, as well as my granddaughter’s, Rose."

After becoming pensive for some instants, Tess smiled:

"I’m sure that God will help your son and your granddaughter. But I have an idea to help you and this orphanage!"

"An idea?!"

"Yes, a very good idea to be precise!"

*

Two hours later:

"You can set these tables in a row, along the church yard, so there’ll be enough space for people to walk and dance! And those boxes with the games and the prizes you can put inside the church. After I’ll find a place to keep them!"

In the churchyard, Tess commanded about 10 men, who were delivering tables, chairs, stalls and all the material necessary for a church festival. Standing beside her and completely amazed by how fast the religion teacher had arranged all those things was Mrs Schmidt.

But it didn’t take too long before Father Rosenberg noticed all that movement and came to see it in person:

"But what is going on here?!", an expression of distress appeared on his face when he saw Tess commanding all that, "Oh, no, not you again!"

The angel faced him equally displeased:

"Good afternoon, Father Rosenberg! Yes, we are fine, thanks! Mrs Schmidt here is better, thanks! And she is thankful for your concern about her health, thanks!"

"Mrs Schmidt, don’t you tell me you’ve been doing business with this lady!"

"Well, I ...I..."

"Mrs Schmidt and I became associates and we’ll use the church to help the orphanage! There’ll be a church festival here!"

"A what?!!"

"You heard me very well! Oh, don’t you worry, ‘cause there’s work for you to do too! But right now, I want you to get outta my way, ‘cause you’re disturbing me!"

She turned her attention to the people who were delivering the material. But Father Rosenberg followed her:

"Listen to me, Miss Tess, I didn’t give you permission to transform my church into a circus, you hear me?!"

"Father Rosenberg, in the first place, this is not YOUR church. Secondly, this is not gonna be a circus, this will be a church festival! And finally, I’ve already talked to the Owner of this church and I can assure you He gave me full permission to do whatever I want to, ‘cause He knows it’s all for a good cause! Now, if you excuse me, I’ve got business to finish here, c’mon Mrs Schmidt!"

Mrs Schmidt even tried to apologise for her new friend’s attitude, but didn’t have the chance, as Tess grabbed the lady’s arm and left the old (and very angry) man behind.

CHAPTER 3

"C’mon dad, hurry, we’re gonna be late!", Rose was standing beside the stairs of the ranch house, neatly dressed and anxiously waiting for her father to come down. Together with her were Monica and Mary, equally ready to go out:

"These clothes suited me perfectly. I don’t know how to thank you, Monica.", Mary looked at the mirror hanging on the wall for the last time.

"You look very beautiful in them, Mary.", the angel replied. Rose nodded:

"Yes, that’s true. You’re lucky that you and Monica wear the same size!"

"I guess I was lucky to have crashed my car in that tree, otherwise I wouldn’t have met so many good people!"

"I think luck had nothing to do with it. I believe that there still are many good people in this world and I believe that it was God who put some of these people in your life, Mary, when you needed it most."

The woman smiled, sensing the truth in those words:

"You’re right, Monica. Meeting so many people to help me so suddenly can’t just be mere luck!"

"Ladies, I’m sorry I made you wait!", Robert, Rose’s father, finally came downstairs. "I had some papers to read and I really couldn’t do it later."

"That’s alright dad. Look! Monica lent Mary some clothes, they wear the same size, isn’t it a coincidence?!"

He looked at Mary, noticing how well Monica’s clothes suited her:

"Yes, you look really... really..."

"Beautiful?!", the girl completed. A little embarrassed, Robert agreed:

"Yes, you look beautiful, Mary."

"Well, thank you Mr Schmidt.", she replied, slightly blushed.

"Now let’s go or we’ll be later than what we already are!"

He took the keys of the car and headed to the door, followed by Mary, Rose and Monica, who couldn’t help chuckling at the mischievous smile on the girl’s face.

*

The church was all lit up with small lamps and many stalls were placed in the churchyard, where the townspeople were selling all kinds of products or commanding funny games. There was music and everybody was having a lot of fun. Arriving there, Monica went straight to one of these stalls, to help Andrew.

"It’s good to see that the entire city came to the festival and are helping the orphanage!", the blond angel said.

"Yes, that’s true. But I really wanted to help more, you know Andrew."

"You’re already helping enough! Not only here, but also at the ranch, remember?"

"Yes, but I think I could have cooked something, maybe coffee cakes or something like that to sell in here..."

Hearing that, Andrew frowned, choosing his words carefully as he always did when the subject was Monica’s culinary abilities:

"Well... I think Tess has already taken care of it, sweetie. Besides, although you are wonderful, you would be exhausted if you had to cover 3 areas at the same time. That’s why we 3 are together..."

And expression of relief appeared on his handsome face when she smiled at him, pleased with his comment.

But away from all that happiness, inside the church building, Father Rosenberg was arranging the altar alone:

"I can’t believe you are locked up in here while the whole town is outside, having fun and helping the orphanage!", Tess exclaimed, entering in the place. The man rolled his eyes, not pleased at all with her presence:

"I believe I’ve already helped the orphanage by allowing the festival to be here!"

"Yeah, that can be true, but you are a religious man, you represent the church and are a servant of God here on Earth and should be outside to see how many good people He put in this world!"

"I don’t like noise! Besides, I don’t like parties either!"

"I’ve already realised how sociable you are!"

"And why would I go outside? You said that everything is fine and that people are having fun so I wouldn’t make any difference!"

"Well has it ever occurred you that those people might like you, despite your grouchiness?! Besides, this is a celebration too and you should be happy for Mrs Schmidt and for those children!"

The man stopped what he was doing to face her:

"Miss Tess I’m fully aware of my duties as a religious man, I don’t need anybody to tell me them! When I was a boy, in Poland, I witnessed all the horror a child or an adult should never see. I saw people being killed by other people and could not understand or see any difference between them and me. I woke up one day and my parents and my younger brother, a baby with less than one month old, were gone. But I survived and I, don’t know how or why, I was placed in a train and after in a ship and came to this country. I was taken to a church, where I found good people who took care of me, gave me a home and taught me about God. Then I could understand the present He gave me, how blessed I was to have survived and found somebody to help me when I needed it most. That’s what I try to do here. But don’t ask me to be cheerful and to smile at everyone everyday all the time, because this will never happen. What I saw is still in my memory and will never be erased. And, though I found comfort and reassurance in God’s words, a part of me died in a concentration camp, in Poland, 50 years ago..."

Although Tess was touched by those words, she kept on with a stern face:

"And then you decided to become an old grouchy man, who roars at everyone who tries to come closer!"

"I am a serious man, Miss Tess, and that’s how I’ll be for the rest of my life!"

"There’s a big difference in being serious and being grumpy! God doesn’t want His children to have a thorn in their hearts! And you, Mr, will come with me and take a look at the festival right now!"

"I told you I don’t want to go! As a matter of fact, these people should be ashamed of themselves; they prefer coming to a worldly festival than to the Mass!"

"Ok, then I’ll stay right here, talking with the Lord and praying that He put some sense into somebody’s head!"

Realising that she wouldn’t leave and that he would have to listen to more lectures, Father Rosenberg had no other choice but to agree on going outside and see the festival:

"Alright, alright! I’ll go outside, but don’t you dare asking me to dance and to smile at everybody!", he grumbled, even more displeased.

"That wouldn’t be a bad idea!", the angel stated, equally distressed.

*

The festival was a total success and the children and adults had a great time playing games and buying the delicious candies and cakes Tess, together with other volunteers, had prepared; and surely the money collected would help Mrs Schmidt to pay all the bills of the orphanage.

At that time, most part of the game stalls were closed, as all the prizes had already finished. There was music playing in the air and some people were dancing near the small stage built up for the local musicians to play. Monica was watching them when she heard a familiar voice speaking close to her ear:

"Excuse me, Miss. Would you give me the honour?"

Smiling, she turned her head to the right to face her dearest friend:

"I thought you wouldn’t ask!...", the Irish angel replied, as Andrew took her hand and led her closer to were the musicians were playing:

"That’s where you’re wrong, Miss Wings, ‘cause where there’s music and dance, there’ll always be you and I!", he said, placing his arm around her waist, to bring her closer to him; all the love in his eyes flowing straight to hers.

"Well, that I’m definitely sure about!", she had a kind and loving smile lightening up her face.

Tess, Mrs Schmidt and Father Rosenberg (this one with his usual stern face) observed the festival coming to its end with satisfaction:

"Oh Tess, I don’t know how to thank you enough for that!"

"You don’t have to thank me for anything, Mrs Schmidt. I only had the idea; it was the entire city who came in here to help!"

"Yes, but if it weren’t for you, Monica and Andrew organising all this, it wouldn’t have been a success!"

Father Rosenberg cleared his throat, even more displeased:

"Oh, and of course your help allowing the festival to be here was also of extreme importance, Father Rosenberg!", the lady completed.

Near them, Rose and Tom, eating cotton candy, were observing people dancing and chatting all around:

"It seems like all the people are having fun!", the girl said, "Except one..."

Rose’s father was standing alone, away from the crowd and staring sadly at the ground.

"He misses you mom a lot, right?"

"Yes. He thinks he’ll never like anybody again.", she looked at Mary, who watched the festival and seemed to be happy amongst all those people: "But I’ll work it out!"

"What are you gonna do?"

"Watch me!"

The girl headed towards Mary:

"Hey Mary, having fun?"

"Oh yes, Rose. I think this festival was not only a brilliant idea to help the orphanage but also a way to bring happiness to this town; your grandmother told me that she’s never seen the people who live here having so much fun. And she also said that there’s been a long time since there was a festival in this town and that this is the best one she’s ever seen!"

"Yes that’s true... Mary, I’m looking for dad. Did you see him?"

"No, but I can help you to find him."

"Oh great!"

Of course it didn’t take too long before the two found him:

"Hey dad what are you doin’ here?"

"Well I was... just watching..."

"Funny, I found Mary doing the same thing! So why don’t you two follow Monica and Andrew’s example and go dance too?!"

The two adults smiled with a little embarrassment:

"You seem to have a solution for everything, don’t you Rose?!"

"And I was supposed to ask Mary do dance, young lady, not you!"

"And why don’t you do it?!"

He ran his fingers through his brown hair, even more embarrassed:

"Mary she won’t give up until she sees us dancing... would you like to?"

"I’d be happy to.", she answered, smiling.

They started dancing and Rose went to stay with her friend Tom, both joining Mrs Schmidt, Tess and Father Rosenberg:

"See? I told you I would work that out!", the girl exclaimed, extremely content to have accomplished her idea. Tom shook his head in disapproval:

"Rose is trying to put her dad and Mary together!", he said, causing her grandmother and Tess to laugh:

"Rose! I can’t believe it!"

"C’mon, grandma! All I did was to encourage them to dance! Dad needs some company, you know. At first, I thought about Monica, but I didn’t know she and Andrew were dating!"

Hearing that, Tess looked at her two charges, who were entertained in a good conversation while they danced close together, and, amused, rolled her eyes to the sky. The girl kept on talking:

"So Mary showed up and she seems to be a nice person. I even asked for Monica’s opinion and she found the same thing. Then, I just thought that, maybe, she and dad could become friends..."

Mrs Schmidt and Tess were amused by the girl’s words and kept on laughing.

"Girls! They are always thinking about these things! It’s disgusting!", Tom stated.

"You should use your time with more serious matters, young lady!", Father Rosenberg reprimanded.

Suddenly, Mrs Schmidt stopped smiling and took her hand to her head:

"Oh God...", she whispered.

"Mrs Schmidt? Are you alright?", Tess asked, slightly worried.

"I don’t feel very well... I... I feel a little dizzy..."

At that moment, Mrs Schmidt fainted and only didn’t hit the ground because Tess and Father Rosenberg quickly placed a supportive arm around the old lady.

In a second, Andrew and Monica, together with Robert and Mary, came to see what was going on. Andrew took a quick look on the lady:

"We have to take her to the hospital, immediately!"

CHAPTER 4

In the hall of the hospital, Rose, her father and Mary, together with Monica and Tess, waited for nearly 3 hours to have some news about Mrs Schmidt. At about 4 AM, Andrew finally came to speak to them:

"So Andrew, how is she? What happened?", Mr Schmidt asked.

"Can we see grandma?!"

"Mr Schmidt, can I talk to you in private?"

"You can talk in here, Andrew, it’s OK. Everyone here is my friend."

"I examined Mrs Schmidt some weeks ago and the test arrived this afternoon. And I examined her again now, to confirm the results...", his expression was one of concern, "Mr Schmidt, I’m afraid I don’t have good news for you... Your mother suffers from leukaemia."

Mr Schmidt ran his fingers through his hair, completely taken aback by what he had just heard:

"Are... Are you sure?... I mean, isn’t there a possibility that there’s something wrong in those tests?..."

"I’m sorry, but there’s no possibility they are incorrect."

Although she couldn’t fully understand that diagnosis, Rose knew it was serious and became as desperate as her father:

"Is it serious? Is grandma going to die?!"

"Yes, it is serious, Rose. But there’s a cure for that, in some cases.", the blond angel explained, "Your grandmother will need a bone marrow transplant."

"So let’s do it! Let’s do anything possible to help her!"

"We can do the transplant, Mr Schmidt. But, for that, we’ll need to find a compatible donor. And I’ll start with you, as you’re her son. Do you have any other relatives, uncles, aunts?"

"No, that’s just my mother, Rose and I."

"It’s OK. We’ll start the tests this morning."

*

With Mrs Schmidt in hospital, Tess offered to take her place at the orphanage and take care of the children, who, despite their youth, could feel that something serious had happened to the lady they all considered like their mother, and were all extremely sad:

"When is she coming back, Miss Tess?", a little girl asked.

"Is she gonna be OK?", another boy wanted to know.

"Well I hope she gets better soon, babies. But I don’t know what will happen in the next days, only God knows that. And, right now, He’s taking care of her!

"Just like she takes care of us?"

"Exactly."

"And can’t we help Him?"

"Yes, you can. Let’s pray so that everything goes well for her and the doctors can heal her disease."

The angel and the 10 children conjoined their hands and prayed for Mrs Schmidt’s life.

*

Later, Tom went to the ranch to visit his dear friend and, although she was worried about her grandmother’s condition, Rose was optimistic:

"I’m sure that dad will give her some of his marrow bone, that’s the name of the substance in our body that grandma needs, and then she will be healed!", she said, sitting on the steps of the porch, next to him.

"Yes, and then she’ll come back home and to the orphanage!", Tom agreed, equally hopeful. Suddenly, they heard Monica’s voice:

"Rose, Tom, come with me! Luka’s babies are coming!", she announced, causing the two to follow her in a hurry. In the ranch, there was another house, next to the barn, which served as a medical centre for the animals that lived there. They took Luka to this place and the children, together with Mr Schmidt and Mary, watched as Monica helped the dog to bring all the puppies into the world; six in the total. But one single thing marred that wonderful event: the last puppy, a female, was born too small and too weak, fitting on the palm of Monica’s hand:

"Oh God, is she going to survive?", Rose asked, with concern.

"I don’t know, Rose... She’s very weak...", Monica was apprehensive, feeling sorry for the little animal, which could hardly breath.

"Isn’t there a machine or something like that to keep her alive?"

"Yes, there is one special for animals, Tom.", Rose’s father said, "You can use it, Monica."

The puppy was placed inside a special machine that would keep her warm and protected, while Luka started to feed the other five, all of them starving.

"But how is she gonna eat?"

"She won’t be able to suck her mother’s milk, Rose. She’s too weak. I’ll use a proper equipment to feed her.", the Irish angel explained.

"Will you take care of her for me?"

"I will Rose. I promise."

*

That night, the entire town seemed to have difficulties in sleeping. The news about Mrs Schmidt, who was so much loved, spread quickly and all the inhabitants of the place were extremely worried about her condition.

At the ranch, things were even worse, as the sorrow for having a mother and a grandmother in hospital, added to the critical financial situation of the family, only increased Mr Schmidt and Rose’s anguish. And now, even the so much waited birth of Luka’s puppies, which was meant to bring a little happiness to everyone, ended up being another reason for them to worry.

But in that house there was an angel to watch over them: unseen to humans, Monica walked through the rooms, asking for God’s help to put their hearts at ease:

"Father please, bring some comfort for this family... There’s so much pain in this house. Please keep their worries away for a few hours and send them the warmth of Your love."

Her presence and prayer seemed to bring some peace to their hearts, because they finally managed to sleep. Minutes later, she went to stay close to the puppy and watched the animal’s struggle for survival.

"Seems the Schmidt’s have new guests!"

The Irish angel turned her head and saw Andrew standing next to her:

"And it was such a big delivery, from what I can see!", he was looking at the other puppies sleeping close to their mother:

"Yes, but I’m afraid this wee one is not going to resist so long...", she replied, a sad expression on her face.

"We don’t know that yet, Angel Girl."

From behind, he wrapped an arm around he shoulders, bringing her closer to him, and the two continued to observe the animal:

"This little dog is fighting to survive..."

"She’s so small, Andrew."

"The machine will keep her warm and protected."

"Yes, but she didn’t eat anything."

"You will insist."

"She’s so defenceless."

"But she has somebody to take care of her. And I don’t know a better angel for this job other than you!"

Monica looked at him not only with love but also with gratitude for his optimism. He kissed the side of her head, truly hoping that the dog would survive, as he knew how much Monica cared about animals and could feel the concern and sadness flowing from her heart.

CHAPTER 5

Two days later, at the hospital, Mr Schmidt was impatiently waiting for the results of the tests. Together with him were Tess, Mary and Father Rosenberg (who, trying to hide all his great concern for Mrs Schmidt, gave them a feeble excuse that he used to visit the hospital once a week). Finally, Andrew showed up holding some papers in his hand:

"So can we set the operation already?!", Rose’s father eagerly asked. But Andrew’s face was not a happy one:

"Mr Schmidt we have to talk..."

"What do you mean, Andrew? Isn’t everything alright?!"

"I checked the results 3 times, so that there isn’t any mistake... Your mother has a component in her blood, which is rare, even to another member of the family. I’m sorry, but... you’re not compatible..."

Hearing that, despair became evident on the man’s face:

"So... what am I going to do now?!"

"We’ll keep on looking for a donor, it may be Rose, it may even be a person who is not a relative. I’ve already send a request asking for a donor in a bone marrow bank."

After some seconds of silence, the man spoke again, his voice hoarse with sadness:

"She’s not gonna make it, right?"

"Mr Schmidt there is a chance to save your mother. It’s not gonna be easy, but we have to try everything we can. And I’ll do everything possible, you have my word!"

"I’m sorry, Mr Schmidt, but don’t give up... I’m sure there’ll be a donor somewhere!...", Mary said, trying to reassure him.

"She’s right, Mr Schmidt. We cannot lose our hope in the first attempt!", Tess agreed.

He looked at the others, sorrow and pain evident in his eyes:

"Thank you for being here, but, if you excuse me... I wanna be alone..."

He left the hospital filled with despair. Mary watched as he disappeared in the corridor, feeling equally sorry for him as well as for Rose. The two had given her a house and their friendship even not knowing who she was or how she had arrived in the town. Their hospitality had touched her deeply, and it didn’t take too long for her to consider them a family; at that moment, the only family she knew:

"Andrew...", she said, "I was thinking... I don’t know if this is going to help but, as Mr Schmidt’s blood isn’t compatible and you will have to make other tests... Well, I hope Rose can be a donor, but I would like you to test my blood too. You see, I don’t know anything about me, but, if I could be of any help, I’d be very happy..."

"Well, that’s alright, Mary.", the blond angel agreed. Tess smiled pleased with that demonstration of friendship:

"I’m sure that Mr Schmidt and Rose will be very grateful for you attitude!...", the supervisor looked at Father Rosenberg, who had been watching all that without saying much, and put on a stern face, "You are even setting a good example to everybody around here!... Although I’m sure that there isn’t a single soul in this city who would refuse to help Mrs Schmidt!"

Annoyed by her insistent look in his direction, Father Rosenberg turned to Andrew:

"Of course you can test my blood too, son!...", he said, with a displeased expression on his face, also facing Tess, "I really think that some people around here speak too much..."

"I beg your pardon, are you insinuating that I should keep quiet?!", the supervisor replied, even more distressed.

"You were the one who said that..."

"Hey it’s ok, alright, Father Rosenberg, Mary, you two can come back here in the afternoon, I’ll do the tests with Rose and with you two!", Andrew said, interrupting what would become a very serious argument.

*

Rose was at home, anxiously waiting for her father, but when he arrived at the ranch, the girl noticed all the sadness in his eyes:

"Dad? What is it?"

"I’m sorry Rose... But... The doctor cannot operate your grandma... She and I are not compatible..."

Tears formed in the corner of her eyes and soon rolled down her face:

"She’s gonna die, isn’t she dad? She’s gonna die just like mom!..."

Mr Schmidt opened his arms:

"Come here, sweetie!...", he said, holding his daughter tightly, "I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, Rose!... I would do anything to change this situation, but I can’t... I just can’t!..."

"I don’t want grandma to die! I’ve lost mom and I miss her so much, I don’t want that happening again with grandma!", the girl never stopped sobbing, "Why is all this happening to us? Why daddy?!"

"I don’t know that too, dear... I don’t know what else to do..."

Both cried in each other’s arms for some instants, when a sudden voice, with a familiar Irish accent, interrupted them:

"You can start by praying to God to help you through this difficult time.", Monica was standing in front of them.

"God? God forgot about us 3 years ago, when He took Rose’s mother away! Since then, things seemed to get worse and worse... As a matter of fact, I doubt whether God really exists, but, that doesn’t make any difference anyway, ‘cause, He abandoned us!"

"God never abandons His children, Mr Schmidt. A disease, the result of an imperfect world, killed your wife. But she left part of her with you; Rose is an adorable and loving little girl who needs you more than ever."

"It’s so difficult sometimes...", he said, his voice hoarse with emotion.

"I know that, but you’re not alone. God has sent some angels to stay together with you..."

By saying so, a brilliant glow involved Monica’s figure, causing father and daughter’s eyes to grow wide in amazement:

"Monica, what’s happening to you?!"

"I’m an angel, Rose. And so are Andrew and Tess. God sent us here to remind you that He is always watching over you. He knows how much pain you’ve been through in the last years and He suffers together with you, believe me."

"And does He know that grandma is very ill?"

"Oh, yes, Rose. That’s why He sent Andrew to stay with her too. And, right now, He would like to give you something very precious to go on and face this difficult moment: faith. Accept it and keep it inside your heart."

She turned to Mr Schmidt:

"And from you, Mr Schmidt, God is asking to be strong, as you’ve always been. For Rose, for your mother and for you too. The rest, leave in the Father’s hands and He will take care of all of you."

A sad smile appeared on his face:

"He’ll be with us until this is over, won’t He?"

The Irish angel nodded her head:

"All the time, not just now, but forever."

"I trust Him. If He sent you 3 to be with dad, grandma and me, then, it’s because He won’t let us down...", the girl said, wiping her tears. Shedding some tears herself, Monica smiled:

"Never, sweetheart!"

Mr Schmidt reached for Rose’s hand:

"Rose, let’s pray for grandma. Monica, would you mind joining us?"

"That’s what I’m here for."

*

On the following days, the entire city was praying for Mrs Schmidt’s health, and many people appeared at the hospital offering to be a possible donor. At the church, Tom was arranging the altar, as the Mass had just finished, but he couldn’t concentrate on what he was doing, and let the wine glass fall on the floor:

"Tom! Look what you did!", Father Rosenberg stern said.

"I’m sorry, Father Rosenberg...", the boy replied, with a sad expression on his face. The religious man sighed: try as he might, he couldn’t hide how sorry he was for Tom, as, deep down inside, the boy reminded him of himself, a long time ago.

"Hey, Tom, come here...", both sat on the pew; the church was now empty.

"I know how much apprehensive you’re feeling for Mrs Schmidt; we all are."

"She’s like my mother... the only one I knew. What will I and the others do without her?"

"You don’t know what will happen to Mrs Schmidt! Only God knows that. He is in command here on Earth and knows everyone down here. He knows what’s best for her and we have to trust in his infinite wisdom."

"But I don’t want her to go... If I could help somehow..."

"Nobody wants her to go, Tom. Mrs Schmidt’s good actions captivated everyone who happens to know her; no exceptions. And you can be sure of one thing: God is now taking care of her, holding her hand and He will never leave her side."

The sadness in the boy’s eyes was deeply annoying him, and, suddenly, he stood up:

"Come with me! We can finish this later!"

"Where are we going?!"

"To the ranch. I have to talk to Mr Schmidt anyway and... well, you can talk to that little friend of yours, I’m sure she will like it and it will do good to both of you..."

The boy’s eyes widened:

"Can we go now? Really?"

"Yeah, before I regret what I’m doing!... And don’t you dare telling somebody that I let you go without finishing your duties!", he stated, following Tom towards the exit of the church. But little did he know that, invisible to his eyes, Tess had heard all that conversation and smiled.

*

"... I shouldn’t be crying, God has even sent some angels to be with us but... I’m so sad, Tom."

"It’s alright to be sad, Rose. She’s your grandma. And I’m sad too, ‘cause I feel like was her grandson too..."

"She always thought about you like a grandson. All of us, grandma, dad and I consider you part of the family, Tom."

The boy blushed at that comment:

"Gee, Rose!...", he exclaimed, slightly embarrassed, "I consider all of you my family too!"

At that moment, they saw Andrew crossing the gates of the ranch and ran towards him:

"Hey Rose, Tom!", he greeted.

"Andrew, what are you doing here?! Is anything wrong with grandma?!", Rose asked, already scared.

"I can assure you that Mrs Schmidt is still where I left her."

The children exchanged a look and the boy looked at the blond angel:

"Andrew, is it true that you, Monica and Miss Tess are... angels?..."

He smiled:

"Yes, that’s true, Tom."

"Boy! Father Rosenberg always said that angels exist but I never thought I would meet them in person!"

"Well, all I can say is that we come when people need us most. And I came here to talk to your father, Rose, and with you too."

"Come with me; he’s inside the house."

Mr Schmidt was in the living room together with Mary and Father Rosenberg when the children came in, bringing the blond angel:

"Andrew, did anything happen to my mother?...", the man asked, all of them apprehensive with his presence. Andrew cleared his throat:

"Please be calm. Mrs Schmidt is stable. I came here to talk about the tests you made two days ago."

"Do you have the results?"

"Yes, Mr Schmidt. Unfortunately, Rose isn’t compatible with her grandmother..."

Everybody was taken aback by that announcement:

"Oh no...", Mr Schmidt ran his fingers through his hair, as if he knew that, now, everything was lost:

"And what are we going to do now? I don’t want grandma to die!", Rose said, holding her father. Andrew continued talking:

"Just calm down. I said that Rose isn’t compatible, but I tested other people’s blood as well. I told you that there was a possibility to find a donor even if he or she wasn’t a relative. And, indeed, I found somebody who is compatible, even not being a relative...", he looked at the religious man who was standing in the living room: "It’s you, Father Rosenberg!"

Amazed looks went to his direction, and Father Rosenberg himself was greatly surprised:

"Me?!... Are you sure, doctor?"

"Yes, I’m pretty sure, sir. You and Mrs Schmidt are compatible and you can be her donor."

Mr Schmidt and Rose looked at each other, happier than never:

"So grandma is going to live?!"

"There’s a good chance, Rose. We’ll transfer her to a bigger hospital and do the surgery."

Happiness quickly spread in that house and everybody celebrated that good news.

*

Later, at night:

"The prayers for Mrs Schmidt were so many and all of them came from the bottom of everyone’s hearts in this city. I’m so happy that there’s a hope for that lady.", Monica said, sitting beside Andrew; both observing the little dog that had born some days before.

"I truly hope that everything goes well for her during the surgery.", he answered.

"Will you be there too?"

"I’ll be there with her all the time."

The blond angel looked at the little animal that remained still inside a machine:

"What about this little one? How’s she doing?"

"I’ve tried everything I can, but she won’t eat Andrew!", Monica sadly sighed, standing beside the small dog which was still striving to be alive. Andrew took the small dropper filled with milk and tried to force the puppy to drink the liquid, but he too failed:

"Yes, she’s quite stubborn. No wonder you’re getting attached to her!", he joked, in an attempt to cheer Monica up.

"I’ve never had a pet, you know. Tess won’t let me..."

The blond angel sat next to her once more and wrapped his arm around her shoulder:

"I know how much you like animals, Angel Girl."

"But this wee one is so weak and defenceless, Andrew! She really needs somebody to take care of her..."

"You’re doing a great job, Monica, believe me. And Tess won’t mind if you stay here a bit longer to watch over this puppy."

She hugged him, grateful for his reassurance. He took her hand:

"Let’s leave her for a while, sweetie; she’ll be fine. What about us going out and breathe some fresh air. You know, when I was coming here I’ve heard that there’s a cafeteria in town that has a delicious mocha latte..."

At the mention of her favourite drink, Monica looked at him:

"Mocha latte? Really?"

"Yes... and I was thinking... The night is so beautiful and going for a walk isn’t a bad idea... I just need some company..."

She returned his smile, and came closer to the little dog:

"You rest for a while, wee one. Luka, your mom, is right here and I will be back soon, ok?"

Hand in hand, the two angels left the Schmidt’s ranch, where happiness and hope were now back again.

"I’m so glad you’ve found a donor for Mrs Schmidt, Andrew."

He smiled and held her tight as they walked:

"You would be surprised to know what else I found in those tests, Angel Girl..."

CHAPTER 6

Monica and Andrew had been at the cafeteria for half an hour:

"I can’t understand why that waitress is looking at me with such a curious face, Andrew..."

He chuckled, knowing exactly the reason for that:

"Well, maybe it’s because you are the first one who comes in here and is able to drink four cups of double mocha latte in just 30 minutes!"

"Were they four? I... I didn’t notice...", she replied, with an innocent look, "Besides, I was paying attention to what you were telling me... Andrew, it’s unbelievable!"

"Yes, the Father never ceases to amaze me by how wise he is!"

Monica smiled and looked at his bright green eyes:

"I’m really enjoying that we 3 are together in this assignment, you know."

He took her hand in both of his and kissed it:

"I can say the same thing, Angel Girl. In fact, I can only think about one thing better than working on the same assignment than you and Tess: it’s to have a vacation with you two!"

She sighed, delighted with that suggestion:

"That would be lovely! Imagine how many cups of coffee I could have!"

He rolled his eyes, smiling at her uncontrollable addiction:

"Hey, don’t forget that Tess would be there too and she would never let you do such an extravaganza!"

A mischievous expression appeared on her face:

"Yes, but YOU would be there as well and I know how much you love seeing me happy!"

Slightly blushed, Andrew shook his head, with mock disapproval:

"You shouldn’t take advantage of the weakness of the others!"

She started giggling at his totally fake sternness and it was then that she saw anther familiar person inside the cafeteria:

"Andrew, look over there, it’s Mary! Hey Mary, wait!"

The woman was already leaving the place and turned her head and smiled when she saw the two angels:

"Hi Monica! Andrew! I stopped here for a cup of hot chocolate, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you!"

"Are you leaving? We can make you some company!", the Irish angel offered.

"Oh, sure, that would be lovely!"

The 3 left the cafeteria and started walking in the street; it was a very beautiful and starry night.

"Mr Schmidt and Rose went to the hospital to see Mrs Schmidt and I decided to leave them for a while. I went to the church; suddenly I felt this deep need of praying. It was as if I... needed some time to talk to God, just He and me...Do you understand what I’m saying?"

Smiling, they looked at each other and, after, to her:

"Talking to God and allowing Him to enter in our hearts is the best way to find comfort and to look for answers to our questions.", Andrew said, happy for the woman’s attitude. Mary nodded her head, a trace of sadness in her eyes:

"I hope I’ll find them. I hope He shows me any sign of who I am or where I came from. It’s not that I want to go away from here, on the contrary, I met so many good people, ready to help me... You two, Rose, Mr Schmidt..."

The two angels exchanged another look, not missing the slight blush that came upon her face. Mary kept on talking:

"But not knowing who I am is terrible. I keep trying to remember but the only thing that comes to my mind is that I needed to go somewhere and that I knew something important..."

"I’m sure that, in the right time, at the right moment, you’ll find out the truth.", Monica stated.

They were heading towards the hospital, where Mary would meet Mr Schmidt and Rose, and they would go back to the ranch. But, when the three were about to cross the street, a car stopped in front of them and the driver, a tall, thin man, of about 40 years old, got out of the vehicle:

"Well, well, look who is here! I didn’t expect to see you again... alive, I mean, Melissa!"

They were startled not only by that abrupt approach but also by the ironic and sarcastic tone in the stranger’s voice:

"I’m sorry? I think you’re making a mistake, sir.", Andrew objected. The man walked around the car and stepped closer to them:

"And it seems that you’ve even made new friends here! I’m sorry for them, ‘cause they will have to come along with us as well..."

"I’m sorry, I don’t know you...", Mary replied, now really frightened.

"Oh no?! So I have here a little reminder!..."

By saying this, he pointed a gun at them: the colour drained from their faces as Monica and Mary backed up a step:

"You must be confusing her with another person!...", Andrew tried to speak, placing himself in front of Mary and his best friend. The man laughed evilly:

"I would recognise Melissa anywhere! I was her husband’s friend and associate for years... Until he died in that tragic accident, 2 years ago... remember that, Mel?"

Mary was shocked, and didn’t even have the nerve to answer to the man’s words. But he continued to talk:

"And why did you have to go into his death’s matter, hum? You two had no kids, no other relatives, his inheritance went straight to your hands and then, maybe, we would have ended up becoming something more than just good friends..."

Andrew and Monica looked at each other, now fully understanding what was happening. Mary, on the other hand, had her eyes fixed on an invisible point, a turmoil of words and flashback images on her mind.

"... But no! You were damn stubborn and you would go on, messing up with things that you never should!"

Suddenly, she moved her eyes, getting out of the trance she was in, and stared at him:

"...Edgar... It was you!... You killed Michael! You pretended to be his best friend and associate for all this years and then you caused him to have that accident! That’s what I found out about you the day I ran away, the day I had to take my car and drive like crazy on the first road I found, with you right on my back, trying to kill me the same way you did with Michael!

"I knew you would never forget the good old days!...", he said, with irony, and grabbed her arm, "Now, you’re coming with me, we’ll take a little walk..."

Andrew tried to protest:

"Hey, don’t touch her!", but the man held Mary closer to himself:

"Take at ease, buddy!... You two are coming too, and you are going to drive!", he stated, pointing a gun close to Mary’s stomach, "And don’t you dare doing anything stupid, right?!"

They got into the car and the blond angel started the engine:

"Where to?", he asked, his eyes both on his friends and on the dark road ahead.

"Just go on, buddy! I’ll tell you when it’s time to stop!", the man answered, holding Mary tightly and pointing a gun at her all the time.

"Let them go, Edgar. They don’t have anything to do with this..."

"No way, honey! I’m afraid they were in the wrong place, at the wrong time!"

*

After the Mass was over, Father Rosenberg went to the sacristy and kneeled in front of a wooden cross hanging on the wall. He had a thoughtful expression on his face, as if he was trying to choose the right words, and it took him some minutes to start his prayer:

"Dear Father, please forgive me if, at any moment, I ever stopped to think about the past and about what happened to my family before helping that poor woman... Because there are no differences between us... Mrs Schmidt is as Your child as I am. Race was a concept created by men, to set a line, a border between people, a border to tear Your children apart. But that won’t happen here, right now."

The religious man smiled with contentment, something that was completely unusual for him:

"The people in this town will witness a German and a Jewish descendent sharing the same blood! Thank you for giving me an opportunity to help her..."

Suddenly, Tom rushed into the small room and interrupted his prayer:

"Father Rosenberg we have to hurry!!!", the boy said, breathing hard, as he had been running all the way to it. But when the religious man saw him, he frowned with concern:

"Tom, shouldn’t you be at the orphanage?! And what does all this hurry mean?!"

"Mary, Monica and Andrew!... I saw... The man... The stranger in the car..."

"Wait a minute! I can’t understand a word of what you’re saying! Sit here and explain yourself!"

"There’s no time! I was walking back home, I had gone to the hospital to visit Mrs Schmidt and then I saw Mary, Andrew and Monica walking in the street. I was going to say hi but a man that I had never seen before appeared in front of them and made them get into his car!"

A worried expression appeared on Father Rosenberg’s face:

"Wasn’t he a friend?"

"No! I guess I saw him pointing a gun at them!"

"Are you telling the truth Tom?"

"Yes, I swear! We gotta help them!"

The religious man stood up:

"Come with me!"

*

Andrew drove nearly half an hour, the tension inside the car raised at every minute:

"You know, Mel, when you smashed the car against that tree, on that desert road, I should’ve checked if you were really dead instead of just taking off the car license and the documents!", the man said, still pointing his gun at Mary, "I tried again and again to offer you some comfort and support, I was the closest person you and Michael had in this world!"

"You are a coward! A rat! Michael and I should never have befriended you!", she snapped back, in a mix of anger and sorrow.

"No, I wasn’t!", he replied, also with an angry tone of voice, "I was a friend to whom you should’ve looked for in a difficult moment! But you didn’t accept my friendship! On the contrary, you started looking for answers, didn’t you? And then, what happened? I had to eliminate you too! Some days later, when somebody found your body inside your smashed car I would have already transferred a good part of your money, which belonged to Michael, to my business account, and, years later, to my personal account. Your death would’ve been the result of the extreme loneliness you felt after your dear husband’s death. You would’ve taken your own life, as you couldn’t bear living without him."

"But your plan didn’t work thanks to some good people I was fortunate to meet in this meantime, and who I can say I owe my life to!"

"Well, technically, I’d say that they delayed my plans for a little while. But I’m not worried about this little drawback anymore, because I came back to finish what I intended to do on the day you ran away from me and ended up in this damn place!"

Saying this, he looked outside the window, and after to Andrew:

"Hey, buddy, you drive that car faster, you hear me? Or your two pretty friends will have to say goodbye to you sooner than what you expect!"

"I can’t drive faster than this, we left the asphalt road, if I go faster the car will skid, we can have an accident...", Andrew replied, with his heart pounding loudly in his chest, fearing for his dearest friend, as well as for Mary/Melissa.

"Just do as I say!", the man screamed, training the gun barrel on Mary’s head. But, at that moment, the noise of sirens was heard not far away from their car:

"What the hell is that?!", Edgar stormed, looking through the back window pane. Two police cars were following them and it wouldn’t take too long before they could reach them:

"Go faster now!", the man screamed, his eyes shining with anger. Andrew looked straight ahead, his green eyes fixed on an invisible point, while Monica bowed her head, also trying to concentrate herself. Seconds later, both angels exchanged a quick look, and the Irish angel slightly nodded, as if understanding the message she had just received from her best friend.

Suddenly, Andrew turned the steering wheel with an abrupt movement, and the car skidded round and round, causing Edgar to drop his gun down on the floor, as he and Mary were thrown from one side to another. Seconds later, when Mary realised what had happened, she reached down and tried to find the man’s gun. But he stopped her by grabbing her arm, a fight being held inside the vehicle, and which could end up tragically at any moment:

"I’ll kill you with my own hands if it’s necessary!", he cried. Monica unfastened her seatbelt to try to help the other woman:

"No! Stop it! Leave her alone, for God’s sake!", the Irish angel pleaded. But, before anybody could say anything else, their vehicle stopped skidding and was quickly surrounded by the police. The officers got out of their cars and pointed their guns into their direction:

"Get out of the vehicle, now!", the sheriff ordered, looking through the open windows, "You hear me? I said get out of this car!"

Realising that there was no other option, Edgar let go off Mary’s arm and everybody could abandon the vehicle. The policemen handcuffed the stranger and put him inside one of the cars, while Monica, Andrew and Mary/Melissa got into another one, all of them being taken to the police station.

CHAPTER 7

One hour later, at the local police station:

"Mary!"

Mary/Melissa was sitting on a chair, inside the sheriff’s office. Her tired and tearful face lit up when she heard her ‘name’ and turned her head to face Rose, Tom and Mr Schmidt, who, together with Tess, had just arrived.

"Oh children...", she held both of them, trying to keep her emotions under control.

"Gee Mary! What was that? I was scared... I mean, we were scared to death when we heard that you had taken away!", Mr Schmidt said, trying to hide some embarrassment through the worried expression on his face.

"They are saying that a man tried to kidnap you! Is it true?", Rose asked. Mary nodded, confirming the information:

"That man is... was my late husband’s associate..."

"So your memory returned?! You can remember everything now?!"

"Yes, everything, Rose."

"Are you ok? Did he hurt you?"

"Yes sweetheart, I’m fine now, he didn’t hurt any of us...", she said, also looking at Monica and Andrew, who were standing in the next room, talking to the sheriff.

"And we are fine thanks to this boy here, who saved my life for the second time!", she stroked Tom’s hair, and the boy blushed deeply, "Tom saw when Edgar took me as a hostage, together with Monica and Andrew. And if he hadn’t called for help immediately, I don’t know what would have happened to us... to me..."

She faced him with gratitude and affection:

"They say that everything you do ends up coming back to you... I hope this is true. I hope God takes all the good actions you’ve already done, which are so many for such a young boy, and sends them right back to you, in the form of happiness."

Mary’s words caused Rose and Mr Schmidt to smile, both of them equally grateful to Tom, who blushed even more, extremely embarrassed:

"Well I... I... Oh, c’mon, please Mary, can’t we talk about some other thing?!"

The 3 started laughing at the boy’s embarrassment. A police officer made a signal to Mr Schmidt and he turned to his daughter:

"Rose, why don’t you take our hero to the car and wait for us there?"

"Ok dad. C’mon, Tom, I can’t wait to tell everyone at school! You’re gonna be popular until we finish university!"

"Why do you girls have that compulsion to talk?!", he asked, still blushing deeply. They left the office and, a second later, the policemen transferred Edgar, with his hands in a handcuff, to his cell. He was placed face to face with Mary/Melissa, and the look in the man’s eyes was full of anger. She stood up and faced him back, no words were spoken between them. One of the guards opened the door at the end of the corridor and the criminal was taken away. Only then, tears rolled down the woman’s face. But, practically immediately, she felt Mr Schmidt’s gentle hand on her shoulder:

"You’re not alone, Mary, remember.", he said. She nodded:

"I know that Mr Schmidt. I knew that at the moment I came to this town and met all of you.", she took his hand and squeezed it, "Oh, and, by the way, although I really enjoy Mary, the real name is Melissa!"

Mr Schmidt smiled:

"Well, Melissa, the real name is Robert..."

A tearful smile appeared on her face:

"Thank you, Robert."

"You’re more than welcome."

*

Monica went outside the police station after she and Andrew had talked with the sheriff, making a brief report of what had happened. Looking at the starry sky with her hands conjoined and a grateful expression on her face, the Irish angel whispered:

"Thank you Father..."

And it didn’t take too long for her dearest friend to find her:

"Talking to Someone, Miss Wings?", Andrew asked, placing a gentle kiss on her left shoulder and holding her hand in both of his. She nodded her head and looked at him, but, try as she might, Monica couldn’t return his loving smile. Instead, she suddenly wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest:

"Whenever I come to reflect about the things I’ve already seen, I am always shocked by the evilness that exists in this world, you know..."

The blond angel sighed and held her back, placing tiny kisses on the top of her head:

"I understand that perfectly, Monica. I feel that too. But that’s why we are here, that’s why the Father sends his servants; to face it wherever it is."

"I know. I was thanking the Father for this and for keeping all of us safe."

They heard a familiar voice coming from behind them:

"As a matter of fact, the Father knew exactly what He was doing when He put you two in that lady’s way this night!"

The two angels looked at Tess, and the supervisor came closer to them:

"But I’m glad that He returned my two babies intact after that!", she completed, joining their embrace.

"Oh Tess, we love you, you know...", Monica murmured.

"I know that, baby. And I also love you two very much!"

After a brief moment, the Irish angel spoke again:

"Tess... if you are here, who is taking care of the children?!"

"Who do you think? Father Rosenberg, of course!"

The younger angels couldn’t help but smiling, and the supervisor kept on talking:

"And he’d better have finished reading their bedtime story I told him to read or we’ll have another conversation!"

*

Mr Schmidt, Rose and Mary, now officially Melissa, had been waiting in the corridors of a big hospital, in the nearby city, to where Mrs Schmidt had been taken. Her surgery had started 3 hours ago and, until that moment, none of them had had any news from the doctors. Mr Schmidt walked impatiently from one side to another, while Rose and Melissa remained sitting near him, silently praying that everything would be fine.

More minutes, which seemed like hours, had passed when one of the doors was opened and Andrew came to talk to them:

"So Andrew, what’s going on, why is it taking so long?"

"How is grandma?"

"The surgery has just finished...", the blond angel announced. With her heart pounding loudly in her chest, Rose asked:

"Is grandma gonna be ok?"

A brief instant later, Andrew smiled at them:

"Yes, Rose. Doctor Davis, who commanded the surgery, has just confirmed that it was a success, and your grandma will soon be with you again!"

A flood of relief and happiness filled their souls and father and daughter held each other tightly, while Melissa bowed her head:

"Oh God... thank you!", she whispered, sharing their embrace afterwards.

*

While the family was away, Monica had offered herself to take care of the ranch. And 90% of her attention had been directed to the little female dog, which still fought to be alive. Sitting in front of her, propping her chin in her hand, she sighed and watched as the puppy remained practically lifeless:

"Oh wee one... You don’t know how much I wish you became better! Are you sure you don’t feel hungry at all?", she murmured, rubbing her finger on the animal’s little head, its black fur starting to cover its small body.

On the following minutes, the puppy stood still, showing no response to her touch.

But, all of a sudden, the unexpected happened: the small dog moved, causing Monica’s eyes to widen in amazement:

"Oh my Goodness!...", the angel exclaimed, and, some seconds later, the puppy moved again, slowly opening her eyes. And Monica’s shocked face was the first thing the little creature saw:

"You’re... you’re awake! You made it, wee one!"

Quickly, she put some milk in dog’s mouth, watching marvelled when the animal started drinking it eagerly:

"You’ve made it! You’re really a brave little one! You’re drinking your milk, that’s it! My brave little baby!", she said, her broad smile mixed with some tears that rolled down her cheeks. She took the little dog in her hand and continued to feed it, showing the animal to Luka, who, for herself, was feeding the other babies:

"See Luka? Our wee baby is reacting! She’s going to survive!", Monica said, sharing her happiness with the other dog. She raised her head and looked at the blue sky, through the window:

"Oh Father, thank you for this little extra miracle!"

*

One month later:

"Look, she’s coming!", Tom announced, in a loud and anxious voice, looking through the window of the orphanage. The other orphans, together with Tess, Monica and Andrew, waited in silence until Mr Schmidt opened the door for his mother to come in. And, when the lady first stepped inside the big house, all the children greeted her in a loud and content voice:

"Welcome!!!"

The 3 angels watched as a broad smile appeared on Mrs Schmidt’s face, which was a mix of surprise and emotion:

"Oh dear God!... Children, that’s... that’s... oh, that’s so beautiful...", the woman had tears in the corner of her eyes and looked astonished at her surroundings. The curtains and the tapestry had had been replaced by new ones, there were flowers all around them and, in the living room, there was a big banner where she could read ‘welcome back’ written on.

"I just don’t know what to say!..."

"I guess that was the intention, Mrs Schmidt!", Tess stated, as she, together with her two charges and also with Melissa, had been responsible for a good part of that work. One of the orphans, a young little girl, gave Mrs Schmidt a bouquet of flowers:

"We are all very happy, Mrs Schmidt, that you came back.", she said, "We like Miss Tess a lot. We like Father Rosenberg too, he even read us bedtime stories and made the voices..."

Everybody laughed at that ‘revelation’, while Father Rosenberg’s face became red and very upset at the same time.

"... But we were all missing you terribly. And you know why? ‘Cause we love you very very much!"

She held Mrs Schmidt tightly. Tears rolled down her cheeks and the happy smile never abandoned her face:

"Thank you dear. Thank all of you: children, Tess, Monica, Andrew, Melissa... Robert and Rose, I love you two so much! And I know that God was with me all this time", she said, giving a special look at Andrew. Then she turned her head and faced Father Rosenberg: "But I want to thank someone else. Father Rosenberg, if it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t be here today, to share this moment with the people that I love so much. I’m sure that God saw the beautiful present you gave me."

The priest was even more embarrassed, and didn’t know what do say or where to look:

"Mrs Schmidt... I- I did nothing more than my obligation here! I don’t know why you all keep on staring at me like this!", he replied, in a grouchy tone. Tess frowned at looked at him with a stern face:

"Oh c’mon! Can’t you be more polite just once in your life?! She’s trying to thank you and you could at least say something about the beautiful action you practised a few weeks ago; but no! You keep on being grouchier and grouchier..."

"Miss Tess I’m not the kind of person who likes talking about the things I’ve done or who likes complaining about everything and anything that happens around me!"

"I beg your pardon, are you saying that I am an authoritative person that complains whenever things don’t work out my way?!"

Andrew and Monica exchanged a look of amusement, as well as all the others in the living room:

"Father Rosenberg, Miss Tess, I’m sure that everyone here did the best they could and meant every single action from the bottom of their hearts!...", Mrs Schmidt intervened, trying to put an end on that argument. Tess crossed her arms in front of her chest, with a bit of dissatisfaction, while Father Rosenberg nodded his head:

"Mrs Schmidt has just said the exact words I was going to say!"

Now a unanimous look of disbelief came into his direction:

"And... and... there’s nothing else to be said about it... Oh, c’mon everyone, can you just stop looking at me?! You are embarrassing a religious person and that’s not nice!"

No one could keep serious at his totally fake upset tone; children, adults and angels gave a happy and loud laugh.

CHAPTER 8

Monica placed the female puppy dog that had been born almost one month ago in front of Luka, her ‘biological mother’:

"Very well, wee one. You’ll stay right here with your mommy, while I go to the Mass, ok?", she said, and turned away, heading towards the door. But as soon as the small animal saw her moving away, it began to chase the Irish angel. Monica looked behind her and shook her head:

"No, little one! You have to stay here, with your mommy! You can’t go with me!"

But the dog remained in the same place, switching her tail back and forth and staring at her with pleading eyes. Sighing deeply, she reached down and scooped the animal:

"Didn’t you hear a word of what I said? You can’t stay with me all the time!" she said, keeping the dog close to her chest, "And you have to get used to this ‘cause, pretty soon, as much as it breaks my heart, we’ll have to say goodbye to each other..."

Indifferent to her words, the dog started to place tiny ‘dog kisses’ on her face, what made her expression soften even more:

"Oh wee one, I love you too..."

Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice from behind her:

"Looks like Tess and I have a little rival for your love!", Andrew joked, smiling lovely at the scene in front of him. Monica looked at him with a worried and yet marvelled face:

"Oh Andrew, what am I going to do?"

"Don’t ask me, Angel Girl. You know that our assignment her is almost finished and it won’t be long before we go Home..."

"But... look at her!", she showed him the little dog, and the blond angel smiled and stroked her soft black fur:

"Hey little one! Looks like you’ve won a certain angel’s heart, haven’t you?!"

"How am I supposed to leave her, Andrew? She’s so small and defenceless..."

"Yeah, but she’s also a tough little girl!"

"She can’t seem to stay away from me anymore. She chases me wherever I go and whenever she has an opportunity, she covers my face with tiny kisses!"

Andrew looked into the Irish angel’s brown eyes, with all the love in his heart evident on his face:

"I don’t blame her..."

Blushing deeply, Monica smiled back at him, and lowered her eyes for a brief second.

"Monica, Andrew, we’re already going to the Mass. Don’t you wanna come with us?", Rose said. She was together with her father and Melissa.

"We’d love to.", Monica placed the little female dog on the floor. But the animal never moved away from her; on the contrary, it started to cry, as if begging for the angel’s lap. Everybody, except Monica, laughed at that scene.

"She really loves you, Monica!", Melissa exclaimed. Mr Schmidt agreed:

"I guess she’s adopted you as a mother!"

"I-I guess so...", the Irish angel replied, with some embarrassment. Andrew placed his hand on her shoulder, as she could feel the sadness that flowed from her heart in leaving the little puppy.

"And she’s right, ‘cause it was Monica who took care of her all this time!", Rose remembered, and a sudden idea came to her mind, "Hey, we’re forgetting something! She doesn’t have a name yet!"

"Yes that’s true!...", the Irish angel reached down and patted the puppy’s head: "How could we leave this cute lady without a name for so long?"

"Monica, I’d like you to give her a name!", the girl asked, also reaching down to play with the little dog.

"Me?..."

"Yes, it’s enough fair. You’re practically responsible for her being alive, so..."

Monica smiled and happily scooped the small animal once again:

"Well... When she opened her eyes and showed the first signs that she would survive, it came together with Mrs Schmidt’s news that she would survive too. And it was a moment of great happiness to everyone. And, since that day, things started going better and better."

Monica looked at the puppy’s face and smiled:

"So I’ll call her Joy, ‘cause that was what she brought together with her. And that’s what she transmits to everyone that is near her, to me in particular..."

They smiled at her words, which were really true:

"Joy... It’s cool; I loved it!", the girl exclaimed.

"Yes! This wee baby will be, from now on, Joy!", the Irish angel stated, holding the small animal.

*

Father Rosenberg was in the sacristy, preparing himself for the Mass, which was going to be held to give thanks for Mrs Schmidt’s recuperation. The good news about the lady’s health was quickly spread and the townspeople, who had prayed for her all this time, were now immensely happy. The Mass was a way to thank God for answering their prayers, and Father Rosenberg was one of the great responsible for her recuperation. He was placing his stole, when a sudden voice came from behind him:

"It seems that finally this town has recovered itself from the great lack of faith in which it was drowned."

The religious man looked at Tess, who was standing near the door, with her hands conjoined, "The church is crowded!"

"Miss Tess don’t you know this is a private area?!", he said, already displeased with her sudden appearance.

"There’s no private area in God’s house!", she retorted, also with a stern face. The man rolled his eyes:

"Yes, I know that, but there are some areas where a little privacy would be greatly appreciated! And, by the way, the room for the Sunday classes has already been reformed and you can use it instead of the church pews!

"Well, thank you, it’s high time it was reformed!"

After a brief pause, she kept on talking:

"But the one holding classes there won’t be me, as I’m leaving the town pretty soon..."

Father Rosenberg stopped fixing his gown and starred at her with a puzzled expression:

"You said you’re leaving?!"

"Yes, I am."

"But... The children are already used to you, I thought you would keep on with the classes..."

"There will be another person to replace me, Father Rosenberg, my assignment here is almost fulfilled."

"Your assignment? Miss Tess, I can’t understand a word of what you’re saying!"

"Well, that doesn’t surprise me at all...", Tess muttered, under her breath, but, before he could say something, she continued to talk, "I was sent here with a mission: to make the people in this town find the faith and hope they had lost a long time ago. And when I say that, I mean EVERYONE in this town, including the one responsible for keeping faith and hope alive!", she stated, somewhat accusingly. But this time the man didn’t protest. On the contrary: he lowered his eyes and nodded:

"... and it took me Mrs Schmidt’s disease to make me realise that.", he said, disappointedly.

"Yes, it did. But you were not the only one."

"For years, Miss Tess, I kept my duties as a religious man, a servant of God. But, inside my heart, I carried all the sorrow and pain for the terrible things that happened to me a long time ago. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t blamed God for a single moment; much on the contrary, He is the great responsible for me being here today. But the sadness, or better, the emptiness inside my heart for having lost everything I had all of a sudden, my family, my home and friends, is a wound which, I think, will never heal... No matter how hard I try, no matter how much I’ve been praying all these years."

"I know that, Father Rosenberg, and, believe me, there’s Someone who knows that too. God saw your tears; the tears of a little Polish boy who couldn’t even speak for fear of being hurt or killed by men’s insanity."

She came closer to him and looked at his face:

"And that’s why He sent you some angels to help you during that difficult time, together with good hearted people too. And now He sent you and angel to help you to heal all these wounds, opened a long time ago..."

By saying that, a beautiful glowing involved Tess’ figure, and the religious man’s eyes grew wide, filled with shock and amazement:

"...Oh Jesus!...", he whispered, completely astonished.

"God loves you, Father Rosenberg. He loves you very much and very deeply. He cried together with you all these years and He felt the same pain and sorrow you carried in your heart. And He loved you even more when you didn’t blame Him for all the horror you witnessed. Much on the contrary; you transformed the tragedy that happened to you into love for the ones in need."

Father Rosenberg had some tears forming in the corner of his eyes:

"I was never able to forget the horror of a war, but I want God to know that, in my heart, I tried to honour Him every single day of my life..."

"Oh but He knows that! Because He knows your heart and He saw your actions. But, right now, He has 2 messages for you: the first one is that you should let go of all the sadness that still remains inside you, and welcome the joy for being His servant. Only with this blessed feeling inside your heart you’ll be able to take comfort and hope to the ones who need it."

He conjoined his hands and prayed:

"Oh Father, I promise I will... And I ask for your forgiveness, as I haven’t tried hard enough to do so in all these years..."

He looked at the angel’s smiling face, with a mix of gratitude and wonderment:

"Thank you, Miss Tess!"

All of a sudden, Tom opened the door of the sacristy:

"Father Rosenberg, we’re already late for the..."

The boy stopped talking when he saw that scene before his eyes:

"Father Rosenberg... Miss Tess... you’re- you’re an angel too?!..."

"Yes, baby, I am. And I came here with 2 messages for this mister. The first one has already been delivered.", she faced the religious man: "And the second one, Father Rosenberg, has just entered through that door!"

A puzzled expression came over both of the humans’ faces:

"Miss Tess, please, explain yourself..."

"You said that you had a brother; a young baby who you believe was killed during the war. But I’ve got news for your: he didn’t die in that concentration camp, all those years ago. On the contrary: he survived... and came to this country..."

"...My brother survived?..."

The angel smiled:

"Yes."

"But that’s impossible!... Years ago I myself looked for any relatives I could have alive, but I got a confirmation that all of them had died. I even have a document, with his name on it..."

"That confirmation is partially true. Your brother escaped from that camp because his last name was changed. That’s why his death was included in this document, as the authorities considered that he had died together with the rest of the family. But he continued to live in Poland and came to this country when he already was an adult, searching for a job opportunity. Here, he got married, and had a son. Unfortunately, he and his wife died in an accident, 11 years ago. As they were very poor and didn’t have any known relative, their little boy was sent to an orphanage, in a small town not far away from here. But the boy was very weak, and needed proper treatment, so Mrs Schmidt, who was visiting the city, knew about it and offered herself to take care of the baby and brought him to the hospital of this city, where he was treated."

Tom’s heart, as well as Father Rosenberg's, were pounding loudly in their chests, as they could hardly believe in the story she was telling them. With tears in his eyes, the religious man looked at the boy:

"You’re saying that... that..."

"The baby recovered from his illness and grew up in the orphanage, together with the other children. And nowadays he is a smart boy who helps at the church, delivers newspapers in order to pay for his school material and who knows everybody in this town. And everyone likes him very much, especially Rose Schmidt, Mrs Schmidt’s granddaughter!"

"Miss Tess, you mean that Father Rosenberg... That we... we are..."

"Your blood analysis is in the hospital’s files, Tom. And Father Rosenberg’s blood was tested a few weeks ago. Andrew took the two genetic material and compared them. You two have so many similarities that only two close relatives could have. And, to be sure about it, Andrew made another test, which confirmed everything I told you. The family you both have always longed for really exists: Tom is your nephew, Father Rosenberg!"

"Oh, my God!... Is that really happening?..."

"Yes, it is, Father Rosenberg! And I’m afraid that you, Tom, is not an orphan anymore!"

Still amazed, the boy smiled nervously:

"So... Father Rosenberg is my... uncle?!"

"Exactly!"

For some instants, the two stood still, shocked by that totally unexpected news:

"Oh, c’mon you two! I didn’t come all the way Home to here to see you starring at each other like statues! I wanna see a big hug, and I wanna see it right now!", Tess exclaimed, with mock seriousness, and they wasted no time in holding each other:

"So, I have a nephew, hum?! Well, I can be surprised about it, but I’m definitely not surprised that it’s you, because only someone smart like you could be my relative! Intelligence is a common quality in our family!"

Hearing that comment, the angel shook her head and rolled her eyes, while uncle an nephew laughed at those words:

"And I always liked you, Father Rosenberg, though, sometimes, you’re kinda...", a little embarrassed, the boy didn’t know how to finish that sentence:

"Grumpy, you want to say!"

"Miss Tess don’t go on putting words in my nephew’s mouth!"

But Tom avoided another forthcoming argument:

"Well, what I really mean is that you’ve always been my friend, and, in your way, you taught me how to pray and to have faith; and I’ll never forget the words you said to me, when Mrs Schmidt was ill."

The religious man patted on the boy’s shoulder:

"And I’m proud of you, son!"

Tom remembered something else:

"Oh, and by the way, should I call you ‘Father Uncle’ or ‘Uncle Father’?!"

The 3 laughed even more.

CHAPTER 9

The church was really crowded on that Sunday morning, as the entire town wanted to give thanks for Mrs Schmidt’s recuperation. But, besides this, it seemed that the woman’s disease had made them recuperate their own souls, which had been so hopeless and lost for so many years.

Monica, Andrew and Tess were there too and, together with the Schmidt’s family, listened attentively to Father Rosenberg’s words, which, more than never, had come from the bottom of his heart:

"We all know that a Mass is not only an opportunity to listen to the Father’s words, but also a celebration of faith. And today we have here a living proof that God listened to our prayers, as everybody, the whole town, is very happy for Mrs Schmidt’s being healed from a terrible disease that threatened her life and made us reflect on how precious our own life is and how much we need to fill it with hope. Hope that we’re not alone in this world, that there’s Someone taking care of us all the time and to whom we turn to ask for help and comfort, and also to give thanks for all the wonderful things He gives us. Of course we can’t forget that doctors did their job, as well; that’s why the Father gives them inspiration!"

"Gee! I’ve never seen Father Rosenberg preaching such a beautiful sermon", Rose said, in a low voice, to her father and Melissa.

"You’re right, Rose. Talking about inspiration, I’d say he is really inspired today!", Mr Schmidt agreed. The priest kept on talking:

"But the symptoms that faith was coming back to this town started before Mrs Schmidt went to hospital. When the orphanage was about to close, I saw every single soul in here giving their best to help the children who live there. And I confess that I should’ve been the first one to do this. But I was so locked up in my own sadness and grouchiness that I wasn’t able to!"

Hearing that, Tess slightly nodded, completely agreeing with those words. Monica and Andrew didn’t miss this detail and looked at each other, trying to hide the smile upon their faces.

"Fortunately I had an opportunity to redeem myself and ask for His forgiveness, which I believe He has already conceded me.", after a brief pause, he continued:

"And we felt this need of helping because of two reasons. The first one is that Mrs Schmidt represents everything the Father taught us: help the ones in need and love them with all your heart, unconditionally. That’s what she’s been doing for so many years: giving home and affection to these children who, for some reason, couldn’t receive these precious blessings from their real parents. It is the most beautiful way to tell God that you love Him, and leads to the second reason: we all form one single and perfect family in God’s eyes. There’s no race, but the human race; who has one common Father. Mrs Schmidt left it all too clear by opening her house and her heart to some of His children. Some of the children she took care of were adopted and nowadays have a new family; others grew up in the orphanage and became decent and loving adults, who managed to build up their own families; and there are the ones who still live in there, and they too have a family, for this lady embraced all of them as a real loving mother. And, like her, whenever we do an act of kindness and generosity towards a human being, we’re honouring our Heavenly Father."

Those words went deeply into everyone’s hearts, and, surely, they would be remembered by the inhabitants of that little town and their future generations.

Monica, who was sitting between Tess and Andrew, held her two friend’s hands, lacing her fingers with theirs, and looking at them with all the love in the world reflected in her eyes. They returned her look; no words were spoken, but it was clear that the 3 angels shared a common ‘I love you’ with themselves.

*

"I still cannot believe that Father Rosenberg is your uncle! It’s fantastic!"

"Yes, and I’ll have a family now; and even a last name: now you can call me Thomas Rosenberg!", the boy stated, filled with contentment. He and Rose were inside the barn, playing with Luka’s 6 puppies.

"And, you know, though Father Rosenberg is a bit grouchy sometimes, I really like him. Just like your grandma has been a real mother to me, I guess he’s been kind of a father all this years."

"Yes, I guess you’re right. And the truth is that Father Rosenberg isn’t that grouchy. I think that if he spends one or two months taking care of the orphanage, he’ll become really cool!"

"Yeah, all the kids liked it a lot when he read for them and even made the voices of the characters!"

They laughed at the scene of the (now) ex-grouchy Father Rosenberg surrounded by children and reading them a bedtime story. It was then that Tom remembered something:

"What about the ranch? You said that your dad would have to sell it..."

"You’ll never guess what happened! Melissa is very rich and she lent dad the money to pay the bills! But I think he’ll pay her back pretty soon, ‘cause she also had a brilliant idea: to open the ranch to the public!"

"How’s that so?"

"People who live in big cities love spending their vacations in places like this, so they can stay here fishing, riding a horse, eating the farm products, everything we do every day, but that, for them, is really different."

"Hey, I liked that! Melissa is very intelligent!"

"And you know...", the girl lowered her voice, "... I think she and dad will start dating at any moment; you gotta see the way they look at each other!", she announced, happier than before.

"Yuck! That’s all you girls think about! You’re always seeing stuff like this in other people’s lives!", he said, with disgust and some irony. But Rose ignored that comment:

"That’s why we are more intelligent, you silly!"

"Says who?!", he teased. But she couldn’t reply because, at that moment, Monica, Andrew and Tess showed up:

"Hey, looks like this ranch is getting a little crowded!", Andrew joked, looking at the 6 puppies that were spread all around, being attentively watched by their mother. But one of them immediately stopped playing with her brothers and sisters and clumsily ran towards Monica:

"Hullo wee Joy! Did you behave yourself, huh?", she scooped the little dog and placed it close to her chest, receiving lots of kisses: "Oh my Goodness! I love you too, sweetheart! See Tess? Isn’t she the most adorable tiny little creature in this world?!"

"Tiny little creature?...", the supervisor studied the animal for a few seconds, "I’m under the impression that this dog is overweight..."

"She’s not overweight, Tess. Just a wee bit chubby..."

"She’s roundish, you mean..."

"Well, when she was born, Joy was too weak and needed some extra care. So I gave her some extra vitamins and other supplements to make her stronger...", she said, trying to justify her protectiveness, because, in fact, Joy’s belly was twice as large as her other siblings’.

Andrew chuckled at her words, never missing all the love and care in his friend’s voice, as he could feel those feelings flowing from her heart, which always made him love her even more, on every second of his own existence.

"Don’t you feel like having such a lovely and adorable little animal always by your side, Tess?"

"Well, if I were a retired angel, with no assignments to take care of and no charges to supervise, I would consider this possibility again...", she answered, remembering that she herself had already owned a little dog. "...But I don’t think that would be possible under the circumstances. Not mentioning the mess that the animal would certainly make, specially now that it is still a puppy!", the oldest angel stated, and patted on Joy’s little head: "She’s a pretty dog, though... I understand why you wanted to tell her goodbye, Angel Girl. I’ll be waiting for you outside, ok?"

"I’ll be with you in a minute, Tess.", the Irish angel replied. As the supervisor left the barn, Tom and Rose exchanged a look and the girl cleared her throat:

"You know, Monica, Tom and I have been thinking... We talked a lot and there’s something we decided..."

"What is it?"

"Well, you took care of Joy all this time and she really loves you. So we decided to give her to you!"

The Irish angel’s mouth dropped open; as she wasn’t expecting to receive such a present like that:

"... you want to give Joy... to me?! You mean... she’s... mine?!", she stammered, with astonishment.

"Yes, so you’ll have her always on your side to play with you, Monica!", Tom said. But, suddenly, Monica remembered Tess’ words and the smile on her face disappeared:

"Well... thank you children, I really appreciate that, believe me... But I think Tess is right... Joy needs a lot of attention, you know... and... I think her real mommy is the best one to watch over her..."

Disappointment was evident not only on her face but on Andrew’s as well, for her knew how much that little dog meant to her.

"I’m really happy that you want wee Joy to be mine, but what Tess said is true, and she has a lot of experience, as she had a dog herself... I have to do what’s best for Joy..."

"Are you sure you don’t wanna stay with her, Monica?"

"I- I can’t Tom. She’ll be much better off here, in the ranch. There’s a lot of space here and she’ll have her brothers and sisters to play with her as well."

"Then, maybe, you could come here to visit her some day...", Rose said, both children realising how hard that separation was to the Irish angel.

"Well, yes... I could come and check on her once in a while...", Monica turned to the little puppy, "And you’ll behave yourself, won’t you, wee one?"

She received lots of kisses in reply, and a bittersweet smile appeared on her face:

"I love you too, sweetie... We’ll have to say goodbye for a while but I promise I’ll visit you, right?..."

With tears forming in the corner of her eyes, she held the puppy closer to her and kissed her little head. And the children were not the only ones whose hearts were broken with that scene. Andrew frowned and felt his own heart ache because of the sadness that irradiated from the Irish angel’s eyes.

Monica placed Joy on the ground and patted her head:

"Be a good girl, ok?...", she said, and turned to Andrew, taking his proffered hand and squeezing it tightly.

"And you take care of yourselves too, right?!", the blond angel said, "Be good children and remember to keep God inside your hearts."

"We will, Andrew!", they answered, and watched as the two angels left the barn.

*

Tess was not far away form there, and watched as Mr Schmidt and Melissa walked along the green field and talked. Monica and Andrew soon joined the supervisor:

"I guess we’ve managed to put the lost birds back into their nests and also brought some of them closer to each other...", satisfaction was evident on her face. Monica nodded her head:

"I’m so happy for them...", she said, trying to chase away the sadness that still remained inside her heart. Tess looked at Andrew:

"Angel Boy, could you do me a favour? Would you bring my baby here? I left it in the entrance of the ranch.

"Sure, Tess. I’ll be right back."

Mr Schmidt and Melissa stopped near a pond, where some ducks were swimming, and looked at their surroundings:

"This is such a lovely place! I spent my whole life in the city with Michael, and couldn’t even imagine how wonderful the countryside is."

"I guess that in the countryside everything seems... truer. What I mean is that, here you can really feel the essence of the living creatures, of people..."

He looked at her:

"I have to confess that I forgot this for some years. But recently those feelings came back and I’m really glad about it..."

Melissa smiled, still concentrating on the pond that was in front of her:

"Well, I’m glad I ended up in this town in that morning!"

Mr Schmidt took her hand and squeezed it:

"And I’m glad for that too!... I couldn’t have found a better business associate...", he had a playful tone in his voice.

"Business associate?!"

"Yes, and... I hope that we can sign a kind of long term agreement. One to last, let’s say... 50 years!..."

Smiling broadly, Robert kissed her hand. She looked back at him and grinned with happiness in her eyes, both holding each other tightly afterwards:

"Ok, I think we can discuss that!... And, in fact, I think we can renew this ‘long term agreement’ for another 50 years if you want!"

"That’s the kind of proposal that I would never turn down!"

Both laughed and shared a small but loving kiss.

"And I guess that that makes our assignment 100% fulfilled!", Monica stated. Tess nodded:

"You’re right, Angel Girl. They form a beautiful couple and will have the chance to restart their lives together."

At that moment, they heard a horn behind them: it was Andrew.

"Well, ladies, let’s go! The Father gave us a weekend off and I can’t hardly wait for it!"

He allowed Tess to take the driver’s seat and went to sit in the back of the red Cadillac, and the angels left the Family Schmidt’s Ranch, following the road that lay ahead.

EPILOGUE

Monica, Andrew and Tess travelled for nearly two hours, crossing a beautiful countryside scenario. In this meantime, Andrew and Tess chatted about the last assignment, the weather, the plantations along the way and the region itself, where there were no other houses. Monica, on the other hand, had spoken only two or three sentences, and although she was a nature lover, the Irish angel didn’t show much enthusiasm about her surroundings.

The truth was that she missed Joy terribly, as the possibility of taking care of a little creature who became totally dependent on her was something extraordinary, and a way to expand her huge love capacity. Not having that possibility anymore was something the angel would take some time to cope with.

"Well, here we are, babies!", Tess announced, and stopped the red Cadillac in front of a cosy wooden house, hidden nearby some green trees and surrounded by a flowered garden.

"Looks like pretty good to me! Calm, comfortable and relaxing!", Andrew looked around him, "And it’s beautiful, isn’t it sweetie?"

Monica managed a feeble smile:

"Yes...", came the laconic answer. The 3 angels got out of the car and the Irish angel whispered under her breath:

"I’ll take my bags..."

She walked towards the back of the vehicle and noticed something:

"I think this trunk door is broken, Tess..."

"What?!", the angel was already scared with the possibility of her ‘baby’ being damaged.

"Look, it’s already open and..."

When she opened the trunk door, Monica let out a cry of surprise and astonishment. Quickly, Tess ran towards her, thinking that the damage had been even more serious and worried about what would’ve caused that reaction. Andrew walked towards his friend too, but not as worried as the supervisor. Monica covered her mouth when a little black fur ball looked at her from the bottom of the luggage compartment and barked happily:

"Oh my God!... Oh Father!...", the angel exclaimed, taking Joy in her arms and immediately receiving lots of kisses.

"Oh, I’m happy to see you too, sweetheart!"

"How in the world did this dog manage to enter here?!", Tess wondered, extremely surprised.

"She might have jumped into the car when we were out watching Mr Schmidt and Melissa talking!...", Monica answered, as she too was really surprised.

"And what are we going to do about it now?!", the supervisor asked. Monica looked at her with pleading eyes:

"Oh no Tess... Please, we can’t take her back to the ranch, it’s a long distance and... well, the truth is that I wouldn’t bear saying goodbye to her again..."

"Oh my... I don’t like the course of this conversation!"

"Please, Tess, let me stay with her, please! I’ll take care of this wee one, she won’t be a bother, I promise! You... you won’t even notice that she’s here! Please?..."

Andrew tugged his hands in his pockets and chuckled, as he knew very well that nobody couldn’t deny Monica anything when she made that pleading face. Tess looked at her charge and sighed hopelessly:

"And do I have any other choice with you staring at me like this?!", she mumbled, with a stern tone in her voice. A broad smile appeared on Monica’s face and she wasted no time in holding the supervisor tightly:

"Oh thank you, Tess! Thank you, thank you very very much!!!", she kissed the oldest angel’s cheek, with happiness flowing from her heart. But Tess didn’t seem pleased at all:

"Why am I under the impression that I will regret this very soon?..."

"I love you very very much, Tess! And you won’t regret this, I assure you!"

"I hope so, Miss Wings! And how such a small and roundish animal managed to jump that high and straight into the trunk of the car is something really intriguing!...", she stated, with a suspicious expression on her face and staring at Andrew. The blond angel, who, until then, had limited himself to watch his dearest friend’s happiness, became serious and grabbed some bags:

"I – I think I’d better take this luggage to inside the house...", he said, in a low voice, quickly disappearing from the supervisor’s sight. Still grinning, Monica looked around her for the first time since their arrival:

"I’ll take Joy to know the house and the garden!, she said, and also disappeared.

Only then, the stern expression on the oldest angel’s face vanished completely, and she shook her head and laughed:

"... as if I didn’t know that this was going to happen in the end! That Angel Boy has a lot to learn before he can deceive this old angel here!...", she exclaimed, and, gratefully, looked towards the sky, "Oh Father, thank you for these two charges! Existence wouldn’t be so funny without them!"

*

Andrew and Monica were sitting on the couch, in front of the fireplace, with a warm blanket over both of them, their legs stretched out to the coffee table. On it there were also three empty mugs: two of coffee and another one of tea, and an empty pizza box. Snuggling close to her friend’s neck, Monica wrapped her arms around his waist and sighed:

"Oh Andrew I’ve missed so much being like this with you!"

"Yeah, Angel girl, it’s been a couple of tough weeks for us three, and I was anxious for some days off, especially when it involves you!"

She looked at him affectionately and planted a kiss on his cheek:

"So was I!".

It was in that moment that Joy walked through the room and looked at them, barking softly as if begging for some attention.

"Oh look who is up!", Monica grinned at the vision of the small black fur ball that begged for her lap, "Come here, sweetie!"

"Were you missing your mommy, dear? I’m here, mommy is here!"

Listening to those words, Andrew raised his eyebrows:

"Mommy?", he said, with a mix of an inquisitive and amused look.

"Why not? I take care of her and love her so much, it’s as if she was my precious baby!", she smiled with enthusiasm, and then turned to the little fur ball: "You’re really my precious baby, aren’t you, sweetie?".

And the Irish angel received lots of puppy kisses in response. Her dearest friend couldn’t help but laughing. But, with a mischievous smile, Monica went on:

"But although I love her and treat her with all the love in my heart, something is missing, you know..."

"And with all that, what on earth could be missing to ‘wee’ Joy, Angel Girl?!", he asked, still laughing.

"A father...", she said, looking straight to his eyes. Andrew’s face now turned into a surprised one:

"A father?!"

"Yes. A mother and a father are very important in every creature’s life, specially now, in her puppyhood! And I’ve been thinking...There’s a certain angel, with blond hair and beautiful and compassionate green eyes, who could pretty well be the perfect father to wee Joy here...", Monica stated, with a playful tone in her voice. Amused, the older angel decided to play along with her:

"Her ‘puppyhood’?...And who could be this ‘perfect angel’?"

After some suspense, she turned to him, her dark brown eyes sparkling, and finally asked:

"Would you like to be the father of my wee Joy, Andrew?"

Immediately blushing at that proposal, although he more or less waited for it, he smiled and pretended to be considering the matter with mock seriousness:

"Well, let’s see... I don’t know... you two can be a bunch of trouble sometimes... but you don’t seem to be so bad after all. I guess I’ll take your proposal into consideration..."

Monica looked slightly indignant and gave him a nudge on the ribs:

"Hey little one, it seems that now you have a dad too, what do you think about having someone else to love you and take care of you, huh?"

The little dog barked at those words and started to cover his face with ‘kisses’, as if she was loving the idea of having the two angels spoiling her everyday:

"I think she agrees!...", Andrew said. Then, he wrapped his left arm around Monica’s shoulder and, looking at her with all the love in his heart, whispered into her ear: "I couldn’t think of a prettier, warmer and more adorable mother than my angel girl!", he whispered into her ear, kissing her forehead afterwards.

She smiled back at him and, happily, held him tightly:

"Well, I couldn’t choose a better father too, as you’re the greatest responsible for her being here today..."

"Shhhh!", he checked on their surroundings to see if they were really alone, "I don’t know what you’re talking about, Miss Wings!"

Giggling, she decided to keep quiet and snuggled against his chest, both caressing the little dog.

Instants after, Monica raised her head with a worried expression:

"Andrew, we’re forgetting something! I mean, we’re forgetting someone!"

"Who sweetheart?"

"Tess! We’re forgetting Tess! She’ll be very upset to know that she was completely left out of Joy’s life!"

Amused with the seriousness on his best friend’s face, Andrew rolled his eyes and was going to say something, but, before he tried, Monica kept on talking:

"Wait! I already know what we’re going to do!, she straightened her body on the couch before announcing it: "We can ask Tess to be the grandmother of our baby!"

Hearing that suggestion, the older angel couldn’t help but giving a loud laugh again, and the Irish angel looked up at him in an inquisitive way:

"What’s so funny, Andrew? What are you laughing at?"

Hardly controlling himself, he managed to answer to her question:

"I’m laughing... At the look on Tess’ face when we ask her... to be the grandmother of our baby!", he said, and, before anyone could say something else, they heard a strong and unmistakable voice echoing through the living room:

"So you two had better stop laughing and give me a good explanation to this!!!"

Immediately, they looked at the doorway and saw Tess staring at them, with her hands raised to her hips and an inquisitive, puzzled and rather upset expression on her face. Seeing that physiognomy, the two angels looked at each other and burst into laughter until they had tears in their eyes, which only made Tess more furious:

"I can see no fun ‘round here and you are getting into a big trouble if you don’t start explaining what a weird conversation was that I’ve just overheard!", she stormed.

Still laughing, Monica patted on the sit beside her on the couch:

"Come here, Tess, please..."

With a suspicious expression, the oldest angel attended to her request:

"C’mon, start talking you two!"

"You know, Tess, Andrew and I wanted to ask you to be the grandmother of our wee baby here", she said, taking Joy in her hands and showing her to her supervisor, who opened her mouth with surprise. "As parents, we would be worried about who was going to take care of our wee one when we were out working..."

"And there’s no one we could trust more to watch over our Joy than you!", completed Andrew, still trying to control his laughter.

"Me? The grandmother of a dog?!", said Tess, with an expression of somebody who had just heard an absurd thing.

"I’m sure you’ll be the perfect grandmother for wee Joy, won’t she sweetie?!", the Irish angel said, turning to the little dog, which barked and once more, as if agreeing to have the supervisor taking care of her too:

"See Tess? She said yes!"

Monica put Joy face to face with Tess, and, not being able to resist to such cute small animal, she took her in her hands:

"Let’s see what we have here... yeah... On second thoughts, you’re the heck of a pretty little dog!", said the oldest angel, smiling as the tiny creature wagged her tail: "Yes, that’s what you really are, baby!... And, all in all, it would be much better if you had someone really serious, firm and responsible to take care of you other than these two, whose main diversion is to make fun of everybody and everything!", she stared at her two charges, who were still trying to control their laughter, and, giving up on scolding both of them, she stood up holding Joy in her arms: "Now, c’mon baby, let’s go to the kitchen and Tess here will fix something for you to eat!"

"Tess I’ve already gave her food..."

"I’m talking about real food, Miss Wings, not coffee and pizza!", the older angel snapped, disappearing through the kitchen door. Andrew and Monica looked at each other more amused than ever:

"She’s going to spoil Joy more than we two together!", the blond angel said. Monica nodded with a smile and sighed:

"Yes that’s true, and now our family is perfect! I have you, Tess and Joy, and we all have one another! Isn’t it wonderful?"

He looked at her, his eyes full of love, and kissed the tip of her nose:

"It couldn’t be better, Angel Girl. It couldn’t be better!"

They wrapped arms around each other and continued watching the fire, overhearing, from the background, the sound of Tess’ voice taking care of the little animal. And a white dove flew from the window and above the house, crossing the starry sky.

THE END