19. Chapter 18 (1/2)

chapter 18

tess

and adam were both shocked not only with the news about monica and

andrew's marriage, but also about the little baby she was expecting.

if there was a greater purpose in all that it was not clear to them

yet. to start with, angels were not supposed to fall in love, and

none of them had ever experienced a human life the way they both had.

besides, so far, it was believed that they could not generate another

life.

but

monica and andrew were there to prove the opposite.

"i

wish i knew what to say... but... i can't... i'm as lost as you all

probably are..." adam was the first one to

eak the silence of

the room, and only then tess spoke again.

"never

in my whole existence i've seen something like this happen... and

you're right, adam... i'm lost... i'm completely lost..."

monica

covered her mouth with her hand, stifling another sob, and quickly

stood up, "i'm sorry..."

she

rushed upstairs and they heard the bedroom door close a second later,

and andrew elected not to go after her for a while, feeling like a

useless creature once he didn't have the answers she was certainly

looking for. the irish angel lay down in her bed and cried freely for

long painful minutes, terrified with the consequences of her latest

actions. "father... please tell me what's going to happen with

us now... to our baby... to our love..." she prayed, holding

onto a pillow.

downstairs,

tess

oke down the persistent silence and stood up from the

armchair. "if you two excuse me... i need to go somewhere

too..." right before she left, the supervisor took andrew's hand

and squeezed it, "but i'm coming back later, baby, i promise..."

adam,

on the other hand, stayed there and he and andrew went up to the

front porch, from where they saw tess' cadillac leaving. noticing how

his friend grabbed the wooden railing until his knuckles turned

white, he placed a supportive hand over his shoulder, "take at

ease, buddy... it's a tough moment, i know, but remember god's plan

is perfect... even though we cannot understand it at a first moment."

sighing

deeply, the blond angel turned to his co-worker with worry, anguish

and visible sadness. "i know, adam... but... if you ask me...

i'm not sure if i would give up my current life if requested so. the

fact is that i love what i have... the many blessings i have since

the day monica opened her eyes for the first time at that hospital,

all those months ago..."

"you

both really fell in love..."

"yes!

and i love her more than anything else in this world... on the day we

got married, even having no memory, i was sure that i had never been

that happy, and now i know it was true! and then, five months ago,

when i heard about her pregnancy, i even felt guilty for having so

much happiness while others had nothing... she's my wife, adam, and

she's expecting my child! that's a fact i don't ever want to change!"

the

other angel of death gave a long sigh and nodded his head, "you

know something, andrew? i don't know what the father's plan is yet,

but, somehow, i've always felt that what you and monica share, this

strong connection between you two, is so rare among angels, and it's

so special... all this must be a sign that nothing that's happened

lately is totally wrong..."

andrew

managed a small smile, "thanks... i... i'll go upstairs and see

her now... i may not know what to tell her, but i won't let her go

away from my arms until all this is solved..."

adam

also smiled, and patted him on the shoulder, "go ahead, buddy!

i'll go and find tess."

x

andrew

went up to their bedroom and found monica there, lying on their bed

and still crying softly. quietly, he sat down on the edge of the bed

and removed a few strands of her long auburn hair away from her face;

the soft movement of his fingers through her hair always

ought her

a comforting sensation. as he bent down and kissed her cheek, she

spoke for the first time, never turning her eyes away from the

window, and from the clouds that covered the sky outside.

"...i

wonder if we'll be angels again..." her voice was hoarse and

came out like a whisper.

"we are

angels, baby... our true nature will never change, i'm sure of that."

she

finally turned her eyes to him; all the fear and anguish written in

those sweet

own pools

eaking his heart. "and what will

happen to us now, andrew?"

she

desperately needed an answer and he could not deny her one. "well...

i guess that, eventually, we'll have to go back to our... 'normal'

life, as we are angels before anything else..."

a

sob escaped her as she searched for his green pools. "and how

could we give up our baby, andrew? how could we give up our love?"

"shh..."

andrew sat down next to her and gathered the sobbing angel in his

arms, kissing her forehead repeatedly. then, he placed his free hand

over monica's belly. "i would never be able to give up on the

most precious blessings i've ever been granted... never, angel!"

and

at that moment something amazing happened: both felt their baby

kicking for the first time.

"oh,

father!" she exclaimed, her voice thick with emotion, and also

placing her hand over her belly.

"see? it's

real... our baby is real!" andrew's

eyes clouded with tears at the little creature kicking the inside of

monica's belly, and moving as if announcing he or she would be there

soon, no matter what had happened. moved with emotion, and now with a

crying smile on his face, he bent down and kissed her belly softly,

once again with his heart filled with the so familiar happiness he'd

found next to the one he loved.

"hey! mommy and daddy are

here, little one! and we can 'hear' you..."

as the child kept on moving inside

her belly, monica caressed andrew's blond hair and both exchanged a

moved glance. "i may not be sure of what's gonna happen to us,

but there's one thing i'm certain, angel: us. we were meant to be...

my love for you, it'll never change, but it'll certainly grow

stronger each and every minute, through the centuries to come."

"i love you so much,

andrew..."

like they had done on that same

morning, the two angels held each other tightly, and remained like

that for a long, long time.

x

tess

spent some good hours inside a small chapel not far from monica and

andrew's house. sitting on the front pew, she spent long hours

praying and asking for guidance, as she didn't know what should be

done in that situation. angels were not created for that purpose.

falling in love, getting married and generating life - this was for

humans. yet, another thought crossed the supervisor's mind: how could

angels be denied those feelings if their own nature was a loving one?

love, in its purest form, was what she saw in monica and andrew's

eyes. besides this, they were god's children even before they were

god's servants, and a loving father would never punish his children

for holding on to a feeling that he himself had created - the most

beautiful feeling a living creature could hold towards another.

adam

ended up finding tess there, and sat down next to her. "no

answer yet?"

"i've

been praying and trying to understand all that's happened, adam. all

the time i spent here, i thought about my poor babies, and...

although i spent my entire existence believing nothing like this

would and could happen to an angel... when i look at monica and

andrew, i just can't help but to think they deserve a chance..."

"i

feel exactly the same, tess... those two love each other, and i can

tell you they won't give up on this love, even if they have to give

up being angels... and both choices are certainly very painful."

it

was at that very moment that a soft glow involved the two angels, and

they both could hear the father's answer: it was his plan that

andrew and monica got married and experienced a little bit of human

life. their angelic nature had never changed. they were and would

always be his angels, and he loved them so much, that on the day they

got married, on that same church, he himself was present, and cast

his blessings upon them.

"oh,

father... father... thank you! thank you so much!" tess' eyes

were filled with tears of emotion and happiness to know that her

angel babies would always remain like that.

"i

just wonder how happy andrew and monica will feel when they get the

news!" adam spoke, smiling

oadly, equally happy for his

friends.

at

that moment, two small objects suddenly materialized in their hands:

two little boxes, each of them containing a golden angel medal

inside, and each medal with tess' and adam's names carved on them.

"but

what can possibly..." tess' voice trailed off as she read her

own name and then adam's name on the other medal.

"i

guess it's a present, tess! a present for monica and andrew!"

"yes...

so what are you doing here? let's get back there, they need to know

what the father told us!

x

it was certainly a difficult day

for the couple of angels. monica and andrew spent long hours worrying

and wondering about their future and of their baby, and didn't even

feel like eating or talking or going outside. much to his insistence,

she left the bedroom to help him to prepare dinner, and she kept on

feeling the baby moving, and released a tear or a sob every time she

felt so, sure that no matter what happened to them, she would never

give up on their child.

"our little angel never stops

moving, right?" andrew asked, stopping his task to lay his hand

over her belly. she let out a sob and managed a bittersweet smile,

"no..."

as she covered his hand with her

much smaller one, monica looked up at him for a long moment, and the

blond angel tenderly caressed her cheek, lost in the spark of her sad

doe-like eyes. "you know when i first started loving you?"

"you... you've told me..."

"no... i was wrong... it

wasn't on the day you woke up at the hospital... it's probably the

only thing i was wrong about all this time... i fell in love with you

on the day tess introduced us... and you were mad at me because you

were jealous..." a small laughter escaped her, mixed with tears

that never stopped from falling. "you looked absolutely

lovely... but then... you always do, baby..."

"i just wonder if the father

had... had this in mind when he made our paths cross on that day..."

she said, with a hint of sadness covering her beautiful gaelic

features.

and it was at

that moment that they heard another familiar voice, "the father

had planned all this a long time ago, baby,