Angel Unaware (16 page)

He shrugged. “It doesn’t surprise me. Lisa has been estranged from her family for years. I was never told why or what started it. All I know is that she’s never seen Penny, and she never even came to her brother’s funeral.” His voice took on a sharp, unforgiving tone. “Given that she has never been here or seen her niece, Penny doesn’t know her except through things her parents had told her about her father’s sister. Matt always said Lisa was a self-centered brat who would go to any lengths to get what she wanted. Maybe she’s finally grown up some and realized that family is something we all need and it’s time she made peace with hers.”

Dora and Penny hurried through the doors that marked the main entrance to the Crystal River Mall. Warm air gushed at them and removed the chill that had seeped into their bodies as they’d walked from where Dora had to park at the far end of the crowded lot.

This driving stuff was still a little much for her to handle, but parking the car had the power to strike terror in her heart. Slipping something as big as a car into a space cordoned off by two white lines without hitting one of two other parked cars seemed like a cruel thing to ask anyone to do. But over the past few days, she’d made up her mind to conquer her fear and slowly but surely had gotten better at it.

Excited about her very first trip to a mall, Dora gasped at the sight that met her as she passed through the double, automatic glass doors into the busy shopping center. It was like stepping into a Christmas card. As enthralled as a kid in a candy store, Dora tried to drink in everything at once and store it in her memory.

Piped-in Christmas carols warred with the steady hum of the shoppers’ voices, the happy chatter of kids waiting to see Santa, and the loudspeakers of some stores offering special holiday promotion sales. Plump garlands of artificial pine hung in long streamers from one wall to the other. Huge, red velvet bows anchored it in place, and white lights sparkled in its depths.

In the center of the main courtyard stood a towering artificial Christmas tree decked out in all its holiday finery with beautifully wrapped packages nestled at its bottom. At the top a gold star sparkled, its points nearly touching the glass ceiling. It reminded Dora of the angel tree topper that still lay on the Falcones’ living room coffee table. She pushed the thought away, refusing to let anything dampen this day.

“Look, Dora!” Penny exclaimed, pulling on her hand and guiding her toward the improvised North Pole Village at the foot of the big tree. Santa was holding court with a long line of cherry-cheeked children in every size and shape, who waited eagerly to impart to the jolly old elf what they most wanted for Christmas. An adult or pair of adults who looked as if they were being subjected to the tortures of hell accompanied each child.

As she and Penny watched, each child climbed into Santa’s ample lap and whispered their requests for the gift they wanted most to find beneath the tree on Christmas morning. A robust
Ho
!
Ho
!
Ho
! followed his promise to deliver.

“Would you like to tell Santa what you want?” Penny studied the crimson-garbed man for a while.

Turning to Dora, her face sad, but serious, she shook her head. “I don’t think he can bring me what I want.”

Dora didn’t bother asking what it was Penny wanted. She thought she knew, and the child was right … Santa could not bring her her uncle’s love. Only Tony could do that.

They’d been in and out of almost every store in the expansive mall, and Penny had managed to purchase an apple-shaped pin for her teacher and, for her uncle, a new pen with a tiny enamel heart on it. Very telling, in Dora’s estimation. However, she sincerely doubted Tony would understand that, to Penny, it was a symbol of her love.

By the time they’d made several trips around the mall, Dora’s feet were throbbing. In the last hour, she’d developed an intense longing to sit down in a big soft chair with a tall, very cold drink, and take her shoes off. However, Penny was on a mission to get something for Millie and was not taking no for an answer.

“In here,” Penny instructed and, grabbing her hand, hauled Dora into yet another store.

The
Enchanted Forest
was smaller than the other stores they’d been in, and the limited stock consisted of, among other things such as jewelry and beaded hand-bags, ceramic statues of fairies and angels, calendars made up of reprints of a well-known artist’s rendering of fairies, vials of fairy dust, and books about angels and fairies. On the wall hung white, filmy robes; glittery gold halos; and gossamer wings in various sizes. Anything a little girl could want to dress up like either a fairy or an angel.

Penny went straight to the shelf holding the ceramic angels. She reached for a small figurine of an angel with blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a white gown that fell in gentle folds around her slim body. On either side of her, large, white wings stretched above her haloed head.

Penny picked it up gently. “This is the one I want.” She peered up at Dora. “It’s just like the way you looked in your mirror.” Innocence glowed from her face.

Instant panic flooded through Dora. She froze. For a moment, she couldn’t speak. How did Penny know about the mirror? Finally, she forced the words through her lips. “How do you know what I look like in my mirror?”

“I saw you the other night,” Penny said, more interested in inspecting her choice of Millie’s gift than in the fact that Dora was an angel. “When I couldn’t sleep. I came into your bedroom to ask you for a glass of water. You were talking to another angel named Gracie. Is she your friend?” Then she frowned thoughtfully. “It was funny though ’cause I knew it was you, but you didn’t look like you. You were all sparkly and shiny, and your hair was a different color, and you didn’t have on your jeans in the mirror. Was that angel magic?”

Dora couldn’t answer. She was too busy trying to figure out how this could have happened. The only answer was that she must have been so upset, she’d never locked the door, and then she’d been so absorbed in her conversation with Gracie she’d never heard Penny come into the room.

Her stomach dropped to somewhere below the floor. She’d managed to violate another of Calvin’s instructions. A mortal had seen her as an angel. It seemed like the harder she tried, the more her mission fell apart. First, she didn’t think she was making any significant headway with Tony and, now, Penny knew who she was. More and more she was coming to believe she was no better suited to being a mortal than she was to being an angel.

Frantically, she tamped down her panic and searched for a way to undo the damage. Maybe, if she swore Penny to secrecy, she could prevent this disastrous slipup from going any further.

“Penny, honey, listen to me.” She squatted down to be on eye level with the little girl. “You have to promise me you won’t tell anyone about this. It can be our special secret.” Her voice was harsher than she intended, and seeing Penny’s alarmed reaction, she softened her tone of voice. “Okay?”

Tears had gathered in Penny’s eyes, and her bottom lip had begun to tremble. “Was I bad to see you? Will you get in trouble?”

No more than I’m in already
, she thought but didn’t say. Dora hugged Penny close. “No, sweetheart, you were not bad.” She released her but ignored the child’s other question. “It’s just that you weren’t supposed to see that. I wasn’t supposed to … Well, you see, I …” She let her voice trail off. How on earth did she explain to a child that her whole life had been one screw-up after another and this was just one more? “Sometimes adults don’t understand these things and—”

“I know why,” Penny exclaimed, brightening some. “Only special people like Millie are allowed to see angels. Millie says she sees angels all the time in her dreams. Millie’s special angel is called Mary Elizabeth.” As quickly as her face brightened, the smile melted away like ice cream on a hot summer’s day. “But you said I’m not appose to see them, so I guess I’m not special, huh?” Dora’s heart twisted in her chest. “Oh, no, sweetheart.

I didn’t mean that. You’re very, very special. Otherwise, even though you came into my room at exactly the right second, you couldn’t have seen me. Right?”

To Dora’s relief, some of the light came back into Penny’s eyes, but she didn’t look convinced. “I guess.” Dora took a tissue from her pocket and wiped the tears from Penny’s cheeks. “Well, I know. I’m sure you’re just like Millie, one of those very special people who get to see angels.” She smiled. “But we can’t tell anyone. Okay?”

Penny nodded and smiled. She dug into her pocket and extracted a wad of crinkled bills, the change from the twenty-dollar bill her grandparents had sent. “Can I still get the angel for Millie?”

A deep sigh of relief passed Dora’s lips. That was easier than she’d expected it to be. “Of course, you can. Now, let’s pay for Millie’s angel and go home. Your uncle will be looking for his supper.”

They walked to the cashier. Penny gave the girl her money, and then turned to Dora. “Can I tell Uncle Tony about you?”

The stark panic returned. Of all the people who could not know, Tony topped the list.

“No,” she said a little too loudly and too sharply. Several people looking at the items on the shelves turned in her direction. She shifted to position herself between them and Penny. “That’s not a good idea, sweetie,” she added more gently. “I’m afraid your uncle is one of those adults who wouldn’t understand.”

“He’s just not special,” Penny said, nodding sagely. Dora couldn’t agree with that assessment of Tony. In her eyes, he was more than special. He was perfect. “Your uncle is very special, but not in the same ways as you and Millie are. He probably doesn’t believe in things like angels.”

For a moment Penny considered Dora’s statement. Then she said, “You’re probably right. He doesn’t believe in Santa or the Tooth Fairy, either.” Then she shook her head and shocked Dora by mumbling, “Men!”

That night, her newest failure having lain heavily on her mind all day, Dora locked her bedroom door and slipped the sheet off the mirror. As the significance of Penny having seen her as an angel had grown more intense with each passing hour, Dora’s guilt had magnified until she saw no other alternative but to confess and face the consequences. If only she’d seen Tony’s niece enter her room, she could have moved away from the mirror, but she hadn’t, and Penny now knew Dora’s true identity.

For a long time, she stared at the swirling gray mist in the mirror. She didn’t want to do what she knew she must, but she saw no other honorable way out of it. She’d failed on several levels and today was simply the final slipup, the one she could not honestly excuse. If Millie and Gracie were right, falling in love with Tony appeared to be something out of her control, but allowing Penny to see her? That was a whole different matter.

The bottom line was, she’d been negligent about making sure her door had been locked, and now she had to pay the price for her lack of care. Resigning and asking to be brought back was the only way. Then they could send someone who knew what they were doing, who would be able to bring Tony and Penny together into the loving family they should be.

There was no other way out except to take her punishment, which she was sure would be an immediate callback to face the Heavenly Council. Having failed at her mission and having to face the consequences didn’t bother her half as much as the thought of leaving Penny and Tony. The mere idea of never seeing them again left her insides raw and her heart bleeding.

Inconsolable, she flopped on the edge of the bed. Tears burned her eyes. She bit her bottom lip to hold them back. Admitting Calvin had been right about his misgivings in sending her to Earth would be bad enough. Letting him see her dissolved in self-pity and showing him just how deeply her failure was affecting her would be more humiliation than she could stand right now.

Despite her efforts, the tears swelled and overflowed her eyes, running down her cheeks and onto her folded hands.

“Dora?”

Dora jumped to her feet at the sound of Gracie’s voice. Quickly, she swiped at the tears and forced a smile to her trembling lips. “Hi, Gracie.”

Gracie tilted her head and studied Dora’s damp cheeks. “You’ve been crying. Why?”

She sniffed loudly. “Is Calvin around?”

Gracie shook her head. “No one has seen him for eons. The angels were speculating that he’d been sent off somewhere on a special assignment.” She placed her hand on the shoulder of Dora’s reflection. It felt warm and comforting. “Can I help?”

Before Dora could stop them, the tears began to flow again, this time in earnest. Backing up blindly, when the bed hit her behind the knees, she dropped on it and buried her face in her hands. “Oh, Gr … Gracie,” she wailed. “I’ve … f-failed  … s-so … miserably.”

“How?” Gracie waited. Dora continued to cry in heart-wrenching sobs.

Finally, when she was sure she didn’t have one more ounce of moisture in her body, Dora dried her tears, hiccupped loudly, and then laughed derisively. “How I didn’t fail would take less time to relate.” Her reflection’s halo slipped sideways and threatened to fall off, but Gracie caught it and replaced it. “I guess I’m no better at being a mortal than I was at being an angel.”

With a stern look, Gracie shook the shoulder of Dora’s reflection. “That’s not true. Now, tell me why you think you’re a failure. What’s happened since the last time we talked?”

Dora stood up, raised her head, and met Gracie’s gaze. In a small, hesitant voice, she whispered, “Penny knows I’m an angel. She saw me in the mirror last night when I was talking to you.”

Eyes wide with shock, Gracie stared at Dora.

CHAPTER 12