An Angel To Watch Over Me
Monica was impatiently walking from one side to another in the porch of the cabin that she and her dearest friends used to spend their days off. It was located in the mountains and surrounded by green trees; a gift from the Father and a perfect place for one of His angels to recover from a bad cold. Monica had had caught a flu once, but she would never get accustomed to human diseases.
Now it wasn’t different: she had spent the last three days isolated in the little wooden house with all the symptoms common to that disease: fever, cough and congested nose. Tess and Andrew had been there to check on her whenever they could, but the supervisor had to work on an emergency and Andrew had been requested at some other place. He told Monica that he would be working on an assignment with Adam and asked the Irish angel to stay there and rest. Although he didn’t tell her about the danger it involved, Monica knew it would be risky and now she was anxious for some news.
Finally, the Irish angel saw Adam walking towards the porch and she climbed down the few steps to meet him, “Adam? Is it over? Where is Andrew?” she asked, deeply worried, and with a hoarse voice. The angel of death smiled and placed his hand over her shoulders.
“Calm down, sweetie! The assignment was fulfilled and Andrew is fine!”
“Oh, thank you Father!” the Irish angel heaved a sigh of relief.
“There was some danger but the thieves ended up surrendering and they let the hostages in the bank go. Nobody got hurt.”
“Oh Adam! What a good piece of news you’re giving me!” she exclaimed, a smile upon her face.
“Yes. But Andrew had a quick assignment after this one and he asked me to come here and tell you what happened, cause he knew how worried you would be.”
“I was. I know he was on assignment and that the Father would be taking care of you two but my heart was aching to know if he was alright!”
“I am, angel...” a sudden voice interrupted their conversation and she turned around to face her dearest friend.
“Andrew!” Monica exclaimed, holding him tightly, “Oh thank God you’re here!”
“And I was worried about you!” he replied, also holding her as tightly as he could and not missing the hoarseness in her voice and the warmth in her skin. “You shouldn’t be outside, and barefoot!”
“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t stay inside the house wondering how you were!”
He pulled away and gently stroked her cheek. “I knew it. That’s why I asked Adam to come here.”
“And I have to confess that I too got really worried when Andrew told me you were ill, Monica!” the other angel of death spoke.
“It’s a bad flu, Adam. But I’m recovering...”
“I hope so...” he checked his pocket watch, “I’ll have to go now. But I know that Andrew will take care of you, sweetie.”
“I sure will!”
Adam kissed the top of her head and shook hands with Andrew and, a second later, he was gone. Andrew looked down at the Irish angel with a stern expression on his face, “And you’re going inside that house right now! You’ve been way too much disobedient!”
Monica couldn’t help but giggle at his stern tone of voice, “Yes, sir!”
He led her to the interior of the cabin and made her sit on the comfortable couch, taking a seat right in front of her, “Now tell me, what did you eat while Tess and I were out?” he asked, taking her hand and tenderly stroking her cheek.
“Well... Tess made some pasta, you know... But I’m not really hungry... I had just a little...”
“I’m gonna make something for you right now, you need to eat, Monica!” his concern was evident in his eyes, but, before he could stand up, she squeezed his hand.
“No, Andrew, wait, please...” as he looked at her questioningly, she continued to talk, “Stay here with me a little? I missed you so much... and I worried so much...”
The pleading look in her eyes was something the blond angel would never be able to resist, as he was always willing to do everything and anything she asked him. Leaning in the sofa, Andrew gathered the little angel in his arms and kissed her forehead. “Ok... but it’s just a little. I’ll cook something for you and you will eat it, you hear me?”
“Yes...” she sighed, enjoying the feeling of being in his strong arms and resting her head against his chest.
They remained like this for several minutes, when he finally broke the silence. “I missed you, angel... Very much!”
“And I’m so glad the Father brought you back to me safe and sound.”
He cupped her chin and lifted her head up, “He always will. He knows how much I love you, Monica!”
A broad smile appeared on her face, “I love you too, Andrew. So much that I was praying that you could stay a wee bit more with me here, you know, during your free time.”
“Oh Monica... there’s no place I’d rather be than here with you.”
And, with happiness and relief for being together again in each other’s arms, their faces inched closer and their lips finally met in a loving and tender kiss.
“These assignments without you, angel... It seems that there is a part of me missing...” he spoke, softly running his fingers through her hair.
“I feel exactly the same... And that’s because you are a part of me, Andrew...”
He bent his head and kissed her again, always slowly and tenderly, holding her as if he was holding the most precious thing the world or in Heaven (and indeed, he was, as the little Irish angel was part of his existence, his soul mate).
He lay gentle kisses on her cheeks and forehead and, once again, on her lips. Monica raised her hand to stroke his handsome face and smiled, slightly blushed.
“What?” the blond angel asked, also smiling and placing some strands of hair behind her ear.
“You’ll end up catching a flu from me!”
Andrew chuckled and brushed a gentle kiss on her forehead, “It’ll be a pleasure!”
Monica was going to laugh but she ended up coughing intensely and Andrew quickly made her sit up straight and patted her back until it slowly subsided.
“I’m sorry...” she spoke, with some tears in her eyes and with her face completely red due to the effort she had to make.
“Oh Monica... you have nothing to be sorry about...” he spoke, now gently rubbing her back and extremely worried. “Are you better now? Is it over?”
“Yes...”
Andrew put some pillows together and made her lie down on the couch, “So now you’ll stay right here while I prepare you some hot soup, ok?”
The blond angel covered her with a warm blanket but Monica seemed a bit reluctant, “Don’t you need any help? I could help you to prepare it...”
Despite Monica’s illness, Andrew had to control himself not to laugh at her offer, “No, honey, you’ll stay here and rest ok? I’ll do it for you.”
“That’s not fair... You and Tess are always doing these things for me...”
“That’s because Tess and I love you very, very much!”
“I love Tess so much. She’s like a mother to us, Andrew...” and then she smiled, “And of course I love you too, very, very much!”
“You do?” he asked, with a playful tone in his voice, which caused her to giggle. Weakly, she reached out and grabbed his face with both hands and brought it close to hers, kissing him tenderly.
“Yes, I do!” Monica said, afterwards.
“Hum... ok, you convinced me...” he joked, and softly stroked her face, “Now you wait here, ok? I’ll be right back.”
She nodded her head like an obedient little girl, “Ok...”
*
Half hour later, Andrew came back with a plate full of soup, but the image of Monica fast asleep in the couch, so peaceful and relaxed, nearly made him give up of waking her up. The blond angel placed the dish on the coffee table and knelt on the floor, right beside the couch, to take a closer look at her angelic face. The love he felt inside his heart was such that sometimes even he himself was surprised by how fast and how much it grew every single minute.
Andrew took some strands of hair off her face and sighed, “I love you so much, Monica...” He watched her sleep for another minute and then rubbed his thumb on her temple, “Monica... wake up, honey...”
“... the coffee is ready, Andrew?”
He couldn’t help but chuckle, “No, baby, there’s no coffee for you this time, I’m sorry to inform you!”
“What? No coffee?” she replied, now fully awake (and a bit scared to hear that), which only made him laugh even more, “Well, not now. But...” he took the dish of soup in his hands, “... if you promise you’ll behave yourself and drink all the soup I prepared you, then MAYBE later you will be allowed to have a cup!”
Monica frowned, although she found the stern tone in his voice quite funny, “You sound like Tess!”
“Well, that’s good to know cause right now you’ll fulfil my orders without complaining!”
“But you look cute when you’re pretending to be tough, you know?”
“I mean it, Monica! You won’t get any coffee if you don’t eat!”
Giggling at his authoritarian attitude, the little Irish angel sat up straight and nodded her head, “Ok, then...”
*
“Hum... It’s delicious!” Monica exclaimed, carefully holding a large mug of mocha with cinnamon and extra cream.
Andrew was sitting on the couch with her leaning in his arms, both in front of a warm fireplace, and couldn’t help chuckling at her childlike excitement. “You don’t deserve it! You know that!”
“Oh but I drank most of the soup!” she protested, taking another sip afterwards.
“That was not our deal! You tricked me into giving you this cup of coffee! You know I can’t seem to deny you anything and took advantage of this!”
She started to giggle, causing him to laugh too, but for a different reason: she had a cream ‘moustache’ on her pretty face. He wiped it with a napkin and kissed her lips several times.
“Well... at least you’re right... the coffee really tasted wonderful!” he spoke, receiving a peck on his cheek.
When she finally finished, the Irish angel placed the mug on the coffee table and snuggled up against him, “Thank you...” She sighed, yawning and feeling her eyelids heavy.
“Well, now that you’ve already tricked me into giving you coffee, deliberately disobeyed my orders not to go out of the house and refused to drink the soup I prepare you, you’re heading straight to bed, Miss Wings!”
Giggling, she opened her eyes and looked at him, “You’re definitely cute when you play the ‘tough angel’!”
“That’s not for you to laugh, Monica!” he replied, still with a stern tone in his voice.
But the Irish angel ignored his superficial distress and tightened her hold around his waist. “Can’t I stay here? It’s warm and I love the fire, you know...”
Andrew rolled his eyes, “Are you just telling me that you’ll disobey my orders again?”
Smiling, despite her weak condition, she sat up straight and wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him closer to her, and placed lots of tiny kisses on his lips and cheeks, “Please?” she asked, and laughed when he rolled his eyes for the second time.
“That’s cheating!”
But realising that his mock annoyance only caused her to laugh even more, he gave up scolding her and took off his shoes to lie together with her on the couch.
He threw the warm blanket over both of them and lay against the pillows, waiting until she settled comfortably (and deeply pleased) in his arms.
“Thank you again, Andrew. I love you...” she spoke, kissing his cheek and resting her head underneath his chin.
“I love you too... Though you’ve been quite rebellious recently!” he replied, enjoying the sound of her giggling. “But I’ll tell you what: don’t you dare moving from here this time, miss!”
“Oh don’t worry. You can be sure I’ll behave myself now and I won’t move a step away from you, I promise...”
“Good! Cause I won’t let you try it anyway! I got a firm hold on you!”
With his heart full of love, he tightened his embrace, gently and protectively, happy to spend those precious moments with her but also wishing that she would get better soon.
Monica sighed with contentment, “Yes... I know. And I’m twice grateful... First because the Father sent an angel to watch over me, and second because this angel is you...”
“I love you, baby...” he whispered, kissing the top of her head repeatedly. He waited until she had fallen asleep in his arms and lifted a prayer of thanks for receiving such a wonderful gift: Monica’s true and unconditional love for him, which was so strong that he could feel it flowing straight to his heart. Then, the blond angel also closed his eyes and fell into a calm and contented sleep.
To be continued