Angel Unaware (2 page)

“Poor baby. Hot dogs and beans, cereal, chili dogs, pizza. What nutritional value can she get from all that junk food? Your sister … God rest her soul,” she made the sign of the cross on her chest, “would turn over in her grave if she could see it.”

Millie had been his sister’s neighbor for five years. From the time Rosalie and her husband had found their house and bought it, Millie had been a good friend and neighbor, part of what Rosalie had always viewed as the miracle that surrounded

When Rosalie and Matt had inquired about the house, they’d been told that, despite the
For Sale
sign on the front lawn, it had already been purchased by another couple, and the real estate agent had forgotten to remove the sign. Oddly enough, two days later without warning or reason, the couple had withdrawn their down payment and moved cross-country. Rosalie had always believed that, knowing how much she wanted this particular house, Heavenly intervention had made it all possible. Tony, on the other hand, had attributed it to being at the right place at the right time.

After the car crash that had killed the little girl’s parents, Tony had moved in to care for his niece. That was when Millie had shown up and, feeling it her duty, had taken on the task of caring for Tony and Penny. Though Tony was grateful, Millie sometimes got on his nerves with her well-meaning advice. He didn’t need to be reminded of what a lousy job he was doing taking care of Penny, not when he already realized it every day. But he usually smiled and said nothing.

Millie meant well. She loved kids, and if she had any regrets about her life with her husband, they could all be boiled down into one thing: Millie was barren and, as a result, she and Preston had never been able to have any children of their own. Tony believed the world had become Millie’s child to care for, guide, and feed well.

Still, her good-hearted prodding sometimes got under Tony’s skin.

Tony was trying his level best to do what was right for Penny, but having no previous experience with children made it tough. What made it even tougher was that Penny never complained, so Tony constantly entertained doubts as to whether or not he was doing the right thing. He’d tried to do what he thought Rosalie would have wanted, but without his sister to guide him…

Determinedly he pushed aside thoughts of Rosalie. It had been a little less than a year since her death, and she would never give him advice again. Dwelling on it still hurt too much.

Tony enveloped his neighbor’s slight shoulders in a hug. “You worry too much. Penny loves the meals I prepare for her, and I make sure she takes her vitamins every morning just in case. We’re fine.”

But were they really fine? Oh, maybe Penny was. A quiet, obedient child who enjoyed playing alone in her room, she seemed to be adjusting much better than Tony to the loss of her parents. Millie’s words right after the funeral —
Children heal fast; thank God, they forget much easier than we do, and they have little trouble getting on with their lives
— had been prophetic.

Though Penny still had moments when the loss of her parents crept up on her—and Tony could see those moments by the sadness in her eyes — such incidents were becoming more and more rare, even if she wasn’t able to talk about them. That had to be a good sign.

Tony was another matter. When he’d lost his sister, he’d lost his best friend, his mentor, and his surrogate mother.

He’d been told that Penny needed to live in familiar surroundings. So he’d sold his condo and his business, packed up his life, and left Georgia to come back to upstate New York and move into Rosalie’s eight-room, rambling, colonial house. He’d accepted that. What had come as part of the package, he was finding harder to accept.

Until Rosalie’s death, he’d never expected to be responsible for raising his niece. There were so many things about the responsibilities entailed in caring for a little girl that were beyond the comprehension of a confirmed bachelor. There were little challenges he hadn’t counted on and simply could not seem to get the hang of. Bottom line was, he was just no good at coping with the needs of this little girl.

Maybe, if Penny had been a boy…

Hell, who was he trying to kid? The sex of the child wouldn’t have mattered at all. Truth was, boy or girl, he’d never expected to be responsible for raising
any
child. Aside from Millie, he was on his own, and she had a sick husband to tend to, so relying on her too much was out of the question. Aside from Penny’s invalid paternal grandparents, Tony was the only other relative Penny had left, so taking care of her had fallen to him. Of course, there was Lisa, Matt’s sister. But no one in the family had seen or heard from her since she’d walked out of rehab after only a week, and that was years ago.

Having to be Penny’s caregiver had seemed like a big thing at the time of the accident. After all, Penny’s was Rosalie’s blood, and he owed his sister that much. She’d raised him, taken on the task of being a mother after theirs passed away, and gave up her life to work two jobs to send him through college.

Not until he’d actually arrived here and realized the enormity of the task he’d taken on, did it fully hit him how totally unprepared he was to look after his niece. That had been a little less than a year ago, and things had not gotten better. If anything, they’d gotten measurably worse.

In his defense, kids and marriage had never been high on his list of must-dos. He’d enjoyed the freedom of his bachelor lifestyle. No one to report to. No one to worry about. No one to —

“Have you done any Christmas shopping?” Millie’s voice cut into his thoughts. “Penny’ll be expecting a visit from Santa, you know. You only have four weeks. And what about a tree? She’ll definitely expect a tree.” Tony could almost hear her brain ticking off the items on her mental to-do list. “Aren’t Rosalie’s decorations in the attic?”

Christmas
?
Presents
?
A tree
?

Damn! With everything else going on in his life, he’d forgotten all about the upcoming holiday. Tony ran his fingers through his hair. Just what he needed, one more problem to add to the growing list.

What did he buy a six-year-old for Christmas? He’d never had a problem with one birthday present or one Christmas present for Penny. Now, he’d have to make sure that on Christmas morning more than one gift was under the tree, not to mention stuffing a stocking, planning a Christmas dinner and cooking it, and putting on a holiday face. The mountain of problems he was facing just seemed to keep getting higher and higher. But there was one that he didn’t have to add to the list.

“I brought my aluminum tree with me when I moved here. Rosalie’s in-laws gave it to me when they moved out West.”

“Aluminum?” Millie’s disapproving frown spoke volumes. She clicked her tongue disparagingly. “I haven’t seen one of them for almost fifty years. I thought they died along with the hippies and the Beat Generation.” She shook her head. “No. Trust me, Tony, the child needs a
real
tree, one that makes the house smell like Christmas. Not a decorated replica of the Tin Man from
The Wizard of Oz
.”

Tony sighed. “The aluminum tree will be fine. Besides, trees and Christmas presents are the least of my worries. What Penny needs more than a real tree is a woman’s touch. Now that she’s started school, she needs someone who knows how to handle a little girl, someone who can pick out her clothes and comb her hair.”

He dropped into the closest kitchen chair and recalled his disastrous attempt at braiding Penny’s long, copper curls the previous morning. It had taken hours to untangle her hair, and the whole incident had upset her so much, she’d ended up missing school that day. Which meant he’d had to stay home with her and have his foreman oversee the work at the Falcone Builders’ construction site, something that had been happening all too frequently lately.

He leaned back and emptied his cup of coffee in one long swallow.

“You know you can call on me whenever you need help.”

Tony patted Millie’s hand. “I know. You’ve been a big help and for that you have my undying gratitude, but you have your own burdens to see to. Besides, I need someone who will live here all the time so I don’t have to worry about Penny. I’ve been leaving a lot of my construction business in my foreman’s hands. I’m lucky Jake’s a good man. But I can’t keep doing that.”

Millie sighed, untied her flowered apron, and folded it neatly before sliding it into the tote bag with the casserole dish. Then she sat across from him. “Have you thought about getting a full-time, live-in nanny to see to Penny?”

Tony went to the side counter, removed the glass carafe from the coffeemaker, and refilled his cup. He sipped the lukewarm liquid, made a face, then set the mug aside. “Yes, I have. In fact, Jake’s sister gave me the name of an agency.” He reached into his back pocket and extracted his wallet. Opening it, he fumbled through it until he found a slightly dog-eared business card. He studied it for a moment, then tossed the card on the table and sighed. “I don’t know what to do. These people are strangers. Besides, I’m not sure I can afford to pay a nanny.”

“You can’t always put a dollar sign on things. Sometimes we can’t look at how much it will cost to do something, but rather how much it will cost
not
to do it.” Millie picked up the card, read it, and then beamed. “Ah,
Angel Guardians
. How bad can they be with a name like that? I’ve got a good feeling right here about this, Tony.” She placed a hand over her heart, her signal that her
feeling
came with some phantom, absolute approval.

Most probably the angels she put such stock in. “You need to call them tomorrow.”

A slow smile spread across his lips. His trusting neighbor believed devoutly in angels. Her house bore witness to it with the many ceramic statues of the celestial beings that occupied shelves and tables. She swore that each human had an angel in the wings to help when things got rough. He laughed to himself. His personal angel must have been napping for the last few years. She hadn’t been helping him, that’s for sure.

Well, his Guardian Angel might be sleeping on the job, but Tony knew if he didn’t agree to call, Millie would nag him into eternity about it. Then again, the company
had
come highly recommended by his foreman’s sister.

As much as Tony hated to admit it, his neighbor’s wise words about cost-versus-need hit the nail right on the head. Penny needed a woman in her life, and he needed to get back to his business full-time. If he had to tighten his belt to do it, then he would. He’d just have to find a way to pay for it.

“All right, I’ll call them in the morning.”

Only moments passed before Calvin reappeared out of the cosmos. Dora’s wings trembled in nervous anticipation of his answer. When he remained silent for what seemed like forever, she could wait no longer. “Well?”

Calvin stroked his strong, square jaw. His wings’ feathers, which had been in total chaos, slowly rearranged themselves, but even then, some remained protruding, a sure sign that what he had to tell her troubled him. Her stomach dropped below the cloud cover. She feared the news was bad and that the Council had turned down her request.

Finally, Calvin cleared his throat and said, “You can become a mortal.”

Dora felt happy tears gathering in her eyes. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d felt so elated. The tears began to flow in earnest. When she saw the alarmed expression spreading over Calvin’s face, she blinked them back.

“Now, wait. It isn’t all good news. The Heavenly Council said you can go down below—”

Dora didn’t care if there was bad news, too. Right now, all she could concentrate on was that her dream was about to come true. She was going down to live among the mortals. No longer able to contain her happiness, she let out a whoop of joy that vibrated through the sky, displacing several clouds and tossing off the angels inhabiting them. At first they looked angry, but when they saw it was only Dora, they merely shook their heads.

“Sorry,” she called sheepishly.

They sent her an understanding smile and then fluttered off to another cloud, one safely beyond the reach of her emotional reactions.

Calvin scowled at her. “If I might finish…”

“Of course.” She sat down on the fluffy cloud, then folded her hands in her lap and tried not to fidget.

“They said you may go below, but only until Christmas Eve. At the stroke of midnight, you will return here with no arguments.” He paused. “Agreed?”

Four Earth weeks hardly seemed time enough to do all she wanted to do, see all she wanted to see, but she nodded, taking what she could get.

“Very well. While you’re there, since you may need some of them, your…uh…special angelic talents will be limited.” He paced in front of her, making the cloud wobble precariously. Dora clutched the edge to keep from toppling off. “I will be your contact, and Grace will stand in for me if I’m not available, just in case you need me for anything and to make sure all…goes smoothly.” He frowned at her, and then glanced around, as though checking to make sure he would not be overheard, and turned back to her.

“This part is very important. While you are there, you will have a limited history of a life on Earth, last name, social security number, driver’s license, birth certificate, and such. We’ve found sending angels down there in human form without all our ducks in a row can cause innumerable problems. Humans are so inquisitive, and so set on living through forms and documents. I’ve heard one can’t do anything down there without the proper related papers.” He clucked his tongue and shook his head. “If they spent half as much time worrying about their fellow human beings as they do about whether their driver’s license is current—” He stopped and dismissed the rest of his thought with a sharp wave of his hand. “That’s not my department.”

Dora could hold back her excitement no longer. She shot to her feet. “When do I leave?” The cloud tipped and swayed. Calvin extended his arms and swung them like an airplane propeller to keep his balance.