Shirley, Goodness and Mercy (Angels Everywhere #4)(5)

“Oh, my,” Goodness whispered. “He abandoned his college sweetheart when she was pregnant.”

“Deserted his best friend in his hour of need.”

“Look what he did to his own mother!”

“To his mother?”

Shirley nodded. “Greg Bennett is a—”

“Scumbag,” Mercy supplied.

“He’s arrogant.”

“Selfish.”

“And conceited.”

“It’s going to take a whole bunch of miracles to whip this poor boy into shape.”

Shirley had no argument there. “I’m afraid Greg Bennett is more than any of us could handle,” she said sadly.

Goodness and Mercy glanced at each other. “She’s joking, isn’t she?”

“No, I’m not,” Shirley said on a disparaging note. “You read for yourself what kind of man he is. Frankly, I feel someone else, someone who’s got more experience with humans and their frailties, would be better equipped to deal with the likes of Mr. Bennett.”

“Oh, fiddlesticks!” Goodness cried.

“We can do it,” Mercy contended with considerably more confidence than the success of her earlier exploits might have warranted.

“We all know Gabriel did this on purpose,” Goodness said. Apparently she hadn’t been fooled, either. “He assumed that once we see what a mess Greg’s made of his life, we’ll figure it’s hopeless and slink back to the choir. Well, I, for one, have no intention of spending another Christmas singing my lungs out over the fields of Bethlehem. To be so close to earth and yet so far…”

Mercy giggled but appeared to be in full agreement. “Come on, Shirley, this is our one and only chance to return to earth. Okay, so you’re right. Greg Bennett isn’t exactly a believer in God’s love, but God does love him. Heaven knows he needs help.”

Shirley was adamant. “More than we can give him.”

“Don’t be such a pessimist,” Goodness chided. “If nothing else, we can steer him in the right direction.”

“San Francisco,” Mercy said, tapping her cheek. “There are ships in San Francisco, aren’t there?”

Shirley could already see trouble brewing. “You’ve got to promise to stay away from the shipyard,” she said heatedly. It’d taken them years to live down what had happened at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard in Washington state. The news crew that covered the repositioning of two aircraft carriers might as well have been reporting directly to heaven, what with all the attention the incident had received.

“Okay, I promise, no shipyard,” Mercy said. Shirley was appeased until she thought she saw her fellow angel wink at Goodness. Oh, my, if they took the Bennett case, then this was going to be some Christmas. On the other hand…

“Where are you headed?” Goodness called out when Shirley broke away.

“I’m going back to tell Gabriel we’ll take the job. Just don’t make me sorry I agreed to this.”

“Would we do that?” Mercy asked, the picture of angelic innocence.

Shirley had a very good reason for feeling skeptical, but an even better reason for tackling this stint on earth. She wanted out of the choir as much as her two friends did. A human, even one who happened to have more than his share of frailties, wasn’t going to stop her.

“Hi, Dad!” Michael Thorpe bounded enthusiastically into the hospital clinic, his eyes sparkling.

Dr. Edward Thorpe looked up from the chart he was reading and smiled at the sight of his son. His wife, Janice, five months pregnant, hurried to keep up with the energetic boy.

The six-year-old raced into his arms and Edward lifted him high above his head. Seeing his own healthy happy son was exactly what he needed. Much of his morning had been spent with another youngster, Tanner Westley, who was ten and suffering from a rare form of leukemia. Edward was an oncologist who specialized in childhood cancers; his work had recently garnered the interest of the San Francisco Herald. Just today, a reporter had interviewed him for a piece the paper was running on the urgent need for bone-marrow donors. The story would include a photograph of Tanner. Most members of the public didn’t seem to understand that they had the opportunity to save lives by testing to become donors. The only thing required at this stage was a simple blood test. The article would make a strongly worded plea for bone-marrow donors to help children such as Tanner.

The reporter felt the timing was good. People seemed more generous with their time and money over the Christmas period. Edward hoped they’d be equally giving about submitting to a blood test.

“Hello, darling,” his wife said.

“Is it lunchtime already?” With the interview and Tanner Westley’s additional tests, his morning had flown.

Janice glanced at her watch. “Actually, we’re late.”

“Mom and I were shopping.” Michael rolled his eyes as if to say how much that had bored him. Edward hid a smile. An intolerance for shopping was something he had in common with his son.

“Can you still join us for lunch?” Janice asked.

Now it was Edward’s turn to glance at his watch. “If you don’t mind eating in the cafeteria.” He needed to be within a few minutes of Tanner, who was starting a new chemotherapy session today.

“We can eat in the cafeteria, can’t we, Mom?” Michael tugged at his mother’s arm. “Their ice-cream machine is way cool.”