Touched by Angels (Angels Everywhere #3)(83)

The remainder of the time was spent writing Mike. Brynn wrote her own letter and found herself struggling to hold in the emotion as she placed feelings of doubt on the page. When she glanced up, she found several of her students were weeping.

Afterward, those who were willing read their letters aloud.

Emilio volunteered first. Looking shaken but determined, he faced the class. “Mike, don’t do it, man. Don’t do it.” Then he slid back onto his seat.

Pearl stood beside her desk. “Why do I hurt so bad? I barely knew you, and yet I feel some responsibility for your death. You sat three desks away from me. Three desks and you couldn’t reach that far? Three desks and I couldn’t see your pain? I’m sorry, Mike. Forgive me.”

Yolanda, tears streaming down her face, volunteered next. “Thank you, Mike, for what you taught me. I wasn’t your friend, but I wish I had been. I never took the time to talk to you. But you touched my life. Never again will I sit in a classroom and not look around me. I wish I’d known how much pain you were in. I’d like to think you would have told me had I asked. Only I never asked. Next time will be different. Next time I’m going to look.”

When the bell rang her class filed out of the room with little of the enthusiasm they generally showed at the end of a day.

“Will you find out about Mike’s funeral?” Emilio asked.

The other kids stopped and waited for Brynn to respond.

“We want to know,” Yolanda said.

“I think it would help if we went.”

There was a chorus of agreement.

“You were the only friends Mike had,” Brynn said.

“It’s too bad we didn’t do a better job of it,” Yolanda said just loudly enough for Brynn to hear.

Brynn left the school as soon as she could. She had Suzie’s address with her and walked over to the teenager’s apartment. The girl’s mother greeted her at the door and was painfully polite as she ushered Brynn into the living room.

“Is Suzie home?” Brynn asked.

“No. She with Mike’s mother.”

Brynn studied the delicate Chinese woman who struggled with English. “My daughter has torn heart.”

Brynn placed her hand over her own heart. It did indeed feel as if it had been torn. “Please tell Suzie that I’m looking for her.”

“Yes. Thank you very much to coming.” Her English was heavily accented and barely understandable.

Before she left, Brynn placed her hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “Suzie is a wonderful girl. I feel honored to have been the teacher of such a fine student.”

The delicate woman’s eyes avoided Brynn’s, but she thought she might have detected a smile.

When Brynn arrived at Mike’s, his mother was at the funeral home, making the arrangements for her son’s burial. Brynn left feeling as if she’d failed everyone. Mike. Suzie. His mother. Her students. Herself.

Her apartment was cold and bleak. She walked inside and stood in the dark, feeling as though she carried the burden of the world on her shoulders. With a heavy heart, she turned on the light switch and walked over to her desk.

It might have helped her had she been able to cry, but there were no tears left inside her. With a steady, sure hand, she wrote out her letter of resignation to give to Mr. Whalen in the morning. When school resumed after the first of the year, she wouldn’t be there.

Roberto was right, and had been from the first, she realized. She didn’t belong here. She’d failed Mike, but most of all she’d failed herself.

“She isn’t actually going to quit, is she?” Mercy asked.

Shirley stood with her hand planted protectively over Brynn’s shoulder. Mercy knew that her friend had been with her charge from the moment Brynn had learned about Mike’s suicide.

“What happened with Mike wasn’t her fault.” Mercy wished there was something she could do. Poor Shirley was at a loss as to know how to help.

“I know.”

Brynn leaned forward and pressed her forehead against her folded arms.

“Isn’t there something we can do for you?” Mercy asked.

Shirley shook her head.

It was then that Mercy realized her friend was weeping. “Oh, Shirley.”

“I’m sorry,” the other angel said softly. “It’s just that I can’t bear to see Brynn feeling this defeated.”

“What’s going to happen?”

Shirley rubbed her hand under her nose. “I don’t know. Gabriel’s the one who can tell us that. But . . .”

“Yes?” Mercy prodded.

“I think it might be best if Brynn returned to Rhode Island.”

Mercy was shocked. “But why?”

“She cares too much. If she’d had a more experienced angel assigned to help her . . .”

“You can’t blame yourself,” Mercy cried, outraged at the suggestion.

“She needs Roberto,” Shirley added.

“Then let’s get him,” Mercy suggested. There were ways of dealing with stubborn men, and she wasn’t opposed to using them. If Roberto Alcantara thought that he could trample over this sweet young woman’s heart, well, there was a thing or two Mercy could teach that man. She’d take a great deal of pleasure in doing it, too.

“No,” Shirley said with surprising strength. “Leave Roberto out of this.”