What do I say to him? Then it came to me. “Thanks for watching over Tessa.”
He bowed at the waist and waved his arm in front of him with a flourish. “My pleasure entirely.” When he straightened, I faked a curtsy in return. He laughed lightly. I instantly felt at ease.
I heard the pitter-patter of Tessa’s bare feet on the floor as she walked to her closet and pulled out an envelope, then handed it to Daniel. “I made this for you.”
Daniel gasped in surprise and bent at the knees so he could look into Tessa’s eyes. “My, I feel honored.”
“Open it, open it!”
Daniel carefully removed the contents of the envelope. A piece of sketch paper appeared, folded like a letter. On the top was scrawled to Daniel. Below she had drawn large, puffy clouds, with a rainbow arching over them. On the cloud sat what was obviously Daniel, a crayon Daniel, to be exact. She drew him with wings, even though I had not yet seen them. Must be he appears to her that way sometimes—and maybe so she knows he’s an angel. She had drawn him with the same clothes he had on tonight.
With the drawing still in his hand he enveloped Tessa with his willowy arms. “Thank you, Tess; I’ll hang this on my harp.”
Angels really have harps? Eh, why not? I guess they don’t have refrigerators to hang artwork on.
“Now, you two go to bed. We don’t want you falling asleep in school tomorrow, little girl.”
“OK!” Tessa skipped around the bed to her side and dove under the covers.
“Well, it was nice meeting you.” I then turned, expecting Tessa to say something. When I turned back around Daniel was gone.
“He does that sometimes,” she said matter-of-factly. Mike did that too, so I chuckled to myself. Then she said, “Good night, Daniel,” into the air of the room.
“I hope I can meet your angel friend, Mike, sometime.”
“Me too!”
I tucked her in, turned on the nightlight, turned off the overhead lamp, and closed the door. Then I went downstairs and poked around the kitchen for something to eat.
As I settled in to watch one of my favorite TV shows, I heard Tessa crying in her bedroom. Then she screamed, “Livvy!”
I bounded up the stairs. Oh, no, not a demon. When I opened the door, the walls were covered in flies. Tessa was surrounded by them. She swatted at them with tears running down her reddened face.
“God, send Your angel.” I said it out loud for Tessa’s sake. She had to learn what I was learning.
Suddenly Daniel appeared, and blowing one long, hard breath, he dissipated the flies as if he were blowing a scattered pile of sugar off a table surface. Once they were all gone I sat on the bed and pulled Tessa into my arms. She hiccupped a few sniffles as she calmed down.
“You saw the flies, didn’t you, Liv?”
“Yes.”
“I’m glad.”
I crawled into bed beside her and promised to stay there until she fell asleep. I sang one of her favorite Sunday school songs. Her breathing slowed as I sang.
“Mommy and Daddy told me I shouldn’t keep mentioning angels. They said people would think I’m crazy. So I stopped. But then I didn’t see my nice angel as often. A mean one came by a couple times. I didn’t like him.”
She turned on her side to face me. “What were the flies here for, Livvy?”
“Just to scare you. Sometimes the devil’s little helpers do that kind of thing.”
“I’ve heard about the devil in Sunday school. But they don’t talk about nice angels that help you.”
“What did you do when you saw the mean angel before? Were there flies then?”
“No. When I saw him I ran out of my room and slept with Mommy and Daddy. The next time I got Petey to sleep with me. But he kept growling, so I couldn’t sleep very well.”
“Did the bad angel do anything to you?”
“No. My nice angel kept him from hurting me, like tonight. Hey, how do you know an angel named Mike—the one you asked Daniel about?”
“I see angels too. All the time.”
Her eyes widened. “Mean ones or nice ones?”
“Both.”
“What do you do when you see the mean ones?”
“I ask God to send his nice angels to rescue me. And I pray out loud, telling the mean ones that I’m a child of God, covered by the blood shed during Christ’s death on the cross.”
Tessa tilted her head and looked into my eyes. “Are you borned again?”
“You mean ‘born again’?”
“Yeah. I’ve heard about that in Sunday school. I want to be that. You are too, right? I saw how you prayed so bravely tonight both times. I knew you had to be. I want to be able to pray like that and tell the bad angels to go away!”
I smiled at Tessa’s precious attempt to express her heart’s desire.
Tessa was too young to understand a whole lot. But Jesus said He wants people to come to Him like little children.
I opened the Bible storybook on her bedside bookshelf and read her the story of the crucifixion and resurrection. I was certain she’d heard it in Sunday school, but it seemed to be appropriate tonight.
“That was better than any other story you’ve ever read me.” Tessa squeezed her eyes shut and folded her hands. “Jesus, I want to be a Christian like Livvy. I want to be Your best friend.”
What she said was so simple, yet so beautiful, I wanted to cry.
Brightly colored lights and little sparks darted all over the room as angels rejoiced over Tessa’s prayer.
Tessa’s face brightened as she watched the little lights dancing around.
I looked up and breathed a prayer of thanks.
We both fell asleep on her bed, and my sister touched me softly on the shoulder when she got home. I slipped quietly from beneath the covers, trying not to disturb Tessa, and went downstairs. Diane and I sat at the kitchen table to have a cup of tea.
Brian poked his head into the kitchen. “Good night, you two.”
“Night,” we replied in unison.
“So how did Tessa do tonight?”
“Well . . . ”
Should I just blurt it out? Why not? Won’t Diane be pleased?
“Tessa told me she wanted to become a Christian. So I prayed with her.”
Diane walked around the table and threw her arms around me.
“Thanks, Sis.”
I was relieved that my sister wasn’t upset that I’d had the privilege of witnessing this important step in her daughter’s life. I hoped she didn’t feel I’d robbed her of that moment with Tessa. But after the funeral and all, I guess I felt “now is the best time.”
She danced a little jig in the middle of the kitchen and then stopped.
“I have to tell Brian right away!” She walked over and hugged me again.
“I’ll skip the tea tonight. I’ve got some homework.”
“No problem. Thanks for babysitting.” She gave me a peck on the cheek, then turned and ran to the stairs and up to her bedroom.
By the time I got home I realized my cheeks were aching from grinning the whole way home. I’d led my first person to the Lord. I’d met another angel tonight, done spiritual warfare, and I was in one piece. It was exhilarating.
Then it hit me. Now Tessa was a target like me.
Lord, help me be a good teacher for Tessa. Thank You for her salvation. Help me to be there for her when the warfare rages.
As I was getting dressed for school the next day, Diane called me on my cell.
“Hey, Liv. I found some disturbing pictures in Tessa’s trash can this morning. Do you know anything about them?”
“Uh, yeah.” I hesitated, wondering how much I should say. “Diane, Tessa sees angels—good and bad ones.”
“She’s told us that before.”
“I do too.”
“Really?”
From her skeptical tone of voice, I could tell she thought I was crazy.
Great.
“I’m worried that Tessa will be like our c
ousin Kathryn, who hears voices and stuff.”
“I thought I was crazy at first. But I’m not.”
“How do you know for sure?”
“Mom made me see a psychologist.” I hope she doesn’t send Tessa to one.
“I could see Mom doing that.”
“Yeah, it was really embarrassing having to see a doctor.”
“What did he say?”
“Well, after interviewing me a few times, he convinced Mom that I wasn’t crazy. Trust me, I prayed a lot.”
“So you really think she is seeing angels?”
“Yes, Diane, it’s not her imagination. I know the church we grew up in didn’t talk much about the gift of discernment of spirits. But I promise to help her. Most people who have that spiritual gift think they’re crazy. I don’t want Tessa to grow up thinking that.”
“Thank you, Liv—for everything.”
“Oh my gosh, I have to call Kathryn and ask her if she sees angels!”
“Yes, you should!”
“I’ll call her today after school.”
Chapter 17
ISLIPPED INTO MY chair in Spanish class just as the bell rang. I pulled out my textbook and dropped my backpack on the floor beside me. Mrs. Gonzalez read to us from our textbook. I followed along as she read, having been given the page number by her to turn to.
I turned to my right and saw Andy paging through his textbook. Ever since our disastrous date last month, which felt like it happened years ago, I’d been trying desperately to avoid him. Even though we had to sit next to each other in Spanish class I no longer passed notes with him, nor giggled at his jokes during class, as I had before our horrible date. I tried to keep my eyes straight ahead and avoid him catching my stare.
When I looked in his direction—for whatever reason, I didn’t know—he caught my eye.
Dang! I quickly looked down at my desk, embarrassed that he’d caught me looking his way. I wished Mike would come and distract me again. Why was I so attracted to this guy yet so repelled at our date? Or was I? It was tantalizing. I remembered the feeling of his lips on mine. Then his hands on my body. I’d come so close to being raped when Mike jumped in his alpha male dog form. Why was I so physically drawn to Andy?
Mrs. Gonzalez closed her textbook and set it on the desk behind her.
“Today we are going to break up into pairs to work on your project for the Spanish fair, which is two weeks from Friday.”
Oh, please don’t pair me with Andy.
She read off the partners and paired me with Andy.
Really? Now this is just downright torture. I slammed my textbook shut.
Mrs. Gonzalez shot me a look over her reading glasses. “Is there a problem, Miss Stanton?”
“No.” I slouched as low into my seat as I could, knowing I’d overreacted to our two names being announced together.
“Now, discuss your ideas for a project with your partner. Turn in your proposal at the end of class.”
I was not about to move my seat to get any closer to Andy. I couldn’t bear the thought of his scent.
Andy picked up his chair, slid it closer to mine, and sat beside me. I clenched my jaw. That’s close enough!
When I looked up at him, he had his arms crossed over his chest and was smirking as if he was quite happy with the situation.
“You are the last person in the world I want to talk to right now,” I shot at him.
“Are you sure? There must be some sinister dictator in the world who’s lower on your list than me.”
I had to admit, I loved his wit. “Don’t be too sure.”
“Look, I’m sorry about that night. But you did overreact a little, don’t you think?”
Well, Mike overreacted the way I should have overreacted, to be truthful. “To what? The wild dog saving my life or you taking advantage of me?”
“I apologize for that. I wish I hadn’t messed things up with you.” He unfolded his arms.
Now he was baiting me.
Why did I still feel so drawn to him—so undone when he was so close to me? My conscience said no; my body said yes.
“We need to start on the assignment.” As irritated as I was with the idea of working with him, I couldn’t afford to fail this class assignment and pull my grade point average down. I pulled a spiral notebook from my backpack, ripped out a sheet of paper, and handed it to him. “You write down your ideas, and I’ll write down mine. Then we can compare notes.”
I could hardly concentrate with his body so close to mine. His cologne made me dizzy as I inhaled its earthy, musky scent. He hardly scribbled on his piece of paper, so I knew I had to come up with something. I jotted down a couple of Spanish recipes I knew how to prepare.
Finally we exchanged pages. His said, “Give me another chance?”
Can’t he let it go?
I crumpled up the paper and threw it into the wastebasket behind my desk.
I glanced up at him and saw him grinning. “Let’s just focus on the assignment.”
“You still like me, don’t you?” I felt his hand on my knee.
I jerked away. “I do like you. But I can’t trust you.”
His eyes flashed green. I wondered if he’d gotten new contacts. From what I could recall he had blue eyes.
“Do you have any ideas for our Spanish project?”
“Your lips look delicious.”
I tried to ignore the queasy flutter in my stomach. “Do you want to cook some Spanish food for the fair?”
“I’d cook with you anytime.” His eyes clung to me like magnets.
“Ten minutes,” Mrs. Gonzalez shouted above the conversation in the room.
Andy leaned in. “Come over to my house Friday night for dinner. My parents will be home. Please?”
I wanted to punch him, but I also ached to kiss him. “I guess if your parents are going to be there, it’d be all right.”
He touched my hand with his fingertip. “Great. I’ll pick you up at six.”
“Now can we focus on the assignment?”
We came up with some food ideas for the fair. When the bell rang I stuffed my textbook and spiral notebook into my backpack, then went to the front of the room and handed Mrs. Gonzalez our proposal. I rushed out into the crowded hallway.
Christina ran up beside me. “Hey, what’s your hurry?”
I rolled my eyes. “I have to get away from Andy—and get to class.”
She grabbed my elbow to slow me down. “Why?”
“He scares me. I know he’s so wrong for me, but I find myself longing for him at the same time.”
“Why does he scare you?”
“Well, let’s just say he tried to push me a little further than I liked on our last date. It was awkward.”
Christina paused. “And . . . you want to go out with him again?”
“He asked me to have dinner with him and his parents.”
“That sounds interesting.” She winked. I knew I shouldn’t take advice—or rely on impressions from Christina. I tried to tell myself this date would be OK and was probably probing for Christina’s approval regardless of the fact that I knew she was the last person to be taking dating advice from.
“His parents will be home. So it should be safe, right?”
“Yeah, sounds legit to me.” I knew she’d say that.
We continued down the hallway and paused beside my locker. Vicki bumped into me. She flipped her perfectly curled hair. Her face had half a bottle of makeup on it. Her skirt was so short that if she bent over I was sure I’d see her bottom.
“You look tired, Liv. You sure you’ll be able to make it through volleyball practice today?”
Why not? I’m always on my game every day.
“Oh, I’m totally stoked today.”
Why would she say that?
“Coach said he’s going to let me start during the game this Thursday.”
What? I was the starting setter for the entire season. But Vicki had been begging Coach to let her start for a few g
ames. My teammates had made sure I knew this whenever they heard her talking to Coach, asking for him to let her take my place more often.
Since our team was undefeated so far, scouts had started coming to our games. I had my heart set on the University of Delaware, which was known for its great volleyball program. If I could get a full ride from them, it would take a huge financial burden off my parents. Not only that—I’d be playing for one of the best teams in the country. I’d already sent in my application last month, and I was confident I’d be accepted.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Christina whispered. “Don’t let her shake you.”
“See you at the net,” Vicki cooed, then swaggered down the hallway.
Christina grasped my shoulder. “You’re ten times better than her. The scouts will see that.”
“Thanks. But I’m still nervous. Please pray for me, OK?”
Did God care if I played a good game of volleyball? Was that a selfish thing to pray about?
I had to call Kathryn! My “crazy” cousin. I’d almost forgotten. We’ll see—I had my doubts that she was truly crazy.
I waited until that evening, after finishing my homework, to look up her phone number in my contact list on my phone. I’d only called her once before from what I could recollect. Would she be suspicious of me calling since I never did on a regular basis? Would she open up to me?
God, please give me the right words to say to Kathryn. Lord, let her be open.
I dialed her number. I counted the rings, almost hoping she wouldn’t answer. On the third ring I heard, “Hello?”
“Hey—yeah—Kathryn, it’s your cousin, Liv. Have I called at a bad time?”
I’d heard from my mom that she was living at home again after spending time in the behavioral sciences unit, so I was relieved to find her available.
“No, Liv, what’s up? I haven’t heard from you since we saw each other at the family reunion last June.”
Did she suspect I was about to ask something crazy? She must be dumbfounded at me calling her so randomly.
“Listen, I know we don’t talk that often, but I have a really important item I need to talk to you about.”
There was a slight pause, then, “What’s up?”
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