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would eventually marry.

Trey grinned. "Charlie's right sweet on her, and after three years Brad may just have lost his girl."

"It serves Brad Harper right. He had his chance," she said, siding with her brother.

She felt Trey's smile against her hair. "Last I heard, Charlie and Mary Lou had decided to announce their engagement to the community on Christmas Day."

"Oh." She wouldn't be there. One more nail in the coffin of her guilt.

"If you won't be there for Christmas, Jenny, will you come home for your brother's wedding?"

Chapter Ten

"Aren't you going to help Jenny?" Goodness asked. The three crowded in the corner of the tiny living room, hovering over Trey and Jenny.

Mercy knew that her friend had a soft heart. In fact, it was Goodness's tender nature plus her weakness for electronic devices that had been the main source of their difficulties over the last couple of years. To be fair, Goodness had matured. Either that or she'd become accustomed to such things as fifty-two-inch television screens. Not once in the past two Christmases had Goodness appeared on pay-per-view. Mercy was downright proud of her friend's progress.

"Mercy," Goodness snapped. "I asked you something important."

The warm thoughts Mercy had entertained about her fellow prayer ambassador vanished. "I brought Trey LaRue to New York, didn't I?"

"You did that?" Shirley joined them and sounded downright impressed. Mercy's evaluation of the third angel rose by several degrees.

Mercy was proud of her efforts and grateful someone had noticed. She tucked her thumbs in her waistband and rocked back on her heels. "You're darn tootin' I brought Trey LaRue to town."

"She's been hanging around cowpokes again," Goodness whispered out of the side of her mouth. "She's starting to talk just like one of 'em. The next thing we know she'll be wearing a buckle as big as a chastity belt and bragging about her rat-chasing dog."

"Not me," Mercy contradicted. "I've been too busy arranging Trey's trip east. I found he isn't as susceptible to suggestion as some humans are, especially schoolteachers and young Jewish women - if you catch my drift. I had my work cut out just getting him to New York. Must've taken three or four people suggesting he visit Jenny for him to take the hint."

Goodness frowned and apparently didn't take Mercy's words kindly.

"But look what happened to Jenny while you were away," Shirley commented glumly. "She's sick. My goodness, the poor girl looks wretched."

"That couldn't be helped." There was only so much one angel could do, and no one seemed to appreciate Mercy's efforts on this assignment. Least of all her two best friends.

"Has Jenny told him the truth yet?" Goodness asked, making herself comfortable. She usually preferred to dangle from light fixtures, but not in these tight quarters. "She isn't going to be able to keep it from him, is she?"

"Not now," Mercy agreed. It wouldn't do any good to remind her companions that she could lead a horse to water, but she couldn't make him saddle himself. She paused. Was that how the saying went? She'd heard some smart-talkin' fellow in Montana say something along those lines, and at the time it had made perfect sense.

"What's this I heard about Jenny's brother?" Shirley asked impatiently. "Is he really getting engaged?"

"That's another thing." Mercy flung herself across the back of a living room chair and supported her head with the palm of her hand. "Does anyone here understand what I had to go through to arrange this last-minute romance between Charles Lancaster and Mary Lou Perkins?"

"You did that?" Shirley asked, amazed.

"Well, not entirely," Mercy admitted with some reluctance, although she'd be willing to accept a certain amount of credit. "All Charlie really needed was a little encouragement."

"And you supplied that?"

Mercy shrugged. "Some."

Goodness beamed her approval. "Good thinking."

"What about poor Jenny?" Shirley asked, studying the down-and-out actress.

"I don't know," Mercy admitted. "What she does and doesn't tell Trey is up to her."

"How long will Trey be in town?"

Mercy didn't have the answer to that, either. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"He'll be here for the party, won't he?" Goodness wanted to know.

It took Mercy a moment to remember the Christmas potluck Jenny and Michelle were holding. She hadn't a clue where the two young actresses intended on putting everyone, but they seemed to think they could manage.

"I don't know what Trey's plans are," she muttered. It seemed her friends insisted upon asking her questions she couldn't answer. "All I know is that however long he stays, it'll be long enough."

Her words