The Trouble With Angels Page 0,5

over her breast. "Me? Really?" she managed in a squeaky, high-pitched voice. "I thought you said...I mean, I was under the impression..." She snapped her mouth closed before she talked herself out of meeting Paul Morris.

"It doesn't do any harm to look, now, does it?" Gabriel asked.

Goodness was almost giddy with delight.

"Go on ahead without me," Mercy said with a defeated sigh and with the dramatic flair of a stage actress. "I don't mind waiting here all by myself."

"I'm sure you won't," Gabriel said gruffly.

To be fair, Goodness did feel mildly guilty to be leaving her best friend behind. She'd gotten adept with guilt of late. She'd acquired the skill by hanging around with Catholics, who were proven experts.

"Let's take a look at Paul," Gabriel suggested, and raised his massive wings. With a wave of his huge arms, the clouds parted, and the scene that had once been inaccessible and unclear unfolded in vivid colors. The setting, appropriately so, was the church building itself.

Goodness scanned the polished wooden pews and saw no one. The area around the altar was empty as well.

"That's Paul at the organ," Gabriel explained.

Goodness found him in the choir loft. He must have sat down only recently because no music swelled through the church. No song of joy or triumph. Goodness heard only an empty silence.

"His wife played the organ for the church," Gabriel explained.

"Ah." Goodness wasn't sure she understood, but if Paul Morris found some whit of comfort sitting on a bench with his hands poised over the old ivory keys, she could find no harm in it.

"What you're hearing is a symphony of emotions," Gabriel explained. "A ballad of loneliness."

Goodness strained her ears and still heard nothing. She inserted her index finger into her ear and jerked it back and forth several times.

Gabriel's hand on her shoulder stopped her. "I didn't mean for you to take that literally. The music is coming from his grief. From the deepest, darkest corner of his heart."

"Oh." Goodness felt foolish now.

"Wait and watch," Gabriel instructed her. "I'll be back soon."

Goodness had a long list of questions, but apparently none of them were important because Gabriel was gone in the blink of an eye. The prayer ambassador was left alone, watching the lonely, hurting human below. Sadly, she was powerless to do anything more than observe.

Paul Morris slipped from the organ bench and headed for the church office. A glance at his watch told him he was already ten minutes late for his meeting with the worship committee. He hadn't meant for the time to slip away like that and, with renewed purpose, increased his pace.

Leta Johnson, his secretary, leaped from her chair the instant he walked into the office. "You're late," she announced, following him across the room.

"I know. I apologize."

"The committee's in the conference room," she said, and handed him a sheaf of papers. "I believe they've started without you."

In times past, Paul might have been offended that the committee would see fit to begin without him. But, frankly, he was relieved and hoped that they'd completed the business at hand. It would save him the burden of having to sit through yet another endless, boring meeting.

Unfortunately it didn't happen that way. An hour later the meeting adjourned and the two elders and three worship leaders were on their way out of the conference room. Paul stayed behind, gathering up the last of the paperwork. He looked up to find Steve Tenny watching him.

Paul offered the elder a warm smile. The two men had been good friends for a number of years. "How's it going, Steve?" he asked conversationally.

"Great. Is Joe coming home for Christmas?"

The ache in Paul's heart lightened at the mention of his son. "He'll be here next week sometime."

"It'll be good to see him."

Paul was counting the days. Joe's arrival from college and the three weeks he was scheduled to spend at home was the one bright spot in Paul's Christmas season.

"I imagine you'll be getting together with Bethany."

"She's sure to have us over two or three times," Paul agreed. His daughter was the apple of his eye. Now that she was married and living in Riverside, he didn't see her as often as he would have liked. Both Bethany and Eric worked, so they led busy lives and he didn't want to be a burden to them.

"I don't suppose I could talk you into taking a few days off and going hiking with me."

The thought tempted Paul, but with so many Christmas