The Trouble With Angels Page 0,4

out that door."

"That's not true."

"I don't want to argue with you about your father, Karen. If anyone should know how worthless that man is, it's me. Now enough about this stupid horse. I'm tired, and I don't want to argue."

Karen looked at her mother as if she'd been struck. "Will you read the pamphlet?" she asked in a tiny, hurt voice. "Please?"

"All right," Maureen agreed, already regretting her outburst. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I didn't mean to blow up like that. It's just not a good idea to hit me with a bunch of stuff when I first get home."

"I'm sorry."

Maureen felt worse than ever. "It was my fault," she said, and hugged Karen. Then, deciding not to leave it sitting in the middle of the living room, she carried her suitcase into her bedroom. One of these days, when the lawyer was paid off, she was going to get herself a fancy suitcase with wheels so she could roll it from room to room.

Brian used to carry it for her. It had been about the only thing her son-of-a-bitch ex-husband had been good for.

"Do you see what I mean?" Gabriel asked, standing next to Shirley.

"Oh, poor Karen," the smaller angel said, and sighed deeply. "She loves both her parents. It's hurting her terribly to have her mother feel this way about her father."

"This is a complicated situation, involving many lives. Bitterness has eaten away at Maureen's heart until her life has become clouded with it."

"It's as if she were buried to her waist in sand and trying to walk," Shirley suggested.

"Exactly," Gabriel said, surprised by the prayer ambassador's insight. "She can't move forward in her life, weighted down as she is with hate."

"Emotionally, Maureen Woods is crippled."

"It doesn't help matters any that her ex-husband has remarried and seems happy."

"Is he? Happy, I mean?"

"He appears to be to Maureen, and it's like rubbing salt in her wounds. Karen's mother finds it grossly unfair that Brain should be living a new life with a wife and second family."

"But why?"

"Brian hurt her deeply. He mangled her self-esteem with his affairs. Maureen has a strong sense of justice, and it doesn't feel right to her that the man who broke his wedding vows should go merrily about his life, while she's left to raise their daughter alone."

"Does Maureen date?"

Gabriel gave a short, sharp laugh. "Hardly. A couple of men from the office asked her out, and she all but bit their heads off. She isn't interested in a new relationship. I believe I heard her tell a friend recently that all men are scum."

Shirley's eyebrows shot toward her hairline. "I see."

"According to Maureen, men are never to be trusted."

Shirley folded her wings and started to pace, apparently deep in thought. Pausing once, she turned to Gabriel and was about to ask something, then seemed to change her mind. Shortly afterward she resumed pacing.

"Can I help Karen?" she asked abruptly.

"That's not for me to know," Gabriel answered.

"The key is her mother."

"Yes," Gabriel agreed.

The prayer ambassador grinned then. "You know, I can't help thinking there's horse in this somewhere."

"A horse," Gabriel repeated, thinking he'd rather not know how she intended to manage that.

Chapter Two

"His name's Paul Morris," Goodness said to Mercy, leaning over the Book of Prayer and studying the lengthy list of entries. "Reverend Paul Morris." She ran her finger down the narrow column. "According to what it says here, his wife died two years ago."

"How sad."

"His name's popped up at least six times in the last two pages."

"He must be deeply loved for that many people to be praying for him."

Goodness agreed. "What do you think could be wrong?"

Mercy raised her hands in a defeated gesture. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"He lives in Los Angeles, too."

"How'd you find his name?"

Goodness twisted around to look at her friend. "It just seemed to leap off the page at me."

"Goodness."

It was the Archangel Gabriel, just when Goodness least expected his return. She straightened quickly and noted that their cohort, Shirley, was no longer with him.

"Hi," she said, tense at being caught reading out of the Book of Prayer. She raised her right hand as if preparing to make a solemn vow.

"You were asking about Reverend Paul Morris?" Gabriel inquired.

"Yes," she said eagerly. "His name's listed several times in your book, and...well, it's just a matter of curiosity, you understand."

"Perhaps you'd care to drop in and visit him yourself?"

Goodness was convinced her ears had deceived her. She opened her mouth and flattened her palm