by Thornton, EJ
Sarah and Glory's eyes met on that thought.
"Do you think--" Sarah began.
"Maybe," Glory said, as she answered the question Sarah avoided actually asking. "I need to call Peter. Maybe he can shed some more light on the situation."
So she did. They talked for a while. Then Glory let Sarah talk. Sarah asked all the same questions Glory did and a couple more. After they hung up with Peter, they stared at each other, still in shock.
"What do you think?" Sarah asked her mother.
"This is what you've been praying for," Sheila repeated.
"I'm glad he's living with Peter, so at least, he can keep an eye on Jeremi for us. Jeremi sounded completely different when he talked about seeing the baby's heartbeat, maybe there is hope there. We'll just have to wait and see." Glory sat back in her chair. "Maybe we have some extra help up there, now." She looked up to Heaven.
"You know he does," Sarah said, she took Glory's hand and patted it, reassuringly.
"Relax, Mama, I'm there for him and I'm here for you two, too," I said and kissed them on their foreheads.
Henry summoned us back to Jeannie's apartment. It was her turn to call her family. She sat there and held the phone and tried to decide who to call. Jack cheered her on and promised to help.
Jack explained to me about some of the very recent divorce experiences. Each member of Jeannie's family had reacted so differently to her separation and divorce that she was afraid about how they would react to this news. She decided to put off calling anyone. She figured she'd wait for someone to call her. She would tell them, then rely on the family grapevine to do the rest of the work. After they heard this plan, Jack and Pearl started to plot and scheme about who they were going to get to call her first. During their conversation, Jack laughed out loud. Pearl knew this meant he knew who he was going to get, and we'd just have to wait for the surprise of it. "I'll be right back," he said and disappeared.
"This should be interesting," Pearl said and shrugged her shoulders.
A couple of minutes later the phone rang, while Jeannie held it on her lap. She jumped a mile. "Hello?" she said very timidly, probably questioning her decision already. "It's Carole's teacher," she whispered to Jeremi while covering the receiver. "Wednesday? Ten o'clock? . . . I think I can swing that. . . . You're welcome." She hung up. She sighed heavily.
"You know you're going to jump like that every time the phone rings, if you let that decision stand," Pearl reminded Jeannie. "You need to call who you want--"
The phone rang again. Jack reappeared with a grin from ear to ear. "Too late!"
Jeannie jumped again, but was more confident as she answered the phone this time. "Hello?"
"Oh, hello." There was a pause. "I've been on your mind?" Jeannie repeated to the caller.
We all looked at Jack for insight into the caller's identity, but he just looked straight back at us with a sly grin. Obviously, we were going to have to glean it out of Jeannie's conversation.
"How've I been on your mind?" Jeannie stalled. . . . "Just staring at a picture of the family, until all you could see was my face? Yeah, that is interesting. . . . Uh, what's new?" Ah, the question of the day. She glanced over at Jeremi, who encouraged her with hand signals. "Well, let's see, Carole lost a tooth last week and Lynne got two more." Her voice cracked a little. . . ."No, nothing's wrong," she said defensively. She took a deep breath. "Okay, here it is. I've been seeing someone. . . . Jeremiah, Jeremi for short. . . . He sings. . . . Yeah, a singer," she said even more defensively. "Serious? Yeah, I guess you could call it serious. . . . A couple of months. . . . It's long enough." Apparently tired of avoiding the topic, she finally gave in to the inevitable and blurted out, "Because I'm pregnant." After an apparent silence, Jeannie said, "Are you still there Bunny Rabbit?"
Pearl, who had listened intently for clues to the caller's identity, exclaimed, "Perfect!" Jack smiled in recognition of his good work. "Bonnie is her niece, she's all grown up now, but Jeannie still calls her Bunny Rabbit . . . long story."
We turned our attention back to Jeannie.
"You're the first one in the family I've told.. . . Secret, right! We just found out last night. . . A couple of weeks. . . Sure, if you want; it'll save me long distance charges. . . I'm fine. Really. . . We'll be fine. . . Okay, call back then. . . Take care, love ya. 'Bye."
Jeannie sat quietly after she hung up the phone.
"What?" Jeremi asked anxiously.
"If I had to guess, I'd say that was planned."
"It was planned," Jack gloated.
"Why?" Jeremi asked.
"She's planning on seeing my folks tomorrow for a family birthday party. She said she'd break the news for me. Remind me to unplug my phone tomorrow," Jeannie joked.
"Coward," Jack teased her, as if she could hear him.
"Just kidding," Jeannie said, "kinda," come out under her breath.
"That went well," Jack told Pearl smugly.
"Ya done good, kid." Pearl kissed him on his forehead.
"My work here is done!" He pulled a pretend cape from behind his back and flew off, imitating a super hero that could only be called "Super Angel."
The phone rang again and Jeannie just looked at it. It appeared she was afraid of it or whoever was on the other end of it. Instead of answering it, she unplugged it. Jeremi looked at her, puzzled. "I refuse to talk to anyone else but you right now." Jeremi took that as a wierd signal she wanted to be alone with him, so he came to her and held her. She tried to respond to his affection, but she was fixated on the telephone.
Pearl whispered to her, "Okay, Jeannie, school's in session."
Jeannie and Jeremi spent the rest of the evening together watching a movie on TV, but Jeannie was still completely distracted by the presence of the phone, even though it was unplugged. After the movie, Jeremi decided to leave. Jeannie needed to get to bed, she needed to go to work tomorrow and get the girls off to school.
"When are you going to plug the phone back in, so I can call you?" Jeremi asked.
"Soon," Jeannie assured him.
They kissed goodnight and Jeannie closed the door and leaned back on it. She looked exhausted and extremely stressed. Pearl walked over to her and seemed to help her down the hall, sounding like a mother more than an angel. "Let's get you to bed now, you need your rest." Jeannie looked over at this evening's nemesis. "Relax about the phone, you'll plug it in in the middle of the night, like always. Let's go to bed now." Jeannie went in to brush her teeth. There were several quotes pasted up in the bathroom, same as the rest of her house. Pearl picked one out for her to read before bed. Pearl shined her angel light on the quote that said, "You can only judge a man once you've walked a mile in his shoes." I could tell Jeannie saw it and read it, but its significance to her situation escaped her at this moment, but Pearl had planted the seed.
George and I stayed to be sure that Jeannie was tucked into bed safely. We left as Pearl laid down beside her in the bed. Pearl stroked her hair and reiterated the lessons Jeannie needed to learn through this experience.
I wanted a quiet night myself. It'd been a big day. George said he'd meet me in the morning back at Jeannie's. I went to see Glory. She was also already in bed, but wide awake. The TV was on, but I could tell her thoughts were a million miles away from what was showing.
Naomi greeted me with a smile. "Will you stay?" she asked. I nodded. "Call me if you need me." I promised and she was off.
I sat up in the bed right alongside my Glory, in my spot. She rearranged herself a little, like she would have if I had been alive and I'd just gotten into bed with her. She reached over, as if to hold my hand like she used to do, then looked over and suddenly felt foolish.
"I'm right here. I know you can feel me close to you. See with your heart, Glory, feel how close I am and you'll see me right here with you." She ended up patting the bedspread right where my hand was.
"I miss you, Martin," she said aloud.
"I'm right here with you, Mama." I de
cided to change the subject. "I know you're thinking about Jeremi. I know you're wondering about Jeannie." Glory turned her eyes to Heaven, shook her head and heaved a sigh. "See, I knew you were. You're probably wondering if Jeannie is a good or bad influence in his life. You're worried about his drinking. I am, too, but Jeremi has an amazing team of angels in his corner. We will make this right. Just keep praying for us."
Glory closed her eyes and clasped her hands and prayed for Jeremi and Jeannie. She prayed that I would be close by when they needed me. I prayed that she would be blessed with peace and that my presence here would comfort her and that she would have a restful night.
Right after she prayed, she turned out the light, slid down in the bed, acted like she was watching TV for a few moments and fell fast asleep. I stayed and watched over her and Sarah for the rest of the night.
Chapter 17
Morning came. Naomi returned. I went to meet George at Jeannie's. She was getting the girls ready for school and herself ready for work. There was more coaching than normal this morning because Jeannie was very distracted by her situation. The girls' angels helped them find their socks and whispered to help them remember various other details. Lynne and Edwina played out in the living room, so George and I joined in a game of peekaboo with them. Little Lynne laughed so loud, a half-dressed Jeannie came out to the living room to check on her. All Jeannie saw was a smiling baby girl covering her eyes. Jeannie said, "Peekaboo," Lynne looked up, saw that Mommy was playing the game too and giggled even louder. Jeannie leaned against the wall briefly as she smiled warmly at her adorable daughter. After a bit, she went back to the bedroom to finish getting ready.
We got the girls off to daycare and school and got Jeannie to work, almost on time. Still rushing to beat the clock, she finally reached her desk and turned on her computer, put away her purse, changed her shoes and all the rest of the typical morning fodder. Jeannie was edgy this morning, everything made her jump. Judie noticed that Jeannie was jumpier than usual and watched her, trying to figure her out. Jeannie saw Judie study her. Judie even mouthed the words, "What's wrong?" Jeannie shrugged her shoulders in an effort to deflect Judie's attention.
"You look like a Mexican jumping bean," Judie informed her.
"Too much coffee, I guess."
Judie raised an eyebrow and sized her up to gain more information. "Is there something wrong with your coffee?"
"Oh yeah, huh," Jeannie buried her head in her computer terminal without any further explanation.
A frustrated and worried Judie left and went into the kitchen area to pour herself another cup of coffee. She decided to read her horoscope. Pearl had anticipated this move so Judie's horoscope read, "A friend needs you now more than ever. Be ready to listen today." Judie read it and looked out the door in Jeannie's direction, as if she could see through walls. She decided to read Jeannie's. It read, "Life is teaching you lessons. Learning is easy, if you are a willing student." Judie left with her coffee and went back to the desk. As she sat down, she studied Jeannie again.
Jeannie felt the stare, bristled up and saw Judie watching her. "What?"
"Nothing." Judie started to type on her keyboard and smiled.
"What's so funny?" Jeannie demanded.
"Nothing," Judie said innocently. Then she muttered under her breath, "Life needs to teach you to be more pleasant when your friends are trying to figure you out!"
They both went back to work, but they were both very conscious of how much they watched each other.
Jeannie, still extremely jumpy, heard a noise behind her. She turned quickly and spilled coffee all over her lap. Luckily, it was barely lukewarm. It forced her out from behind her desk to make a hasty dash to the ladies room to try to wash it out. She left the room without saying anything to anybody.
Judie gave her a bit of a lead, then followed her. When Judie got into the bathroom, she saw Jeannie washing out the stain and muttering to herself, close to tears.
"Are you all right?" Judie asked.
"Oh, yeah," Jeannie answered. "It was pretty cold coffee."
"Jeannie, I want to know if you're all right, you've been overly tense all morning and now you're about to cry over spilled coffee. Something's going on. Did something happen with Jeremi?"
"You could say that." Jeannie bit her bottom lip.
Judie put her arms around Jeannie and led her to the couch in the bathroom's lounge area. Jeannie broke down.
"Did you guys break up?" Judie asked, but Jeannie shook her head. "Did you guys have a fight?" Again Jeannie shook her head. "Did you guys . . . eat ice cream? Either give me a decent clue or just tell me what's wrong."
A peculiar look came over Jeannie's face and she stopped crying momentarily. "Ice cream?" She paused for a moment, then continued very sarcastically, "Yeah, that's it, we ate ice cream. I ate so much ice cream that my rabbit died." Then Jeannie waited long enough to see if Judie had understood the clue.
"How could ice cream kill a--? Oh, my!" Judie fell back on the couch and looked back at Jeannie. She stared at her friend, in shock for a few moments, then covered her mouth to conceal the fact that she'd started to giggle.
"Are you laughing at me?"
Judie shook her head, then let more laughter escape between the fingers covering her mouth. She finally let go and broke out laughing. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She kept laughing, however.
"Then what's so funny?"
"I'm sorry." She swallowed hard to try to gain control. "I'm sorry. Did you read your horoscope this morning?" Jeannie shook her head and looked at Judie with anticipation. "Life is teaching you lessons." Judie laughed again. "I guess 'black' is a significant color to you now, eh?"
Pearl busted up with that one. The rest of us angels were already laughing. Judie laughed so hard she had to hold her sides. After watching Judie howl for a few moments, Jeannie gave in and began to laugh a little, but it was obvious, she was still pretty upset.
"I'm sorry, this is serious," Judie said. Then accidentally snorted, attempting to keep the laugh in.
"I'm glad I could amuse you."
"I'm glad you could, too," Judie said and kept on trying to regain her composure. After a few more moments, she settled down. "Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, let's talk."
Right then another lady walked into the restroom and both Jeannie and Judie immediately clammed up.
"Let's take a walk," Jeannie said and they both left quickly.
Pearl and Judie's angel took off with the girls, but George lagged behind. When I questioned him, he pointed. From behind a partition in the lounge where they kept a cot, another lady peered around the corner to see if she could get out undetected. She had obviously heard everything the girls had said and this gossip was just too hot to keep in. Her angel talked with us.
"You let her hear everything," the angel scolded George. "You could've blocked her hearing and just let her rest? You know how much she loves to gossip. We keep teaching her the same lesson over and over and over again, but she keeps gossiping."
"I bet we can work this out so they both benefit from this one. Will you work with us on this?" George asked her. She agreed. "Buy us some time and we'll be back."
"Okay," the angel agreed.
We caught up with Judie and Jeannie on their walk. Jeannie was deep into her story about the night at the hospital.
Pearl asked us, "Where were you guys?"
"Talking to Marla's angel in the bathroom. Marla was behind the partition," George answered.
"I know," Pearl said. "Once I saw her there, I was sure she was the one I needed to help me with this. How can I say this nicely? Marla has a lot to say, even when there's only a little to really say. Darlene, her angel, has tried time and again to teach her about talking about other people, but she continues to do it. What did Darlene say?"
"She agreed to help," George said.
"Good. Then we need a plan," Pearl said.
"With what objective, exactly?" I asked.
"School's in se
ssion for Jeannie. She's about to be the subject of a whole bunch of gossip and from people who barely know her, but who have a whole bunch of opinions about how she got into this situation and what she should do about it," Pearl explained. "In essence, she has done this to herself. When her friends came to her--pregnant and before they were married--she was very supportive, like her friends are to her now. If it was someone she only knew in passing, without trying to find out any more about them, she was fairly harsh in her judgment of the situation. She's merely receiving back what she's given in the past, all at once. It will be hard for her, but she will hopefully learn a whole lot about how that feels. How hard the lesson will be, depends on her. You know a lesson must be repeated until it is learned."
"So she's going to reap what she's sown in the past. But when she's gathered up this harvest, she'll be a better person for it--much more patient and much less judgmental. At least that's the plan," George concluded for Pearl, who wholeheartedly endorsed what he said.
"So how does Darla and Marlene--" I began.
"Marla and Darlene," Pearl corrected.
"Sorry, Marla and Darlene, fit in?"
Darlene joined us at that moment. "Marla got sent on an errand to the statehouse, so she's stuck standing in line at the Treasurer's office. I've got a few minutes. Another angel there will call me back if there's a problem."
Pearl introduced us. "Martin, this is Darlene, he's the baby's Guardian. Darlene, Martin was just asking us how we could help each other here."
"Good to meet you, Martin," Darlene said. "I think we could do a lot of good for both of these girls."
"So how do we get them together?" I asked.
"Without them knowing they're together."
"We can handle that like they did this morning," Pearl said. "Then Marla can tell Karen. You know Karen will shut Marla right down."
"I can arrange that," Darlene said.
"Who's Karen?" I asked.
"She sits across the room from Marla. They were both recently reprimanded for their lack of professionalism and personal conduct in a similar situation," Darlene answered.
