DISCLAIMER:
We DO NOT own any of the characters you recognize. They belong to
Martha Williamson. I do however own Min and her family, as well as
Miss Melody and the various students in her class. My friend, Megan
owns Grace and her family. If anyone would like to use any of these
OC's, please ask our permission first.
Thanks!
God loves
you
Enjoy!
"The Faith of a Child"
Chapter 11
About twenty minutes later Gloria was bathed and in her new nightgown and Tess was drying her hair with a towel in her bedroom.
"How about a French braid?" Tess suggested.
"I'd like that." She answered.
Tess smiled and began French braiding her hair.
However, part way through, Gloria frowned when she saw it in the mirror.
"That's not how Monica braids my hair."
Tess rolled her eyes and sighed.
"I know it isn't sweetheart, but I'm not Monica." She explained to her little angel.
Gloria frowned as Tess continued the braid.
"Can I call Monica?" She asked hopefully. "Please?"
Tess shook her head.
"I'm afraid not, little angel. She is working with Catherine right now."
The little girl sighed and folded her arms across her chest.
"When is she gonna be home? I want to see her!" She exclaimed.
"Little angel, you watch your attitude." Tess scolded wee Gloria. "And indoor voice in the house. You know that. As for Monica, she'll be home when she gets home, probably within a few hours."
Gloria didn't say anything, but continued to frown. Once Tess was done with her braid she led Gloria back down the stairs and helped her lie down on the couch. This time Tess put in Beauty and the Beast.
However, a half hour into the movie Gloria was fast asleep on the couch. Tess and Andrew both hoped for their sanity that Monica would be back when Gloria woke up because if she wasn't they could just see Gloria's attitude getting worse.
Sure enough, when Gloria woke up two hours later, she was even crankier than before. One, because her throat hurt again, and two because when she looked around her beloved supervisor was not around.
Gloria sniffled as the tears started to come. She let out a small whimper, but it was enough to bring Tess in the room.
"What's the matter, little angel?" Tess asked as she tried
to hold Gloria.
Gloria however, would have none of that and pushed Tess away.
"I want Monica and she's not here and my throat still hurts!" She exclaimed.
"All right sweetheart, I'll get you more medicine and I'm sure Monica will be back soon." Tess explained as she sent a silent prayer up to God that she would be home soon.
Tess left the living room and went back to the bathroom to get more medicine. She once again handed the medicine to Gloria and she took it thankfully without complaint. Tess started Beauty and the Beast again and Gloria sniffled as she settled back on the couch.
"Are you hungry for lunch sweetheart?" Tess asked her little angel softly.
"No! When Monica comes home I'll eat lunch." Gloria countered.
Tess sighed.
"How about something small?" Tess asked.
Gloria shook her head firmly. "No thank you." She told Tess firmly.
Tess had learned that she needed to learn how to pick and chose her battles and this is not one she wanted to have so she decided to leave her alone.
A few moments later they both looked up when the front door opened and Monica walked in with her cell phone to her ear and her purse on her shoulder.
Gloria shot up on the couch and slid off. She ran to Monica and tried to get her to pick her up.
Monica put her arm around Gloria's shoulders and pulled
her to her side, but Gloria wanted to be picked up. She whimpered and tried to get into her arms.
"Monica! Cuddle!" She demanded.
Monica put her hand on the receiver of the phone and looked down at her wee one.
"Sweetheart, I missed you too and we will have cuddle time soon. I promise. But I need to finish this conversation and then we'll cuddle. I promise." She tried to explain to Gloria.
Gloria could feel the tears welling up and didn't bother to hold them back. Monica had promised she wouldn't ignore her, but she was doing it again.
"I want to be with you! I don't want Tess or Andrew! I want you!"
Monica sighed and looked to Tess for help.
Tess shrugged before trying her hand at it. She walked over to the two angels and held her hand out to Gloria.
"Come on little angel. Let's finish Beauty and the Beast
and Monica will be off the phone sooner than you think." Tess tried to encourage the little girl.
Gloria shook her head firmly and stomped her foot.
"No!" She exclaimed. "I want Monica!"
Monica sighed and began talking in her phone again and tried to hurry the conversation along because Gloria was about to have a meltdown.
Gloria tried to wait as much as she could and thankfully Monica hung up the phone a few moments later.
"Hi little one." Monica greeted Gloria with a short hug. "We can cuddle in just a few moments. Let me run to the bathroom and change my clothes to something comfy and we'll finish your movie." She explained.
Gloria frowned.
"But you said after you got off the phone we could cuddle." She said tearfully as she stomped her foot.
"Sweetheart, it'll only take me ten minutes and then I'll be right down." Monica tried to explain as she looked down at her little one.
"No! It's not fair! You're ignoring me again!" She exclaimed.
Before Monica could defend herself, Gloria took a deep breath and shouted, "No! I don't like this! I don't like being small! And you promised you wouldn't ignore me and you broke your promise! I hate you!"
Monica's mouth dropped open as she looked down at Gloria in shock.
Once she regained her voice she replied, "Well, I love you enough for the both of us. Now, go to your room please."
Gloria stomped her foot and screamed again, "I hate you!" With that, she ran up the stairs and slammed the door behind her.
Once there, Gloria flopped down on her bed in tears. she didn't understand why this was happening. All she wanted was to spend time with Monica. Why couldn't her supervisor and best friend understand that?
Snickers jumped on the bed just then. She purred and rubbed up against Gloria's arm. She could tell something was wrong.
Petting the cat behind the ears, Gloria started telling her the whole story.
Meanwhile back downstairs, Tess had her hands full with her former case worker.
Monica was on the verge of tears and Tess knew this wasn't going to be easy to sort out.
"Angel girl, come here." The superior angel said. She held her arms out to Monica and the Irish angel wasted no time in letting the elder angel hold her.
"Tess, what happened?" Monica asked tearfully. "What's happened to our Gloria? She would never have said that to me if she was her normal self. What's goin' on with my little one? I feel like I'm losing her!"
"Oh no, no, angel girl. You're not losing Gloria. I promise you that. And you're right. Gloria wouldn't have said that to you if she was her normal self. But that's just it, honey. She isn't her normal self right now. She's confused, afraid and frustrated. And she's feeling abandoned. It's hard for her to understand the things she used to now that she's little. But I know one thing that hasn't changed."
"What's that?" The Irish angel asked softly.
"How much she loves you."
Monica shook her head as more tears came.
"I'm not so sure about that anymore, Tess."
"Aw, baby, Gloria loves you. She does. She didn't mean to hurt you on purpose. It's gonna be okay." Tess assured her. "Gloria will say she's sorry soon."
Monica nodded as the tears continued to fall. She wasn't worried about Gloria apologizing. She knew her little one would say she was sorry. The only question was how long would it take?
The Irish angel also knew the answer to that question as well. She knew it was going to take the Father's time.
"I just want my little one back!" Monica cried desperately.
"I know you do, angel girl. I know. And so does the Father. He'll help us through this. By the grace of God, we will get through this."
A few minutes of silence passed before Tess broke it.
""After I help you, I'm gonna go talk to her." Tess told her former case worker.
"Don't be too hard on her." Monica pleaded. She knew Tess had a tendency to lose her patience with the youngest member of their family.
Tess shook her head.
"I wasn't even thinking of doing that." She assured her. "But I do plan to get through to her." With that, she hugged Monica close and stayed with her until she was okay.
Once the elder angel was sure Monica would be okay, she went upstairs to talk to Gloria. She prayed she would be able to get through to her. She also prayed her 'little angel wouldn't cause her to pull her hair out by the time they were done talking.
Shaking her head, Tess knocked on the door.
"Go away!" Gloria's tearful voice demanded.
Tess smiled to herself. She knew as a child, Gloria couldn't' sense who was there as well as she would have if she were her normal self.
"Little angel, it's me." She told her. "May I come in, please?"
Gloria thought for a moment before giving Tess permission.
Once Tess was in the room, she closed the door and sat down on the edge of Gloria's bed.
Instead of lecturing Gloria on how she had hurt Monica's feelings and how what she had said was wrong, she tried another tactic with her.
"So I hear you and Monica had a little disagreement, huh?"
Gloria nodded. She gave Tess a look before replying to her statement.
"More like a dinosaur sized one. And it's all Monica's fault!"
Tess let this go. She could tell Gloria was still really upset.
"Why don't you get your coat on. I'm gonna take you somewhere special."
The little girl gave Tess a confused look, but she obeyed without question. She didn't know why she did so, but she did.
Once they were in the car, Tess put on another fave CD of Gloria's. It was a CD of worship songs Gloria liked. It was actually one of Kassie's old CD's, but the little angel loved it all the same. Her favorite songs on it were "The Joy Joy Joy Down in My Heart" and "Deep and Wide." She also liked "Clean Hands" and "Blessed Be Your Name" as well as "This is the Day the Lord Hath Made" and "He Knows My Name."
They drove for a good twenty minutes before Tess stopped the car. She stopped the CD and went around to get Gloria out.
Once they were on solid ground, Tess took Gloria's hand and led her over to a set of cherry blossom bushes that had just started to grow again.
As she gazed around, a small smile spread across her face. This place was pretty.
Tess could tell Gloria was taken in by their surroundings. But rather than elaborate on the beauty of them, Tess decided to tell her story. She wanted to get Gloria home by dinnertime and she also wanted to give the child time to ask any questions she had.
And Tess knew with Gloria, that could take hours.
Sitting down beneath one of the blossoms, Tess motioned for Gloria to join her.
The child did so, snuggling into her superior for a cuddle.
Smiling gently down at Gloria, the elder angel pulled her close. She loved this little girl more than anything and she was determined to help her.
"Do you remember this place, little angel?" Tess asked. She really didn't think Gloria would remember it, but she wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt anyway.
The little girl shook her head.
"It's pretty." She commented.
Tess grinned.
"You're right. It is. But that's not why I brought you here."
"It isn't?" Gloria asked.
Tess shook her head.
"No. I wanna tell you a story. It's a true one about you."
Gloria was intrigued now.
Once Tess was sure she had her 'little angel's full attention, she started her tale.
"You were born here." She began.
As she expected, Gloria posed a question just then.
"Were you there?"
Tess shook her head.
"No. But do you know who was?"
Gloria shrugged.
"No."
"Monica."
Gloria's eyes widened.
"Really?" She asked. Despite the fact that she was still mad at Monica, she was becoming interested in the story Tess was telling her.
"Yes. She was the first angel you met. That's why you two are so close now. She loves you so much, sweetheart. She really does. She never meant to hurt you."
Gloria sat there quietly for a long time, trying to take in all of what Tess had told her.
"It doesn't seem like it anymore." She said softly.
Tess shook her head as she pulled Gloria close.
"Oh baby, you have no idea how much Monica loves you. She would do anything for you, just as I would. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but she loves you."
Gloria nodded. She rested in Tess's lap for a little over a half an hour just thinking.
By the time they returned home, Gloria had fallen asleep.
Tess didn't have the heart to wake her. She handed her over to Monica the second she closed the door.
The Irish angel gave her former supervisor a hopeful look.
Tess shook her head.
"I got her thinking at least." She told her 'angel girl. "I think you two will be okay soon."
Monica nodded. She gave Tess a grateful look before heading for the stairs.
Laying Gloria down, she changed her 'little one into her pj's before making sure she had Tinkerbell. After that was done, the Irish angel tucked the covers around her and planted a kiss on her cheek.
"I love you, little one. I love you so much. I'm so sorry for hurting you. I really am. I pray you can forgive me soon." With that, Monica sat there and watched Gloria sleep for a little bit before leaving to join Tess for a cup of tea. She really missed spending time with her former supervisor.
