Angels Are Among Us

Chapter One: The Letter

Leah Lewis-Hall stared in surprise at the name written on the plain white envelope, Charity Longacre. Her hands shook with slight anticipation as she turned the envelope over and pulled out the letter. After taking a deep breath, she unfolded the paper and read to herself:

Dearest Leah,

How strange it feels to be writing you again, my dear friend. I have missed you more than I can possibly say in a letter. I knew that when you and Ethan separated you would not want much contact with me or my Amish world.

But, after nine years of silence, I must break my promise to Ethan in order to do something I had hoped I could do for a long time. I am excited to announce that my beloved Jonah finished his 'fling' and was baptized almost three years ago. Now, that he has officially rejoined the church, we are engaged to be married! I am writing to you with the hope that you will come to Nappanee to attend the wedding on June 23rd at 3 o'clock.

I would understand if you chose not to come, but I feel I must ask for you to consider this invitation anyway. Your mother is invited as well due to her great act of kindness in helping Ethan in his time of need. Please think about my request and send me an answer as soon as possible. I look forward to hearing from you even if it is a rejection. You are still in my heart Leah Lewis-Hall and always will be.

God Bless You,

Charity Longacre

Leah calmly placed the letter on a side table and headed into the kitchen. The room shone like sunshine with its fresh yellow paint and crisp white trim. Her white shoes squeaked over the tiled floor as she relaxed into a chair at the round table in the middle of the room.

So, Leah thought to herself, Charity is finally getting married, to Jonah Dewberry of all people! He's the one person I could have seen not returning to the Amish ways and joining the world of the English. But, at least he and Charity will have a happy ending. I should go to the wedding, but can I face Ethan again? Can I stand seeing him happily married to an Amish girl? Also, how will he react to how my life has turned out? But, then again, Charity went through alot to invite me and it would only be courteous to accept the invitation.

"I love love love the playground, Daddy!" a young girl's voice echoed through the apartment and interrupted Leah's brooding.

A man answered with a loving tone, "I know you do, pumpkin....why don't you run and get Mommy and we'll go to McDonald's for dinner? Would you like that?"

"Yeah! Mommy! Mommy, we're back!"

Suddenly, a little girl came running into the shiny kitchen and threw herself around Leah's waist. Leah, despite the wave of memories that had crept into her mind from Charity's letter, smiled down at the dark-haired child below her. A pair of laughing gray eyes met Leah's dark ones which softened at the very sight of the young girl's joy.

The girl pulled from Leah's arms and started hopping around the room, "Mommy, can we go to McDonald's? Huh? Mommy? Can we? Please? Pretty please?"

"Well...."

"Puleeze?" the little girl widened her round eyes and stuck her lower lip out in an attempt to look pouty. Leah couldn't help herself, she was just so cute it was impossible to say no to her.

"Oh, all right." Leah barely had the words out of her mouth when the child squealed and when running into the living room to announce the good news. The young woman followed her daughter and sat on the couch with a grin on her pretty face.

"She pulled the 'puppy-dog' face, didn't she?"

Leah turned her head slighty to look at the man who was currently holding the dark-haired little girl in his arms, "You know she did...actually you are probably the one who put her up to it. You knew that I was planning on having meat loaf tonight. But, since you apparently didn't want a home-cooked meal, you decided to coax your daughter into begging for fast food. Am I right, mister?"

"Well...honey...you know I love you, but you just aren't the best cook...." the man stammered sheepishly. He placed the little girl down and headed towards the couch to sit by Leah.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that, Todd, or else you might starve to death," Leah smirked as Todd's face fell at the thought of no food, "And my cooking can't be too bad since Gabbi, who is probably the pickiest eater I have ever known, doesn't complain about it nearly as much as you do."

"Leah, the only reason she doesn't complain about your cooking is because she loves you and she doesn't want to hurt your feelings."

"Oh, but you have no problem with making comments about my cooking?" Leah grinned as the 'fake' argument continued on like normal.

Todd threw up his hands in defeat, "Okay...I know when I'm beat! If you really want to, honey, we can go to McDonald's tomorrow and eat meat loaf tonight."

Leah blanched and threw a pillow at Todd, "You are the sneakiest doctor I have ever met in my entire life! You know perfectly well that I would not dare disappoint Gabbi by saying she has to have meat loaf over McDonald's." Then a mock pillow fight rang out between Leah, Todd, and Gabbi with the living room being filled with shrieks of laughter and happiness.

About ten minutes later, Leah managed to catch her breath enough to leave the living room and get her car keys. When she arrived back in the 'pillow fight ring', she found Gabbi and Todd hurriedly picking up cushions and placing them in their previous spots. Shaking her head, she stood in the doorway and watched the duo clean up.

While Gabbi had obviously inherited Leah's straight dark hair that almost always managed to look neat, she was so obviously her father's child it was almost scary. Todd and Gabbi were so similar from the way they looked to the slightly lazy way they maneuvered about a room. Leah felt her heart swell as she observed the two people she loved most in the world interact with each other. For years she had hoped for a stable family, something she never had during her hectic childhood, and it seemed she was about to get her wish.

Smiling to herself, Leah toyed with a brilliant diamond ring that glittered on her left ring finger. Finally, after six years of dating and one child together, Todd and her were engaged to be married. She never thought she could love anyone as much as she had loved Ethan, but thankfully she had been wrong. Todd was one of the most giving and kind-hearted people she had ever met. He was dedicated to his job as a pediatrician at the same hospital where Leah was a nurse, but never failed to come home every night to be with his fiance and daughter. Leah knew that Todd's life had been just as hard as hers and keeping a family was his main priority. She thanked God everyday for bringing someone like Todd into her life when she needed him the most...in much the same way he brought Ethan to her.

No, Leah! Stop thinking about Ethan! This is not the time...besides you have to keep a straight face or else Todd will think something is wrong. He has had too much going on this year to worry about you too, Leah internally scolded herself for her loss of control. She forced herself to look at the man and child before her all the while continuing to argue with herself.

Todd suddenly noticed a slight movement near the doorway and glanced up just in time to see Leah standing, looking at Gabbi and him. He peered into her face, the features so delicate and pretty, and saw traces of a variety of emotions, like longing, fear, and pain, flash across her eyes. Leah was generally a very closed up person when it came to her feelings so he knew something had to be bothering her for her to show even the slightest bit of weakness.

"Leah? Are you all right, baby?" Todd asked softly, his gray eyes filled with concern.

"What?" the 26 year old woman snapped her head up in surprise, "What did you say, Todd?"

The tall blonde frowned slightly, "I asked if you were okay, Leah. You usually aren't so quiet especially with Gabbi around."

"I know....it's just...."

"What is it? You can tell me, baby, I promise you that."

Leah's face showed a small trace of a smile before being replaced by a totally neutral expression, "Okay...come into the kitchen...."

Todd nodded before turning to his beloved daughter, "Gabbi, why don't you go in your room for a moment?"

"Why?" the little girl asked curiously.

"To make sure it's clean or else you won't be able to go to McDonald's," at her father's words, the five year old dashed towards her room in the back of the apartment.

Leah was seated at the kitchen table by the time Todd entered the room. She was slouched, not like her usual straight position, and staring at a piece of paper on the wooden table.

"Leah? What happened? Why do you seem so...uncomfortable?"

"I...it's nothing really bad, Todd. So, don't worry about that. I just got this letter today and.....well....maybe you'd better read it for yourself." the woman handed the single piece of paper and looked down at her hands. Todd stared at his fiance for a brief moment before glancing at the letter which began with Dearest Leah....

-------------------------------------------

So, what do you think of chapter one? Was it too sentimental and sappy? Please let me know so I can improve it! Basically that is a subtle hint for 'Don't forget to review!' I really appreciate feedback and would like some on this story. Thanks bunches to everyone who reads this!!

--Anaxandra