Jo spent a lot of time thinking about Earl over the following week. He was just so totally different from the way she'd always imagined angels to be. She'd always thought of them as youthful, attractive, effeminate, blond, and blue-eyed. Earl was very much the opposite of all that, and yet she'd seen his wings, hadn't she?

The following weekend, Doug and Clay invited Jo and Jamie to go hiking with them. "I've never been in this particular area before," Jo remarked when they reached their destination.

"Clay and I come here all the time, don't we, Clay?" Doug asked his son.

"Uh huh." Clay was busy mashing buttons on his cell phone while Jamie craned her neck to see what he was doing.

"Hey." Clay hid the phone from her view. "Quit snooping."

"That isn't polite, Jamie," Jo scolded her daughter.

"I didn't do anything," Jamie whined.

Embarrassed, Jo glanced at Doug who, to her relief, seemed oblivious to their children's interaction. Just then, she felt a stab of pain as an insect bit her and gave a little yelp.

"What's wrong?" Doug glanced her way with concern in his voice.

"Nothing. Just a little bug bite. That's all," Jo replied bravely, showing him her arm.

"That looks like some bite," he replied with a frown.

They continued their hike through the woods, and although Jo's arm itched and burned terribly from where the bug had bit her, she tried to ignore it and focus on the wonders of nature Doug was showing her.

After awhile, they stopped to eat the picnic lunch of fried chicken, potato salad, rolls, pound cake, and iced tea they'd packed to bring along. Rather than being ravenously hungry, as she'd expected to be, Jo found that she could barely eat at all.

"Don't you like it?" asked Doug, who'd provided the fried chicken and rolls. Jo had brought the potato salad and pound cake.

"It's delicious," Jo replied. "I don't know what's happened to my appetite..." Suddenly a wave of nausea came over her. She fought it with all her might and managed to swallow it.

They were on their way back when suddenly Jo felt so weak that she could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. Her skin felt first very hot, then very cold, and she struggled to breathe. "Something's wrong..." she gasped.

"Jo!" Doug exclaimed.

"Mom!" Jamie cried.

Jo wavered and and instantly felt Doug's strong arms around her, carrying her. Somehow he got her back to the car and then to the hospital, where she was immediately wheeled into the emergency room.

A couple of hours later, she found herself lying in bed with an IV in her arm, a very worried Doug sitting at her side.

"What happened?" she asked weakly.

"You had an allergic reaction to that insect bite," he told her. "They're giving you steroids to bring the inflammation down. Doc says if we'd gotten here thirty minutes later..." Doug teared up and couldn't finish.

"You mean I almost died...from an insect bite?" Jo couldn't believe it.

"You're gonna be fine now, babe. Doc says after a few hours of observation, you can go home."

"Where's Jamie?"

"She's fine. Her and Clay are in the waiting room."

"I'm sorry I loused up our fun day out."

"Aw, if wasn't your fault! I'm just glad you're all right!"

By the time Jo was released from the hospital, it was almost dark. "Want me to take you back to my house for the night?" Doug offered.

Jo was shocked. "You mean..."

Doug realized what he'd just said and laughed heartily. "Naw, babe, I wasn't even thinkin' about that. I just thought that maybe after all you've been through today you wouldn't feel like spendin' the night all by yourself."

"But what about Jamie? I don't feel comfortable leaving her by herself all night. She's only twelve."

"Oh, well, in that case, how about if I drop Clay off and come to your house? He's a big boy. He can take care of himself."

"There's only the sofa...'

"The sofa's fine!" With the appealing smile he gave her, how could ever she say no?