"Was she good this morning?" Jo asked Paige, who was the nursery school aged kids' teacher.
"She was a perfect little angel." Paige glanced over to where Bethany was helping two-and-a-half-year-old Prairie put together a wooden puzzle. "Speaking of which, I hope you'll let her be in the Christmas play the children put on every year. She'd make a beautiful angel."
"It's fine with me!" Jo replied. "Just let me talk it over with Doug. I'm sure he won't mind. Time to go, Bethany," she told her daughter.
"Bye-bye, Prairie," said Bethany, waving her hand at Prairie.
"Bye-bye." Prairie waved back to her.
Jo took Bethany's hand and led her outside to the car, where Doug and Jamie waited for them. "Paige wants Bethany to be an angel in the children's Christian program this year," she told her husband.
Doug grinned and ruffled his daughter's hair. "Aw, that'll be sweet!"
Jo called Paige after lunch. "Doug's fine with Bethany being an angel," she told the younger woman.
"Great! I'll tell Sheila, and she'll get with you about making the costume."
Wednesday evening, Jo drove Bethany to the home of Sheila, the middle-aged seamstress who always sewed the children's costumes for the church plays.
"Well, hello there, sweetie!" Sheila exclaimed as Jo and Bethany entered the house. "Can she have a vanilla wafer?"
Jo nodded. Sheila handed the little girl a cookie, then fetched her tape measure. "What do you say?" Jo prompted her daughter.
"Thank you!" Bethany crowed.
Sheila quickly took Bethany's measurements, jotted down some notes, and then visited with Jo for awhile. After chatting together for half an hour or so, Jo bid Sheila goodbye.
"Don't forget, rehearsal's Saturday night," Sheila reminded Jo.
At the rehearsal, Bethany stood with the other four and five year old children in their white robes, sparking wings, and gold tinsel halos. Several of the others fidgeted, but she stood perfectly still, staring straight ahead. After the rehearsal was over, she ran to her parents, and Jo gave her a big hug.
"Was I a good angel, Mommy?" she asked.
"You were great!" Jo told her.
The family went to mass the following morning, then returned and ate dinner. Impatient for her big night, Bethany asked several times over the evening if it was time to leave.
"Not yet!" her mother laughed each time she asked. After the last dish from the evening meal had finally been washed and put away, Jo announced it was time to get ready to go to church.
"Yay!" shouted Bethany, jumping up and down.
They were about halfway there when Doug lost control of the car and it began to swerve all over the road. Jamie and Bethany screamed, and Jo heard the grating of the wheel's rim against the road and knew they'd had a blowout. She cursed under her breath, then remembered where they were headed and felt ashamed of herself.
Finally regaining control of the vehicle, Doug parked it on the side of the road, and the family got out. He removed the jack and spare from the trunk, knelt beside the flat tire, and began to loosen the lug nuts. Bethany began to cry. Jo knelt beside her and hugged her.
"It's gonna be all right, sweetheart," she soothed.
"But now I can't be an angel 'cause the car's broken!"
"Daddy's gonna fix it real soon, and then we'll go to church just like we planned." Jo was glad they'd left a few minutes early.
At last Doug had the spare on the wheel, and they all got back into the car.
"I'll just have to catch up with the rest of you later," Doug mumbled, looking at the grease all over his hands.
When they arrived at the church, they found the parking lot packed. Doug spent ages searching for an empty parking spot and finally found one at the very end of the back row. He pulled into it, and the family got out and began to walk toward the entrance.
"Oh, no!" Jo gasped when they were almost to the front door. "The hem of Bethany's costume is ripped! It must have happened as she was getting out of the car."
Doug shrugged. "At this late stage, I don't see that anything can be done about it."
While he dashed for the men's room, Jo and her daughters entered the sanctuary. The lights had been turned down, and the program had just begun. Jo whispered to Jamie to find a seat, then took Bethany's hand and dashed with her to a side door.
"I was wondering where you were!" whispered Paige as soon as she opened the door.
"A tire blew on our way here," Jo told her. "Look!" She lifted Bethany's robe to show Paige the ripped seam.
Paige frowned. "Hm. I think I have something that might help."
She hurried to a desk and returned with a roll of tape. She tore some off and used it to tape the ripped hem back into place. "Hopefully that will hold," she said.
"Where's my candle?" asked Bethany.
"Here you go, sweetheart." Paige handed her a candle and led her onto the stage to join the other children. Jo sighed with relief and hurried to join Doug and Jamie.
In the darkness of the sanctuary, the candle's flames cast shadows on Bethany's face, and her dark eyes shone with happiness. To Jo, her younger daughter had never been more beautiful.
The program seemed to end too soon. The lights came back on, and the children left the stage and went to join their families.
"You're the prettiest little angel I've ever seen!" Doug exclaimed as he scooped his small daughter up into his arms. "I'm so proud of you!"
"So am I," added Jo as she kissed Bethany's cheek.