Chapter 2

"Hey, my li'l Angel!" I picked the darling girl up into my lap as she giggled. Angelica was such a big name for such a small child and she loved the nickname that I had started calling her the first day I met her.

She stopped giggling and poked her bottom lip out dramatically, knowing it was the way to my heart. "Jew'lz, they told me I couldn't have the cookies. Ev'ryone else gets cookies."

Poor kid. What six year old is going to understand why they can't have a cookie? "Well sweetie, did they tell you why?"

She bobbed her head, her gold curls falling in her face. "Sugar. Just cause of sugar."

"Do you remember what happened last time you had cookies right after your treatment? You got sick. Most people don't get sick from eating cookies or anything else with sugar after their treatments, but your stomach is sensitive. And you don't want to get sick again, do you?"

Partial understanding seemed to dawn on her face. "Yeah, I'm already sick though."

I felt like I had been hit in the stomach. For a girl like Angelica, stomach aches and allergic reactions weren't a problem. She was already sick and to her those must seem like a piece of cake.

"Let's read 'bout Zac," she said as she picked her HSM book back up. The way she said Zac was adorable. She said it more like Za-CH, where the H isn't silent. She pronounced the C as if it was the CH in "chalk". And I don't think anyone had the heart to correct her because it was just too precious.

"Sure thing, pumpkin."

"Jew'lz, only you call me 'pumpkin' and 'darlin'. No one's never called me those names before. They's just call me 'kid' and 'hey you' Why you's call me those?"

I would have laughed if it weren't for the seriousness in her eyes. You would have thought she was asking why there was world hunger for the look in her big green eyes. Yes, she is a blonde with green eyes and they are gorgeous!

"Because I have live in the somewhere else all my life."

"Cause you wasn't borned in Cali," she said, in a very matter of fact way.

"Yup, exactly. I was born far away from here were it's normal for people to call people they love or even people they don't know names like darlin, pumpkin, love, sweetie, and other names like that."

"The people sound nice. Not everyone is nice here. Not at the orphanage or when I had frosty parents."

"They are nice, Angel."

"Frosty parents?" I asked, laughing.

"Yeah, the people I lived with 'fore the hospital 'cause I ain't got no parents 'cause they went to see Jesus after they wrecked."

My heart broke for this little girl. I thanked God silently for my parents. I know I didn't always want to appreciate them but being reminded of how hard Angel's life had been between losing her parents, going from the orphanage to "frosty" parents, and then being diagnosed with leukemia. I wanted to make her world better, take her home with me and let her play with my brothers like a little kid should be allowed to do, buy her clothes and be there for her first slumber party(a secret that she had shared with me). I decided right them and there that I was going to make my Angel's life as good as I possibly could before it was too late, a thought that absolutely made me shutter.

"Can you take me to visit someday?" As she asked this I could see she was biting her lip. She knew that she was sick and that she wasn't going to get better. I didn't know what to say to her.

"I would like that, sweetie. But you can't leave the hospital right now."

I could see the disappointment written all over her face even before she took a deep breathe and blew it out. With shoulders slumped, she quietly replied, "Maybe people will be that nice in heaven."

I wanted to make her world better, take her home with me and let her play with my brothers like a little kid should be allowed to do, buy her clothes and be there for her first slumber party(a secret that she had shared with me). I decided right them and there that I was going to make my Angel's life as good as I possibly could before it was too late, a thought that absolutely made me shutter.

I picked up the book and finally started reading what we had been intending to read all morning. She leaned back, resting her head against my shoulder and grinned, "Let's read bout Zac!"