Chapter 2

Sarah was doing her pre algebra in her room when she heard the door bell ring. She wondered who was at the door. Sarah glanced at the clock on the wall at it said it was a quarter past 4:00 PM. She heard her father through the living room and went to the door. Curiously Sarah went to the window that overlooked the front porch of her home, and to her surprise she saw that it was Monica at the door. A big grin came across her face and she moved away from the window to put her homework away and came down the hall to the door.

Griffin heard the door bell too, and rushes to get it. He opened the door to find out that Monica was standing there. She looked really beautiful with her tan coat on her and her reddish brown hair fanned out from her black hat. Monica gave a have shy smile to him and shook his hand as they greeted one another again.

"I wasn't expecting you till 4:30, or else I would of cleaned up a bit." Griffin said sounding a bit surprise to see her, and feeling embarrass with the slight disorganize living room.

"Oh..I don't mind at all…but I always like to arrive early." Monica said as she stepped to one side of Griffin as he shut the door.

"We are not use to having company around. Oh here let me take your coat." Griffin said as he reach for Monica's small but sort of broad shoulders. Monica took her winter coat off as well as her hat and handed them to Griffin. When Monica took off her hat, her strawberry hair fell out and dangled on her shoulders. He half gave a smile and turned to hang her coat up in the small closet beside the door. Griffin turned around and saw that she was wearing a white sweater and black dress like pants that fanned out down by her ankles. And her brown eyes just glowed from the lighting of the outside light. For some reason looking into Monica's soft brown eyes just sooths Griffin's anxiety. Monica is not the typical women Griffin usually meets. But God she does look beautiful, but Griffin will not allow himself to admit that.

"Well…umm I'll go and get Sarah…" Griffin said sounding a bit uncomfortable of having to stand there feeling like an idiot. "Please make yourself at home." And with that note Griffin disappeared up the steps to find his daughter.

Monica nods and moves herself into the living room. It had a long soft brown sofa, facing the entertainment center, which held a DVD player, a stereo system, and a television set. There was also a table that sat halfway from the entertainment center, and the sofa. Beside the entertainment center there was a large collection of movies. Most of them were all Disney films but some were more of an adult level. There was a lazy boy chair in the corner of the room. And a mantle place that held a blazing fire from the fireplace.

Monica moved over to the mantle and found a child's drawing of a turkey and a smiling face of Griffin and his daughter playing in a pile of leaves. Monica gave a smile at the site of the cheerful man with his little girl. Although Sarah looks to be about 5 or 6 here, and Griffin looks to be in his mid 30s, but he looks really attractive. Just when Monica turned around to have a seat at the couch, she was then greeted by Sarah and then followed up by Griffin.

"Sarah Monica is going to babysit you while I'm at work, I want you to be on your best behavior and listen to what ever Monica says okay.." Griffin advises when he knelt to the level of his daughter. Sarah nods and then Griffin reemerges from the floor and looks up at Monica. "I should be home sometime around 10. And here is my cell number and work number in case of an emergency, and Mrs. Wilson's number if you need anything. Thank you so very much. Usually my work is not this crazy."

"I understand. Thank you." Monica said in a sweet voice. "Don't worry I'm good with kids, you go."

"Okay..Bye sweetie," Griffin knelt down to his daughter and gave her a hug goodbye.

"Bye daddy. Oh! Remember my Thanksgiving play at the school the 19th." Sarah said with a giddy voice.

"I will I have it block in at work." Griffin said and pulls back from his daughter, and looks up to Monica and gave a half smile to her, "Bye Monica."

"Bye." Monica said as she wave him goodbye. As soon as Griffin left the two of them, Monica looked down at Sarah.

"So Sarah is it always like this with your father." Monica asked as she sat down on the sofa.

"Sometimes, whenever there is a big case that he works on, he stays at work most of the night. But mostly he is home sometime around 4:00 Pm. It's just this time with the holidays coming my dad has to sometimes work a double shift." Sarah explained.

"Ahh…so kiddo do you have your homework all done?" Monica asked, she didn't wanted to ask the real question to Sarah about her mother, knowing that Sarah is starting to feel a bit uncomfortable kind of like Griffin earlier.

"yes." Sarah replied but having Monica staring down at her, she could lie. "Well not really I still have math to do. I hate math I don't understand equations."

"Math is important, what do you need help with?" Monica asked.

"Pretty much everything of my assignment." Sarah exclaimed.

"Go get your homework and I will tutor you with it how does that sound." Monica said looking down at those soft little blue eyes. They looked like Griffin's.

"Really? You actually know pre algebra math." Sarah asked sounding a bit surprise of it.

"I had some experiment s with it." Monica explained.

Monica had spent 2 in a half hour on tutoring Sarah with Sarah's math. She looked at the clock and realized that it was about 7:00. She also knew that Sarah was getting hungry and same with Monica's human form body. "I guess its time for some dinner."

"Yeah all of this math is making me hungry, thanks for the help. I get so confused at school." Sarah said, "And Mrs. Wilson has no idea what I am talking about when I ask her for help."

Monica giggled at that, "Yeah math is advancing for older adults. I guess they need to get re-taught. So how about some food."

"We could go get a pizza or something." Sarah suggested.

"That would be great but I have some things in mind. I was thinking of cooking up an old recipe of mine, that I got from a friend." Monica stated sounding a bit excited. "I figure we could have a little girl night. But I need a special friend to help me out."

"Me?" Sarah asked a bit surprise.

"Yes who else could I be talking about." Monica said as she tickled Sarah's belly. Sarah giggled and squirmed as she tries to avoid Monica's fingers. After a few minutes of a little mother and daughter bond Monica gathered Sarah up and moved her into the kitchen.

"So what is this recipe that you are going to make." Sarah asked, liking Monica more and more by the hours.

"Have you ever tried an Irish stew before?" Monica asked looking down at Sarah. Sarah shook her head as Monica continues, "Well this stew goes back to my culture, and well I think it would be great for tonight."

"How old is Ireland anyways?" Sarah asked, out of curiosity.

"Humm…very old, older then the Catholic church." Monica explain

"Are you a good cook?" Sarah asked as she still was hammering Monica with questions.

"That depends on how your view is. Now here are the ingredients I need to make this, do you have them around the house or do we need to go out shopping for it," Monica asked as she hands Sarah the list.

"We have those things here; Mrs. Wilson always likes to cook." Sarah said as she begins to pull out the items that Monica had written down on the piece of paper, and laid them out on the kitchen bar table.

It took Monica 20 minutes to have the base of the meal cooking as she and Sarah continue to chop up the vegetables and eating some as they cook. Sarah also brought out the cookies mix too, as they made two tray fills of homemade chocolate chip cookies. Sarah put a figure splotch of flour on Monica's cheek, and Monica put a handful of flour on Sarah's nose and cheeks. They both laughed at the mess but were sharing some quality time with one another. Monica went back to putting finishing touches on the stew, while Sarah cleaned up the flour mess and set the dining room table with placemats and put the dishes of food around the table. When the stew was finally ready Monica told Sarah to go wash her hands. When Sarah came back from the bathroom, she saw that Monica had place the hot pan which contain tonight's dinner. Sarah went to her seat and sat down. Monica did the same.

"Do you usually say Grace at the table?" Monica asked her.

"Yeah…I do it all the time with Mrs. Wilson." Sarah explained.

"What about your father?" Monica asked.

"We do only on like Thanksgiving, and Christmas dinners, and sometimes Easter, but not very often. I don't think my dad is big on the whole religious thing." Sarah explains. Then Sarah does a little switch of tic tacs and asked Monica the same thing. "Do you believe in God?"

Monica smiled at that, she can't reveal herself as an angel at least not yet anyways. All Monica reply to that remark was, "Yes I do, and that he loves you and your daddy very much." That Monica knew was true.

"How do you know that, are you an angel or something?" Sarah asked.

"I know that because God loves all people and angels the same. How about if we say Grace so that we could eat? Okay?" Monica suggested not wanting to get on the subject of her being an angel, although Monica had to admit that Sarah is a bright kid, even too bright sometimes.

"Okay…you say it…I'm not real good at it." Sarah replied. And with that Sarah closed her eyes and bowed her head as Monica began the blessing of their meal.

"Our heavenly Father….I want to bless the food and thank you for the time with preparing the meal with my new friend. And watch over Griffin at his work, and bring him safely home to my new friend Sarah. In your name we pray Amen." Monica finished and then past the food to Sarah as they feasted on their meal. Monica tasted the stew that she made and for being an angel and away from the kitchen it wasn't that bad. Hell it was really good.

"How is it?" Sarah asked when Monica finished her bite of the stew.

"It's hot…but really good. Try it." Monica said as she took a sip of the glass of milk in front of her.

Sarah took a bite of the stew and placed it in her mouth. It was different but it was really mouthwatering good. Sarah had finished her first bowl and had a half of another bowl. Monica was so entrance with Sarah and the way she loves to carry on conversations with her. After they both finished eating it was around 8:30 and by the time they had put the leftovers in the refergduator and cleaned up the dishes it was about quarter to 9.

"Do we have time for a movie?" Sarah asked as she and Monica were settled on the couch.

"Umm your dad wants you in bed sometime around 9." Monica said following Griffin's rules. "I'll tell you what we will start one movie and finish it up next time okay."

"Alright. I'll pick one out. Do you like animated films?" Sarah said as she went over to the video collection.

"I like all kinds." Monica stated, as Sarah came back with a DVD. The title of the box read Beauty and the Beast. Monica had never heard of it before, but was curious about the title of it. The movie played and they were about 20 minutes into it when it was time for Sarah's bedtime. Monica stopped the movie and told Sarah to brush her teeth and she was already in her pjs. It took Sarah 5 to 10 minutes to brush her teeth and they both went upstairs to Sarah's bedroom. Her room was pink and very neat and clean. She had a small white desk up at her bedroom window, and her bed facing the right wall of her room. Sarah's backpack was up on her desk as her cloths for tomorrows outfit was laid upon her chair. Sarah had this little pony circular night light lamp that light up a small partition of her room. Sarah plopped down on her bed and climbed underneath the covers.

"Can you tuck me in and sing me a song?" Sarah asked Monica. Monica was so stunned by that, she didn't know how to tell Sarah that she can't sing.

"I can't sing….I…I have a terrible voice, you won't like it." Monica said as she tucked the covers under Sarah's chin.

"I don't mind, at least it would be better than to have an old women singing me opera every night." Sarah explained as she remembered Mrs. Wilson's of trying to sing a note from some famous opera. "Come on you can't be that bad."

"Okay…my very close friend sang this to me when I'm having troubles of my own." Monica said as she tries to gather up the notes to sing to Sarah. "The Lord moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform…He plants his footsteps on the sea….and rides on every storm"

Griffin had come home then and heard a sweet voice of singing. He walks into the direction of his daughter's bedroom and found a heartwarming moment. Monica the person he haired to babysit his baby girl is sitting on the bed and singing a song he has not heard of to his daughter. For the first time in a long time, his daughter actually is smiling and giggling to Monica. He stood by the door and listen to Monica's song. In this moment he sees her as a potential mother figure for his daughter. But he would not allow himself to get close to someone again. Griffin listens to Monica's song as she continues to sing.

"The Lord moves in mysterious way that's often not my own. His wisdom guides each path I take, His mercy leads me home. Help me to trust when I don't understand. Grant me the peace of resting in your plan……The Lord moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps on the sea…and rides on every storm." As Monica finishes the last note of Tess's song she noticed that Sarah had fallen asleep. Without thinking Monica reached over and kissed Sarah's head and turn to leave. Monica had one last glanced at Griffin's sleeping daughter and something in Monica's heart just broke. She is beginning to fall for her, and becoming a mother figure to her. When Monica closed the door to Sarah's bedroom she looked over and saw Griffin standing close by. Monica feeling slightly started gave a shy look to him.

"That was a nice song. You have a good tuned voice unlike Mrs. Wilson's opera." Griffin pointed out. Monica cheeks flared up in embarrassment when he said that. She didn't intend for him to hear her sing, especially when she sounded awful.

"I didn't hear you…When did you get back?" Monica asked still feeling embarrassed by her singing.

"Just a few minutes ago, and I heard singing so I came to investigate and found it was you." Griffin said as he pointed to Monica.

"I usually don't sing in front of people….I have a very terrible voice." Monica said as she backed her back to the wall beside Sarah's bedroom door.

Griffin smiled at that, and said, "you're not that bad I heard worst. Mrs. Wilson can't carry a single tune of anything. But you have somewhat of a descent tone of voice." Griffin stated, and Monica smiled very shyly to that. "Do you want some coffee before you go?"

"Coffee sounds lovely thanks." Monica said as she walked past Griffin and down the flight of stairs into the kitchen to sit down on one of the bar chairs. Griffin followed in after her. Monica sat down on the stool as she waited for her cup of coffee. She noticed that Griffin had big strong hands compare to her tiny small hands, and his muscular arms and very broad shoulders.

"Your daughter is a very bright kid. But she is very lovely and I enjoyed my time with her." Monica stated, as she places her hands on the cold marbled surface of the bar.

"Yeah she is, she can be very bright. Too bright sometimes." Griffin stated as he poured the coffee into two mugs. "Do you like sugar and cream in yours or none?"

"Sugar and milk is fine. Thanks." Monica said. Griffin handed her the mug and looked up into her eyes. Monica took several sips of the coffee, and asked the question she had been waiting to ask for the opportune moment. "Can I ask you a question Griffin."

"Sure" Griffin replied still looking down at her.

"What happen to Sarah's mother, if you don't mind me asking?" Monica said, and as Griffin's body mussels tightened. Monica then realized that was a mistake to say.

"I don't mind…I'll give you the sort version of it. I thought it was because she didn't love me anymore or didn't want to be a responsible parent. My ex-wife abandoned both Sarah and I when Sarah was only 5. I drank a lot the first year after she left me, but Kathy my good friend, made me realized the truth that I need to look after my daughter." Griffin paused as he looked down and took a sip of his own coffee before he continued. "I have been sober for about 4 in a half years now, and haven't touch a drink since then."

Monica was so studded by that, she had no idea why anyone would leave their child behind. Children are gifts from God. Not even a day she has been with Sarah and is already falling for her as if she was the one to bare Sarah from birth.

"So what about you, do you have any children or husband?" Griffin asked to find out more about this strange Irish accented woman.

Monica gave a short little laugh at that, "No." With the confused look on Griffin's face she continued on, "I never was married nor had any kids. But I do love to spend time with them." Monica finish as she took a sip of her coffee, and looked up into Griffin's stunning blue eye gaze. His eyes looked so deeply blue like a deep end of an ocean, which Monica could drown in it. Griffin's blue eyed stare was making Monica feel very uncomfortable, so she dropped her gaze and then re-focus back up to him again when he spoke out.

"Really? I thought you would already be married because of how…"Griffin was going to say how beautiful she was, but it was getting to personal to the small talk that they were sharing. Instead Griffin said something else that wouldn't lead her on "Diligent you are and have a strong personality. Okay have you ever been involved with anyone from your past? Or better word for that have you ever been in love?" Griffin asked out of curiosity. Griffin thinking that maybe all the men that she had dated turned out to be losers.

Monica really didn't want to answer these questions because she had never been in a relationship with anyone because of her heavenly identity. "To tell you the truth Griffin I have never fallen in love with anyone let alone had a romantic relationship with anyone."

This had shocked Griffin, "What?! You're telling me that you have never even been in one. Are you a nun or something?"

Monica laughed at that and felt this spark flaring up inside her about Griffin. As soon as she was settled down from her laugh she answered him, "No, I'm not a nun; I just never had time for a relationship because I'm always traveling and that."

Sarah had woken up from her little dozing off sleep and woke up to a dry mouth. When Sarah came out her bed room she heard laughter from both her father and from Monica. Sarah quickly got her drink from the upstairs bathroom so that they wouldn't know that she is awake, and crept to the small balcony that sort of over hangs the kitchen area. For the first time Sarah is actually seeing her father laughing with another woman, and it just happens to be Monica. Seeing Monica and her father together was making fireflies in Sarah's heart to spark up and fly around for thinking that she is the one for him. Now all she has to do is to try and make them to fall in love with each other. It's not going to be easy, but Sarah wants her father to be happy and to love someone again. And Monica is defiantly the one.

Monica glances at the clock and it read 11:15, and realize that she should go. "Well Griffin thanks for the coffee, and little small talk." Monica said as she got up to wonder out of the kitchen to put on her coat and hat.

Griffin followed her to the door and held it open for her. He always has to be a gentleman when it comes to any woman that Griffin encounters. Monica slipped her coat around her shoulders and places the hat on her head. And turned to face Griffin, with his shinning blue eyes are looking at her. Griffin then moves slightly away from the door so that Monica could get out. When he did that they sort of accidently bump into one another, and starting something. Monica caught his stare and Griffin did the same with hers. After a moment of awkwardness the quickly took to the places where they need to be.

"Goodnight Griffin, and thanks for the coffee." Monica said and with that said her goodbye and gave a shy wave to him.

"Goodnight." Griffin said from his place in the house. And with that He watch Monica climb in her red Cadillac car and watch her drive off in the snowy white night.

Before Griffin went to bed he stopped by his daughter's room, and went to say his goodnights to her. He looked down at the sleeping child as Sarah held onto her favorite black dog stuff animal that Griffin's mother gave to her, when Sarah was just born. She looked so much like Crystal Griffin's ex-wife, the same nose feature of her, the same blondish brown hair, and the same ears. The only thing that resembles Griffin's features is Sarah's eyes. Griffin bent down and kissed his daughter's forehead, as he whispers, I love you, my little princess from heaven. And turn to leave to go to his bedroom the opposite of Sarah's room.

Once inside, Griffin stripped out of his work clothes and through them in the laundry basket to be washed. He then climbed in his oversize king bed wearing just his boxers. As he slipped under the covers of his bed and closed his eyes the face that pops up in his mind is Monica. Her stunning brown eyes that glowed on every antipetion of Griffin's own voice. Griffin shook his mind to try and bring him out of focus, but her image keeps floating back to him. All night Griffin kept tossing and turning, as he kept dreaming about her. No matter what Griffin had try to keep from having another woman in his life, Monica is now permanently in Griffin's heart.