Angels Everywhere - Debbie Macomber [134]
“She is talented,” Shirley was quick to agree.
“Incredible.” Goodness seemed to be at a loss for words, which was completely unlike her.
Mercy knew she could accept no credit for Jenny’s skill; nevertheless she experienced a deep sense of pride that she should be assigned to this amazing young woman.
“Her voice, why, it’s almost . . .”
“Angelic,” Gabriel supplied, grinning broadly. It was a rare treat to find the archangel in such good spirits.
“Yes,” Mercy agreed. “Angelic.”
“You believe you can handle this request?” he questioned.
Mercy was sure she could. “Yes,” she assured him confidently. “Leave everything to me.” Somehow, some way, Mercy would come up with the means of helping Jenny fulfill her dreams. With a little help from her friends.
Anyone with this much talent, this much heart, deserved a break. A bit of intercession from the heavenly realm never hurt. Naturally Mercy wasn’t about to let Gabriel know her plans, but then what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.
And while she had her hand in Jenny’s life, Mercy decided, she might as well do what she could about getting the talented singer home for the holidays.
“No funny stuff,” Gabriel warned.
Mercy managed to look offended. “Gabriel, please, you insult me.”
“I won’t have you hot-wiring cars and sending them where you will.”
Mercy’s shoulders went back in a display of outrage. “I’d never resort to anything that underhanded.”
Gabriel didn’t say anything for several moments. Then, scratching his head, he studied the three prayer ambassadors. “Can anyone tell me why I don’t believe you?”
Four
“I’d like everyone to take out a clean piece of paper,” Brynn instructed, standing in front of the classroom. It sounded like a simple enough request, one would think. But from the moaning and groaning, it was as if she’d sprung a surprise quiz on them.
“You aren’t going to make us write again, are you?” Emilio Alcantara groaned aloud, voicing, Brynn suspected, the thoughts of half the class.
“Yes, I am,” she said, unwilling to let her students’ lack of enthusiasm dampen her spirits.
Yolanda leaned so far out of her desk toward Denzil Johnson that she nearly toppled onto the floor.
“Yolanda,” Brynn said, “is there a problem?”
“I don’t have any paper. I wanted to borrow a piece from Denzil.”
“Get your own paper, woman,” the black youth protested. “What do I look like, a friggin’ Wal-Mart?”
“I loaned you paper last week.” Yolanda’s dark eyes snapped with outrage.
“That’s because you were lucky enough to have me sit next to you. I never said nothin’ about paying you back.”
Yolanda’s mouth thinned, and it looked as if she were about to explode when Suzie Chang saved the day.
“I have an extra sheet she can use,” the Chinese girl volunteered shyly, tearing off a clean page from her tablet and passing it across the aisle to Yolanda. The Hispanic girl grabbed it and glared at Denzil as if to say it would be a cold day in hell before he got anything from her again.
“Thank you, Suzie,” Brynn said, eager to return to the writing assignment.
“What are you going to have us write about this time?” Emilio asked. “Not something stupid, I hope.”
Teaching the value clarification portion of the class had proved to be the most difficult for Brynn. She wanted to make this as interesting and as much fun as she could, but she often found herself on a completely different wavelength from her students.
The incident with Emilio in the hallway was a prime example. The teenager had actually expected her to lie on his behalf. Emilio didn’t understand why she’d told the truth about the knife. He’d missed three days of school and consequently blamed her. He saw nothing wrong with his own behavior but seemed to feel that she’d been the one to betray his trust.
It had taken the better part of another week for his sullen mood in class to disappear. She wasn’t sure even now what she’d done to get back into his good graces. Whatever it was, she was grateful. Emilio was a natural leader, so his attitude was quickly picked up by the others