Grace went back to work today, although she was supposed to be on her honeymoon. She sent her parents to Barbados instead—“shame to waste the plane tickets,” she said. She meant it, too. What she needed most was to keep herself busy. Her captain understood that and gave her a pile of work to go through, so she has no time to think. I checked in with my other charges. Pamela is busy making plans for London—working out her schedule,…
I have spent all of my time with Grace, expecting that she would need my support to get herself back together. To my surprise—and of course, my relief—she was already on her feet when I arrived this morning, talking to the hotel manager about prices and attending breakfast with some of her coworkers. She managed to convince them not to hunt Con down and hang him up by his toes in the precinct office, though I think they wouldn’t really…
I was wrong. I should have acted sooner; I should have been less hopeful. I should have had better judgment, should have protected Grace better. She was, after all, my charge, not Con, and Danit warned me that I might have to cut him away. But I wanted to believe, and so I let this go too long. This morning, well before anyone was awake, Con slipped out of the bed where Grace lay sleeping. He brushed her hair back…
I spent the day with Con today. Despite all I have done to reassure him, the fear would not leave him, and in the past few days it seems to have tightened and hardened into a knot of iron in his stomach. At the rehearsal dinner tonight, though Grace was glowing and excited, it was all Con could do to keep smiling when he wanted to run right out of the room. I knew I had to get him to…
In the Garden, sometimes work well done is undone again. To follow our human brothers and sisters requires patience, and that requires love. Both of the latter are thin in my heart right now—I confess that, and I hope to change it soon. For almost a week now, Shannon has been busily working on her project. She has gone all across the city, finding examples of street art, both foul and fair. She has spoken to some of the artists,…
It is always exciting to bear witness to a new beginning. A sunrise is always beautiful, in a thousand different ways. In the same way, it is a joy to see a new relationship forming. I have been practicing different ways to bring people together. I learned from Ramona months ago that in film, this is called a “meet cute”—the moment where the two sides of a romance come together for the first time in a way that is memorable…
At the end of my last post, I wondered if there might be a third triumph to come to one of my charges. I did not think that it would be to Shannon that it came, but so it seems, and I am gladder than I might have known to see the change in her. I dropped in on her this morning on her way to the subway for work. Her path takes her through a tunnel, and usually she…
And another triumph to add! Our Father has been good to my charges. Pamela received excellent news today, and a new future opens up before her. Ms. Reitzell let her go early today, so she decided to get a few friends together for coffee. She was already laughing with Diana and Mal when someone else approached their table. “This looks like fun,” Lee said. Pamela looked up in surprise. She had messaged him, as well, but hadn’t expected him to…
Today was a turning point, a success, a new beginning, a blast. Today was a very good day. Today was the day that Lauren held a party for her students and their families, and it may have just changed her life, as well as Jonathan’s. She has been planning it for some time, wanting to give her students a chance to relax after their mid-terms, something for them to look forward to. The only concern she had was whether she…
As one would expect, I have been keeping a close eye on Con as his wedding approaches. For a while after he talked to Grace on Valentine’s Day, I thought his nerves were gone, that he had taken Grace’s faith to heart and started to believe himself. But with the turn of the month into the same one in which the wedding will take place, he has begun to get anxious again. His fears stem from his own self-doubt, I…