Paul slipped into Kathy’s hospital room just ahead of Susan.
John was sitting at the foot of the bed, watching Kathy tap repeatedly on the little black box in her hand.
Paul landed beside him.
“How are we doing in here, John? How’s your momma?”
John pointed toward Kathy.
“This is all she does.”
Paul looked.
Kathy stared at the screen in her hand, tapped it with her finger, stopped, stared some more, then tapped again.
John shook his head.
“She just keeps looking at that little black box and pecking at it.”
Paul studied it for a moment.
“I can’t say I know what that thing is either.”
John looked toward the door.
“Susan’s coming, isn’t she?”
“Yes.”
John slid off the foot of the bed and joined Paul near the window.
“Before she comes in, can I ask you something?”
Paul saw the change in his face.
This wasn’t going to be another question about days or little black boxes.
John had been thinking.
Really thinking.
“Of course.”
John glanced back at Kathy.
“What happened to my mother?”
Paul said nothing.
“And what is all of this about?”
Paul looked into the little angel’s face.
He had known this question was coming.
He just hadn’t known when.
Paul slowly sat on the windowsill.
“John...this is going to be difficult to explain.”
John moved closer.
Paul took a breath.
“This is all about you.”
John’s head immediately tilted to one side.
His wings fluttered.
“Me?”
Paul nodded.
John pointed at himself.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
John looked at Kathy.
Then back at Paul.
“How can all of this be about me?”
Before Paul could answer, voices sounded in the hallway.
Susan had almost reached Kathy’s door when someone hurried up behind her.
“Mrs. Hunt!”
Susan turned.
A young man stood several feet away, breathless and frightened.
“Is Kathy okay? I heard she was here. Please tell me she’s okay.”
Susan stared at him.
“Chris.”
Something hot rose inside her.
All the questions.
All the anger.
All the fear.
Before she could stop herself, the words came sharply.
“I can’t believe you’re here.”
Chris froze.
Susan saw the fear in his eyes and immediately heard the anger in her own voice.
“Mrs. Hunt...I don’t understand.”
He took a cautious step toward her.
“Lucy called me. She said Kathy was in the hospital. Of course I came.”
Susan stared at him.
“Are you...upset with me?”
For several seconds neither spoke.
The hospital intercom crackled overhead.
A nurse hurried past.
Then footsteps came quickly from farther down the hall.
Susan looked toward them.
Lucy.
“Maybe,” Susan said quietly, “she can shed some light on all of this.”
Chris turned.
Lucy was coming toward them fast.
The moment she reached him, she struck him hard on the shoulder.
“This is all your fault, Chris!”
Chris stumbled backward.
“What?”
“You’re a monster!”
“Stop!”
His voice echoed down the corridor.
“Would somebody please tell me what is going on?”
Susan glanced nervously toward Kathy’s room.
“Both of you, quiet.”
Chris looked from Susan to Lucy.
“I am completely clueless here. All I want to know right now is whether Kathy is okay.”
Susan studied his face.
There was something there she hadn’t expected.
Confusion.
Real confusion.
“Chris...you honestly don’t know what happened?”
“No, Mrs. Hunt. I honestly don’t.”
Lucy rolled her eyes.
“Clueless is right.”
Susan reached for both of them.
“Come on. We are not doing this in the hallway.”
She guided them toward an empty room nearby.
“We’re going to get this straightened out.”
The three stepped inside.
The door closed behind them.
John and Paul returned to the hospital roof.
They sat side by side on the ledge, their legs dangling over the edge while the wind tugged at their white robes.
For once, John wasn’t interested in the view.
He turned immediately toward Paul.
“Okay.”
Paul glanced at him.
“Okay what?”
“You said this is all about me.”
John folded his arms.
“So let’s start at the beginning.”
Paul already knew where this was going.
John leaned closer.
“Who am I?”
Paul looked out over the city.
Clouds were beginning to drift across the afternoon sky.
“John, let me answer your question with a question.”
John groaned.
“Why do you always do that?”
Paul smiled.
“Do you ever wonder why I’m the one who seems to have all the answers?”
John reached up and stroked one of his snow-white feathers.
“Well...”
He thought about it.
“I guess I never really did.”
Then his eyes narrowed.
“How do you know all these things?”
Paul looked at him.
“Because I’ve been here before.”
John stopped moving.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I was once exactly where you are now.”
John stared at him.
“I had questions too. Lots of them.”
“You?”
“Yes, me.”
Paul smiled faintly.
“And I had someone to help me understand.”
John leaned forward.
Paul continued.
“I am an eternal soul, John. Just like you.”
John listened carefully.
“I was sent here to live inside the body of a little boy named Paul Hunt.”
John’s eyes widened.
“Paul Hunt?”
Paul nodded.
“That was going to be my Earthly name.”
He looked toward the hospital below.
“My mother loved me very much.”
Something softened in his face.
“My father did too.”
John remained silent.
“For reasons I don’t completely understand, my time inside that body ended much earlier than anyone expected.”
Paul looked down at his hands.
“My light was released before I ever got the chance to grow up.”
John’s expression changed.
He understood more than Paul had expected.
Paul continued.
“But my story didn’t end.”
John looked at him.
“I came back because the people I loved still needed help finding their Light.”
Paul smiled.
“And because someday, I want us all to be together again.”
John sat quietly for several seconds.
Then something clicked.
His eyes grew enormous.
“Wait.”
Paul knew.
John pointed toward the hospital.
“They call my momma Kathy Hunt.”
“Yes.”
“And you said your name was Paul Hunt.”
“Yes.”
John’s mouth fell open.
“And if I was supposed to be part of the Hunt family...”
Paul waited.
John looked at him.
“That means...”
Paul smiled.
“We’re family.”
John’s wings popped open.
“We’re FAMILY?”
Paul laughed.
“Yes, John.”
John jumped to his feet on the rooftop.
“You’re my family!”
Paul stood too.
John threw his arms around him.
For a moment Paul simply held him.
Then John pulled back.
“So Susan...”
Paul nodded.
“Susan is my mother.”
John looked stunned all over again.
“That makes her...”
Paul smiled.
“Your grandmother.”
John’s face lit up.
“I HAVE A GRANDMOTHER?”
Paul laughed.
“You certainly do.”
John looked toward the hospital again.
“And she loves you?”
“With all her heart.”
“She still loves you?”
Paul’s smile became softer.
“Yes.”
“She knows we’ll all be together someday?”
“She believes we will.”
John looked down toward Kathy’s room.
The excitement slowly faded from his face.
Another question had arrived.
A much harder one.
He looked back at Paul.
“Paul?”
“Yes, John?”
John swallowed.
“Does my mother love me?”
Paul’s smile faded.
He knew this was the question John had really been trying to ask.
John looked down toward the hospital.
“Does my mother love me?”
Paul was quiet for a moment.
Then he answered carefully.
“She will, John.”
John looked back at him.
“She will?”
“Yes.”
“But does she love me now?”
Paul hesitated.
John’s face told him not to hide from the question.
“She doesn’t understand yet.”
John’s wings lowered slightly.
Paul moved closer.
“Remember what you said before? You could see a place inside her where the Light should be.”
John nodded.
“It’s there,” Paul said. “But there is still darkness around it.”
John looked troubled.
“She’ll have choices throughout her life. Lots of them. Opportunities to accept the Light or turn away from it.”
Paul placed a hand on John’s shoulder.
“But we only have a short time here to help her.”
John stared at the rooftop beneath his feet.
Then came the question Paul had hoped he wouldn’t have to answer quite yet.
“Why was my light released before I ever got to live in my body?”
Paul drew a slow breath.
John continued.
“Did she not want me?”
Paul closed his eyes for a moment.
When he opened them, John was still waiting.
“No, John.”
The words hurt Paul almost as much as they hurt the little angel standing in front of him.
“Right now, she doesn’t understand who you are.”
John’s eyes filled with confusion.
“She didn’t want me?”
Paul nodded slowly.
“But John—listen to me.”
He took both of John’s shoulders.
“When your mother finds her Light, she will understand.”
John looked into Paul’s face.
“She’ll understand me?”
“Yes.”
“She’ll love me?”
Paul smiled.
“She will.”
John was silent.
The sun had begun to fall toward the horizon.
Orange and red spilled across the evening sky while the city beneath them slowly changed from daylight to shadow.
John walked away from Paul.
Back and forth across the rooftop.
His thoughts seemed almost too big for such a little angel.
Finally he stopped.
He looked toward the hospital.
Toward Kathy.
Then he walked back to Paul.
John placed one hand on his shoulder.
“I still love her.”
Paul looked at him.
John’s voice became stronger.
“I don’t care.”
He shook his head.
“Nothing can stop that.”
Paul smiled.
John repeated it as though he wanted Heaven itself to hear him.
“Nothing.”
Paul pulled him into an embrace.
For a few moments the two angels stood together beneath the brilliant evening sky.
Then John stepped back.
The sadness was still there.
But something else had joined it.
Purpose.
He opened his wings.
“Come on, Paul.”
Paul raised an eyebrow.
“Where are we going?”
John smiled.
“We’ve got a lot of loving to do.”
Paul laughed.
His own wings opened.
Together, the two angels lifted from the rooftop and headed back toward Kathy.
Inside the empty hospital room, Susan, Lucy, and Chris stood looking at one another.
Nobody seemed willing to speak first.
The silence stretched.
Finally Lucy broke it.
She looked directly at Chris.
“So who is she?”
Chris blinked.
“What?”
“The other girl.”
Chris stared at her.
“Why don’t you just tell us who she is?”
Chris had reached his limit.
He turned toward the door.
“Look, I’m going to see Kathy.”
Susan stepped toward him.
“I’m tired of everybody acting like I’m supposed to know something I don’t know.”
His hand closed around the door handle.
“I’ll ask Kathy myself.”
Susan reached out and caught his arm.
“Chris.”
He stopped.
Their eyes met.
Susan could see anger there now.
But underneath it was still confusion.
Real confusion.
She lowered her voice.
“Did you know Kathy was pregnant?”
Chris slowly released the door handle.
For a moment he simply stared at Susan.
Then his face changed.
“What?”
Susan didn’t answer.
Chris looked from her to Lucy.
“Kathy was pregnant?”
Lucy folded her arms.
Chris took a step backward.
“Mrs. Hunt...I had no idea.”
Susan studied him closely.
“None?”
“None.”
He ran a hand through his hair.
“Is that what all of this is about?”
Susan remained silent.
Chris shook his head.
“This explains so much.”
Lucy’s expression hardened.
Chris continued.
“She’s been acting strange for weeks. She wasn’t herself.”
He looked toward the door.
“She told me she wanted to break up.”
Susan frowned.
“She did?”
“She said she needed space. A break. But she would never tell me why.”
He turned toward Lucy.
“I don’t know what Kathy told you.”
Lucy stared at him.
“But you need to know something.”
Chris’ voice softened.
“I love her.”
Lucy said nothing.
“I would never deliberately hurt Kathy.”
He swallowed.
“You have to believe me.”
Lucy’s jaw tightened.
“So...”
She stepped toward him.
“You’re saying Kathy lied?”
Chris threw his hands up.
“I’m saying I don’t know what she told you!”
Before either could say another word, Chris pulled open the door and rushed into the hallway.
Susan and Lucy followed.
He reached Kathy’s room first.
Chris stepped through the doorway.
Kathy looked up from the bed.
Her eyes widened.
“Chris?”
She immediately tried to sit up.
“What are you doing here?”
Chris stopped beside the bed.
“Are you okay?”
Kathy stared at him.
Then came the question she had been dreading.
“And...is the baby okay?”
Kathy pulled the blanket toward her face.
Tears immediately filled her eyes.
“Chris...”
He stepped closer.
“I’m so sorry.”
Her voice broke.
“I didn’t know what to do.”
Chris stared at her.
“I was so scared.”
He looked at Susan.
Then Lucy.
Then back at Kathy.
“What did you do?”
Susan came to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Chris...”
He turned toward her.
“The baby is gone.”
Everything in his face stopped.
Susan continued softly.
“Kathy had an abortion this morning.”
Chris looked at Kathy.
Then Susan.
Then Kathy again.
His eyes filled.
“You...”
He struggled to speak.
“You did this without telling me?”
Kathy began to sob.
Chris backed away from the bed.
“Why didn’t I get a chance to be part of this?”
No one answered.
His voice rose.
“I was the father.”
John, hovering nearby, suddenly looked toward Paul.
Chris continued.
“Or I guess I should say...I was the father.”
John’s eyes widened.
He pointed toward Chris.
“Paul.”
Chris turned toward the door.
“Paul!”
John grabbed his arm.
“He said he was the father.”
Paul looked at him.
John pointed toward the hallway as Chris stormed away.
“That’s my father.”
For a moment John forgot everything else.
“He’s my dad!”
Paul smiled gently.
John watched Chris disappear toward the elevators.
“And he wanted me.”
Paul nodded.
“Yes, John.”
John looked stunned.
“He wanted me.”
“Yes.”
John’s eyes suddenly brightened.
“I saw his Light.”
Paul smiled.
“So did I.”
“It wasn’t very bright.”
“No.”
“But it was there.”
“It was.”
John looked toward the hallway again.
Then back at Kathy.
For the first time, he seemed torn.
“My mother is hurting.”
Paul nodded.
“But my father is hurting too.”
“Yes.”
John hesitated.
“What do I do?”
Paul looked toward the window.
Outside, they could hear the distant sound of a car engine roaring to life.
“Go to him.”
John stared at Paul.
“You think I should leave Momma?”
“Right now, your father may need you more.”
John looked toward Kathy one final time.
Then toward the window.
Paul smiled.
“His Light may be exactly what your mother needs someday.”
John’s face changed.
Purpose returned.
“You’re right.”
He opened his wings.
“We need to make that Light shine.”
John shot through the open window.
Seconds later, he was clinging to the roof of Chris’ speeding car.
His robe snapped wildly in the wind.
His curly hair whipped back and forth.
John’s eyes went wide.
Then a huge grin spread across his face.
“THIS IS GREAT!”
John held tight as Chris’ car sped through the city.
His robe snapped behind him.
His wings stretched back in the wind.
“This is still great!”
Then the car suddenly slowed.
John nearly slid forward over the windshield.
“Whoa!”
Chris turned into a parking lot and brought the car to a stop.
The engine went silent.
So did the music.
For the first time since leaving the hospital, Chris simply sat there.
His hands stayed on the steering wheel.
His head dropped.
“I can’t tell Mom and Dad right now.”
John’s smile faded.
Chris whispered to himself:
“I just can’t.”
He finally opened the door and stepped out.
John climbed down from the roof and looked around.
Then he saw it.
The church.
Chris stood in the parking lot staring toward the steeple.
A massive cross rose above the building.
Something in his face softened.
“I’ll talk to my pastor.”
John watched closely.
Chris nodded to himself.
“That’s what I need to do.”
And then John saw it.
Chris’ Light.
It began to brighten.
Not all at once.
But enough.
John grinned.
“That’s right, Dad.”
He pumped one fist into the air.
“You’re going the right way.”
Chris walked toward the sanctuary doors and stepped inside.
John followed.
The church was nearly silent.
The kind of silence that seemed to make every little sound important.
Chris walked slowly down the long aisle.
His footsteps echoed against the walls.
John floated behind him.
Then a heavy door creaked somewhere near the front of the sanctuary.
Chris turned.
A familiar voice called out:
“Well, Chris. Is there something I can do for you?”
Chris barely made it to the first pew.
He sat down hard.
His elbows rested on his knees.
His face disappeared into his hands.
“Something terrible has happened.”
The pastor came toward him.
Chris looked up.
His eyes were red.
“Please help me.”
The pastor sat beside him.
“Chris, slow down.”
He placed an arm around his shoulders.
“You don’t have to tell me everything at once.”
Chris tried to breathe.
“Just start at the beginning.”
The pastor gave him a reassuring squeeze.
“I’ve got all day.”
Chris closed his eyes.
Then he began.
He told him about Kathy.
The strange weeks leading up to the breakup.
The hospital.
The pregnancy.
The abortion.
The child he had never known existed until after that child was gone.
John remained nearby.
Listening.
Watching.
The pastor listened too.
He didn’t interrupt.
He simply stayed with Chris as the words poured out.
And slowly, something changed.
John saw it first.
The Light inside Chris began to grow.
Brighter.
Warmer.
The pastor’s Light seemed to answer it.
Gold filled the space between them.
John’s eyes widened.
He dropped to his knees in the aisle.
His little hands clasped together.
He had never seen his father look like this.
Broken.
Hurting.
Surrendered.
And yet somehow...
brighter than before.
The pastor bowed his head.
Chris bowed his too.
John watched as their two Lights seemed to meet.
Then a brilliant beam of golden light rose above them.
Straight upward.
Through the sanctuary.
Through the roof.
Toward Heaven.
John stared.
His mouth fell open.
Then came the smile.
A huge one.
“My dad.”
The beam continued upward.
“My dad is shining!”
John jumped to his feet.
His wings opened.
He looked toward Heaven.
Then toward Chris.
His father.
For the first time since learning who he was, John understood something new.
He had not come only for Kathy.
There was love to carry everywhere.
John shot upward toward the rafters.
He spun once.
Then twice.
Then three times.
A loop.
A twist.
A ridiculous little angel somersault.
Pure joy.
From below, Chris and the pastor never saw any of it.
But Heaven did.
And John was pretty sure Heaven was smiling too.
