I stood crooning and rocking my last little charge in my arms as his mother and father were creating his body. He was the sweetest soul, innocent beyond innocence and he was my last child. My child of innocence.
His excitement was contagious and it was all I could do to keep him settled. It seemed like every minute he jumped, asking me, "Is it now?" I just shook my head, for he was so much like my other child of mischief. Looking down at this sweet, trusting soul and I was torn in two, for on the one hand I didn't want to let him go, knowing that he was too innocent for this world, but on the other hand I knew that he would help to change the world and make it a better place because he was in it.
Looking over at the young couple I could tell they loved each other and would love this child of mine. Their joy would bring smiles to all who knew them and they would teach my innocent child the ways of the light and love.
"Angel Child?" The quiet voice had me turning to see Tess, my mentor and friend, standing behind me. She taken to being with at this time and I was glad for her support. Smiling, I made my way towards her, cradling my last babe so that he could meet my friend and protector. "Tess, I want you to meet my sixth and youngest charge."
The little soul reached out to touch her and she took him from my arms to coo at him, "You are just so precious." Then she tickled him under his little chin, making little goo and gaa sounds. My littlest one captured her finger to rub his face against it, happy to meet her. The look of happiness on both their faces brought a slight mist to my eyes.
Knowing that my charge would be safe with her I let them have some time together. Turning back to the soon-to-be parents, I watched as they made love to one another and murmured quiet, sweet words of love and affection. As the time approached I held out my arms to Tess and she gently placing the baby in them. Tess then bent and pressed a soft kiss to the little soul before I delivered him. Holding him close for the last time, I too kissed this child of mine before slipping him into his body; but before I could let him go I felt tiny little lips on my cheek and tiny arms hugging me.
JULY 18, 1857
My sixth child was born today and it seemed that even the heavens rang with joy at his birth. The dawn's early light seemed to reach out to touch this last child of mine as if in greeting. His cry of thanks to the Lord for his birth was like a single pure note that seemed to flow across the earth, touching souls in joy.
The birth was hard on Karen and I feared that my innocent would lose his mother at the moment of his new life’s beginning. I wrapped my arms around the young woman and placed her head on my shoulder, giving her my strength to use instead of her own. I knew it would weaken me, but I had to try for my last babe.
I looked up into the seeing gaze of the midwife who was helping Karen with the delivery of my child. She smiled at me and in that smile I saw wonderment and joy as she welcome me in Gaelic. I returned her smile and blessed her for her care and help with my charge. Together we worked to bring a new life in this world and to keep his mother in it with him.
It was a long battle, but just as the dawn light filtered into the room my sixth child’s cry could be heard. Wayne was ushered in to greet his crying son, pure wonder and joy on his face as he beheld his boy and raised his eyes to heaven to thank the Holy Father for this precious life. Then he turned to meet the tired but joyful eyes of his wife and brought my child to his mother. Gently he kissed her forehead and told her how much he loved her and that this was the third greatest day in his life. The first being when he met her, the second the day they were married and third this day, the birth of their son.
The midwife asked Karen to name the child, and with a smile Karen replied, "John Daniel Dunne."
I watched as the midwife called for the blessing of the Great Mother over the child and then looked up at me, waiting for me to bless my child as well. I gently lay my hand on hers to thank her for the blessing. Many preachers would call her a witch, a devil worshiper, but they have refused to understand that the Lord has taken many faces to spread the Light throughout the world. This woman had chosen to follow the Great Mother, while others follow Allah or the Great Spirit. None were wrong and all were right if they followed the path of love and light.
Turning my attention to my sixth child, I gently placed one of my hands on his head and the other over his heart as I began to recite my vows of guardianship over my last charge.
|
I will be there in during the long hours of night.
To comfort and hold you safe until the light of dawn breaks through the darkness.
Fear not my child, for I will be there.
I will lighten your path so that you will not stumble.
I will hold you within my arms so that you know that you are loved.,
You will never be alone, My child of innocence.
I will be there to share your all your heartache and joys.
My heart reaches for your and I will weep when you suffer.
I love you my child of innocent and I will never abandon you when you need me the most..
I will always walk with you all the days of your life.
I shall never stray from your side for I am your Angel.
I will show you the way with my love and light, My childe of innocence.
|
The midwife seem pleased with my vow and left me to pick up my duties as guardian. Karen was not resting well and Wayne was trying to help make her comfortable knowing that a good nights rest would help her heal. To help them both I lay a gentle hand upon her brow and commanded her to sleep; she relaxed and drifted off to sleep in the arms of her husband, who followed shortly afterwards.
I smiled at how young both parents were, for they looked like children themselves but were considered grownups in this day and age. Gently I brushed back Wayne's black hair from his forehead as he slept; a whisper of foreboding settled in my heart and I wished that I could know God's plan for this couple.
Knowing I wouldn't be interrupted, it was high time for me to introduce myself to my charge. I appeared and picked up my little babe. "Well John..."
He wrinkled his nose at me.
Oh Lord! Give me strength, another one. This child of innocence had too much in common with my child of mischief to be coincidence. Raising my eyebrow I looked down at him suspiciously. "All right my little gentlemen, you just have a little too much in common with my third charge, Buck ...".
The little squeal of delight interrupted me.
Oh dear, they knew each other. Scenes of mayhem, practical jokes and just general mischief came to mind, but all of it in the spirit of fun and laughter. Smiling down at my babe I told him all about my child of mischief and he listened attentively, his brown eyes wide open and looking right at me while he cooed softly. Then we settled down to try to find a name that he preferred and... well, he settled on JD.
"Well JD, I'm your guardian angel, Ezra." My little one giggled at me, and I felt a wave of welcome from him that touched my spirit and made it light.
November 11, 1860
On November 8, 1860, the ship that Wayne Dunne was traveling on from Boston to Nova Scotia sank in a sudden storm off the coast of Maine. There were no survivors. The bank where Wayne worked had asked him to deliver vital papers to a client in Nova Scotia and he was only to be gone for a week; the errand meant a move up and would have resulted in a promotion, but now both Karen and my child were left without a provider.
Karen’s parents would be arriving in two days to take her back to New York and a job working for the Maloney family as a cook and housekeeper; the job would enable she and JD to live in the family’s house and my charge would have a chance at proper schooling. The little bit of money Wayne and Karen had saved would go to seeing that JD had a chance of going to college.
I watched as the women in the neighborhood came and offered comfort to the young widow in her time of grief. Everyone forgot little JD but me. Knowing no one was paying attention, I gathered the three year old in my arms and took him into the bedroom where I sat and rocked him. The sad little face turned to me and I somehow knew that he understood what had happened to his father, and I wept for the loss he had suffered.
He reached up his chubby little hand to touch my cheek as though to give me comfort instead of the other way around. I wrapped my arms around him and held him close, wishing I could protect him from any more hurt.
April 7, 1862
As the war raged in the South the knowledge that my child of innocence was spared the horrors and suffering of those in the battle zone was a small comfort for me while I was busy trying to ensure that none of my other charges would be harmed. JD stayed in New York, far from all fighting, being raised by his loving and gentle mother and grandparents. The Maloney family were kind and generous employers who encouraged a friendship between JD and their two youngest children, Steven and Emily.
Judge Maloney and his wife had five children. The oldest child, Mark, was attending Harvard so he could follow in father's footsteps. Mary and Julia were twins, both happily married with children of their own, and the last two were seven year old Emily and five year old Stephen. Poor Emily was not a very strong child, subject to colds and chills which resulted in her staying in bed most of the time. But JD, being the sweet child that he was, decided to bring as much of the outside world to Emily as possible. And his relationship with Steve brought smiles to everyone's face. Steve was a shy boy, but being exposed to JD's enthusiasm helped him to blossom into a bright, outgoing child. The two little boys were very much like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, characters from their favorite tale.
They got into everything, as little boys do. They climbed trees, went fishing, collected anything that crawled, hopped or flew to stick in their pockets, and more times than not came home covered in dirt an inch thick. Not that they avoided water, as the Judge could attest to when the two five year olds decided that they needed to cool off and went skinny-dipping in the little fountain in plain site of his dinner guests. They also suffered a number of cuts, bruises and broken bones from falling out of trees, haylofts and anything two boys could fall out of, into or around. If I were human I would have had gray hair from all the near misses and escapades that they put me through trying to keep up with them.
Then there was the time the little devils decided that because Emily couldn't go outside to go tobogganing with them they would instead take her sliding down the grand staircase. The three little scamps got all loaded up at the top of the stairs on their toboggan and I frantically tried to stop them but couldn't before they pushed off. Down they flew, across the marble entranceway, through the outside door that the Judge had just open and down the outside steps to stop about twenty-five feet from the house. At the Judge's yell the entire household came running out just in time to watch the three children come to a stop in the lawn. Both boys got a tanning and their sled was confiscated for a month.
Those were happy times for the two little boys…until the Judge went away to join the northern army's fight against the South. Karen and Margaret, Emily and Steven's mother, took comfort from one another and had Mary and Julia move in with their children as their husbands followed the Judge. The women pulled together and decided to help as much as they could. Even in these trying times there were people who were willing to help others no matter were they were from, and I was so pleased with Karen and the other women who put the suffering of others above what political side they were on.
November 27, 1867
Last night Andrew, the Angel of Death, came to bring Emily home to God, for her suffering was finally over. The last two years of the child's life were spent in bed, growing weaker and weaker until she caught an innocent little cold that finally took her life. All the adults had known that the child's death was coming, but to actually have it happen was still a shock to them.
The Maloney family's grief at the death of one of their own touched everyone, but it was Karen that gave them the most comfort; she was a source of strength and comfort in those dark days that followed. As the couple’s other three children arrived to be with their parents at this time of grief the family drew upon Karen's kindness with gratitude.
My wonderful child followed his mother's example, comforting Steve and the other children while their parents were grieving themselves. In his own way he tried to answer all the children's questions about death and what heaven was like, then at night he comforted Steve as the other boy cried himself to sleep. This forged a strong bond between the two boys that neither would ever forget.
Only when Steve was asleep and JD in his own bed did he give into his own grief, and it was then that I comforted him. He was never afraid as I lifted him into my arms and gently rocked him as I sang to him to sleep.
JULY 17, 1873
After Karen's parents' deaths, she decided to take an opportunity with Julia Donaldson, one of the Judge's daughters. This meant moving to Boston, where there would be more money and opportunities for JD. My poor child tried to be so brave at leaving his childhood home, but each night he quietly cried himself to sleep. Knowing how lonely he would be until he found some new friends, I decided to become his invisible playmate.
I kept him mostly out of trouble and although it was only a short while that he and I played together I’d never been so happy. JD’s love of reading had started at an early age and he read everything he could get his hands on, but his favorites were stories that dealt with adventure. We had some grand adventures with him pretending to be the Count of Monte Cristo or D'Artagnan, exploring and mapping new territory with Davey Crockett, making our final stand with Daniel Boone and the other defenders of the Alamo, or upholding the law out west with Carson, Wallace and Masterson. All too soon, though, the other children in the area both young and old made friends with the enthusiastic young boy and I resumed my post as his angel and protector. It was a joy to hear children laugh for any angel, but for me JD's laughter was absolutely heavenly and I laughed with him as he played out his adventures with the others the way he had once played them with me.
JD's second great love was horses. To earn extra cash and work with the animals he loved he became a stable boy for the Donaldsons, and he was taught by the stable master how to ride, groom and finally break horses. As I watched the beautiful sight of my youngest riding bareback across the pasture on the first horse he’d broken himself, his eyes shining with happiness and both boy and horse yearning to race with the wind I wished all his days could be like that, but the day before Tess had told me that Karen was dying of a wasting sickness. These carefree days would grow fewer and fewer as Karen grew more and more ill and my heart broke for my child, my babe.
August 22, 1875
The Donaldsons had just left after offering comforting words and touches to my youngest at the death of his beloved mother; the day before they had offered him the job of head stable boy, which he had accepted gratefully.
When they had all started to notice that Karen was sick the Donaldsons paid for doctors to come and see her, but all of the doctors told them that she only had a few months left to live and there was nothing they could do. And instead of kicking her out like many employers would have, they saw to it that she would spend her last days in comfort. I blessed this family that took such care of Karen and JD, for it was nice to find people who though with their hearts instead of their wallets.
Hearing the heartbreaking sob from my child of innocence I turned away from watching the Donaldsons leave to gather JD into my arms and wrap my wings around him, and Karen embraced him on the other side so that he was surround by both of our love. We stayed with him through the day, and we were there when David Donaldson told my child that the money Karen and Wayne had saved wasn't enough for him to go to college. Both mother and son's hearts broke at the news, but I told Karen that she need not worry for God needed JD to go out west.
Out west to meet my other five charges.
As night fell Andrew came to retrieve Karen and escort her to heaven while I remained to comfort my distressed child. Wrapping him once more in my wings and arms I whispered to him about going west. To do what Bat Masterson, "Bigfoot" Wallace and Kit Carson had done.
September 18, 1875
I watched my little innocent meet with Chris, Vin and Nathan that first day in town and he scared me half to death by pulling out his gun to shoot at the fleeing man, but luckily Chris stopped him.
To make out the next morning that that I had never met him or any of my other babes hurt, for all I wanted to do was to hold each and every one of them…but I couldn't. Instead I held tight to the orders the Lord had given me to unite my children as brothers and to give them a Magnificent future together.
The End
Next story: Chris's Comforting Angel
