Starry Night: A Christmas Novel Read online

  Mercy scanned the crowd, then rose above the street and peered down, hoping for a glimpse of her friend.

  Goodness joined her. “Do you see her?”

  “Do you?”

  “No.”

  Mercy continued looking and when she turned to connect with Goodness, her friend was gone as well. Panic was starting to take hold. “Will,” she shouted, fearing she’d lost complete control of the situation.

  “I’m here.”

  Thank heaven for that. “Do you see Goodness?”

  “What about Shirley?”

  Shirley wasn’t nearly the worry Goodness was. If her fellow Prayer Ambassador got loose there was no telling the trouble she could get into. And Goodness could do it without even trying.

  “Is that Goodness over by those people on the stand?” Will asked.

  Stand? What stand? Mercy surveyed the area until she saw the direction Will indicated. This was exactly what she’d feared. Goodness had gotten distracted by the television crew busily working the cameras. It was all those lights. Goodness found lights impossible to resist.

  Mercy arrived in the nick of time. Goodness also had a weakness for anything electronic. Everything in heaven was advanced and her fellow angel was fascinated by the primitive forms of communication still commonly used on Earth.

  “Goodness,” Mercy screeched. “Don’t do it.”

  Startled, Goodness disappeared from the jumbo screen but not before her shadowy image briefly flashed across the surface. A hush fell over the crowd.

  “Did you see that?” someone shouted and pointed at the screen.

  “It looked like an angel.”

  “It’s a sign from God.”

  Mercy groaned. This was worse than she’d imagined. If word of this got back to Gabriel they could all be banned from Earth forever.

  “I knew something like this was bound to happen.” Shirley appeared out of the blue, hands digging into her hips. Her face was crunched up into a look of righteous indignation.

  “We were looking for you,” Mercy admonished before Shirley could complain. “Where did you go?”

  “I was around.”

  “Goodness.” Shirley grabbed hold of the Prayer Ambassador just before she made a repeat appearance on the big screen.

  “She can’t help herself.” Mercy felt obliged to defend her dearest friend.

  “Where’s Will?”

  Sure enough Will was now nowhere to be seen.

  “I’ll find him.” But first Mercy had to take care of Goodness.

  “I know, I know,” Shirley said, catching hold of Goodness a second time. “I’ll get her back to heaven. You find Will.”

  “Where were you?” Mercy demanded, unwilling to let Shirley off without an explanation.

  “Sorry, I saw a cranky toddler. Mom was doing her best to soothe her with little success, so I lent her a hand. The little boy is fast asleep now.”

  “Thanks to you.”

  “I’ve learned a fair number of lullabies in my time.”

  No doubt Shirley had.

  “I’ll join you as soon as I can.” Mercy caught a glimpse of Will out of the corner of her eye. As she suspected, he’d returned to the street. The crowd started to chant off the seconds and then a loud, joyous cry arose as the mass of people welcomed in the New Year.

  “Happy New Year,” Shirley cried out as she escorted Goodness home.

  “Happy New Year,” Mercy echoed. Now all she had to do was collect Will before he got into trouble.

  Oh dear … oh dear. It looked like she was too late.

  Humans surrounded her, hugging and kissing, and there was Will, standing beside two people all alone with their backs to each other.

  Mercy could see what was about to happen and felt powerless to stop it. With a single nudge of his wing, Will caused these two strangers to stumble into each other.

  Read on for a sneak peek at Angels at the Table from

  #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author

  DEBBIE MACOMBER

  Filled with laughs, love, and a charming dose of angelic intervention.

  www.DebbieMacomber.com

  Find Debbie on Facebook

  A Ballantine Books paperback and eBook

  Also available in audio editions