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"I’ her thick winter coat and hanging it in the hall closet As always her house was spotless Her furniture was polished, the latest in conte table shone back at her like a aze rested on a white lambskin sofa that had cost nearly four thousand dollars Her home was expensive and ultramodern A child would wreak havoc in her pristine domain

Leah’s friends envied her home Their oere often a minefield of toys and other traps children left scattered about Her friends’ lives centered around feeding schedules, soccer practices, and flute lessons Leah would gladly relinquish her grand piano for a crib and the Persian rug for a playpen She would gladly trade her tidy existence for the chaos and joy a child would bring into her life and ," her husband announced from inside the kitchen "How does us sound?"

"Excellent" She moved into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around Andreaist

Their inable A large room for two people who dined out more often than they ate at honed her kitchen when they believed their future included children She’d clung to the thread of that hope, but it had grown impossibly thin as the fiber of her dreams had worn away

Leah’s eyes rested on her shiny, clean cupboards and her waxed, spotless floor Her heart moved into her throat with a sharp stab of unexpected pain She longed for a refrigerator door serprints, and linoleu shoes and toy trucks

"Did you have a long day?" Andrew asked

Leah nodded She deeply loved her husband Without him, she didn’t kno she would have endured the last several years "We delivered three babies before noon Two boys and a girl" Leah had long since lost count of the nuuessed But it didn’t matter how often or how commonplace it seemed, the miracle of birth hadn’t lost its irind as always," Andrew mumbled, preoccupied with their dinner preparations

"We should have ordered out"

"I don’t mind," he told her, and she could hear the warmth in his voice "I talked to the decorator about a tree," he said, and turned to face Leah He buried his face in her hair and breathed in deeply "I thought we’d have the tree done in angels this year"

"Angels," Leah repeated softly "That sounds nice"

"Mom phoned earlier," he continued "She invited us over for Christmas Eve"

Leah nodded Christ popcorn and cranberries on the tree with her toddlers, she orking with a decorator ould shape their Christmas tree into a work of art She would have much preferred a work of love

When, Leah asked herself, when, oh, when, would the raw edges of her pain go away? She’d be a goodfather That God in his alive her a child was the cruelest of fates Tears filled her eyes and she looked away, not wanting Andrew to see He knew her so well it was difficult to hide anything fro the warm security of his love

"It’s worse at Christently

They’d had this sa new to add, with nothing new to share, it was best shelved

"When will dinner be ready?" she asked, easing herself froed a watery sh?" Gabriel asked, standing directly behind Mercy

She’d seen ed her gaze away from the scene below Co so terribly"

"She hasn’t stopped and won’t until"

"Until when?" Mercy prompted

"Until she’s found her peace"

"Peace," Mercy cried, folding back her wings "The poor dear’s at ith herself"

Gabriel looked surprised by her insight "Leah must fully accept her inability to bear a child before the invisible threads that bind her fall away," Gabriel explained "Then and only then will she be ready"

"This is my mission, to show Leah the way to peace?" The tentacles of dread gripped Mercy’s tender heart Gabriel was seeking the ied to ease the pain of her loneliness and the desolation of her soul Slowly Mercy shook her head, wondering how she, an inexperienced prayer ah the barrier of Leah’s misery and lead her to the warm, sandy shores of serenity

"You may choose to refuse," Gabriel announced for herself with the strength of her fervor She didn’t kno she’d e but so hershe’d learned since her appointe a path where there hadn’t been one before With God’s help she would er than three weeks, earth ti on You knohat it’s like around here when people start s decide to take one last-ditch effort and try prayer"