Harry hadnt been this uncertain since he was that starving little boy with a black eye and clothes that didnt fit. He didnt need a shrink. He needed the Corps. But hed need a miracle to make that happen. He needed the angel from all these cards and letters to work her magic on him again.
None of them were recent, but that didnt matter. The effect on him was always the same. He opened the very first letter and started to read.
Dear MSgt. Lockhart...
Chapter One
Dear Daisy,
Merry Christmas from your Secret Santa.
Daisy Gunderson stared at the gift tag, dotted with sparkles of glitzy snow, in the top right drawer of her desk and wondered who hated her enough to wage this terror campaign against her. This should be the happiest time of year for her, with the holidays and her winter break from school coming soon. Either somebody thought this sick parade of presents left on her desk or in her mailbox in the faculty work room was a clever idea for a joke, or that person intentionally wanted to ruin Christmas for her.
Typically, she made a big deal of the holidays, as evidenced by the greenery and ornaments decorating her classroom, and the hand-carved menorah and colorful Kwanzaa mat she had on display that had been gifts from former students. But the red glass candy dish filled with rat poison, the decapitated elf ornament and the X-rated card that had nothing to do with holiday greetings hidden away in her drawer were disturbing signs that not everyone shared the same reverence for celebrating this time of year.
The gifts were an eerie reminder of the tragic mistake shed made three years ago that had cost her so dearly. But Brock was locked up in a prison cell, and would be until her roots turned gray. Daisy had already called the prison to confirm Brock Jantzen hadnt escaped or been accidentally released. These gifts couldnt be his handiwork. Men in prison whod tried to kill their ex-girlfriends didnt get to send them cards and presents, right?
Daisy inhaled and let the long exhale flutter her lips. Of course not. These gifts had nothing to do with Brock. Or losing her father. Or even losing her mother, in a way. They had nothing to do with the scars on her chest and belly or her missing spleen.
Deciding that her thinking made it so, Daisy adjusted her purple-framed eyeglasses at her temples, spared a glance for the lone student muttering at the laptop on his desk, then looked up at the clock on the wall to wonder how much longer it was going to take Angelo to finish his essay before they could both go home for the day. Since shed promised to give the teenager all the time he needed to complete his work, Daisy closed the drawer, picked up her pen and went back to grading papers.
But her thoughts drifted to the small stack of letters shed locked away in a keepsake box under her bed at home. Letters from a Marine overseas. Short, stilted and impersonal at first. Then longer, angrier, sadder. Master Sergeant Harry Lockhart yearned for quiet and routine just as much as he longed to complete the job hed been sent to the Middle East to accomplish. She could tell he loved serving his country. That he loved the military dog he worked with, Tango. That he grieved the young men and native soldiers hed trained and lost. Shed grieved right along with him when hed written to say that Tango had been killed. Those letters had been part of a class writing project shed initiated last year, with help from a friend at church, Hope Taylor, who had connected Daisy to her brother and his unit. Shed give anything to hear from Harry Lockhart again, even one of his short missives about the heat or the sand in his bunk. But sadly, those letters had stopped coming months ago. She hoped the unthinkable hadnt happened to her Marine. More likely, hed simply tired of the friendship after the class had ended and those students had stopped writing the servicemen and women with whom theyd been pen pals.
Now the only notes she received depicted graphic sexual acts and violence. All under the guise of a friendly game of Secret Santa.
Shed reported the gifts to her principal, and hed made a general announcement about the appropriateness of everyones anonymous gifts at the last staff meeting. And, shed alerted the building police officer, who promised to keep an eye on her room and try to figure out when the gifts were being left for her. But, short of canceling the faculty party and gift exchange, and ruining everyone elses Christmas fun, there was little more she could do besides staying alert, and doing a little sleuthing of her own to try and figure out who was sending them. Daisy wondered if the wretched gifts might even be coming from someone who hadnt drawn her name in the annual gift swapa disgruntled student, perhaps. Or maybe there was someone else in her life who thought this terror campaign was a cute way to squash her determination to make the most of every holiday celebration.
If that was the case, she refused to give in and take down one tiny piece of tinsel or play her Mannheim Steamroller music any less often. She already had enough reasons to mourn and resent the holidays. The Scrooges didnt get to win. If grief, abandonment and solitude couldnt keep her from saying Merry Christmas every chance she got, then a few morbid trinkets from a disturbed mind werent going to make her say, Bah, Humbug, either.
Finished. Five hundred and two words. A small laptop plunked down in front of her on her desk. Before the deadline.
Daisy smiled up at Angelo Logan, a favorite student with as much talent as he had excuses for not doing his work. She knew no one in his immediate family had gone to college. And since that was a goal of his, she didnt mind putting in some extra time and pushing him a little harder than some of her other students. She skimmed the screen from the title, The Angel and the Devil, down to the word count at the bottom of the page. Wow. Two words over the minimum required. Did you break a sweat?
You said to be concise. A grin appeared on his dark face.
Did you map out why youre deserving of the scholarship?
Yeah. I talked about my home life, about being a twin and about what I can do for my community if I get a journalism degree.
Daisy arched a skeptical eyebrow. In five hundred and two words?
Angelo tucked the tails of his white shirt back beneath his navy blue sweater and returned to his desk to pull on his blue school jacket. Can I have my phone back now, Ms. G?
May I? she corrected automatically, and looked up to see him roll his deep brown eyes. The standard rule in her class was No cell phones allowed, and anytime a student entered her room, he or she had to deposit their phones in the shoe bag hanging beside the door. Getting a phone back meant the student was free to go. Daisy smiled at the seventeen-year-old who looked so put upon by grinchy teachers who held him accountable for procrastinated essays and college application deadlines, when he probably just wanted to take off with his buddies for some Thursday night R & R. Youre too good a writer to miss this opportunity. She turned the laptop around. Email me this draft and Ill get it edited tonight. I can go over any changes that need to be made with you tomorrow. Then we can send the whole thing off before Mondays deadline.
Angelo zipped back to her desk and attached the file to an email. Ive got basketball after school tomorrow. I wont be able to come in. Coach will bench me if I miss practice two days in a row.