My Angel of Mercy

Ch.8: How Beautiful

Walking to the cathedral was somewhat painful. Why is it that small cuts tend to hurt the most?
Putting the pain aside, I finally reached my destination. As I went in, I approached a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary.
"Please God, give me the strength to get through another day. Watch over me, the children and my animals. Amen"
Just as I finished up the prayer someone clearing their throat behind me caught my attention.
There stood Clarissa with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.
"Hey new girl, are you going to keep standing there mumbling to yourself, or are you going to help us with these loud crying babies?"
"Good morning to you too Clarissa" I said walking past her, doing my best to control my temper.
"Oh good morning Lily, how are you?" Ms. Christensen asked once we entered the nursery. Although I could barely hear her because she held a small tiny baby boy in her arms and he was crying super loud.
"Is he new?" I asked looking him over.
He was small, with a round head with small patched of brown hair. Light skin, and brown eyes filled with tears.
"Oh yes, his name is Noah. He's still adjusting from being separated from his mother. Poor little thing is just 4 months old."
"God he just won't stop crying" Clarissa whined as she fed another baby a bottle.
I rolled my eyes at her and politely asked Ms.Chris if I could hold the poor boy.
She happily agreed and put the tiny thing in my arms.
I  whispered shushing sounds to him, bounced him gently and tried to feed him. Yet despite my efforts, he just continued to cry.
Then an all too familiar smell made me cringe.
"He needs a diaper change, no wonder he's so fussy."
"Disgusting, I'm not doing it" Clarissa said, what a damn drama queen.
"I'll do it, I don't mind" said Chris.
"No it's okay, it's part of the job" I said with a reassuring smile.
"Okay thank you, you're so helpful" Chris said making me feel great. I swear for as long as I had known this woman for the short amount of time. She always seemed to have a positive attitude. Something I hoped to achieve one day.
Noah cried a little bit louder as I layed him on the changing table. But after he was nice and clean,I held him in my arms again and he eventually calmed down.
But I noticed that while I held him, he snuggled his little cheek against my...chest. No doubt this baby was breast fed.
I chose to ignore the weird feeling and just continued to rock the little guy to sleep.
Chris seems happy with my accomplishment, Clarissa on the other hand is giving me the dirtiest looks. But her face quickly changes as an all too respectable figure walks into the nursery.
"Good morning Ladies" said that smooth and serious voice of his.
"Oh, good morning my lord" said Chris with a smile and slight bow.
"A very good morning to you Judge Frollo" Clarissa said in an almost flirty voice.
Frollo raised an eyebrow at her but quickly turned towards me.
"Good morning Frollo" I said calmly.
He smirked and looked down at the sleeping baby.
"I can see you're doing your job well my dear Liliana, but may I speak with you for a moment?"
"Yes sir, just let me put little Noah down for his nap."
With every step I took towards the baby's crib,I could feel the eyes of Chris and Clarissa burning into my back.
They were both probably confused no doubt.
Not that I blame them, I mean what's a man of power doing with a peasant girl anyways?
I just shrugged it off, put Noah down in his crib and excused myself before walking off with Frollo.
As we walked I could hear the bells once again. So pretty and calming, it almost made me forget that he made me nervous every time he was near me.. question was...why?!
"I'm glad you were able to shush that crying infant. I could hear him all the way up in the bell tower" Frollo said.
"Oh it was nothing. Poor thing must be missing his mother, 4 months old seems to young to be away from her to me."
"Well he seems to like you, he looked very comfortable back there" Frollo said with a smirk, making my cheeks burn bright red.
He lead me to the middle of the church with the pretty multicolored stained glass windows.
"They're beautiful" I said admiring one with a rose in a glass bell jar.
"Yes your are" I heard Frollo say under his breath.
I smiled a little but could still feel the heat in my cheeks getting hotter and hotter.
Frollo cleared his throat and pulled out my treasure from the sleeve of his robe.
"As promised" he said proudly.
My eyes immediately lit up and I grinned from ear to ear.
"You fixed it!" I said doing my best not to jump for joy.
"I always keep my promises, may I?" He asked.
I nodded, turned around and moved my hair out of the way.
My heart pounded as he slipped the chain around my neck and clasped it.
He gently put his hands on my shoulders and turned me back around to face him.
"There, it definitely suits you" he said before lifting his hand and running it over my cheek.
"...Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me.
Without thinking, I leaned forward and hugged him.
He seemed tense at first but before I knew it, his arms were around me as well. It was nice, soft, and comforting. Something I hadn't felt in a while.
But I quickly came to my senses and gently pulled away.
"Well umm..I should get back to the babies. Thank you again" I said before trying to walk past him.
But as I did he gently grabbed my hand.
"Liliana...may I take you up on that cup of tea later tonight?' he asked.
Until this moment I had completely forgotten about it.
I smirked, "OfCourse my lord, I'd be happy if you graced my humble home.'
We both chuckled and said our goodbyes. So far this day at work was going well..well at least I thought it was...because a certain someone was watching us the whole time.