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She saved her daughter’s life.
Now she must save her soul.
Although Elizabeth died giving birth to her daughter, her death wasn’t the end. She awakens to find her sacrifice has transformed her into a special kind of angel—a protector—and if she is able to help her charge through the Pearly Gates, she too will be welcomed into Heaven.
Elizabeth is both heartbroken and overjoyed when she finds she’ll be watching over Daisy, the daughter she never got to meet. She’d like nothing more than to live with her little girl in paradise, but being a guardian is hard work. Will Elizabeth be reunited with her daughter, or forced to suffer in silence as she watches Daisy make mistakes that place her just out of Heaven’s reach?
This special collection includes all ten parts of Elizabeth and Daisy’s journey along with exclusive bonus content, including:
* Peter’s Story, a glimpse into the history of the series’ most enigmatic character
* Angels in Our Lives, an angel story for animal lovers
* A reader’s guide to the Pearl Makers universe and mythology
* A foreword from the author discussing her personal connection to the story
* An extended ending with all-new scenes
Ultimately, Diving for Pearls weaves the tale of sacrifice, redemption, and unyielding love is for anyone who believes in angels—or is looking for a reason to believe.
Excerpt:
A
strange pressing sensation, that’s how it started. Elizabeth moved
her hand away from her full, pregnant belly, but still the phantom
pushing feeling continued, even stronger than before.
“Theo...”
She shook her husband awake. “I think it may be time.”
Theo
slung an arm across her torso and mumbled without even bothering to
open his eyes.
Pain
shot from her bellybutton down into her legs, twisting as it crawled
toward her toes. She let out a gasp and wrapped her arms around
herself to try to keep from screaming.
Theo
shot upright, an expression of concern tugging at his worn features.
“How can it be time? The due date is more than a month away. It’s
too early.”
Elizabeth
nodded. Tears fell onto her pajama bottoms, splashing the happy, pink
clouds.
“Okay,
okay. Let’s go. Everything is going to be okay, honey. It’s gotta
be.”
She
let him pull her to her feet and usher her to the car parked outside
on the curb, but somehow Elizabeth couldn’t believe her husband’s
promise, no matter how much she wanted to.
*
* *
“Eclampsia,”
the doctor said with a frown. He stood at the end of Elizabeth’s
bed and studied her chart.
A
million thoughts raced through Elizabeth’s mind, but the only one
that mattered was will my baby be okay? She bit her lower lip
to keep the tears at bay. If she was going to get through this, she’d
need to be strong.
“We’ll
take good care of you.” A nurse smiled as she pushed an IV into the
back of Elizabeth’s hand. “Everything will be all right.”
“The
baby has to come out now. The OR is just finishing up with the last
cesarean. As soon as they’re done sanitizing the room, you’ll be
headed in. I need to go help them get ready, but I will see you again
soon.” The doctor dashed out, even though there was so much
Elizabeth needed to ask. Everything was moving at the speed of light,
too fast to contemplate. This definitely wasn’t the birth plan
she’d envisioned.
“Smile.
You’re going to meet your baby today.” The nurse squeezed
Elizabeth’s hand.
Minutes
later they wheeled her into a sterile room engulfed in white and
metal. It looked more mental ward than maternity. Theo had been made
to wait out in the hall. They’d pushed throw-away scrubs and a
hospital mask his way, told him to change, said he could join her
once they had begun. But she needed him now, needed him to whisper
jokes in her ear as the anesthetist shoved a long needle into her
spine, needed him as they moved her from the gurney to the operating
table, as they put up the curtain and sliced into her abdomen.
And
she knew even before the monitor beside her started beeping wildly
out of control, even before someone shouted “BP’s 240 over 160
and climbing fast” and several other someones hovered above her,
injecting things into her arms, pressing other things into her chest,
speaking loudly and moving swiftly.
Please
let my baby be okay, she prayed even though the words couldn’t
find her lips. And the last thing she heard before it all faded to
static was the sound of her newborn taking that precious first breath
and crying into the chaos that surrounded them.
Everything
went white.
*
* *
The
unyielding wall of white surrounded her like an embrace, absorbed
her, became her. Nothing existed except for the vast blankness. She
drifted through it, a mere ripple in the endless ocean. Time passed,
but not in any discernible way. She didn’t know where she was or
why, but she also didn’t think to question this new plane of
existence. It, like she, just was.
The
milky infinity at last separated to reveal the silhouette of an
enormous city on the horizon. And this city was made of all the most
spectacular colors in the sky’s repertoire—pinks, purples,
oranges, yellows, blue—an impossibly beautiful structure built of
sunrise. Flanking the ethereal village stood two soaring gates made
of the finest yellow gold and dotted with pearls, each of which
loomed larger than the distant moon.
The
current carried her forward, but before she could pass through the
gates, a figure materialized to bar her entrance.
“Elizabeth,”
it said, and at once she remembered who she was and how she had come
here.
I
died—the acknowledgment flooded her awareness, but it did not
make her sad. Her body now formed around her, but it felt clunky and
foreign.
“I
am Peter,” the man said as his body also materialized before her—a
dimpled chin, wavy blond hair, and long limbs. The perfect likeness
of someone she knew very well. Theo.
“You
look exactly like my husband, but how?”
“I
made myself familiar to give you comfort, for we have much to
discuss.”
“Am
I in Heaven?” she asked, already sure of the answer.
“Yes.
Do you remember how you died?”
Elizabeth
thought back to her last moments on Earth. A cry escaped before she
could choke it back. “Please tell me, Peter—is my baby okay?”
“Yes,
she is. Your sacrifice saved her.”
Her?
I had a girl? Tears of joy sprang to her eyes. As magnificent as
her new home had proven, she also couldn’t bear the thought of
never knowing her daughter, of leaving her baby without a mother,
leaving her husband without a partner.
Peter
placed a hand on her shoulder, and although she couldn’t feel it,
the gesture still brought comfort. He waited until her racing
thoughts slowed, waited for her to work her situation out, and
continue their conversation.
“So
is this it? Do I cross through those gates, and never see my family
again?” She raised both arms to motion toward the gates—so tall
they appeared to carry on forever into the sky.
“Your
life is over, yes, but this is not the end of your journey. You are
not ready for Heaven, Elizabeth.”
Fear
took hold as she murmured, “Are you sending me to that other
place?”
Peter
chortled. “No, no, not at all. But, you see, you aren’t yet ready
to cross through those gates and become a Pearl. Your heart is still
tied to the world. To live here, your heart must be free and ready
for paradise.”
“I…
I don’t understand.”
“You’ve
proven your capacity for great love by sacrificing yourself in order
to save your daughter. You also miss her and need her in the same way
she will need your protection as she goes through life. While I
cannot undo what has already been done, I can send you back to Earth.
You will be transformed into a special kind of angel, a protector.”
“You’re
making me a guardian angel?”
“Yes,
so you can watch over your daughter and know your sacrifice was not
in vain, so you will complete your unfinished business, and so that
you will be ready. Come with me. I will make everything clear.”
*
* *
Elizabeth
blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, she found herself in the
hospital room from before. The scents of hand sanitizer and baby
formula mingled in the air, saturating her consciousness. Across the
room, a stooped figure hunched over in a chair crying softly.
Theo,
the real Theo. She rushed to his side and reached for his hand to
give it a squeeze. But her fingers passed right through his.
“Remember,
you don’t have a body anymore. It will take some getting used to.”
She turned to face the angel, taking in his tall, lanky frame and
dark features. He no longer held Theo’s form.
“But
I can see. I can hear. I can smell. How am I able to do all that
without a body?” She tried once again to caress her husband. He was
so close but so unattainable—pure torture.
“You
have the senses you need to do your job. Nothing more.” Peter’s
expression was solemn as if he had chosen to hold back something
important. Elizabeth was just about to ask for clarification, when a
petite nurse entered the room pushing a large cart in ahead of her.
“Somebody
wants to see her daddy.” The nurse’s peppy voice did not match
her worn expression.
Theo
raised his head and wiped the backs of his hands across his face. “I
don’t know if I’m ready…”
“Ready
or not, this baby needs you. You’re all she’s got now.” The
nurse gave him an apologetic tilt of the head and pressed the baby
into his arms.
“But
that’s not true,” Elizabeth argued. “I’m right here. She has
me. Theo, you have me.”
Theo
stared straight ahead, seemingly unable to glance down at the child
who had so recently replaced his wife as the number one person in his
life.
“Honey,
it’s okay. You can love her. You need to love her. For me,”
Elizabeth pleaded while Peter steepled his fingers in front of his
chest.
Theo
sniffled and ventured a glance toward the pink bundle that squirmed
in his lap.
“That’s
it,” Peter whispered. “Keep talking to him.”
She
took a deep breath and then told Theo that she was here, that she
loved them both so much, that everything was going to be all right.
By the time she had finished what she needed to say, a smile had
overtaken her husband’s sullen expression.
He
bent down to kiss the baby’s forehead. “It’s just you and me
now, baby. You and me against the world.”
The
baby cooed and suckled on her receiving blanket, and Theo chuckled
softly.
“But
I can’t call you baby forever, can I? You need a name.”
Elizabeth
bent over Theo’s shoulder to look her newborn in the face. “Please
name her Daisy,” she whispered. “I always wanted a little girl
named Daisy.”
Theo
perked up as if he’d heard her simple plea. A moment later
Elizabeth’s suspicion was confirmed when he lifted the baby toward
his face and said, “You know what? I think I’ll call you Daisy.”
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