Page 130 of The Sinner and the Priest: Part Two

Eliska pipes up, “We’re not snooping, we swear!”

“You’re not?” I act disappointed. “How many times have I told you, girls, to always, always snoop? Just never get caught.”

They explode into fits of laughter, but then Mathilde almost knocks over a wicker picnic basket, and they sober up to catch it from falling. I applaud their teamwork.

“What’s that?” I ask, walking over.

“No!” Lucia cries and lifts her hand, but then slumps when Eliska points out that I’ve already seen it. “Okay, fine,” she adds. “It was supposed to be a surprise from Father, and we were supposed to leave you a cryptic letter to take it and meet him at the church.” She glares at me. “But you ruined that bit.”

“Oh.” My cheeks heat. A surprise picnic? “Should I leave the room, wait for you to do that thing I don’t know about, and then come back in?”

Their eyes light up, so I quickly exit and wait outside the closed door.

Mercy

After a few minutes of muffled giggles and argumentative shouts about writing it wrong, the door suddenly opens, and the orphans sneak out in single file.

Lucia turns back after they pass, puts her finger to her lips, and whispers, “We were never here.”

I salute her in all seriousness, and then remember something.

“Wait!” I shout after them. “Come back! I have a gift for you all.”

They rush back to me in a wave of excitement and babbling, each in their native language. Through it all, I find what I need in my load of shopping bags and hand each of them an individual gift bag stuffed with new clothing, underwear, shoes, and a personal interest item.

They go quiet and pale as they look inside the bags. So still. Almost afraid, or uncertain. It breaks my heart that their first instinct when receiving a gift is this. But I get it. Up until recently, I wasn’t good at buying nice things for myself. Oh, sure, I enjoyed splurging on the mission. And I kept all the luxury pieces for myself—including the toiletries and perfume. But in the back of my mind, those things were always for the Sinner. They were never for me.

But the Angelotti family billion-dollar inheritance came through to Cisco last week. He wanted nothing to do with it, so he donated a massive chunk to the Sisterhood. He also put a sizable amount in a trust for the orphans. He only purchased one item for himself—which he refuses to tell me about. He deposited the rest in an account and handed it over to me to use however I saw fit for our Hildegard Sisterhood family.

“What is it?” Lucia whispers, still looking inside the bag with awe.

My God, they haven’t pulled out a single item.

“Go open them and find out.” I gesture for them to leave, and they do—after giving me a big hug.

“Get used to it, girls. There’s more coming.”

Lucia is the last one to leave. “Why?” she asks.

I shrug. “It’s Christmas.”

She scowls, and I grin because it’s her growing feistiness I love the most.

“But it’s August,” she says.

“Oh, shoot.” I click my fingers. “I thought it was still July.”

“Mercy!” She drops her jaw. “Christmas isn’t in July.”

“Tell that to the Australians.” I wave her off. “But they do everything down under there. Off you go, before I find a chore for you.”

When they’re gone, I return to my room and read the “cryptic letter” they left beside the picnic basket.

Take this basket, and head five hundred paces.

Head East six hundred paces

Head outside, go up the back path, and go directly to the Church.