AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He was missing his family, I think.” Emelia offered him a soft smile and turned back to Barbara. “Anyway, how have you been?”
“Oh, it’s not that long since I last saw you and everything is the same. I’m not getting any younger, but the Father here gives me something to get out of bed for every morning. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know what I’d do with not having any family of my own…anymore.”
His heart sank and his mood took a nosedive at Barbara’s heartfelt confession. Was he being selfish, just thinking about himself? What would happen to her when he packed up his belongings and left?
Emelia glanced at him, but he couldn’t muster any kind of response and sat in silence while he let the conversation carry on around him.
He caught Emelia glance at him from the corner of his eyes every few minutes, which told him that she knew what bothered him. He just needed to think about others for now.
Deep down, he knew that he was being unrealistic. There would be a new priest living in the cabin, so he’d probably be grateful of the cooking that Barbara came and did. Regardless of her age, she was great company on the days that he became fed up with himself.
He’d ask the bishop to tell the new priest that she came with the position in the parish. Colin might not be speaking to him by then, but Dante knew that the bishop was partial to Barbara himself. He’d met her on several occasions and it was clear that they enjoyed each other’s company.
“Father?”
He cleared his head and met Barbara’s enquiring gaze. “Sorry, I power napped.”
Barbara chuckled. “Thought you’d switch off when I asked Emelia about young Sean. He took a liking to your sister.”
As she watched him closely, he tried to mask his emotion at the idea of Sean and Emelia. It was not going to happen. “I don’t know about that,” he said directly to Emelia before he smiled at Barbara. “She doesn’t need to be hooking up with him.”
Emelia lit up at his words.
But Barbara added, “Pfft. She’s a beautiful young woman, and she’s always alone. She needs a nice, young man to step out with.” She smiled at Emelia, “You tell him.”
Dante watched Emelia blush, and smiled into his cup of coffee, confident in her love for him.
“Please don’t worry about me, Barbara. I can assure you that I’m fine. I have enough going on in my life without stepping out with Sean.” Emelia patted Barbara’s hand. “I love spending my time here with Dante…because the mountains remind me of home.”
“Mmm, I know what you mean. When Walt was alive, we lived for a few years in Denver and hated it. So busy. A friend suggested that we try up here, and we never moved again.” Barbara drifted off into her memories.
Emelia turned to Dante and held his gaze for mere seconds, but it was enough to see how much it hurt that she couldn’t be honest with Barbara.
“I think I’ll go upstairs and get some rest.” Emelia turned to Barbara. “Thank you so much for the coffee and cake. I’ll see you later at Mass.” She bent and kissed Barbara on the head before she turned to him and did the same.
His breath caught in the back of his throat at her touch, which was gentle. He couldn’t help himself or how his gaze followed her every movement. He watched her head toward the stairs, and noticed the way she dragged her feet ever so slightly—her shoulders hunched. He was half tempted to follow to make sure that she was okay.
He frowned down into his coffee when he realized he’d been staring at her, and he hoped that Barbara would think it was out of worry and nothing more.
“Be careful, Father.”
He raised his head and realized that Barbara wouldn’t meet his gaze as she put her jacket on, but she did before she walked out of the door. “I wasn’t born yesterday, and you need to think about what you want more…See you this evening, Father.”
The hot coffee on his leg caused him to jump up and shake his pant leg while he tried not to curse as the pain prickled where the coffee had burnt him. That would teach him for not paying attention to what he was doing. Then again, it was Barbara’s words that had stunned him badly.
No way they’d given anything away, and she certainly wouldn’t have heard them talking upstairs, or did she?
He dabbed at the mess on his pants a
nd sat his ass back down with a heavy sigh.
Before everything was sorted, he’d drive himself crazy.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
It was with a heavy heart that Emelia found herself home in Montana without Dante. She’d really wanted to stay and be there for him after he’d spoken with the bishop. He’d wanted her home safe, in case word got out and something was said in front of her. He wanted to make sure that she was well away from it all, and she was. She was miserable. She worried about him.
Even though she knew in her blood that his heart was set in stone about having a future with her, there was a niggling of doubt buried inside her. The bishop would argue and try to guilt Dante into staying a priest. That she knew without even being told.
