I immediately flew to Celeste and whispered, “He’s got a knife!” I did the same in Max’s ear, and oddly enough he seemed to hear me. His mind immediately reflected my message.
“The way I see it, you have a choice. You can kill us both for a few minutes’ thrill, and even you know that you will be accountable to your Maker for that one day,” Max said in a steady commanding voice.
“Or…?” The man asked, slightly twitching, as if a pesky fly was bothering him.
“Or…you and that knife you are hiding can walk out of town, a free man—to God and your fellow men.”
The man kept twitching and now I saw why. Two shadowy Cast-outs were throwing themselves into him, as if they were trying to break through and get inside of him. Somehow the man seemed to sense this, and was twitching in response. I could tell his mind was changing, he no longer felt sure of himself. He was spooked by the priest and his knowledge of the real situation. He also had a tiny shred of decency left in him and his conscience was slightly bothered.
“How did you know I had a knife?” His voice was gruff.
“You know,” Max said with confidence.
The man regarded him for a while, his body seemed to be relaxing, the twitching subsiding. He felt bewildered by the knowledge the priest had, and was now sure that some higher power was at work here.
“I… I’m sorry.” He slowly straightened up and started backing away from the still frozen form of Celeste. He walked cautiously backward, looking at Max with a spooked look on his face, then turned and ran off.
Max walked to her side and offered her his hand, so she could stand up. She took it, now shaking like a leaf, and without any thought threw herself into his arms and sobbed.
“How did you know?” Celeste asked once she could get the words out, but not releasing him from her grasp.
Max’s heart was beating wildly, and his lungs were having a hard time drawing even breaths, a strange mixture of pleasure and guilt oppressed him.
“I’m not sure…it just came to me,” he answered. With effort and much against his desires, he pulled her away from him. Holding her at arm’s length he looked at her with what he hoped would be a fatherly scowl. But Celeste didn’t react in the way he expected. Instead of looking remorseful and downcast, she crinkled her nose and turned her mouth into an unrepentant pout. A smile escaped his lips before he could restrain it, so beaten by her charms;,he simply shook his head and let her go.
The following Sunday at confession, Celeste confessed to an actual sin for the first time since her initial confession of lying about her sins. During the course of the week she had found out that her parents intended for her to marry Ricardo after all. By now his reputation was well documented and known throughout the town, and his absence created indignation on the part of the obviously forsaken girl, who had spilled her guts to the whole town about who the father of her child was. This news, however didn’t seem to change Don Marco’s mind. As incongruous as it seemed, the more gossip he heard the more set his mind got on the matter. Her mother took the whole affair with such a stoicism that it made Celeste sick.
All of this, Celeste discharged on Max’s confessional with the addition of the actual sin—her hate for Ricardo and her parents.
“If they make me marry him, I will die. I can just imagine what my life would be like. Always being lied to and cheated and pitied by my friends, because his indiscretions are public knowledge. What are my parents thinking? What could they possibly see in him? He is lazy and opportunistic, he obviously only wants our money.”
“Celeste!” Max cut her off. He should have said “My child” but he couldn’t call her that, any more than she could call him “Father”.
“Would you like for me to speak with them?” he offered. His eyes closed knowing that getting involved might compromise him in some way, but also knowing that he couldn’t let Celeste marry Ricardo. Someone else—perhaps. He shuddered. No. The thought of Celeste in anyone’s arms was too distasteful. That’s when he knew he had to leave.
“Yes, please, they listen to you. But if you fail to convince them…”
“We’ll take it one step at a time. Now go home…in peace.”
The meeting, however, did not go well. To no avail did Max try to make them see reason. Not even the threat that he wouldn’t perform the ceremony had any effect on them.
Her eighteenth birthday was just a few days away and the feeling of impending doom repressed her so much, that one day she simply got up and ran out of the parlor without a single word to her mother. Doña Rosa, who had fallen asleep needles in hand, presently woke up with a start and watched as Celeste’s skirts fluttered out of the room.
Celeste went straight to her rose garden, threw herself on the ground, and wept bitterly. I was at her side bending over her, and if I had had tears to shed I would have shed them with her. I could feel her feelings so keenly that I suffered right along with her. I tried to stroke her hair or her arm, but every time I did so, my hand went right on through, and she shivered.
“I am so sorry, Cel. How I wish I could be alive right now and be your friend,” I said. I wished so badly that she knew that I was there for her. If mortals only knew of us! How would life change for them! If only they knew what pains we angels go through for them, if only they could see…
“Oh!” she groaned, “I can’t endure it! I can’t…” And she sobbed bitterly.
I could tell she was being watched through one of the parted curtains from inside the house. It was her father, who only looked for a moment, then let the curtain drop and covered up the window once more.
“What a heartless man!” I thought. Some distance away I could see Max coming down the lane with Leo floating right behind him. I motioned to Leo from the roses and he leaned over Max. Obediently Max came straight to the roses, and stopped when he saw her weeping. He looked around him as if just becoming aware of the tall rose bushes that were around him. He stretched a hand and broke off a bud from one of them, then made his way to Celeste.
He knelt beside her, and she was startled by his presence and proximity. Without saying a word, Max offered her the single bud that he had picked for her, and she took it with a faint smile.
I don’t think he intended to, but he stretched his hand and gently wiped her tear stained face. As he did so something remarkable happened to them, both Leo and I could sense it. It was almost palpable.
In that moment they fell in love, or realized that they were in love. Both their hearts did it at the same time and in the same way, it literally bloomed in an instant. Their hearts filled to the brim with the love they had for each other, and it just overflowed at that particular moment.
Nothing could be done to stop it, and they could no longer control it or conceal it. I could even swear that for a moment, they had flashes of their relationship before this life. A fleeting memory of what they were to each other in another time—they didn’t understand this memory, so their minds dismissed it, but their hearts did not.
They still remained silent, gazing into each other’s eyes as if they were communicating in some other way.
“Well, we should congratulate each other,” Leo boasted.
“Yeah…we did well didn’t we, although their troubles are far from over.” I pointed to the window, the drapes were parted again, and Don Marco was witnessing this scene along with us. The only difference was, he didn’t look pleased.
Their long gaze was interrupted by a purposeful, “Ahem.” They turned to see Doña Rosa standing at the edge of the roses, looking down on them. Max got up briskly, and unperturbed declared, “You will ruin her life if you go on with your plans.”
“Is that what you came here for?” Doña Rosa asked stiffly.
“I will make sure no priest in the vicinity marries them,” Max said, angry for the first time.
“Then we’ll appeal to Madrid,” Doña Rosa spat tartly.
“You’ll be accountable for this one day,” Max said, then brushed past her
and briskly walked away, leaving a disgruntled Doña Rosa.
Celeste grasped her precious bud and hiding it in the palm of her hand, stormed up to her room.
She locked herself in—unnecessarily, because no one came to her room, not even at supper time. This was the first true fight that she had had with her parents, and she had no previous experience to go by, but the fact that they were just letting her be, could only mean that they had nothing to say to her.
Celeste first cried on her bed for a few hours, then she laid there without so much as a single thought. It was weird to see her laying there comatose, but there she remained for another hour or so. Then the thoughts slowly began to emerge, but they were not those of submission—she was plotting her escape.
Downstairs, Don Marco dispatched two letters. One was addressed to Ricardo, the other to a priest in Madrid. Meanwhile, Celeste was filling a bag with her belongings.
Unsure as to what I should be doing to help, I flew to the church where Max’s quarters were. I wanted to talk with Leo and find out what Max was thinking now. Things seemed to be escalating to an inevitable climax, and the events of tonight would undoubtedly decide their future for ever.
“Oh good, I’m so glad to see you, Tess. I was just about to go get you. How is Celeste doing?”
“I left her packing her bags.”
“Oh...kay,” Leo answered, his head was swarming with different plots and plans and every new piece of information shaped a new course of action.
“Listen, Leo…we might want to sit this one out, let them make their choices without our influence,” I suggested, feeling a bit nervous about their situation.
“No, no, no.” Leo shook his head and began pacing in the same manner that Max was, the only difference was that Leo was hovering a few inches from the ground and moved through several pieces of furniture.
“Now they need us more than ever, we have to see this through.” He looked up at me with eager eyes. “Listen, Tess, we haven’t made any choices for them. We can only whisper and hope they hear us. Things are getting confusing for them now, we need to be there to protect them and guide them.”
“You’re right, but what is he so agitated about?” I asked. “I can’t read his mind. His thoughts are scrambled and make no sense to me.”
Leo looked at Max with pity. “It’s not an everyday occurrence for a priest to realize that he has just fallen in love. Not that it’s never happened, but Max never expected to be among those weak minded priests, so naturally he feels disappointed in himself. He also came home to find a letter from his superior, saying that he is being transferred to another parish in the Brazilian-Argentine border, a town called…” Leo peered into an open letter, “Iguazu Falls. He asked for a transfer not too long ago wanting to prevent just this. He’s always wanted to go to some remote jungle and learn some obscure language, and this transfer is—no, was—what he’s always dreamed of,” Leo said, looking at me significantly.
I was stunned. “You mean to tell me he is leaving, now?”
* * * * *
Chapter 29
“He is thinking about it,” Leo explained, “but he is not sure he can leave her. He couldn’t live with himself if he left her to marry Richard, and he also loves her and wants her for himself…which makes him feel ashamed of himself for even considering it…” He trailed off.
“I get it,” I said, finally understanding some of the jumble I was seeing in Max’s head. “One thing is for sure, he can’t go, at least not without Celeste. She wants to go to South America too, maybe…”
“That’s it!” Leo jumped into the air and slowly floated back down. “They can elope and start fresh! No one needs to know that he was a priest, besides there’s so many people immigrating there right now, they will be sure to find a boat leaving soon, they wouldn’t even have to wait!” Leo looked at me eagerly, hoping that I would match his enthusiasm.
“Don’t those boats charge money? They don’t have any money,” I pointed out softly, trying to not disappoint him too much.
“Don’t worry, leave that up to me,” he said exultantly.
“But…”
“Shhh.” He put one finger to my mouth and looked suspiciously around. “I said, leave it up to me. Have I ever let us down?” Leo added with confidence.
I looked at him through narrowed eyes, but agreed. “Leo, don’t—”
“Shhh.” He motioned again, this time with a cynical smile. “I have my ways.”
“How?” I asked, but he was already flying out the window.
It was dark now and being alone in Max’s chambers felt odd, like I was intruding, so I decided to go back to Celeste’s room. But as I was going through the door, I passed through Celeste’s body, which happened to be on the other side.
She shivered and looked a bit shaken, but she closed her eyes and tried to pull herself back together; then knocked.
Max answered quickly, but froze the moment he realized who it was.
“Can I come in?” Celeste asked.
Max stared at her, then looked down at her bag. He swallowed a lump in his throat, but didn’t find his voice.
“Please…” she begged. “I don’t want anyone to see me.”
Understanding this, Max let her in and stuck his head out, to see if anyone had seen her. Feeling satisfied that no one seemed to be out at this hour, he shut the door.
They looked at each other for a long time, neither one saying anything.
“I’m leaving, so…I wanted you to know, just in case…” Celeste said, breaking the silence.
“Just in case what?” Max asked, not really sure of what he was asking, or what she was saying.
“Just in case you wanted to come,” she said looking down at her shoes.
Max’s mouth opened, and then shut again.
“Or… just in case you wanted to know what happened to me.” Her eyes were welling up with tears now.
This Max could not resist, and in two steps he was at her side wiping them away.
She buried her face in his chest and his mind was screaming, What do I do? What do I do? Please, God tell me!
“Tell him!” the order came to my mind from the link, loud and clear. This gave me great satisfaction, because this meant They approved of what Leo and I were doing.
“What should I tell him?” I asked, now wondering what the right course of action should be.
“Go to Padre Fernández.” Then the link was severed.
I wasted no time in whispering the message to Max who upon hearing my words smiled and slowly started to relax—drawing Celeste closer to him in the process. His thoughts were also slowing down, and his guilt over his vows to the church was disappearing.
He held her close to him for a long time, her sobs slowly subsiding to a mere whimper. Gently he pulled her away from him and got down on one knee. She looked down at him, her eyes were red but brilliant.
“Celeste, will you marry me?” Max asked with a pleading look.
“Really, you mean it? You are not just saying that out of pity, are you?” Celeste’s whole face brightened and she was trying to reign in her excitement. “What are you laughing at?” she asked, her tone turning from pleading to belligerent.
“Not you, that’s for sure. I do mean it, Celeste—would you be the wife of a poor ex-priest?” As soon as he said these words, his smile faded and he looked crestfallen.
Celeste didn’t seem to notice, because she was bouncing up and down and saying, “I do! I do want to be your wife!” But then she noticed, and seemed to know what had him so worried, so she knelt in front of him too.
“I would love to be a poor ex-priest’s wife more than anything in the world,” she assured him.
He smiled a weak smile and drew her to him. “Oh…” he groaned, “I have nothing to give you, nothing at all.”
“You are wrong,” she whispered. “You are all I want and need. You forget that I have made that choice already. And if I wanted money and comfort I would not be here.”
“But, Celeste!” He put her at arm’s length. “I honestly have nothing, no money, no ring…nothing.”
A wide grin crossed Celeste’s face—and for a moment she reminded me of Leo. “That’s OK, here. Choose a ring from the ones I brought with me, and put it on my finger. That’ll be the ring I’ll wear for the rest of my life.” She said this as she spilled the contents of a silk bag on the tile floor.
“Where did you get these rings from, Celeste?” Max looked worried.
“They are mine,” she assured him. “They have been given to me, some are family heirlooms, and some have been given to me as part of my future dowry. I hated them all until tonight, when I got the idea of using them to run away with—you know, to exchange for money.”
Max had a pained look on his face, but said nothing.
“See…look at all the rings I have. Then I have necklaces and earrings and hair combs, and fans, and…well lots of pretty useless things that I’d love to use to buy our freedom.”
Max froze at those last words. “Wait a minute, Celeste, why are you here exactly? Is it freedom that you want? Because you shouldn’t…”
“Oh stop it, will you? I want to marry you, that is why I came here. If I had wanted freedom I would’ve gone off by myself, but life without you…I just can’t imagine it.”
Max looked steadily into her eyes, then shook his head with a smile and gently touched her face with his fingertips. This seemed to give her chills, because she shuddered slightly.
“I want our freedom, yours and mine, together,” she added.
“What made you think I needed to be freed?” he asked as he continued to brush the tips of his fingers along her jawline.
Celeste looked like she was having a hard time breathing.
“You are a priest in love. What could be more confining than that?” she said with another shiver and her eyes closed slightly.
“And how did you know I was in love with you?” he asked with a new kind of look, one that I had never seen him wear—a smirk. To which she promptly responded by shoving him backward.
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