The Priest (The Original Sinners #9) - Tiffany Reisz Page 0,126
first sip, his eyes widened. Though he was fifty-one years old, it was a wounded eleven-year-old boy’s eyes that met hers.
“Sometimes you need hot cocoa, even in New Orleans in September.”
He held the cup in his hands, cradling it as tenderly and carefully as he’d ever carried a communion chalice.
“You’re nothing like your father,” she said, “and you’re full of shit if you think that.”
He smiled behind his mug and said softly, “Thank you.”
She held out her mug. “To Father Henry,” she said, “a very good priest.”
They clinked glasses and drank.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Cyrus drove by Nora’s house that morning to check on her. He found her standing in her front yard, looking up at her beaded oak tree. He parked, got out and leaned on her fence. She wore a long swishy witchy black skirt and white tank top. She looked pretty, if a little tired. But they were both tired. It would pass.
“You,” Nora said, acknowledging him without taking her eyes off her tree. “What are you doing here? You should be at honeymoon practice, right?”
“Is that a thing?”
“I just invented it, but it’s a thing now.”
Crazy like a fox.
“What are you doing to that poor tree?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“I asked, didn’t I?”
“Mercedes took a set of my rosary beads, and she took all the sad and bad energy out of me and put them in the beads. Now I’m supposed to find a tree to give the beads to. Trees, she says, breathe out what we breathe in—oxygen, and trees breathe in what we breathe out—nitrogen. So she figures that if we exude bad energy, trees take it and absorb and then release it as good energy. I realize how insane that sounds, but it’s worth a shot, right?”
“That kind of makes sense. You and the Good Witch are getting kinda tight? Something going on there I need to know about?”
“I have two men in my life already.”
“So that’s a maybe?”
Nora only smiled. Good to see her smiling again.
“If all your bad jujus are in your beads,” he said, “maybe you ought to take them far away from your house.”
“I was thinking that, too. Know a good tree that could take some pain?”
“I know the best tree in town. You wanna see it?”
“Definitely.”
“Come with me.”
They drove to the house on the corner of Annunciation and Rose. They didn’t go into the house and they never would again. Time to move on. St. Valentine’s must have thought so, too. There was a For Sale sign in front.
“This way,” he said and pointed down the street. They set out walking.
“How are you handling this?” she asked. “Better than me, I hope.”
“I’m remembering why I swore I’d only work for women and children.” He laughed softly at himself. “But I’m okay. Paulina’s feeling really hurt. Bad.”
“I’m sure she is. Is there any new news coming?”
“Archbishop’s releasing more names of abusers tomorrow. It’s starting to steamroll,” he said. “But no more case talk. What’s goin’ on with you? How’s things with you and the Viking?”
“We’re all right,” she said. “A little shaky, but we’ll make it.”
“That’s good. I like him for you. I’d like him more for you if he wasn’t a priest.”
“Well, you might get your wish. Or not. Still figuring that one out.”
“I need to meet the other one though. Gotta give him my stamp of approval,” he said, punching his fist into his palm.
“I get to see him Tuesday,” she said as they passed houses that were growing bigger and fancier as they got away from Rose Street. “But I’m going to France. He’s not coming here.”
“You’re leaving?” It surprised him how much that bothered him.
“Just to be on the safe side,” she said. “In case my name shows up in the news.”
“How long you gonna be gone?” he asked.
“As long as I have to be. A couple weeks. A month or two. If the shit hits the fan, I’ll see you in a few years.”
He couldn’t blame her for being worried. The story had already gone national—CNN, Fox News, New York Times. He’d had to turn off his phone Friday because of all the calls coming in from the media. In the next few weeks, things were only going to get hotter as more victims came forward, more names were named. Probably a good thing for Nora to get out of Dodge.
“You might miss the baby coming.”
“I hope I’ll be back in time. If not, Juliette says she understands.”
“All right, you can go, but you gotta at least come back for the wedding.”
“Your wedding? I’m invited?”
“Yeah, you’re invited.”
“That’s very sweet, Cy,” she said, “but you don’t really want a dominatrix in a leather catsuit at your very Catholic wedding, do you?”
“Can you do the electric slide?”
“Is that a kink thing?”
“Nora.”
“I went to high school in the ’90s. Of course I can do the electric slide.”
She smiled again. This time the smile stuck around a little longer.
“Almost there,” Cyrus said. “Come on.” He tugged her arm and pulled her past a white SUV blocking their view. And there it was.
“Oh my God,” Nora said, eyes wide, mouth open.
Before them stood a tree, a great gorgeous monster of a tree with a million branches and a billion leaves.
“I give you the Tree of Life.”
“It’s so beautiful.” She wandered around the tree, staring up at it. Cyrus had done the same the first time he saw it as a kid. “I had no idea this was here.”
Cyrus and Paulina had taken their engagement photos here. It was a massive ancient live oak tree with low branches made for climbing. Follow Annunciation Street to the very end and BAM, a little bit of Eden right before your eyes.
“This tree is amazing,” she said.
“It gets better. Ready to climb?”
“What? Climb the tree? I’m wearing a skirt.”
“It’s a long skirt. Trust me, you want to climb this tree.”
“Fine. Fine. Let’s do this.”
The branches of the tree were thick and low to the ground, easy for climbing. Nora clambered up first and Cyrus followed. It wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t easy. About fifteen feet up, he stopped and pointed.
“Oh my God!” Nora burst into startled laughter.
“That’s the zoo,” he said. “Wave at the giraffes.”
Nora waved at the two giraffes hanging out in their pen at the zoo next door. Cyrus waved, too.
“We’re standing in a tree,” Nora said, “waving at giraffes. I think the paint fumes did permanent damage.”
Cyrus laughed. “Paulina showed it to me on our first real date. I knew about the tree, but I didn’t know you could see the giraffes until she dared me to climb it.” He couldn’t wait to bring their kids here.
“You and Paulina are a great couple,” Nora said. “You two have my blessing.”
“Good. I was thinking about not marrying her until you said that.”
She glared at him. “Smartass.” One giraffe stuck its tongue out at another. She laughed gently. “Céleste has to see this.”
“What about S?ren’s son? Fionn? When’s he coming to visit?”
She blinked. He saw her do it and he wished he hadn’t asked. “He’s not.”
They were quiet together a moment, watching the giraffes.
“You ready to get down?” he asked.
“Almost.” She reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a set of beads—rosary beads.
Nora clutched them in her hand for one second more, then reached up and draped them over a low branch. They carefully climbed down, leaving the silver rosary beads glinting solemnly on a high branch.
“Feel better?” he asked once they were on the ground again.
“A little,” she said. Then, “Do you really want me at your wedding?”
“Yeah, I do. Paulina does, too.”
“What the hell are you going to tell people when they ask who I am? Just your friendly neighborhood dominatrix?”
“I’ll tell them the truth. I’ll tell them you’re my friend.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll be there. It’ll be my honor.”
They both stood back to get a good long view of the tree.
“Pretty tree,” Nora said.
“Yeah,” Cyrus had to agree. “It’s not too bad.”
He took her hand in his and squeezed it. She squeezed back.
“You were kidding about wearing a leather catsuit to my wedding, right?”