Page 12 of Almost Priest

The conversation lazed in and out of topics from which wooded areas Frank’s company was recently clearing to the family’s overall opinion on Finn’s recent breakup. Through it all Maureen steadily set the kitchen back to rights and finally joined the others at the table to relax. The small toddler, Hannah, returned to Katherine’s lap and napped in her mother’s arms using her soon-to-arrive little brother as a pillow.

When the screen door opened again Sam almost choked on the coffee slipping down her throat. It was the man from the bathroom with the sapphire eyes flecked with jade. He greeted Braydon first and then turned directly to her.

“Hello, I’m Colin.”

She took his hand. “Sam.”

“Samantha’s Braydon’s friend from college. She’ll be staying with us for the next three weeks,” Maureen informed.

“Wonderful,” Colin remarked as he gave her hand a slight squeeze.

She didn’t understand her disappointment at the loss of contact. Obviously she was the immature one, for where Colin kindly decided to forget her humiliating blunder this morning and be a gentleman to his brother’s friend, she could not help imagining him naked. When he shook her hand it was formal and without emotion beyond appropriate politeness. The way it should be. Yet for some reason this irritated her.

He moved to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee then took a seat next to Katherine. Running an affectionate hand down Hannah’s sleeping head, he smiled.

What was it Sam noticed in his expression? Not quite longing, but perhaps some sort of resigned acceptance. There was definitely love in the gesture, but something more. This man, for some reason, stood apart from the rest.

“How was Mass?” Frank asked as he dumped the remainder of his coffee down the drain and stashed his newspaper in a wooden crate of old papers.

“It was fine. I spoke to Father Newsham about moving the later Sunday Mass back an hour since they dropped the Saturday Mass. I don’t think he was fond of the idea until I pointed out that a later crowd could possibly bring younger parishioners.”

“Lord knows Kelly hasn’t been to Mass since they moved it to nine a.m.”

Colin chuckled. “Well, Kelly’s a proud heathen. I was thinking more about the kids Sheilagh’s age.”

“I’ll remind you I am now a legal adult,” Sheilagh told Colin pointedly. “And I never miss Sunday service. However, I’d appreciate being able to sleep in a little longer.”

As they spoke Sam couldn’t resist watching the oldest McCullough brother. He had a soft yet strong voice. His teeth were perfectly white and straight and now that his hair was combed he displayed a level of refinement the rest of the family lacked. He was devastatingly handsome in a classic way, a cross between a sexy Clark Kent or Gable. He seemed a distinguished gentleman, sure and confident.

“Is you’re family Catholic?” Maureen asked Samantha drawing her back into the conversation.

“Um, I have all my sacraments, but we haven’t practiced in quite a few years.”

Maureen and the others accepted her honesty without judgment. She turned back to watch Colin some more when Maureen proudly announced, “Colin is finishing his Transitional Diaconate this summer. In August he’s becoming a priest.”

CHAPTER3

After an afternoon of driving around the McCullough property with Braydon, Samantha was completely in love with the land. They parked and explored a trail that led to a natural spring and she was stunned when Braydon took a metal cup tied to a post in the ground and scooped out a sample and swallowed it. The watering hole was edged in moss and freezing cold. When he kindly bullied her into tasting it she was amazed at how refreshing the spring water was on her tongue.

They passed a corral by the edge of the five hundred acre property where horses grazed. Braydon informed her that most McCulloughs learned how to ride before they properly mastered the art of walking. Samantha had never ridden a horse before, but was determined to try before she returned home.

There was a cleared piece of land high up on a mountain that had a windmill. She’d always known the contraptions were big, but compared to what she imagined they were colossal. Because windmills were government owned in Center County, this was another source of income for the McCulloughs. All they had to do was sign the papers agreeing that the county could use their property and they were sent a check quarterly for their civic duty.

Growing up in the more affluent suburbs of Pennsylvania and the Jersey areas across the Delaware River where people struggled to obtain even an acre of land, Sam was blown away by how much property the McCulloughs owned. It was too enormous to completely explore in one afternoon alone. It made her sad for the ruthless commercialization that no doubt would someday rob the secret place of its beauty. Hopefully the McCulloughs would never let their land go.

They parked to observe a black bear claw the surface of a small stream for fish when Braydon shut off the truck and gave the engine a rest.

“Will the bear be bothered by us being so close?”

“Not so long as we stay in the car. That’s one thing about being this high on the trail. You’ve got to be real careful about being out on foot. There’re all kinds of things bigger than you out here. Not to mention more pitfalls than I can list along the trail. You also have to know when people are hunting on the property.”

“Do you let others use your property for hunting season?”

“We have a cabin up that mountain there. It’s pretty isolated and primitive. No phones or cable. There’s a radio you can call out from in case of emergencies, but that’s about it. We let some family friends borrow it from time to time, but other than that, no, we don’t let people treat our home as public gaming land.”

“When you told me you were from the mountains I never imagined anything as magnificent as this.”

The bear, which was hardly more than a partially grown cub, moved down stream toward the rougher waters. Just past the bend of the stream were large moss covered boulders. The incline of the land created a slight waterfall where rapids fell like white foam into the calmer pools closer to where Sam and Braydon watched.

---