“You’re damn lucky you don’t have woman troubles,” I mumble.
He laughs. “I may be a priest, but I can tell you that my women problems are far from over.”
“You’re not celibate?” I blurt in confusion. He’s a priest, what the fuck is he admitting.
“I can still have women problems being a man of the cloth.” He rolls his eyes. “Mass tends to be more like dodgem cars at a carnival. As soon as Mass is over, I’m dodging all the young women. They’re like a flock of birds.”
I grin at his blush. “So you have young catholic girls crushing on you?”
“Crushing? What are we, ten?”
“They’re crushing on you. This is the most fun I’ve had in a while. I need more details. How young are we talking about?”
“How the heck do I know?”
Hmmm, I bet he has an idea.
“You might be a priest, but you’re not dead, yet.”
“The youngest is probably early twenties, and the oldest I’d say is early forties. Happy now?” he asks, tipping pasta into bowls.
“Not really. Are you sure you’re a priest?”
He growls.
“Okay, you really are. I was there.” I smile. “You know, until I met Sabrina I’d been celibate nearly as long as you have.”
“Yours wasn’t exactly by choice.”
“Maybe not, but never the less its fact. I can’t imagine giving sex up willingly.”
“Can we talk about something else?” he asks, shoving a bowl under my nose as he joins me at the kitchen table.
“Like what?”
He doesn’t answer and starts eating so I suggest, “Tell me why you don’t want Emelia visiting you? She’s your sister so no one is going to say anything about a priest and a young girl.”
“Now you’re giving me heartburn.” He pushes his bowl away. “Emelia is going to want to get out and visit the surrounding areas. She’s also suggested we go camping. People will talk regardless of whether or not she’s my sister, and I don’t want it to hurt her. Plus, the women who are driving me crazy might not be too friendly towards her. I think she’s lonely and could do with some friends. Visiting me isn’t the best option for her. I even suggested she head to Lexington instead and stay with Eric for a while.” He wipes his hand down his face. “She won’t listen. She wants to come and stay with me.”
There is more to this than what he’s saying—more of a reason that he doesn’t want to tell me.
“I thought you were hungry.” He glances at my bowl still filled with food.
“I’ll work you out. I like puzzles.”
“You don’t want to work it out. Please leave it.”
I watch as he gets up and starts cleaning the stove before washing the dishes.
There is a story there, but I have enough to sort out in my own life to interfere with Dante’s for now.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Sabrina
Even though the fundraiser tonight is going strong without any hiccups, I’m still fighting the butterflies in my stomach. My mom thinks I’m stupid because I’m looking forward to seeing Lucien again. But I’m nervous about seeing him too. What if he only comes back to tell me we’re through, but he’ll always be there for our child? I may not know a lot about Lucien, but I do know he would never walk away from our child. I just wish I knew if he’d walk away from me because of his fears.
Because of his absence, I’ve still been unable to watch the DVD of our baby, but I’m hoping all that will change tonight. The envelope with that and the photographs is secure inside my evening purse. Now all I need is Lucien.
As I look around the ballroom I can’t help but admire all the work we’ve done to make this evening a night to remember for the city. The whole room is decorated in black and silver tablecloths, balloons, flowers and even the plates and dishes match. There are a lot of influential people in attendance with large purses, some of whom, I know have already donated large sums of money towards the opening of the hospital wing.
The men look handsome in their tuxes and the women beautiful in their evening gowns—some long and elegant, and a few short and tacky. But then there is the rare gem in the crowd, like Sylvia who is stunning with her plain black gown, blonde hair tangled up in a twist, the only sparkle is the silver necklace around her neck. Her smile gleams as she dances with Ramon and from the look on Ramon’s face, I can tell he’s noticed how amazing she looks.
“Sabrina,” Michael says my name, distracting me from the dancing, and his brother, “you look lovely.” He kisses me on the cheek.
“Thank you.”
“It looks like you ladies did an amazing job with tonight’s event.”
“That we did,” Lily adds as we hug before she’s wrapped in her husband’s arms. “I think Michael needs to escort us both so the vultures don’t descend on you. We don’t want to piss Lucien off when he finally gets here.”
Michael frowns down at Lily who grins and shakes her head at him. “Sabrina already knows Lucien is going to be here. Ruben told her.”