“You will be traveling extensively throughout Nepal. I fear that some of the accommodations may not be what you are used to.”
“Like I said, Sister, I was raised on a sheep ranch in New Mexico. I can rough it with the best of them. I can sleep on the ground with a rock for a pillow, and I’ll be just fine.”
“As I said, Andrea Catherine, if you would prefer to stay at the convent while you’re in Kathmandu or if you are worried about the accommodations, please call us at the convent and we will figure out what we can do for you.”
“I appreciate that, Sister.”
“As for tonight, you’ll be staying at the rectory. It has several bedrooms, whereas at the convent, you may need to share a room. The deacon who was assigned to this project is also at the rectory, and he can tell you more about the project. I was pleased to see he is part of the team. I met him a few years ago, when we were both assigned to a project in the slums of Mumbai. He is a transitional deacon, so he has been given Holy Orders as a deacon and aspires to the priesthood. We had many lovely conversations over chai. He wants to join the Jesuit order. I think you will like him. He is a very nice man who takes his calling very seriously. We have many friends in common, and he is very proper, almost shy. He is not the type of priest whom we nuns will only visit in pairs, if you understand me, like Father Emmanuel over in Lalitpur. Do not meet with Father Emmanuel of Lalitpur in private. He is a very bad man. But our Deacon Father is not a bad man. He is a good man.”
“Okay, great. I’m looking forward to meeting him. What’s his name?”
“Deacon Father Maxence Grimaldi.”
Something about that name rang a bell in her head. “Okay?”
Sister Mariam was repressing a smile, the corners of her mouth turning up despite the fact that her lips were pressed together so tightly that she was practically eating them. She said quietly, almost like she was talking to herself, “Yes, he is Deacon Father Maxence Grimaldi.”
Dree asked her, “Is there something else I should know?”
“As I said, I have met Deacon Father Maxence on previous projects. He is a very holy man and very committed to becoming a priest. He works very hard on all the projects, building schools and hospitals with his own hands, ministering to the sick, and to the houses for survivors of female human trafficking. He prays the major hours of the Divine Office and the minor ones. Very holy.”
“And?” Dree drew out the word to entice Sister Mariam to talk.
Sister Mariam’s eyes bugged out because she was trying so hard not to say what she so dearly wanted to.
“Come on. You know you want to tell me,” Dree said.
Sister Mariam shot her a quick look out of the corner of her eyes, and her head bobbled side to side as she considered what to say. Finally, she said, “Deacon Father Maxence is very good for the Church because everywhere he goes, there are many converts to Christ.”
Dree paused for a minute, thinking. “I’m not sure what that means.”
“Deacon Father Maxence writes excellent sermons, and his delivery of sermons is impeccable.”
She was still chewing on her own lips.
Dree asked, “And that means?”
Sister Mariam bobbled so hard while she was driving that Dree thought the poor woman was going to explode. She said, all in a rush, “God in His infinite wisdom has thought it good to give Deacon Father Maxence a very handsome face, but I believe he prefers the company of men.”
Dree had not expected that, and she cracked up. “Oh, really?”
“Some of the nuns in my convent have been tempted to sin with Deacon Father Maxence and have tried their darnedest to tempt him, but he would not break his vow of chastity. He is a very holy man, very devout. He also knows much about fashion, and I have asked him questions about these things. I say this only to spare you any aggravation or concern. That is why I told you that, not because I was gossiping.” Sister Mariam frowned very hard. “Mother Superior has told me many times that I especially must guard against gossiping.”
Dree cracked up again. “Okay, I’m forewarned. I was planning on not having anything to do with men ever again in my life, and certainly not with someone who wants to be a priest, and certainly never,everwhile I’m on a Catholic Charities mission. I just got out of an awful relationship, and it was so bad that I left America because I’m afraid for my life. I don’t want anything to do with any man, but thanks for the warning about Deacon Father Maxence.”
“Yes, you should be warned about Deacon Father Maxence. He is very handsome, and he is very convincing.”
Convincing, huh?“Thanks again for the warning.”
Sister Mariam parked the car on a lovely suburban street.
On one side of the avenue, Our Lady of Assumption Church was a modern-looking building. The red brick construction and terracotta-tiled roof with blue and white trim would have been perfectly at home in the Southwestern US, though the lines of the roof were slightly concave like the pagodas Dree had seen driving through Kathmandu. The crosses stemming from the apexes of the church roof had sunbursts around the centers, looking more like Eastern Orthodox crosses, even though she’d been assured this was a Roman Catholic Church.
On the opposite side of the street, a miniature version of the church stood behind a manicured front yard.
Sister Mariam waved at the house-size building. “That is the rectory. Deacon Father Maxence should be waiting for us.”
Dree grabbed her luggage out of the back and rolled it across the street with Sister Mariam. They climbed up the stairs to the front door and knocked, waiting.
