“You Priests do love your litanies.”
Joseph clenched his teeth. The truth was, he’d been chanting these impediments in his head for days, as if they were a blessing to keep him away from her. “Thatis the foremost impediment: I am a Priest. Forever. That means I am celibate.”
“Not for the firstthousand yearsof Church history it didn’t,” his father muttered.
Joseph ignored him. “Through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, I have beenchanged, not unlike the Host in that Tabernacle.” He gestured beyond the sacristy door toward the altar. “To behave as if I were only a man?—”
His father descended on him and gripped Joseph’s head between his hands, pressing his fingers so hard into Joseph’s skin that it hurt.His voice was so calm now, it was frightening. “You still feel like flesh and blood to me.”
Joseph broke free of him. “Even if I weren’t a Priest, Tessa is married to another man!”
“Edward has had half a decade to get it right. He’s become more selfish, not less. You should have been there when I explained that there won’t be any more children. Instead of grieving with Tessa, Edward accuses her. He does not say the words: ‘This is all your fault. You have failed me.’ He doesn’t even look at her—but that’s the accusation. Instead of comforting her, he literally turns away from her. Don’t you make the same mistake, Joseph. Don’t turn your back on the best thing that has ever happened to you.”
“The fact remains: Edward is her husband. Even if we were godless, the laws of South Carolina do not permit divorce any more than the Church does.”
Joseph’s father crossed his arms again. “Are you finished?”
“Hardly!” He was only halfway through his impediments. “Tessa is white, and I am colored.”
“Disgusting,” his father mocked. “Unthinkable.”
“Any contact between us would also be incestuous!”
“What?” At least he’d wiped that smirk off his father’s face.
“My sister is married to her brother. Husband and wife become one flesh. Tessa and I are now related by affinity. The Church forbids?—”
“Didn’t the Church allow Jean-Baptiste de Caradeux to marry his own niece?”
Joseph recognized the name of another émigré from Saint-Domingue. “Caradeux obtained a dispensation.”
“Meaning: he paid off the Pope.”
“He— I think I have made my point. Tessa and I are impossible. The further apart we are, the better for us both.” He turned from his father with what he hoped was finality and pulled another vestment from its drawer.
“You’re planning to run away permanently,” his father realized. “You’re going to leave Charleston.”
Joseph answered with silence.
“Have you asked Father Baker yet?”
“I am waiting till he is back on his feet.”
“Surely he will want you to finish the seminary term?”
“Probably.”
“Then you can stay until your sister’s surgery.”
Slowly Joseph set down the maniple. “It’s come to that?”
His father nodded gravely. “Two weeks ago, the tumors started paining her. She didn’t even tell me; she wanted to see Tessa through her confinement. Hélène’s pains are intermittent, but Dr. Mortimer and I agree that the time has come to act. We will insert a trocar first and examine the tissues. That will determine our next course—whether we can remove the tumors only, or if we must amputate the breast.”
“How soon?”
“There’s a new opera coming next month that Hélène wants to see. She’s persuaded us to wait until the day after that. She wants to have ‘one last thing’ to look forward to, before… Your sister is terrified, Joseph.”
“I will stay until she has recovered.” Or until…
