The Blue Dress Sisters

CHAPTER 31: AN ACT OF FAITH

"Oh, there he is," said Gisela, pointing toward Massimo in the distance.

He was walking slowly across the hills separating the orphanage from the parish house. When he saw Delilah, a broad smile lit up his face. From afar, he opened his arms wide as though waiting to welcome her into them.

Delilah immediately dropped everything she was doing and sprinted toward her friend. They met in a warm embrace in the middle of the path. Spaghetti hugged her so tightly that he almost lifted her off the ground.

She let out a genuine laugh of joy. He simply looked at her, his lips curved into a smile.

"I missed you, Spaghetti. I can't wait to race you rolling down the hill again!"

Massimo chuckled shyly.

"I missed you too, Patata Piccolina."

"Why are you wearing that?" she teased, eyeing his black robe and the unmistakable white... clerical collar.

The atmosphere shifted with an awkward silence. Delilah's heart began to race. She took two steps back, perplexed, retreating from his touch.

Massimo pressed his lips together, looking almost apologetic.

"I've become a priest, Delilah," he said solemnly.

Her smile vanished instantly.

This had to be a lie. It had to be some elaborate joke he'd concocted to welcome her back after all this time. Surely, that was it.

She let out a nervous, disbelieving laugh, shaking her head as though trying to brush off the absurdity.

"Don't mess with me, Spaghetti," she said, giving him a playful tap on the shoulder. "What nonsense are you talking about?"

But Massimo's expression grew even more serious.

"I swear, Delilah, I'm not joking. I'm the priest of the parish now."

A stab to the heart or a punch to the stomach might have hurt less than hearing those words. Delilah continued stepping back, clutching her chest as though she'd been shot.

It couldn't be true. Her Spaghetti couldn't...

"No," she shook her head, trying to process it. "What have you done? Why?" she whispered, feeling her eyes begin to sting.

Massimo glanced down at his feet.

"Honestly," he confessed, "I didn't think you'd ever come back."

As Delilah closed her eyes, the pain burning inside her spilled over, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I told you I'd come back," she said, her voice cracking. "I swore it."

"I know," he replied with a sigh. "But I thought you'd be happy with your family, that you'd forget this place forever, like all the others, Patata. You and I both know no one ever comes back here."

She swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the lump in her throat as she wiped her face with the back of her sleeve.

"Well, I did. I came back. Doesn't my word mean anything to you?"

A brief silence hung between them. Massimo hesitated, afraid to ask his next question.

"Did you come back because things didn't go as you hoped? Or... because of me?"

Silence again. Delilah had to ask herself the same question before answering him.

"It's true—my family wasn't what I thought they'd be," she admitted. "I wanted to give them a chance to change, to love me, but it didn't work out. Even so, I would have come back anyway," she realized. "Do you know why?" She paused as he slowly shook his head. "Because from the moment I met you, I believed it would always be you and me, that we were meant to be together no matter how many times life pulled us apart. I thought you loved me... the same way I've always loved and admired you, ever since I was a little girl."