A shout from the onlookers drew her around. A sleek private jet taxied off the runway and headed straight for where they stood. Kirsten walked over to where Dale stood by the cars. The man’s entire being was focused upon the jet. A tremor rocked his frame, revealing the suppressed anxiety of one who had been forced to live on the edge for far too long.
She said to him, “I’d like to ask a favor.”
His gaze did not leave the plane. “Name it.”
“Ask Goscha to stay here as the child’s nanny.”
He looked at her then. “Erin’s maid?”
“Yes. Have you met her?”
“Once or twice, and not for very long. Erin had her stay and to watch over the house in Düsseldorf. When we went there, Goscha played the ghost.”
“She loves your baby, Dale.”
“This is the same woman who refused to release my own child to me.”
“Same reason, different action. She only knew you in Erin’s company. Goscha trusts me to make the right decision for Celeste.”
“If I remember correctly, she also butchers the English language.”
“I doubt seriously,” Kirsten replied, “that Celeste will mind.”
The jet’s engines whined down, and the side door flipped open. Kirsten said apologetically, “I’m supposed to do this alone.”
Dale did not actually push her forward. “Go. Hurry.”
She walked toward the gray-cloaked nun who stood blinking in the sudden sunlight. The nun spotted her approach and descended the stairs. “You are Kirsten Stansted?”
“Yes.”
“I am Sister Agnes. Please, that is the father?”
“Dale Steadman. Yes.”
But the sister made no move toward him. “That horrible man who was with Erin came back and demanded the child. Who was he?”
“Just what you said. A horrible man. He’s been arrested.”
“Then I acted correctly when I refused to hand Celeste over to him.”
“Yes.”
“I knew something was very wrong as soon as he appeared. He claimed Erin had sent him. She didn’t, did she.”
“No.”
“The attempted break-in at our convent, it was for the child?”
“Probably.”
“Then it is good we hid her. And the news I heard from Goscha is true, Erin is really lost to us?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Goscha was very explicit in her instructions. I was to hand the baby only over to you. The father she did not know. But you she said I could trust. You would know what to do. You would know where the baby would be safest.”
Kirsten liked her. So much she was able to confess, “There is a problem.”
“Let me guess. Who truly is the child’s father.” She smiled at Kirsten’s surprise. “I knew Erin at her beginnings.”
“My fiancé and I don’t know how much we should tell the man who believes Celeste is his child. Especially since we don’t know anything for certain.”
“Your fiancé. How nice. That is the gentleman there with the bandage on his head?”
“His name is Marcus Glenwood.”
“And you love him.”
“So much.”
The gray-clad nun cocked her head to one side. “I detect an unfinished thought. So much it frightens? So much it brings forth truth?”
“Both.”
“So there is to be honesty between us. Good. I consider honesty one of my dearest allies.” Soft eyes inspected her with the calm of centuries. “Tell your beloved this. All God’s own have been adopted to his clan. He will understand this?”
“Better than me.”
“If this situation is good enough for God, why not for man as well? You will tell him this also?”
“Yes.”
“Then I will share another honesty with you. I was sent to the monastery school when I was nine. Erin was eleven. I became her best friend. Her only friend. I was lonely and she was Erin. Already then she was Erin. You understand?”
“All too well.”
“One night we were in the attic smoking forbidden cigarettes. A harmless crime, only the building caught fire and three of the other children burned to death.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you. In that moment of initial terror, Erin caught me and made me swear an oath never to divulge the truth. So when I have confessed my sins to the families and my own clan, I have spoken only of my own actions. In seeking to make amends, to bring a rightness to this tragedy, to make up for the lives I caused to be extinguished, I became who I am. For Erin, the response was different. She became above all rules.”
“She was the star.”
“Even then.” The nun straightened, seeking to cast aside the weight of many years. “I have remained true to my vow until now, though I am convinced punishment might have saved her. But now she is gone, and my vow is ended. Erin dedicated her life to fulfilling her every ambition.”
“That is what killed her,” Kirsten said. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“No?”
“You said it yourself. Erin was Erin.”
The nun studied her a long moment, then said, “And I was the one coming to offer you peace.”
Before Kirsten could respond, she climbed back inside the plane, then returned carrying a small bundle in crinoline and white. “Go with God, my children.”
Kirsten accepted the armload and crossed back across the tarmac. She stopped before the silent, trembling man. And smiled for both of them. “Take your daughter.”