Oh Lord, I do not know what to believe anymore. How am I to continue on with the knowledge that my heart and my sex has been possessed by the tortured passion in his golden brown eyes? I cannot deny the emotions my heart depicts, but I cannot forsake and abandon my promise to God. I can feel the simplicity of life fade away like the green of an autumn leaf. I have a distinct feeling that the clarity I once knew was merely an illusion to mask my true self from my mind's eye.

"Elizabeth?"

Yelping sharply, I drop the white wicker basket of freshly cleaned bedclothes on the ground as Michael appears behind me. He kneels down beside me, watching as I scramble to retrieve the previously folded laundry. "Elizabeth? Have you taken ill? You face is so pale."

I grab a rumbled sheet from his grasp and walk quickly towards the convent. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Michael." Michael catches up to me with three long strides and grabs my wrist.

"You are talking out of your arse, Elizabeth. I know you. There is something hanging over your head." Michael takes the basket from my arms and places it on the ground. Pulling me down under the leafy branches of a willow tree, he takes my hands in his own. His hazel eyes are overcast with concern as he runs his fingers over my knuckles. The soft skin of his thumb reminds me of the gentle caress of Maxwell's lips, and I cannot help a shudder of pleasure at the memory. "Tell me."

Leaning back against the chalky bark, I inhale deeply. "Oh, Michael. It is all so terrible." He sits beside me and wraps a strong arm around my shoulders. I bury my face in the thin cotton of his shirt. "I fell in love with Father Evans." Michael's arm stiffens.

"Would you repeat that one, Lizzie. I think I misheard what you said." I pull myself out of the warm circle of his embrace.

"Oh, you heard me. I fell in love. In LOVE! Michael, what in God's good name am I going to do? I cannot just disregard my obligations to the Lord, but how can I live with the knowledge that there is someone like him out there waiting for me?" I take in a shaky breath. "No matter what decision I choose to follow, I stand to lose an enormous component of my life. How do I choose between my love and my God?"

Michael scratches his eyebrow. "Lassie, if I knew the answers to all of love's dilemmas, I would not be in the predicament that I reside within. All I know is that you must follow your heart. The greatest crime of all is making decisions based on circumstances and ignoring what your soul tells you. It was you who taught me that."

I laugh bitterly. "So you do remember when it was I who dispensed the advice to you?" I brush my hair back behind my ear. "But apparently, I am not as skillful at lavishing advice as my status would prefer. Look at all the trouble I have caused for you. You are fortunate that I have not gotten you hanged." Michael shakes his head as he leans forward to catch my gaze.

"Elizabeth, you have given me nothing but joy. You said listen to your heart, and I did." An overjoyed grin spreads across my friend's sculptured features. "Look at all your advice has given to me. I have a good business, four of the most beautiful children in America, and soon I will have a wife more magnificent than any angel of God. And I owe it all to you."

My thoughts are suddenly catapulted from those concerning my beloved. "A wife?" Michael's grin expands.

"Aye, a wife. Maria has agreed to give me her hand." I throw my arms around Michael's neck.

"Michael, that is wonderful news!" Another thought strikes me. "But what of her father?" Michael pulls himself from my arms and runs his hands through his soft brown locks.

"We will be wed in secret. Along with Kyle Valenti and Tess Harding." He gives me a weak smile. "Kyle is inside of the church at this very moment convincing your Father Evans to marry us in the forest at twilight."

Maxwell? Oh no. "What is wrong with asking Alexander? I am sure that you could persuade him to perform the marriage."

Michael clears his throat. "He. . . um. . . he opposes what Kyle and I are doing." He looks deep into my eyes and takes my hand again. "Elizabeth, I know that it will be difficult for you to be in the presence of Father Evans, but I would love for you to attend my wedding." I squeeze Michael's hand.

"I would not miss it for the world."

***

"And do you, Kyle Valenti, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"

Kyle grins at me, smoothing away my tears with the palm of his hand. "I do."

Father Evans closes the black leather-bound bible. "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

My heart overflows with joy as Kyle wraps his arms around me and presses his lips against my own in a tender kiss. My princely husband pulls away slightly, resting his forehead against my own. "I love you." I feel a slow smile spread across my face as the applause of our small audience fades away into oblivion.

"I love you too, Kyle."

I turn to face our congregation of friends and loved ones. Michael stands proud with his chin resting on the daisy-laced curls of his fairy wife as he envelops her in a tight embrace. Maria herself glows with exhilaration, reflecting all of the joy and love that I feel inside for Kyle. Isabel stands beside them with Rhiannon in tow, Finola and Thomas at her side. Sister Mary Elizabeth holds a drowsy Andrew against her bosom, a small smile across her lovely features. Michael turns his head to Thomas.

"Maestro, if you will." The boy pulls out his violin, his nimble fingers dancing along the strings. I sigh blissfully. Thomas is a true prodigy. He plays with the talent and skill of a grown man.

Time fades away as Kyle pulls me close, swaying with me slowly under the careful watch of the stars. Tonight is perfect. If I were to die at this very moment, I would be grateful -- I would thank the Lord for His kindness -- for I would never have to see this phenomenal moment end. The inevitable departure of my love hangs over my head like a black cloud of desolation.

"Congratulations." I pull face out of the crook of Kyle's neck to face Alexander. Smiling, I place a soft kiss on the young man's cheek.

"Thank you for coming, Alexander." Kyle shakes his hand. "I was wondering if you would come to wish us well." Alexander grins.

"Well, I could not let this momentous occasion pass by without asking the lovely Isabel Guerin to dance in her brother's honor, now could I?" Laughing, Kyle and I watch as he walks towards Isabel. I turn to rest my head on his shoulder once again.

"Now he is a strange one." Kyle chuckles and pulls me closer.

"We are all a little strange, now aren't we, my love." I can hear the music of Maria's laughter ring above the notes of the violin. I look over my shoulder to see Michael lift her in the air, her satin gown flowing around them like snowflakes on the wind. Alexander and Finola dance nearby as Isabel watches, a thoughtful smile fondly gracing her lips. Sister Mary Elizabeth sits under the protection of the branches of an oak, a sleeping Andrew cradled in her arms as Rhiannon curls up against her legs. Father Evans stands away from the small crowd, his eyes curiously surveying over us with rapt mystification.

"Promise me that we will be together again soon." I look into my beloved's gray-blue eyes. "Promise me that this hiding will not be forever." Kyle looks at me wistfully and presses a gentle kiss on my forehead.

"No matter where I am, or what I am doing, my soul will always lead me back to you. You are my wife, my love, and nothing can take that away from us."

Although I can only pray that fortune will be so kind, I nod my head and lose myself in the magic of this night.

***

"Sister."

"Father." Oh God, what have I done? My sweet Elizabeth cannot even look me in the eye. She shifts the young babe in her arms, clutching the slumbering infant like a drowning man clutches a lifeline.

"Sister, I just felt that I should apologize for my inappropriate behavior last night." I sit down beside her, carefully avoiding contact with the smooth skin of her arm. "It was wrong for me to place you in such a situation. You have done nothing but aid me in my selfish dilemmas, and I repaid you in a violation of your ethics. For this I am forever remorseful." My heart's desire sighs deeply.

"Maxwell, you did nothing wrong. My actions are the ones to be ashamed of. You have yet to pledge yourself formally to our Lord and Savior, yet it was I who gave you unsuitable implications of my intentions." She raises her untainted doe eyes to meet my own. "The fault is mine." I shake my head.

"If that is the extent of your indiscretion, Elizabeth, then I beg you to wrong me again. I would not change a single moment I have spent with you for all the angels in Heaven." I take her hand in my own, begging my body not to raise her slender fingers to my lips again. "My only regret is taking for granted the gifts you so generously bestowed upon me."