“Years?” I asked. “Don’t these happen every year?”
“Not like this.” The priest took his hand off Adam’s shoulder and faced me with the same smile.
Adam and I waited until he walked out and shut the door behind him before we both sat down again.
“Priests, monks, what’s next, nuns?” I whispered. “This is like elementary school all over again.” I shook my head. “And you’ve never had women before this?”
“We invited some a couple of years ago but it didn’t work out. They couldn’t handle the burial.”
“Which makes the fact that I’m here now even weirder.”
“You or Stella?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Both of us,” I said. “I had a key to The Manor as well.”
“What do you mean?”
“The key to the front door was in my backpack.”
“How’d you get it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know.”
“I don’t remember. It must have happened Friday.”
“Shit. That makes sense. That was when we dropped off the letters.” Adam looked at me. “Well, the ceremony is tonight. Are you ready?”
“Am I ever?” I shrugged. “I have to go see Karen.”
“I’m coming with you.”
I stared at him for a moment. “If you come, you’re either on my side or against me. I don’t want you acting like we’re okay and then go behind my back to figure out whether or not you believe me.”
“Hey, I’m with you. One hundred percent with you.”
“Noted.” He nodded.
In the car, he was fine until he got on the highway. Then, he had no idea where to go. I directed him on where to go, where to turn, what roads to take.
“You really don’t know your way around here.”
“I grew up in the city,” he said. “My parents went to Ellis though, met there. It wasn’t ever really a question of whether or not my brother and I would attend, it was a matter of when.” He glanced over at me. “How’d you end up at Ellis?”
“The Maslows.”
“The Maslows?” He frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s difficult to explain.”
“Try me.”
“Karen says I was always a difficult baby—”
“Sorry to cut you off, but have you always called her Karen?”
“You have to make a left here.” I pointed at the upcoming block. “Yes, for as long as I can remember she’s been Karen.”
“You refer to her as your mother.”
“Well, she is my mother.”
“You two don’t seem close.”
“Not all mother-daughters are, but it doesn’t change the fact that she raised me.”
“Where do I go now?”
“Right here.” I pointed at the streetlight.
“So Karen said you were always a difficult child.”
“Yeah, and somehow at church it came up in conversation.” I paused, frowning. That wasn’t right. “Apparently, during my baptism, which was late, I was baptized when I was ten months.”
“That’s late?”
“For a Catholic, yes,” I said. “You weren’t baptized?”
“I was, but I was a baby.”
“Anyway, during my baptism, I was throwing a tantrum. Karen thought it was because I hadn’t napped. Luisa, our friend from church, one of the Dominican ones, said I needed food. Father Murray said the devil was inside me.”
“What?” Adam’s face whipped toward me. “Don’t tell me they bought into that.”
“Well, I was shrieking when the water was poured on me. Then when I was around three years old, I started saying something like ‘burns, burns’ and you know holy water only burns the wicked.”
“What?” He laughed. “That’s crazy.”
“If you really want to know my story you need to keep an open mind.” I scowled. “It’s not easy for me to say all of these things to someone like you.”
“Someone like me?”
“A spoiled, smart, hot guy who doesn’t believe in God.”
“I never said I didn’t believe in God. I would just rather stick to facts. And science.” He slowed at the end of the block. “You’re going to have to tell me where to go.”
“Oh crap. Sorry. Turn around. I’m two houses back, to the right.”
Adam made a U-turn and parked in the driveway, behind Karen’s old, white Buick. I took a deep breath as I opened the door. Adam followed closely behind me. I rang the doorbell, but before I’d even let my hand fall to my side, Karen had opened the door, leaving the screen door closed between us.
“Eva?” She switched the porch light on. “Where’s your key?”
“I don’t have it with me.”
“Are you sure you’re Eva?” She frowned. “Where was your sixth birthday?”
“McDonald’s.”
“How ‘bout your seventh?”
“Also McDonald’s.” I looked at Adam who probably hadn’t been to McDonald’s in his life. “I had a thing for the Hamburgler.”
“Who’s this?”
“Adam. He’s a . . . friend.”
“A friend?” Karen eyed him closely. “A rich friend.”
“Are you going to let us in or not?”
“Definitely Eva.” Karen smiled as she opened the door for us and closed it quickly behind us, turning three locks.
“Why do you have so many locks?” I frowned. “Even if I had a key I wouldn’t have been able to get inside.”
“One can never be too careful these days.” She walked over to the kitchen. “I’m making tea.”