𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 ( 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐎𝐧𝐞)

𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲- 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧- 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐓𝐰𝐨

Disclaimer:
A lot about God in Max and Father Josè's conversation.

Maxwell

The church is quaint, but it has a welcoming charm.

There is an old man garbed in priestly attire waiting for us at the entrance. His silver hair is trimmed perfectly, a smile on his lips, a ring on each hand, and a cross hanging around his neck.

When we start walking toward him, he stretches out his arms to us and Sienna runs to him. He embraces her, then kisses both her cheeks.

"Have you been praying for Nicolo to stop talking with food in his mouth?"

The old man smiles fondly, "Yes. The Lord has been made aware of this behaviour."

"Make Him aware of Sienna bullying me too. " Nic chimes in, stepping into the old man's embrace. He does this with all of them.

He laughs with them and smiles at them with love other than just kindness. I could tell they meant more than the world to him.

When he is done hugging and kissing all of them, Lia pulls me to the front. I'm nervous, anxious, something I picked up since I met Lia's dad. He moves his face and his eyes land on me—they are kind, knowing, wise.

"You must be Maxwell. Lia told you you're going through a rough time." He mumbles, holding out his hand to shake mine. He let out a small encouraging grin when he enfolds my trembling hand in his. He can tell I'm terrified though he probably doesn't know why.

"I have an appointment in an hour." he said to the others while still holding my hand, "will you mind if I speak to Maxwell alone?"

"No, we don't mind," Luca tells him.

"And you'll have lunch with me?" There is excitement and hope in his tone.

"Yes. We will wait." Luca assures him. He smiles again, then his eyes shift to me." follow me, Maxwell."

He leads me to a small office with portraits of Jesus and what I think is God. There is another priest seated, "this is Father Mario," the priest tells me, "this is Maxwell, a friend of Lia." He adds. Father Mario narrows his gaze at me, flipping his pen, "What kind of a friend?" He asks with more interest than it warrants. I don't reply, neither does Father Josè, he just unlocks another door, steps aside and gestures for me to enter.

This room is different. It's bigger with two windows; one on the right, the other on the left.

I let out a sigh slowly when he invites me to sit down. He takes his time arranging papers on his desk, piling them up on top of each other before transferring them to a small shelf behind him. While he is doing this, I'm running my eyes around the room. There is a mosaic of wedding portraits of a few people, but my eyes land on those that I know. Four men, three of which were the reason I was seated in an office with a priest in Italy. And a very well known Chicago billionaire—Matthew Ocean. But as surprised as I was to find his wedding photos among the others, I'm more surprised by the woman in Romano's arms. Mia Bella, a former supermodel. I guess marriage was the reason for her disappearance from the limelight. This was where Serena got her looks, her mother was not only beautiful, she was gorgeous. Glamorous.

"You know Matthew Ocean?" I asked the priest. He lifts his head for a second, then moves his face to the portraits on the wall, and nods. "I raised him. I raised all of them." There is a lot of pride in his voice, a tone of accomplishment, do you mind if I take a look?"

"He laughs, "No, of course not. Go ahead." I rise on my feet, my gaze fixed on the mosaic roaming on the portraits first on the wedding portraits, the other when they were young boys on the verge of adulthood, to when they were children. He has it all.