Chapter One
The Wedding Story
The Proposal
Father Timothy Kavanagh stood at the stone wall on the ridge above Mitford,
watching the deepening blush of a late June sunset.
He conceded that it wasn't the worst way to celebrate a birthday, though he'd
secretly hoped to celebrate it with Cynthia. For years, he'd tried to fool
himself that his birthday meant very little or nothing, and so, if no cards
appeared, or cake or presents, that would be fine.
Indeed, there had been no card from Cynthia, though he'd received a stack from
his parishioners, and certainly she'd given no promise of cake or candles that
definitively pronounced, This is it, Timothy, the day you appeared on earth, and
though I know you don't really care about such things, we're going to celebrate,
anyway, because you're important to me. He was deeply ashamed to admit that he'd
waited for this from her; in truth, had expected it, hoped for it.
He'd known suffering in his thirty-eight years in the priesthood, though nearly
always because of someone else's grief or affliction. Now he suffered for
himself, for his maddening inability to let ... read full excerpt from: A Common Life ebook
