7 Chapter 7: St. Mary's Cathedral
-----------Return to Present Day
Samantha had eventually, after not much coercion, taken Holly to St. Mary’s cathedral. She had noted the desperation of the woman not to go back to her own home and decided the best thing to do would be to take her to a place she knew could protect her.
“This place is really beautiful,” Samantha heard Holly whisper.
She remembered her own amazement she had felt when she saw it for the first time, large stone walls that surrounded the stained glass—it looked even better inside of the building when the sun began to set, when all the rays cascaded down into the chapel and in the halls and casted that ethereal, luminescent glow.
“Are we going inside?” Holly’s voice asked.
“Yes, let us go. It looks even better inside—just wait until you see it.”
Samantha relished in the look of wonder on Holly’s face, they all had that same look when they first come in. It was true that the St. Mary’s cathedral was not by any means your typical place of worship.
They stopped many times on their way to their destination due to Holly reaching out to the various flowers that had begun to bloom in the late spring, “They’re gorgeous,” she told Samantha as she retracted her hands from a cluster of lilies with tentative hands.
“Is he your husband?” Holly asked suddenly.
“Who?”
“Tobias,” she clarified.
Samantha’s eyes grew wide for a split second before a burst of laughter came out of her mouth. It was loud and joyful in the otherwise serene atmosphere.
“God no—oops.” Samantha covered her mouth for a moment and gave her friend a sheepish look before continuing. “Tobias is a priest at this cathedral, he has been for about… well I met him 7 years ago, and it should be… three years now?”
They walked through the archway of the glass doorway, and then Samantha heard Holly gasp as she saw the scene before her. The property was bigger than she could have imagined, larger in front and much larger at the back.
The green grass expanded out further than she could see, with large flowerbeds and trees littering the area. Some were big enough that it caused the shade to cascade down onto the bright grass. It looked even better than the inside—and Holly didn’t think that was even possible.
“Although,” she said a little louder than Holly was expecting as they began walking again, “You wouldn’t say all that about him if you met him out on the town, he’s got this real broody face—very angry-like; I’ve told him it isn’t a good look on a man. He’s going to get grey and wrinkly before the time he’s thirty-five. He wouldn’t even give me so much as a smile when I first met him!” The other woman exaggerated and caused Holly to laugh lightly. “But I think I’ve grown on him.”
“Like a wart.” A deep rumbling voice came from behind them, light and full with an underlying chastisement. The women froze, shocked for a brief moment as they hadn’t realized someone was following behind them.
A man with an undeniably demanding presence stood before them, and the first thought that crossed Holly’s mind was that he resembled a lighthouse. Large and unyielding in all the ways the building was—both comfort and warning at the same time.
“Yeah, and not even your top-tier doctor friends could remove me.” Samantha turned from greeting the priest to Holly and introduced the two of them.
“I am Father Tobias Chase.” He held himself back from offering his hand to her, not knowing what her current state was, both mentally and physically. “You can call me Tobias, if that’s more comfortable.”
Samantha watched the interaction between them closely, paying mind to Holly’s darting eyes and the unwillingness to meet the man’s gaze.
Unbeknownst to Holly, Samantha had been watching the woman closely ever since they entered the premises of the Cathedral, happy to answer any question the woman may have but prepared for any other difficult situation that may occur.
“Thank you, ah—Father Chase,” said Holly.
Samantha watched as Holly looked up once to watch the man’s reaction.
“And thanks for allowing me to—uh, well—” In actuality Holly wasn’t sure exactly what she was thanking him for. But she was away from Mark, and that was because of him.
“It’s my pleasure.”
He talked as they all began to walk towards a large house situated at the farther end of the property.
“Samantha told me about your situation,” he said.
Holly had to stop herself from shutting her eyes, unwilling to hear his words of pity.
Tobias continued, “He’ll get his own for what he’s done to you.”
“I thought all priests were supposed to be forgiving?” Holly asked.
“God is all-forgiving to those who repent, it is true.” He didn’t even turn back to them as he spoke his next words. “Yet, sometimes, He does place individuals on this earth to enact His divine retribution to those… who need a little more persuasion.”
Holly’s mouth fell open at Tobias’ blatant words.
“He is a darling, is he not?” Samantha teased. “A God-send.”
Tobias only rolled his eyes as he motioned for a woman to come over. “This is Marilyn; she will show you to your room.”
Holly’s gaze turned unsteady as she looked from the new woman now, and then to Samantha, who gave her an encouraging nod but did not take her own arm from the woman’s grip until she released her on her own, “I’ll be by later, it’s okay, it’s safe.”
Once Holly had gone with one of the housing attendants, Tobias shepherded her outside and into the gardens once again.
“She seems like a strong one,” he said in comment as they walked. “Where did you find her?”
Samantha only rolled her eyes at his use of words. “She isn’t a stray, Toby. I ‘found’ her where I find all of them,” she muttered a curse word beneath her breath that the Father chose to ignore, “in her home.”
“A husband?”
“Boyfriend,” was all she said in turn, and he let her become quiet for a moment, knowing well enough that—
“It’s so irritating!” she grunted out as she kicked a loose stone in their path. “God, why—I mean, sorry… but how could—” She groaned as her words failed to assist her in maturely expressing her emotions. But Tobias understood her even through that small tirade.
“Sometimes bad things happen to good people for no reason,” he told her softly. “Sometimes they need other good people to help them through the bad things.”
Samantha didn’t respond to him for a long moment, so he took charge in changing the subject, “Are you alright?”
She only hummed in response as she softly kicked the pebbles back into place, paying no mind to his question really.
“A lot of the flowers in the main area of the cathedral need tending to—”
“Samantha,” Tobias chastised her, “I asked how you were, not about the cathedral.”
“I’ll be a lot better once those flowers are trimmed,” she replied cheekily.
“Well then speaking of the shelters, some of the women have informed me that you’ve lost your job—again.” He confronted the young woman and watched with slight guilt as her wide grin was replaced with a frown.
Her eyebrows knitted together as she focused on the ground and a small part of him wished he didn’t say anything—a small, very tiny part.
It wasn’t my fault,” she mumbled.
“It wasn’t your fault your boss was punched in the face—by your hands.”
“No!” she denied quickly. “Okay well maybe—maybe a little bit, I mean it’s not my fault he was such an ass to his daughter! Oh, you should have seen the way he’s been treating her, Toby,” Her words came out as a frustrated growl.
“If I wasn’t going to do it, Jason—the part timer I told you about—sure was going to and he couldn’t even afford to lose his job! Really!”
“You always look out for women who need it, Samantha, but what about yourself?”
Her head tilted in question. “I’m fine, you old man.”
“I’m three years older than you,” he deadpanned.
“Look, seriously, I’m fine. I have another job interview coming up at this little bakery not far from here.”
“I’m just worried about you,. You’re still so young, and you have so much to offer. What are your plans for the future—I mean real, actual plans? Things that will help you deal with—”
“Tobias, stop.” Her mood changed quicker than he could follow, and she turned to face him as she spoke in a hard tone.
“Have you spoken to him, since—?” Tobias asked quietly. He fell silent when he saw the frozen, pained look on Samantha’s face.
Samantha felt like she had dropped into a deep well. She tried to get ahold of herself.
“I don’t want to think about that right now, okay?” she said. “I can’t. Right now, I need to do things that help—this helps, helping Holly helps. Please understand that.”
Tobias felt hopeless as he stared at Samantha. The woman Richard loved more than anything.
And it was clear from her words and expression that, even after years, she couldn’t get over him, either.
