Chapter Twenty-Nine
As Father Gregory descended the stairs back to the ground floor, Celia came out of the lounge to meet him. The minute she saw him, her expression froze, and she slapped her hand across her mouth, as if to block a scream.
The priest could feel himself shaking as he reached the final step, and though he tried to disguise it behind a weak smile, he could tell from the look on Celia’s face that he was not fooling her.
The two stared at each other for a moment, neither wishing to be the first to speak.
Finally, Celia moved forward and instinctively wrapped her arms around the priest in a warm embrace. Unaccustomed to such physical contact, Father Gregory felt his cheeks redden, which he supposed might at least bring back some of the colour to his otherwise ashen face.
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