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For her, church would always reentle tempered while around her, but stern when he needed to be He’d taught her the beauty of their faith and equipped her to handle whatever life would throw, because if what they believed was true, she had theher There had been tiet by

Parking her car, she approached the large white building with a majestic steeple and admired its beauty Built in 1842, the church had once been the largest in the Ohio River Valley Open twenty-four hours, it offered solace and comfort to any in need She liked that It wasn’t a practice common to many churches these days She entered the church, instantly awed by the high ceilings, arches, and gilded gold paint

Pews stretched out like a wooden sea in the ranite holy water font located just inside the doors and genuflected, kneeling in the presence of God before she continued over to the statue of Mary that stood behind the rack which houses rows of votive candles Right now, her best friend was hurting, and there was nothing she could do to help, but she could pray

She lifted a stick, set fire to the end with a burning candle, and lit a new one, praying for guidance, strength, and Enzo Sinking onto the kneeler, she bowed her head In the silence of the building, she cleared out the anger, and hurt, to prepare to make her final stand She had a few more weeks until the show She would keep her distance until then Soon, the time would come to let the chips fall where they may It always hurt when you broke out of your co-held dreams But in the ruin of the old, a new and better vision was born

Rip the earth in tith your mind

Seal the urge which ensues with brass wires

I never meant you any harm

But your tears feel warm as they fall on my forearms

“I Gave You All” Mumford & Sons

Chapter Four

Enzo

It’d been a long tiht with him Teeks and she’d been completely non-commutative Todaythat would end They would both be at the Clover Gallery to show their work He ran a hand through his hair and studied the four paintings; they spoke of suffering, sorrow, andto iine the way he wanted them displayed

He’d done a rendering of an eye in shades of black and white Long, dark lashes reached out, bending under the weight of the two tears that had begun their descent As he studied the iut clenched He’d drawn Aibhlinn That was her iris, and the darkened silhouette he’d placed in the center was his of the bridge of her nose as well as his own

Wiping a hand over his face, he closed his eyes There was no escape from her She was buried inside of him too deeply and become a part of his heart The best of who he was I should’ve called and apologized He knerong It was the reason behind why he’d had an outburst that kept hi the way, he’d crossed a line he wasn’t sure he could couilt and betrayal when she called It was a first for him

He never felt bad for the things he did oot what she wanted—attention and pleasure A headache began to form in his te deeper in He looked to the next painting; another eye he’d painted facing in the opposite direction, as if it peered into the opposite eye No tears adorned the limmer of the iris and the wrinkle of the skin around the eye showed the ony