The Heart of Halsey

Prologue Ten-year old Adie came running to Father Tucker one day. “Father, I know who I’m going to marry!” she declared. She was out of breath from running just so she could tell the priest this new revelation. “Oh?” the priest raised a brow, not taking the girl seriously. “And who is this lucky boy, Adie?” “You have to promise not to tell anyone,” Adie said. “I promise,” the priest replied as he bent down to draw his ear closer to the girl’s mouth. Adie reached over to the priest and whispered something in his ear. The priest patted Adie’s head and said, “He’s a lucky boy.” Adie hopped and skipped all the way home thinking how she would let the boy know that he was the one she wanted to marry. When she reached her parents’ house, she could hear the boy talking with one of her older brothers. She eavesdropped. “Well, I do love Sarah,” Adie heard the boy say. Adie gasped and covered her mouth. She ran back to church as fast as she could. She found the priest yet again. “Father, Father!” she cried out. “What is it child?” the priest asked, surprised to see the young girl so soon after he had just spoken with her. “I can’t breathe. My heart is heavy. I think it’s going to fall and break into a million pieces,” Adie muttered under her breath. “Calm down, child. Sit down and have a drink of water,” the priest said as he led her to the nearest pew. He got up to the small kitchen area and took a glass of water. Adie drank the water and then burst into tears. “He loves someone else!” “Who?” the priest asked, scratching his balding head. “The boy I told you about. The one I was going to marry,” Adie said between sniffles. The priest drew in a breath, not quite sure how to handle the delicate situation, and then quickly let it out. “Well, Adie. There are different kinds of love,” the priest started to explain. “No, this is the kind that ends in a wedding!” she blurted out. The priest, seeing the “seriousness” of the situation said, “Well, I loved someone once who loved someone else.” Adie stopped sniffling and eyed the priest curiously. “What happened?” she asked. The priest sighed. “Well, she married the man she loved and I became a priest.” “Is that why you became a priest?” asked Adie bluntly. “At first, I thought, yes. But later on, I realized that it was just God’s way of showing me which path to take,” the priest replied. “Did she know you loved her?” Adie asked. The priest shrugged his shoulders. “I thought she did but I never told her.” “How would she have known if you didn’t tell her?” Adie asked matter-of-factly. “You’re right. I guess I don’t,” the priest conceded. “Adie, sometimes loving someone means letting them love someone else. That doesn’t mean you have to stop loving them. It means drawing your own happiness from theirs.” The little girl’s face was contorted with confusion. Then she finally asked, “Even if it breaks my heart?” “Even if it breaks your heart,” the priest replied. Walking home, Adie thought to herself. At least, the lucky girl was Sarah, not some girl she did not like or could not stand. A warm pool of tears gathered in her eyes. As young as she was, she knew she loved this boy and would respect his choice. From that day on, she vowed to herself: She would do everything in her power to hide her true feelings from Will and help him win over Sarah’s love and affection.