Divinely Smitten

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO...SISTER ELIZABETH-FRANCES was eighteen, virgin, and not alone. Something wonderful had happened to her, a miraculous something that not only warmed her face like a halo but scared the bejesus out of her. A hundred times a day, whether at mass, kneeling in prayer, or teaching her kindergarten class, her hand would steal quietly to her belly, the child inside.It was a secret too big, too joyous to contain. She was bursting to tell someone, if only to prove to herself that she hadn't lost her mind entirely, that she hadn't slipped into some sinfully delicious ego trip of the devil's own making. Was she insane? Or was she truly in this most rarefied of company? A child born of a virgin did not come along just any old century, after all. Might she truly be the one?But whom could she tell? Certainly not her Reverend Mother. That would have been unthinkable, the fierce old nun's reaction unpredictable, her skepticism and accusations unspeakable. Nor could she tell Bishop Ayers whose fiery and brimstony gaze would once again melt her down to nothingness.No, Sister Elizabeth-Frances yearned for a far gentler ear. There was only one she could trust. Her friend, her adopted mentor, and - aside from her beloved Jesus Himself whom she'd always imagined with the liveliest of twinkles in His eye - her one bright beacon of quick warm laughter in all the world: Father Dale.