Warning: That's the final chapter of Jude's nightmare she dreamt of in her afternoon slumber. That's probably one of the longest chapters I have ever written in the entire book.

The next morning

2nd of November, 1964

The morning after the both members of the clergy get laid and experienced along a sultry, lovely night, Jude's content smile lingered on her lips as she had found peace with herself at last. The cotton blanket barely covered up any inch of her creamy, slender naked figure as she laid on her back on her small bed. her arms spreading as her legs were closed. Shut eyelids like blinds, shielding her eyes from the daylight that bathed her en-suite bedroom with a light via the miniature wall window. It was all silent in her room. Outdoor tweeting birds jingled in her ears natural anthems. 

Nevertheless, something was out of borders. It was lukewarm as the cold climate in the madhouse was a common phenomenon. Her mossy, pale skin overflowed with goosebumps, due to the habitual coldness encompassed her again and again. 

Once she came to her senses as she opened reluctantly her eyelids, rubbing with her petite fists her drowsy hazel eyes, omitting a yawn, she rose her body as she propped on her elbows, her mane of glossy golden waterfall descending her stark upper back as she scanned around her en-suite bedroom in an ordinary eyeing, realizing she was desolated. 

The bed where she shared a sweet, elating evening with the priest who has chosen her as his right hand, calling her proudly a rare bird, was empty. No trace of another being. The once tossed clothes of the juvenile priest which temporarily laid on the cool floor were all gone. She was desolated just like before. No alive surroundings encircling her. The forlornness predominated in the both rooms: her office and her bedroom. Luckily, she found one of her lacquered, wooden canes with her knickers, habit, wimple and ravishing red slip in different corners of the room, spilled. 

The smug, radiant smile which once stilled on her fresh face vanished when she expected to wake up next to her lover, snuggle in his strong, secure arms, to tell him good morning as he was the first person to hear it after waking up. The scorching temperature that her heart absorbed, yielded drastically to cool as it frozen as the frostbites embodied her heartache, genuine disappointment, grief and desolation. The reason why her body was coated in goosebumps was deliriously obvious. She wore nothing. She glimpsed down quickly at her long, drop-dead gorgeous legs were stark as she startled, concluding with the circumstance to keep her wits about her embarrassing nudity. The nun refrained to render a random sound as she didn't know how versatile and venturesome was the possessed holy man, with whom they broke their vows and did unholy things against God, the vows, the church, their imperiled reputation and careers. 

On one hand, she felt smug, loved and prominent, due to the fact, he was virgin and he gave his virtue to a loving woman, in spite of the evil that obscured the real Timothy. On other hand, she felt foul, forsaken, unloved, lonely and melancholic. She felt like a thrown garbage and unwanted whore, or rather, his whore to degrade her since the devil possessed every fragment of his body and corrupted each cell of the vulnerable ecclesiastical man, and had a secret plan to use her for his benefits as he was already aware of her feelings and emotions. 

Jude deeply loved him and he already knew that about her as it was the truth itself. The middle aged woman restrained to weep and let the barrenness to distress her to an unpredictable level. Anyway she motivated herself like always, despite her depressing isolation, to get up, pick up every garment of hers as she drews up swiftly in no time, preparing for her regular daily work that awaits her in a matter of minutes. 

***

7 weeks later

Late December 1964

The weeks passed promptly like a summer breeze. The last autumn's crispy leaves fell off the grand trees, blanketing the ground as the days were shorter and chillingly colder with the approaching winter and its soon holidays' vibes.

Jude was astounded by the fact that she encountered symptoms of something phenomenally unusual for her. The daily morning sicknesses from more than a month, tormented the childless, diligent nun. The frequent morning sicknesses were not only her issue, but also she was being nauseating when the aroma of food toyed her sensitive nostrils, food cravings, the slight weight gain and significant, circuliar change in her mood from one into another: from happy to exasperated to desperate and so forth. 

Furthermore, these symptoms clarified her she was actually pregnant by noting a small bump every time she unclasped her habit's buttons. The former promiscuous nightclub singer acknowledged the fact that she was infected with syphilis by her fiancé and ceased her fertility, and believed all this for 2 straight decades until she came to the conclusion she can be impregnated by nobody else than Timothy himself since the night they slept together. It was murderously unpredictable for the future mother as she hesitated for a long time what to do forward in her life as she's pregnant in the first trimester. She didn't even know the baby's gender or rather if they are going to be twins, even triplets in rare case. 

Once the pregnancy hit her, she kept her wits about her by not telling anyone about the life that grew inside her. Neither Mary Eunice, Frank, Mother Claudia, nor Timothy knew about it. Fortunately, they better not find out why until the moment fates her to confess one of her deepest secrets which she should keep for months until the baby's delivered at last. She stored it for herself as she was the sole person, alive soul in the lunatic nuthouse, who savvied about her condition. If anyone acknowledged her pregnancy, otherwise her goose is going to be cooked and she should resign off the church as soon as possible. 

In the last weeks, Jude's demeanor has conspicuously changed as she wasn't the same nun, the old Sister Jude her staff knew even the people, who she trusted mostly and loved them. She was prone to be more agitated, upsetted and irascible whether the pettiest or the hugest issue that affected her, her beloved last hopes or the mental hospital in general point. 

Although the blonde seldom met her tutor, Mother Claudia, who eventually rescued her from the alcohol, sex and Bohemian way of life by ensuring her a new home under God's wing and responding to her prayers, the Mother Superior, herself, noted something leery about her protege. Her hazel eyes glistened with sparkles of uneasiness, lividness and depression which concerned Mother Claudia and attempted to fish for the truth without a result. 

The younger nun, Timothy and Frank weren't exceptional either too. They opted to talk in private with the middle-aged sister of the church though she never delivered them the answer they're looking for. She was evading to talk about her behaviour or she just changed the topic, moving from one to other without hesitancy. As an addition, there were times when she didn't want to speak to anyone even leave her office, confronting a great depression, overtaking her on periods. Likewise the evill still resided Timothy's body as he was the same after the exorcism's  night.

As she was seating in her cold, spacious office, equiped with a pair of eyeglasses on her nose as she checked some recently committed patients' files, studying their biography, outside the facade was snowing, snowflakes tumbling down as they sheeted the blanket in snow. 

First and foremost, the loneliness was such a complex, however, a curable and pertrubing medicament for her, factly, she wanted to be loved, being told she is loved, comforted and sensing warmness, love and desire as Jude yearned for it. Whilst, the loneliness was healing her bleeding spiritual wounds as she felt better on her own rather than anyone causing her multiple issues. 

***

When Jude, pressumably future single mother, arrived in the church to pray for her sins as she was being encompassed by a handful of nuns and priests. Within minutes, silence fell in the church as the place emptied exceedingly. 

The blonde walked up to the altar, praying for her sins over her lust and sake:

"Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women," She commenced with her prayer after taking a deep breath, closing her eyes as she lightly bowed her head. "and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of Go-" The immense church double doors opened like wings, cutting her prayer off as oxford shoes clicked the marble flooring inside the hallowed place as it was the single sound, producing a sound. 

Jude's heart raced as soon as the tall, masculine figure was behind her, approaching her with each step until she sensed somebody was there. The holy woman wasn't obligated to check who it was as it was indisputably apparent. It was the Monsignor.

"Good afternoon, Jude!" The accented, solid British accent gave her a hint immediately as she opened her eyelids, span as she turned to the younger priest, a coy, reassured, relieved smile crawled on her face.

"Afternoon, Timothy!" He smiled as soon as he noted her charismatic smile. "What brought you there?" The former promiscuous jazz nightclub singer posed the question beyond seriously, curiously.

"What brought me there is the question, huh?" The priest's oddness provoced Jude's inquisitiveness within milliseconds. She nodded her head humbly, confirming his rhetorical question. "Oh, Judy, Judy! What brings you here in the church? For what?" He kept on haughtily as the sister of the church eschewed to argue blandly with the member of the clergy. 

"I was just praying since the Christmas holidays passed."  The blonde justified slyly though Timothy's cunning chocolate eyes were darted to the petite figure's face, examining her detailed. He recognized something eccentric in her speech manner as if she was a little girl, hiding something from her parents and lied to them instead of admitting her mischief.

"Oh!" He emitted a deep sigh of a relief. The nun was slightly irked, due to that, Timothy has left her question without a direct reply. "Praying, right?" He questioned suspicuously. "Hmm, are you sure?" 

In the meantime, he lifted down one of his mammoth hands to her abdomen, pressing his palm on her belly as he sensed a small bump underneath her wool habit, rubbing her mildly swollen stomach as she looked down with pale face at her bump and hand, sending shivers down her spine of anxiety. 

He momentarily knew right away she concealed something more than a profound, abysmal, foggy enigma. Suddenly her smile faded away as he thrummed to himself as she looked up at his darkened chocolate eyes, a smirk growing on his plump, rosy-coloured lips.

"You are keeping a secret from me, aren't you?" 

Intense arch of silence fell between them. She didn't dare to peel a word.

"I didn't know the sisters of the church can be such secret keepers." Timothy's deep, fiendish voice accented on his scoffing utterance to his favorite nun. Jude arched an eyebrow in perplexion, placing her smooth, petite hand on his larger, sensing the power they have together as a bond and hopefully future parents. "Especially you, rara avis."

She swallowed hard as she grasped his hand, bittersweet tears betraying her to well in her eyes too soon. Jude didn't want him to walk away like a random stranger, leaving her a single mother with no one to turn to in aid, jobless if she is willingly determined to flee the church and Briarcliff, all because of her unborned child. She was doubtlessly dumbfound by his crystal intelligence that can acknowledge anything that surrounded him.

"Do you remember our golden Rome dream?"

"I do." She said softly in a smile, afterwards inhaling.

"I have been appointed as a Cardinal of New York and I am going to leave in a matter of months Boston."

"But...Timothy..."

"There are no buts, dear Jude. Since you are pregnant, I have the immense wish to bring you with me in New York and being team players, howsoever,"  He paused as his other hand cupped her jawline as she eagerly fixed her gaze on his face. "your chances are weaker to come with me, factly, we will be in an enormous trouble once they acknowledge I am going to be the father of the child that you carry inside you. The choice is yours if you want to be still the pious nun or otherwise resign off the church, abstaining from the hazards which will stay on your way." He patted lightly her bump as Jude couldn't handle it anymore. Crystal, bitter tears began streaming down her face.

It broke her heart she cannot be with the only man she craved for to bones and loved him deeply. Furthermore, it was obnoxiously evident that his career much mattered to him rather than about his right hand, who he has chosen to collaborate with and has unconditionally loved, respected and supported her, besides most of all, impregnated her. Imprimis, the aspiring, stubborn and relentless smitten holy man didn't want to abandon his opportunity of becoming a Cardinal and afterward a Pope , subsequently destroying his reputation and career just because of one beloved person, who took a major part of helping him to peak at his progress. Secondly, his selfishness verged, breaking Jude's heart even more, tearing it down on trillions of pieces. 

The sister of the Roman Catholic church couldn't waver anymore as she must resolve, biased in a dilemma. Her life was not only endangered and compatitable with Briarcliff's onerous conditions, further, her unborn baby didn't make an exception as well. It was definitely obvious Briarcliff is a burden for both of them and not the right place where a child should be raised. 

"No, no, honey!" He wiped her tears with a thumb as he shushed to her, while she abided quiet. "Please, don't cry!" 

"How I cannot cry!" The blonde retorted instinctively livid out of nowhere. She casted a piercing glare on his face. "You leave Boston after months and you are coming to me with an offer whether to leave the church or be a nun as I am struggling with a pregnancy. How selfish you can be since I love you to death and I am in love with a selfish fool, who all cares about his reputation and career rather than about the unwed future mother and the love child we made together!" 

He just watched her composed, supervising her reaction. He wasn't offended by the language she used at all. He was used to it. 

"And guess what I am going to do, thanks to your council, Timothy!" Jude bet Timothy knows everything as she started to explain herself and what's willing to do very soon. "I am going to resign off the church, pack up my luggage and leave tonight without returning in this snake pit ever again. The conditions aren't suitable for me and our illegitimate creation. Whether she or he is," She exhaled sharply in frustration. "mustn't and wouldn't wish be associated with Briarcliff, factly, the father of this precious child will be involved in scandal and doom his reputation, and obligate him to give up his golden Rome miracle as you will be left on the threshold like a strayer."  Timothy has almost never confronted his right hand's sinister side where her berserkness flowed from her, pouting offendedly her mesmerizing lips. She was appalled by his future plans where Jude is going to be absent, being completely oblivious for him, forgetting about her far from sluggishly. 

"Jude, I promise to return back for you one day. In the near future."

"The cruelest thing of all, Timothy, is false hope."

"I sincerely promise! Jude, please! I respect your..."

"It's too late, Timothy. You told me what you needed to. Everything is clear." She pushed him away in ferocious way, turning back to the double church doors, aiming to the exit as she didn't want to see him ever again since he declared formally his decision. The juvenile priest didn't give up as he opted to approach her as he sped up a bit. "There are no rare birds or to be exact, your rare bird will fly far far away from this bog!" She stated her final words as if they were her last for him to hear from her irritated, feminine voice, pushing forcefully the church double doors, exiting. 

***

Tap tap tap. A door knock wasn't audible sufficiently for her ears as a melancholic church songs swam in her en-suite bedroom, playing in the background as she folded her garments and stored in her leather suitcase, where she kept her recently boxed belongings and garments. 

Consequently the door opened as the security guard, Frank, one of Jude's friends stepped in her office, shutting the door as he tiptoed as his presence was oblivious for the former nun who spoke with Mother Claudia, clarified her why she leaves and explaining to her that her impending baby is progressing, besides the elder nun promised Jude to aid her with clothes for the future baby, regardless if it's a girl or a boy. 

"Sistah Jude?" Frank evoked questionably as he snuck up in her office, scanning her now former office until his eyes ocassionally scanned her in a black with boat neckline, knee length with long sleeves, hugging her still attractive, slim body. A slight smile curled up in the corner of the former cop's lips. "Sistah?" He ambled up to the bedroom's doorframe, rapping faintly on the askew opened door. 

All of a sudden she noted a middle aged man in security guard uniform with gray hair watching her as she startled, hence, stopping the radio as she didn't expect guests at all. Especially in such a somber hour. 

"Oh Frank! I haven't been expecting yar so far, pardon me." The blonde cried as Frank moved up in her old dorm room, approximately a handful of inches dividing them.

"Don't apologise, Sister!"  It was unwitting for the former cop she is no longer part of the church and the mental hospital's responsiblity, besides the awaiting news she will announce him will shock him.

"I am not a Sister anymore. I am leaving the church."  His winter blue eyes wandered up and down her figure until his gape was transfixed on her bump that sprung up like a toy out of the box. He rubbed nervously his head, overlooking Jude's quizzical stare at his face, focused on the Pandora's box she kept. "F-Frank, what are you doing?" Her face all flushed as the blonde stuttered, struggling to utter a syllable.

"It's beautiful." Frank mumbled, wondering what a former nun impregnated her during her nunnery. An optimistic, radiant smile waved up in the corner of his lips.

"It's beautiful, you are right, Frank!" Petite hand managed to knead slowly her bump, caressing the unborn infant as the security guard glanced at the former sister of the church. The brief, smug smile she wore, now vanished in the void. In the meantime, she closed vigorously the suitcase with the other hand momentarily. Then she lowered her head as the ex-cop walked up to her as their faces weren't inches away anymore. 

The widower recognized perfectly from distance that something was wrong especially with his friend, breaking his heart and eager curiosity aroused him to seek out what bothered her lastly. He snaked an arm around her shoulder, pulling her towards him as he tilted her head as he grabbed her chin. Glacial tears commenced to well in her gorgeous hazel eyes, reflecting her melancholy and crying need of love, warmness, affection and understanding though there're seldom people, who would put themselves in her shoes and experiencing the apocalypstic tragedy: somebody comforting her when she will live on the streets as a single mother of a love child, inhabitating inside her. 

"Shu, shu, Judy! You shouldn't be upset. It's a God blessing to have this wonderful child."  Frank emboldened her, lifting down his hand to rub her pregnant belly. His warm, muffled in mint breath lightly brushed her face and her tied in messy updo honey hair. "What encumbers you?" He questioned concerned.

"I am upset I have no family even almost being friendless to turn to for help. It's all over for me. I am going to," She began to sob uncontrollably, self-pitying herself to put in danger her and her unborn baby's life. "be on the street with a love child." The former hallowed woman struggled to speak as her blubbers boated up in her en-suite bedroom which will resemble barrens minutes later.

"Don't be a pessimist, dear!" He removed urgently his hand from her bump as he threw his another strong, affectionate arm around her shoulder, embracing her tightly and warmly as she clasped her both arms around his upper back. The former promiscuous nightclub singer babbled: "I am not. I am pragmatic for the cataclysm that awaits me." Her chin rested on his shoulder, her face buried in the crook of his neck. 

After they broke off the hug, Jude rubbed and amiably swatted his shoulder as her sobs hushed.

"It's okay, Judy. You can cry anytime but remember," The middle aged man paused as he inhaled the alluring cologne of her amorous perfume. Judy's eyes were puffy and reddish, explaining a lot about her current desperate condition. "I am yar friend and you know what?" He tried to catch her attention with his enquery.

"I am leaving Briarcliff too and not gonna forsake you to live like a stray hobo on the streets with a child. You and this unborn precious," He released his arm from her shoulder as his mammoth, potent hand shifted down to her pregnant belly, patting it once again as he kneaded it gently, his warming palm beneath her dress's fabric. "angel will be part of my family officially, regardless everything else. But...but..." All of a sudden her eyes widened when Frank stammered, awaiting her a tad apprehension and uneasiness, cooking inside her as feelings and emotions. "I am wondering who's the father of this child, if you don't mind to tell me."

"You won't believe me, because it will sound like a bullshit to you." 

"Hey, don't speak like that!" He cautioned her patiently. "I believe you."

"It's the Monsignor...Timothy!" Once she reminisced about him, the anguish reborned as it knocked on the door, infecting her like a plaguing epidemy. 

"Oh." He gasped as he wasn't amused at all. What Frank already knew was about the former pious nun and the future Cardinal having stealthy, arcane affair together or according to his perceptions as well. "He's the father of your future baby?" The middle aged future mother nodded. "Ah, screw him! You will forget about this man who abandoned you, because of his sacred, blinding dream."

"T-thank you so much, Frank! I have never acknowledged how you would react to these news." In addition to the former member of the clergy's overwhelmness that conquered her, she was deeply touched by Frank's selfless, loving and benevolent nature. A content smile distort on her milky face.

Frank, himself, he has always disliked Timothy, but after realizing the future father who's appointed as a Cardinal of New York within months, the security guard commenced to loathe the young priest even more. Essentially because of hurting Jude in such way which she might never forget, besides the most tragic of all to leave a former nun to look after her child and tramping around like nomad until she finds a home with moderate conditions, sufficiently bearable for her and the child.

***

5 years later

November 1969

Timothy's life as a revered Cardinal, a future exalted Pope didn't satisfy him at all. He was unnerved with what fate he has chosen to keep on with his life. To still his hallowed duty as a member of the clergy, instead of choosing earlier to take the life in different direction- becoming a family man. What his vice was his actual pride he possessed as a trait. He blindly believed in his ambition to earn the people's respect, pursue his lunatic miracle and become an eminent Anglo-American priest. The devil inside him left his body as it transported directly in another living soul's frail skeleton. He wasn't a happy man. The holy man was far from gleeful to embrace the day though he refrained to be emotionally expressive in front of the other priests, priestesses and nuns in New York's church. 

As soon as he thought about the woman who helped him to become a remarkable Cardinal of New York, he realized what he was currently missing in his life. Jude. His Jude. And his unidentified child's name as he has never seen it ever in his life. The weeks of November even the last months, every time he returned from the church and got back in his compact, nonetheless, richly adorned apartment, located somewhere in a small neighbourhood of New York, known its for dead silence, the young priest poured himself a glass of whiskey, addicting gradually to the alcohol just like Jude in her younger years. Every evening after the tipsiness wrecked him up, he was yelling and grumbled about his remorse of forsakening the love of his life and their love child. After the third glass of alcoholic beverage, he passed off whether on the kitchen table or his bed, coming to his senses within hours, feeling utterly relaxed though the alcohol wasn't the solution to his problem at all. 

The days when Jude's absence was contrasting the period of time when they runned together an asylum with criminally insane patients as they shared a dream together. It wasn't just the same without his rara avis.

Once he posed himself a couple of questions about the rare bird he let her to fly away far away from Briarcliff, for example, he wondered:

"What's her life nowadays?" First echo jingled in his ears inwardly, rendering him to ponder about his right hand.

"With whom she lives, besides with her child?" Another echo called.

"How our precious love child is alook like?" Third echo evoked in his mind.

"Most of all, where I can find them? I am just...lost." One more voice of his burst out. 

Until one of the bright days of November which he might never seal it in an oblivion was when an old friend of the Cardinal informed via a voice message on his domestic phone, giving a further information about the current residence of the former Sister Jude, the contemporary woman who lived with her birth name as always- Judy Martin. 

Although the nerve-racking traffic as he was leaving New York for Boston, Massachusetts, the unflagging man of the cloth little did he knew the immense impatience that invaded him in general. The less kilometres divided him with Jude and his child, the more overwrought he became. 

What anticipated him years after abandoning her and then return back in her life, he delayed if she's going to embrace him ever again, or on the contrary dump him how he fled after their sexual intercourse in the night of the big storm, and she dumped him back in the church, not letting him to resume his sentence and recalling her razor-edged words that penetrated his chest, piercing his heart as it bleeded a thick, dark red blood:

"The cruelest thing of all, Timothy, is false hope."

Jude's motto was planted in his head like a bedeveling seed, reminding him about his promise to her for come back one day in the near future, irregardless what she thought of him yet. At last but not least, he regretted every fragment of his grim past especially Jude with an exception of giving his virtue to a loving woman though he was possessed back then. He wanted to have a time machine to travel back five years ago in the universe and erase almost everything especially the words the remorseless priest told her then. Still and all, Timothy still blamed himself for what he has told his most special person especially a woman, with whom he had 2 years of indubitable happiness, genuine friendship and superb alliance as colleagues. Briefly, these 2 years of happiness were the best of his life, brilliantly contrasting his contemporary life as a lionized Cardinal. 

Hours after the insane, tiresome traffic that exhausted him, he was in Boston at last. He had written on a seperate sheet of paper the address of Jude's current residence as he little did know it wasn't actually her home- it was rather the former cop's one. 

Alternatively, the former nun lived with Frank and the twins, which changed her life, rotating it on 360 degrees. She gave a birth to twins in the beginning of August 1965 as they are both perfectly healthy and normal children though the second twin was slightly tinnier than her sister. Initially, Ms.Martin thought she is going to give a birth either to male twins or just one child, whether a girl or a boy.

The first twin resembled her mother, inheriting the majority of her facial features though the smiles she wore on her thin lips were Timothy's. Whereas the second infant inherited her father's with exception of the smile, eyebrows and ears. Frank was actually the godfather of the second twin as he wanted to help Jude to name them when it was high time to give a name for each infant as the first child was named by the former pious nun- Savannah. While Savannah's sibling was named after Frank's deceased wife, Aurora. Additionally, the both twins attended regularly a kindergarten since their 4th birthday as Frank couldn't be more proud of himself, being something like a stepfather to the twins as his children were already grown up adults and the life was in their own hands. However, the former cop and the former member of the clergy have a platonic bond and they were just friends, and partners. They weren't a couple, nor wed to one another.

Minutes after driving in the small city of Massachusetts in attempt to find the address of Jude's residence, he parked in front of a vintage, good-looking two story house with large yard, embellished with variety of flowerbeds, garden gnomes, trees and wooden swing. He was completely it was the house where she lived now. 

As soon as he stopped his car and got out of his car, locking it, he strolled up to the front door, stomping the crispy blanket of multicoloured leaves until he stepped on the wooden porch and approached the stone threshold, knocking on the front door, awaiting for response until he heard masculine footsteps, abiding silent as he exhaled suddenly until the sound of unlocking door clicking taunted his ears.

The front door opened lastly as Frank held the doorknob.

"Oh, Timothy!" The former cop gasped frustrated as he hasn't expected the Cardinal to return. He casted a glare on the younger man. "What do ya want now?"

"I came here for one thing." Timothy replied beyond calmly, not being bothered by Frank's hostility. Then the security guard sighed a sigh of relief, frowning as his temple creased. 

"I don't believe you. You want to use her for your benefits and impregnate her as the evil resides your body again?" Frank menaced as he clutched his other hand's fist, incapable to believe the priest's words. 

"It's not about that. I am truly sorry for all this." Then the both men just emitted a simple sigh as Timothy's hands were in his pockets, feeling rattled as his face blushed. "I just want to see Jude and..." The man of the cloth stammered until two joyous little girls ran around the house, laughters spreading infectuous disease in the house as the exceeding curiosity of the uninvited guest aroused them. 

All of a sudden, Timothy beheld two little girls who eerily alooked like him and Jude especially the second twin as the first twin wore a long sleeved baby pink dress, her curly hair tied in pigtails, framing her pure angelic face. Whereas the other young gal was dressed up in a pale green dress as her straight chestnut hair descended her upper back, formalizing ideally her beautiful face. He looked down at the twins, being uncertain what to do as he was dumbfound by their grace and the resemblance they shared with their biological parents. In return, they offered him innocent smiles as he couldn't oppress a smile, shaping on his lips. Frank fixed his bewildered look on Timothy, nothing his distraction.

"Is there anything wrong, Tim?" Frank inquired concerned as the little girls couldn't take their eyes off the man who their mother told him about once. The man she loved and vice versa though the heartbreak. 

"No, Frank! Wait a minute." He gestured with a palm to hang on as he pierced his warm, affectionate chocolate eyes on the siblings. "Hi!"  Timothy said shyly as Frank let the juvenile priest to enter, opening widely the door.

"H-hi." The twins exclaimed bashfully in unison. Frank was beyond astounded by Timothy's engendered self-sacrificing, munificent nature. The former Irish cop witnessed the priest's soft spot for the children or rather foible. 

"I am your father, little angels." He crouched down to them, throwing his arms around them in a tight, warm hug. Frank couldn't contain a genuine smile, spreading across his lips. After they broke off the hug, he planted kisses on their temples and caressed their smooth, vanilla cheeks. "I love you with my heart!" He didn't know what to say as he didn't want to hop up in abysmal details about his absence for 5 years. 

"I love you too, Daddy!" 

Afterwards a cheerful chuckle omitted from his lips. Unless a middle aged woman walked away from the kitchen after preparing a roasted chicken and baked potatoes with garlic, wearing a plain white apron. 

"The lunch is read-" She wasn't able to carry on with her sentence until she beheld Timothy with Savannah and Aurora, witnessing one of the most deplorable moments for a father to encounter his children for first time ever in their lives especially years later. Frank turned to Jude, offering her a smile. "What's going on?" In the interim, Jude's irritated words drew Timothy's attention as he shifted his gaze on the woman he loved to death though his career and reputation once mattered to him more than anything in this world. 

Hence, she ambled to the both men and her lovely angels as the first thing she did, she casted a glare on Timothy for the betrayal and his egoism. She clutched teeth as she felt powerless, besides she didn't know should she forgive the man she craved for and worshiped once. The twins immediately looked up at their mother.

"Timothy, what are you doing there?"

"I returned for you, Jude. As you can see." Timothy replicated serenely as his optimistic smile saturated on his youthful face. He scarcely believed Jude would look much younger out of the wool, tiresome clerical attires which she used to cloth her still magnificent, slender body as she has the ultimate freedom to wear whatever she wants since she's out of the church.

"To return for me?" A raspy chuckle escaped her subtle, alluring lips as Frank gestured the twins to flee as a ruckus was about to occur. 

"Come on, Savannah and Aurora! Your parents should talk alone." He warned them pleasantly as he guided them to go upstairs as they bolted up to their room, whereas Frank fled, leaving Jude and Timothy to discuss their issues on their own. The twins didn't protest and whine at all.

"Jude!" He rose as he put his hands in his pockets, feeling agitated. "I told you I will come back one day and here I am. The whole me!" 

The former promiscuous jazz nightclub singer coughed dramatically, faking it as she cleared her throat. 

"Should I believe you...since you abandoned me and I verged to live on the street as a single mother with our love child...made from flesh and blood?"

"At least, you have a home." He responded optimistically.

"It was thanks to Frank. He was always next to me, no matter what I used to be in my past. He fled Briarcliff with me. He's the only loyal friend I have got when I lost everything, in case, to rescue me and my children's lives."

"Good for you! I am genuinely delighted you have a home, a boyfriend and children with whom to store your memories for the rest of your days." Timothy expressed though inflicting zealousy elicited when he uttered the word boyfriend as it was oblivious to him Frank was just a platonic friend to Jude. Nothing more!

"Frank's not my boyfriend." She retaliated furiously. "First of all! Second, he's a stepfather of the children as he's proud with this fact. And finally, what happened to you? What brought you there to return for me as you once promised me?"

"Oh, Jude!" He inhaled abruptly. "It's really complicated to tell you but I thought of you every day since the day you left Briarcliff. Literally every day! I prayed for you and Frank. I prayed for our creations, made from flesh and blood. Jude, look what my decision led me to," He wiped his soaked forehead as his chocolate eyes eyed the cute knee length, white floral skirt she wore, followed by a cotton black blouse with middle sleeves, glossy golden wavy hair, tied in a messy bun as a strand of her hair was tucked behind her ear. "I started to booze and pass out. To recover from the gloomy, sinister decision I took five years ago, leaving you behind in the darkness. Jude, I became an alcoholic, dependant on whiskey. That's what the destiny granted me to. Look, what a lonely, desperate man who regretted and still regrets for his stupid decision to become a Cardinal, even a Pope...became. Not a man of the cloth anymore. Nothing but a drunken bastard." 

Jude couldn't be more than desperately boggled by his woe that corrupted his life for a half a decade. The former pious woman of the clergy vacillated whether she should believe him or otherwise throw him away like a trash, and never see him again and find somebody else as a love partner who will value, love, respect and support her, disregarding her sometimes determined crazy decisions. She arched an eyebrow, figuring out what the love of her life delivered her as a piece of information about the nightmare he lived in five years prior until nowadays. She hardly could imagine Timothy's downfall in such portentous way. It ripped her heart on galore pieces, spilled everywhere. When he called himself a drunken bastard, she couldn't handle the grieving pressure as she pitied him for ruining his life in such way, concluding to the fact, it was partly her fault to lead him to his alcoholism and depression though through the years, the middle aged mother of twins tried to forget everything that has to do with her past even Timothy. It was impossible. He was like a ghost of the past, roaming in her head and reminding her with the hope the Cardinal will reborn one day, regardless if it's going to be either after a day or even 10 years later. 

Timothy couldn't suppress a quiet sob as Jude did either too, throwing her arms around him as he clasped his strong, muscular arms around her in attempt to comfort each other.

"Do not call yourself drunken bastard, Timothy!" She rubbed his shoulder, burying her face in the crook of his neck as her tender nostrils smelled his tempting scent of masculine perfume. "I am sincerely sorry to hear all this for your downfall. It's my fault." He tapped her upper back, grasping their embrace.

"Do not blame yourself, Judy! It's my entire fault for making this dumb decision to go in New York as a Cardinal instead of giving up my miracles, just because to be with you. Don't you know how morbidly I missed you?" 

"I know." She shed a crystal, bittersweet tear, tumbling down. Subsequently they broke off the hug as they took their time to admire one another's beautiful faces. "Because I have missed you to death so much. I was sickly yearning for your return and there you are. You were absolutely right! I was the stubborn then, barely believing you, due to the disappointment you earned from me."

After Timothy beheld Savannah, Aurora even Jude as he was beyond relieved they were still alive and made it out without him than Frank, he has determined himself what he actually wanted in the long run. What he has determined himself to do is actually to resign off the church, reject his colleagues' offer to become a deified Pope, in order to become a family man. Jude was the woman, his rara avis, the love of his life, who taught him by uniting again that the family, the love and the ordinary life were more important and rewarding with happiness than a childless, unwed, divine priest.

As their reunion was a datum, Jude couldn't believe in her eyes Timothy was still handsome just like she remembered him five years prior unlike Timothy's infective thunderstruck of her irresistable grace. She looked not only younger, but even more gorgeous into his eyes. He literally perceived her as the most beautiful he has ever encountered and seen in his life. 

"I love you, Timothy! Please, do not leave me ever again."

"I promise I will never repeat this mistake ever again."

"You promise me?"

"I do. I love you, my rare bird!"

To be continued...