Read Back in the Habit for Free Online

parking lot and onto the familiar sidewalk. Frank tapped the horn as he drove away in the opposite direction.
    Too soon, she stood at the end of the Motherhouse driveway.

Six
    Like a hallway in a nightmare, the long, curved driveway up to the Motherhouse’s front door seemed to stretch as she walked along it. At its end, the century-old five-story building filled the horizon, despite the illusion of distance.
    Giulia felt as intimidated as Maria did in The Sound of Music when she first saw the von Trapp mansion. Funny, since this experience was the exact opposite. She was coming back to the convent instead of plunging into life on the outside.
    The stone walls looked the same as the last time. It’s only been eighteen months since you left the Community, dummy. What did you expect? Graffiti and psychedelic paint? She’d always liked how the ivy covering the walls shaded from gold to orange to cranberry to maroon in autumn. The farther she walked down the driveway, more present-day details clashed with her memories. That narrow window on the third floor marked her room after temporary vows, the limbo between the Novitiate and a full-fledged Sister of Saint Francis. The cupola should still be decorated with the “all for one and one for all” logo she and her fellow Novices painted on the underside of its roof one midnight. The octagonal window at one corner of the fifth floor would still be the small chapel used solely by the first-year Postulants and second-year Novices.
    There was always attrition in the first few months after entering the Community. Giulia’s own group lost four Postulants in as many months. But when the rest of them took the veil and became Novices, they’d hung together to survive.
    Mostly. She grimaced at the thought of meeting Sister Mary Stephen again. All those fights. All the backstabbing and power grabs. One of the unexpected benefits of jumping the wall had been freedom from Mary Stephen forever. So much for that.
    Deep breaths. Keep walking. You’re here on a tourist visa. In a few days you’ll be back in the office fending off Sidney’s endless badgering for convent stories.
    She hurried up the stairs and rang the doorbell. It opened a moment later on a plump, smiling, wrinkled old nun. Giulia forced thoughts of raisins from her head.
    â€œWelcome, Sister! We’re so happy to have you. Did you carry your bag far? Are you tired? I can’t leave my post here, but someone will be along any minute to show you to your room.” She took a clipboard off the small table behind her. “If you’ll give me your name, I can tell you what room you’ve been assigned.”
    â€œSister Mary Regina Coelis.”
    The doorkeeper flipped a page, another, a third. “Here we are. Third floor, south side, room 323.” She beamed at Giulia. “We haven’t seen this much activity since I was newly professed. Those were such fun days! So many of us at a time—I think there were fourteen in my group. Dinner is at six.”
    Giulia’s attention wandered. Dinner. Food. That’s what’s bugging me—this place still smells like doughnuts.
    She snapped back to the doorkeeper’s continuing flow of words. “There aren’t assigned tables, except for the Novices and Postulants of course, so just fit in wherever you can. Oh—here we are.” She waved and called to a young, slim Novice in black habit and white veil. “Sister Bartholomew, could you be an escort?”
    The Novice veered toward the vestibule. “Of course, Sister Alphonsus.” She smiled at Giulia. “Good afternoon, Sister. Welcome back to the Motherhouse.” She craned her head to see the clipboard. “Right. Let me take your bag.”
    â€œThank you, no. I’ve got it.”
    Nuns wandered the halls in twos and threes, smiling, talking, sharing photographs. Sister Bartholomew led Giulia up the wide, worn central stairs.