Chapter 1

            Chastity Van Dyke had a secret. A big one. At the age of nineteen, she had converted to Catholicism. If she had belonged to any other elite family in New York, it would have been fine. But she was a Van Dyke, old money and older traditions; so old her ancestors had arrived to America on the Mayflower.

For generations, the Van Dykes had been Lutheran and it was still that way to this day. Her mother’s family, the Wilchers, had been Lutheran since Martin Luther started the faith.

Chastity knew her family would be shocked, possibly disgusted, and angry once she revealed her secret. But she was tired of hiding it. Plus, she has made a decision that she could not hide any longer in regards of her faith.

            Almost every Sunday, the Van Dykes had family dinner. The dress code was semi-formal. One of Chastity’s older sisters, Caitlin, had been in New York last week with her husband, Alexander, and their one-month-old, newborn son, Gabriel. Since they married, they have bounced around to Orlando, Los Angeles, Paris, and New York. Alexander didn’t like staying in one place too long despite the cities being his favorite places.  When they were in New York, they stayed at the Van Dyke estate with Chastity and her parents.

            Five courses were being served tonight. The entire family was in attendance tonight. Not only Caitlin and Alexander were there, Chelsea, Chastity’s twin – not identical, and her jack ass husband Derek was there. Chastity’s other sister, Catherine, and her husband, Cameron, and Constance, the eldest Van Dyke sister was there also. Constance idiot husband, Steven McNally, was not present. He and Constance were currently separated.

Chastity waited for the right time to announce her secret. It wasn’t until the main course, coconut curry salmon with broccoli, that everyone stopped talking for a good minute. Chastity took advantage of the opportunity.

            “I have something to tell all of you,” Chastity began.

            “Ernest purposed?” her mother asked with hope in her tone. Ernest Ellison was the man Chastity was dating. He was an accountant at her father’s company, Carlyle Enterprises. They had met there. Chastity was a part-time financial assistant at the company.

            “No,” Chastity answered simply.

            “Thank, God – for his sake,” Derek said with a smirk in his tone.

            Chastity didn’t even look at the jerk. She wasn’t going to let him distract her. This had to be done. There was no love lost between her and Derek Dawson. He might have cleaned up his act during the past year and a half, but Chastity still didn’t trust him and never would even if he put his hand on a bible to take the oath of office. She made a mental note to speak with Ernest this week about what she was about to tell her family.

            I can’t keep stinging him along.

            “I converted to Catholicism five years ago,” she revealed.

            Everyone stilled.

            Alexander looked confused.

            “You what?” her mother, Victoria Van Dyke, hissed.

            “I converted to Catholicism five years ago,” Chastity repeated. “I’ve been a Catholic for five years. I go to St. Luke’s Lutheran Church when the family goes, but any other time, I attend mass at Saint Columba Catholic church.”

            “Good, God,” her mother said with dismay. “Chastity, Martin Luther left the Catholic church for a reason.”

            “Excuse me,” Alexander interjected. “Martin Luther didn’t give the church a chance to clean up the corruption.” Alexander Beaumont’s family was from old French aristocracy. The family dynasty had been Catholic for hundreds of years. “He just went off in his writings, causing a break, which started his faith.”

            “Either way, the Van Dykes and Wilchers have been Lutheran since the whole thing began,” her mother said haughtily. Her maiden name was Wilcher. Her ancestors were among Martin Luther’s original following. “How could you do this, Chastity? Was this Ernest’s influence?”

            Ernest was Catholic. They had attended mass at St. Columba several times together and Chastity had also attended mass at his church, St. Joseph’s. He is the only one who knew she was a confirmed Catholic. “I didn’t even know Ernest five years ago,” Chastity reminded her mother. “During my sophomore year, I took an elective, religious studies. I had to do a ten-page paper on Catholicism.  So, I picked a church online and attended mass a few times. I found that I liked it and kept attending after the class was over with. After six months, I had made the decision to attend RCIA classes. After I had completed RCIA, I made the decision to join the Catholic faith.”

“Without consulting me and your father? This is the most outrageous thing you have ever done,” her mother said nastily.

Caitlin wasn’t shocked. She had expected her mother to be the one who would be the most put out about all this. “I was nineteen, a legal adult who was capable of making her own decisions.”

“You make nineteen sound like thirty,” Catherine commented.

“I admit I was young but I knew what I wanted,” Chastity said.

“You’re not that much older now,” Cameron said.

“No, but like I said. I know what I want.”

“Other than liking mass, what made you . . . make this decision?” Constance stammered with bewilderment.

The question almost made her squirm. Her faith was so personal to her and she didn’t like talking about what was in her heart - emotionally. This was going to be more difficult than she thought. How could she make them understand?

All I can do is try, I guess.

“Well . . . the Catholic church provides a structure I appreciate and like living by. The people associated with the church . . . understands me. Sometimes. I think . . . they understand me more than, well, you all.”

Derek’s brow cocked up. Then he returned his attention to his food.

“In what way?” her mother asked, offended. Her whitish, blonde hair was secured in a bun.

“I . . . it’s hard to explain really,” Chastity stammered. It really was. All she knew was being a Catholic felt right and natural to her. “I seem to . . . fit in there and I feel comfortable there. It just feels right.”

“I think I understand,” Alexander said, trying to be supportive. “Chastity is a grown woman. She is entitled to make her own decisions concerning her life.”

Chastity’s father, Carlton Van Dyke, exhaled heavily. “He’s right, Victoria.”

Her mother pursed her lips together like she was constipated.

Chastity looked around the table. Most of them still looked bewildered, but they didn’t seem angry. Her mother was the only one who was upset about it.

“Since you like it so much, maybe we can come with you to mass one day,” Catherine said politely. “I’m open minded. Aren’t you, darling?” Catherine said politely to her husband.

“Yes,” Cameron answered sincerely.

Chastity gave her sister a polite nod of thanks. “I would like that.”

“I would like to come, too, at some point,” Constance said with a small smile.

“I welcome that,” Chastity said. “I appreciate you trying to understand – especially since I’ve decided to take my final vows to become a nun with Saint Barbara’s Convent in Boston.”

Shouting, Swearing, and gasps erupted throughout the room.

“The hell?” her father shouted.

Derek barked his laughter until Chelsea elbowed him in the ribs.

“Shit,” Cameron stretched out.

Her mother looked like she wanted to slap her and faint all at the same time.

“Good, Lord!” Constance chirped with absolute shock.

Caitlin’s lips were parted.

Even Alexander looked surprised.

As silence fell upon the table, all eyes were on Chastity.

“I understand this is a shock, but I assure you I’ve thought this through for a very long time. And slowly been working towards the goal of becoming a sister of the holy order.”

“How long have you been thinking and working toward this? Exactly,” her mother asked with demand in her tone.

“At least two and a half years,” Chastity admitted. “During the first year, I spent my free time questioning the nuns at the convent and following them around for almost a year. Then I did required study with the convent and took my first vows a month ago.”

“It is a noble vocation,” Alexander commented. “I can see it now. You remind me of Sister Sarah. She was my teacher at Our Lady Queen of Angels Elementary School.”

Constance averted her gaze.

Victoria Van Dyke glared at Chastity like she had never seen Chastity before in her life. Then she did something that Chastity thought she would never see her mother do. Her mother snatched her linen napkin out of her lap and slapped it over her plate. Then she left the table in more than a huff. She had never left family dinner even when natured called.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. It was Chastity’s father who decided to break it.

The patriarch stared at her from the head of the table. “I never thought I would say this to you,” her father began seriously. “But I feel it necessary to say it now. Just because we named you Chastity doesn’t mean you have to live that way.”

                                                                                  ****

            “I have to say your family has been full of surprises during the past two years,” Cameron said as he drove his Mustang on the highway. “First, Chelsea elopes to New Orleans with that sleazy dipshit. Second, Caitlin ends up having a scandalous affair with her fiancé’s son and marries him instead - all the while carrying his baby. And, now, one of your little sisters is going to become a nun.”

            “Yes, these days it’s never a dull moment,” Catherine said. “But it’s your fault.”

            “What? How do you figure that?”

            “It all started when you hired a Van Dyke to represent you in court. You must have brought some sort of . . . mojo into the family. Before then, my family was normal – well, as normal as an old money family can be in this day and age.”

            “I’m not totally responsible for the happenings in the Van Dyke clan. Who decided to take my case to begin with?

            Catherine folded her arms. “I had no choice. You paid a very large retainer.”

            Cameron laughed wholeheartedly.

                                                                                 ****

            “I don’t understand how you could go on eating your food after what happened,” Chelsea said snottily.

            “Easily. What Chastity had said had nothing to do with me – or you for that matter,” Derek said as he drove down the interstate.

            “What do you mean? Of course, it affects us. She’s family – my sister – my twin sister. Once she takes her final vows, she’ll be living in Boston with a bunch of nuns – strangers. She’ll be whatever many miles away.”

            “And I thank, God, for that,” he said with enthusiasm.

            “Oh, stop it. You two adore each other.”

            Derek laughed hysterically. “We adore each other like ammonia and bleach.”

            “I don’t like it. The last thing she needs is to live with a bunch of shrews that are more boring and self-righteous than she is,” Chelsea said as she folded her arms. “It’s one thing to convert. It’s another to . . . no. I have to stop her.”

            “How?”

            “I don’t know yet.”

            “Something tells me her mind is made up. Not even God himself can probably change it.”

                                                                                  ****

            Constance was in her living room at her condo. Her twin daughters had been tucked in by their nanny hours ago. And thank, God they were still sound asleep. Constance quietly sobbed into a handkerchief as her other hand held papers, showing that her estranged husband had filed for divorce. The envelope was there waiting on her when she got home from her parents’ estate.

            She had thought Steven just needed some time alone for a while. Then he would come to his senses and come home. But he had actually engaged a lawyer and filed for divorce.

            She was almost forty years old with two kids. Who would want her now if her own husband didn’t?

                                                                                    ****

            “You took your life in your own hands tonight, trying to support Chastity’s decision,” Caitlin said as she got into bed next to her husband.

            “Yes your mother was up in arms. But Chastity deserved some sort of support from a family member. She was just hanging out there alone for a few moments,” Alexander said as he sat up in bed.

            “Well, I know one thing. If Mother acted like that concerning Chastity’s change in faith, I surely can’t think about converting to Catholicism now.”

            “Wait a minute. You had said you would take RCIA classes to at least learn about Catholicism,” Alexander said seriously.

            “I know and I meant it, but after tonight . . . I want to wait until things calm down with Chastity’s . . . situation before I dip my toes in, let’s say.”

            Alexander grunted. “You can wait until the cows come home and your mother will probably still be upset about Chastity’s decision.”

            “I’m afraid you might be right but I hope you’re wrong. Despite Chastity’s stoic demeanor, I think Mother’s reaction really hurt her tonight.”

            “I think so, too. And she had to be concerned about it otherwise she wouldn’t have kept her faith and choice of vocation a secret for so long.”

                                                                                  ****

            “How could she?” Victoria shot out as she paced in front of the bed. Her white nightgown flowed around her legs as she walked back and forth.

            Carlton sat up in his bed under the covers. He wore burgundy pajamas. He watched his wife pace and rant for eight minutes. He was usually the one up in arms over something the girls had done – not her.

            “Carlton, you have to stop her.”

            “I wish I could. But you know, Chastity. She doesn’t make a decision without thinking about it from twenty different angles. Something tells me her mind is made up no matter what I say or do.”

            Victoria stopped pacing and looked at him. “I don’t understand why you’re not upset about this.”

            “I assure you I don’t like it any more than you do. For the rest of her life, she will be at the mercy of the Catholic Church. She won’t have a life or money of her own. It will all go to them,” he said as he rolled his eyes. “But it appears that’s what she wants. She sees some sort of value in being a Catholic – and a nun.”

            “You do realize she’ll have to live in the convent once her . . . nun-ship or whatever it’s called is completed.”

             “I do and like I said I don’t like any of this no more than you do. But what can be done?”

              What, indeed.