Chloe in Willowmere

Chloe hadn't planned to ask him. The question just slipped out over coffee, the way the important ones always do. Father Bernard set down his cup and was quiet for a long time, and somehow that silence meant more than a quick answer ever could. When he finally spoke, it was with the certainty of a man who had spent decades sitting with questions far larger than himself. 'The soul makes real what love reaches for, Chloe. That's not theology — that's just truth.' She reached for her notebook before the words could dissolve into the afternoon air, and Father Bernard smiled — the kind of smile that said he understood exactly why she needed to write it down. Some answers don't close questions. They open better ones. And Chloe, pen moving across the page, felt something shift quietly inside her — not resolution, but the beginning of peace.