Elise’s face was more serious and she turnedto be sure Alex was out of earshot before she said, “I’m not sureit’s over.I think I made a mistake, thinking he was just anidiot.”Alex was back down the stairs now and she scolded, “Don’tscratch my walls with any of those boxes!And I don’t know what youneed those big speakers for, because you will not be listening tomusic at any volume that would prevent civilized conversation.Notin my house.”His grin made it clear that the restrictions weren’ttoo onerous.When he was safely back up the stairs Elise said, “Ithink he may be worse than stupid.I didn’t see it before, but Ithink there’s a pretty deep mean streak in that man.”
She saw their concerned expressions andlaughed as she waved a hand through the air.“I’m not worried aboutme!There’s not much he could do to me, and he doesn’t have theguts to try anything anyway.But he seemed pretty focused on thetwo of you.Bad influences, leading Alex astray…you heard most ofit, Mark.And you two…your family is well-liked, Mark, and withthe…the tragedy a few years ago, they have lots of sympathy.Butbeing an openly gay priest in a small town?It makes youvulnerable.”She turned to Lucas.“And obviously you’re…lesswell-liked.And even more vulnerable.”She sighed.“I think Ihelped Alex out, but I’m sorry…I think I may have made things a bittougher for both of you.”
“It was worth it,” Lucas blurted out, then herealized what he’d said.“I mean, my part.Making things a bittougher for me?That’s fine.Don’t worry about that.”
“Don’t worry about me, either,” Father Webbersaid.“I knew what I was doing.I knew the chances I was taking,and I’m aware that I’ll be facing some consequences.”
Elise nodded slowly.“Yeah.That’s what Ithought you’d say.”She squinted at Lucas.“What do you think itmeans, when I can predict what you’re going to say like that?WhenI know you’re going to be self-sacrificing and more concerned aboutsomeone else than yourself?”
And now Lucas was the one who felt tired.“Idon’t know.I have low self-esteem?I don’t take enough time tothink things through?”He tried to dig up a few more of the issueshe’d worked on with the counselors in prison.
But Elise was shaking her head, and shereached out and gripped Lucas’s shoulder with one of her strong,sinewy hands.“It means you’re a good man, Lucas.Someone who’smade mistakes in the past, but someone who right now, in thisplace?Is a good man.”She pulled her hand away and shook her headas if coming out of a mild trance.“Now I’d better go make surethat little bastard isn’t putting holes in my walls.”She whirledand stalked into the house, leaving Lucas and Father Webber aloneon the porch.
“Wow,” the priest said as he watched herleave.“She’s really mellowing out.”
“Is it wrong that I find her a bit scarierwhen she’s nice than I do when she’s crusty?”
Father Webber’s laugh surprised Lucas, andseemed to surprise the priest as well.“No,” he said.“I don’tthink it’s wrong.I think it’s a sign of good sense.”
“She’s probably up to something.”
“Probably,” Father Webber agreed, and the twoof them stood in improbable companionship while Alex carried thelast of his belongings into his new home.
ChapterTwenty-Six
“Father Webber, I know you’re aware of theserious plight of the Anglican Communion.”Dr.Berton wastechnically a priest, but Mark wasn’t sure if he’d ever worked in aparish.Instead, he spent his time overseeing and regulating theother priests of the diocese under the approving gaze of thebishop.Now, he had Mark in his crosshairs.“You’re aware that theworldwide communion is at risk of fracturing.You’re aware thateven within Canada we are losing parishes.You’re aware that acentral cause of all this is controversy over our policies onhomosexuality and the place of homosexuals in the church.”
“I’m aware.”There wasn’t much else to say,and anything Mark did say seemed likely to prolong theconversation.
“And being aware of all this, younevertheless ignored your rector’s excellent decision to distanceyou from the disgruntled parishioner.”
“He’s not a parishioner.I don’t know if he’sa member of any church, but he’s certainly not part of ourcongregation.”
Amanda Tisdale, the church’s lawyer, spokeup.“Does that detail seem important to you?”
“Maybe.Because if he was a member of thechurch, I would have had a chance to build a relationship with him,and he would have known me well enough to know that I would neverencourage a straight or merely questioning young man to identifyhimself as gay.”
“But you would encourage a gay young man to‘identify himself’ that way?”Berton leaned forward as if theanswer to this question would make everything clear.
“Identify himself?Tohimself?Absolutely I would.Self-knowledge is an important quality, and forgay teens especially it can be truly cathartic to finally use theword and acknowledge that aspect of themselves.”
Tisdale took her turn.“And what aboutpublicly?Would you encourage a sixteen-year-old who hadself-identified as gay to come out of the closet?More importantly,did you do so in this case?”
“That’s seriously something that we can besued for?”
“Probably not.But Mr.Wilson seemsinterested in finding some legal grounds for complaining, and we’retrying to cover all our bases.”Tisdale seemed slightly moresympathetic than Berton, who was still scowling at Mark.
“What we’re really trying to figure out,”Berton said, “Is just how much we’re going to have to pay Mr.Wilson to keep him from making his complaints public.Because thelast thing the church needs right now is a public accusation thatwe are somehow seducing young men into homosexuality.”
“Recruiting,” Tisdale said, her voiceclipped.“Even in the privacy of this office, let’s not use theword ‘seduce’.”
“I wasn’t doing either,” Mark protested.“Idon’t remember word for word what I said in this case, butgenerally I tell kids that it has to be their decision whether tocome out or not.About the only pressure I put on them is to keepin touch with me or another caring adult.Well, that and I oftentry to connect them with other gay teens, either at the localcommunity center or online.”
“Don’t get me started on the ‘online’business,” Berton said.“You’re aware that Mr.Wilson wants to haveyour e-mail records subpoenaed to look for evidence that you senthis son links to internet pornography?”
“What?”Mark sputtered.“I don’t even…no,wait, I did send him an e-mail once.With a link to a chat groupfor gay teens.”
“And who moderates the chat?Who screens theparticipants to ensure that they are all indeed gay teens and notpredatory adults?”
