Hayden looked up. Tears threatened in the corners of her eyes.

"Mom, I don"t know what to say...I"m sorry, I guess."

"Why didn"t you tell me that you..."

"It"s not the easiest thing to tell your mom...Mom. I was scared if you found out that you would think I was a pervert or something and that you would stop loving me."

"That"s ridiculous. Nothing in this world would ever make me stop loving you."

"Really?"

Sara looked Hayden straight in the eye. "Yes, really. All I want for you is to be happy. This may not be the lifestyle I had in mind for you, but if this is what makes you happy, then so be it."

A wave of relief washed over Hayden.

"I wish you would have felt comfortable telling me before you went all through this. It must be hard to keep that a secret."

"It was. It"s like you"re two different people. I think the biggest struggle was actually admitting it to myself, at least until I met Abbey."

"You really care for her, don"t you?"

"Yes, I do. And when I found out that someone as wonderful as she had the same feelings I did, that"s when I realized being gay couldn"t be all that bad."

Sara pulled Hayden close. "I love you, kiddo. Nothing will ever change that."

Chapter Thirty.

During the recess, Abbey saw Sara extend her hand to Hayden. It certainly couldn"t have been easy for Sara to sit through Hayden"s testimony and hear that her daughter might be gay. She hoped things between them would survive this day. Abbey raced off to the restroom while Allison stayed in the hearing room to update her notes. Abbey pushed through the heavy wood door of the ladies" room. She reveled in the peacefulness of the cool green tile and the soothing quiet.

She was so tense when she stepped into one of the stalls. Her entire body felt like a tightly wound coil ready to spring loose. Before she left the hearing room, Allison told her she was the only witness left to be called and that she needed to be ready for anything the prosecutor would throw at her. Abbey sat and wrapped her arms around her stomach as if that would help the nausea go away. In her gut, she wasn"t sure she could hold it together long enough to be effective on the witness stand.

As Abbey sat in the stall, she could hear voices as the door opened. From underneath the stall, she saw a pair of black cowboy boots enter the restroom. Abbey stood and for no other reason than to look like she had a reason to be there, she flushed the toilet. She opened the stall door, and to her surprise, she saw Calli Karra standing there.

"Hi, Miss Spencer."

Abbey turned the water on at the sink and washed her hands. "Hi, Calli, what brings you here?"

"Hayden told me what happened. I came here to support her."

"Oh, I see." Abbey grabbed a paper towel from the counter and dried her hands. Just what she needed, someone else to judge her.

Calli stepped closer. "For what it"s worth, I think what they"re trying to do to you is wrong."

"Excuse me?" Abbey was taken aback by the statement.

"Hayden told me what happened between you two. She told me she had never felt that way about anyone and that for that short time, she had never felt happier."

"That"s nice of you to say. Thank you."

A few minutes later, a girl with stunning blue eyes and short spiky black hair stuck her head in the doorway. "Calli, you coming? They"re getting ready to start."

"Thanks, Jo, I"ll be right there."

Abbey looked at Calli, and Calli smiled. "That"s my girl, Jo." Calli shrugged. "Who knew?"

Abbey smiled. "I"m happy for you. Take care of yourself and each other."

The proceedings started again. "The prosecution calls Miss Abigail Spencer to the stand."

Abbey walked to the witness stand and took the oath. Even though the temperature in the hearing room was a cool sixty-eight degrees, Abbey felt the silk blouse under her blazer pitting out. She took a deep breath as she sat and steeled herself for the prosecutor"s questions.

"Please state your name for the record and your occupation."

"Abigail Spencer. I"m an English teacher at St. Mary"s High School."

"Miss Spencer, educators are expected to nurture the intellectual, physical, emotional, social, and civic potential of each student. Is that right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Nowhere within this ethical code does it state that the teachers have any right to come into s.e.xual contact with the students. Is that right, Miss Spencer?"

"Yes, sir."

"So how did you decide that there would be nothing wrong with having s.e.x with a minor who was once your student?"

Abbey inhaled slowly. She glanced over at Allison, who nodded, apparently encouraging her to answer the question as they rehea.r.s.ed.

"Hayden is my former student. She graduated in June. I was not aware of her age at the time because many of the seniors in high school turn eighteen throughout the school year."

"But this girl was only seventeen. Shouldn"t you have checked that out before seducing her?"

"Objection!" Allison yelled.

"I"ll allow it," Mr. Tucci said. "Answer the question, Miss Spencer."

"Are you suggesting that I should have checked her identification beforehand?"

Allison shot a look over at Abbey, mentally telling her to cut the sarcasm.

"I"m sorry. That was uncalled for." Abbey took a deep breath. "As long as I"ve known Hayden, she was always so mature and responsible. Part of me did consider it, but my feelings for Hayden were genuine."

"You stated that Hayden had been acting responsibly. Are you referring to the fact that she had to drive you back to your hotel that night because you were intoxicated?"

"Objection! Where is counsel going with this?"

"Mr. Woodruff, how is this related to today"s proceedings?"

Mr. Woodruff walked back to his table and pulled a pink sheet of paper and handed it to Mr. Tucci. "This is a summons for public intoxication given to Miss Spencer by the Presque Isle Police Department during the evening she was with Hayden Crissman in Presque Isle."

Mr. Tucci looked over the summons, then handed it to the other board members.

"I"ll allow the question. Proceed."

"As a matter of fact, Miss Spencer, weren"t you so intoxicated that you were unable to drive yourself home?"

"Objection! That matter is a separate case, and the summons has already been taken care of. Miss Spencer has paid her fine. I don"t see the relevance of that here."

Mr. Woodruff turned to Allison. "It"s relevant, Counselor, because your client was not only intoxicated, she was in the presence of a minor."

"I"ll allow it," Mr. Tucci said. "Miss Spencer, please answer the question."

"Yes, that"s true."

"And didn"t you have to rely on Hayden to get you safely home?"

"Yes."

"Objection! This isn"t the issue we"re addressing here. Can we stick to the matter that brought us here?"

"Fine," Mr. Woodruff said. "Miss Spencer, if you didn"t think what you were doing was wrong, why did you ask Hayden if she was sure this is what she wanted to do...to be intimate with you?"

"To be honest, sir, I would ask that of anyone I was about to get involved with intimately. All I know is what we felt for each other was genuine. At no time did I think she felt forced to be intimate with me. I wouldn"t want anyone to feel that way. Age was never a factor."

"Well, it matters if you want to remain a teacher here in Ohio, Miss Spencer."

Mr. Woodruff returned to his table. "No further questions."

Allison stood and walked over to Abbey. "Miss Spencer, was it ever your intention to do harm to Hayden Crissman?"

"Of course not."

"Was the encounter between you and Hayden consensual?"

"Yes."

"How do you know that for sure?"

"Because she initiated it."

"Hayden initiated the encounter? How so?"

"She kissed me."

"Then what happened?"

"I asked her if she was sure this was what she wanted, and she said yes."

"If she would have told you no, this isn"t what I want or I"m not sure, what you have done?"

"I would have stopped."

"That being said, do you feel any remorse for your actions?"

"My feelings of remorse are for Hayden because she didn"t deserve to be put through this. I understand that Hayden was at a point in her life where she was discovering who she was. I have always believed that the first time you fall in love is the time that makes the most impression on you for the rest of your life. I regret that by my actions, I may have made that process more difficult for her. For that, I am truly sorry."

Allison turned to the hearing panel. "Mr. Tucci, as you can see by the facts in this case, the only thing my client is guilty of is having a consensual relationship with a former student. The age of consent in Ohio and Pennsylvania is sixteen. Hayden was well past that at the time of the incident. Hayden was not unconscious or mentally impaired by drugs or suffering from a mental disability that would render her incapable of giving consent. By testimony of the witnesses, including Hayden Crissman, this was a consensual act, and therefore no crime was committed. I ask that the charges against Abbey Spencer be dropped. Abbey Spencer is a great teacher. She loves teaching and is dedicated to her students receiving the best education possible. Can St. Mary"s School afford to lose someone like Abbey Spencer? I don"t think so."

Allison returned to the defendant"s table. "Nothing further, Mr. Tucci."

Mr. Tucci stood. "Miss Spencer, you may step down. I hereby request that we go back into an executive session to determine the results of this case."

The conduct panel retreated down the hallway into a private office and closed the door.

Abbey took her seat next to Allison. "Now what?"

"Well, we wait."

Abbey looked behind her at the gallery. Calli and Jo were sitting in the back of the room. The bishop had remained for the entire proceeding and gave no sign of leaving. The only seat that was empty was Ann"s. She must have left for a bathroom break or to call Jackson. Whatever it was, Abbey didn"t want to run into her in the hall, so she decided to stay put.

Abbey sighed. "What do you think is going to go on in there?"

"Hopefully, they"re going over the evidence and deciding that you didn"t do anything wrong. They know no crime was committed, but being a parochial school, sometimes they make up their own rules. For them not to look bad, they may have to determine some kind of punishment they have to bestow. Public perception is important to them, especially after all the heat they got over the pedophile priests."

"Great, so you"re telling me they were against me from the beginning?"

"The one thing in your favor is that your record up to this point is clean. So they basically are deciding whether to make an example of you or do the right thing and punish you in accordance with the seriousness of the crime, which we have established there wasn"t one."

"So what does your gut tell you?"

"If they absolutely feel they must punish you somehow, I"m thinking a slap on the hand like a three-month probationary period where you would have to report to the princ.i.p.al at the least, revocation of your teaching license at the worst. We"re dealing with a Catholic school, remember, and h.o.m.os.e.xuality, unfortunately, is still a big taboo for them."

Abbey nodded. Her head throbbed and her body felt numb. She just wanted this to be over.

"I"m going to get some coffee, do you want some?" Allison asked.

"No thanks." Abbey thought if she put anything in her stomach, she would surely throw it up now.

Abbey sat at the defense table with her head in her hands. She felt distraught. If the board found her guilty, she didn"t know if she could go through losing one more thing that was important to her. She looked up and saw Ann had returned to her seat. Sitting alone in the gallery, she looked like this was the last place she wanted to be, too. Abbey had to fight the urge to go over to Ann and ask her if this was all worth it. Was it worth giving up a good life and a devoted partner just to get revenge? As she looked at Ann, a mult.i.tude of feelings came over her that she didn"t understand. Was she angry at Ann for what she did to their life or because one more thing that was supposed to last forever didn"t?