Through the Evil Days: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF Page B

really have to think about the consequences of your acts until it’s all too late.”
    Clare smiled tightly. “Shall we sit down?”
    She took her usual place at the head of the table. Until and unless the bishop removed her, she was still the rector here. She wasn’t so far gone that she didn’t see the grim humor in her possessiveness. She’d been wrestling with doubt ever since she became a parish priest. She’d jumped at the chance to recommission in the Guard as if the army were a rescue basket waiting to lift her away from her pastoral failures and a relationship she’d believed was irretrievably broken. She dropped her hand on her abdomen again. The voice of her survival school instructor echoed in her head. You’re not very bright, are you, Fergusson?
    “… are you, Ms. Fergusson?”
    “Hm?” She snapped to attention.
    “I asked,” Father Aberforth said, “if you were waiting for anyone else.”
    “Mr. Corlew isn’t here yet,” Elizabeth said. “He’s our senior warden.”
    “We can bring him up to speed when he arrives.” In the tally she kept in her head, Clare suspected he was a no vote. Not that they would be voting today. “I believe you all know the Reverend Canon Aberforth. Archdeacon? This is your meeting.”
    The archdeacon nodded perfunctorily to the rest of the table. The droops and folds of his face made him look like a basset hound—if bassets had shrewd eyes and caustic tongues.
    “The bishop first wishes me to thank all of you for the time you’ve taken to respond to his questions. He knows this is a matter of some delicacy, and he appreciates the vestry’s willingness to be perfectly frank with him.”
    Clare’s gaze slid toward Sterling Sumner. She could just imagine how perfectly frank he must have been.
    “As we know, the church’s position toward her clergy is that they be either married or celibate.”
    “Or in a faithful, monogamous relationship if they’re not allowed to marry by the laws of their state.” Clare knew Aberforth had heard her argument before, but she couldn’t help repeating it again.
    Aberforth blinked at her. “Yes, Ms. Fergusson. I believe we all know your position in that regard. However, there was no legal or moral impediment to your marriage.”
    “You just jumped the gun,” Sterling said.
    “This is ridiculous,” Geoff Burns said. “Clare and Van Alstyne tied the knot less than five months after she’d gotten back from deployment! When my wife and I got engaged, it took her mother a year and a half to organize the damn ceremony. Frankly, I think starting their family as quickly as possible is smart. It’s not like Clare’s getting any younger.”
    Clare covered her face with one hand.
    Aberforth looked at both men quellingly. “The circumstances surrounding Ms. Fergusson’s pregnancy are well known to the bishop.”
    And boy, hadn’t that been a fun conversation.
    “Nevertheless, the disciplinary canons are clear. Under Section Four, Title Four, Ms. Fergusson could be brought up on charges of sexual misconduct and conduct unbecoming to a priest.” He raised his hand against the room’s instant uproar. “The bishop has no wish to convene a disciplinary panel. He feels the resulting publicity would reflect poorly on St. Alban’s, the diocese, and the church as a whole.” From across the table, Aberforth pinned her with his black eyes. “Therefore, he is offering you the chance to quietly resign. If you do so, no actions will be taken, and you will be free to seek a parish in another diocese without the taint of charges following you.”
    Resign? Clare swallowed. “Does he … do I have to give you my answer right now?”
    “No. I’ve informed him of your upcoming vacation, and suggested a period of quiet reflection and prayer, away from the press of your day-to-day duties, would be beneficial. You can give us your answer when you return.”
    “So … a week?”
    Aberforth nodded. The vestry erupted into arguments;