Falling From Grace: Student-Teacher Forbidden Romance

Chapter 63

[RECAP: Leonie is finally heading back to school and back to Father Gabriel. No word yet from the movie people...]

There were several shocks in store for Leonie when she went back to St Winifred's the following term. England was more cold, dark and miserable than before, and she had a knot in her stomach as her grandmother's chauffeur once more drove her up through the remote countryside.

She was dying to see Gabriel but was also terrified of how it would be between them. Of whether he might change his mind, or whether it would be agony having to act like student and teacher again. Or worse, student and priest.

They had managed to phone one another a couple of times, and it had been amazing hearing his voice. The problem was that there was always someone around in Leonie's house over Christmas, with the weather being so cold. If her sister and father were out taking the dog for a walk, her mother and brother would be in the kitchen, in earshot of the phone. When her mother was out, her father was always pottering about the house fixing something and constantly going through the hall. So Leonie couldn't have the kind of intimate conversations that she wanted to.

Gabriel had decided the safest thing to do would be to act normally as though nothing was going on. "For your sake more than mine. I couldn't care less what happens to me, but I know you would be in horrible trouble with your grandmother."

He would discuss the process of giving up his vocation with Father Stephen, and figure out what he would do next. It was unlikely the school would retain him as a teacher if he had left holy orders. But he was reluctant to quit mid-year and leave the A-level students in the lurch. Getting another teacher might disrupt their progress.

Leonie understood all of this, but it was still hard. Having been so close and gone about so openly together, going back to pretending as though nothing was happening was going to be tough.

Despite preparing herself, the first shock was seeing Gabriel back in his priest's robes. Leonie caught sight of him across the front yard as her car pulled up in the driveway. He looked incredibly handsome and incredibly forbidden. After being with him in regular clothes for over a week, it felt like a reversal. It also made Leonie realise the enormity of what he was giving up to be with her.

Should she let him do it? What would everyone else think if they knew? Most would be horrified, she imagined, and some envious. Like Suki Laverne.

She passed him as she was carrying her things into school, and he greeted her. "Leonie. Good to see you back. I hope you had a good holiday?"

His voice was so ordinary and teacher-like that Leonie's heart sank. He must have decided it was over.

Then he lowered his voice. "I've missed you. Nothing's changed. Just be patient."

Suddenly the world was full of sunshine again, despite the grey misery of the day. "I will."

But then came the second shock. It shouldn't have been a shock really, since Leonie knew something was coming. But when she entered her dorm - the first of the four of them to arrive - and began stashing her clothes away, Suki Laverne entered.

"Hello Leonie. Did you have an enjoyable Christmas?" Suki's voice dripped with venom.

Leonie gritted her teeth. "Great, thank you. And you?"

"So so. Unfortunately I was rather busy, and didn't get the chance to do my English assignment. I'm sure you'd only be too happy to lend me yours, wouldn't you?"

"We can hardly turn in the same assignment, can we?" Leonie pointed out.

Suki smiled, her eyes glinting. "Of course not. So you'll have to come up with another one for yourself. I trust the one you've done is peachy perfect enough for me to get an A? I can't imagine you've done anything less than wonderful for Father Gabriel, have you?" She put a nasty emphasis on "Father", twirling a strand of her dark hair as she spoke. "Or perhaps you were planning to get an A another way...?"

Leonie had to bite her tongue and not react. "I can lend you my assignment if you think it will help you. Was there anything else?"

Suki paused for a moment, tilting her head onto one side as though thinking. "Not today. But I expect there will be soon." She waited while Leonie went through her folders to give her the assignment.

Leonie suddenly remembered the letter. Had Suki not realised that it had been retrieved? She decided to bluff it out. "What about my letter? You said you would return it if you did what I wanted."

Suki smirked. "You haven't finished doing everything that I want, yet. But don't worry. It's safely tucked away." She left with a triumphant look on her face.

So Suki hadn't discovered the replacement with the blank slip of paper. That was something, at least. Leonie was glad that Harry had had the foresight to leave the envelope in place and put a blank page inside it. Likely if Suki had checked, she had only looked to see that the envelope was there.

Gabriel was going to know about the assignment though. Leonie had worked on it while she had been with him, and while he hadn't done it for her, he had suggested some angles. He would surely recognise them once they appeared in Suki's handwriting. And now Leonie was going to have to cobble something together at the last minute that was going to look weirdly rushed and low-effort.

She should tell him, she supposed. But she figured he was probably already going through enough stress and didn't want to add to his woes. He'd be telling Father Stephen of his decision to leave the priesthood soon, which Leonie suspected would be a very difficult conversation.

But there was another shock to come. In some ways, the biggest of all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But at least she knows what's going on *under* that priestly garb... ;)

And more shocks to come?!!