I'm so sorry I wasn't there in court for you, Robbie! 4 page

Janet nodded, squeezing Ryan's hand before she opened her door and then turned to open the back door to get Reb out of her car seat. Holding her daughter's hand she watched Ryan and the big, ugly dog disappearing around the corner. Ryan was like her Mom, she internalized too much. How much could one child handle emotionally? With a worried frown, she led Reb into their small day care centre.

Carolyn Carr stood and came out from behind her desk to give Janet a big hug. "They're down in the staff room waiting for you to arrive."

Janet nodded, knowing that "they" had to be the members of board of trustees. "I need to speak to Amanda and Milka, first. Have Jason, Alex and Wanda cover for them and get them down here as quickly as you can."

"Sure thing, Janet."

"Ask Jason to sort of keep an eye on Ryan, just in case there are problems. She seems to have fit in nicely now but...well, ask him," fretted Janet.

"Done."

Janet nodded her thanks and went into her office. She wanted to get her paper work caught up just in case. Ten minutes later, Amanda Singh and Milka Gorski came into the office and Carolyn flagged the two worried women on into the office.

Janet was all business, needing to keep a barrier up between her and her emotions until she had everything organized. "Have a seat, ladies."

"Janet, we're all so sorry. You know you have the support of the staff, don't you?" said Milka.

Janet smiled. "Thanks. That means a lot to me. I'm surprised I have Wanda's support. She is very religious."

Milka laughed. "She said that she couldn't approve of your life style but she didn't think it was any of her business. She thinks God will get you so she doesn't need to bother!" the English teacher laughed.

"Oh, brother!" sneered Amanda, rolling her eyes.

Janet shook her head in disbelief. "Well, I appreciate her tolerance if not her mind set," sighed Janet. "Okay, down to business. There is a good chance I will be asked to resign. I won't, so that means they will have to place me on leave with pay or buy out my contract. Either way, I think it's fairly safe to say that my career is done like dinner after today."

"It's just not fair! You are so good at what you do!" protested Amanda, and Milka nodded.

"Thanks, but the Board of Trustees is going to have trouble with the image of their school principal being in a gay marriage with a suspected murderer," responded Janet, cynically.

"Bored trusses!" muttered Milka, using a favourite teacher expression for the Board of Trustees.

"I need to review how to handle things with you. I'll recommend both of you as possible replacements. You both have the education, knowledge and experience to take over."

"Please," interrupted Amanda. "I would like to help anyway I can, but I have a young family at home. They come first in my life at the moment. I don't want the job, not yet anyway."

"I want it but not like this!" protested Milka.

"It won't be your fault if I loose my job, Milka, and I'll feel better leaving knowing the person taking over will do a good job. Okay, let's go through this stuff quickly, the Board's waiting."

***

An hour later, Janet sat on an orange plastic chair and looked at the elected citizens who were in a position to judge her despite the fact that not one of them knew anything about education. The old tradition of a community body overseeing the local one-room school seemed ludicrous some times in today's modern society.

"Mrs. Williams, ahhh, the Board met this morning and we don't feel that the present situation you are in is good for the school's image. We know you have two years left in your contract but we would like to ask you to resign," Bartlett explained.

I should have let Robbie finish tearing him apart at the party, Janet thought. "My marriage is quite legal and fortunately people are still innocent until proven guilty. I do realize that this is embarrassing for the school but I will not resign. I have done nothing wrong."

"Yes, well, of course, you are right, but Bartlett has a paying clientele and image is everything in this business. We would ask that you reconsider for the sake of the school," said Bartlett, feigning the more in sorrow than in pain tone.

"No."

The Trustees squirmed uncomfortably in their seats and looked from one to another. Bartlett sighed. "Then I'm sorry. We have voted to put you on a leave of absences with pay until your contract runs out. It will not be renewed."

"Fine. You would do very well to promote either Milka Gorski or Amanda Singh to my position.

They are both well qualified," Janet said, without any sign of reaction.

The Tustees looked surprised. "We have been very pleased with your work, Mrs. Williams. It is just an impossible situation for the school. We hope there are no hard feelings," one member felt the need to justify.

Janet smiled. "Yes, there are hard feelings. If I decided to take this to the Equal Rights Commission they'd make mincemeat of you. It might, however, be quicker just to sue for damages, since you have no cause for dismissal. You have made a very poor decision today. Good day." Janet got up and walked out of the room. Let the assholes chew on that!

***

Ryan walked down the hall to her locker aware of the wake of silence around her. Jenny Kingsley, who had the locker beside hers, leaned around the beige metal door. "Hi Ryan. We're really sorry to hear about your Mom. Look if there is anything we can do to..."

"Thanks," came the sharp response; then softer, "Thanks, that's good of you. I don't know what is going to happen. The press are like vultures out there."

Debbie DeLuca stepped over and patted Ryan on the back. "Yeah, that's the trouble with having a famous parent. Look, when you first got here...we didn't treat you very well because we were all afraid of Stacy. We'd like to make it up to you this time round."

"No need. Look, I know a lot of you are not comfortable with the gay issue. You don't have to pretend you are. If you want to help just stay out of it! Okay!?" Ryan slammed her locker shut and hurried down the hall to home room."

"Well, she wasn't very nice!" grumbled Nona.

"Cut Ryan some slack!" snapped Debbie. "Shit! Her mother's a queer married to her principal and probably killed her grandfather! How would you feel!?"

"Talk about your bad hair day," interjected Angie, trying to lessen the tension.

"Yeah," agreed Debbie with a nervous giggle."Come on, let's get to class."

***

Janet signaled through the small window in the classroom door to Ryan. Quietly, Ryan got up, took her books and left.

"Hi," greeted her aunt a bit awkwardly.

"You fired?" asked Ryan bluntly, as green eyes met Janet's.

Janet smiled cynically. "No, I'm on permanent leave."

Ryan rolled her eyes and looked around the school hall sadly. She had always wanted to go to this school. She could have got a good education here.

"So I could home school you if you like," Janet stated, watching her niece and adopted daughter closely for a sign of what was going on inside. Ryan and Robbie were both charged with emotion but it displayed itself in such subtle movements of muscle under skin or a slight twitch of a nerve. Rarely did the emotions play across their faces openly. They were always on guard. Always afraid that if they showed the weakness of feelings they would be hurt. She had to deal with her partner and her daughter so gently.

Ryan's muscles tightened, causing her jaw line to whiten. A small vein throbbed at her temple.

"Sounds like a plan to me," she stated toughly.

Janet nodded. "Let's clean out your locker and get Reb. You want me to call a few of your friends out to say good bye?"

Ryan looked back through the glass. New friends sent fugitive, worried glances towards the door. "I was kind of abrupt with them earlier. I think I owe it to all of them to say good bye properly."

Janet smiled and hugged Ryan. "You, kid, are one of a kind. I hope Reb grows up to be like you. Go say good bye. I'll be back to get you."

***

Alberta Pateas wore a lab jacket and sat on a tall stool. Her face was only inches away from the skull of Philip Williams as her magnifying glass edged along a deep indentation in the left temporal. The blow had shattered the articular eminence and filled the squama of the temporal with a web of hair line cracks that formed a concave dish. It had been a hell of a blow. So had been the one that had cracked his jaw.

"Are you double checking my work?" came an amused voice from behind her.

Alberta straightened and twisted to look seriously at Doctor Thomas Bates, the chief pathologist in the Toronto Forensic lab. "No. Your report is very accurate. There is just something here that I'm not comfortable with and I don't know what it is."

Bates walked over and picked up the left ulna, playing with it absentmindedly. "It's our job just to report the medical facts, Alberta. Not to draw conclusions. That's for the lawyers."

"But the lawyers will want to know what we can deduce!" protested the forensic anthropologist, her eyes blue and clear as they looked at Bates.

He had been that idealistic at one time; that eager to find truth. He still did his job well, but he'd come to realize over the years that truth was a very slippery eel. In the end, no matter how clear the facts, court procedure and jury perception ruled, not truth. Truth lurked in the muddy depths of people's conscience and was rarely caught, no matter how highly we prized the quality.

Alberta was relatively new to police work, having done her earlier research on prehistoric Inuit sites. Yet she'd quickly made a name for herself. She had that special combination of intelligence, observational skills, and gut feeling. Better still, she was cool under cross examination in court.

"Doctor Pateas, I could tell you to just do your job and not try to be a hero or play God but you wouldn't listen," Bates drawled, tossing the arm bone back on the gurney and taking out his pipe. He slowly and lovingly filled his old briar with the strong St. Bruno tobacco then continued, "but you wouldn't listen! So tell me what you have observed and perhaps whatever is bothering you will reveal itself in the process."

Alberta smiled. She liked Doctor Bates and felt in a short time she had learned a lot from him. She especially appreciated his tolerance now and was willing to forgive him his noxious smoking habit as a result. He never actually lit the pipe inside the building but the smell of stale tobacco tended to follow him like a wake. Most people in this line of work smoked. At the morgue or in the Forensic department, a good sense of smell was not necessarily an asset.

"The subject was hit with a blow to the left side of the mandible, close to the mental foramen, resulting in this green fracture. It was not the cause of death, although most likely it resulted in unconsciousness."

"An assumption, Doctor," muttered Bates, sucking happily on the stem of his pipe. The fact that the damn pipe was not lit seemed to go unnoticed by the smoker.

"Yes, an assumption. But it is on fairly safe ground. It was a blow hard enough to cause a broken jaw and he was an older man," responded Alberta. Bates nodded, but said nothing.

Alberta went on. "It was not the blow that killed him. The one that did was to the right temple area after the subject was on the ground."

"Explain."

"The first blow was an upper cut by a right handed person. The second blow was a down stroke ..." Alberta stopped and stared at the skull. "The murderer was left handed!" she exclaimed.

"There were two different people there that night the murder took place!"

Bates smiled, his eyes sparkling.

Alberta looked at him in surprise. "You knew that!?"

"Yes."

"But you didn't state it in your report!"

"No. It is an assumption, although highly likely. The defense will have their own medical experts to analysis this data. They will draw the same conclusions based on my report and it will most likely come out in court under cross examination."

"What if it doesn't!?"

"We report scientific facts. We also work FOR the police not against them. That's why they have two sides to the courtroom, Alberta," stated Bates, wiggling his eyebrows mischievously. "All the information is there. Each side can do with it what they may." Bates patted her arm affectionately, and walked back towards his office. Alberta looked down at the bones and brooded.

At his office door, he turned and remarked, "Of course, Doctor, it could have been a gentle blow to the jaw that caused the damage, if the victim had osteoporosis. He was after all getting up in years. Also had the attacker been facing the opposite direction, the blow to the temporal squama could have been made by a right handed killer. Please verify your facts, Doctor. Lawyers are very exacting." Having played the Devil's Advocate, Bates disappeared into his inner sanctum.

Alberta stood there looking over her shoulder at the closed office door. "Shit!" she mouthed silently and then sat back down on the stool to cover the bases she had missed until Bates had pointed them out to her.

***

"What!? When!? Well, Jesus, why didn't somebody notify me?! ....Okay, okay. Where was she taken? Yeah, I'll pick up my phone when I get the chance. Good bye."

Ryan sat in the chair across from the principal's desk and looked at her upset aunt. What had gone wrong now? She felt a tightening in her stomach; was her Mom safe?

Janet hung up the phone angrily. "Your Mom was transferred today to Toronto. She'll be held there until she is remanded for trial, then she'll be sent down to Kingston." A nervous hand ran through her hair as she fought for self control. "Obby's not going to be able to handle being locked up very well. She wanted to phone me but they wouldn't let her take the time. They took the cell phone away from her before she was transferred "

Then tears spilled over and she covered her face with her hands and once again fought them back. Silently, Ryan pulled some tissues from the box on Janet's desk and passed them to her aunt. Janet gave a weak smile in thanks, wiped her eyes, blew her nose and squared her shoulders. At least now she knew what to do next.

***

The ride to Toronto in the back of the paddy wagon had been boring. Robbie sat in the tin box with a female police officer whose job it was to prevent her from doing anything drastic. She looked at her handcuffed hands that were chained around her waist and to ankle cuffs. You'd have to be pretty imaginative to do so. Robbie spent the rest of the time coming up with various alternatives on that theme. She'd come up with twenty-seven possible scenarios by the time they had reached Toronto. Six of them, she felt were quite feasible.

The booking process had been humiliating. Once again, she had been finger printed and photographed. Then she was ordered to strip and shower with a matron watching on. Lady, if I was going to do anything drastic, I'd have done it in one of twenty-seven creative ways before I got here, Robbie thought as she stood in the grotty stall and made herself presentable for her prison debut. She was drying her hair on the thin, small towel when she saw the matron walking towards her wearing plastic gloves. Oh shit!

The search for illegal substances had been embarrassing and disgusting. After, Robbie had been given an orange coverall to put on. It was a little short in the arms and legs and a bit baggy in the hips and ass.

Once again she was fitted with her stainless steel jewelry and lead to another room where she stood at a counter with the matron. The ferret faced woman handed over Robbie's personnel effects to the clerk who slowly and laboriously listed each item on a form.

"You gotta take the ring off too," he growled, shoving a manila envelope over for her to put her watch, gold chain and wedding band in.

"It's my wedding ring!" protested Robbie, as she slipped off her watch.

"Yeah, so I hear," the clerk sneered. "Put it in the envelop, lady. Gold is valuable. She ain't worth getting mugged over.

Robbie took the ring off. It was just a ring she knew, but removing it filled her heart with a sense of dread. It was as if she had broken some precious link that joined the two of them together. Janet, I'm sorry! The ring dropped into the brown envelop and then she quickly sealed it.

"Look this list over and sign that's all you got," ordered the clerk.

Robbie read and signed. The matron took her arm and lead her to the first of the barred doors that would lead to her cell and new life.

***

They had left the school grounds by a little used service road and once at the cabin, the remaining Williams family had packed hurriedly while the press was still unaware they had left. By three they were on the 401 heading south to Toronto.

"Are we going to stay at Robbie's?" asked Ryan.

"Yes," responded Janet briefly, preoccupied with her own thoughts. The teen kept silent after that. Now it looked like she'd lost her home too.

They had hit the rush hour traffic, moving along like a vertebra in a slow moving metal snake. Janet gripped the steering wheel in angry frustration. Her nerves and patience were ragged after today. It was nearly seven o'clock when they finally turned into the condominium complex by Lake Ontario, where Robbie had made her home.

With a sigh of relief, Janet activated the garage doors to enter the underground parking lot. Swinging around a pillar, she was surprised to find a Ferrari in one of Robbie's parking spots. Did Robbie own it too? Janet had no idea. She knew Robbie had the Stingray and the B.M.W. and, of course, the truck she was now driving but she wasn't sure if Robbie owned any other vehicles. Really, she knew very little about Robbie.

She felt a dread creep into her heart with that thought. Robbie had so willingly moved into her small Canadian town world. Except for the funeral, Janet had very little contact with Robbie's world. How much did she really know about the history of the woman that she had married? How much of the legend of the Williams family was true and how much lies?

Tiredly, she unloaded some of the basic luggage they would need and herded her family into the private elevator that would take them to the penthouse. Janet leaned back into the corner of the lift and allowed her eyes to close for a minute while she listened to Ryan explain to Reb that they were going to stay in Obby's house for a while. Reb was being fretful and difficult. Who could blame the poor kid. Her routine had been turned up side down in the last twenty-four hours.

Janet opened her eyes and leaned forward to rub Ryan's shoulder affectionately. "Here, let me take her. It's just been too much for her and she is over tired. We all are," reassured Janet quietly.

Ryan nodded and handed up the whining child. She too had just about had all she could handle. The door to Robbie's home slid open and a sharp voice stunned them out of their exhausted state.

"Just who are YOU and what are you doing in MY daughter's home?!"

Spring Rains Part 3 hmtl

Spring Rains Part 3 By Anne Azel

Disclaimer: The characters of Xena and Gabrielle are the property of Universal and Renaissance Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended. The characters and events in the Seasons series are the creation of the author.

My special thanks to Fran who allowed me to tell you part of her story on the journey to recovery from cancer.

My special thanks to Pat for her expert assistance in rescue and fire fighting procedures.

My thanks to the readers who have been so kind in showing their appreciation of my stories. You are a super group! My special thanks to Lisa and Inga, who are my patient beta readers and to Susan for her comments and insights.

Check out the Seasons dolls at http://www.geocities.com/maclay529/azel.jpg

Thanks Barbara!

Note: The stories in this series are interrelated and should be read in the order they are posted.

Warning: This story is alternative fiction. Please do not read on if you are under age or if such material is illegal in your end of the swamp.

"Ryan, meet Alexandria," Janet remarked, with a roll of her eyes, as she stepped out of the elevator with her children and shaggy dog. "I'm sure you haven't forgotten me, Mrs. Williams. I am your son's widow and your oldest daughter's wife," she pointed out, with a forced smile.

"It is preposterous! I simply will not accept it! What was Robbie thinking of?!"

"Sex," Janet shot back unfairly, for the shock effect. "She is a very basic individual."

"Couldn't she have just slept with you?!"

"Not and lived," observed Janet, helping Ryan lift in bags. Ryan said nothing, but her eyes sparkled with amusement as she listened to her aunt spar with Alexandria.

Reb, released from Janet's arms, made a bee line to the stranger and looked up. "Where is Obby?" she asked earnestly.

Alexandria looked down in surprise. "What... is... an... Obby?!" she demanded.

Janet took Ryan's hand and went over to capture Rebecca's little sticky hands just before the child made a grab for Alexandria's furs. "That's the name Rebecca gave Robbie. Alexandria, you remember my daughter, Rebecca, and this is Robbie's daughter, Ryan," introduced Janet politely.

Eyes the same colour as Robbie's snapped up to look at Ryan curiously. "Oh yes, I have heard rumours over the years of Robbie's bastard".

Janet felt Ryan stiffen and she gently ran her thumb over Ryan's hand, hoping the gesture would calm Ryan like it always did her mother.

"Alexandria, Robbie and I are very proud of our children. Don't you EVER talk to them that way again! I think I must ask you to leave now. The children and I have had a very taxing day and we are not up to entertaining."

Vicious anger flashed across Alexandria's face, and for a second Janet thought the older woman was going to strike her. Instead, amusement sparkled suddenly into the cruel eyes. "Well, I don't think you'll be getting any sleep for a while. The police have gone through the place looking for evidence," informed the tall woman, as she swept past and stepped into the elevator. "I just HAD to co-operate with them!" She smiled at the parting shot as the doors closed.

"Hope the cables snap!" muttered Ryan.

Janet shot her a warning look and Ryan fell silent.

The condo was a mess. Drawers had been opened and furniture cushions and mattresses tossed aside. Janet wasn't completely sure that it had been totally the work of the police. It didn't make sense that Alexandria would come here or that she would co-operate with the police.

Suddenly anger boiled up inside of Janet, and she heaved a pillow across the room. It was that damn 'dark time' again! There was a vow of silence around it that the remaining Williams cherished. She loved Robbie so deeply, trusted her completely, and yet the trust had not been returned a hundred per cent. Janet had always been left on the outside, finding out things that everyone else in the family knew only after it was necessary for her to be informed. Damn all Williams to hell!

The anger passed as quickly as it had come. Janet just didn't have the energy after the taxing day to stay mad. She looked around for her family. Reb, the resourceful toddler that she was, had crawled into an armchair and was fast asleep with Rufus guarding the little body with his big, shaggy bulk. Ryan had wandered out onto the barren terrace garden.

Janet quickly set up Reb's portable play pen and laid the sleeping baby carefully into it, then went out to Ryan who was sitting on a garden bench looking out over Lake Ontario. Ryan didn't react as Janet slipped in beside her.

"Penny for your thoughts," Janet said softly.

"I thought I had a home and mother at last, and I wasn't going to be a bastard anymore," muttered Ryan, the tears spilling over with the effort of expressing her emotions.

Janet felt the tears well up and stream down her own face as she felt the pain of the teen. "Oh Ryan! Honey!" she exclaimed, and pulled her niece and adopted daughter into a deep, tight hug.

Ryan held on tightly and sobbed.

Janet let her and then, after a few minutes, she offered Ryan her tissue, wiping her own tears away with the back of her hand. "Ryan, a home isn't a building, it is the family that dwells there!" Janet stated earnestly, taking the teen's hand. "We are a family. Robbie didn't leave you, Honey, she was taken away. Her first thoughts were of you."

Ryan broke eye contact and looked moodily out over the water. Janet went on quietly. "I know you have lost faith again in Robbie. That's okay. The two of you will have time in the future to work that out. But I won't allow you not to believe in us. You are MY legal daughter and I love you just as much as I do Reb and Robbie. We ARE a family, and you are a very important part of that union. That's not going to change, not where it counts, here in our hearts."

Ryan swallowed and, blinking back tears, she turned to look deeply into Janet's eyes that were, surprisingly, so very much like her own. "Can I call you Mom instead of her?" she asked bluntly.

Janet didn't hesitate although she would have liked time to consider the consequences of such a decision on Robbie's tender soul. Ryan had to come first, and Ryan needed this. "I'd be very proud and honoured if you called me Mom too, Ryan," Janet smiled, through eyes brimming over with emotion.

Ryan nodded seriously and looked back out across the huge lake. "Okay," she agreed.

Janet laughed in relief and gave Ryan's hair a mess. "Come on you! I need some help in there or we are going to have to sleep in kitchen drawers tonight!

After an hour of tidying and making beds, Janet had made up a box of macaroni and cheese for the three of them. Once Ryan had showered and Reb had been bathed, she had tucked them into bed and told them stories.

Janet sat in the girl's room until she was sure her daughters were both asleep. Then, with relief, she walked back to the master bedroom, showered, and crawled between the cold sheets. She was so tired and yet now she was here, alone in Robbie's bed, the sleep wouldn't come. Instead, the tears did and she sobbed her heart out until finally exhaustion claimed her.

***

Elizabeth sat curled up in the corner of her couch. She had been at home all day, phoning in sick when she had heard of Robbie's arrest. She knew what she had been told to do, and say, by Robbie, but the emotions and fears that roared inside her made it hard for her to think. It was wise to stay in here away from everyone.

All these years she had guarded the secret and now it had come out. Only part of it, that was true, but enough that she now felt very vulnerable. Her thumb tip slipped between her teeth and she rocked back and forth absently. Robbie promised her that no one would ever know the whole truth. Robbie always kept her promises.

How could she cope without Robbie's towering strength? Her big sister had always been there for her. She wanted to phone the jail and talk to her, make sure she was all right, but that would mean talking to others, strangers, and she didn't think she could at the moment. Besides, Robbie's instructions had been quite clear that she was not to contact her. Robbie had gone over it with her so many times. She knew what Robbie expected of her. She always did what Robbie said....yet inside she felt awful.

Her eyes shifted to the computer as the screen saver flashed off to be replaced by incoming e-mail. It would be David. He and Robbie alone knew her home addy. She couldn't communicate with David anymore. It wasn't right. He was nice and had high moral standards and she...

Elizabeth stood suddenly, pushing the last thought from her head. She never thought those things! Never! She wouldn't allow herself to! With the look of grim determination that all Williams seemed to share, she walked over to her desk and lost herself in the beauty of numbers and the poetic structure of physics equations. Quantum Mechanics was like a balm for her tortured soul.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 647