“Melbourne for most of the time. Inner city. Geelong for a while in the early years—my first permanent job was there.”

Tilly’s smile slipped slightly. “When you said you lived with a partner,” she started, “… It was somebody you loved?”

Elodie’s image swirling before her, Kate shifted against the veranda pole. “Yes.”

“A woman?”

Tilly knew. She’d always known. She was simply searching for confirmation. “Yeah,” Kate said. “My girlfriend.”

As Tilly averted her eyes, indignation crawled beneath Kate’s skin. Silent, Tilly stared up at the clouds. “Does that bother you?” Kate pressed.

Tilly turned back to her. “That you loved another woman? Why would that bother me?”

Kate hesitated. “I don’t know. You just seem taken aback by an answer you obviously knew was coming.”

Tilly’s gaze locked on hers. “I’m not taken aback. I’ve always known, Kate…that you prefer women.”

“The sisters don’t know. Well, I assume they’ve always had an inkling, but I’ve never told them.”

“Right.”

“It’s always been one of those ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ situations.” She chuckled lightly.

Tilly didn’t laugh. “I’m sorry it has to be that way.”

“It doesn’t have to,” Kate said, “but it is.” She looked out at the backyard.

“Nobody has ever outright asked?” Tilly pressed. “Not even when you had your interview?”

It was surprising that Tilly was so inquisitive, so willing to talk about the one thing that had lived with them in the cottage for a month without ever introducing itself. Kate shook her head.

“And you’re okay with that?” Tilly asked.

It was a loaded question. How simple things would be if it were all just a matter of being a closeted atheist, maintaining a façade to keep the job. It was more complicated than that. Keeping her job was about more than just collecting a hefty paycheck—she loved St. Joan’s and, if she searched herself, she found faith. She believed. Perhaps not with the intensity and devotion Tilly did, but she believed. So the underlying homophobia…it wounded, just enough to leave a mark.

Like every religion, Catholicism certainly had its faults, but Kate adored the sisters of St. Joan’s, their way of life, the wonderful values they imparted on young, impressionable girls. In Kate’s perspective, everything about St. Joan’s was all the good that Catholicism had to offer. Was her sexuality her own business? Yes. If asked, would she lie about who she was? Never. Kate shrugged. “I’m not okay with it, but it is what it is. And at the end of the day, it was my decision to apply. I didn’t have to teach at St. Joan’s—there are public schools, private schools that wouldn’t blink an eye if they knew I was a lesbian. I’m the one who chose to apply to teach at a Catholic school.”

Tilly tilted her head. “So why did you?”

Why had she put herself in that position? “I guess, when it all comes down to it—paycheck and position aside—I knew I’d feel right at home.” She shifted. “Something in my gut told me that it was right for me, that it would make me happy.” She smiled. “And it has.”