by Ruth Hay
“Hi guys! Hi doggies! Hope you have space for this lot. Pauline and Mason have been very generous to me with early birthday presents. They want to talk to you, Vilma. Go on inside!
Andy, could Mel meet the dogs now?”
Vilma extricated herself from the car and stretched, pulling her clothes straight along with her facial expression. What had Faith got up to now?
The couple were alone in the family room and they started in at once.
“We know you are anxious to get home. We won’t delay you. Pauline and I just want you to know we had a great time with Faith. She is so good with Mel, and the little ones love her like a big sister. Could you please convey this message to her Aunt Honor? We hope to see Faith again soon. We will call Honor to talk about how to do it but we feel it’s important to keep up the contact.”
Vilma breathed out. She had held her breath expecting trouble. This was good news. Today was golden. Nothing could spoil it.
She thanked Mason and Pauline and assured them she would be their advocate.
In mere minutes they were back on the road with Vilma driving and Faith chattering on about all they had seen and done in two days.
“There’s a lot to do In Kingston and it’s so neat down by the water. You can take cruises and stuff to the islands. Mason wants to buy a small boat one day. Pauline has a brother with a boat and a cottage. They said I can go there next summer.”
It was an hour on the way before she thought to ask about the dog show and Andy was glad to fill her in on this with frequent additions from Vilma’s perspective.
Faith was impressed. She was also aware that the atmosphere in the car was utterly different from before. She could not quite identify the difference but she was sure something other than a big trophy win had happened near Cornwall, Ontario.
Once on the other side of Toronto and heading for London, they stopped for a break and a change of driver at a service centre.
The dogs had a run, Faith stocked up on food and she took the chance to ask Vilma a question.
“Okay. What gives? You two are not talking much but there’s something going on.”
“Uh, what do you mean?”
“Well, you let me burble on about school stuff all the way to Kingston but I could feel a tense atmosphere in the car. Now you let me burble on about Mel and the Jeffries’ all the way home again, but the atmosphere now is electric between you. Did you guys have a giant fight or something?”
“Not exactly, Faith. Look, I need you to be very grown-up about this. Things have changed between Andy and me. We need time and space to work it out. Please say nothing to anyone yet.”
“Sure, if that’s what you want. I can keep a secret.”
“Thank you.”
Faith smiled, but it was a deceptive smile. She could promise all the promises Vilma Smith wanted.
Faith knew these two were not going to be able to conceal their changed feelings for long.
Just then, Andy came racing in from the parking lot with the dogs, saying icy rain had started and the road surface would get slippery very fast.
It was time to go.
The two hours it took to drive back to London were difficult. Andy drove in steady, pounding, icy rain with darkness descending. Faith comforted the dogs, who were alarmed by the sound of rain on the car roof. Vilma prayed they would arrive safely. She knew Andy must be as tired as she was and the sight of several vehicles sliding off the highway was not in any way comforting to her.
The rain eased on the outskirts of London and they picked up speed for a few miles then slowed again as they reached the icy country roads. Traffic was light. Everyone else was home and dry by now.
The light shining out from the top of the tower at Harmony House was the welcome sign they all longed for.
Faith ran for the house first, with backpack and presents bumping against her legs. Andy set out for the woods, ignoring the rain, as the dogs needed to be free to run for a few minutes. Vilma parked the car in the garage and collected their luggage. There was no way she was going to send Andy Patterson home to that desolate, cold and cheerless shack after a day like this one. There was a good chance the residents of Harmony House were tucked safely in their beds. She would invite Andy to her room for the night and let come what may the next morning.
She held a large umbrella over her head as she slowly struggled with the luggage along the slick path to the side of the house.
Andy arrived with the dogs a minute later. They were all three soaked to the skin and when the dogs shook off the rain, she also was drenched. It was too funny not to laugh at the sight.
Nothing even remotely romantic about this! thought Andy, as he contemplated the long drive back to the farmhouse in his truck, in the dark, alone.
Vilma did not ask; she acted. Faith had left the front door unlocked for them. She pulled Andy inside before he could protest, dried off the dogs’ feet as usual, and then signalled him to follow her. He thought they were heading for a hot drink in the kitchen and stopped short when he realized that was not her destination.
“Wait!” he whispered. “I thought we were going to go slow on this?”
“Andy, dear man, I can’t send you out into the cold again. There’s plenty of room for two here and the dogs will settle down in their familiar cage. I’ll hang your clothes up to dry and you can skip out early or brave the stares tomorrow. Whichever you wish, but tonight you will stay with me.”
He did not need a second invitation. He stepped into Vilma’s lavish, spacious, suite, with a sigh compounded of relief and delight. Now he would see how she lived. Now he would be a part of her memory in this very personal space.
It was more than he expected. It was faster than he imagined. But then, everything had happened very suddenly and they had wasted so much time already. From now on the pace would accelerate and tonight was only the start. By the morning, in familiar circumstances, the magical night in Cornwall would be tested in the clear uncompromising light of day.
He was more than ready for their life together to begin. Vilma was a strong woman. He was sure she could run the gauntlet of her friends’ reactions with confidence and natural grace.
As for his reactions?
Andy Patterson knew he would never be any less than extremely proud to be by her side.
Any time.
Any where.
Chapter 25
Faith was as good as her word and had a very low-key sixteenth birthday at the end of November.
She had saved the presents from the Jeffries’ family and insisted she needed nothing more. Honor gave her a seasonal clothing allowance inside a card which was a gift her niece especially appreciated.
Faith was determined to make it clear to her aunt that she had not been superseded by the ‘new’ family.
“It’s kind of a novelty for me right now, Aunt Honor. It’s as if I went back in time and had a normal family life for a while. It might not last. You are my real family.”
This message was delivered with a supportive hug and Honor was content.
Jolene’s mother held a Sweet Sixteen party at her house, in the finished basement which was large enough to contain the J.J. gang and several others who had joined up after Faith had become the talk of tenth grade for her outspoken campaign against drugs and a second one campaign called, ‘Back off Bullies!’.
This was a new venture for her and another learning experience.
She had never personally had a problem with bullying. Her former schools and foster homes were the proving ground. She learned fast that giving in once to bully tactics was an invitation to endless demeaning behaviour. It started with rude comments about her dirty clothes or hair and commenced rapidly to pushing, stealing and beatings that were planned to show no bruises on any exposed skin.
By the time she was nine, she had a strategy in place. Never let it start. Finish it fast.
Soon her tough demeanour signalled to all comers that she was no pushover. She became immune to att
ack but she could spot an easy target within two days in a new school or foster placement and that was when she began to defend the weaker ones against the bullies. Often she was the one who was dragged to the principal’s office, or social workers’ department, for aggressive behaviour. The victim fled while Faith took the punishment.
It was all a part of her descent into rebel territory.
That was behind her now. Now she had a home with people who cared, extended family in Honor and the Jeffries, a school she liked to attend and friends who admired her guts. Standing up in front of the entire school and ‘telling it like it was’ had earned her respect, recognition amongst the vast throng of grades nine and ten, and more. For her sixteenth birthday, her teachers presented her with an award for Community Service. That was nice, but what was even more significant was the way she fell easily into this kind of work. An idea began to grow that she, Faith Joan Jeffries, could aspire to train for social work and make a difference in the lives of kids who, like she once was, were rejects of the system.
By mid-December, Hilary and Mavis were scrambling to organize a Christmas celebration that seemed to be receding faster than they could chase it.
As soon as they settled on a guest list, another unexpected announcement arrived and changed their tentative plans.
“What are we doing wrong, Mavis?”
“Nothing at all! You must look at this as another measure of our success at Harmony House.”
“How on earth do you reach that conclusion?”
Mavis poured her friend a third cup of tea and moved Marble off the sofa cushions so she could turn more easily to confront Hilary face-to-face.
“Think of it like this:
Jannice is going to the O’Connors’ to renew acquaintance with the lovely young couple who live in her old home. Shortly after this she is off to Quebec City for an important meeting that may well affect her future.
Faith and Honor have accepted an invitation to the Jeffries’ place in Kingston to experience a family Christmas with children, such as Faith has never known. They will stay in a hotel, a first for Faith.
Eve will be in St. Mary’s at the Annual Christmas Market where her art will be on display.
You, Hilary Dempster, have been asked by your son Desmond to share his Christmas Day in his brand new apartment in a downtown highrise, which is something you ought to do.
Now I ask you, which of these amazing events could possibly have occurred without the intervention of all of us here in this home?”
Hilary’s eyebrows reached their zenith. She choked on her tea and by the time she had coughed, wiped her mouth and recovered, she had managed to absorb the lesson Mavis had delivered.
“Goodness! I do see what you are getting at. I was thinking in terms of negative results compared to last year’s wonderful catered Christmas meal. All those lives you mentioned have expanded beyond belief despite some serious difficulties and demands.”
“And don’t forget Thanksgiving! That was a true symbol of all we have done right. The group around our table had expanded rather than contracted and it was a wonderful evening in all respects.”
“Of course it was! I don’t think we can expect two such evenings in the same year. That would be greedy.
So, Mavis, that leaves you, Vilma and Andy, I suppose. What will you do?”
“Ah! That brings up another unexpected development. Remember the torrential rains that started in early November and went on for weeks?”
“Absolutely! We were safe here on high ground but there was flooding in the Thames River valley, at Fanshawe Lake and in other low-lying areas with resulting flooded basements and so on.
Why do you bring that up? I think most of the water damage has been fixed by now.”
“Not completely.”
It was Mavis’s turn to delay. She sipped her tea, which had cooled over the minutes of their conversation, then launched into the disturbing part of her news.
“Vilma came to me the other day when you were doing your volunteer driving. It seems the rising water engulfed Andy’s old farmhouse which was low-lying near a far-off branch of the Thames.”
“Oh no! What about his barn where the training business is set to start?”
“Luckily, that was spared as it is on higher ground with a solid concrete base. Andy thought the house would survive but when the water receded, the damage was extensive. There was only a root cellar below the ground level and that filled with water and dislodged the weakened foundations until the walls began to crack and the house became unsafe for inhabitants.
Vilma tried to conceal her relief from me. You know she never liked the old farmhouse. She says Andy is camping out in the big barn for now but major decisions must be made soon.”
“What bad news for them! Will there be any insurance money to help?”
“Vilma says there should be, eventually, but the company is overwhelmed with applications right now.
Andy has managed to hire a generator so he can cook and have some heat.”
“That doesn’t sound like much fun. Did Vilma suggest Andy moves in with her for now?”
“Not right away. He needs to keep an eye on his equipment. I said he will freeze when the real cold arrives and she replied he would not have a choice by then.”
“So, you can count on those two being here for Christmas? It will be a very small celebration with just three of you.”
“Maybe not.”
“What next? Why am I the last one to hear about all this?”
“It isn’t deliberate, Hilary. You have been busy and some of these plans just developed recently.
Louise and Dennis have asked me to join them on Christmas Day. When they heard what’s been going on over here they were quick to include Vilma and Andy and they wondered if you and Desmond would join them for the evening, if not for the meal itself.”
Hilary’s eyebrows did another dance as she absorbed this news. She was secretly delighted to have an alternative to spending a whole day with her son. Their relationship was somewhat more comfortable since he settled in London, but she feared their conversation would run out after an hour or two and leave a large and obvious gap of silence.
“How kind! I will ask Desmond what he thinks. My feeling is he will accept. He has heard about Dennis and Louise and I believe he is curious about them.”
“Right then! That’s all settled. We will do the decorations as before, but we need not do much more than that this year. I am pleased at the way it has worked out. A quiet time will be welcome. Since the end of summer it has been frantic here with one thing or another.”
Vilma had helped Andy to move the best of his belongings out of the old house before it completely collapsed. There was not much to save. Mostly it consisted of the bright red items she had donated for his comfort. The furniture, such as it was, was in poor shape to start with. Andy’s bed had developed a broken leg on the first occasion when they had tried to share it for a night. The event led to much laughter and a search for books substantial enough to prop up the broken leg.
Vilma made a joke of the whole thing but she was confirmed in her belief that she could never live with Andy in the old house. It was a predicament, until the torrential rains solved the problem.
Temporarily.
The question of where they would live together had not yet been answered. Andy was willing to spend an occasional night at Harmony House although he was very much aware of the presence of so many other women nearby.
Vilma had to proceed carefully so as not to hurt his male pride. She could have provided enough money for a down-payment on a modest house somewhere, but that gesture would have undermined Andy and separated him from his only source of decent earnings with the future dog training business.
She was pinning her hopes on the insurance settlement. With that, and a matching contribution from her own funds, they would, hopefully, have enough to rebuild on a higher elevation, eradicating the old farmhouse and its dire memories and incorporat
ing some of the home comforts she needed.
She thought they might get a grant to use solar technology on the roof to defray costs. The original well was still there to supply their water. London was expanding ever outward from the core and it might not be too long until they could be hooked up to city facilities.
As she made her preliminary plans, she realized there was something of true beauty in the location. The stream with the trees was a haven for wildlife. The higher ground would provide a new house with stunning views over farmland and woods. Andy could build a garden around the new house to help it blend into its surroundings. They could have a garage for her car and a dog run to keep the dogs away from the nearby farmer’s goat herd. The location was certainly private and secluded. They could eventually expand into further premises for dog kennels. There was money to be made in supplying safe and healthy accommodations for animals while their owners went off on holidays.
At this point, she thought of something else entirely.
It was not a new thought. There had been a partial discussion along the lines of formalizing their relationship.
“Would you ever want to leave Harmony House and live with me? I will ask you to marry me, one day, Vilma. You know that.”
The question was whispered while she dozed in his arms in the comfort of her big bed at home. There were two questions being posed, and she had no immediate answer for either of them. Breaking her contract at the house was an unknown, but presumably a possibility. It depended on how she really felt about making a break from the women to whom she had become as close as family.
Breaking her vow to never enter into marriage again was a different proposition entirely.
She adjusted the position of her head so as to look into his beautiful, deep-green eyes.
“Is marriage something you feel we need, Andy?”
“I am mostly concerned about what you may need. This is an uneven yoking in many respects and perhaps the formal arrangement would make it easier for you.”
She laughed. “I don’t care a whit what people think. I had two large, expensive weddings and neither one of them ensured perfect happiness for long. I don’t need to do any of that again. How we feel about each other is a far better predictor of our success than all the trappings of a fancy ceremony.”