At first, Helena lay in a coma for several weeks. Once she came out of the coma, it was a while before she was able to speak at all and she had a hard time focusing on any one thing. After months of physiotherapy and speech coaching, Dr. Lenard proudly announced that she could go home, providing she would still be getting all the help she needed.
“Don’t forget, you can always call me if you need any help or if you have any questions. She is still very young, so there is much hope; but as I said, you can call us.”
“Thank you, Dr. Lenard,” Mark, Mother Zanton, and Father Zanton were all saying at the same time.
Once at home, Helena was able to relax. She was visibly relieved that she was home. And as expected, her father was always there for her. The two of them had been a team, avoiding all the commotions around the house for as long as anyone could remember. They were both peacemakers and were not fond of confrontations.
Helena never fully recovered from the stroke. Overall, she managed to regain some strength. Her left leg basically just dragged along, and her left eye was weak. The left side of her face, especially her mouth, drooped, and her left arm kept going into spasms every few minutes. Much depended on her state of mind and her surroundings. Whenever she got upset, her arm showed stress. Considering everything, she really handled herself well and with dignity.
As for David, he just couldn’t handle such awkward and emotional situations. He backed off quickly and soon started looking elsewhere, as expected. Not that he hadn’t been looking before.
This pretty well finished Helena. She was left with a broken heart, an impaired body, a convulsing arm, a dragging leg, and very little will to live.
“I don’t wish to see David ever again,” she told them, her speech still slow. It would suggest that she had known all along what was happening behind her back, but it was just too hard to admit it.
“Helena, I am very proud of you. I can’t imagine what you are really going through but I have an idea that it is terribly hard. We are all willing to help; just say the word.” Monika was being there for her.
“Monika, I don’t think that I can put up with Mother much longer but what am I to do now?” Helena watched her sister, while stating this, and tried to explain. “I had these dreams about getting married and being free while raising my own family. Now I am stuck here.”
“But Mother has been extremely helpful lately in providing for your needs.”
“Yes, Monika, and I don’t wish to sound ungrateful. But think: what will happen when Mark marries Lucille?” Helena dreaded to even think about it.
“Oh, you mean the hysterics and all?”
“Yes. She is smothering me while bossing me, but that is not what she will do to Lucille, and you know it.” Helena was getting upset and her arm wouldn’t stop twitching. She was shaking all over.
“Don’t you worry about Mark and Lucille. Not only will Mark defend Lucille, but Father is still in charge, here. He will defend you both if necessary. Take my word for it.”
“You know how it goes. As soon as Magda shows up, the two will pair up and cause trouble as always.” Magda was, as usual, too self-centred to worry about her crippled sister. This was not happening to her family — or so she pretended.
“Helena, you have two choices: One, you can feel sorry for yourself; or two, you can get right into therapy and get better. Take your choice.” Monika meant it and had had a talk with her parents about it.
Helena was a Zanton and she must overcome this setback in her life.
They all pitched in and encouraged her not to quit. She went through extensive therapy and managed quite well. She also co-operated with doctors’ orders and medication. They then prepared everything that was necessary in and around the house that was needed to accommodate her in order to get her on her feet and help her get around, no matter how hard it was.
“It has taken me a long time to come to this,” Helena bragged. She was proud of herself and grateful to the others for helping her gain some confidence and finally some good results. She had proved that she could do this and overcome the worst obstacles.
“You truly are a Zanton,” Father Zanton said proudly.
As for David, it was meant to be. Years later, she was able to talk about him and even managed to say, “I may not have a perfect life but at least I didn’t get stuck with a loser.”
Two marriages later, he drowned himself in booze. The good thing was, he never fathered any children and made them victims of his failures.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“The House”
“THE HOUSE” SAT PROUDLY AT THE END OF THE VILLAGE — it gave an impression of a watchful eye. The history of the Zanton family presented itself by the very look of the farmhouse. In America, this would have been called a plantation and this one would be the “Hops Plantation.”
However, everyone that knew the Zantons referred to the place as “The House.” It stood very calm, composed, confident, and above all, very interesting. Its setting, geographically speaking, couldn’t have been nicer. A long, winding driveway worked its way toward the house, preventing anyone from seeing the house from the road. Once the house came into view, you saw how it almost demanded privacy. The front double-door entrance greeted you and invited you into its foyer, where there was a very unusual floor consisting of wall brick slabs. They had been refinished into a smooth finish and carefully placed side by side. These same bricks had once been made at the Zantons’ own factory. From there, one door to the left led into the living/dining room, another straight into the kitchen, the next one to the upper level, and the last to a bedroom.
Off the living room, there was another bedroom. Off the kitchen toward the back was another door leading into a small hallway, and from there, one to a bathroom, another to a pantry, and the third to go outside to the back of the house. On the second level were three other bedrooms, one of which was the size of nearly half the house. The kitchen was large, and that was where everything happened. The happiest of times, the serious planning . . . and when tragedy struck, the kitchen took it all in stride. A large table provided for serving everyday meals; for the formal dinners, parties as well as weddings, the living/dining room was able to accommodate a large number of people.
The house was built in the mid-eighteen hundreds. Originally, two thirds of the house was built of stone, and the walls were two feet thick. The other end of the house was built of logs. That end of the house was a typical log cabin style. However, there was nothing cabin-like inside.
At the front of the house stood a large tree, and the tiny flowers on it were used to make good tea. Another smaller version of it stood at the south end of the house. Under the big tree was a stone table surrounded by wooden benches. Right beside that was the water well, and for the longest time that well was the main source for the people as well as the animals belonging to the house. It took four people to reach around the trunk of the tree to hug it.
There were several other different structures surrounding the house — one, where the hops were being processed; another for hay and the storage for wagons; one for wood; presses; the servants’ quarters, under which was the cellar; then the mill; and the largest of them all, the barn. That is where all the animals lived. The servants’ quarters were especially crowded during the harvesting of the hops, when extra help had to be brought in to finish the job within a certain time frame.
Orchards surrounded the house — walnut, cherry, plum, apple, and pear trees. The driveway wound its way from the road and past the structures right into and through the orchards. Some of the property surrounded the house, but a lot of the land was elsewhere in various places. The vineyard was surrounded by some of the forest owned by the family but the bulk of the forest was far away. There were a few family members who never had the chance — or never wanted — to see it all. Most of the hops fields remained near the house and that made it easy to devel
op a good product.
After the First World War, things took a slow turn. The wealth that surrounded them slowly started to deteriorate right in front of their eyes.
Father Zanton implored his son, “Mark, I beg of you, you must get married. Things are not as they used to be, and the farm needs young energy to prosper — ”
“You know what is going to happen if Lucille and I get married.”
“Your mother and I are getting old, and there will have to be some compromising around here.”
“Lucille and I are more than willing to get married and start a life together.” Mark was happy.
“How much longer can she oppose everything and everyone? The wealth is all around us, only it is invested in the land itself.” Father was trying to explain the potential but, at the same time, he was trying to say: we don’t have much cash.
Helena was now a good distraction for Mother, and Monika helped wherever she could. As for Magda, everyone dreaded her visits, including her mother.
“Martin, you know as well as I do that Helena has to be provided for. You and I will not be around much longer, so provisions have to be made for Helena’s future.”
“Yes, I am well aware of that, and so is Mark.”
“That does not mean that girl Lucille will agree with you and me,” Mother snapped.
Just as this conversation was taking place, Mark and Lucille walked in.
“If you don’t mind, we are having a very private conversation, here!” Mother yelled.
“Mrs. Zanton, I understand your reluctance about me walking in on you, but you certainly can’t expect Mark to knock before he enters; or do you?” Lucille protested quietly.
“Mark is not the one I am talking about.”
Mark said, “Mother, please don’t start again. We have been through this many times before, and you have agreed that Lucille is allowed to come to our home. With all due respect, Lucille and I will be getting married with or without your permission. And I mean soon. So if there is anything that we should know, or will be involved in, you might as well share it with us.” Mark could feel a huge headache coming on.
“I am sorry about barging in,” Lucille said, to smooth things for the moment. And Mother just sniffed.
“The plan here is to get Helena into her own quarters in one part of the house so she will have some privacy. At the same time, if she so desires, she can join us for meals or anything else,” Father replied.
However, since Mother had never known much about hard work, settling Helena in and making her comfortable turned out to be too much for her. Mother was by now suffering from ill health.
“Mother is in bad shape, I’m afraid,” were Mark’s first words as he entered Lucille’s house. “She is either acting again, or this could be the real thing. She doesn’t look good. All the running around for Helena has taken a toll on her. This is what she wanted to do, no matter what. I give her credit for that, even if she complains a lot.”
In the meantime, Father Zanton was trying to reason with his wife: “My dear, you must slow down. You are not used to doing so much and all at once,” her husband warned. The rush with which things were being done was totally unnecessary, but Mother thought that if things didn’t get done immediately, they wouldn’t get done her way — or maybe not at all.
“I am not going to have Lucille taking care of my daughter when I can do it myself.”
“Does that mean you are finally ready to let her into our home?” Father inquired.
“You obviously can’t control your own son, so what else can I expect?” she spat out. “Just don’t think that the girls will be happy about her being here. She is not one of us, and you know it!” Now she cried less for Martin and more for Helena and probably for herself. She managed to spend a great deal of money, but money was not as readily available as one might have thought, regardless of the wealth that surrounded them.
The financial ruin that was about to strike coincided with Mother’s becoming gravely ill.
“I don’t want your mother to know what our financial situation is right now,” Father Zanton warned his son. “Your mother must have sensed this and pushed herself too hard.”
In November 1923, Veronika Zanton passed away. The funeral took place the way that she would have wanted and everyone knew that Father Zanton would abide by her wishes.
“The House” had lost its icon who had so ferociously ruled, dressed, possessed, loved, and defended it for such a long time. Although it was Father Zanton who was born in this house, you would never know it, and would think that it was she who had been born there. She ruled as only a monarch would and only she was always right.
“Monika, should you be at a funeral in your condition?” some people inquired.
“I can’t miss out on this funeral. Mother would haunt me for the rest of my life, and you know it.”
Yes, she was well known in the community, and they knew that Monika was right about that.
Magda put in a brief appearance at her mother’s funeral. She had not associated much with the family since she married. She either was, or pretended to be, rich and behaved accordingly. Magda had to prove that she was accustomed to living in comfort and wealth. Mama’s girl through and through. No other mother and daughter could have been more alike.
“Father, what are we going to do about money?” Mark was getting more and more worried.
“I know, son, we had enough financial problems before your mother’s funeral, but you know that I could not have deprived your mother by not giving her a nice funeral.”
“I know that and I wouldn’t expect anything less from you. However, we must do something to try and save us from financial ruin.” He hated to do this to his father, but something had to be done, and soon.
“First of all, stop chasing Lucille around and show her proper respect by bringing her to the house and marrying her.”
“You know that this is not the time to have a wedding at the house. First of all, we can’t afford it; and second, it is too soon after Mother’s passing.” Mark was overwhelmed at his father’s request.
Helena added her opinion, “Don’t even think of getting married so soon after the funeral.”
“Six months have passed. You all know how much I loved your mother. In fact, I still love her, but there are things that can’t wait, and your brother has my blessing to get married whenever he wishes.”
“What is Magda going to say about that?” Helena was grasping at straws.
“Magda has never cared about any of you, and for that matter, she couldn’t care less about our situation here and now. If you must know, I am still in charge here!” Father made that very clear.
Mark could hardly wait to tell Lucille what had just taken place at the house. “Father and I are the only ones who know about our finances.”
“I know that, Mark, but shouldn’t the others know what the situation is and see things from another perspective?” Lucille was trying to be fair to the others. “Besides, we can’t afford to get married right now anyway. You just get things at home in order and only then will we talk about the wedding.”
“Do you wish to have an elaborate wedding?”
“I wish just the opposite. As you know, Mira had a very low-key wedding, and I decided at that time that I would like to have the same — if you don’t mind.”
“So then why can’t we get married now? We have Father’s blessing, as well as Monika’s. I know that Helena will come around to our side eventually. She is a good person.”
“What about Magda?”
“What about her?”
“You know what I mean!”
“What about your family? Do you expect any resistance there?” Mark teased.
“No . . . I can’t wait to see Mira and tell her all about the latest developments about us getting married. Both Mira and Ivan will be happy f
or us. However, you have not asked me properly.”
“All in good time, my dear!” Then he chuckled.
The hired help were all asking Mark when he was going to get married. Everyone expected it to be soon, but no one knew when. Whenever Lucille came to the house, the women came right out and asked her about it. But she usually gave them a smile and said, “You will have to ask Mark about that.” That seemed to settle it for a while, but not for long. She knew that she was very welcome as far as they were concerned. She always felt that they would welcome her when the time came.
“Father, are you all right?” Helena was looking at her father and wondering what was worrying him so much lately; or was he missing Mother so much?
“Yes, Helena, I am just fine. I have some things on my mind and it is nothing that you should be worried about. Mark and I have some good farming to get into for all of us. Too much time has been spent on delays so now we have to get serious and get going. So don’t you worry yourself about me.”
That brought relief to Helena. She and Father had always been close.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Mill
THE FLOUR MILL HAD BEEN IN THE FAMILY for generations. It was referred to as the Village Mill.
“Martin, how long have you folks had the Mill?” Stan inquired.
“Oh, the mill goes back to my father. He left it to me with the rest of the problems, as you can see. I have to admit, I quite like interacting with the people in this area. It gives me contact with local folks, and it brings in money, which is always a good thing.”
“Yes, but this is not the only mill in the area, is it?”
“For a radius of ten kilometres, this is the only one.”
“You are more than just the guy who provides these folks with good flour. I hear it from people when they say: ‘Go ask Martin Zanton, he should be able to give you advice.’ ”
“What do you mean by that?” Father Zanton was curious by now.
“I remember when I first came to look for work at the sandpit and I was asking around the village about it. People told me to ask you how to go about getting a job there.”
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