by Ruth Hay
Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, a shadow blocked the light for a moment and someone knocked on the door.
Who could this be on a Sunday? Perhaps it was Dennis or Louise. Someone may have left something behind last night at the barbecue.
Hilary was not dressed for company but she could hardly turn away now. She opened the door and gasped in shock.
“Desmond! What are you doing here? Did I miss your call? I was out last evening.”
“Now, mother, surely your only son does not need to wait for an invitation to visit. I was keen to see this Harmony House for myself and I must say it’s quite impressive from the outside. May I come in?”
Hilary was suddenly alarmed by seeing the small case Desmond held in his hand. Was he intending to stay?
At the same moment she remembered Faith was in the guest suite a mere few feet from where they were standing. Desmond must not know about Faith. He would assume, if his mother could afford to take in a free lodger she must have sufficient finances to allow him the money she had refused to give to him.
Her mind cleared as the adrenaline rushed through her.
“This is a surprise, Desmond. Come through here and we’ll have a chat.”
She conducted him into the winter dining room and told him to relax while she fetched some coffee from the kitchen. Closing the dining room door firmly behind her, she sped along the hall to Mavis’s room and barged in without knocking.
“Mavis! There’s an emergency! Desmond has just arrived unexpectedly and he will want to stay the night. Can you get Faith out of there before he sees her? I will keep him occupied in the dining room.
Take her up to my room and make sure she keeps quiet. I daren’t leave him alone for long. Ask one of the others to bring us coffee.”
Mavis had rarely, if ever, seen her friend in such a panic. She went at once to the guest room and entered quietly while Hilary returned to her son.
Faith was sitting up in the bed wrapped in bedclothes and studying her phone with earphones on her head. She started when Mavis touched her.
“What the ……….!” What are you doing here?”
“Sh! Unplug. I need you to follow me at once. I’ll explain later. Keep quiet for now. It’s important.”
If Faith had not developed some trust in this lady already it could not have worked out so easily. She simply did as she was told and soon arrived in Hilary’s huge tower room dragging her phone and earbuds.
“You’ll be sleeping here for a night or two. Don’t worry. Your stuff will come here as soon as I can arrange it.”
Mavis exited, leaving Faith gazing around her with an open mouth and some concerns about the mental state of the inhabitants of this weird house.
Mavis’s next stop was in the kitchen where she found Jannice.
“Thank God! Jannice I just moved Faith to Hilary’s room. I don’t have time to explain but it’s an emergency. Could you please remove from the guest room any evidence that Faith was there?
Take her things up to Hilary’s. I will be in the dining room with Hilary and her son Desmond. We’ll keep him there as long as possible. Can you do it?”
“Surely I can do that for you, Mavis. Leave it to me.”
* * *
Hilary was doing her best to concentrate on Desmond’s conversation. Her mind was reeling with the potential disaster that was being prevented, hopefully, outside the dining room door.
“….. so you see my situation, Mums. You know the high cost of living in Toronto. I can’t afford a car. I took the train here today.”
“Perhaps things would be easier for you, dear, if you moved to a less expensive apartment and saved money instead of spending all the time. Your father and I were savers all our lives. This co-housing project is my way of guaranteeing a comfortable old age. You will not have to worry about looking after me, Desmond. I have taken that responsibility away from you. Years from now you will inherit what remains of my investment. It is what your father wanted for me. He expected you to fend for yourself as we had done.”
“But mother!................”
Before he could protest further, Mavis arrived with a tray and diverted Desmond from his response.
“How good to see you Desmond! How long has it been? You do look well. Sorry I took such a time to make coffee. I was chatting to Jannice in the kitchen. You must meet her and all the Harmony House partners. We’ll take you on a tour once you have had your coffee.”
She set down the tray and exchanged a look with Hilary that assured her all was in hand.
The aimless chatter continued while across the hall Jannice was finding out how much mess a teenager could make of a bedroom in only one night.
Chapter 17
The sooner I can escape from this madhouse the better! What is going on here? Do they think I am a pawn on some chess board or what? And just what is this room like? It’s another whole house. Mom and me lived in flats smaller than this. There’s a washroom and a huge closet. Wait! The bed is a queen or king size but there’s no way I am sharing it with that tall one. I’m getting out of here now!
She reached the door and was about to open it when Hilary appeared. She had left Desmond in the safe hands of Mavis who was taking him on a tour of the house while his mother supposedly changed her clothes.
“Good. There you are Faith. Sorry about all the confusion. I’ll try to explain.”
“Don’t bother! I am out of here right now. This place is no good for me and I am not a package to be thrown around every five minutes to suit you.”
“I see you are upset Faith, but you need to listen to me. Come and sit on the sofa. This is a large pull-out bed and you will sleep here tonight, possibly for two nights, before returning to the guest room.”
Faith was surprised enough to follow along temporarily. The tall woman had dropped the ‘nice’ manner and now sounded like all the principals she had ever dealt with in every school office meeting she had attended with her Mom over the years. She sat down with a thump.
“I know all of this moving about is confusing. Your entire life lately has been disturbing and confusing but you are one of the lucky ones. You have landed in a safe place and your life can start over again here.
You have an aunt who is willing to stand up for you and a group of women who, if you give them a chance, will help you in ways you can’t even imagine as yet. Yes, your arrival was unexpected but plans are being made for you as we speak. I suggest summer school and entry to grade nine in the Fall term.”
“Hold on! I hardly went to school for grade eight. That could never work! Anyway I hate school.”
“My dear young woman, you are in a unique position and I caution you to take everything I am saying very seriously. School is your route to freedom. Yes, it will be hard work but I pledge now to help you through it. Succeed in summer school and you will have a fresh start in high school. Do well in grades nine and ten and options will open up for you. I will undertake to apply for scholarship programs for you and then the world is your oyster. You can go anywhere and study anything that makes your heart beat faster with the pure joy of learning.”
No one had ever spoken to Faith Jeffries about the value of education with such passion. She was stunned that this unknown person had come into her life and without knowing much about her, had taken on some kind of responsibility for her future. Usually, teachers gave up on her very quickly and that way she never had to make the effort to dissuade them from their initial assumptions. She lived under the radar and her bad rep went ahead of her everywhere.
Now she was being held to some kind of standard she had never heard of before. A complete stranger was willing to take her on?
What was happening here?
For a moment her hard exterior shell cracked and she almost wept tears of relief before pulling herself together again. This could be all talk. If she decided to stay around for a while, she could spec out what was real and what was pure bullshit.
Next, the double
doors opened and another female came in carrying a bundle under one arm and Faith’s small battered case in her hand.
“Right! The room’s been cleared. This bundle is the wet towels and the bedding which, I must say, was in quite a mess with crumbs and marks from shoe soles.”
“Thank you, Jannice. Faith will take care of these. She can hang up her clothes in my closet and we will hold on to the washing until later.”
She turned back to Faith, who was still in a state of shock. Here’s another one of these weird women telling me what to do. How many of them are there?
“I have an idea to keep you out of the way while we sort out accommodations. Wait here for a few minutes and I’ll arrange for you and your Aunt Honor to go out for the day.
Remember what we discussed, Faith. It’s very important.”
There was some more conferring between Jannice and Hilary on the way to the basement level. Mavis had conducted Desmond to the kitchen and then via the elevator to see Honor’s area, and out to the garden where he was presently enjoying the view from a lounge chair.
Hilary’s idea was to give her car keys to Honor and send her, with Faith, on a shopping expedition while she distracted her son.
It was accomplished behind Desmond’s back and then Honor and Faith drove off together for the first time.
What all of them had forgotten, was Marble.
Honor decided to show her niece around their part of London. She drove carefully in the unfamiliar car and headed along Southdale Road to Westmount Mall. Faith looked out at the passing scenery and asked no questions until they reached the mall and drove past what was clearly a large high school.
“Is that the nearest school?”
“Yes. It’s Saunders Secondary.”
Faith then looked to her right and saw how close by the mall was. That’s convenient!
“I think we should have some lunch before we do the grocery shopping. What do you like to eat?”
“Burgers are good. There’s a Five Boys place right here.”
“Fine! Let’s do that.”
It was so unreal for Honor to be taking a niece out for a burger. Something she never could have imagined just a couple of days before. She watched as Faith chose a huge selection of condiments for her burger and then tackled it with gusto. Her own mini version lay untouched on her plate.
“I imagine you and your Mom ate burgers together once in a while.”
Faith stopped slurping a giant drink and laughed, spewing liquid all over the table.
“You have no idea how we lived, do you? We couldn’t afford to eat out. Mom sometimes shoplifted food and she taught me how to do it. The stores often let kids go if they think it’s the first time and the kids cry a bit. She showed me how to get free rides on a bus and we often skipped out on rent before it was overdue. Fun times!”
The sarcastic tone of Faith’s confessions hit Honor in the pit of her stomach. How would she ever make up for the years of neglect? Guilt overwhelmed her. She should have been there for her twin sister and for this unknown niece.
“I am so sorry to hear this, Faith. I wish it had been different for all of us but that’s over now.
When you’ve finished eating we’ll do some grocery shopping. There’s a Loblaw not far from here. Take a look around their clothes section. See if there’s anything you need. I’ll do the kitchen shopping list from Eve. She’s our Kitchen Queen. I hear she’s doing a pork roast tonight.”
They separated inside the store with a cart each and went off in two different directions.
When Honor was ready for the checkout lanes she could not find her niece anywhere.
Lord, I hope she hasn’t skipped out on me!
Just when the feeling of panic was growing out of control, she spotted Faith rolling toward her with a full cart and a broad smile that transformed her face.
“This is a good store but very expensive. I searched every aisle for bargains and I found a lot for you guys. I hope it’s OK that I picked some things for me like underwear and a pair of jeans, and those slip on sandals. They were all cheap. You can check if you want?”
Honor had no intention of checking her purchases. Just seeing the genuine happy smile on the girl’s face was worth any amount of money. Neither did she enquire if anything had been concealed, although the thought occurred to her. Old habits lie deep, as they say.
“You know, Aunt Honor, I could help with shopping. We passed some much cheaper stores on the way here today. I could save you money on the grocery bill.”
She said ‘Aunt’! She called me by name! Hold it together. Don’t cry now.
This sounded as if Faith was thinking of the future; a future with all of them at Harmony House.
Honor Pace sent a prayer aloft. Please let the others be as generous with Faith as they have been with me. Let me have a chance to make up for my mistakes.
Sunday dinner in the kitchen included Desmond Dempster, who sat to his mother’s right. A seventh chair was brought from the winter dining room for him.
Vilma and the dogs had returned from their expedition while Desmond set off on a walk around the crescent to check out the property values. Honor and Faith arrived shortly thereafter and managed to unload their purchases before Desmond returned. By then, Hilary had fetched his case and made up the bed in the guest suite. She resisted his enquiries about the size of the other bedrooms so he would not question the extravagance of her own and Mavis’s huge tower rooms, in one of which Faith was currently trying on her new clothes and admiring herself in the washroom mirror. She preferred to let him think the guest suite was similar in size to all the other bedrooms. She knew how persistent her son could be in the pursuit of money. It would not take much for him to make erroneous calculations about his mother’s finances.
Seven sat down to eat. Faith was happy with a generous portion of meat and vegetables and two desserts conveyed on a tray to Hilary’s room. She planned to eat all of it. It seemed an age since she had eaten that burger.
Conversation, other than compliments to the chef, was sporadic. Desmond was assessing the financial capabilities of the co-housing group, particularly those he had not previously met on his house tour. He noted any mention of work issues. Surely not all the women were retired like his mother and her friend Mavis? The pudgy one with red hair seemed to be an independent business person and the Irish-sounding one was doing some job training online. They were all friendly enough on the surface. He wondered what their reaction would be if he were to take up a place in the house as a way to blackmail his mother into giving up some cash to him. Her comments earlier in the day had made him feel a trifle guilty, but not enough to dampen down his worries about his tenuous life in Toronto.
He intended to hang on here for a few days to see how long his mother could hold out without breaking down and paying him to leave.
By the end of the meal, Desmond was yawning. It had been a long day but worth the travel and the inconvenience. He was accumulating information to use against his mother. He excused himself and went off to bed, leaving the women with a few minutes to catch up on the day’s happenings while they cleared up in the kitchen.
Vilma, who had been absent during most of the machinations, was astonished.
“So, he did not see Faith at all? That was a good trick. You two women are master spies, I think. I can’t imagine what you will do to surpass this tomorrow? I suggest you all get off to bed early to prepare.”
There was nervous laughter at Vilma’s remarks but a sense, also, that another difficult day was soon to dawn.
Vilma was on her way down the stairs with the dogs for their morning run when an ear-splitting yell broke the silence just as she reached the guest suite.
A male voice was calling, “Get out! Get off me! Get away!”
The dogs reacted by barking wildly. Vilma tied their lead onto the post at the bottom of the stairs and, fearing something ferocious was attacking their guest, she entered the door to find Desmond huddled in bed with
poor Marble sitting at the end of the bed paralysed with fright and with every hair standing on end.
“Oh, please! It’s just a little cat. Your screaming will wake the whole house.”
“What are you doing in here? Take this animal out. I am highly allergic to cats and somewhat less so to dogs. Is that dogs I hear? Is this place a zoo? Get out!”
She looked disdainfully at Desmond, now clutching the bedclothes to his chest. Marble had exited by the open door as fast as she could go. Vilma would follow and take her dogs outside as she had planned before the racket started. She would not be in any rush to return while that objectionable man was in residence.
Hilary arrived shortly after Vilma’s departure. She was alarmed when she saw Desmond’s distress.
“But, mother, you did not tell me about the animals living here. You know how allergic I am.”
“I am sorry, Desmond. Marble often sleeps under Mavis’s piano over there. She’s a quiet little thing and no one noticed her. She must have been desperate to get out when she jumped up onto the bed.”
“Well, you know what this means? I can’t possibly stay on here. I will be lucky to escape a very bad allergic attack that sends me to hospital. Please arrange for a hotel room for tonight. If I am well enough I will leave for Toronto on the morning train. If not, you will hear from me from hospital. “