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Faith was determined to make it clear to her aunt that she had not been superseded by the ‘new’ family.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 attack 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 incorporating 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.”
He laughed again. “Good! I was not looking forward to that. My experience has been similar.
Please think about the future, my darling, and let me know what you want me to do so that we can be together for longer than one night at a time.”
For Vilma, there was one way to accomplish this without too much delay. The February week in Jamaica was fast approaching. The island had escaped the worst of the tornadoes of the early part of the fall season.
She and Andy could go there as a couple and occupy one of the cottages. It would be like a proper honeymoon; something they really needed to cement their relationship.
She could rent out the remaining cottage and that would pay for their holiday. She had an idea to solve two problems in one by finding rental candidates from an unusual source; a source that would provide compatible occupants with much in common with Vilma.
She stopped abruptly.
She was constructing in her head, a vast and complex future for them without including Andy in these decisions. She must not do this. It was demoralizing for him to be presenting with a fait accompli.
She had years of planning for herself. She must not start out by putting him in an inferior position.
He had asked for her input. The discussion would start from that point and she would be careful to go slowly and resist overwhelming him with her extensive ideas. This was the way she must proceed in future if this relationship was to be successful.