Chapter Forty Nine

Hi Matti, I was hoping you would answer the phone.”

“Good, Lord, it’s my sweet Jenny, the miracle girl! I best be sitting down, I feel all the blood rushing to my head and there’s none left for my feet!”

“Oh, Matti… so, how are you doing? I sure miss you.”

“I miss you, too, Jen. Every morning as soon as I get out of bed I get on my knees and thank Jesus for giving you back your life and restoring your health. It be just as big a miracle as He did for His beloved Lazarus. I just knew He was going to do it!”

“Well, I not only got my health back, but my house, too, Matti. Henry gave it back to me. Everything is turning out perfectly… well, almost.”

“I know what you are leading up to, Jen. That former husband of yours is feeling so sorry for divorcing you. He’d give anything to have you back on the estate.”

“I could never hide anything from you, Matti. James has asked me to come back, but I just can’t do that anymore.”

“That’s what I keep telling him. You be a free woman now and I keep telling him that another man be callin’ at your door. But he won’t accept that and keeps asking me to convince you to come back.”

“Oh, Matti, I don’t want you to get involved in this—”

“I tell him that over and over; that it’s your life and best thing is to just let you be.”

“What I meant was that I don’t want to worry you or make you upset over our affairs.”

“Jen, you be family to me and when someting ain’t right then I want to be there for you and help anyway I can.”

“Thank you, Matti. And I do feel like you’re family and free to discuss things with you… has J.J. been to the estate lately?” Jenny wanted to know.

“Charles say he be here when I was in Regina with you. The boy and his daddy had a big fight. I ‘spect part was over you. Mr. Hamilton wants his son to make up with you.”

“That’s so good of James, but I still haven’t heard from J.J. and apparently he and Nora have separated.”

“Yes, Jim be tellin’ us at the supper table the other night. He’s very upset about that.”

The phone grew silent for the longest moment and then Jenny dared to ask, “When you said Jim just now, Matti, did you mean… Mr. Hamilton… James?”

“Sorry, Jen, I should be explaining; a few things been happenin’ around here. You might want to sit down, Jen, this be hard to believe.”

“Tell me, Matti, I’m on the edge of my seat.”

“Well, first of all, we all be having dinner together, with Mr. Hamilton… me, Thomas and his wife, Charles, and sometimes the new gardener, Carlos, joins us as well.”

“Just wait a moment, Matti, you said so much I can’t take it all in. You said, all of you are having dinner together?”

“Yes, Ma’am! Mr. Hamilton decided he wants company when he eats! And another t’ing, Jen, he gave me one of the guest houses all my own, and Thomas and his wife the other, and he’s having the storage house renovated for Charles. It’s so beautiful near the lake, I don’t want to come to work anymore. We each have the lease to the house until we die or decide to leave—”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing, Matti. James actually gave you and other staff guest houses on the estate?”

“Yes, Jen. We all thought, like you, the man be fooling with us, but he’s dead serious. I have to say, Jen, that man be changing some. He be a different man from the time you were here on the estate, that for sure. In many ways it be a bigger miracle than yours!”

“And you are all having dinner together…?”

“Yes, just like we be one big happy family. He says I should call him Jim or James and he leave it up to me to decide, or I can call him both. First time I calls him Jim, I braced myself for the biggest scolding since I broke my momma’s tea pot that belonged to her momma. But, no sir, he be as calm as a low cloud driftin’ slowly in the sky on a warm summer evening. Why, we be talking lately like we be the best of friends. I be more surprised than you! Never in all my days, would I have imagined sittin’ at the table with the master of the house like he was one of my kin… that’s for sure!”

Jenny was flabbergasted. She didn’t know what to say. Perhaps James really was changing and not just putting on a front to entice her to come back.

“And, did you say Carlos is now at the estate… the one that used to work at my parents’ residence?”

“The very same one. How Carlos goes on and on about how much he loved it when you were at home on your momma and daddy’s estate. He claims you were just like a butterfly. I think the master hired him because he knows how much you like Carlos. It may be a strategy of his… his mind be going all the time, Jen… but in a good way… know what I’m saying?”

Jenny chuckled, “Yes, I know what you’re saying.” Jenny paused briefly to catch her breath. If only James had done that when they were married, she would doubt very much she would be here in Regina. This was all so hard to believe. Perhaps James was already working on the concern she had about her son, too.

“Part of why I called was to talk to you, Matti, but also to tell you that I am thinking of coming to Ottawa towards the end of August. I would like to see Nora, and also visit with my grandson. Hopefully I will see J.J. as well. I am going to ask Henry to come with me and so we would plan to stay in one of the hotels nearest the estate.”

“When Mr. Ham… I mean, James, hears about this he will insist on you staying on the estate… I don’t know about Henry, if he be welcome here or not. I think James might just be determined enough to buy all the hotels in Ottawa and say, ‘no vacancy’ just to make sure you come here.”

Jenny chuckled, “Oh, Matti…”

“Maybe talk to Henry and see if it’s okay for you to stay here.”

“I’m not sure if that will work. It’s all still in the planning stages and I will let you know what I decide. I am seeing Henry tomorrow; I may discuss it with him then.”

“You give him one big hug from Matilda. I could see all the way through you when you be living on the estate that Henry was the man in your dreams. When I saw the two of you kiss when you lay dying on your death bed, I just knew there was a love between you that heaven made. Why, when your lips touched his, there was such an aura around you both. It was a light from Jesus himself, I just knew it, Jen. I even heard a choir of angels sing in the room. I knew it right then and there that you would be healed. There ain’t not’ing, no sir, not’ing that a love like that can’t do. I knew Jesus be healing you and He did.”

Before Jenny could respond, Matti rambled on. “As much as I like the way the master be changing and wanting you back at the estate, you make up your own mind, Jenny. You were alone for years and years; I saw how lonely you were so many times, and how that young boy of yours be taken away from you. Your heart broke in so many places, I can’t even count, Jen. No, you follow your heart…”

If only it were that easy, thought Jenny.

“Yes, I am very fond of Henry. I am so excited; he is taking me to his home in the valley tomorrow. I can’t wait to see it, especially his studio where he paints!”

“You mentioned before he be an artist. I done forgot. Why, you be the perfect model for him, Jen. I ‘spect he pick up the brush straight away as soon as he have you in the studio!’

Jenny chuckled. “He’s more of a landscape painter, Matti. I’m sure he’s not interested in painting me.”

“Don’t you be selling yourself short. One look at you and any man be wanting to paint you in his mind. Best you keep them clothes on!”

Jenny laughed again and then quickly changed the subject. “Camilla, Henry and I are thinking of flying to Calgary to meet Peter and his family.”

“You mean the man that fathered Camilla?”

“That’s right, Matti. Apparently he was very ill with cancer and died and miraculously, he too, was brought back to life and fully restored. He called Henry a couple of weeks ago and wants very much to see me and Camilla and make up for what he did.”

“Praise the Lord, Jen. This be one big healing party. I just know you be forgiving that man. I recall the look of sorrow in his eyes when I met him at Father Engelmann’s anniversary. He recognized his daughter for sure and I could feel the ache in his heart. At the time I didn’t ‘spect that he be Camilla’s daddy. Well, if that don’t take the cake. My, my, how the good Lord works… my, my… and that ain’t the end of this story, that’s for sure…”

“What do you mean, Matti?”

“Last Sunday evenin’, my sister, Coreena, called to let me know she and that man of hers be flying to Regina to see his momma. She said she and Eddy may also go visit his friend, Peter, in Calgary. She told me that Eddy was with the boys that night when they took you to the park. My heart nearly fell open, Jen, when she told me that. I knew Eddy be Peter’s friend, but didn’t know he was in with the boys that done you wrong that evenin’.”

“I recall the first time you told me that your sister met this man from Regina whose name was Eddy. When you described how short he was and wore his hair in a high wave, I suspected it was Eddy, but wasn’t sure. I do know now, however, that it was the same Eddy. In fact, Matti, Henry called me an hour ago to tell me that Eddy and his wife are in Regina right now and that we are planning to have dinner together. Henry also said that Eddy wants to talk to me and apologize for what they did that night.”

“I be praising the Lord from now until kingdom come. And here I thought the Lord be out fishing and not tendin’ to business and not healing you sooner. Why He be laying back on one of them fluffy clouds and thinking how on earth He be bringing this entire situation together! Whoopee! Now ain’t that some creative thinking!”

“It truly is amazing how all of our lives are connected and all working together for the good!”

“Couldn’t have said it any better myself, Jen. That’s the way God works! He causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him, to those who are called accordin’ to His purposes. Yes, sir, this all be one big healin’ party! Whoopee!”