by Ruth Hay
Faith woke and stretched and felt quite different. Lighter somehow. It took a second or two until she realized the whole Finding Faith’s Father thing was done and over. She had confessed to her aunt and made promises she had every intention of keeping.
It was a fine bright Saturday morning. She took a few minutes to clean up her room and hang up towels, feeling as if she had more energy to spend now. She would contact Jolene and tell her everything. They would dispose of the burner phone.
Faith was free today and she knew what she was going to do with the time. Her computer studies class journal would be brought up to date and she would write about her experiences before coming to London to provide background for the project. She would also make it clear she had done dangerous things in pursuit of her objective. Mr. Blakely would appreciate that aspect as a warning to others. For the first time she was not ashamed of letting the other kids in her class know about her past. Teachers always said it was what you did in the present and the future that counted the most.
Faith Joan Jeffries was claiming that future for herself.
Louise Ridley was standing outside her husband’s bedroom door waiting anxiously to hear sounds of movement. She had not slept all night after hearing the story told by the girl, Faith, to her aunt, the red-haired one.
She must tell Dennis first thing. It was proof she was not mad. The girl was the one up in the top tower doing something. She had a light on there. Louise Ridley was not making things up or imagining things.
There were odd and possibly dangerous acts going on next door and something had to be done about it before the house burned down and the fire spread to their house. Dennis would know what to do if she could only persuade him to stop and listen.
She did not take the pills she was supposed to take before bed and she was glad. Her mind felt sharper.
She was ready to convince him this time and he would know she was right all along.
* * *
Dennis Ridley showered and dressed and hummed a little tune as he collected his keys and wallet from the top of the tall dresser. Louise would be fast asleep. The pills kept her comatose till well into the morning and he could escape without any drama. An important business deal was to be signed, sealed and delivered today. It meant a good salary boost. He could finally consider selling this place on the crescent and moving back to town, closer to the hospitals. He knew Louise would soon need professional help beyond what Dr. Liston could provide. It was not beyond the bounds of possibility that Louise would be sectioned one day.
His mind jumped away from this thought but it was becoming inevitable and would need to be faced.
He fastened his suit jacket and took one last look in the mirror, smoothing down his hair and smiling at the image of a smart and capable man of the world.
As soon as he opened up the door everything changed.
His wife stood there looking like a ghost with pale face and dark shadows beneath her staring eyes. He flinched and stepped back but she advanced and caught his lapels in both hands, thrusting her face into his so he could smell her foetid breath, and talking fast like a demented person about the house next door again.
He was taken aback by this extraordinary physical assault and his brain took seconds to adjust. He heard what she said and discounted it immediately as more raving from a deeply disordered mind.
This could not be tolerated any longer. He could not be expected to function with this situation in his home.
He took several breaths as shallowly as possible to escape the noxious smell from his wife’s mouth and slowly unlocked her fingers from his suit jacket all the while making soothing sounds and repeating his assurances that everything would be handled, she was correct of course, it was not her fault, he would take care of it.
Hearing these words, Louise seemed to collapse as if all the air had gone out of her. He laid her down on the bed and she simply closed her eyes and became calm.
He had only a few minutes to act and he did so at once. He closed the bedroom door softly and went downstairs to the kitchen where he called Dr. Liston and reported the incident with the strongest recommendation that the situation was now untenable and Louise must be taken somewhere for her own safety.
The doctor was not surprised. This scenario had been discussed between them on several occasions. He put into motion the agreed-upon plan and contacted the Psychiatric Department of the hospital, alerting them to send an ambulance immediately. He presumed that Dennis Ridley would be present when the ambulance arrived, but in this he was mistaken.
Dennis was facing a difficult choice. He dared not leave his wife unsupervised. Anything could happen when she woke. She was completely out of control.
He should stay.
He must go. The business deal that affected the finances of his entire staff could not be put in jeopardy by this home situation. He floundered around in his mind for an escape. Then, he remembered his conversation with Hilary Dempster next door. He had forewarned her about Louise. She would understand this emergency. She was a sensible woman. She must help.
Chapter 18
Hilary woke to a fine and free Saturday. She was not scheduled for anything in particular. She might have a leisurely breakfast with Mavis and Eve and catch up with events at Harmony House. She would decide how much of the tower escapade to share with them, but whatever she said, it would be a touch of drama to add savour to the eggs and bacon.
She was combing her hair when the call came.
Darn! Hope this isn’t a volunteer assignment. I want a day to myself.
That hope dissipated as soon as she caught the gist of Dennis Ridley’s impassioned appeal.
At once, her headmistress persona took over. This was an emergency. She coped very well in such situations. It was one of her most valuable skills.
“I’ll be right over, Dennis. Don’t worry.”
There was no time to inform anyone about what was happening. She left the house and walked quickly to the garages and through the gap in the high hedge of trees.
Dennis was waiting by the front door.
“I am so glad you are here, Hilary. The ambulance will arrive soon. Just listen for Louise. She’s in the bedroom upstairs. Thank you so much.”
With that he was gone. Leaving her in sole charge.
Hilary stepped into the silent house and suddenly the reality of the situation struck her with full force. She had never before dealt with a person who was mentally disturbed to the degree described by Dennis Ridley.
Mavis was the better person for this job but Louise’s husband had asked for speed and discretion. She could always call Mavis if things got out of control. The ambulance was due to arrive, he said.
Her thoughts turned to Louise Ridley. What had that poor woman being going through, unknown to all the women right next door? How had she got into this dire state? Leaving her home in an ambulance was a desperate conclusion to whatever had set this off. She hoped there was no blood to be dealt with.
Severely disturbed persons often tried suicide to escape their inner pain.
Surely not that?
It occurred to her to find out which bedroom Louise was in. The emergency personnel would need to know and not be required to tramp around the whole of the large second floor of the house, no doubt alarming poor Louise even more than she was already.
She tiptoed up the carpeted staircase, noting peripherally the calm beige colouring and making a mental note to do something at last about the nasty violet colour of the Harmony House stairs.
No sign of blood. In fact everything seemed in perfect order. She breathed a sigh of relief.
She crept along, listening at each door for sounds.
Nothing, until she reached the double doors that indicated a master bedroom suite. This was the logical choice for his wife’s location, so she turned to leave.
Dennis said Louise was sleeping soundly. What, then, was the meaning of the pitiful weeping she could now hear coming from the master bedroom? In
all her years she had never before heard such a heart-rending sound. It signified a release of deep sorrow and despair. It was a sound Hilary Dempster simply could not ignore.
Fearing to discover the nightmare scene of imminent suicide, she decided to take action to assure herself of Louise Ridley’s safety. In the back of her mind was the episode in Camden Corners when Mavis’s timely intervention had undoubtedly saved Eve’s life.
She quietly opened the double doors just far enough to see the bed. Louise was sitting on the side of a large double bed with her back turned to Hilary. She meant to withdraw at once, but as soon as she began to understand the words between the sobs, she stopped, frozen in place and listened intently.
“Dennis believes me. He knows I was right. He will love me again like he used to. He is coming back soon. We can go together next door and tell all the women about the danger they are in. They will be happy to hear how I have watched over them. They will be my friends now ..…… The tall one, the red-haired one, the gentle one in the garden and even the one with the dogs. All of them will like me now. Perhaps we can have tea together in the garden. That would be so nice. Or we can sit on the porch and talk about how I saw the lights up in the tower. I kept on watching out when Dennis thought I was crazy. I know he did but I am not crazy. All the pills he told me to take have changed how I think. I’ll throw them all away now. It’s all true. Everything I have been telling him is true. I heard the women talking right beneath my window. There was an intruder up there.”
By this point, Hilary was awash in mixed emotions. She was incensed that this poor woman had been labelled as insane. Louise’s desperate tears were coming from pure relief at her story being believed. Hilary was furious with Dennis for denying his wife’s account without checking on the facts. She was also furious with Faith for exacerbating whatever fears this lonely woman had imagined.
She had to prevent this awful injustice. If she did nothing, Louise Ridley would be carted off in an ambulance, drugged to the hilt, and confined, for God only knew how long, in a locked facility.
It must not happen.
She had to act. And quickly!
Taking a cue from the woman’s continuous stream of comments, she gathered her courage and walked toward the bed talking in a friendly, comforting voice with each cautious step.
“Louise, I am Hilary Dempster from Harmony House. I am so glad to find you here. Dennis let me in.
I just want to tell you how glad we are next door that the whole mystery of the lights in the tower has been solved. It was Honor’s young niece who climbed up there to get privacy for a school project. Oh, of course, you and I know she was wrong to take that risk but everything is fine now. We want you to come over and join us for a meal soon. We look forward to that.”
Hilary continued in the same vein while watching to see the reaction. Louise stopped crying. She turned in amazement and seemed to recognize Hilary. The ghost of a smile crept across her tear-ravaged face and she reached out her hands toward Hilary.
The grip of those hands was something Hilary Dempster would never forget. It was the grip of a drowning person who is saved at the very last minute.
When the panic began to leave Louise’s face and body, Hilary knew she had returned to some semblance of sanity and security. There was likely a long road ahead for her but a corner had been turned.
She continued to talk while she disentangled the damp hands. Then she slowly walked Louise to the adjoining washroom with a reassuring hand across her shoulders while she washed her face, tidied her hair and straightened her clothes.
The next hurdle was present in Hilary’s mind while she continued to speak kindly to Louise. She must explain the arrival of the ambulance in such a way as to prevent Louise from dropping back into her manic state.
Thank God the ambulance has not yet arrived. It must have been delayed. How could that man leave his wife to this fate and go off to work?
When the first genuine, if shaky, smile dawned on Louise’s face, Hilary began to walk her to the stairs talking all the way.
“Let’s just go downstairs now, Louise. We both need a cup of tea to calm us down. I have to tell you something but I don’t want you to worry. In a little while some nice men will arrive here. They want to help you. You know you have been unwell and it’s best if you go to the hospital to be checked out and to get your medications fixed so you won’t feel so desperate any longer. Do not be afraid, Louise. This is a good thing to do and I will be right with you all the way, holding your hand, just like I am now. We’ll wait in the kitchen where I can see the front driveway. You boil some water for tea and I will watch for the nice men and talk to them first before they come inside.
Everything will be fine, you’ll see. Everything will be better after this.”
Hilary Dempster was making promises she could not be sure of keeping. It was breaking one of her most precious rules of conduct, but this situation demanded extraordinary action.
She had promised.
She made up her mind on the spot to fulfil those promises to the best of her ability. She would talk to the ambulance people first and explain that their patient was not as badly off as they had been led to believe. She would accompany Louise and see her settled after talking again to her doctor or psychiatrist or whomever was in charge at admissions. When all had been done at the hospital, she would track down one Dennis Ridley and beard him in his office, if necessary, and give him the lecture he so badly needed. Her opinion of the ‘nice, friendly’ man next door had taken a dive downward. She mentally ticked off the relevant points on a list.
Keeping his wife isolated from society was inimitable to her health.
Dozing her with pills was making her worse, not better.
Allowing a bad situation to get to this stage where such intervention was needed was reprehensible.
Not believing her concerns and letting Louise think she was crazy was ridiculous when a frank conversation with the inhabitants of Harmony House about his wife’s concerns would have prevented a number of outcomes from developing.
There was more on the list but she saw the ambulance arriving. No sirens were being used.
Reassuring Louise once more, Hilary placed her hands around the cup of tea and told her to sip until she returned.
“I will be just a minute or two. Stay calm. All will be well, my dear. I will not leave you.”
Hilary Dempster stood at her full, and impressive, height and prepared for battle. She would not permit the attendants to enter until they agreed to allow her to accompany Louise in the ambulance.
She knew what had to be said and done.
She would fight on behalf of this lonely woman, as she had fought for many a child in her years in education.
It felt rather good to be back in charge again with a clear mind and purpose.
Chapter 19
Thanksgiving in Canada falls in the middle of October. Mavis and Hilary had a meeting to decide how they would celebrate the holiday weekend.
“Such a lot has happened since summer. I believe it’s time for a celebration. We’ll do the turkey and all the trimmings. Eve is on board with that.”
“I agree, Mavis. We need to take stock together. I think we should use the winter dining room for this occasion. Now, who should be invited to join us?”
This decision required another discussion. In the end the number came to ten.
“Can we seat that many?”
“I believe so. The extending section of my old dining table is stored in the garage. We can bring chairs from the kitchen to make up the number.”
“It will be quite the party, then. It’s time to welcome our friends to our table.”
“Most will be new friends but there’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”
“Nothing wrong at all! It’s a sign we are settling into our new lives at Harmony House.
I’ll get started on the shopping list. Eve and I will shop with some advice from Faith about where best to go for barga
ins. Don’t you think Faith has changed for the better since that tower incident was put behind her?”
“I am sure she has, but there’s a reason. I’ll let her tell you herself.”
“Oh, a mystery? That should be interesting.”
In fact, Hilary believed there would be more than one surprise around the Thanksgiving table and she was looking forward to all the revelations that would be shared. One advantage to being the person perceived to be ‘in charge’ at their mutual home, was that she was the recipient of all the secrets, both good and bad. She had finally begun to learn not to let this responsibility overwhelm her.
Her life was in far better balance these days. She had discovered most of the shared concerns were solved by the simple act of expressing them to another person. Of course there were more weighty issues, such as the matter of Louise Ridley and the poor decisions made by Faith Jeffries that had precipitated that particular crisis. The majority of issues were of the minor variety requiring only a listening ear.
And yet, she was looking forward to the revelations of this special occasion with happy anticipation. Not only because she had a hand in some of it, but also because it was a demonstration of how well the co-housing project was transitioning to something far beyond anything that could have been imagined in those first fraught months when Mavis and she commiserated privately about whether or not they had done the right thing in initiating the project.
This Thanksgiving meal would be the proof of the pudding, as they used to say. She chuckled at the play on words. The pudding, and all the other items that came together to make a great meal, would be a shared responsibility this year, with Eve coordinating the courses.
She started to plan the seating arrangement then realized there were several people who needed either a personal or a written invitation.
