Walking the Labyrinth

by Hart, Lois Cloarec

  “It’s an amazing coincidence how you ended up right back where you started.”

  Gaëlle smiled teasingly at Lee. “Not coincidence at all.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that the plan all along was to end up back in Donegal.”

  “Yours and Hugh’s plan, you mean? After you met up at university?”

  “Not exactly. I mean it was in our soul plan, but also Wally’s, Owen’s, Dale’s, Jill’s, Britten’s—”

  “Aww, come on. We were having such a nice walk, too. Why’d you have to bring that hooey stuff into it?”

  Gaëlle laughed. “Okay, no more ‘hooey’ stuff. We’re here, anyway.”

  Lee stood at Gaëlle’s side as they looked over the collapsed remains of the old fieldstone barn. “It really is a mess, isn’t it?”

  Gaëlle nodded. “It is, but the stone itself is still in good shape. I’ll have to sort out the rotted lumber, but I plan to reuse the stone.”

  “What are you going to do with it?”

  “Finish my labyrinth using the stones as pavers.”

  “Sort of like cobblestones, then.”

  “Exactly. I loved the cobblestoned streets Hugh and I found in older parts of Europe.”

  Lee tensed her shoulder muscles in sympathetic anticipation. “That’s going to be a helluva job. Is anyone going to help you?”

  “If need be, Dale or Wally can help with the heavier stuff, but for the most part, I’m content to work at my own pace. The labyrinth is just to the east of here. I’ll use my garden cart to haul over a few stones at a time. ”

  As they surveyed the site, Lee pictured all the work involved with Gaëlle’s project. Glad it’s not me.

  Finally, they started back to the house.

  “Oh, before I forget, the TV that was in Dale’s suite is now in Britten’s room, if he’s looking for it when he gets home.”

  “My daughter ‘liberated’ it, did she? Did she even ask you first?”

  “No, but I don’t mind. I’m quite enjoying your library.”

  “I’m glad. But if you want to watch anything, you’re most welcome to make use of the TV in the living room.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Oh, and I should warn you that Britten told me last night that she intends to meet some friends at the Red Arrow on Friday.”

  “The Red Arrow?”

  “One of Donegal’s two pubs and not the nicer of the two.”

  “Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll consider myself duly warned.”

  “I should also mention that the local Mounties keep a pretty close eye on drivers leaving the Red Arrow.”

  “Not a problem. I don’t drink when I’m driving or on duty.”

  “Are you ever off duty?”

  “Of course. I wouldn’t be out here right now enjoying this walk—and the company—if I weren’t off duty at the moment.”

  “And you’re back on duty...?”

  “When Britten wakes up.”

  Gaëlle smiled. “Then you should be good for another three or four hours. Feel like some breakfast?”

  “If you’ll allow me to provide it. Do you enjoy pancakes?”

  “I do. So you’re feeling better then?”

  Lee considered the question carefully before answering. “You know, I am. I really am.”

  The day passed quietly. Britten rose in time for lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon in her room with the TV blaring. Gaëlle disappeared to the basement after lunch, and Lee was left to her own devices. She went for a short walk, not straying far from the house, and returned to read for a few hours.

  When she finished her book, Lee considered turning on the TV, but she decided instead that she had the perfect excuse to go down to Gaëlle’s office.

  The basement door stood ajar, so Lee called out before entering. “Hello? Is it okay if I get another book?”

  “Come on in. Help yourself. You don’t need to ask.”

  Lee pushed open the door.

  Inside, Gaëlle was sorting through papers spread all over a large desk.

  “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

  Gaëlle shook her head. “Not at all. I’m due for a break anyway. My eyes can only take so much of these spreadsheets at one time. Would you care for a cup of coffee?”

  “I’d love one.”

  Gaëlle turned to the pot perched on top of a file cabinet. “This was fresh about half an hour ago. I think it’s still okay, but if you’d like, I’d be happy to make another pot.”

  “No, that’s fine. Trust me, after my assistant’s coffee, I could drink ink and think it weak by comparison.”

  Gaëlle chuckled and filled two mugs.

  Lee circled behind the desk to accept hers and nodded at the mound of paperwork. “Are you doing your taxes or something?”

  “No. I received an e-mail from Dale overnight and was just summarizing some information he needs.”

  “Um, okay.”

  “Are you really interested in all this? I don’t want to bore you if you’re only being polite.”

  Was it only last week I wasn’t interested in anything, including living? Damn, what a difference a few days make. “I really would like to know what you and Dale do, if you don’t mind telling me.”

  “Not at all. I find it fascinating, but only Dale, Jill, and Wally really know the scope of this.” Gaëlle led the way to the recliners. “Have a seat.”

  “What about Britten? Does she know what you do down here?”

  “I doubt it. She’s never expressed any interest. I don’t think she’s come down here more than a handful of times, even when she lived here.”

  “So do I need to be sworn to secrecy?”

  “You tell me. Do you? For the most part it’s a matter of public record, but you’d have to go digging to find those records. I’d certainly rather keep the full scale of this project quiet.”

  Lee was touched at the trust Gaëlle was displaying. “Then it goes no further. You have my word.”

  “That’s more than good enough for me. Okay, this will just be an overview, but to give you the basics I need to go back in time again. I told you that Hugh took out massive life insurance policies a year before he died, right?”

  Lee nodded.

  “Because of the insurance and the fact that my brothers-in-law continued to pay me Hugh’s share of the ranch profits, I never had any money worries while raising the kids. We were used to living frugally and continued to do so. I was fortunate enough to have a trusted and talented financial advisor, and the money grew to ridiculous amounts. I never spoke of it until one day a few years ago, when I was having coffee with one of my sisters-in-law, Nell, Scott’s wife.”

  Gaëlle took a drink of her coffee. “We were talking about dreams, and Nell mentioned that she’d always wanted to start her own nursery specializing in native prairie plants. I asked why she didn’t go for it, and she said that the banks wouldn’t loan her money unless Scott co-signed. Because Scott co-owns the land with his brothers, he can’t use it as collateral for a business loan without their permission. James and Peter would’ve been fine with it, but Andrew, who was going through a nasty divorce at the time, wasn’t in a position to sign on.”

  “Let me guess—you loaned her the money.”

  “I did, yes. It was my first microloan, and Nell paid it back with interest. Her nursery has been a huge success in the years since. It got me thinking about women and entrepreneurship, but it wasn’t until I read about Muhammad Yunus winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 that my ideas started to gel.”

  Lee shook her head.“I’m sorry—who?”

  “Muhammad Yunus. He’s the Bangladeshi economist who founded Grameen Bank in 1983. It specializes in making micro-loans to poor people with no collateral. Amazingly, ninety-five per cent pay their loans back in full. But as I investigated, I found there were some issues that didn’t get any publicity. It turned out that a lot of people using microfinance were doing so not to fuel entrepreneurship
, but rather for consumption purposes, such as financing weddings and the like. That wasn’t what I wanted to do, but I did want to help with more than just making charitable donations. Dale was utterly bored with his job as a government soil analyst, so the two of us started to brainstorm. We ended up taking a trip to Africa, talking to a lot of people and seeing things on the ground for ourselves.”

  “That must’ve been an incredible journey.”

  “It was. And what struck me, over and over again, was how perilous and fragile women’s lives were. If their husbands died or were simply bad husbands, they were left without enough to feed and care for their children. There was no security net, and far too many of them ended up in prostitution just to put food on the table. With no money for education, even children with the most potential had no chance of advancing into the middle class.”

  “It sounds pretty hopeless.”

  “I know. I had to fight hard not to be overwhelmed with the sheer magnitude of need. Then one day we met an amazing woman in a tiny sweets shop in Guinea. Her name was Janjay. She was a Bassa tribeswoman from Sierra Leone who had been displaced to Guinea during the civil war. Her husband was killed, and her two eldest sons were taken for child soldiers. Her middle daughter was taken as a warlord’s concubine when she was just eleven. Janjay herself had her hand cut off for daring to speak out against the warlords. Yet she had the most amazing spirit I’ve ever encountered.”

  Lee shuddered at a world where such atrocities were so common. “God, how did she stand it? Losing Dana almost killed me, and Janjay not only lost her husband, she lost two sons, a daughter and her hand. Just imagining what was happening to her children and knowing she couldn’t save them from any of it... Jesus, I think I’d have hung myself from the nearest tree.”

  Gaëlle nodded grimly. “The horror is almost more than most of us can comprehend. But Janjay was determined that her family was not going to succumb to the devastation all around them, and she fought tooth and nail to make a better life. Even when they had to run from the soldiers, Janjay made sure to take along their precious few schoolbooks. She told me she used to keep them packed up in a bag when they weren’t being used, so that if they had to flee, she could grab them on the way out of the hut. Janjay educated her children beside campfires and in refugee camps. I’ve never met such an inspirational soul. Because of her, we basically adopted her village. We built a school for both boys and girls and a clinic that serves villages within a fifty-mile radius. We educated Janjay’s youngest son and a niece on the condition that they return to the village as doctors.”

  “Wow! Talk about making a difference.”

  “Janjay made the difference, Lee. Without her insight and advice, Dale and I would’ve been a couple of wannabe philanthropists stumbling around in the dark, probably doing more harm than good. With her guidance, we’ve set up a foundation—the Huowen Foundation—and worked on making changes that will benefit people from the ground up. As we could afford it, we went farther afield from Janjay’s village, but always with Janjay directing our efforts. Our latest project is solar panels. The electrical grid doesn’t reach much beyond major cities throughout the continent, but with solar panels we can give rural people their own source of electricity. Janjay, who is now one of our directors, came up with the idea, and she’s moved on it like a cheetah stalking a gazelle. Dale took a solar specialist with him on his most recent trip. He goes to Guinea frequently, and I sit back here, tracking where the money goes and how best to fund things.”

  “Do you pay for everything yourself?”

  “Actually, we’ve gotten pretty good at getting government and UN grants for the bigger projects. God help the bureaucrat who tries to tell Janjay no when she’s righteously fired up. I’ve seen that woman make dictators cry as she waves her stub of a hand in their face.”

  Lee looked around the basement room. “And you do all that from here?”

  “Mostly Dale and Janjay do it from over there, but I help out where I can. I used to travel to Guinea fairly often too, but it wears me down. Dale’s my good right arm, so I leave it up to him now.”

  “Amazing. Absolutely amazing. And most of your family has no idea?”

  Gaëlle shrugged. “They know Dale frequently goes to Africa, but they’re not exactly clear on why. I suspect they think he’s still involved in soil analysis for the government. If they asked, I’d tell them. It’s certainly not that I don’t trust my family, but I also don’t want to give them the impression that Dale and I think we’re some kind of billionaire philanthropists like Bill and Melinda Gates. I’m a small-town girl, who by happenstance is in a position to help out a few people in Guinea. It wouldn’t even have been possible if not for Hugh’s foresight or Janjay’s leadership, so I don’t deserve any accolades for what we do. I just want to work quietly behind the scenes, which fortunately is what Dale wants as well. Besides, like most people, our relatives are mostly only concerned with their own lives and don’t pay all that much attention to ours. Dale certainly isn’t going to spill the beans. My son is as taciturn as his father was outgoing.”

  “Dale never married?”

  “No, but he’d like to. He’s crazy about Janjay’s youngest daughter, Dechontee. Janjay and I joke together about what pretty babies they’ll make, but Dechontee isn’t about to jump into marriage at the expense of her dreams. She’s got her mother’s independence, and no man is going to sway her from her career ambitions. She’s set on being a nurse practitioner, come hell or high water. I was Skyping with Janjay earlier, and she told me that she’s starting to feel sorry for Dale, but it’s Dechontee’s choice, and she’s not going to interfere.”

  “If she ever says yes, will Dale bring his bride back here?”

  “She wouldn’t come. Dechontee is as set as her mother is on improving conditions for their people.”

  “So Dale would stay there? Doesn’t it upset you to think of Dale half a world away?”

  “Well, I think it will take Dale a few years yet to persuade Dechontee that he’d make a good husband. If moving to Guinea to be with his beloved is in his soul’s plan, I would never interfere or criticize. When Britten was set on going to Europe to pursue her dream, I supported her, even if her chosen career wasn’t what I’d hoped for her.”

  “So it would be okay because Dale is doing something worthwhile?”

  “It would be okay because it’s Dale’s choice, which he has an absolute right to make. I learned long ago that the only thing I can control in life is myself. So if my children choose to go far afield, I can control how I react to their absence, not the choice itself.”

  “Huh. That’s very Zen of you.”

  Gaëlle laughed. “I’m no philosopher; I’m just me. And this ‘me’ better get back to work. Dale is waiting for those numbers, and I need to dig them up. We’re trying to source the most economic supplier for a test run of solar panels.”

  Lee drained her mug and stood. She was upstairs, washing her cup at the kitchen sink, before she realized she’d entirely forgotten to select another book.

  Chapter 7

  Lee was stretched out on Dale’s comfortable bed. “No, honest, Wil, it’s been really quiet around here all week.”

  “Are you then bored enough to climb walls?”

  “Nah, I’m actually enjoying myself, believe it or not.”

  “You’re enjoying our client’s company?”

  Lee laughed aloud at the incredulity in Willem’s voice. “No, not so much. In fact, I rarely see Britten. She sticks to her room most days, except for meals and the occasional shopping run into town. And, by the way, shopping in Donegal falls well short of Calgary standards.”

  “So, if it’s not our client you’re enjoying, or the shopping, what is there to recommend Donegal?”

  “Fresh air. Big skies. Wonderful walks.” Gaëlle.

  “You sound so much better, Lee. I was obviously right to urge you to take this assignment.”

  “Geez, don’t break your arm patting yo
urself on the back.” Lee grinned at the sound of his chuckles. “But yes, you were right. I’ll give you that. I like it here...a lot. It’s like being back on my grandparents’ ranch, minus the chores.”

  “Excellent. But back to business and the reason I called. Barb found one cyber leak on Facebook. Some woman named Tiffany Howlick was apparently bragging about her close friendship with Britten. She extolled their grand reunion when Britten returned to Donegal from so many years away as a European supermodel.”

  “Damn it! I was afraid of that. What a feather-brained bunch.”

  “You insult our avian friends by the comparison. But don’t worry; Barb jumped on it immediately, and that post is no longer visible. In fact, Barb disabled the woman’s account. From what I’m told, it will take her weeks to get it sorted out. I’m certain Barb plugged the leak before any damage could be done. Nonetheless, I felt it imperative that you be told.”

  “Thanks, Wil. Britten is meeting a bunch of friends at a pub later tonight—oh joy, oh bliss—so I’ll have my eyes peeled for any trouble. Hell, even without Tiffany’s leak, this bar sounds like a venue for trouble, at least according to Gaëlle.”

  “Pardon? According to whom?”

  “Gaëlle. Britten’s mom. She said the Red Arrow is bad news any night of the week, but Fridays are the worst. So of course Britten wants to go on Friday.”

  “This Gaëlle is a trustworthy source? I would not imagine a mother of this client as being reputable.”

  “Then you’d imagine wrong. Gaëlle is as different from her daughter as day is from night. I’d trust anything she told me.” Well, almost anything. Still can’t buy into the hooey.

  “Ah, so you have made a friend there.”

  Lee didn’t hesitate. “I have.”

  “Then I am even more pleased. You can’t see me, but I am polishing my fingernails on my lapel right now.”