Memory House Read online

  Memory House

  Ruth Hay

  Contents

  Memory House

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Thank You

  Afterword

  Also by Ruth Hay

  Memory House

  By Ruth Hay

  Phase Five in Ruth Hay’s Home Sweet Home series.

  Harmony House, Fantasy House, Remedy House, Affinity House

  Harmony House was an experiment based on the principles of mutual help and support.

  When one of their members died, Hilary and Mavis knew more tests would arise as time went on.

  What they did not know was how much the past predicts the future, for good and bad.

  Memory:

  Hilary is losing it. Vilma is using it.

  Mavis is fighting it. Jannice is writing it.

  Faith is creating it. Honor is braving it.

  Harmony House is celebrating it.

  Chapter 1

  Looking back on the years since they moved into Harmony House was, most often, a pleasant experience.

  In the charming upper tower room, Hilary and Mavis shared their successes over a cup or two of brewed tea from an heirloom china pot, and there was much of which to be proud.

  “I like to think of us as a haven for lost and wandering souls.”

  “Mavis! What brings you to that conclusion? Do you think of us as ‘lost and wandering’?”

  “Perhaps not so much in our case, but you have to admit we have been a sanctuary of a kind to Honor and Faith, not to mention Jannice and of course our dearly missed Eve.”

  There was a silence whenever either of them mentioned Eve’s name. Her death left a huge gap in all the women’s lives and she was never to be forgotten. It seemed as if everyone had a souvenir of her generosity to remind them of her existence, her paintings, or her clothing line, or the legacy to maintain her room for others. Her presence was still felt keenly, particularly by Mavis, who was in many ways responsible for Eve’s inclusion in the six-woman group who entered Harmony House together to establish a new way of living.

  Mavis broke the silence with a surprising comment.

  “Hilary! I was looking over my garden diary recently to see if I had tried to grow a particular variety of coreopsis before. I discovered something amazing.”

  “What could be more amazing than your garden itself, Mavis? It is a sheer delight in every season and a real tribute to your energy and skill.”

  Mavis inclined her head slightly to acknowledge the tribute but continued at once.

  “Did you realize, my dear, it’s almost ten years since we moved into this house?”

  “Impossible! It could not be that long. It feels like we just got started.”

  “I know what you mean. We have started over more than once whenever new circumstances presented themselves, but I can assure you it will soon be ten years since we original six women walked through the doors and began to settle in.”

  Hilary had to stop to absorb this revelation. Time had the habit of skipping past her these days. She could scarcely recall which day of the week it was. Never mind which year!

  Almost a decade? How could it be?

  So much had changed around her and not all of it welcomed. Andy Patterson, Mavis’s general handy-man and garden helper, disappeared when his relationship with Vilma ended. Faith moved on, although she supplied Hilary with Shania as a substitute student to mentor for several years. The older Ridley girl was now a pre-law student at Western University and doing very well there.

  Jannice was more often in Toronto or Quebec City with her Mitchell than sleeping in her old room.

  She supposed they were fortunate still to have Honor on the premises to supervise their finances, but that situation could change at any moment now that Jared Pace was a recurring feature in her life. He turned up far more often than his job of maintaining the elevator system required.

  The older she got, the more Hilary disliked change. She longed for a peaceful, settled existence in which she was not required to make constant adjustments.

  “All right, Hilary! What’s that deep sigh about? Isn’t it wonderful that we have managed to create a vibrant home where people can come and live comfortably with us? Would you want to be mouldering away in a seniors’ residence, surrounded by old folks and restricted to the routines of others? We have the real advantage of the help and stimulation of the younger ones who have shared their lives with us.

  Don’t you remember how exciting it was to have Mandy and Braden cooking up delightful meals for us?

  Mandy’s mother Maureen was a treat to have around during the years when she returned to London for her cancer check-ups.”

  “I know! I know, Mavis! You are right. We could never say life at Harmony House was dull. It’s just that I believe I am getting too old for the constant change.

  Truthfully, I am feeling my age these days. I know I leave too much in your hands, Mavis. It’s not fair to you to manage so much inside, as well as outside the house.”

  “Now, Hilary, I don’t have the same amount of involvement with the Ridley family as I used to have when the little ones were settling in there. Louise and Dennis are perfectly capable of looking after them now. It’s not like I am alone in making decisions for Harmony House. You are always my primary consultant and Honor is aware of everything that goes on. Her office area is action central and her ear is to the ground in all things pertaining to the running of the house.

  Honestly, if you decide to shut yourself inside this lovely sanctuary tower room, no one would blame you. Why don’t you take a few days and just ‘zone out’ as the kids say? I will make sure no one bothers you. Rest and read, or drive downtown or do whatever your heart desires. It will do you good.”

  Mavis knew her voice was sounding positive and encouraging, but she was feeling far more worried than she cared to admit. This ‘getting old’ theme of Hilary’s was not new. She was far less active and involved than she used to be. It reminded Mavis of the time Hilary had felt it necessary to see her doctor about her fear of dementia. Dr. Harper was retired now. His advice to her, at the time, was to get more involved outside the house. This advice led to Hilary’s years of volunteering with elderly homebound Londoners and dispelled her dementia concerns for some time.

  Now other worries had emerged.

  Mavis decided to pay more attention to Hilary and make sure she was cared for in whatever way she required. She and Hilary were the veritable cornerstones of Harmony House. If, God Forbid, one of the cornerstones should crumble, the edifice itself might not survive.

  Chapter 2

  Vilma Smith was taking stock of her life.

  She began the process in front of her mirror in the washroom.

  Her face was holding up rather well, considering. Of course, regular sessions with the cosm
etic experts helped to fill in lines and plump up lips, but she knew the cost was justified. Her hair was gently turning to grey with blonde highlights disguising the dull parts. Her eyebrows were dyed brown to add drama to her dark eyes. She felt her eyes were her best feature. As long as they held up, no one would notice the other sagging parts of her. Good undergarments and beautiful clothes helped her out in that area.

  Not that there was currently a man in her life who would notice her sagging parts. Since Andy departed, she had neither the energy nor the inclination to risk another relationship.

  She told her mirror that the time and money spent on her appearance was not for the benefit of others. It was all in aid of bolstering her self-confidence and self-respect.

  And that was money well spent.

  Her thoughts turned more often to Nolan Smith these days. He was not her first husband. The early marriage was a disaster from the beginning, but it served to teach her a few very important lessons about men in general.

  Nolan was the love of her life. She caught his eye at a charity dinner in a Toronto hotel. Her skin-tight red dress with delicate embroidery around both the hem and the low neckline, was designed to impress the man she was sitting with. In Nolan’s opinion, driven by his inspection of the couple from a nearby table, the young man in question was far more interested in the dark-haired woman to his right than the blonde diva to his left.

  Nolan knew how to treat a Lady, and he meant to prove it to the lovely Lady in red.

  When the presentation on stage was over, most tables emptied quickly. Nolan was fast on his feet and he crossed the floor to Vilma’s table before she had collected her pashmina from the back of her chair.

  “May I assist you, madam? I have been admiring you from afar all evening and your escort does not deserve you. My business partner is going on to another venue, and I would be proud to escort you to your next event.”

  This was a new opening line for Vilma. She turned to make a smart-aleck response when she realized her date had vanished. He was a new acquaintance and not a fixture in her dating life. She accepted his invitation to the charity event, only because it was on a night when she had nothing better to do.

  This elegant, older gentleman, had arrived just in time to save her from an embarrassing exit and the need to flag down a taxi on her own to get home.

  She made a quick decision, one she never had cause to regret.

  “I am in your debt, sir. I would appreciate a ride home.”

  Nolan behaved perfectly. He asked for her address and made sure she arrived at her rented house safely. Then he tipped his hat and bade her a good night, first handing over his card and asking permission to call her the next day.

  She was impressed in every way. He was handsome. His manners were old school, which made a change from the callow types she dated recently. He was divorced, but clearly well off. He was even interested in marriage, a rarity these days.

  It was the start of a beautiful love affair. Their love never dimmed, until his eyes closed for the last time, with his ‘Lady in Red’ by his side.

  When the song by that name came into popularity, they often danced to its haunting strains. These days she could not bear to hear it. The poignant feelings it brought back were too much for her.

  Turning from the mirror, she went to the window where the dogs were sitting waiting by her chair. Looking out at the display of colour in Mavis’s flowerbeds was a comfort whenever she felt low.

  Today that comfort from the vividly intertwined roses did not work as well as usual. Her thoughts were still far away in the past.

  Had her husband lived, she would be in a far different position now.

  Prior to his last illness, she could easily persuade Nolan to share a new adventure with his wife. River cruises to the wine-growing areas of France, vacations in quaint little villages with top-class hotels in remote areas of Greece or Italy, provided new friends and scenes. Their life was full of pleasant evenings dining in the finest restaurants and dressing for events where they were welcomed as ‘a couple to know’.

  All that changed when Nolan died too soon. She lost their gorgeous new home in an exclusive part of London although, as compensation, she did retain the considerable sum of money Nolan gave her in his will.

  The house was sold to satisfy the greedy stepchildren on whom Vilma had showered love and kindness to no avail. From the start, they were against her. They called her ‘the wicked step-mother’. Not to her face, of course! Neither of them had that much courage, but she was meant to overhear their phone conversations in which they never used her actual name, never said mother or step-mother, always referred to her as the evil character in a fairy tale.

  She suffered their insults in silence, believing they would warm to her over time. She never revealed their obnoxious behaviour to Nolan, and they were wise enough to conceal their animosity on the occasions when their father insisted on family togetherness. Vilma hated his children’s sickly sweetness to her across the table, knowing it was a complete falsehood.

  On the reading of Nolan’s will, the grown children’s true feelings were revealed instantly. Within a matter of days, they employed a phalanx of lawyers to plead their case. The children’s mother, who had remarried, and for whom Nolan had nothing good to say, encouraged this behaviour.

  Vilma exited from the process, content with the sum of money Nolan had willed to her in an ironclad investment fund. She was not going to fight them in court and sully the name of the man she loved.

  There was only the one remaining problem. She had no family of her own to rely on.

  She was rich but she was lonely.

  This problem was solved to her satisfaction when she met Hilary and Mavis.

  Harmony House was the answer to her problem and had remained so ever since.

  Surely, she could afford to buy a nice little house. It would be fun to refurbish and decorate in her own style but once the drapes were hung and the kitchen furnished, who would she be cooking for, and who would come to stay overnight?

  * * *

  Her thoughts turned now from the distant past to the nearer past, and that brought Andy Patterson into mind. There was no comparison between the two men. Andy was younger and rather than providing for her as Nolan had done so well, he turned out to be a man with serious personal and financial problems.

  At the beginning, she did not see Andy as anyone other than a gardener and dog trainer. He came into her life when Oscar and Astrid arrived and she quickly discovered two active animals were more than she could handle. Andy was competent and remote. It took a long time before they were anything more than two people in a teacher/pupil learning situation.

  Looking back now, Vilma wished they had remained in that impersonal state. She resisted involvement for what seemed like years until circumstances wore down her reserve.

  She believed she had been good for Andy’s recovery from the dire accident that ruined his life and abruptly ended his former career as a police dog-handler. She was not so sure that she had been the one to benefit from their time together in an equal way. He professed to love her but she wondered now if his love was more of gratitude for her help, than it was about true emotion. She accepted his love and his need, but the situation was always difficult. There was no suitable home for both of them. At least no home he would accept from her. Perhaps if they had the closeness of building that home together things might have been different. Who could tell?

  Andy moved on and established a dog training and animal shelter business, which he built almost brick by brick with the help of his buddies.

  The ending was painful.

  * * *

  Vilma’s attention switched abruptly to the present.

  Oscar was whining again. He was not an old dog, but the vet said he was suffering from arthritis. The pills crushed into his food kept the pain at bay for a while and their outdoor life resumed as normal. Astrid knew her brother suffered and she lay close to him at night to warm his muscles.
This kindness left Vilma with a large furry lump at the bottom of her bed. She had to negotiate an exit in order to visit the washroom but she did not regret her decision to allow the dogs onto her bed once Andy had left.

  On nights when she lay awake, their breathing kept her company and the odd little noises they made in their doggy dreams reminded her she was alive…….and needed.

  The vet suggested a step for Oscar so he could avoid jumping down from the bed. This advice soon developed further into a recommendation about avoiding all stairs. Vilma was glad Hilary and Mavis installed an elevator in the house before all of them took possession. It was not meant for animal use, initially, but it was exactly what the doctor ordered for Oscar. Astrid did not mind the elevator. She understood her brother’s disability better than Vilma could. She would block his way when he raced ahead and wanted to climb the high ridge in the woods where the trees marked the border between properties. Astrid knew he could make it to the top, but the descent would cause him serious pain.

  It was just another adjustment in a long line of them it seemed to Vilma.

  Now that Faith was pursuing her career in Municipal Services and Social Planning, and working mostly from Ottawa, Vilma had full responsibility for dog exercising. She reduced the time spent on dog walks but repeated them more often throughout the day. She really needed a back-up dog person. She had her eye on young Betsy Ridley who was fond of the dogs. The trouble was two large Australian shepherds were not easy to handle. Even Vilma had some difficult experiences with them that she could not wish upon a young girl, no matter how willing she might be. Louise Ridley would definitely not want her adopted daughter to be lost in the woods, especially not in the winter months.