Affinity House Read online

  Affinity House

  Ruth Hay

  Contents

  Affinity 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

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Also by Ruth Hay

  Affinity House

  by Ruth Hay

  Phase four of the Home Sweet Home series, following Harmony House, Fantasy House and Remedy House.

  When the neighbours next door adopt three children in desperate need, the ladies of Harmony House embrace the sudden chaos with joy.

  But in this fourth instalment of the Home Sweet Home series, tragedy and loss are central as well. Light and shadow pass between the Ridley home and Harmony House. Joy becomes more important than ever to get the women through life's challenges.

  Chapter 1

  Mavis Montgomery decided it was time to do inventory.

  She often did a journal noting the successes and failures of the growing year in the gardens at Harmony House, but her present preoccupation was of a more personal nature. She was determined to take some time from the busy life of the co-housing partners around her, and concentrate exclusively on her own health and welfare.

  Following the practice of her lifelong friend Hilary, she opened up a notebook, lifted up her new gel pen and began.

  Mavis Montgomery

  General:

  I am coping well with all the changes despite a few big surprises lately.

  It is lovely to have my tower room as a refuge from all the drama, particularly when the garden is not available to me. With my books and my music I can create peaceful moments here no matter what is going on around me.

  Concerns:

  Have I taken on too much?

  With Louise Ridley’s plans for foster children moving ahead, I know she will call on me for help and advice. Faith is the one best equipped to help Louise but the girl is already over committed at school and with her newly-acquired family members in Kingston.

  Thankfully, Eve has progressed very well after her illness and is an independent artist with a supportive group of friends and colleagues nearby.

  Hilary, too, is active and involved these days and much happier for it.

  Do I have to keep an eye on Vilma? That is something I never thought to write.

  Vilma has always been the one who helps others but with her new circumstances

  she is in a difficult situation as regards Andy.

  Honor seems happier and closer to her niece. She works very hard to make up for

  Faith’s lack of investment in the house. Honor has not yet asked for my help but it may happen.

  Jannice is the biggest surprise of all. She has emerged from her shell in a big way. Vilma gets the credit for giving her protégé much-needed confidence.

  Mavis stopped to read over what she had written so far and exclaimed aloud to Marble who was sitting on the table top by the window avidly watching the pen move along and waiting for her chance to reach out a paw to stop it.

  “Goodness me! I sound like the chicken that ran around the farmyard saying the sky was falling.

  I must learn to concentrate on my own welfare rather than that of everyone else.”

  She tried to refocus and came up with a new heading.

  Health.

  This was quite definitely personal. She recently read an article in a women’s magazine listing the five life skills for health, wealth and happiness. The UK authors of an eleven-year study recommended these qualities, which Mavis had carefully copied down.

  Emotional stability

  Determination

  Control

  Optimism

  Conscientiousness

  “Well now, I do want to ensure health, wealth and happiness. Do I possess these qualities at all?”

  Marble did not seem eager to answer. Now that the pen had ceased its fascinating movements, she jumped down and went off to the bottom level of the tall shelving unit where she had a soft nest, curling up until her mistress decided to do something more interesting.

  Mavis was checking off the five items.

  Emotional stability………. “One of my better qualities.”

  Determination………. “Once I set my mind to something worthwhile I pursue it relentlessly. Of course, this could also be seen as a problem at times.”

  Control………. “Now that can also be seen two ways. I prefer to encourage others to gain control rather than impose it upon them.”

  Optimism………. “Absolutely my best personal attribute!”

  Conscientiousness………. “What on earth does that really mean?”

  She decided to consult a dictionary before trying to determine if she had the last elusive quality and promptly moved on from mental health to a survey of her physical health.

  This was of more immediate concern. Although she still moved around with her customary speed and energy, it was becoming evident to Mavis that she was not getting any younger and it was beginning to have an effect.

  She looked first at her hands. There was a perceptible thickening of the knuckles on her right hand; the hand that did most of the gardening work; in particular the pulling up of persistent weeds.

  This past summer’s campaign against the incursion of clover in the lawn had required her to spend hours on her knees and sometimes sitting down flat in the midst of patches of the green and invasive weed. She learned a lot about its sneaky growing habits and could eventually track down the individual plants that revealed a long tough root system linking several clovers together. On a good day, she could extract a foot’s worth of weeds at once in this way and it was very satisfying.

  Admittedly, it had become something of a compulsion. She was glad when the cooler weather had stopped the need to weed.

  Her hand remembered, however. The thumb knuckle was the worst and it would throb occasionally, warning her of trouble ahead. She had already noticed she lacked power in her hands for tasks like opening jars. Sometimes she moved to place an object down or grasp something and she misjudged the required amount of force. This meant she had to bend down to retrieve items more often than she wished to.

  And, of course, there was the recurring intermittent knee pain. That one was possibly more urgent. Mavis Montgomery had observed the kind of devastation caused by foot, knee or hip problems. Friends and acquaintances, including social workers she had known well, were all becoming incapacitated by such constraints. She was determined not to fall into that category if she could avoid it.

  Walking with difficulty was becoming a crucial harbinger of approaching old age. Why did no one warn of this earlier in life?

  Then there was the matter of eyeglasses. She had always had a pair for reading but now she also had a pair for the computer and a pair with sun protection for outdoor activity.

  This was all very well until the business of finding the right pair at the right time became a problem.

  It was necessary to have glasses on her face in order to track down the required pair and it was no use placing the various pairs together in one convenient drawer. The latest ones needed to be by the computer, the single focus ones had to be by her bed, and the outdoor ones must be near her purse and coat in case she went out without their protection.

  I
t was not about forgetting where she laid them. Her memory was good. It was just the inconvenience of keeping them where they should be. She often thought it was just as well she did not now live in a house in which she slept on one level, worked in a different room, and watched television in another.

  As long as she had access to one functioning pair of glasses she could now quickly find the others rather than having to tramp up and down stairs complaining as she went.

  Were these small worries a forerunner of serious illness? She did a quick assessment and judged it was merely a warning. But warnings needed to be heeded.

  She was realistic about these small signs. She could not continue to garden as enthusiastically as she had done since coming to Harmony House.

  Perhaps she could call on Andy for more help? At the moment, he was almost a permanent resident.

  Since his old farmhouse was ruined by rising floodwaters, he often chose to spend nights with Vilma.

  If the weather was not too frigid he camped out in his barn, which was on higher ground and survived the flooding, but that was, clearly, not the most comfortable of options for him.

  Mavis just had to glance out of her tower windows to check if Andy’s truck with the snow-blower attachment was parked near the garages, to know if he was in residence. So far, this had not caused any problems with the house’s joint owners but it could not continue forever. A man about the house was a trifle awkward. There was no more wandering around in the morning in nightwear in case they met Andy running out to do his day’s work. No one would challenge Vilma directly about this. She had contributed so much more than her share to the successful enterprise that was Harmony House.

  Hilary had made no complaints to Mavis but at some point there would need to be a serious conversation about the matter.

  Mavis sighed and stood up to stretch out her back. All the experts said sitting too long in the day was destructive to good muscle health. She remembered watching Honor doing yoga stretches in her work area in the lower level. At the time, she had made a promise to herself to pursue the matter with Honor. So far, she had neglected to follow through on that promise.

  From a standing position she now reached for a fresh page of her notebook and began a new list.

  1. Start yoga with Honor.

  2. Walk more.

  3. Eat less of fattening food.

  It was a hopeful beginning; not too much to accomplish. She made up her mind to be grateful for all the things she could still do and not worry over much about the ones that might become a problem in the distant future.

  Wasn’t optimism one of the qualities she claimed?

  She left the page of promises in a prominent position on the table and went off, with a satisfied smile, to see if Honor was available.

  Mavis’ mother had always said, “Start as you mean to finish, my dear.” Lobelia Kennedy was a formidable woman and her daughter remembered her advice and took it to heart whenever possible.

  Vilma Smith started the day by kissing Andy goodbye. He tiptoed downstairs, boots in hand, closely followed by the dogs and Vilma, who were heading out to the forested area behind Harmony House for their morning run. She preferred this early start. She could pretend they were a normal couple living in a normal house rather than surrounded by other females who were not necessarily pleased to have a male in their midst. Thus far, no one had actually accused Vilma of breaking the unwritten laws of the co-housing agreement. It was intended to be a place of mutual support and refuge for six women.

  Women. Not younger, active men.

  She comforted herself with the knowledge that the support part of their mission had been truly met and surpassed, ever since the beginning. The good hearts of the inhabitants had meant any unexpected event that might happen could be overcome with combined effort. She thought of Eve in particular, then Jannice and of course, Honor.

  The arrival of Honor’s niece, Faith, was an example of how flexible the women had been. A fourteen-year-old, unknown, and somewhat irrational girl, could definitely have been refused a place, but that option was never considered. Honor was one of the Harmony House group, and as such, her needs were given priority. She had required plenty of support with Faith and she had received it from all quarters. Vilma admitted she was the last to reconcile with the girl’s arrival but now she could see what a difference it had made to Honor to have a close family member in her life. It was also rather interesting to have a young person around to spark them up although some of the girl’s ideas had been problematic.

  There was another reason why Faith made Vilma’s predicament with Andy’s arrival less worrisome.

  The original six women had bought equal shares in Harmony House.

  Faith was not able to contribute any money whatsoever and yet she had been accepted without debate.

  Honor covered her niece’s monthly expenses and had started a fund from her own business earnings to compensate for the loss of a room in the house that was intended for other communal uses.

  Faith had proved to be useful with respect to finding savings in the grocery stores. She recently began to help Vilma out with the dogs but she was, basically, supported by the others in the house.

  Vilma did not want to place Andy in this category. She could afford to pay his monthly costs and did so.

  He kept the occasions when he shared her bed down to a minimum, conscious of the imposition he represented. She could not join him in the barn. It was impossible for her to endure that kind of deprivation despite her feelings for him. Andy never questioned this. It made him more intent on earning enough money to add to the insurance claim he had made, so that he could begin to build a new business on his property. He could use the barn in its present state to set up his dog-training business on a temporary basis once he had the cash for the necessary advertising.

  There were a number of issues related to this plan. Everything was time sensitive.

  Because of the flooding in the area around the branches of the Thames River, the insurance claims were not being processed quickly.

  Andy’s recent success at a notable dog show near Cornwall should be acted upon while that success was still relevant.

  Their current living arrangements were not promoting the closeness and predictability a new relationship needed and she could not see a way to change the situation. Andy was too proud to accept her money to speed things up. It had taken serious pleading to make him agree that she should contribute a full half of the share of the building costs for the new house.

  * * *

  Vilma thumped her boot-clad feet on the snow to encourage better circulation and followed along as Astrid and Oscar roamed to the border of their territory. Andy had left in his truck twenty minutes previously but the dogs, in their heavy winter coats, were happy to remain outside as long as they were permitted to do so.

  She noticed, Astrid, the leader of the pair, was venturing onto the layer of ice that had formed on the stream. Andy had said to let her find out for herself that the ice would not hold her weight but Vilma stood ready to give a helping hand should her dog get into trouble.

  Fortunately, Astrid decided getting one paw wet in the icy water was enough for her and she rollicked back to her mistress’ feet with Oscar in tow.

  It was time to return home for warmth and comfort and food. Vilma was conscious of the lack of such things in Andy’s working day of clearing driveway snow for clients. She made sure he had a flask of hot coffee with him and a sandwich of peanut butter and jam to keep up his energy. She knew he would head back to the barn to make sure the property was secured and the long driveway from the road to the barn was kept clear. He had a hotplate there for quick meals but she worried about his health under these less-than-ideal circumstances.

  On the way back through the forest she thought about the kind of house she would like to live in with Andy. It was a lovely site above the fast-flowing stream hedged with willows. The battered old farmhouse had now been removed so the view would be enhanced.
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  She pictured a charming cottage with large windows and a covered porch. Perhaps a deck and a garden fenced in so their dogs could be safe and free to get exercise. She had a tentative plan for the furnishings; all soft colours and padded seating around a fireplace.

  One big bedroom and a study.

  Wood floors softened by thick rugs everywhere.

  A luxurious bathroom with a shower, big enough for two.

  And, a separate entrance on the ground floor for muddy dogs and boots, which would serve a double purpose as a laundry area.

  She was most pleased with this last, very practical addition. Not something she had ever had to consider in her previous grand accommodations, but evidence she was beginning to make adjustments to the more rugged environment out in the countryside.

  She had not yet shared this plan with Andy. It was too soon.

  She would save this discussion for leisurely days in the beach house in Jamaica. That economical plan was almost in place now. The week at the end of February was fast approaching. The paying guests’ component had been whittled down from a large group of candidates. The costs would be covered. Andy just had to agree to it all.

  Vilma Smith swallowed convulsively as she opened the front door of Harmony House and breathed the warm air again. Despite her confidence, she knew it was not a simple matter to get Andy’s approval to this complex scheme. She would have to introduce the initial discussion very soon.

  Chapter 2

  Honor Pace especially loved the early winter mornings in her spacious lower level at Harmony House.