Chapter Nine
"Trudy!" several of the girls called out in delight and Trudy was suddenly engulfed in a swarm of happy laughing teenagers.
"It's so good to see you all!" she laughed as they slowly dispersed, and Seline grinned as she clapped her hands, to attract everyone's attention.
"Come on then let's sit down and eat."
It was a fun meal with plenty of food and chatter.
Clara and Sandra were presently the eldest girls there at nearly nineteen and twenty years old, then there was Amy, and Fliss at sixteen and Sindy, Theo, Tilda and Megan who were the youngsters at fourteen down to twelve.
"Where's Cora and Caroline?" Trudy asked suddenly, of two of the oldest who were now almost independent women in their own right.
"Cora is away at University still -- on her last year now as you know, and Caroline is working at that large hotel in Devonshire, she's being trained up to be management eventually."
"Oh, that is good to hear; I must look her up when I'm next down that way... but I'll call her first to make sure it's convenient, I think."
"She'll love seeing you," Clara said smiling. "She's always talking about you -- you know."
Seline chuckled softly. "Trudy was the one who taught her to drive, and I think that she came here with the intent of starting you two off as well, if that little blue car is anything to go by."
"I'm late with both of you I know, but yes, Seline is right about the car!"
"Oh, I say!" Sandra gasped. "That would be splendid!"
"How long are you staying for?" Seline asked with a smile.
"Well, a few days -- if you can have me, perhaps until the weekend."
"That will be wonderful," Sandra said excitedly. "We can really get a grip with the driving and then we can go and have some proper lessons."
"Yes, that's the plan," Trudy nodded. "I've contacted a woman not far from here and she will come and see you both, next week." she looked at Seline. "She will ring your first, her name is Nancy Cassington."
Seline nodded in acknowledgement. "It'll give us time to get their provisional licences sorted."
The meal continued in good spirits and after they were finished, Seline led Trudy through to the lounge.
"Marcie will organise the girls and get the dishes sorted, and she's probably already sorted your room and bed for you."
Trudy smiled as she thought of the older woman -- the stalwart of the estate, and the heart of this home. "The woman really is a treasure."
"Yes, I still bless the day you brought her to us, I do not think that I could have managed on my own."
"Well, we knew when we started this that you would bear the brunt of the day to day. As much as I would have liked to have been a permeant fixture in the girl's life, I think this way has worked out best for everyone... but are you still happy with this arrangement?"
Seline smiled. "This was my cause in the first place, but I do not think that I could have got it off the ground without your support -- both emotionally and financially."
"The money is and always was nothing," Trudy dismissed with a flick of her hand. "I had more than enough -- more than I knew what to do with."
"Oh, I think you knew exactly what to do with it -- that's why you are so successful and why you are so much in demand. You have money and you use it well."
Trudy smiled. "Well -- perhaps it is as you say. But any way onto other things, such as why the brothers grim were haunting you."
Seline chuckled. "Oh, Jon is not so grim, he never was -- you just need to know how to look at him... and as I recall you could always bring out the sunnier disposition in Matt."
"That was then," Trudy said sadly. "He doesn't even remember me now -- remember?"
"Perhaps harping after the past is where you are going wrong now." Seline said thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?"
She shrugged and smiled a little smile. "He fell in love with you once..."
"We're both much older now," Trudy shook her head and scowled. "I am too old to be playing that sunshine girl who was so besotted with him."
"Well, yes, that is as gone as his memories seem to be. But your natural personality is a bright and cheerful one, you are happy and energetic and everyone who 'knows' you -- warms to you immediately -- and everyone who really knows you -- loves you unconditionally."
"That's sweet of you to say, Seline, but it has not been true for many a year now."
"We don't change our nature... and we rarely change our tastes either, and as I said before, he fell in love with you once..."
"Perhaps." Trudy sighed. "But what were they doing here anyway?"
"Ah... now that is a tale to be told."
Trudy grinned, as she sat back and made herself comfortable. "Then tell, Seline dear -- tell all."
*
"And so, I have agreed to let these young men come and stay here, and although I am not too sure what Jon, hopes to do with them, my role is fairly simple... come up with as many hard-working jobs and get them working on my property." Seline finished telling her.
"I have met the Frawnings boys several times over the years," Trudy murmured thoughtfully. "But our last encounter was rather unfortunate."
"Oh, how so?"
Trudy made short work of her Laurie's abduction, and her rescue, and everything else that came after.
"This was how Matt came back into your life?"
"Yes," Trudy nodded. "Oh, I have been aware of him over the years as he stalked his way through the world, gaining that awful reputation on his way."
"He has power -- as much as he tries to restrain and bury it; you only have to look at him to see it, and that makes some people nervous." Seline said quietly.
"Yes, I know, I remember the very first time I saw him."
"So do I," Seline murmured on a laugh. "I remember very well the first time that the two of you met, it was as if the whole world had just melted away, and Belle and I felt like intruders, in a very private scene.
"We did wonder where the two of you disappeared to," Trudy grinned.
"I'll just bet you did... eventually!"
"Well, anyway," Trudy cleared her voice in embarrassment and the colour came to her cheeks.
Seline was reminded of the girl that she had been, and she smiled, as a vague idea formed in her mind.
"Even though I do not condone what the Frawnings boys did," Trudy went on unaware of her friend's silent plotting. "I suppose it does suggest that they are aware of their deficiency, that they see the solution in a similar way to how Jonathon Richards might see it."
"Yes, let's hope that they are willing to make the changes necessary as well then."
**
Trudy spent almost the whole week at Seline's home for female shifters -- young girls and women who had been orphaned or abandoned or who had simply fled, from some intolerable situation. It was the latter that most of the girls seem to fit into, a problem that Seline has spotted a long time ago, in her role on the council. But when the council had refused to intercede despite her repeated pleas for assistance, then she had turned her back on the elders and their bigoted ways and gone her own way -- on her own cause.
Seline had some wealth in her own right, when she started her project, but nowhere near enough to be able to fund it all. To do the things that she wanted to do, the things that she knew were needed. It was impossible for her to go to the council for help, and she herself was without family, and only a few friends, and so in desperation she had sought out her good friend Trudy, for advice.
At that point Trudy had been mourning the end of her relationship with Matt, and the loss of her sister-in law Belle and had seemed driven on her own cause. She had been quietly buying up properties and investing in business ventures, but her first response to her friend was to hand over half of her growing fortune, and the two women became partners in their venture.
Trudy's visit this time would also give her a chance to go over the estate's household accounts, with Seline, as they did at this time every year, and the two of them would plan out what was needed for the next six months or so.
"I shall arrange for the usual funds to be moved to your account by end of the week... now how many girls are here at the moment?"
"Eight permanents, plus Cora and Caroline intermittently."
"And you have enough rooms still?"
"Yes, now that Beth and Pru have moved out and into their own places, their rooms are still empty."
She smiled widely. "They both visit as often as they can, but if they stay then they bed down wherever, and both of them have donated to the home -- there, look."
Trudy had noticed the new column and had meant to ask -- thinking that perhaps she had found a new private benefactor -- or something.
"Can they afford it?" Trudy asked.
"Yes, oh yes. They both wanted to start contributing back, as soon as they started earning, but we discussed it at length and agreed that when they achieved enough money to cover their own needs and left more than five hundred a month spare, then they would pay over half of what the amount was."
"They were always good girls." Trudy smiled.
"Yes, they were -- in spite of their rotten start in life. They both keep their ears to the ground too and Pru works with social services, so if any more girls come into their sphere, then we can act quickly, before they get too deep into the system."
"Yes, part of the need to keep our society secret has been useful to this cause, with the right people in the right places to ensure no one comes to check up on the girls."
"That's true but it doesn't stop the families from causing grief sometimes." Seline sighed.
"Problems?"
"Just the one. Sandra's father and brother came a knocking recently, demanding that she return home with them; I'm afraid that we may not have seen the last of them."
