This story has a tone of non-consent, or at least reluctance, which I had neither envisaged or intended when I began to write it; if that offends/is not to your taste, then I suggest that you skip it. Then again, it is a free country - well, here is anyway - so you can of course just read it anyway and complain in the comments section afterwards.
Even as a small child, my daughter Rachel was... difficult, her father, my husband Joseph, would explain away each episode as being 'Another of the Good Lord's tests'. Things got no better as Rachel grew into her teens, she rebelled against anything and everything Joseph stood for and held dear; though Rachel's rejection of our church was the biggest blow.
Beyond the personal disappointment of that rejection, with Joseph being our church's Pastor, it was a public slight too; doubly so as my own father, Rachel's grandfather had been our pastor before him. Joseph had been a committed member of our congregation and was elected one of the chaplains soon after we married; when my father passed a few years later, Joseph was the obvious candidate to step-up.
Things changed irrevocably on Rachel's eighteenth birthday; she came down the stairs that morning with a holdall in her hand, walked through the front door and never crossed our threshold again. We soon discovered that Rachel had moved in with a young man, a very unsuitable young man, but nothing we said could get her to return home.
But Rachel was no fool, something which always made her behaviour doubly frustrating; she remained in school, taking and passing her exams with flying colours a few months later. Rachel refused even financial help from Joseph and I, apparently funding herself through a part-time job; I always felt it might be best not to enquire too deeply into the nature of her employment.
On the back of those exam results Rachel gained a place at Exeter University; perhaps the furthest college from home that she could have chosen. On the upside, university did see Rachel separating from the vile man that she'd been living with; by then I'd discovered that he wasn't even 'young', but my entreaties on that score had been sharply rebuffed:
"Yes, I know mum, nine years older than me, disgusting isn't it... But remind me mum, how old was daddy when you married him at nineteen; was he thirty-three, or thirty-four by then?"
Rachel supported herself financially through university too, despite Joseph and I personally and the church too offering her our assistance. At the last we made our offers unconditional, dropping any requirement for Rachel to return to the church or her home, but even that offer was rejected. Instead Rachel got by on a bursary, student loans and more part-time jobs.
We gleaned through a third-party that Rachel had been equally successful with her university studies and that on their conclusion had gone overseas. Rachel apparently then went to work for various charitable organisations and travelled the world between postings; neither Joseph nor I had seen or heard from her since the day she caught the train to Exeter.
It was in 2022 that we literally bumped into each other in a local shopping centre. I was too flabbergasted to speak, I couldn't believe my eyes and wasn't even sure that it was Rachel until she spoke "Hi mum... Long time, no see." If Rachel hadn't dropped her own shopping bags to catch my arm, I suspect my legs would've buckled beneath me.
Having helped me to a nearby bench to recover my equilibrium, Rachel then led me to a nearby cafe for a restorative cup of tea and to fill me in, or at least provide a précis of the intervening years; nine of them! It seemed that Covid restrictions had put an end to her nomadic lifestyle, so she and her boyfriend had returned to England.
The two of them had set up a business refurbishing and extending houses; the boyfriend -- Jake -- sorted out the bricks and mortar side of things, while Rachel dealt with the interior design and decoration. The business had begun with them doing-up a place for a friend of Jake's during the lockdowns and grown from there; their services were apparently in high demand.
Rachel was... cordial rather than loving and divulged only that they lived 'not very far away', but she didn't give me their address or a phone number; Rachel did at least agree to meet me again, at the same café, four weeks hence. Only later did I learn that Rachel had been at the shopping mall that day to buy clothes for her wedding to Jake; that'd been on the following Saturday, Joseph and I were not invited.
Rachel kept our appointment and we continued to meet up once a month thereafter. I did eventually discover Rachel's address and her phone number too, though not directly from Rachel, so I never made use of either, nor did I divulge them to Joseph. Joseph joined me for just one of those meetings at the café; it didn't go well between Rachel and her father.
I also met Jake on a couple of occasions, when he and Rachel were apparently en-route to a business meeting afterwards. Jake seemed a pleasant enough chap, who I guessed to be much the same age as Rachel and while he wasn't within our, or indeed any church, he did seem to have curbed Rachel's wayward behaviour, which in itself was a Christian thing to do.
Things continued like that for more than a year and might still be continuing so now had Joseph not died unexpectedly from a heart attack. Unsure of the reaction I had a parishioner use the phone number I'd gleaned and got her to call Jake, leaving it to him to advise Rachel of her father's death and the funeral arrangements; neither she nor Jake attended.
Rachel did at least turn up for the café meeting we had arranged for the following week; she offered me her condolences, but seemed little effected, or even interested in Joseph's demise with regard to herself. When I mentioned this, the tone of Rachel's reply was vitriolic: "That man was never a father to me!" I didn't press Rachel further.
It was only a couple of days later that I discovered how my own circumstances had changed, though I may well not have raised the subject with Rachel anyway: With Joseph's death a new Pastor was elected and he, along with his family would be moving into our, or more precisely, the church's house; with no family of my own, tradition apparently dictated that I became a ward of the congregation.
This had not been an issue when my father had died as my own mother had died young, when I was only seventeen. It seemed I was to pack my bags and move in with one of the families and after a few months, weeks, or just days, depending upon their circumstances, I'd then be moved on to the next; I was to become a perpetual 'house-guest' for the remainder of my life.
That would be an uninviting prospect for anyone, but I was only forty-nine years old; I might easily be 'doing the rounds' for thirty years or more, my biblical namesake lived to be 127! I enquired with Social Services, but found they'd already been contacted by the new Pastor and advised of the church's offer; given the pressures they faced elsewhere, I wasn't close to being a priority.
It was a Friday afternoon, I was due to move in with the Kennedy family that evening, ahead of the Pastor's arrival on the Saturday. A large van drew up outside the house and minute later, the doorbell rang; it was Brian Kennedy and at his shoulder stood Jake. "I've just heard that your beloved church is kicking you out Sarah; you'd better come to live with us."
It was Jake's turn to catch me by the arm before I collapsed to the floor; I was every bit as astonished as I'd been that day at shopping centre. "How... Wha... What about Rachel; what does she say? Is Rachel OK with this? It won't be just for a few days, it might take months before I get to the top of the social housing list; longer still if I've moved in with Rachel and yourself."
"No matter; I've made my decision and Rachel will abide by it. We'll give her the good news when we get there. Now, let's pack-up what you need and we'll be on our way; Brian has assured me that everything you're taking will easily fit in my van."
Jake was right about that; with expectations of being forever transient I'd packed very little beyond my clothes. However, at Jake's insistence I gathered up a few more keepsakes and filled the boxes that he had brought with him. We talked as we packed -- the longest time I'd ever spent in his company -- and by the time that we'd driven back to their house, Jake had outlined his plan.
Their house seemed like a mansion compared to the pokey little house where I'd spent my whole life; their business was clearly doing even better than Rachel had inferred. My arrival wasn't a complete surprise to Rachel, Jake had telephoned her with the news as we'd been driving back; as ever, my daughter's reception was cordial but nothing more.
Having carried all my belongings into the largest and most palatial bedroom that I'd ever entered, Jake ordered a home-delivered Chinese meal and opened a bottle of fizzy wine; champagne? It was a night of firsts for me: Our church didn't proscribe alcohol, though I'd never before drunk it in the quantity we did that evening, nor had I ever tasted Chinese food; Joseph had favoured a simple diet.
Through the course of the evening Jake explained his plans to Rachel and indeed clarified the details for me: As Rachel was apparently 'always complaining' that on top work, the household chores and garden were too much for them both, I was to move in and take care of the domestic side of things, so allowing them more time to concentrate on the business.
I relished the idea, but ahead of hearing from Rachel, I tried not to let that show; I also hoped that in the fullness of time, my workload might be increased to include caring for grandchildren? Rachel was -- as ever -- cordially polite, but I got the impression that her answer was going to be 'No', until a look passed between she and Jake, whereupon Rachel smiled and agreed to 'see how it goes'.