Second Chances

I asked where they had planned on sleeping tonight, stupid question really. Nowhere. Anywhere they could find some shelter and hopefully a little bit of warmth.

"Look, I know you don't know me but there are three spare bedrooms here, Emma already slept here last night. I can't let you just go back out there, it's only late afternoon, but there's already frost on the car windows. It's going to be another cold one. Would you like to stay the night? No strings. You heard me tell the vicar where you were coming."

Ruth looked nervous, Emma looked hopeful. I think a night in a warm bed and the shower were tempting.

I wouldn't fancy a night out of doors tonight but I could understand the reluctance. "If it helps Emma's room has a lock on the door - it was my daughter's room and she liked her privacy. If you want to share the room you can lock the door, then you know you'll be safe."

With a bit of reluctance they agreed. Emma looked happy about it, Ruth still seemed unsure.

We did the usual Christmas things, ate lots and watched TV. I was almost embarrassed to open my few presents in front of them - again family tradition, you didn't open presents till Christmas Day. I had a few from friends and colleagues at work and one from each of the kids. I phoned New Zealand late enough to be sure Sarah was up, and spoke to her for a while, said Merry Christmas to James, her husband. We picked at the turkey and made cold turkey sandwiches plus salad for supper. Looking from outside we might even have looked a bit like a family. It was definitely a surreal Christmas.

Chapter 4

Boxing day Ruth and I were both up reasonably early, Emma slept in, typical teenager, but also possibly her body still recovering from her hypothermia only less than two days ago. Over breakfast I talked to Ruth.

"Look, I don't know your story." I held up my hand as she was about to speak.

"I'm not prying, you can tell me if and when you want, or not at all. But you both are living rough. The weather is not predicted to get any better for several days - that North wind is coming from the Arctic. Emma could have died out there - she was in hypothermia when I found her. I get the impression you are a good person just having bad luck.

"Look, you didn't have to start looking after Emma. The fact you were prepared to help a young girl speaks volumes itself. I've got the room as you've seen. This house is too big for me, but the memories keep me here. You are welcome to stay until you get back on your feet again." This was odd from me - I'd become quite a private person.

"What's in it for you? I won't let you touch Emma."

"God, woman, I'm not after Emma. She's just run away from that situation. I'm trying to help. Look, my daughter is just a few years older than Emma. If she were in Emma's shoes I hope someone in my place would help her out. And you keep showing you're a good person, looking out for her. Emma needs help; I'm willing to help her. You can be her chaperone/Mother figure. Whatever you want."

"I'll talk it over with Emma."

I sent a couple of e-mails to the kids thanking them for my presents and hoping their Christmas had been good. Emma came down in time for lunch, and ate well. She already looked a bit better with just a couple of days of food and warmth. They had talked upstairs and agreed to stay a few days - very open-ended.

I made a decision - if they were going to leave to live rough again at least I could get them warm, waterproof clothes.

"Come on, I said, we need to go shopping."

We started at Tesco's, where I told them to get some clothes that fit them instead of Sarah's oversized/undersized clothes. Ruth was wary again

"Look Ruth, I can afford it. Just get some new, warm clothes. I'm paying. Please."

We then went to Go Outdoors and got good quality waterproof boots and thick, thermal jackets, hats and gloves.

Back home, Ruth offered to help with dinner. Was she finally thawing to me, starting to trust?

Emma offered a bit more. She had lived near Keighley, north of Leeds. She went to the Midlands to be well away if her Stepfather tried looking for her. And 'No' she was definitely not going back. She'd gradually become distanced from her mother and her suggestion she sleep with her stepfather was the last straw. She had left school after her GCSEs and enrolled at her local college. She had started a Nursing and Midwifery course, with a view to becoming a midwife. Although her home life had not been the best I got the impression that she was actually clever. She certainly could hold a decent conversation.

Ruth still wouldn't say much about herself.

Chapter 5

We fell in almost domesticity. On the 29^th I noticed both girls back in Sarah's clothes, their new clothes in the wash. Back shopping, this time I told them to get several changes. Emma seemed happy to pick up lots, Ruth less so. I had a little word with Emma, and more things Ruth's size went into the trolley. I also told them to get some cosmetics - I had a good working knowledge of these things having sold then extensively in the shops, but they are essentially a very personal thing, so they each needed to pick what the liked\what suited their skin types. Again Emma got far more than Ruth. I suspect she thought that she may as well take advantage of my generosity, she didn't know how long it was going to last.

On one of my outings by myself I went back to St Jude' and spoke to the vicar again. Yes. They were doing a New Year's Day lunch for the homeless, this time at St Mary's, the Catholic Church. They were looking for volunteers, did I want to help.

I had been invited to a Hogmanay Party, but with my house guests, I declined. We had a quiet evening in, watched Jules Holland's Hootenanny to bring in the New Year and went to bed by 1am.

At 10.30, after breakfast on the first I told the girls to get their coats, we were going out. I explained on the way that I had been back to see the vicar of St Jude's and that I had volunteered us all to help feed the homeless at today's lunch. I told them that I'd lived in town for all my life and never realised the level of homelessness there was.

Lunch was a success. I helped in the kitchen, Ruth and Emma acted as servers. Several of the homeless recognised Ruth - she had obviously been living rough in the area for a while. Fewer recognised Emma, she had only been in town a couple of weeks. A number of the helpers came to talk to me, and a couple of them even recognised me from the shop. They asked about myself and why I was helping and about my two companions. I explained that I was helping them out during a difficult phase of their lives, and their plight had prompted me to offer my services today.

We got back home tired but happy. Just before bed Ruth touched my arm and said thank you to me for helping out at the dinner today. I got Goosebumps all up my arm from that simple gesture.

The following Saturday night I got another surprise when Ruth asked if I would take her to church the following morning. When I asked her which one she replied

"Any, God will be in all of them."

Emma wasn't keen on going so we left her in bed and went to the early morning communion service at St Jude's. It was a long time since I had taken communion, but when Ruth went up I just followed along. The vicar was delighted to see two new faces at the service. He did recognise me but as I said I tended to be a once a year church goer. While out, I spoke to Ruth about Emma. The local college did similar courses to the one she abandoned when she ran away, but as most of that time was holiday I wondered if she could transfer her course here. Again Ruth questioned me on why I was helping.

"I can't really give you an answer, Ruth. I just seems the right thing to do. When I sold the business I became quite rich. Not stinking rich, but I'll never need to work again. Maybe this is just me giving something back. Whatever the reason, I'm willing to sponsor her to get back into education. What do you think?"

Again her answer was that she would talk to Emma about it.

Chapter 6

We made an appointment with the principal of the college, all three of us went. First of all I found out that yes, she could transfer to the college. They could get her records from her previous college and assuming the courses were compatible and that she wasn't too far behind she could continue. If the courses were too far apart then she would need to restart college after the Summer holiday, effectively missing/wasting eight months.

I explained that Emma was estranged from her family and did not want any contact unless she instigated it, so this would need to be done with the understanding that her previous college would not tell anything about the request, preventing her being traced to here.

Within a week Emma started college in a similar course, close enough to her old one that she could cope with the transfer.

I sent her out with Ruth and my credit card to buy more clothes, and college supplies. While they were out I went to Curry's and bought a student laptop, laptop case, internet security, and a mobile phone. I wanted her to be able to communicate with me and Ruth if she needed to. I also bought a mobile for Ruth, again if Emma needed her she needed to be able to contact her.

Emma was over the moon, Ruth still reluctant to accept anything of value. She kept saying that she would repay me when she started working. I agreed as when I had previously said about not owing me she refused to take anything.

When I dropped Emma off at college her first day Ruth asked me to drop her off in town, saying she would get a bus back. Instead I arranged to meet her at lunchtime. We went to a local pub for lunch, and she told me she had been and registered as unemployed, looking for work. I think the idea was to get a job and get somewhere to stay for her and Emma to get away from my place.

St Jude's had a coffee morning every Tuesday so I took her along the following day after dropping Emma off at college again. She chatted to the helpers and the vicar and next thing I knew was she was volunteering to help the following week, and with the Thursday lunch for the elderly of the parish. The vicar chatted to me about her. I couldn't tell him much - she had been homeless, obviously had a good heart with taking care of Emma when she first came to town, but that she hadn't told me much more, and I didn't want to force her. I was waiting for her to trust me enough to tell me her story in her own time. Although I didn't think she was much above thirty, she mothered Emma. However she obviously trusted me enough that she did move into a separate bedroom, opposite Emma's. The day after I went to B&Q ,bought a lock for the door and installed it. She didn't say anything but I hoped it made her feel safe. I told the vicar, Father David, it was starting to feel like a family house again, not just me and two guests.

Emma seemed to be doing well at college, Ruth helped at church two days a week, and was also looking for a job. As part of her unemployment benefit, she was required to be actively looking for work, especially via the internet. And she had to have proof by using certain websites specified by the UBO (Unemployment Benefits Office). A bit nervously she asked if she could use my laptop. After the first, week, when she would spend several hours a day as required on the net, I paid another visit to Curry's and soon was the owner of a new laptop. Ruth continued to use my old one. One night I logged onto the laptop and changed its name from Mark's laptop to Ruth's laptop. She didn't make a huge fuss, but she did put her hand on my arm that evening just before bedtime and with a shy smile said thank you. I got those goosebumps again.

A month went by. Emma was gaining confidence; she had put on weight and was looking really good. College were having a Valentine's Day dance and she had said she wanted to go. A sexy sixteen year old, although I knew I wasn't her father but was at the moment 'in loco parentis', I knew she was going to break hearts. Ruth wasn't too keen about the dance, but I didn't want to say a straight 'No'. We had no real jurisdiction over Emma, except that she did seem to respect the 'house rules' and kept her room clean. I didn't really want to go into her room; I felt it important that she have her 'Private Space'. Ruth, I know, did do some tidying in Emma's room, changed her bed sheets and stuff.

From the nervous-aggressive scruffy individual I had talked to on Christmas morning Emma had transformed into a beautiful, even tempered, hard working young student, helped in no small measure by Ruth. I spoke to Emma and said Ruth was worried about the dance. She promised me she would behave and that we could both take her and pick her up at the end of the evening. Ruth still seemed a bit reluctant but she knew she didn't really rule Emma either, although she did mother her quite a bit. Occasionally Emma would say 'Yes Mummy' if she felt Ruth was getting a bit oppressive.

The week before the dance Ruth failed to come down on the Tuesday morning before I took Emma to college, which was unusual. When I came back she was still upstairs. I made her a coffee and took it up to her room. She didn't answer her door when I knocked, or called. I tried, it wasn't locked.

I cracked the door open and called that I was bringing in a coffee and entered. The room was dark and smelled bad, I turned on the light. Ruth looked terrible, had obviously been sick in the night and was still lying in it. She was burning up and obviously ill. Over the last month she had gained weight, her skin had improved and her hair had regained its lustre. Now, she looked terrible. I opened the curtains and opened the window to air the room.

I helped Ruth to the bathroom; she was so weak she could barely walk by herself. While she was in the bathroom I stripped and remade her bed, but the room still smelled unpleasant, so I moved her into the fourth bedroom. She had managed to wash her face, but there was still vomit in her hair. I had her kneel by the bath and rinsed her hair for her, then shampooed it and washed out the lather. She managed to wrap her hair up in a towel then I helped her back to bed.

I phoned my GP. Obviously Ruth wasn't registered there, probably not anywhere locally. When you are living rough and have no address, you're not likely to get a doctor to accept you. Fortunately, although I was fairly healthy, I knew my Doc well through both the pharmacy and also from when Sue had the cancer. I persuaded him to register her with the practice and make a house visit.

Acute gastric flu was the diagnosis, probably only last 24 hours, but because Ruth was still underweight, and with the previous lifestyle, he thought her immune system was probably a bit suppressed so it might take longer to recover. He injected Ruth with an anti-emetic, and urged bed rest for two or three days. I had some bottles of Lucozade Sport in the cupboard so I left one with Ruth to sip.

I made myself a coffee and took it back up, brought a chair from the other bedroom and sat with her. She was weak, and sat half the time with her eyes closed, but not actually asleep. I had brought up a big bowl too in case! After half an hour Ruth tried to sit up. "I'm going to be sick again!" I held the bowl under her chin and sure enough she threw up again. I took the bowl and washed it out, then filled it with cold water, and took her toothbrush and toothpaste through. Hopefully a fresh mouth would make her feel a bit better. She settled down again and did fall asleep.

I had lunch, kept a check on Ruth through the afternoon before picking Emma back up. She was worried about Ruth, but I told her the doctor had visited and she had only been sick once since. Ruth slowly improved, the Doc popped in to check on her on the Friday, and declared her recovering well. I pampered her - wouldn't let her do anything and made her sit in the warmth of the lounge. She was pleased when three ladies from the church came to visit; obviously I'd told Father David why she wouldn't be helping for a week or two.

Thursday was Valentine's Day. Emma was excited, finished early and came home to dress up. I'd taken her out again at the weekend and we'd got 3 nice dresses, so she had a choice when she went out. I also got her to pick a couple in Ruth's size. One was in autumn browns, the other a deep forest green. I thought that the green would set her hair off perfectly.

I told Ruth to dress nicely when Emma was getting ready. I put on a smart pair of pinstripe trousers, a good shirt and a silk tie. Ruth wore the green dress and looked lovely despite the fact she was still not fully recovered from the sickness. I'd booked dinner for us at Gino's, a small Italian 15 minutes away. The food, as always, was brilliant. Gino himself came out to see us. Sue and I had come here for special occasions before the cancer. I think Gino wanted to see who I had brought. He sat with us for five minutes and chatted mainly with Ruth.

Emma was on a high when we picked her up. She had had a great time, and felt she was fitting in and making friends. We gave another girl from her course a lift home too. The following day she told Emma that she thought her Mum and Dad were cool. Emma thought it a laugh, but didn't say we weren't her parents.

Chapter 7

Life progressed much the same for the next few weeks. Easter was a big celebration at the church and Ruth became more involved. As a result I got dragged in to help too. Emma was getting excellent reports from college. I told Emma that if she continued to do well a college I would pay for driving lessons for her during the Summer holidays. My 'family' were settling in.

Ruth had started to visit some of the elderly of the parish to help; make meals, clean house, shop for the more housebound ones, sometimes just to sit and have a chat. When she had applied for Unemployment Benefit she had been required to get a bank account, for them to pay her unemployment benefit into. Obviously with my wealth the bank manager wanted to keep me happy so was prepared to open an account for Ruth at my address, although with her history of homelessness they would usually have been reluctant to be so forthcoming. I sweetened the deal by lodging a thousand in the account to start it. After she increased her time helping at church I asked her to stop looking for a job. "Why," she asked.

"Do you think what you are doing at church is helping people?"

"Of course. Most of the the ones I visit are elderly. Many of them are lonely. As well as a bit of help round the house, what they really crave is companionship. In many cases we just chat over a cup of tea. There's already a rota for some of the ladies at church do this, but there's more people needing help than they can visit."

"I've talked with Father Dave about what the church needs, to help more. Money obviously, but more bodies on the ground. I was thinking of offering to pay for someone to do just what you are doing. I could give the money to the church and they would pay it to you, but then you get into the realms of paying tax. Isn't it better if I just put the money for it into your account? I'm not giving it to you, you're earning it." Then I had another thought, "Ruth, can you drive?"

"I took lessons and passed my test when I was in college. I never had a car so haven't driven since."

I arranged an intensive refresher course and insured her on a small runaround. She was a bit reluctant, but did seem to accept it a bit more readily than previous efforts I'd made. I explained that it would help her get round and help more people than if she had to wait for the bus to get her between visits.

A couple of months later Father David had asked me to help move some furniture, heavy stuff, at the church hall. I got home for lunch to find Ruth feeding a little girl, maybe 4 to 5 years old. She was supposedly 'educationally challenged' and her parents had given up on her, dumped her with her Grandmother and disappeared. The Grandmother had been a regular attendee to the Thursday lunch at St Jude's. When she missed three lunches in a row the church checked on her. The following Thursday Ruth collected her then looked after the little one while Grandma Joan had lunch. This became a regular occurrence for several weeks. Then Ruth went to pick up Joan and found her collapsed - she had had a stroke. The ambulance took Joan off to hospital, and Ruth brought the little one back to the ,church. After speaking to Father Dave, Ruth then brought her home. She briefly explained the situation to me.