Chapter 2

“Sylvia, it’s Father Tom.”

“Hello, Father...” the voice held a mixture of hope and trepidation.

“I’ve spoken with Dulcie Chesterman. She needs to speak to Sharlene some more, and she has some family issues of her own to resolve, but she’s open to seeing you. She will contact me to make arrangements, but I imagine it will be a few days at least.”

A sigh. “Do you know...”

“I don’t know anything, except that I have complete confidence in God, and in Dulcie’s relationship with Him.”

“Okay.”

“Keep coming here, and, of course I’m here for you too.”

“Thank you.”

The elderly priest hung up, and whispered a prayer for the woman he’d just been talking to. The woman, Sylvia Smith, took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Sharlene Smith left school and, as she often did, went home via the church. It was actually not too far out of the way, since the Billings had moved out of the High Street flat into a house on the Hythe.

She stood in the centre aisle, and gazed up at the hanging Rood Cross. “Emmanuel...”

“Yes, little sister?”

She glanced round, but no male figure was there. She wasn’t upset; the Presence, and the voice was real enough. “My mother...”

“Your mother always loved you, she just lost sight of that.”

“Thank you. But I want to help. I don’t understand what the problem is.”

“Like most people, the struggle is to be in control of her life.” A sigh, then, “She needs to come to the point where she accepts what has been done for her.”

Although she heard the words, and understood them in her head, she still did not absorb the meaning in her heart, but held them, expecting that the full understanding would follow.

Dulcie introduced her mother to her husband. There was a momentary pause before he responded conventionally; “Pleased to meet you, Ms. Jones.”

“Please call me Stella, if you will, Doctor Chesterman.”

He smiled. “If we’re being formal, it’s ‘Mister’, since I’m a surgeon, but otherwise I’m happier with ‘Richard’ ... Stella.”

She stood for a moment, meeting his eyes. “Thank you ... Richard.”

They all ate together, with Richard breaking a small bread roll before the main meal. “Let us remember Jesus...”

Stella was disconcerted by that, and again, at the end, by the goblet of red wine handed around including to the two children. “Drink, remembering Jesus...”

Nothing would do but that Stella read to Sara and Peter, and hear their prayers, so it was past eight o’clock before the adults were all sitting together in the lounge.

“I can see that you want to ask, Richard.”

“Do you want to tell me privately, as a doctor?”

“No. But if...” she looked around, and saw only compassion. “I have advanced cervical cancer, stage four. You probably noticed that I didn’t eat very much...”

“Yes.”

“The hospital in Sheffield – Weston Park – is as good as any in the country, I think. My doctor says perhaps six months. I am carrying morphine for the pain, but of course it knocks me out. When that young lady prayed for me in the church, I felt so much easier.”

“Mum,” Dulcie spoke gently, “I would like to pray for you, too.”

Stella looked at her, and a tear trickled down a cheek, followed soon after by more. “Yes, please.”

Both Dulcie and Richard stood, crossed the room, and each laid a hand on a shoulder and began to pray. Relief was immediate, but it was accompanied by unconsciousness. Dulcie and her husband looked at each other. Dulcie shrugged. “I don’t know, Darling. Usually, I just leave people and wait for them to wake up.”

He nodded. “Fair enough. But Dulcie, how do you...” he trailed off.

“I don’t know, Love. It’s called ‘grace’, I think.”

A couple of hours later, she was still asleep or unconscious, and Richard carried her upstairs to the guest room, and Dulcie, helped by Liina, undressed her. She did surface somewhat, but was encouraged to go back to sleep.

The following day, Dulcie went with her to collect her things from The Anchor Guesthouse** and move her into the Rectory.

Sam Robison had been visiting Dulcie ever since they met; the project he’d been working on was a conference centre which included a derelict chapel. The chapel was the same one that had been used to abuse vulnerable young women and girls for well over a hundred years until their activities had ended shortly after Dulcie’s arrival in Maldon. The history is told in ‘All Hallow’s Eve’, and ‘Dulcie’s New Challenge’.

Sam, though a believer, had never really accepted the reality of the ‘dark powers’ until he and his crew encountered the ambience of that old chapel and they had all been amazed at the events they witnessed when Dulcie exorcised the place. The result was that Sam had become a regular member of St. Mary’s congregation and, in talking to Dulcie, had experienced his own encounter with God. Actually, perhaps that should be ‘encounters’.

A couple of days after Stella arrived at the Rectory, Sam visited and was introduced. Dulcie had seen unexpected depths in him during their discussions, but even so, she was surprised at his warmth towards her mother. He was gentle, and didn’t press for any details of her health or her past, just accepted her words that she ‘had a terminal illness’. But he spent time with her, talked to her, took her places in his car, sometimes stopping for lunch in a pub, at least one which he trusted to provide a meal suitable for the obviously unwell woman.

At other times, Stella spent time with her grandchildren, especially Sara, who was only in the nursery school during the mornings. Both children displayed a surprising maturity, and appeared to accept her frailty.

Released from the necessity to attend to her mother, Dulcie didn’t neglect her, but she did look into bringing Sharlene’s mother south from Stowmarket.

Sylvia Smith arrived in Maldon and was duly installed the only remaining bedroom in the Billing’s house, which was tiny. She refused, politely but definitely, to let Sharlene give up her room. “You need your space, for a desk, if nothing else.” That being indisputable, Sharlene, and Helen and Geoff gave in.

Helen:

I have to say I was uneasy about having Sharlene’s mother staying with us. I trust Geoff implicitly – I really do – but I still get some feelings of inadequacy from time to time. Besides, she hadn’t done a great job of looking after Sharlene. However, neither Geoff nor I could detect any insincerity in her and as I was again pregnant, I became very grateful for her help around the house.

As to the reason she was with us, though ... She came to church with us, f’sure. We prayed for her, certainly; individually and together – but somehow, she didn’t seem able to assimilate something that she needed to understand. And we, and Father Tom, somehow couldn’t fathom what was missing.

Dulcie, perhaps understandably, spent quite some time with her mother. Not a lot of time; she didn’t have a lot of time to spare. But overall, they caught up on twenty-some years of no contact. During the catching-up, Dulcie constantly had to reassure her mother that she was forgiven; that Dulcie was in a good place, a happy place, and one which she might not have found had her home life been different.

The doctors might have said ‘six months’, but Stella was clearly going downhill fast. She’d been at the Rectory about a month when it became necessary for her to remain in bed. Liina prepared savoury soups, and lemonade. Someone sat with her nearly all the time; mostly ladies from church who had time to spare. Jeanne Stevenson, Bridget Cameron, Delia Westwood, all sat with her regularly.