Chapter 5

Isa was silent for some time as she pondered her options in the face of the challenge I had set before her. Would she opt for the status quo or step into the relatively unknown with all the changes to her life it might bring?

"Have you received another visit from Michael and has he spoken to you again?" she asked.

"Yes!" I told her "But this time a second figure appeared with him. It was a woman and she called herself Theresa and claimed to be your guardian. It was this woman who spoke to me about your future."

"What was the message you received?" Isa asked.

"She revealed to me the abuse you had suffered at the hands of your father and spoke to me about the effect which this had on your life," I told her. "She was concerned about the way it had affected your relationships with others and especially with men. I think she was concerned about the way this limited your life experiences and put a limit on the happiness and fulfilment that you could achieve. She also gave me clues about a future that would bring you greater happiness if you want to go down that road."

"I seem to sense reluctance in you to tell me exactly what she said," Isa said. "You come to the brink of revealing something and then you back off. Why is that?"

"I am not at all reluctant," I replied. "It is just that I was made aware the changes would disrupt the comfortable if limited existence that you have built for yourself. It calls upon you to face new challenges in your life. I want you to be aware of this before you make any decision. There is also the fact that from this point on if I reveal what was said to me I will be revealing things about the lives and feelings of others. If you then choose to stay as you are, then this knowledge might change your attitude to them. This in turn would have unforeseen consequences which might alter your life in ways that would not have happened without that knowledge. So even if you don't want to change your way of life and its course it could still be altered in ways that were not intended."

"So you are saying that if you tell me what you know, then even if I choose to stay as I am, my life might well be changed anyway?" Isa asked.

"Theresa did not say that," I told her. "But on thinking about it, this is my personal conclusion. I am sure because of the persons involved there is a strong possibility this could happen."

Aunt Isa hesitated again as she once more thought about what I was saying.

"I can see how it might happen," she agreed. "If that is the case then it seems to me that just listening to you thus far may well have changed my life already. I now known that there are other possibilities that I can choose that I would not have been aware of if you had not entered my nephew's body. I think because of this I am now forced to hear all that you have to say before I can make any kind of decision."

"Ok I will tell you everything that was revealed to me," I told her. "Several times in the course of this conversation you have spoken about your boss so I know that you are unaware of what I am going to reveal to you now. He has always admired you as a person and respected your professional abilities. Since the death of his wife, however, his feelings for you have deepened. As you have said yourself he is a very shy man who has difficulty communicating with any woman. Because of this he does not have the courage to approach you and ask you for a date. In addition to his inhibitions, he probably fears that if he did and you refused he might lose you as an employee and he does not want this to happen because he respects your talents and feels comfortable working with you."

"This comes as a great surprise to me. I had no idea that he harboured these sorts of feelings for me. Am I to take it that it is with him my guardian sees a happier future for me?" She asked.

"Yes it is," I said. "Theresa said that in a relationship with him you would never have to fear that this man would ever wrestle control of your life from you. His late wife was the one who set the pace in their relationship and with her vibrant personality she created a circle of friends in which he was able to share and with whom he felt comfortable. She was the person in control in the social situations of their domestic life."

"Theresa is right about the first part," Aunt Isa agreed. I would never be afraid Joe would hurt me in any way. But I doubt I could do for him what his first wife did. I am not very good at making friends either. We could end up as just two lonely people clinging together for support."

I smiled at these remarks for she was admitting tacitly that there was an element of loneliness in her present existence.

"Supporting each other in the way that you have just mentioned is not necessarily a bad thing. While his wife was alive the sharing with friends through the social contacts made by her widened his horizons. It did not do much to comfort him after her demise though, as most of the friends for one reason or another just faded away. Probably his shyness and inarticulateness was in a large part responsible for this."

I paused for a moment or two and then resumed speaking.

"On the other hand many couples lead a close and fulfilling life without a large circle of friends. You have to consider the fact that as children grow and move away to form their own lives the circle widens naturally. There are the parents of their friends who might for a time become your friends. Then there are spouses and grandchildren and the contacts with others which these changes bring. All these things would mean that you were far from being an isolated couple." I pointed out to her.

"Another factor in this case is Joe having a daughter about my age. She is a bright girl but has inherited something of her father's shy nature. This probably means that she is at the stage where she most needs a mother figure. At this time she is going to have the problem of coping with the feelings that that puberty brings and all the other aspects of teenage angst. This is all part of the challenge you would face." I finished.

For the almost the first time in this conversation Isa smiled at me.

"Having the boy I thought was my nephew Peter has been a joy to me and he brought something into my life I never thought I would have. Discovering that there was someone else inside his body hasn't changed my view of the initial experience. If what has been prophesied comes to pass then the bonus of having a daughter as lovely and as bright as Katy would be a thing that I would treasure," She told me.

"Just to warn you and to avoid you having to worry about it, it may also be something that I will come to treasure too, though I can't be one hundred per cent sure of that." I informed her.

"What makes you say that?" my aunt asked.

"Because when I asked Theresa why I was the one who had to do this she told me it was because of the kind of man I was. Then she went on to say that in the doing of it you will find that it brings its own reward. She told me that I would find another person who needs my help to blossom and when she does she will bring me much happiness and joy. It sounds very much like she was speaking of a shy girl like Katy. If it is, then I promise you I will never do anything to hurt her."

"After the way you have dealt with me, and knowing the kind of man you were, then I will have no difficulty believing that Peter," she said. "The thing is, if I go in the way that Theresa is indicating then in the initial stages I am going to need your help with regard to how we do it without me throwing myself at him."

"If you decide to do that, then I have an idea how to start the ball rolling in a natural way," I said to her. "But I don't think we should discuss that now. "I have given you all the facts and it is late. I think we should both get some sleep and in the morning you can let me know if you are ready to take things forward. If you are, then we can discuss tactics."

Isa agreed and we both rose to our feet. To my surprise she pulled me to her and embraced me in a hug and kissed my cheek.

"Thank you for your patience with me tonight and for your frankness about your past and the revelations which have been given to you. If what you have told me comes to pass, then I think I may be very much in your debt," she said.

"If that is the case my dear aunt, then I am only repaying some of the debt which I owe you for taking in your nephew and which I also owe to Peter for this second chance at life he has given me. I don't want us to talk of being indebted to each other but to do our best to love and care for each other because of the opportunities we have been given." I responded.

At that she gave me another hug and again kissed me on the cheek, then with a smile she said,

"I think I have been given another precious gift, the gift of a very special boy man who is my nephew. Now let's go to bed."

As I made my way to my room, I was very relieved at the way things had gone. I was also amazed at the way my aunt seemed to have taken these things in her stride despite the moments of anger. She was being much more adaptable and accepting of this new situation than I had expected her to be. I felt that it would be some time before she was able to sleep tonight, for I had left her with a lot to think about. On the upside, however, I felt sure that she was going to go with the direction Theresa had outlined for her. If that was the case, then both of us were at the start of a new and great adventure.

Next morning over breakfast my aunt told me that she had phoned her boss to say that she would be late this morning as things had cropped up at home which needed to be attended to. She informed me that she had done this because she wanted a chance to speak to me. She then told me that after much thought she had decided to take the course that Theresa had set out for her. She felt that before going to work that morning and in order to settle her mind she need to make sure she committed to this course of action by telling me this. She also stated that she needed some idea of how to go about it and asked me if I had any ideas on the subject.

"The first part should be quite easy," I told her as we sat at breakfast. "This week I will be discharged from my hospital therapy treatment as they think I am now fit enough to cope with normal life and have a programme of my own to maintain further progress. We should celebrate that and as the weather forecast is good for Saturday I think we should have a barbecue. You should tell your boss about that and say that as I have just moved here I don't really know anyone. Because of this you should ask him if he and his daughter would like to join us for the occasion. It would give you the pleasure of his company and give me a chance to get to know his daughter. You can say you are doing this since I will be starting the same school and be in the same year as her. Tell him you think it would be nice if I knew someone before beginning school. I suspect he will be more than pleased to accept."