One month later they moved out of the shelter, but they did so with more than they came in with. They also took Jacob with them. He had formed an attachment to Julie and Heather and Ralph now wanted to adopt the boy having lost his own son. His counsellors were somewhat skeptical initially. They figured that he was merely taking Jacob as a substitute for his son and they needed to be convinced otherwise before they would sanction it. Well apparently Ralph convinced them, or maybe Jacob had, but they were all going to be a family now. They would all still be receiving therapy, probably for some time too – but they were getting there. Pat would be the lady of the house and probably cluck around like a mother hen for quite a while until she found peace herself and settled down once more. These things take time, but they now had plenty of that and they were grateful for simply being alive.
Andre and Paul were quite sad to see Jacob leave. They were happy for him, he was going to a nice family who would care for him and raise him to be a fine young man – but they were going to miss him. They now realized just how attached they had grown to the boy. It had just sort of crept up on them, but his departure was a real loss to them and one they both felt deeply. Jacob had become a feature, darting around here and there doing odd jobs and helping out. Yes, both men were going to miss him and this was something they had not been prepared for.
Maureen and Gwen were both made aware of that fact when they arrived home that night. They both had their ears chewed off as Paul and Andre talked incessantly about young Jacob and all the things that he had done and how much they would miss him. Clive did adopt Jacob some time later and he subsequently met and married a young widow and they were now one happy family. Jacob still kept up with Paul and Andre and they both deeply appreciated that over the years.
However, in ranting on about Jacob the way that they did, it told the women something about them. They would both make good Dads. Paul had already proposed to Maureen –he just hadn’t bought the ring or made a formal announcement yet. So Maureen was half-way there. To the best of her knowledge, Andre had yet to make such a pronouncement; certainly Gwen had never mentioned it. Maureen felt she had no choice now; she had to tell Gwen that Paul had proposed and that they were just waiting for the right time to make it official.
“You know Gwen, Andre is just as much in love with you as you are with him. I know that, given your persuasive talents, you could get him to smell the roses and guide him gently down that path. Trust me; he’ll drink if you show him the water first.”
Both women laughed at that remembering a former conversation on a similar theme.
That night Gwen took Maureen’s advice and received the expected response. It was as if a light went on in his head and revealed this brilliant idea. It had been presented subtly and Andre genuinely thought that what he was about to say was purely his idea.
“You know Gwen; my life has improved beyond all measure since I met you. In fact I can’t imagine living without you. Here we are living together in this apartment and sharing our lives together. It occurs to me that I would be totally lost without you. So Mrs. Holt in order to prevent me losing you and being broken hearted, will you become my wife so we can live together forever?”
Gwen, of course, acted with the customary surprised response and threw herself at him in totally rapture, leaving him in no doubt as to her feeling on the matter – throwing a big “Yes” in there somewhere as she swallowed him whole in that passionate embrace.
Maureen and Gwen were high fiving each other the following morning over that achievement. Until the actual moment of the men’s proposals, both women felt somewhat insecure over their past. The men said it didn’t matter and certainly acted like it didn’t – but did it matter deep down? Living together was one thing, getting married and having a family was another. Could they be proud of them as a wife and mother perhaps? They tried to minimize that thought, but they couldn’t totally dismiss it – until that proposal was made. Once it was that was it, they knew for sure now that their past was definitely not an issue for these men, now they knew they had meant what they said. Actions did indeed speak louder than words and both women no longer had any doubts. These two Unicorns were now permanently caged – and it was their idea too – or so they thought.
***
As they were high fiving each other in the kitchen Rachel walked in.
“Oh my, you two are in high spirits today, what am I missing?”
“Andre proposed last night said Gwen and Paul proposed to Maureen last week.”
“Well now congratulation to you both, I couldn’t be happier. When will you be making the official announcement, or is this it?”
“Oh no, we’ll let the guys do that – we don’t want to appear eager.”
All three women now just howled with laughter.
“No indeed, that would not be right at all ladies” said Rachel, and they all howled with laughter again.
“Let me know when it is official, Tony would like to know this for sure, he thinks the world of you guys.”
“Well the guys need time to get the rings first. They haven’t even been looking yet I don’t think said Maureen.”
“Hmm, ask them to come and see me about that. I just might be able to help out on that. My friend Alicia’s husband has a connection in Singapore who does fantastic work. His prices are very reasonable too – but his workmanship is exquisite, look.”
With that Rachel extended her hand and showed them her ring.
“He made this one for me and Cathy Braxton had hers made by him too. In fact quite a few of my friends have jewellery made by him and some of it is truly gorgeous. I can ask Alicia to ask her husband and see if he still has some designs he can show you. John is a great guy; he’s a pilot for Transglobal – that’s how he came to find this man and his work. Anyway, if I can set it up you can see some pictures and make a selection if you see something that you like.”
The following morning all four of them were sitting in Rachel’s office looking over a wide variety of engagement rings. The pictures themselves merely showed catalogue numbers – the prices were on a separate sheet. The ladies saw the rings the men saw the prices – that’s how it worked. Both the Women and the Men were surprised. The women were simply awed by the selection and the quality of the designs, and the men by the affordability of them all. So far as they were concerned the two women could pick anything at all that they liked – it was all within their price range. Those rings were all beautiful and both women had a difficult time in choosing the one that they liked the most. Andre and Paul were consulted as to what they thought of their selection and they of course duly agreed and fully endorsed it. They could see that the women were so excited by their choice and they were not going to prick that balloon. Everything on that sheet looked fabulous – so as far as the men were concerned whatever they selected was just fine with them. The two women also commented on the wedding rings, pointing out which ones they preferred and then came as a matched set in some cases too – both men simply grunted an acknowledgement and turned their attention back to the engagement rings. It would take maybe two weeks or so to get them, but they could wait that long – but it would be an excited wait. They were engaged now and to two wonderful men – walking down the aisle was next. They had more or less got engaged together – why not get married together? It was a thought, but they would need to discuss it a little more first. It might also help if they mentioned it to their fiancés beforehand too. They just might have an interest in the matter – but they would more than likely go with the flow - if they had any sense.
***
Rachel was working late one night when the police knocked on the Shelter’s door. They had a young woman with them who had been roughed up and was obviously in mental distress. It turned out that she was sexually confused and she wasn’t too sure whether or not she was bi-sexual, gay or straight. He father however had no such confusion – she was twisted and therefore no longer welcome in his house. He had caught her with anothe
r woman and simply gone ballistic and thrown her out in the street. His wife had left him for another woman several years back and he was still not over that. It was not done quietly either and the whole street knew exactly why she was being forcefully evicted. The young woman was totally devastated by this. She knew her Dad had strict views, but she could never imagine he would do that to her regardless of her sexuality and preferences.
Rachel would certainly take her in for now, but this would not qualify for the full term treatment of six weeks. Harsh as that may sound, other cases were far more urgent. She would receive counselling in the morning from a social worker in the form of an explorative interview to establish the facts of the situation. Her father would then be paid a visit to see how things stood with him. No judgments were being made, but if reconciliation was a possibility that was the way they would go first. Often the initial shock makes people react violently and they regret it in the cool light of reflection. Whether that would happen in this case remained to be seen.
Maureen spoke to the young woman right after the social worker had seen her. She had calmed down a little now, but she was still dismayed by it all. She loved her Dad and never in a million years would she have imagined him throwing her out. It was the only home she had ever known and she lived there with her two younger sisters and an older brother. Well it all worked out well in the end for this young woman. Her brother had gone to bat for her and persuaded her dad that he had gone too far. So what if she was gay or whatever, she was the same person, the same sister and still a member of the family. You don’t stop loving someone over this and you damn sure don’t kick them out. Apparently he had been quite heated on the subject and this in turn had shocked her father. So much so that he decided that he had perhaps acted rashly in this instance. When the social worker called round she met a whole new man, a far more enlightened man – thanks to her elder brother. Gwen took her home that afternoon and it was a very tearful reunion and one filled with apology as he dad hugged her to death and told her loved her regardless. He had been blinded by rage at what he had seen and he lashed out in frustration. His rage was aimed at her mother not at her and he just lost it. He had been wrong to do so and would she please forgive him? He would always love her and he was so, so sorry for his irrational outburst. The daughter duly forgave her dad - amidst a flood of tears from both of them. This story was one of the more positive ones and it was these that made your day at the Shelter - sometimes.
The days were simply flying by it seemed, it was Fall already and they all felt that Spring had only just ended. Where the summer had gone they just didn’t know. The residents of both the Women’s Shelter and the Man Cave had changed and new casualties had taken their place. Their problems were still the familiar ones, only the faces had changed. The economy was not doing so well right now, businesses were laying off people and certainly not hiring new recruits fresh out of college. These were tough days for a large number of people and the stresses and strains were evident as more people were showing up in the Shelter. The Man Cave saw a few of these cases, but it was the Shelter who was more involved with the aftermath of unemployment and the frustrations it caused. This would in turn led to alcohol related fury and taking it out on other members of the family. The problem was huge and far more victims were out there that ever showed up at the Women’s Shelter. Heading towards the Christmas period with no money to buy presents for their families was a stressor for many unemployed men and they didn’t cope very well with that. Al Anon meetings were very well attended at such times – but that didn’t help the pain. The Shelter did offer refuge from the storm – but only temporarily.
Chapter Sixteen
***
A few weeks later Andre and Paul were in Toronto when the stumbled upon a vagrant begging for cash for his drug habit. He was asking for food money, but one look at him told you the truth. He was dirty unkempt and limping badly dragging his leg behind him. All in all he was in a sorry state. As the two men were casually walking by, Andre suddenly stopped short and then turned back. The man was wearing a pin in his lapel, a military pin. As he reached out to touch it the man withdrew in terror. It was then that Paul recognized the man. He had served in Paul’s regiment, but he was not in Paul’s company. When he called his name the man withdrew even more. When Paul told Andre who he was Andre suddenly remember him, he had been a sergeant out there in Afghanistan in B Company. What the hell could have happened to him to end up like this? He had been fearless out there in the desert and his men swore by him –how could he have wound up here on the streets of Toronto in this state? They had no idea what he had gone through to end up like this – but they were going to try to fix it. He was coming back to the Man Cave with them – whether he liked it or not. He was afraid of his own shadow right now –so something terrible must have happened to him somewhere along the way. He was displaying sever PTSD symptoms and he was obviously a drug addict too. He had been a man they respected out there in Afghanistan – now he had been reduced to this. Having experienced their own traumas with PTSD they could empathize with him. How they could help him they were not sure, but they were going to make enquiries to see if someone could – he should not have ended up like this.
When they took him back to the Cave that night they could see that his nerves were shot and he was terrified of them. Paul then decided to take him home instead hoping that the sight of a woman would calm him down a little. It did to some degree, but it was obvious that he didn’t trust Maureen. The following morning they found out why and all the other details would follow over time. While his service over in Afghanistan had caused his PTSD, it was when he arrived home that the trouble started. He had been shot in the thigh over there and his nerves had been damaged. He had been flown to Germany to be operated on and by and large the operation had been successful - or so they thought. However when he got home his wife could see he was not the man she had married and she sought solace elsewhere. It was clandestine at first and then slowly she let him see what was going on leaving subtle clues around for him to find and figure out what she was doing behind his back. When he confronted her about it she told him the truth and she moved in with the guy a few days later. It was then that he went off the rails. The booze and the drugs came first and then the bar fights followed. It was during one of these they he was set upon by two men who beat him up badly and basically kicked the hell out of him. He was hospitalized for quite some time, but the damage to his leg had been severe and had left him with a limp – one that progressively worsened. He was out of the military now – so they no longer wanted to know – he was a civilian problem now. He certainly had no money to pay for surgery on his leg and so he basically fell between the cracks. Drunken drug addicts are seldom at the top of medical waiting lists when it comes to elective surgery and so the downward spiral continued. This was how he ended up on the streets.
The story itself was a familiar one, so many of our troops had experienced similar scenarios once they came home. They were changed men and their wives couldn’t handle it. Andre and Paul were by no means condemning them for this – they could clearly understand why and they did not blame them for not standing by their man. They knew what they had been like before, and expecting a woman to live with that for the rest of her life was a very tall order indeed. Some do of course and they wait it out as their men go through hell but finally emerge as a normal human being again. Their patience is rewarded – but it was a very hard road to walk down.
When Tony was told of this man’s plight he stepped up immediately and had him enrolled in a rehabilitation facility. It was a dual treatment center that handled both drug and stress related issues and had a stellar reputation. In addition to providing treatment for this poor man –Tony also went the extra mile. He didn’t tell anyone, he just went ahead and did it. He arranged for a leading orthopedic surgeon and a neurologist to do whatever they could for the Sergeant and to make him as right as they possibly could. Mentally he was fine now; he just nee
ded his leg fixed.
***
Paul and Andre had no idea how he was doing during this period, apart from the fact that he was responding to treatment. That was all the information they had. However, when they saw the man again nearly a year later they were totally blown away by what they saw. He still had a slight limp, but it was barely perceptible and he looked fantastic. He was well dressed and had a military bearing about him and he just had that commanding presence. Tony had hired him for one of his plants as a foreman and that’s why he had showed up at the Man Cave to say thank you to Andre and Paul. Sergeant Peter Bradshaw was now back to normal.
He had casually walked in the Man Cave one morning and into Paul’s office. Paul nearly fell over when he saw him.
“Peter, is that really you? Man you look great.”
“Yeah, well I believe I have you and La Chance to thank for that.”
“Hey you’d have done the same for us, Pete, and you know it.”
“Probably, but you are the guys that actually did it. You could so easily have turned and walked away when you saw the mess I was back then.”
“Sure we could, but what would that say about us if we had? Andre and I have our own issues with PTSD. They are fading away now slowly, but we could see the pain that you were in and we just couldn’t ignore it, Pete, we couldn’t. We brought you back here and told our boss and he took it from there. After that he just told us that you were doing Okay and you were responding to treatment.”
“Well let me tell you what kind of guy your boss really is. Not only did he send me to that treatment center he also paid for my surgery and then on top of that sent me to school to learn a few basics about management skills in civilian life. Apparently the unions are not too big on military discipline and yelling at the workers.”