In the Shadow of His Wings (2 page)

They headed for a nearby restaurant for lunch.

The stranger was the topic of the lunch time conversation for a few minutes but the matter was soon dropped and forgotten. Neither Lee nor Janice had really even noticed the man. There had been a few other visitors in church that day and the couple had been with them.

Lee and Janice had been good friends with Jim and Laura for years. They had first met when the Reid’s decided to send Josh and Lacey to a kids club at the Niagara Christian Center that Lee and Janice were heading up about fifteen years ago. The children loved the club and Jim and Laura were so impressed with the church they decided to check it out. Lee once had a head full of light brown hair but at this point in his life it was somewhat thinner and had mostly turned to gray. Janice was a petite woman and about half of Lee’s size. She was pleasant and soft spoken. Laura loved her like a sister and since neither woman had an actual sister, they soon felt like that’s what they were to each other. Josh and Lacey also grew attached to Lee and Janice and the couple were quickly given the honorary title of ‘Aunt and Uncle’.

Laura and Jim had a pleasant afternoon with their friends before returning home to relax for the evening. Laura sighed as she thought of some of the stressful times they had gone through in the past and quietly thanked God for her family and home.

Tomorrow was Monday and the start of another work week for Jim and Laura and another week of High School for Lacey. There were many events being planned at church for the upcoming Christmas season, Laura knew the next few weeks in the church office would be full of activity. Both Laura and Jim were so busy that they completely forgot about the strange man who called himself William at church that had made them feel uncomfortable. They hadn’t seen or thought of him since.

Chapter 2

Gerhard excitedly paced back and forth in his office. He had found her! She looked just like Christine. She was perfect! For years he had listened to his mother’s nagging and complaining. For years she had blamed him for causing Christine to run away. Thirty years ago Christine couldn’t take her mother’s possessiveness any longer.

She had had enough of her mother’s controlling nature. She was only fifteen years of age when she ran away. Gerhard was five years older than his sister and had been the man of the house since his father had died three years earlier. At the age of twenty Gerhard found he was alone with his mother, listening to her rage about how it must be his fault that Christine had run away. Gerhard didn’t see how this could be but he felt sorry for his mother and tried everything he could to make it up to her.

Life hadn’t been easy for Hilda Bloone. She had been raised by overly strict and often abusive parents in Germany. They came to Canada when she was a young girl in hopes of finding an easier life. However life in Canada proved to be far from effortless for Hilda’s family. They had settled in Manitoba and the weather there was harsh for the farming life they had chosen. Each year was a constant struggle. Hilda wanted desperately to escape the life style her parents had chosen. She had no desire to spend the rest of her days milking cows!

Hilda often rode with her father when he delivered milk or cheese to some of the local businesses. One of her favorite stops was a fancy hotel in the city of Winnipeg.

She would often slip away from her father while he was conducting business, and explore the grand lobby with its beautiful shops. She imagined what it would be like to afford such luxuries. To stay in a place like this, would surely be grand!

One day Hilda was gazing up at the fancy light fixtures, dreaming of a day when she might travel and stay in a hotel like this one. Harold, the son of the owner, noticed her from where he was working behind the lobby desk. He asked her to join him in the dining room for a coffee and a quick friendship grew.

When Hilda learned that Harold and his family were soon moving east she convinced young Harold Bloone that she would be a good wife for him and packed up moving with them. Hilda had married into a very ambitious family. The Bloone’s Winnipeg motel was doing so well they decided to branch out and open another hotel in different area. Their next acquisition was in Niagara Falls, a popular tourist spot. They were certain another one of their hotels could thrive there. Hilda and Harold settled in the Falls, with a lovely home and started a family.

Their first two pregnancies resulted in miscarriages and then Gerhard was born.

Five years later Christine came along. Two years after that Hilda was pregnant again.

Another little girl was born, her name was Elizabeth. She was beautiful with red hair and freckles. Sadly she died of crib death when she was just seven months old.

Hilda’s heart broke with each miscarriage. The birth of Gerhard and Christine brought her back to life but after Elizabeth’s death, a part of her died that seemed gone forever. She had lost her joy of life. Sadness and tears became her constant companions.

Gerhard was a precocious child who constantly tried to think of ways to make his mother laugh. He would make up plays, often playing several characters at once, running back and forth changing into different costumes. Usually making up the lines as he went along, sometimes borrowing books on skits from the public library. He would perform puppet shows, trying to get his younger sister Christine to help. The two children would practice for hours in their rooms before bringing their ‘performance’ to their mother. Gerhard would tell jokes and riddles, some borrowed from books, some he would make up himself. His mother sat and watched her children perform and occasionally she would force out a smile but most of the time she would send them outside to play so she could watch ‘her shows’ on TV. All Hilda could really feel was the deep hurt and bitterness that caused her heart to harden. Sadly she was blind to the two beautiful children who loved her and tried so hard to make her laugh. Hilda tried to soothe the ache in her heart with sweet treats. Over the years while watching TV she grew to be a heavy obese woman.

By this time they were living in a rather large and beautiful home, built for them on the Niagara Parkway. A long road along the Niagara River below the escarpment and the Falls, it was a house to be proud of. There were many beautiful homes on that road.

The Bloone house stood on several acres of land and was surrounded on three sides by a variety of trees. The fourth side faced the beautiful Niagara River. The Niagara area was known for its variety of fruit. Hilda Bloone loved to eat fresh fruit throughout the summer. She insisted Harold plant a mixture of peach, apple, cherry, and plum trees.

They also had a large garden with strawberries, raspberries, and an assortment of vegetables as well. The Bloone’s could easily have hired a gardener if they desired but that was too extravagant for Hilda and she insisted on doing all the household chores herself, with the help of her two children.

Harold immersed himself in his work and was rarely home. He found Hilda to be a demanding and overbearing woman. She was a perfectionist in keeping a spotless and immaculate home. Hilda ruled the two children with an iron fist, demanding perfection from them as well. The love that Harold once felt for his wife faded just as Hilda’s heart grew hard. Harold was an old fashioned man and it never occurred to him to seek happiness elsewhere. Deep down, he truly loved her; he just didn’t understand the woman she had become. He chose to devote himself more to the hotel business than to Hilda. As his hotel empire grew, his marriage did not. Gerhard was just seventeen and Christine only twelve when their father died of a heart attack. They didn’t cry at the funeral. They could find no reason for tears for they barely knew the man who died. He was a stranger to them. He was the type of man that thought children should be seen and not heard. He had never made an effort to build any sort of relationship with his children.

After Harold died, Hilda spent less and less time out in her garden and more time in front of her TV. She eventually realized the need for some help and hired a local man to come to the property a few times a week and tend to the yard and garden. The man, Ralph Milgrom, proved to be more than capable. The Bloone property grew to be one of the finest looking ones on the parkway. The house had four bedrooms with three full baths on the main floor. It also contained a large open room for the family living room, dining area, and a large kitchen with an island in the center. The living room was fully carpeted. A stone fireplace and a cathedral ceiling extended into the dining room. A large screened in porch and an outside sun deck, with access to the kitchen made the room bright and sunny. The view from the kitchen was breath taking. A beautiful gazebo was just down the garden path to the Niagara River which could be seen through the trees just beyond. Harold also had a home office but he had seldom used it, preferring to be out of the house altogether when there was work to be done. The house had an attached three car garage that faced the side of the property. The basement was huge and only partially finished.

Hilda became very possessive of Christine after Harold died. At twelve years of age Christine had many friends at school. She would rather be out with friends instead of coming home after school to be with her sad, overweight, weepy mother, sitting in front of the TV. Christine was happiest when she was away from home. A trip to the mall with her closest friends was best! Hilda was suspicious of what Christine might be up to and she used Gerhard to be her spy to follow Christine after school for a week to see where she went and who she spent time with. Gerhard, wanting only to please his mother, gave her a full report of everything Christine did and everyone she talked to.

Hilda was not happy to find out that Christine was seen talking to a young man outside of school on a regular basis. She was afraid that Christine might do the same sort of thing that she herself had done and run off with someone. She couldn’t handle the thought of Christine leaving her. She panicked just thinking about it. She decided that she would pull Christine out of school and teach her at home. She would do the same with Gerhard. They would all stay home together. She was sure that was the right decision. She could handle the home schooling and Harold had left some well trained people that saw to the management of the hotels. They seldom bothered Hilda with any details, simply because she wasn’t interested. As long as the money kept coming in she had no interest in business. Gerhard however, like his father was extremely interested in the hotel business and dreamt of someday taking over the operation.

For the next three years Hilda ran the house like an army sergeant might. She was strict with her children. From eight o’clock in the morning until four o’clock in the afternoon they worked at their studies. Three of those hours involved independent study so Hilda was free to watch her TV shows. For the first year Gerhard was allowed to leave the house to run errands for the family but other than that, no one was allowed to leave. After completing his high school grades Gerhard then was allowed to go to a near by university to take hotel management type of courses. It was clear that he was to return home as soon as his last class was over. This was an arrangement that Hilda was happy with, Gerhard didn’t seem to mind but Christine loathed it. At first she screamed at her mother and raged out her protests. Her mother locked her in a section of the basement and refused to let her out until she quieted down. It wasn’t a dark and damp basement. This was a beautiful home, so the basement was a modern bright one. There was a large section without windows and with the door to that area locked; there was no way of escape. Hilda would only open the door at meal time, having Gerhard stand guard, so Christine couldn’t leave. When Christine eventually was allowed to emerge from the basement she was told that if she did leave the Bloone household she would be given no money. She would have to make it on her own. At twelve years old she would be too young to get a job and therefore the police would simply bring her back home, so she might as well get used to it. Christine did get used to it, to a point. For three years she put up with it. She plotted and took whatever money she could find. At the age of fifteen she slipped out the door one night and hid in the back seat of her brother’s car. Unaware that his sister was hiding in the backseat he went out the next day to run some errands.

After he left Hilda noticed Christine was missing. Insane with anger she blamed Gerhard for helping Christine to escape.

Life in the Bloone household became a nightmare. A day wouldn’t pass without Hilda screaming and yelling at Gerhard. She considered herself a very giving, selfless mother therefore Christine could only have left because of Gerhard. She blamed him.

Hilda would often have dreams of Christine, walking the streets of Niagara Falls, shivering in the cold. She would then wake Gerhard from a sound sleep and make him drive her around town, certain they would see Christine. Finding her daughter became an obsession for Hilda. After filing a missing person report, Hilda called the police station every day to see if there was any news of Christine, often yelling at them for their incompetence. With each day that passed Hilda’s frustration grew and she channeled that into a rage against Gerhard. Like his father he immersed himself in work at the hotel to escape his mother’s wrath.

For the next thirty years Gerhard listened to his mother moan about the loss of Christine. He lost count of the times he had driven his mother up and down the streets of Niagara Falls looking for her. He searched on his own outside of the Falls as well but he knew that Christine did not want to be found. His sister had confided to him how much she hated their mother and how badly she just wanted to be free of her. She didn’t care about the family fortune. She just wanted to get away. She dreamt of becoming an actress. Gerhard thought she might possibly head for Toronto first and then perhaps try to get to California. He tried to warn her how hard it would be but Christine wanted so desperately to escape her mother, she didn’t listen to his warnings.