Chapter 5 (10243 words so far)

Maggie was sat at the kitchen table with Timothy standing over her on one side and her mother on the other like she was being interrogated. This she could handle, well at least handle better, it was the sight of her father sitting across the table looking at his daughter silently that really shook her nerves. Maggie and her father had a wonderful relationship and in these past two days it appeared to all become unravelled. Maggie had wanted to blame Timothy for this but she knew deep down that it was her own choices that had led to the relationship’s breakdown.
The noise had died down in the last few minutes and she had noticed that William had gone and so Elizabeth. This in its self was such a relief. She thought that as her sister that Elizabeth might have been more sympathetic but she Elizabeth had told her that it was such an irresponsible thing to do. She had also told her that she was so selfish, which cut quite deeply as Maggie knew that it was true in this case. When Maggie had made this decision she was only thinking of herself and what she had wanted to do and what she didn’t want to do. It was somewhat of a trait of Maggie’s, she would often do what she wanted and then get herself into trouble and then have to apologise for it later. She had once bought herself a Great Dane and called him Hercules after she had found out that she was accepted into Nursing school. She thought it would be wonderful to have this grand dog to walk through the streets of Windsor with. What Maggie did not think about was the concept of living with such a beast. He had to be feed, walked twice a day and be kept amused for the rest of the day and most importantly a dog that size needed to be toilet trained. Because the family did love animals that allowed Maggie to keep Hercules at first, as a puppy though the signs were there that he was not a dog for a city house. He grew at twice the pace of most puppies and he ate like a small horse. Maggie had also just started her classes at school and so she was out most of the day which left Mother at home to care for the dog. Before long Hercules was chewing furniture, eating all the family’s food and leaving unpleasant surprises around the house, it was when he left one of these unpleasant surprises in Father’s study hidden behind a book case that he had signed his own leaving orders. It was a mystery as to how Hercules even fit behind the book case in order to do his business, the real problem was that nobody could find where it was. For the first day Father was perplexed as to where the smell was coming from thinking that it was the open window and the smells coming in from outside. When he closed his window that night and the next morning opened the door to his study that he realised that the stench was closer than he thought. It took the family the rest of the day to locate the refuse and by the end of the day Father had arranged for a family member who lived on a rural property to take possession of Hercules. Unfortunately this had not been enough of a wake up call for Maggie and she continued to make bad decisions based on her own desires at the time.
Maggie looked at her father searching his eyes for some sign as to how he was going to react. She could see that he was thinking, and praying, he would look down at his hands, he would close his eyes and he would look straight at Maggie and then repeat the process again and again.
Father had always been a deeply religious man and had always tried to lead by example for his family. It wasn’t always easy for him but he was the most wonderful example of a Christian that Maggie had ever known. Maggie was now looking at her father praying and wished that she had of been mature enough to had prayed on her decision to join the Nurse’s Army. It may not have changed her decision but it certainly would have made her feel more resolute now.
Father arose from his chair and stood in front of his wife.
“Julia, I want you to leave me alone with Margaret now”, Father said softly. “I understand your feeling on this situation and have taken them on board. I need to talk to Margaret now and try to understand why she made this choice.”
Julia wanted to say some more things to Maggie but she knew what was right and that she needed to respect her husband’s wishes. She knew that he needed to be trusted to make the right decisions even when she struggled with those. Maggie had often been a point of contention, Julia knew though it was that she just never understood Maggie the way she did Elizabeth. She also knew the father-daughter relationship between them was so strong and that she had sometimes felt jealous of that relationship.
Julia did not want Maggie to go into the Nurses’ Army, but she had also not wanted her to join the Red Cross either, all Julia had desired was for Maggie to settle down and marry Timothy. It wasn’t that she had wanted her daughter to marry any man but she knew that Timothy would make an excellent husband and that he would look after his family.
Julia looked towards Timothy expecting him to leave the room as well but he sat down on the chair next to Maggie. Julia was surprised but decided that she needed to leave now as she was feeling tired from all the emotions she was feeling.
Father looked at Timothy with a little annoyance in his eyes. “I’m sorry Timothy but I would really like to talk to Maggie alone.”
“I’m sorry Joseph but Maggie is now my fiancée and I believe it is important for me to be a part of this conversation” Timothy stated.
Father cleared his throat, not wanting to immaculate Timothy but it was clear that father needed to pull rank on him. Maggie was still his daughter after all. “Timothy this is my house and Maggie is my daughter and therefore I am still responsible for her and her choices.”
“But Maggie is a grown woman and she makes her own choices” Timothy started to say.
Oh no, thought Maggie. She had a sinking feeling that this was where the conversation was headed. She had wanted to spare Timothy’s feelings but all she wanted to do was be alone with her father to make him understand how she felt and why she wanted to do this.
“I think Maggie should decide if I should stay or not” continued Timothy “I think Maggie would want me to be here and...”
“I think you should go” Maggie blurted out. She didn’t want it to sound so definite, she had tried to make it sound like she had had to deliberate it in her head for a while but she had run out of patience and it was her father whom she trusted and respected most of all in the world.
“I’m sorry you feel that way Maggie, I thought we had a special bond. I thought that you would want to talk to your fiancée and explain to him why you have made such a harsh and foolish decision”. Timothy was hurt and Maggie knew that he had a right to be. She may not have loved Timothy in the romantic sense but she really did have a genuine fondness for him. He was a good man and it did make her distressed to have to see him so wounded. She would talk to him later and once she had sorted out her choices, the good from the bad, she would work things out with him.
“I love you Timothy” Maggie did not feel completely honest in saying this, “But as I am still under my father’s roof I need to honour him first”.
With all that had happened Joseph was unable to let this affect him the way it once would have. He now questioned his daughter’s words and wondered if they were said just to placate him. In any case they had a positive influence upon Timothy who told her that he respected her family values and that he hoped that one day their own daughter would offer him the same honour. And then he finally left them alone.
Watching Timothy finally leave and give them the privacy that they so desired actually brought with it a feeling of awkwardness and discomfort which was not common to them. Neither knew what to say or who was to speak first. Generally in this situation Maggie couldn’t help herself and would begin clumsily chatting about anything and everything or she would start apologising about every failure that she had caused. This time though Maggie was biting her tongue and praying for wisdom. She loved her father and wanted to honour him even though everything she had done up to this point had showed the opposite.
“Margaret” her father started. Maggie had never known her father to use her full name like this. She had been named Margaret on her birth certificate but no one had ever used it, even Mother had not used its formalness saying that a child as silly as Maggie was could never be given the adult-like name Margaret.
“It’s time you explained your actions to me. Help me to understand why you would do something like this that first of all puts your life at risk, secondly upsets your mother and most importantly...” Father was almost choking with his emotions, “takes you away from me”.
Until this point Maggie had been keeping her emotions in check but she could not withstand seeing her father so close to tears. She put her head on the table in front of her and sobbed. It was not like the sobbing she did last night, this was different, she wasn’t crying for herself, this time it was for her father.
Joseph was a physically affectionate father, and Maggie had never known him to cry but today Joseph put his arms around Maggie and cried with her. They cried because they both knew that this decision was one that Maggie had to make on her own. And they both knew that Maggie was not going to change her mind. Maggie was going away, his baby girl was going out to make her own way in the world and even though the decision was first made with frivolity in mind, it was a noble and self-sacrificing decision to help your fellow man and Joseph knew that as a Christian that is what we are called to do.
After they had regained their emotions Father took Maggie by the shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. “Maggie, sweet daughter of mine, I am not able to protect you anymore, out there in the world, it is hard and you will need courage, intellect and most importantly you need to know who you can trust.”
Maggie nodded her head she knew what her father was about to say.
“You need to put your trust in God. He is the only one who provides true protection and He will always be there for you.”
Maggie nodded her head again, she had never had the same understanding or even faith that her father had. As a nurse she had struggled seeing bad things happen, but she did believe in God she just didn’t know Him.
Holding Maggie’s hand her father prayed for her and for her brother George and for Mother and Elizabeth and that God would guide and protect them all all the days of their lives.