God's Loving Embrace

Part Twenty-Seven

'So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.'

Ephesians 5:28

Kieran Radcliffe surprised his new wife. Not with his piety. She had known that he was a committed Reformist, active not only in the political party, but also within the thriving local congregation in his Ascot constituency, and she expected to live her life strictly according to the doctrine. He might have been a political convert in the early days but he had embraced the Church, otherwise her parents would never have entertained him as her husband. But other than that, his attitude to life in general was, for a dedicated Reformist at any rate, enlightened by Meadvale standards, and much to her surprise she found that she was encouraged to work for the local community under Miss Scott's eagle eye. Not paid work, of course. That would be unacceptable. But good work, and with Miss Scott to support her, Chloe found herself getting involved in all sorts of committee's and fund raising events. She liked the house, and she found having something to do much more rewarding than she had ever imagined her life would be as a Daughter of Eve. However, it was a chance aside by Miss Scott, when Peter Munroe and his family were visiting them, which really changed her life once more.

It was most unlike Miss Scott. She was helping settle the ladies for dinner as usual, when Mr Munroe commented to his host and friend that there was concern in Whitehall about the training of young guardians, to cope with the rising demand of so many new members. Miss Daphne Scott, who was normally a stickler for manners and etiquette, informed him, quite firmly, without asking for permission to speak, that this was no particular surprise. She said that if you treated the role as little more than a glorified nanny and let schoolteachers train aspiring guardians accordingly, he could expect standards to start poor and then get steadily worse, which was clearly the current experience. Everyone was rather surprised, and Chloe was immediately rather concerned that she would lose her mentor, again, if her husband was offended by her interruption, but Kieran Radcliffe was not the type. Instead, he delayed the serving of their meal for half an hour whilst he and Peter Munroe quizzed Miss Scott on exactly what she meant, as she obviously felt so strongly about it.

"In my day, in Meadvale, when I was looking for a job that fitted my faith, the only training on offer was to act as a keen junior assistant to an existing guardian...who really had trained as a nanny in my case." Miss Scott began to explain quietly, looking rather disconcerted and probably feeling rather embarrassed about her little outburst, as Mr Radcliffe fetched a chair for her to sit at the dining table. "Obviously it was a much smaller community then, and everyone knew everyone else. I will admit that nothing was really very well organised then either...we were all learning from Pastor Richard and then dear Pastor Michael of course. But I got taken on, at almost eighteen, and I learned on the job, from an experienced lady who had been a teacher and a nanny before she found God's love. But right now, because of the explosion of new members, there has been such a demand that schoolgirls are being given a few months' basic childcare skills before being thrust into a guardianship. It is not enough and moreover it is not sensible. I am not a nursemaid or even a nanny. In fact, personally I have never had any particular desire whatsoever to work with children, although I will admit that parts of the role are similar. Maiden training is an honour above everything else. We are taking a young immature girl and turning them into a good wife. It is about translating our faith into habits that will last a lifetime. You cannot expect an untrained schoolgirl to do that well...unless, if I may be so bold, Mr Radcliffe, that schoolgirl is as naturally gifted as Mrs Radcliffe was in her time. It truly is a recipe for total disaster, but rather typically of this government, in many areas, you are not asking the right questions of the right people. You just set off at full speed with good intentions, and you are now finding yourselves with problems that are awkward to solve."