Courtney paused with a forkful of chicken curry halfway to her mouth. “You were searching for rental properties in Southampton? For me? You don’t have to bother yourself with that.”
“It was no bother,” Colin said. “In fact, ever since I saw that bedsit facility where you’ve been staying, I’ve been sick with worry at the thought of you living there. After what happened on Friday, well, it proved I was right to worry. When we drive youover there for work tomorrow, we hope you won’t mind if we go and find out more about this rental flat on your behalf.”
“Um, well…” Courtney was at a loss for words, caught off-guard by what her uncle had said, and by this revelation that he’d been searching for places where she could live.
“Let’s see the rental listing,” Zara said before Courtney could say anything more.
Colin pulled out his phone, tapping and scrolling on the screen for a few moments. “I saved the details. Here’s the place right here.”
He handed the phone to Courtney, who was sitting between Zara and Rosie. Both cousins peered over her shoulder as she looked at the rental listing on the property app. Courtney’s eyes widened as she took in the details of the one-bedroom flat located on the northern edge of Southampton city centre. While her cousins commented on the smart galley kitchen and the recently updated shower room depicted in the thumbnail photographs, all Courtney could do was stare in dismay at the monthly rental price.
Without even scrolling through any more of the photographs, Courtney pasted on a smile and handed the phone back to her uncle.
“Thanks for looking into this, Uncle Colin. I really appreciate it. But this flat is just too expensive for me.”
Colin and Lorraine exchanged another knowing look before Colin spoke again. “We want to help you, Courtney. We’d like to give you some money to get you back on your feet after everything that happened to you.”
Courtney almost dropped her fork. “No, I won’t let you do that. You’ve already been kind enough, Uncle Colin.”
“We want you to find somewhere to live that’s safe and clean, Courtney,” Lorraine said. “Colin told me all about this place where you’ve been staying, and it sounds terrible. We can’t, in allgood conscience, let you continue living there when we’re more than able to help.”
“No, I can’t take your money,” Courtney said, feeling more and more anxious. “It wouldn’t be right.”
“Courtney,” Colin said. “From what we’ve talked about together so far, you and I, this flat isn’t that much over your budget. We’d be giving you a few hundred pounds a month and in exchange, we’d get peace of mind that you were living somewhere decent. We’ll cover the deposit, too, and help with anything else you need. This flat isn’t far from where you work, which might make things easier for you once your baby arrives and you’re planning to return to your job after your maternity leave is finished. Wewantto do this. Wewantto help.”
“It’s too much,” Courtney said, shaking her head. “I didn’t come into your life looking for money, Uncle Colin.”
“I know that.”
“We’re going to look at this flat, and that’s all there is about it,” Lorraine said, smiling kindly. “If we think it’s good enough, we’ll let you know. If not, we’ll keep looking. But either way, we’re not letting you stay in that unsafe temporary accommodation.”
Courtney glanced at her cousins, fearing what they must think about their parents’ plans to give money to the distant relative who’d just popped up in their lives out of the blue.
But instead of suspicion or doubt in their expressions, she saw only enthusiasm and encouragement.
“Let my mum and dad help,” Rosie said. “They wouldn’t offer if they didn’t want to.”
“We don’t feel good about this bedsit you’ve been living in either, do we Rosie?” Zara asked, as her sister shook her head. “We want to help, too, if we can.”
“If it wasn’t for the fact you’ve got a good job over in Southampton, I’d ask you to come and stay here with me,” Rosieadded. “I’d rather you stayed in my guest room than in some awful bedsit. But commuting back and forward from here to your job obviously won’t work every day, especially once you’ve got a baby to look after, too. So, I think you should let my mum and dad lend a hand.”
Courtney glanced between her cousins and her aunt and uncle, overwhelmed by their offer of support. As if sensing her resolve was crumbling, Colin reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
“Courtney,” he said. “We missed out on the chance to include you in our family for all these years. We missed out on giving you birthday and Christmas gifts, missed out on treating you the way we would’ve treated a niece, if we’d known we had one. This is an opportunity for us to make up for that. Please, let us help.”
With four sets of eyes on her, and four warm smiles encouraging her to say yes, Courtney found herself nodding.
“Thank you,” she said, still nodding and then shaking her head in disbelief. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Colin grinned and gestured to her plate of food. “Now, make sure you finish your dinner. You’re eating for two, don’t forget, and you need to keep your strength up.”
Courtney dug her fork into her rice and was grateful when the conversation turned back to Colin and Lorraine as Rosie and Zara asked more about their weekend away. While her aunt and uncle shared stories about the wonderful meals they’d enjoyed at the luxury hotel and the long country walks they’d taken and the local visitor attractions they’d enjoyed in beautiful West Sussex, Courtney couldn’t help her thoughts from wandering to the astounding offer of help she’d just received.
With her aunt and uncle helping her to shoulder the cost of renting somewhere to live, life suddenly looked a thousand times brighter than it did before. The prospect of movinginto the little one-bedroom flat she’d barely glanced at on her uncle’s phone, instead of waiting for the local council to find accommodation for her, filled her with excitement beyond measure. She didn’t want to take handouts from anyone, but help from her aunt and uncle might just give her the break she needed to get back on her feet again.
Could she afford to rent a place like that little flat in Southampton in the longer term? Probably not. But at least it would get her out of the bedsit. And it would give her time to look for somewhere else after she had the baby, somewhere she could afford on her own between her job and the benefits help she would receive.
The offer of help from her uncle and aunt was nothing short of a little miracle—and Courtney needed as many of those as she could find.
