Disclaimer: All characters provide to their rightful owners with the exceptions I have made in this story.
RATE AND REVIEW! Keep me updated with how you like the work so far! I will be updating this story every week or so now that I have the summer to write and get ready for college, but I will only know what to improve if you tell me.
She sat alone in the drawing room, surrounded by her lady's dresses strewn over various pieces of furniture. She stared at the expensive silk in her hands and tried to concentrate on her stitching, but her hand was shaking too much. With a heavy sigh, she set her needlework down on the nearby table and stared out the window.
America, she thought.
The Eiffel Tower was only a block away from the hotel. It glimmered in the afternoon sun, sending reflections of light onto the surrounding buildings. She had never envisioned herself like this, standing in a hotel room above the streets of Paris. She was a humble girl from midtown Brooklyn, never straying into any of the other sections of New York, yet here she was.
She brushed a brown lock from her forehead. It seemed unreal that she was here in the very heart of Paris. It was much dirtier and run down than what she had imagined. She had pictured small cafes immersed in ivy and gentlemen with white suits greeting them as they checked into their hotels. Instead she was surrounded by beggars and poor children who wandered the streets asking for money. She preferred to stay inside, where old men wouldn't stare at her when she walked down the street and the beggars tugging at her skirts when they saw her pockets filled with her lady's ribbons and gloves.
She stepped back from the window, quietly laughing as she looked at her nose print on the glass. Taking the corner of her apron, she wiped it off and looked below as she heard a car horn. Her lady and her new husband emerged from their expensive Pierce-Arrow, laughing as a bellhop followed after them carrying the many gifts they had bought on their trip to town. She saw her lady press a hand to her rounded belly, glancing from side to side as if to make sure no one had noticed the action before slipping inside the hotel's doors.
She's just a girl, she thought. She doesn't know anything about having children when she's still a child herself!
She remembered her lady asking her to loosen the stitches on her dress around the waist. At first she thought it was because of all the rich European food they all had been eating, but after helping her undress the past few weeks and watching her stomach stretch, she knew the reason her lady's honeymoon was coming to a sudden stop.
"John will want the baby to be born in America, you know," her lady had confided in her when they had strolled the streets of Vienna together earlier that week. "We plan to be back in the States by the end of the month. John has tickets for the Titanic for us to return to New York. Won't that be such an exciting way to return to America?"
America, she had thought.
They had been abroad for nearly half a year touring ancient Egyptian ruins and getting a taste of all the major European cities. She had seen and experienced more in the past few months than she had in her entire life. Before they had left, many of her friends had remarked how lucky she was to be traveling with her lady on her honeymoon. However, she had been extremely nervous. She had never ventured farther than the Brooklyn bridge growing up and now she would be traveling to over ten countries in less than half a year!
The sound of the door to the foyer opening interrupted her thoughts. Her lady strolled into the sitting room, arm in arm with her husband and proudly showing off her new bracelet dangling from her wrist.
"Oh, Ellen!" she exclaimed, breaking arms with him and running towards her maid, her extravagant skirts billowing around her. "We'll be back in America in just a few short weeks! Oh, it's going to be such a delight to return to New York!"
Her youthfulness shone through her excitement. Although she wore a wedding ring and was pregnant, her eyes gave away that she was still a child. Her husband stood silently in the doorway, chatting with a steward before waving him away and embracing his bride.
"Home at last!" he exclaimed, kissing her cheek, setting her off into a fit of giggles.
America, she thought. Home at last.