Marias' replacement had been the best thing the home assistance company had ever done.
Nina Carmichael had gone to her kitchen for her usual morning cup of tea and Elaine was already there, counters and stove scrubbed, the floor had been freshly waxed and a steaming cup of the best tea Nina had ever tasted waited for her on the counter. The kitchen hadn't looked so nice since Nina's son had paid for a professional cleaning before he left for training the last time, so Elaine kept the job.
After learning the young woman had been staying at one of the shelters downtown, and bussing in every morning from a second job across town; Nina allowed the young woman to move into her son's room. What she would do when John came home from Vietnam she didn't know, but in the meantime Elaine couldn't stay there, it just wasn't nice. Or safe.
When John wrote home that next week, she told him of her predicament; and he jokingly replied that Elaine could simply share the bed when he came home, as he was sure they would both fit. Nina laughed when she read this to Elaine and the girl turned scarlet as she glanced at the picture on the wall of John wearing his uniform.
So summer turned autumn into as Elaine and John began to correspond. Elaine wrote of her curiosity about Johns' work, and John replied his appreciation of her companionship of his mother. Autumn went out with a bright blaze of leaves; during which Elaine had assisted her in making preserves and winterizing the garden and orchard. Winter blew in with a fury that shook the eaves of the old house, though the fireplace burned brightly those frigid nights as Nina and Elaine warmed themselves with the wood the young woman continued to chop and haul in. With Christmas came letters from John, saying all was well and he hoped to return in a few months and meet Elaine. Nina had made Elaine a sweater for which she received effusive thanks, and Elaine returned a handmade wreath, bright with holly, which was immediately hung over the mantle.
Spring came and with it brought the search for a missing woman, one Alana Carson; an heiress, in fact, whose distraught fiancé was using every means to find her. When Nina pointed this news out to Elaine as being better than the soap operas she often watched, her guest turned pale and left. Soon after Nina heard the sounds of wood chopping intermingled with soft sobs. Concerned, she hurried outside to find Elaine repeatedly thumping the axe into the wood pile. A soft inquiry brought the full story tumbling out.
Brought up in a wealthy household as the ward of a judge, Elaine had wanted for nothing as a child. Upon her coming of age her guardian, ostensibly concerned for her welfare in a society where men would be after her simply for her inheritance decided he would marry her himself to keep her safe. Distraught and horrified as the thought of marrying a man she had come to view as a father, Elaine fled when her pleas for another solution had gone unanswered and the wedding planning had begun.
With her she had taken but a few things from her former life; mainly jewelry- a men's gold ring that shone like the sun, a pocket watch studded with brilliant stones as blue as a summer's day, and a necklace as brilliant and glimmering as the stars in the night sky. The only other thing she had taken on her mad dash to freedom had been the dress the judge had 'gifted' her for use on their honeymoon; a gorgeous creation of spun silver silk that gleamed like the moon. Sharing her woes seemed to have been cathartic, for Elaine's sobs soon quieted.
Nina went to the battered women's shelter the next day to ask for legal advice, and was told that Elaine was not required to return to her guardian. Unfortunately, if she ever wanted to receive her inheritance she would need to file in front of a judge and plead her case, which would mean confronting her guardian, something she and Nina both wanted to avoid. John would have told Elaine to let it go if he were here, but John was not here, and Nina felt that the money should have been Elaine's' by rights anyway.
Elaine hummed quietly as she helped Nina rake up the last of the fall leaves in the yard. Home on a two week furlough, John had asked her to accompany him to a dinner dance at the VFW hall.
With Nina's help she'd sewn a dress based on one of her old ones from the Second World War. Elaine had done her hair in some fancy updo, and Johns' jaw nearly dropped when he saw her. Nina chuckled and placed Elaine's hand in the crook of Johns' elbow as she ushered them out the front door. They returned near midnight, both glowing and each shooting shy looks at the other one.
After that night their attachment couldn't have been more obvious, especially to one who loved them both. Nina smiled when the next package from John contained some combs for her own hair and a small carved box for Elaine containing a locket with a note asking her to wear it. Elaine returned a box containing the gold ring she had taken with her, asking that John keep it close to his heart. With his next letter he pressed her as to where she had gotten it, but she never gave him an answer; and the matter was soon dropped.
Months later Nina and Elaine were ushered by a nurse into John's hospital room in Qui Nhon. Only days before they had received a Red Cross notification that John had been wounded and they had rushed to make the near 20 hour trip to the hospital the Army had moved him to. His mother had hurried to Johns' bedside; smoothing his hair back from his forehead with shaking hands while he grinned up at her, unrepentant as always. Elaine stood in the doorway, nervously twisting her hands and wondering how John would take the news that she had sold the necklace to finance the visit to Qui Nhon. Hearing him softly call her name, she looked up and felt immediate relief as she rushed into his open arms, mindful of his injuries. He shot a questioning look over her head at his mother, who simply shook her head and shrugged. Elaine would tell John in her own time.
Mere days after they returned from the long trip home; the solicitor rang the bell. Nina had sent Elaine to the market and so answered the door. The solicitor, a small, rat like man; asked after an Alana Carson, and when pressed for information stated that there was a reward out for the young woman's safe return. After taking down her information, along with a statement that she hadn't seen Ms. Carson, he turned for his car only to bump into Elaine, her arms full of groceries. After greeting Elaine, Nina rushed her inside the house; hurriedly explaining her presence away as her daughter-in-law. Nonetheless, the solicitor frowned at this and she saw him jot something down before he drove away.
Nina shakily thanked her lucky stars John was due back from Vietnam for good in a few months.
Those months passed agonizingly slowly, broken only by Johns' weekly letters. Three weeks before Johns' return, Elaine, terrified by the prospect of the solicitor and a hasty return to her guardian, sent to John a letter explaining everything. Her upbringing, the enforced engagement, her flight from her impending marriage, all of it. At the end of it all, the only thing she implored was for John to not hate her for lying to him. They received no letters after that.
Three days before John's expected return date, the solicitor returned again, carrying a briefcase, and accompanied by another, larger man, who simply introduced himself as Mr. Smith, and proceeded to loom behind the solicitor. The solicitor proceeded to explain to the two women that they had confirmed Elaine to be the missing Ms. Carson through photographic identification by her guardian, and that he had been informed of her whereabouts and would she please come with them.
Elaine denied that she was the missing Alana Carson and asked if the solicitor had any further business. Mr. Smith replied that if she did not return with them, they would be forced to bring kidnapping and entrapment charges against Nina, and by extension John, ruining his career.
Turning, Nina felt Elaine press something into her hands with a shaky plea to give it to John when they heard another car stop outside and several pairs of feet crunching up the driveway. The door opened on John in his dress uniform, looking none the worse of wear having spent the last few months in a war zone. He calmly greeted his mother and Elaine, who only stared at his feet, and politely asked the solicitor and Mr. Smith to leave. When they declined, John escorted them out and locked the doors behind them. Nina pulled Elaine into a quick embrace, refastening the locket she tried to give her around her neck as her son appeared in the doorway.
Elaine excused herself to bring in refreshments, Nina detained John, sensing the young woman needed time alone, and managed to corral her son into sharing tales of the war zone. After a somewhat tension filled dinner, John had pulled as emotionless Elaine outside with little resistance. When the shouting abruptly cut off, Nina dared to glance out the window over the kitchen sink, and saw John and Elaine clinging to each other as if the world would end if they let go. Smiling, she drew the curtains and went back to the dishes. When they eventually came back inside, she spotted Elaine hurriedly putting her hair back in its place and John picking leaves from his hair as they snuck up the stairs, bashful as any two teenagers would be.
The following morning at breakfast John informed his elated mother that he and Elaine intended to marry.
Later that week, after John had a friend make some discreet inquiries and a few more discreet phone calls, the topic for the nightly news was of a state judge being arrested. With her guardian behind bars for embezzling, and his solicitor being closely monitored; Elaine felt secure enough to produce proof of her identity and file a claim for control of her inheritance.
The wedding was held that spring, at the VFW hall they'd fallen in love at. Wearing a simple white gown with fresh flowers in her hair, Elaine had never looked lovelier. As John pulled his new bride close for a kiss, Nina reflected that, while their fairy tale hadn't begun with "Once upon a time," it had certainly ended with a happily ever after.