December 31st, 1903

"Come here, chickadee." Jack said. He plucked his 9-month-old daughter from his wife's lap. "When you wake up, it'll be a whole new year."

Daisy babbled sleepily into Jack's shoulder.

"One more kiss of 1903, baby girl." Kat said.

Jack planted a dramatic kiss on Daisy's cheek, then on Katherine's. "Mwah! Mwah!"

Kat giggled, then took Daisy and laid her in her crib. They softly shut the door to the nursery.

"Fellas comin' soon." Jack said. "Ya need help with anything?"

"Nothing." Kat said, smiling. "I'll just put some makeup on."

Ever since they'd gotten married just a few months after the strike, Jack and Katherine threw the best New Year's Eve parties. Kat loved taking care of the boys and the boys loved free food. Some years it was just the original pack of guys, and some years they brought girlfriends. They usually invited younger newsboys who needed a decent meal and some love on a cold night. This was the first year they had to include a baby in their plans.

Kat hummed to herself as she touched up her curls and red lipstick. Jack went to the living room and stirred the fireplace with the poker. Orange sparks leapt from the coals. Jack set two more logs on top, then poured himself a drink, sat down, and stared into the warm, dancing flames. Their two-bedroom apartment was quaint by Katherine's standards and lavish by Jack's, perfect for their little family. Perfect when filled with his brothers.

The first knock at the door was Crutchie, Specs, and Tommy.

"Good to see ya, pal." Crutchie said. He gave Katherine a quick hug, then peeled off his coat."Slick as hell out there."

"Y'all up for some rummy royal?" Tommy asked. He pulled a deck of cards from the inside pocket of his coat. "Once the others get here."

"Of course." Jack said. "Hope ya ready to lose."

"You boys are brave to gamble with Race." Katherine said.

Specs handed her his coat. "Thanks, Kat."

"Ah, I ain't scared of him." Tommy rolled his eyes. "Maybe he'll reign it in once he's a married man."

They paraded into the living room to sit by the fire. Tommy, who flirted with the idea of being a bartender, mixed everyone drinks.

"Have y'all met Davey's new gal?" Specs asked. His cheeks were still pink from the icy evening.

"She's a hoot." Crutchie said. "What a lucky fella."

Jack reached across the arm of his chair for Kat's hand. "As lucky as me?" He said.

Kat interlaced her fingers with his. "I'm excited to meet her. We haven't seen you boys enough since Miss Daisy's been born and Jack's been working so much."

"Daisy should sleep the whole time." Jack said.

There was another loud knock at the door and Jack jumped up to answer it. Davey's new girlfriend, Rebecca, was nearly as tall as him and filled out her green velvet dress. She stuffed her gloves into the pocket of her coat, but kept her black hat on.

Katherine came to the door to welcome her friends. "You must be Rebecca." She said, extending her hand. "I'm Katherine Kelly. I adore that hat-how fashionable!"

"Thank you." Rebecca said loudly as they shook hands."Thank you so much for inviting me."

Davey gave Jack a hug. "It's good to see you." He said. Rebecca was shuffling around in her purse and pulled out a shiny bronze ear trumpet with a long neck and a wide bell. "Rebecca is Deaf." Davey said. "Er, mostly deaf. But she does great."

Jack smirked. "We've got a crip already and a half-blind kid got us into the newsing business. Why not a deaf gal, eh?" He said. "It's a pleasure to meet ya, Rebecca."

She shook his hand. "I've heard a lot about you, Jack Kelly." She said.

"All good, I hope."

"Not at all." Rebecca said, struggling to hide her smile. "I heard you were the greatest rascal in all of Manhattan."

Jack and Davey laughed. "Well, I'll take it." Jack said.

Race and his fiancée Lydia knocked on the door before Rebecca and Davey could even sit down.

"The fellas are wanting to play rummy royal." Jack told them as they walked into the . "Ya ever play poker?"

She shook her head shyly. "No, but I can learn."

"Hell yeah, ya can." Race said. "That's how we stoked the fire in the newsies lodge, Lyd. Competition. Keeps ya spirits up."

Tommy got up from his chair and patted Race on the back. "That's right, bud. Who needs supper or a cozy bed when ya got the satisfaction of winning to keep ya warm at night?"

"Like you'd know!" Crutchie said.

"Aw, shut up." Tommy said.

The group migrated to the dining room table. There were only four chairs so they crowded around in a mismatch mismatch of arm chairs and kitchen stools. Tommy and Jack nimbly dealt cards and poker chips, Kat brought apple cider and sandwiches, while Race tried to teach Lydia and Rebecca his favorite card game.

Rebecca shook her head and laid her ear trumpet next to her pile of cards. "Hang on, is a straight or a flush better? Which one was which again? Sorry."

Race opened his mouth to try to explain again, and Rebecca held her trumpet to her ear and fixed her big brown eyes on Race's face to try to lipread.

"Here." Kat said. A scrap of notebook paper fluttered on the table between Rebecca and Davey. It was the list of hand rankings in Kat's neat, curly script. "I have to look it up everytime."

"Thanks, Kat." Lydia said.

The girls were smart and with Kat's cheat sheet picked up on the game within a few hands. Race and Specs lit cigars, and Jack rested his hand on his wife's knee. The massive fire Jack had built glowed warm.

"Do...do they always turn into children when they're together?" Rebecca softly asked Lydia, who nodded.

"Okay, but I was not the one who jumped off the fire escape!" Jack was arguing with his brothers.

"Oh hogwash, Jackie, of course it was you!" Tommy said.

"Nah, it wasn't Jack, it was Elmer and Romeo." Crutchie said. "They thought they could use a sheet as a trampoline."

"I remember that now. Damned miracle none of us was killed." Specs laughed. He took a sip of his drink, tossed a card into the middle of the table, and turned to Rebecca and Davey. "Soooo, how'd you two meet?"

"Shul." Davey said. "Um, temple."

"Bet ya mama's thrilled ya found a nice Jewish girl." Jack said in a high, singsong voice.

Davey rolled his eyes. "Your impression is uncanny."

Lydia, petite and bookish and barely 19, turned to Kat. "We're choosing our flowers for the wedding this week." She said.

Kat grinned and squealed."I'm so excited. It'll be a lovely wedding." She tapped lightly on the corner of the table and Rebecca turned to Kat. "Race and Lydia are getting married in May. Aren't spring weddings just beautiful?."

"That's wonderful." She said.

Daisy's wailing crescendoed from the bedroom.

"Someone's awake." Davey smiled. Kat jumped up to check on her.

"She's got to be huge now, ain't she?" Crutchie said.

Jack nodded. "She's just started crawling all over the place. It's wild, fellas, how fast this tiny little thing can move."

Kat appeared at the edge of the hallway with a fussing Daisy on her shoulder. "Jack, come here a minute please."

...

mostly fluff and some dreaming of what the boys would be up to in their early 20s! My dad's family has down shrimp cocktail and rummy royal on Christmas/New Years for almost 60 years so it was fun to insert those traditions. Part two will be up soon-ish! Thanks for reading, loves ~Em