Searching
"Grandma Sweet Pea, could you help me with the thread? I'm scared the needle might prick me..."
The elderly woman turned to look at her youngest granddaughter, smiled and took the needle and thread from the child.
"Of course, Louise, but this time, please watch me as I sew it. That way you can learn."
Fifty years.
It had been fifty years since she escaped from the Lennox House. She was almost turning seventy, and she was helping with the the wedding of one of her elder granddaughters. So many years had passed. As she closed her eyes, she could already see a younger version of herself in 1961.
Long hours were spent traveling on the bus, trying to get back to her hometown. She finally located where her parents were currently living. It was no surprise they didn't want their daughters anymore. But Sweet Pea had a promise to keep. The words echoed in her mind as she remembered Rocket's dying breath.
"Tell mom that I love her..."
She told those words to their mother... and behind the expressionless exterior, she thought she saw a teardrop rolling down the side of her face. She realized that there was no place for her in the family anymore... and she moved on.
She traveled throughout the States. Stopping at exits here and there. Driving through the Utah desert, sinking her feet into the Californian beach, felt the drizzle of the Niagara Falls on her skin, and rode horseback across the plains of Montana. Suddenly, her journey stopped. She fell in love and married her Harold. They settled, raised their three children in the suburbs, and now here she was. An old woman. All the days of her life, she never stopped thinking about Rocket. She also never stopped thinking about Baby Doll.
Without that silly girl with the outrageous ideas, she doubt she be standing where she was. Without her, she wouldn't be free. She never told anyone about the Lennox House. Not to her children, not even Harold. She didn't even tell them about 'Auntie' Rocket. Time passed. Everything around her was joyful, and she lived a happy, normal life. When she was traveling around the country with no immediate destination, she was searching for something. She was searching for the one who freed her. She wanted to know if Baby Doll was alive. Though her search was fruitless, and there was no sign of her at all.
Through all of her lived years, perhaps it's what Baby Doll would have wanted. For Sweet Pea to have lived a free, normal life. When Rocket was alive, Sweet Pea stood by her side so she wouldn't get herself killed. Now that she was gone, there was only her. She had to look out for herself. She had to live a life beyond the walls of the asylum. She always thought Baby Doll's plans would get themselves killed, and they'd never escaped, but she was the one who got away. She was the free one. If Baby Doll didn't came to the asylum, she wouldn't be where she was today. She wouldn't have met Harold. She wouldn't be mending dresses with her littlest granddaughter, and watching her grandchildren get married. She wouldn't be living life.
If it weren't for Baby Doll... she would still be behind bars at the Lennox Asylum. That was why she could never forget her. She gave Sweet Pea her life back. She also never forgot her sister's sacrifice.
She will remember them both.
Always.
"Grandma, be careful, don't hurt yourself...!"
Louise's gentle voice woke Sweet Pea from her dream like state, and she stopped herself from moving the sharp needle.
"You saved me, Louise..." chuckled the granny. "I thank you."
"Cousin Amelia's going to look beautiful in her dress, right, Grandma?" An energetic, but soft look was in the child's eyes.
"Yes, she will be..." the elderly woman smiled distantly as she glanced at Louise's deep auburn hair. "She will be."
For a moment, she thought she saw Rocket through her granddaughter's frame. How she looked like her departed sister when they were still young... Perhaps it was time to tell her granddaughter the truth? No. Just the knowledge and the lesson. That way, Louise wouldn't make the same mistakes as she did. So she would have guidance when she was older. When Louise was stuck and without a stroke of hope, she wanted her to overcome the hardships life gave her, and face them head on. So she wouldn't be trapped like her grandmother was, those fifty years ago...
She placed the needle and the cloth on the table and scooped the little child on her lap, rocking her back and forth.
"Now, I'm going to tell you about my sister, your great Aunt Rocket..."