A/N: Sorry it's taking me so long to write up this next chapter. Thanks for the reviews! :hands out virtual cookies:
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Chapter 2: An Unpleasant Run-in
Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.
--Arnold Bennett
I really did not belong in school, being eighteen years of age. However the time spent out of school to care for the babies all those years ago pushed my education back so I was just now in my last year of school, after which was college most likely. Les was the same, except instead of taking care of little ones he had spent a couple years on the streets as a newsie.
When school was over, we girls all convened outside of the building to wait for Les. I would have let the girls walk home by themselves, but I was not completely sure Rose and Anna would be responsible enough to keep an eye on all of them. Besides they all loved the boy and managed to monopolize him the entire way home. In a way I did not mind, seeing as I had less of a trial keeping them in order. When they begged for him to tell stories about his days as a newsie however, I interrupted them, asking him to tell a joke he had told me a couple days before. Thankfully he went with the change of subject without complaint and I was able to sigh in relief.
I did not like hearing about his newsboy life; it brought back too many bad memories. Les and I had never actually talked about my dislike of the subject, but he seemed to know it was a sensitive one and avoided it as often as he could. Unfortunately the girls all thought it was fascinating. It was hard to avoid their many questions about it. Since their brother and brother-in-law had both been newsies, they seemed to use that as an excuse to learn about the life. I felt no obligation to look into it myself.
When we reached the house, we said goodbye to Les for now and let ourselves inside. The girls scattered about instantly, and I started for the kitchen to see about lunch when Katherine stopped me. She was holding Jamie's hand but as soon as the little boy saw me, he wiggled away and flung himself at my skirt, burying his face in them.
"Minnie," she said, for some reason I always disliked it when she called me by that name. "Take Jamie out to the park or some such place. I'm having a suffragette meeting this afternoon in the parlor and can't be bothered with him."
I thought about protesting since I did have homework to do, but when I looked down at him I knew I couldn't. Scooping him up, I held him close and he buried his face in my neck. "Yes ma'am," I said, turning and taking Jamie outside. He already had on his shoes and so I put him down once we were on the sidewalk and took his hand, letting him leap over the cracks as we walked. It slowed us down but I didn't mind.
"Horsy!" the little one suddenly cried out, pointing one finger in the direction of the race tracks. Although how he knew horses were in there I did not know.
"Yes Jamie, that's where the horses run," I said, smiling slightly as he began to make horse noises while bouncing up and down excitedly. I figured it would not hurt to take a quick look at the horses before continuing to the park, so I picked him up and carried him across the street toward the race tracks.
I took him to the stables and let him walk along the stalls, watching with a slight smile as he shouted "Horsy! Horsy!" and tried to touch every nose that poked out of the stall door to investigate the source of the sudden noise. After we had been walking along for a while, someone came up behind us.
"Maggie? Is that you?" I turned around and looked up into hopeful green eyes. Their expression fell to one of slight disappointment, then to puzzlement as he tried to remember who I was. Then he grinned. "Why, it's Minnie, isn't it? You've certainly grown since the last time I saw you."
"Hello Slick," I said as politely as I could, drawing Jamie closer to me. He struggled to get a way but I simply grasped his hand tighter. "How are you?"
"I'm doing just fine. You?"
"The same," I answered, feeling slightly uncomfortable. I had not seen Slick in a very long time. After Maggie's wedding he seemed to disappear. I had not known he had gone to Manhattan. "What are you doing out of Brooklyn?" I asked, sincerely curious.
He took off his cap and rubbed his rust colored hair a moment before slapping the hat back on. "Ah well, I figured it was time for a change of scene. And well, with Spot hitched and all the old gang grown up and moving on with their lives I thought I might as well too." He shrugged and avoided my gaze. I knew then the real reason why he left Brooklyn. He didn't want to accidentally run into Maggie.
"So who's this little guy?" Slick said suddenly, kneeling in front of Jamie and swiftly changing the subject. Jamie stopped wiggling and pressed close to my side, sticking his finger in his mouth and watching Slick with wide, solemn eyes.
"This is Jamie," I said, not explaining our relationship any.
"Nephew?" He stood and looked down at me curiously.
"Little brother," I corrected through slightly clenched teeth
He looked confused. "I thought your mother was—"
"Stepmother," I interrupted shortly.
"Ah."
It was only then that I realized the absence of Jamie's hand in mine. Apparently he had grown tired of our small talk and had wandered away. Some men were taking out a horse to bring to the track and Jamie was heading right toward it shouting, "horsy!" The men were shouting at him to stay back, and horse was prancing around nervously at the new noise and confusion. Terrified that he would get accidentally trampled, I hiked up my skirt in the most unladylike fashion and raced toward him.
Just when Jamie was getting too close, a wiry young man appeared seemingly out of nowhere, snatching the boy out of danger. I was sobbing for breath when I reached them, my heart pounding out of my chest. "Jamie, oh Jamie!" I cried, holding out my hands to take the boy.
The young man's cap obscured his face for me and he awkwardly handed me back the child. I noticed however that his right arm seemed to hang uselessly at his side. Taking a closer look I realized it was a prosthetic arm. My blood suddenly grew cold as Slick came over and slapped the kid on the back.
"Way to go, Cricket!" he cried, grinning widely.
"Cricket," I said flatly, and he looked up at me, his light brown eyes widening. He glanced at me then at the boy in my arms. Both of us seemed to be frozen in our places, staring at each other. Slick finally seemed to notice something was wrong and he backed away slightly.
"You guys look like you both swallowed a can of rotten eggs . . . you wanna tell me what's going on?"
Cricket cleared his throat and it jolted me out of my daze. I held Jamie closer to me. "Good afternoon, Cricket. It's nice to see you again," I lied, swallowing hard.
He did not respond, even though I knew he could. He simply stared at me. Slick tried to relieve the tension in the air. "Hey, Meyers here has got a new stepmother. That's her new little brother." He nodded to Jamie who had suddenly grown shy with all the attention on him and had buried his face in my neck.
Cricket finally opened his mouth to speak. "How old?" he asked, his voice low and hoarse.
"He just turned three," I said softly, feeling sick. Cricket looked as sick as I felt. Slick glanced between us, frowning in bewilderment.
"Okay I know you guys parted on bad terms but this is just ridiculous," he said finally, slapping us both upside the head. I glared at him but Cricket just flinched.
Shifting Jamie to my other side, I started to back away. "We really must go now," I said firmly, giving Slick a pointed look. I did not look at Cricket.
"So soon?" Slick asked, his infectious grin slipping.
"Yes," I answered shortly, not caring if I sounded rude. Turning on my heel, I stalked off, not slowing down until we were halfway to the park. Then I set Jamie down and let him walk beside me once more. He walked solemnly this time, almost as if he knew something had happened that had upset me. His tiny fingers curled around my larger ones tightly and he remained half hidden in my skirt the entire way.
Once we got to the park he opened up more. Walking beside the little pond, he laughed at the ducks and poked at the bugs, turning his head to grin up at me every once in a while. I always grinned back but my mind could not stay away from the race track stables and who I had run into there.
Slick had always been kind to us girls. He had been a good friend to Maggie up until he disappeared around the same time as the wedding. So I felt bad that I had snapped at him like that. However I did not feel guilty enough to go back and apologize. Not with Cricket around. I cringed inwardly at the name. Slick was right . . . we had parted on bad terms. Very bad terms.
"Minnie?" A small inquisitive voice broke me out of my stupor and I looked down at Jamie with a small smile.
"Yes, Jamie?" I asked gently.
"Minnie?" he asked again, doing his best to hide a grin.
"Yes?"
"Dis fo you," he declared, suddenly pulling an interesting looking weed from behind his back and holding it out to me.
"Thank you, Jamie," I said sincerely, holding back a grin of my own as I took the weed and looked it over. "It's very pretty," I said, doing my best to mean it. It really just looked like a scraggily weed. He smiled bashfully and then ran off again quickly. We continued to walk in the park for a while before he began to get tired. I picked him up when he stumbled and headed back toward home.
"Mommy?" he asked softly, his voice muffled from being buried in my neck.
"Yes, honey, I'm taking you home to mommy," I said gently, swallowing as I hefted him higher in my arms. He wrapped his around my neck and sighed softly.
"Mommy wuvs me," he murmured before drifting off to sleep. I stroked his honey-brown curls and turned my head to kiss his temple.
"Yes she does," I said quietly, not wanting to disturb him. I walked up the front steps of the house carefully. Katherine met me in the front hallway and took the toddler from me.
"How was he?" she asked.
"Very good," I answered and walked past her without another word, afraid she would ask for more details. I shut myself in my room and lay on my bed for a long moment, closing my eyes and trying to calm my racing heart. A tentative knock sounded at the door, but I made no move to answer it. It opened slowly nevertheless.
"Minnie?" a soft voice asked. I sat up and saw Mary's sweet face peeking into the room, a look of slight concern in her brown eyes. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine, Mary," I said, forcing a smile for her benefit. She studied me closely then slowly nodded.
"Papa and Tommy are home," she informed me, straightening as she opened the door wider.
"Thank you." I lay back down. When I made no move to get up again, she left. I felt guilty once more for shutting sweet Mary out, but I did not feel like talking to her. Besides, she did not know about why Cricket and I stopped seeing each other.
A couple minutes later, the heavy footsteps of Thomas sounded in the hallway. He opened the door to my room and stood in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe. He observed me for a moment, I could feel his eyes on me, before speaking.
"You done feeling sorry for yourself yet?" he asked bluntly. I sat up suddenly and frowned over at him.
"Excuse me?" I asked, my frown darkening into a scowl. He pushed off the frame and entered the room, hands in his pockets. Dark brown eyes bore into my light blue ones until I was forced to look away.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I muttered, staring down at my feet.
Thomas huffed in annoyance. "You know exactly what I'm talking about." When I did not respond, he came over and sat on the bed in front of me. He looked at me a moment. "I ran into Racetrack today," he said.
I continued to stare at my feet. I wiggled my toes.
"He had spoken to Slick, who told him about you and Jamie running into Cricket this afternoon." My toes stopped wiggling. "You gonna tell me your side of the story?"
I shrugged. "There's no story to tell," I said truthfully. "He saved Jamie and then we left."
"Did you thank him?"
I paused. "No . . ." I admitted, shamefaced.
"Hmm. Why not?" He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.
I shrugged again, keeping my gaze adverted. "I-I don't know," I murmured.
"Uh-huh. That's not a good answer, Minnie."
I suddenly looked up, that name sparking something in me. "Don't call me that," I said tightly. "I'm Mary now. Mary."
"No you're not," he insisted stubbornly. "We've already got a Mary. You're Minnie. You're our Minnie."
"I don't like it anymore."
"Why? Because he called you that?"
I lifted my chin defiantly, not wanting him to win. "Because it's childish," I countered.
"You are a child, Minnie," Thomas said, his voice and expression now sad as he looked at me. "You've just grown up too fast."
I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. Resting my chin on my knees, I turned my gaze away from his.
"That's not my fault," I murmured.
He sighed. "That's what you'd like to think, Minnie. But until you decide to take part of the blame for something that really is your fault, at least half your fault, you're probably going to feel this miserable for a long time."
"It's already been a long time," I said softly, dismally. His gaze turned to one of compassion.
"I know. And I'm sorry you've had to go through all of this. You didn't deserve it. I wish you could go back and change it." He glanced at me surreptitiously. I stared at him dumbfounded.
"I don't," I said hotly.
"You don't?" he said, feigning surprise.
"I don't." I shook my head emphatically. "I just wish it had not turned out the way it did."
He gave me a sad, sympathetic smile. Reaching over he stroked my head gently. "Me too, honey. Me too."
Now I know you all are probably really confused right now, but don't worry. It will all be explained in time. Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter! :-D
