Beautiful Fool
Chapter 6
"Nick," I called him from the hospital phone.
"Elizabeth?" he answered his phone.
"Mother's getting worse and told the nurses not to let me in. She's giving up," my voice trembled.
"I'm coming," he hung up.
I haven't talked to my mother in days. Not since we had that conversation about her past. She'd been on bed rest and refused to see anyone but the nurses and doctors. My eyes began to water as once again a nurse refused to let me in on my mother's request.
Nick comes in with his clothes rumpled and hair looked like he had brushed with his fingers in a rush.
"I'm sorry for waking you up," I threw my arms around him.
"Shhh, it's no trouble to come when you need someone," I felt his hands pet the back of my head in a comforting gesture.
"Your mother wishes to see you," a nurse had come up to us.
Nick smiled at me and I followed the nurse into mother's room. Mother looked so frail on the bed. She had gotten so much worse since I had last seen her.
"Mother, you haven't let me see you in days," I sit in the chair next to her bed.
"I didn't want you to watch me die," she patted my hand.
"You know when you were born and the nurse told me you were a girl I only had one hope for you. I had hoped that you would be a beautiful little fool. That's the best thing a girl can be, but you've never been able to do things the easy way," she coughed.
"You were born a fighter. You never take the easy way out, something I never learned. Promise me you'll remember what I told you and be happy," she closed her eyes.
"I promise," I lightly squeezed her hand. Her hand went limp.
"Mother?" Tears spilled from my eyes.
"Doctor! Nurse! Someone" I called as tears spilled down my face.
The doctor pronounced my mother dead just a few moments later. I hugged Nick and stained his jacket with my tears.
Nick took me home a short time after my mother's death.
All my parents' possessions were going to mine soon. It felt so strange to be home without them. I had been gone for years until a few weeks ago but I still felt like a child here.
My mother had a presence that filled a room. She attracted the attention of anyone and everyone. My father was always playing a sport out in the yard.
I dismissed all but one of the staff. I kept a maid who had always been kind to me as a child.
Chapter end.
Just kidding can't leave you there! Read on.
"I can't stay here," I said to an empty room. I had been staying at my family home with Nick.
"Then don't, I understand plenty about ghosts of the past," Nick had heard me.
Nick understood that this place was now ruined for me. No longer was it a place of childhood I fought to avoid. It was a place haunted by the memory of my parents.
"Where do I go?"
I spent plenty of time in England but that wasn't home. Even with so much money at my disposal I didn't know what I wanted.
"Anywhere you want. Although I recently brought my old resistance in West Egg when I realized I'd be here awhile," Nick told me.
"Are you inviting me to live with you," I asked.
"I am. It's nowhere near as glorious as what you're used to and needs fixing but you're welcome to stay," he said.
"Good thing I don't mind a bit of work," I hugged him.
I left my maid in charge of my childhood home until I decided what to do with it. I packed a few bags for Nick's house.
Nick took me to his home. It was a lovely grounds keeper's cottage. It needed some lawn maintenance but besides that it was perfect.
The house next door was large and grand. It looked like something built to suit my mother. She would have liked an over the top house like that one. Our house was old money grand while this one was the flashy new money grand. It was run down at the moment but it would have been beautiful in its prime.
"Does anyone live next door?"
"A great man used to," Nick responded.
"Who was this great man?" He caught my attention.
"Gatsby, his name was Jay Gatsby," he choked a bit.
"Is this the same Jay that mother had an affair with?"
"Your mother was careless with him,"
"She said didn't marry him when he was poor even though she loved him. She didn't think he could make her happy. They had an affair when they met up a few years later when he had plenty of money. She broke up with him shortly after their affair. She broke his heart," I frowned.
"That's not all to the story," Nick shook his head.
"Then tell me the whole story,"
"Well..." Nick went on to tell me a watered down version of the truth. It was clear that Nick saw Gatsby with rose tinted glasses. No one is as perfect as Nick described to me.
"Wait so no one came to his funeral? Not even my mother?" I say appalled.
"It was just me and Gatsby's father,"
"But all the people that went to his parties! And my mother! He basically died from my parents!"
"People tend to take more than they give," he said.
"That's terrible, no one deserves that! His fault was that he was so devoted to my mother," I shake my head.
"How does a many become so rich in a few years," I looked over at the grand house next door.
"He worked in pharmaceuticals," Nick told me. I could tell there was more, the pharmaceutical business does not earn that much. What was Nick hiding from me about Gatsby?
I realized Nick didn't tell me about Gatsby's beginning at all. My mother told me he used to be poor but that was all and Nick did not mention Gatsby's start at all. It seemed like Jay Gatsby was more of a character than a person. Jay Gatsby was a man who put on a perfect mask to the world. I want to know what the real Jay Gatsby was like.
"Come on you need to rest. You've had a long week," Nick brought me to my room.
"Thank you. Sweet dreams," I hugged Nick before he left.
My room had the perfect view of Gatsby's house. I wanted to know more about this enigma that was Jay Gatsby. My mother may have been able to use and discard him but I wanted to know everything that made this mysterious man tick.
There was chapter 6! I hope you liked it. Leave a review tell me what you think.
I'm going to have some bonding between Nick and Pamela. If you have any suggestions or things you want to see (with 1920's Nick or the current 1940's Nick) feel free to tell me in a PM or in a review.