Always With Me
With her daughter living across town and her son constantly at band, Mrs. Paroo was truly alone for the first time in a long time. She busied herself around town most days, but even with her busy lifestyle and her long visits with her daughter she spent much of her time around her house getting chores done.
The cheery brunette dusted off the frames that contained little pictures of her family. There was a recent one of Marian and Winthrop and herself, the little boy sitting in front of the blonde and his mother. There was a picture of Winthrop with Harold, Winthrop's giddy grin matching Harold's as the two boys were dressed in their band uniforms. The resemblance between the two made them almost look like relatives as well, more than just brothers-in-law. Mrs. Paroo really thought of Harold as family, and she was very happy to have her sons and daughter. Another picture was a framed Hill family portrait, one that Mrs. Paroo received from the happy family as a Christmas gift. She saw Joseph quite a bit, but it always seemed that when she was away from the boy he grew even more…
Mrs. Paroo knew all too well how quickly children grew up. She had watched Marian take her first steps in that house, in the parlor where the piano proudly sat. Winthrop had said "papa" for the first time in the very same parlor. Now Marian was happily married with a boy of her own, and Winthrop was off having his own little not-so-secret romance with Amaryllis Dunlop. It seemed like only yesterday Marian was the little librarian with no time for love and too much time to spend playing the piano, and Winthrop was the shy boy with the lisp. Marian still had her library and Winthrop still had the traces of a lisp, but neither of them were quite the children she remembered from even a few years prior.
If only Wilson could've seen how his two children grew up…
Mrs. Paroo always wondered how things would've been, had things been different. Her Wilson meant the world to her, and sometimes she felt that he wasn't truly gone. His memory lingered down the halls and in the kitchen and in the master bedroom. Everywhere seemingly in that town had a little piece of Wilson Paroo in it. She saw him in Winthrop's smile and in his undeniable musicality and persistence when it came to his cornet. Wilson was the same way with his saxophone way back in the day, though it sat untouched in a case in the parlor all of little Winthrop's life. Mrs. Paroo especially saw her late husband when she looked at their daughter. Marian had inherited his blonde hair and green eyes. Unfortunately for Mrs. Paroo, her daughter had inherited her nasty Irish temper and her father's old-fashioned Iowa stubbornness. If only Wilson could've seen how his headstrong daughter had changed…
Mrs. Paroo shook her head. It was foolish, she knew, to pretend that her darling husband was still there with her. Wilson would always be with her in her heart, but that wasn't enough for her. Mrs. Paroo, completely alone in her house, sat on the couch and thought about her late husband with both sadness and fondness.
He was her Wilson. She hadn't really known many people when her family moved to North Carolina. She had aunts and uncles in New York, but her papa was a farmer and that seemed like a safe place to go. Everyone was heading west, but they went south instead. And it was a good thing they did, or she would've never gone to the party where the Iowa boys played new jazz. Eleanor Sheehan—Ellie, that's what everyone knew her as back then—spoke different than most North Carolinians, and seemed to get lost in the party. But Wilson Paroo was more than willing to help Eleanor, and the other Sheehans, as best he could. He was a good ten years older than she was, but her parents were glad to call him son when she became Eleanor "Ellie" Sheehan-Paroo.
When they moved to River City, his hometown, she was no longer the Sheehan girl to anyone. Eleanor was regarded as "Mrs. Paroo", very curt, all the River City-ziens were very curt. The only person that even called her Ellie anymore was her husband, and eventually she just became Eleanor. After Marian was born Eleanor was mostly accepted by the people of the town, even if she kept a safe distance from them. She was very quiet compared to her party-playing husband who played in a symphony out in Chicago with Martin Madison. Mrs. Paroo raised Marian with her husband in the city most of the time, but when he was home the house suddenly didn't feel so empty.
Once Marian was about fourteen her father returned home full-time. Wilson loved his daughter, and they were closer than any two people ever could've been. Marian was just as stubborn as Wilson, but the two were dreamers. When Wilson and Eleanor told Marian that soon she would have a sibling, she was overjoyed. Her closest friend, Ethel Toffelmier, had three little sisters in the city, and Marian was an only child. Eleanor and Wilson were amazed at her reaction but incredibly pleased. She remembered how Wilson and Marian set up the nursery for little Winthrop…
And that's where the memories became too painful. By the time Winthrop was a baby, Ellie Sheehan was a long dead personality, and Eleanor Paroo became the Irish housewife of ill saxophonist Wilson Paroo. Wilson got sicker, Martin Madison moved from Chicago to River City, and the rumors about Marian started. Winthrop had a lisp and spoke very little for a child. Yet Wilson, even on his deathbed, had enough love to give his wife and daughter and son. If there was one thing Wilson would never run out of, it was either hope or love. The last thing he said to his wife, whispering into her ear as she sat on the edge of his bed, was "I love you dearly, Ellie Sheehan."
Mrs. Eleanor Paroo, alone in her house, imagined her husband with her on the couch. Until her son came back, she enjoyed the company of the memory of her deceased husband, pretending he was there and telling him everything he had missed. Maybe, from heaven, he was listening to his darling Ellie Sheehan.
Author's Note: First off, I took a few liberties with this story. I realize "Miser Madison didn't have a friend in this town 'til she moved here", but I figured maybe Miser Madison was the one to move. I see Marian being a River City-zien through and through.
Wow, what an interesting week! Monday I spent in a costume fitting with Mama, and I must say I am not disappointed by the first round of fittings! Tuesday the dancers started, and yesterday and today were music rehearsals with the vocal director… sadly, alone. This chapter was recommended by "Mama", who was also "Ellie" in the fall. She was joking when our director said that we had to figure out how "papa" died, and she said that he died in a home invasion accident (which, mind you, was what our fall play was about). Anyways, thanks for reading and please please please review!