MANHATTAN – OCTOBER 1900
"We have a surprise for you," Sarah said to Henry, holding her hands behind her back.
"A surprise?" Henry asked excitedly, giving Sarah an elated yet suspicious grin. "But it's not my birthday. My birthday was last May."
"I know, silly," Sarah said, exchanging an amused look with Grim. "This is a going away surprise. Something you can take with you to your new home."
Henry tried to peer behind Sarah's back, but she was quick to turn. "Close your eyes." Complying eagerly, Sarah slowly reached her hands around, and then said, "Okay, you can open them now."
Upon opening his eyes, Henry gasped in disbelief at the tiny tricolor kitten in her hands. It was sleeping, all curled up in a little ball. She and Jack had found him wandering the alley next to their apartment, alone and without its mother. Of course, she'd checked with Grim ahead of time, though he was apprehensive at first. But he agreed it would help Henry leave behind the family he'd grown so fond of in the city.
"Aww! Is that…? It's so cute!" Henry reached out to pet it, but then paused, looking up at Sarah. "May I?"
"Of course," Sarah said. "He's yours."
Henry's jaw dropped. "Really?" He began jumping up and down cheerfully. "Holy smokes, I have a cat!" Then he froze, giving Sarah a curious look before turning around to face his father. "Daddy, can I have a cat?"
Grim laughed, bending down next to Henry to pet the kitten. "As long as you promise to take good care of him, then yes."
"I will!" Henry said, gently touching the soft fur on the kitten's ears. "I'll teach him tricks. And I'll tell him stories. And he'll be my best friend in the whole world."
The kitten opened its eyes a little and mewed as Henry rubbed his back. "Aww," Henry cooed, leaning down to kiss the kitten's head. "I love him!"
"What do you say?" Grim prompted, nodding to Henry.
Henry grinned up at Sarah and Jack. "Thank you Aunt Sarah! Thank you Uncle Jack! This is the best surprise ever!"
"Well, what are you going to name him?" Jack asked.
Henry thought for a moment. He looked at the kitten's white paws, and the rest of his black and orange coat. "Let me think about it."
"How about Mittens?" Sarah suggested.
Two-year-old Amelie squirmed on Marquette's lap, trying to see the kitten. "What do you see?" Marquette asked, pointing to the mewing kitten in Sarah's hands.
Amelie mimicked his pointing, kicking her legs excitedly. "I want down, Papa," she said in her high-pitched whine, slumping down in Marquette's grip so that she was sliding, clutching the little ragdoll she'd brought with her. "I want to see! I want to see! Le petit chat."
Marquette let her go and she dashed over to Henry, her two little braids flying wildly, giving him a hug before petting the kitten, too.
"Isn't he cute, Amie?" Henry asked. "You have to be gentle. Pet him like this."
As Henry demonstrated, Amelie watched, trying to mimic his movements. After Henry kissed the kitten again, Amelie bent down and did the same.
"What do you think I should name him, Amie?"
"Okay," Amelie replied, touching the kitten's tail.
"I can't name him 'okay.'"
Amelie looked down at the ragdoll in her arms. "My baby," she said, reaching up to show the doll to Henry.
"What about your baby sister?" Henry asked, pointing to the tiny baby asleep in the miniature baby carrier beside Marquette.
Amelie looked at her sister, frowning. "No. I don't like Lillian."
"Oh," Jack said, exchanging a surprised look with Marquette, who rolled his eyes and shrugged. "How honest."
Amelie held up her doll. "She's hungry."
"Is it time to make your baby dinner?" Camille teased her daughter, flooring Sophie with her improved English since the last time she'd seen her.
Amelie looked around. "Where is it?"
Marquette handed Amelie a piece of cheese from the plate on the table that Sarah had prepared as an appetizer. "Is this it?"
Amelie pushed the cheese away. "Not that."
"Not this?" Marquette asked, eating the cheese anyway.
"No," Amelie stood on her tiptoes, unable to see onto the table. She wobbled, almost losing her balance. "Papa? Where did it go?"
"It's right here," Camille said, producing Amelie's old baby bottle that the little girl now used as a doll accessory.
Amelie accepted the empty bottle, showing it to Marquette proudly. "This one."
"Okay," Marquette said, nodding.
"I make the baby dinner."
"You're making the baby dinner?"
"Mm-hm." Amelie ran back over to Henry, trying to show him her doll but he was far more interested in the kitten. "Do you want it? Try it?" Amelie asked, holding the empty baby bottle up to Henry.
Henry shook his head, giving her a confused look. "It's empty."
Grim smiled at Amelie. "I'll try it. Is it hot?"
"No. There," Amelie said, watching Grim take a pretend drink from the bottle. She giggled as he made believe burning his tongue, coughing as he tried to catch his breath.
"Oh, that's too hot," Grim said, handing her back the bottle.
"No," Amelie replied, giving it to her doll to drink.
Grim raised an eyebrow. "No? Is it cold?"
"No."
"Then what is it?"
Amelie smiled. "Um, it's la glace."
"Glace?" Grim asked, scrunching his eyebrows.
Marquette laughed. "Ice. Amelie, it's called 'ice.'"
"Ice," Amelie repeated softly. "It's called ice. Iced tea."
"Oh, you have iced tea?" Grim asked, playing along as Amelie took a sip from the bottle.
She recoiled, holding the bottle away from herself. "Oh no, it's hot!"
Grim gasped. "It's hot, now? Oh, be careful."
A knock at the door, and Sarah opened it to find Tide, Z, Crazy, and River in the hallway. As she welcomed them in, Amelie echoed the 'hi's' they gave her, waving frantically.
"Now, what's your name again?" River feigned confusion as he bent down next to Amelie.
"It's me!" Amelie squealed with a giggle as he tickled her.
"Yeah, how old are you now? Ten?" Z asked, giving her a bop on the nose.
"No," Amelie said, rubbing her nose. "I'm three and a half."
Looking over from where she was helping Sarah with the drinks, Camille shook her head, saying, "Three and a half? No…"
Amelie looked at her fingers, trying to hold up two fingers. "Two!"
"Oh, that's right," Z said. "You just had a birthday a few months ago."
"Can you sing any songs?" River asked.
Amelie smiled, twirling around. "Nous n'irons plus au bois, Les lauriers sont coupés. La belle que voilà, La laiss'rons nous danser…" The words were stilted and run together as she spun.
When she finished, the others applauded.
Z smiled at her, shaking his head. "Nope, not a single word, kid. But great voice. She's got a future on Broadway, that's for sure."
Crazy gestured for Amelie to come over, and she happily did so. He crouched down, giving her a feigned stern look. "Amelie, I just want you to know, that while I'm here, this…" he teased, gesturing to Jack and Sarah's flat around them, "is a no singing or dancing zone."
Amelie's smile faded and her lips began to tremble. As soon as she began crying, she turned around and ran over to where Marquette was sitting, begging to be picked up.
"What? What's wrong?" Marquette asked her, scooping her back onto his lap.
"I got a kitten!" Henry exclaimed proudly, now sitting on the floor as the kitten slept in his hands.
"Oh, let me see!" Tide said, sounding like a child himself as he hurried over. "What did you name it?"
"I don't know yet."
"Hell of a name," Z said with a wink, stealing an apple slice off Jack's plate.
"Dinner will be ready in about forty-five minutes," Sarah said, nudging Jack to help her in the tiny kitchen. "Come on, Jack, you've been sitting there all day."
Jack rolled his eyes with a smirk, draping an arm around her waist which she playfully shoved away.
As more guests arrived, the flat became crowded and bustling. Camille, Elena, and Sarah were laughing about something with Bella, Sophie, and Leah – all while trying to navigate dishes and cups for the hoard who'd be joining them.
Fleet and Lion were preparing part of the meal, so focused in their work it was almost comical. They kept arguing with one another, with Fleet calling Lion too uptight and impatient, and Lion calling Fleet incompetent to cook because he was Irish.
Atlas, Doc, and Rails were swarming Henry and the kitten, all taking turns holding it. Shakespeare and Cards were relaying to Marquette how much money Lion had won at the tracks – this time fairly. No one could believe it.
Alexei was holding Misha, making funny faces as his son smiled up at him through the little thumb in his mouth. Despite how exhausted Alexei appeared, he switched between entertaining his baby and talking to Muggs. Muggs offered to take Misha for a while, freeing Alexei.
Muggs held Misha, taking him around the room and pointing at different people, identifying them with his own original superlatives for the baby's edification. He stopped at a mirror, pointing at Misha's reflection. "And that's Misha. That's you."
Misha stared at his own face in the mirror, breaking into a smile before laughing a little, which in turn made Muggs laugh.
Once the guests stopped arguing and hugging, the conversation began to veer toward Grim and Henry's departure.
"Dinner's ready!" Sarah announced before anyone could get too melancholic, helping Jack pull out the extended leaves on the table so there would be enough room. They'd borrowed miscellaneous chairs from neighbors, but in the end everyone was able to have a place.
Sarah set a little bowl of milk on the floor for the kitten. Henry and Amelie got their own little table on an overturned milk crate, which they were quite excited about. They sat on cushions, with Henry politely listening to a story that Amelie was struggling to get through.
It was straight to the main course of lemon chicken. Though Sarah wasn't a gourmet chef, she'd memorized a few recipes from her mother perfectly. The portions were generous, and the spread on the table looked pretty, from the large arrangement of flowers in the middle to the flickering candles.
Pitchers of beer and bottles of Scotch whiskey dotted the tablecloth. Red and white wine.
For dessert, Camille had brought over a chocolate cake that she and Marquette had made.
The evening lasted longer than any other. Heated debates, outrageous statements, dramatic accusations.
It had been seven months since Jack and Sarah were married. With his back to the wall, watching her laugh beside him at something Grim and Tide were telling her, feeling her hand grab his hand…Jack didn't know how he'd ended up so lucky.
Similarly, it had been three years since Jack had been in the Refuge – give or take that length of time for the others. In that time since, their lives had reverted to what they had been prior to their lockup, but they'd changed in a lot of ways, too.
Some got respectable jobs, working in factories or railroad yards, on steamboats or the docks. Some went back to the streets, joining gangs, feeding their vices, and giving little regard for the law. Jack, of course, hadn't expected everyone to end up on the straight-and-narrow like he had. It was far too late, anyway. Too late in a system that had failed them.
As Sarah began nursing classes at night, Jack was promoted from typesetter to regular illustrator for The New York World – an ironic career path that his friends would never stop teasing him about. It meant he got copies of the paper for free, something he never expected.
"I don't even know how the fuck we'll get on without you," Lion said to Grim across the table.
"I can't believe you're actually leaving," Rails said. "And I can't believe you're taking Henry away from us."
"What?" Grim said. "You think I'd leave him here with you people?"
Everyone laughed.
"Anyway, it won't be long until you both join us out west," Grim said, nodding to Jack and Sarah. "Santa Fe ain't that far of a train ride. We'll practically be neighbors."
"Oh, yeah, you're leaving us, too," Cards said, pouring himself a glass of Scotch. "You know, when Tide told us you were moving to New Mexico, I almost staged an intervention."
"Why didn't you?" Sarah teased.
"I got drunk and forgot to send out invitations," Cards replied. "And I figured if anyone's going to get as far from Snyder as possible, it should be the two of you," he said, pointing to Jack and Grim.
"I sure couldn't do it. Wild animals, sandstorms, droughts…" Z said.
"Well, I never said I was smart," Jack said, a wide smile on his face.
The entire table of guests were nothing more than a huddle of laughter and reddened faces, scrunched up in happiness.
"Jack and Grim ain't gonna let the wild west beat them!" Fleet shouted. "Sarah, you might be the bravest of us all."
"We'll see how it goes," Sarah said. "Mama nearly died when I told her."
"You're married now. She can't keep telling you what to do," Camille said. "I'm sure she'll come around to it."
"She cried for two weeks when David went off to university," Sarah said. "In upstate."
Sophie folded her arms, laughing and shaking her head. She'd had a little too much whiskey and was already pouring herself a third glass. "I'm going to miss you so much," she said, her laughs turning into little whines, as if she were holding back tears. "Will you write?"
Jack turned to her, kicking her gently under the table. "Will we write? Sophie, you'll be visiting every month, or else. You know you'll always have a place to stay with us." He looked at Bella and Leah. "That goes for you, too."
"Same with us," Grim assured her with a smile. "If you ever need to run away."
"Or with any of us," Crazy spoke up. "If you're okay with less-than accommodations, but we'll do our best."
The three girls smiled.
"Really?" Jack asked to the general table. "If anything should happen, you'd come and get them?"
"We're already on our way," Alexei said.
They sat around the table, pouring drinks, eating, and talking as it grew later. By now, Misha and Lillian were sound asleep in their little cradles in the back bedroom. Along with them, Amelie was asleep on top of Jack and Sarah's bed. Henry was sitting on Grim's lap, still holding his kitten.
They talked about anything and everything. A group of friends with countless shared memories, afraid to let morning come too quickly, afraid for it all to end. They never discussed the Refuge, as if having taken a solemn vow.
Sarah blew off steam about the upheaval at her work. Cards, Shakespeare, and Lion talked about their lives of petty crime. They realized how limiting it was, not to mention how it would catch up to them eventually, but it made for some entertaining stories.
Grim was happy about going west and starting over with his son, eager to see what life had in store for them. He'd gathered enough money for a piece of land and a house and had already purchased the train tickets for tomorrow. The rest was still unknown.
Jack teased about sticking with the print field when he eventually moved to Santa Fe and writing cowboy dime novels on the side.
Finally, the pints, glasses of red and white, and bottles of Scotch took effect and the conversation shifted. Soon they were laughing about bygone days, in the years before the Refuge robbed them of their innocence. One after the other, they remembered their jobs as newsies and shoe shiners, savoring the independence and shenanigans a New York City upbringing provided for.
"What was that little church song you used to sing?" Sarah asked, using the side of her fork to cut into her slice of cake.
"Church song?" Rails asked, wrinkling his nose. "We don't know no church songs."
"Don't know no churches neither," Z added, striking a match for his cigarette.
"In fact, do we even know any songs?" Crazy asked with a laugh.
"Of course, we do," Atlas said. "I do."
"Yeah, them drinking songs ain't what he's talking about," Doc said, nudging Atlas.
"But we do know those," River said. "In perfect meter."
"You guys are terrible," Leah said, throwing her napkin at River. "Don't sing dirty songs in front of Henry."
"Um, he wouldn't have known they were dirty if you hadn't said that," River countered, lightly tossing the napkin back.
"Don't get mad at us. Medda taught us those songs," Lion said. "Lovey Dovey Baby was practically a lullaby."
"Lovey Dovey Baby? That's a lullaby?" Bella asked. "Says who?"
Lion gave her a deadpan stare. "Our mommy issues, Isabella."
Even Muggs laughed aloud at that. Sarah tried to laugh along, but she felt a wave of pity at the truth behind that statement.
"And nothing has changed," Fleet said, finishing his pint as Jack poured himself another glass.
"Fuck it, I know what song you're talking about, Sarah," Tide said, leaning back in his chair, smiling. "We'll sing it right now."
Sophie covered her ears, bracing herself.
Rails gave her a gentle nudge, pretending to be hurt. "Come on, we ain't that bad."
"We'll get a noise complaint, but we ain't that bad," Shakespeare laughed.
"I don't even know what we're singing," Marquette said, scooting back from the table.
"'How Can I Keep from Singing,'" Tide said. "Ain't that right, Jack?"
"That's the one," Jack said, giving Sarah a small smile. "My mother used to sing it."
"Yeah, so did half of the Children's Aid Society." Atlas smirked.
"Okay, quietly?" Elena said, getting up to peer into the bedroom at the children. "They are asleep."
"Nothing will ever beat that solitary rendition," Z joked. "Our voices really carried off those stone walls."
"After Snyder beat the stage fright out of us," Cards added.
"Mon Dieu," Camille said, half-laughing along, half-sighing as she held onto Marquette. "That's awful."
"We might be a little rusty," Fleet reminded Sarah, who giggled, waving a hand.
The boys cleared their throats, trying to remember the beginning lyrics while also drumming out a steady rhythm on the table.
The women awaited the performance, leaning back, and laughing a little as a few notes were tried out to match pitch.
Sophie buried her face in her hands to hide her tipsy snickering as the song began.
"My life flows on in endless song. Above earth's lamentation, I hear the sweet though far-off hymn that hails a new creation." They sang the opening words with an impressively soothing melody, staying in tune. "Through all the tumult and the strife, I hear that music ringing. It finds an echo in my soul. How can I keep from singing?"
Leah and Bella were swaying, Henry drummed along, Sophie sang with the others, and Sarah smiled warmly at Jack.
No one knocked on the door demanding a cease to the private concert.
By the end, there were claps and toasts of cheers, and another round of drinks.
It was their own perfect night. And they kept it going for as long as their energy would allow. No one could take that night away from them. It was theirs, and something they would come to look back upon fondly.
It was as close to a happily ever after as they would ever know.
That one, perfect night – the last night they would all be in one place again.