AN: Thanks to all who keep reading. I love it when people follow a story or leave a comment. Your efforts are appreciated. I hope everyone has a great weekend. I may have a chance to post another chapter on Monday if everything works out. Fingers crossed on that one. Hope you enjoy this chapter. We're getting close to Henry and Elizabeth meeting.
Chapter 7
December 1985
Will sat backward on the dining room chair so he could face Lizzie. He studied her skeptically. She stood at the bar, spreading butter on a piece of toast. She turned and dropped the knife in the sink and placed the stick of butter back in the fridge she turned to him. "You don't like the idea?' Elizabeth questioned.
Will leaned back against the table and the legs screeched as they shifted across the floor. "It's not that I don't like the idea. I just don't understand. You wanted away from here. Now you want to come back for college? You know you don't make much sense."
Elizabeth cocked her head to the side and gave him a little shrug. "Well, there are a couple reasons. Mom and Dad went to UVA. You know, 'Go Wahoos!'" She gave Will a slight smile. "Besides, I think I want to study law, and UVA has a strong prelaw program."
"I thought you were a math nerd," he stated, reaching forward and snatching the toast off her plate. He took a bite and then returned it.
"I am, I mean was. I still love math, but it's getting too complicated to do in my head and I still haven't figured out a good way to get it on paper so that it's usable to me. I might try statistics or something like that. I could probably do that in my head."
Will groaned. "I can probably do that in my head," he mimicked in a high pitched sing-songy voice. "Of course you can."
"Oh shut it, Will. Joan is always bragging about how good your grades are. I don't want to hear your 'woe is me' story."
Will quieted suddenly. "Do you think they would be proud, Lizzie?"
Elizabeth's mouth dropped open and it took her a second to gather her words. "They were always proud of you, Will. And they never doubted your potential." She let that sit for a moment, then she smirked, keeping herself from letting their memory become too heavy. "I, on the other hand, didn't think you could put two and two together." She shrugged. "Guess you proved me wrong."
"You're such a pain in the ass, Lizzie." Will pushed away from the table and plucked the remaining toast from her hand, shoving it in his mouth. Elizabeth screeched and lunged over the bar to swat at him, but missed. Will laughed, his mouth still half full of toast. She reached out again to hit him and he caught her by the wrist, teasingly. Then he let her go. "So, what about needing to get out of here?"
Elizabeth shrugged it off. "I needed to then, but I'm okay now, and college will be different, don't you think? So many more people than our little side of Charlottesville. Some people will be the same, but most people will be too tied up in their own lives to remember mine." She suddenly looked concerned. "Don't you think?" she repeated.
"You're probably right," he agreed, not sure if he was trying to convince her or himself.
"Right about what?" Joan said as she pushed open the back door. Her arms were full of grocery bags. "A little help here," she grunted, just as Will pulled the bag that was shifting from her arms.
Will placed the bag on the bar and Elizabeth set about emptying it. She put the apples and lettuce in the crisper drawers and hung the bananas from the hook on the banana tree in the corner. She pushed the boxes off to the side for Joan to sort out to put in the pantry.
As soon as Joan was otherwise engaged with getting the groceries put away, Will sneaked off, causing Elizabeth to huff. She was about to complain about Will never helping when Joan said, "So what were you two talking about?"
Elizabeth purposely hadn't brought up the topic of college with Joan because she was a little nervous about how it would go. "Just what my plans were for after graduation. I'm a little late in figuring all of that out."
"Oh?" Joan was curious. She'd wanted to ask, but had been on the receiving end of Elizabeth's shut down for pushing issues she wasn't ready to talk about. This was Christmas and she had no desire to cause a rift. It was like pulling teeth to get Elizabeth home anyway. She wanted their time together to be pleasant.
"Yeah." She held up a box. "Are these my granola bars?"
"No. Those are the ones Will likes. Yours are to your left." Joan leaned to the side, trying to get a clear shot of the row of boxes that Elizabeth had made. "The third from the end." Elizabeth frowned as her fingers ran over the third box, finding it to be the wrong size, and moved one more to the left and held it up. "That's it," Joan said.
Elizabeth turned to the pantry and reached into the corner of the top shelf and removed a small tool that looked like a miniature ice pick. Carefully she poked the holes in the side of the box, marking it with the Braille letter G. Placing the granola bars on the shelf, she turned back and let her fingers flit over the tops of the boxes before she picked up the tallest one. "Cereal?" she asked.
"Raisin Bran," Joan replied. Elizabeth marked it as well.
Placing the cereal on the top shelf, she returned the tool to the corner and put the other items on lower shelves for Will and Joan. "I've been thinking about college."
Joan, who had been unloading the contents of the last paper bag onto the counter, froze. "College?" she meant to make it a statement, but even she could hear the question and tension in her voice. She knew that Elizabeth wouldn't miss it.
"Yeah, college."
"Does the school have a list of institutions that they recommend?" Joan worked to keep her voice steady. It was one thing to send Elizabeth to a boarding school for the blind. That was somewhat controlled. There were sighted people close by to make sure the students didn't get into trouble. College was a completely different ball of wax.
"They do, but I don't want to go to any of those. I'm thinking about UVA," Elizabeth said.
Joan felt some of her anxiety ebb away. "Oh! Well, that would be handy. You could live at home and take classes. I can help out."
"No," Elizabeth said, firmly. "That wasn't at all what I had in mind. I want to live on campus, as a regular college student. I don't want to go to UVA because it's close to home. I want to go there in spite of it being close to home."
Joan hummed her displeasure. "Joan, don't do that." Elizabeth made her case. "I went to school and have learned a lot about getting along by myself. Most of the students graduate and go out and get jobs. They can do things on their own. Just because I want to go to college doesn't change the fact that I can do it on my own. I'm capable."
"It's not that I think you aren't capable. There are just a lot of unknowns and I worry," Joan said, the anxiety levels skyrocketing upward, making her nauseous. "I just think you are a little naive about how difficult it will be."
"Maybe, but I'll adjust. You know I will. I always do"
But at what cost. "You probably would. Me? I'm not so sure about that," Joan said, pulling Elizabeth into a hug. "But I'm sure you'd prove me wrong."
May 1986
"Come stand here," Joan shuffled Elizabeth to stand in front of the mirror mounted on the back of the hotel room door. She stood at her back and looked over her shoulder to adjust the honors cords under the collar of her graduation gown.
Elizabeth giggled, "You realize that it's dumb to make me stand in front of a mirror when I'm blind, right?'
Joan shushed her, "Be quiet and give an old woman some grace, will ya?" She squeezed Elizabeth's biceps and leaned in to rest her head on Elizabeth's shoulder. "I'm proud of you. You've overcome a lot. Valedictorian is a pretty impressive feat."
Elizabeth blushed, "Thanks." She pushed away the hurt that came with knowing her parents weren't there to see her graduate. There wasn't anything she could do about it anyway. And Joan was doing a good job as a stand in. She took a deep breath and changed the subject. "Where's Will? I thought he was just going across the street for donuts."
Almost on cue, Will kicked at the door. When Joan opened it, he handed her the tray of paper coffee cups and set the bag of pastries on the small table in front of the window. He looked over at his sister. "Whoa. You look all fancy. Gotta love the gold cords."
"Tha-," Elizabeth started, but Will continued.
"Because nothing says nerd like gold rope." He cackled and Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
"Jerk," she muttered. "Well, they probably won't be so nerdish when you have them next year."
"I'm sure I will wear them better," Will agreed, causing Elizabeth to groan.
"Kids," Joan interjected. "Eat something. We need to head out soon, and Will, you haven't even showered."
Will looked stunned, "That's a requirement now? It's not even like it's my thing." Joan glared at him and he threw up his hands in defeat. Shoving an entire long john into his mouth, he disappeared into the bathroom and within a few seconds the water started.
"You know I love you both immensely, but I'm not looking forward to having you both under the same roof again. You two bicker like crazy." Joan busied herself with picking up the room, seeming not to notice that Elizabeth didn't respond. Elizabeth decided that there was no reason to open that can of worms right now.
The sun beat down on the graduates of the Arkansas School for the Blind. Elizabeth was uncomfortably hot in her cotton sundress with the navy polyester gown drawing the sun's rays like a magnet. Her hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and sweat accumulated where her hair lay against her neck. There were speeches which presumably offered congratulations and words of wisdom. Elizabeth wasn't listening. She had already moved past high school and was daydreaming about UVA. The movement of her whole row caught Elizabeth off guard. She quickly stood and followed the person in front of her. Many used their white canes, but even in a situation such as this, her disdain for the tool prevented her from even considering it. The group had practiced twice. She'd counted the steps.
When it was her turn, She carefully raised her foot, pressing it to the tread of the portable metal steps up to the stage. Step 1, step 2, step 3, step 4. 7 steps across the stage, shake hands, take the diploma, bow so the president can put the valedictorian medal over my head, thank him, 9 steps to the edge of the stage, tap for the edge, step down, 2, 3, 4. She breathed a sigh of relief when she made it the 23 steps back to her seat. The row stayed standing until the entire row made it back and then they sat together.
At the end, most everyone threw their cap, but Elizabeth took hers off and placed it in her lap. As the music played, families stood and started to move about. Friends hugged and tears were shed. Elizabeth offered congratulations to a few people as she exited the row and walked carefully back the three rows to where Joan and Will had been seated. Joan met her and Elizabeth said, "Let's go home."
Tossing her cap, gown, and diploma into the trunk of the car, she tugged a lightweight sweater on to cover her shoulders and then climbed into the front seat. As Joan drove away from the campus, Elizabeth pressed her head to the window and began preparing herself for the next challenge.
— ∞ —
Eight days had passed since graduation and Elizabeth walked into the kitchen while Joan and Will were eating breakfast. "Wow, the end of the world is coming. Princess Lizzie rises before noon."
"Will," Joan said in an attempt to ward off a fight.
Surprisingly, Elizabeth didn't take the bait. Instead she sat at the end of the table. "Do you think one of you could run me by UVA Admissions this morning? I have a 10 am appointment to get housing set up." She could feel Joan bristle from the other end of the table.
"I thought we were going to talk about you living on campus," Joan said, her voice suddenly strained.
Elizabeth kept her expression blank. This was going to get worse before it got better. "We did talk about it and you said you thought I needed to be familiar with campus before I lived there, so that's what I'm doing."
"What is it exactly that you're doing?" Joan asked.
"I'm going to move onto campus next week when very few people are around. I'm working with the Student Learning Office. They are going to set me up with someone who will walk the campus with me so that I can become familiar with where everything is. Then it won't be a problem." Elizabeth kept an even calm voice and when she finished, she scooted her chair out. "If no one is available, I can call a cab to take me."
"It would have been nice for you to share all of this information with me before you made the plans." Joan spoke through gritted teeth and Elizabeth was impressed that she wasn't already yelling. Elizabeth assumed that her aunt would have already been pushed to her max.
Elizabeth stood, leaning into the back of the chair. "Well, I didn't think it was something that you wanted to hear and I knew I didn't want to have the argument. The additional housing is going to cost $600 for the summer. I didn't think that was too much to get my bearings before the fall semester begins."
"$600 is a lot of money. That isn't covered by your scholarships or financial aid plan." Joan argued. "There is no reason you can't become familiar with the campus and live here this summer. I never actually agreed to you living on campus at all if we really get down to it."
"Joan, my scholarship pays for room and board for the year along with my tuition." Elizabeth was feeling the early twinges of a headache starting to form at her temples. This was not how she wanted to start her day, so she decided to end the conversation. "If it's an inconvenience, the additional housing fee can come out of my settlement." She turned on her heel and walked out of the room, but caught Will's words.
"Damn, Lizzie just played the settlement card."
"William Donald Adams, you can shut your mouth right now," Joan snapped. Will may have laughed because Joan said something else as Elizabeth's bedroom door fell shut.
Elizabeth felt bad about bringing up the settlement. She knew how guilty Joan felt about what transpired with her accident and how she felt responsible for not pressing the issue of Elizabeth's loss of sight when she was in the hospital. Truth be told, it didn't really bother Elizabeth. After the first few days, when she had to adjust to total darkness, she didn't mind. If it had really been a bother at the time, she would have made a fuss, but she didn't. Joan didn't seem to understand that part.
The settlement came from the malpractice lawsuit against the doctor that sent her home after he was made aware that she couldn't see. Elizabeth wasn't sure of the final amount after Joan's lawyers took their cut, but it sent her to Arkansas for three years with no out of pocket expenses and Joan had made the comment that it should pay for all incidentals while she was in college. The $600 wasn't a problem. Joan was mad that she wasn't staying home. She'd tried to explain that if she were going to a different college, she wouldn't be staying at home. She didn't want to live there. Joan's house held too many memories—memories that she didn't need always surrounding her.
— ∞ —
August 1986
Henry bowed his head and tried to calmly pray. He started with let go and let God, offer it up, and whatever other platitudes he'd learned in his youth about not worrying. He'd just come from the Financial Aid office and was in a complete panic. Normally, he might have skipped his next appointment, but Henry decided that Adoration would be the perfect place to lay down his burdens and maybe, by some stroke of luck, he could see a way out of his predicament.
Due to "cutbacks," his ROTC scholarship wasn't going to fully cover his expenses for his senior year. Of course they had offered loans, but loans needed a co-signer and his father had made it perfectly clear that he and Estelle were not going to be helping foot the bill for college, especially one in Virginia.
He didn't have any friends that were in a financial position to co-sign a loan, nor would he ask them anyway. He needed a creative solution to cover the shortfall. He had mornings off in the upcoming semester; perhaps he could get a job. The downside of doing that was that he would need to rearrange his Adoration time again and it would take time away from his studies, time he really needed. Henry was smart, but good grades didn't come easily. He worked at it and was driven to do well, if for no other reason than to prove his father wrong.
After several minutes, pouring his heart out, he pushed himself up from the kneeler and made his way to the side table to sign in. He grabbed the binder of prayer intentions and made his way back to the pew. He flipped through the pages that had been written since his visit the previous week and for the first time in his three years of attending weekly Adoration, penned his own entry. Perhaps the prayers of at least a hundred people would open a door and he could figure out how to pay for his last year of undergrad.
Henry had just finished a decade of the Rosary when Mrs. Bryan entered the chapel. They exchanged pleasantries and he hoisted his backpack up on one shoulder and made his way out of the church.
— ∞ —
Joan didn't know much about Henry, other than he had only missed two Adoration times in the year that he had been assigned the time before her. Both times, he used the calling sheet to find someone else to come and sit for the hour he couldn't be there. It impressed her. He was conscientious and courteous. She hadn't had any in-depth conversations with the young man, but he was always pleasant.
She frowned as she watched him walk away with his shoulders sagging. He was obviously dealing with something that was weighing him down. When she bowed her head, she prayed for resolution to whatever Henry's problems may be. Then, she focused on her own situation.
Lizzie. Just thinking of her niece made Joan sigh. She didn't think she'd ever met a child, well, young woman now, who could be more defiant without being openly defiant. The girl rarely argued, rarely raised her voice, but once she got something in her mind, you weren't going to make her change. Usually, what she wanted to do wasn't awful, it just made Joan uncomfortable, and Lizzie somehow always made it work. But her latest plan had kept Joan up nights for months now.
Elizabeth moved onto campus the first week of June, determined to completely figure out the layout of the entire campus so that she could start classes in August without the use of the white cane. She didn't want anyone to know she was blind.
Joan argued that the entire idea was ludicrous. She couldn't keep everyone from knowing-her professors would need to know. She would need assistance taking tests. That point was conceded but Elizabeth insisted that only the people that had to know would know. She didn't want to stand out. Joan was even more annoyed that the Special Services Staff at UVA seemed to be more than accommodating to her niece's crazy idea. They didn't insist that she have special housing, or special seating in class or use the damned cane.
Joan rubbed her temples and prayed for Lizzie's protection. She picked up the book of prayer intentions and started reading through them, but the last entry made her breath catch. It wasn't signed, but in her many years of reading that book, she'd never seen that handwriting before and if she had to make a guess it belonged to the young man who'd looked so downtrodden when he left. A smile played at the corners of her mouth. Perhaps she could do something that would solve Henry's problems and put her own mind at ease. If she was lucky, Lizzie would never need to know.