Elizabeth began to make her way back to the school. A light snow had begun to fall not long after she had left the lodging house. The snow slowly increased in depths along the street, but as soon as it could be laid to rest on the sidewalks the busy feet of passerbyers would sweep it away.
Lizzy got chills as she continued through the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. Like Dutchy had said, the winters in New York were sometimes very extreme. The temperature could change dramatically from hour to hour.
(Author's note: I'm not sure if that's fact, but let's just say that it is. At least in my story. Hey, I live in the deep south and that does happen quite frequently. One second you'll walk outside and it'll be 80 degrees then an hour later it'll be 60. Just imagine!)
Only blocks away from the school she stopped to shop at a few of the different shops. MacBeth came upon a small dress boutique. The dresses inside the window looked to be beautiful with articulate beadwork and lace.
Three bells chimed overhead as she swung open the shop door. The sudden warmth was a great relief to her chilled body.
A young woman in her early 30's greeted Elizabeth merrily, her native Irish tongue gleaming through her slight New York slang, "How are ye? Welcome ta our shoppe."
"It is a fine one," Lizzy replied, gazing around the quaint, but homely room.
"The finest in da whole of New York, if I should say so meself."
"Yes, indeed," Lizzy smiled.
Another, quite oddly familiar voice, said from behind, "May we be of some help ta ya, Miss?"
"Josie!" Lizzy screamed.
"MacBeth?"
The young Irish woman chuckled to herself as she watched the two girls squeal with delight, from possibly an earlier acquaintance. "Josie, be sure an' watch the store while I'm up teachin' me next lesson."
"All right, Mrs. O'Conner," she replied.
Lizzy and Josie watched as Mrs. O'Conner hobbled up the stairs. Being six months pregnant made many ordinary things, such as climbing a staircase, much more of a task.
"She teaches violin lessons in her spare time. That's why your father brought me here. He dat they could use da help. He didn't really seem to want to take me away, but that man, that teacher of yours kept insisting that it was the right thing to do."
Lizzy's almost forgotten anger had returned, "I begged him to let you stay, but he wouldn't even listen. He acted as if I wasn't even there."
"It's all right. Perhaps you can come visit me on your off days."
Josie last words were more of a question than of a statement. "I'd love to," Lizzy smiled, "We're supposed to have partners when we go out, but," she paused to look away slyly, "mine seems to have disappeared."
"You didn't!" Josie laughed.
Lizzy nodded, "I did... and have been having the most enjoyable afternoon in months."
"You might wanna be headin' back. That storm looks to be gettin' worse and worse," Josie motioned with her hand towards the window where the snow fall had begun to increase in speed and was transforming the buildings ahead into an endless blur.
"I'm only going to have to walk two blocks," Lizzy replied.
"Two blocks can turn into twenty when you're out in that kind of weather."
"All right, Mother," Lizzy sighed.
"Well, somebody's gotta take responsibility for ya, with no mother and practically no father."
Elizabeth suddenly felt a hot wetness begging to form in her eyes and casually looked down so as to not show her sadness.
She slowly turned back to look at Josie, "Do you know what happened to my mum?"
"Na, child. How would I ever know about dat?" Josie muttered, eyebrows cocked in question.
"I don't know. I was hoping... I was just hoping that you might have overheard my father or something. He refuses to tell me anything about her. All I know is that she died when I was only three, so my father decided to take me away from this country, to England. 'The streets of New York City are no place for raisin' a young girl,' he would always say."
"I'm guessin' that he probably went through a large deal a hurt during his times in this city, something so awful that it has ruined his liking to people for ever."
"Maybe so. I guess that I am just going to have to find out.
