Kit paused outside of the large oak door. Suddenly the idea she had before
of confronting her uncle didn't seems as good as an idea as before. But she
wasn't a quitter and there was no way she was going to back out now. With a
knock she opened the door and entered the room.
The sight of her uncle who was supposed to be frail and near death out of bed and staring out the window was a shock. "Uncle Sid what are you doing out of bed?"
The tall man turned from his spot at the window to face Kit. She had a hard time keeping her face impassive. Half of his face drooped, one eye was half closed as if in sleep while the other was open fully as in anger. "Wha do you tink you ar dooen?" Sid's words were slurred as he looked accusingly at her.
"What am I doing? I brought you some dinner since Rose said you weren't hungry earlier. What do you think you are doing? You have the entire family worried about your health but here you are out of bed." Kit stepped further into the room and put the bowl of stew on the dresser, the towel underneath.
"Wha ar you dooen here? I thought I tol you to nea come ba?" Sid's eyes were full of anger.
Kit went up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. "Yes you told me never to come back. But did you really think that the boys were going to just leave me on my own in a big city to come back here to pay their last respects or whatever they are supposed to do here?"
"Ge ou of here." Sid said trying to lift his arm to point out of the door.
"No I am not leaving this room until you have eaten at least of this stew. If it gets cold too bad you'll eat it cold. You are being too stubborn for your own good. Aunt Rose is worried, Wil is worried, the girls are worried, Crale and Craig are worried, and frankly even I am worried about you. I am not going to let you starve yourself to death. Even if I have to force feed you." Kit put her hands on her hips and glared at her uncle.
Sid looked right back at her then the side of his face that had been uninjured in the stroke crept up into a smile. "You loo lie your ma."
Kit looked at him confused, "I look like Mama how?"
'You loo lie she did when your pa an' I came home drun afta Crale was borned." Sid had a wistful look on his face. "She was ma a us an you loo jus lie her."
"Oh" Kit was speechless this was the first time she had gotten any sort of comment about looking like her mother.
"O' course you ha Larr hair bu you ha her eyes." Sid sat back on the bed and closed his eyes. Soon he was snoring.
Kit picked up the bowl and walked out of the room in a state of shock. She slowly made her way downstairs and after placing the stew back into the pot she gave the dish to the girls who had almost finished the dishes. She went outside and sat back on the blanket with Mills, Rose, and Tack.
"Ami are you okay?" Rose asked concern in her eyes.
"Yes I think I am. Rose do I look like Mama?"
Rose looked a bit flustered. "Well you have her eyes and you have a smile like hers when you are up to something. Why do you ask?"
"Uncle Sid said I reminded him of her the night that he and Pa came home drunk after Crale was born." Kit picked at the grass.
"Did you go and talk to him?" Rose looked up to the main bedroom window.
"Yeah I thought maybe I could get him to eat, since you said he was being stubborn and since I can be just as stubborn..." Kit trailed off as she looked up into her aunt's eyes. "He was out of bed staring out the window when I went in. I don't know what happened after that. I might have said something and then he was smiling saying I looked like Mama. Then he laid back in the bed and fell asleep."
Rose had a halfhearted smile tugging at her lips. She motioned for Kit to sit down, "I know you have always thought that your ma and I were sisters and I know we didn't do anything to say otherwise. But really she and Sid were siblings. Their family and ours moved here around the same time. For some reason our fathers decided to put their land tracks together so my family lived in a house up the road from here and your ma's family lived in this house. Your pa's family lived on the land were you grew up and he and Sid were friends from the first day. Sarah and I were inseparable all through our growing up years, kinda like you and the boys. I think when it came right down to it everyone just expected me to marry Sid and Sarah to marry Larry. Luckily I had a crush on Sid and your pa always made cow eyes at your ma. I have a feeling though it wasn't just your eyes that made Sid think of your ma it was how you acted. You and your ma had very similar personalities, you remind me a lot of her to Ami. Don't ever let anyone ever say other wise." Rose said pushing a lock of Kit's hair behind her ear. "I think I am going to go check on him again. Remind the boys they are sleeping in the barn tonight won't you dear?"
"Yes ma'am. I think I am going to walk down to the old place. I'll be back up before it gets too dark." Kit said standing up and brushing off her skirt.
"Okay have a good night Ami." Rose had a far off look in her eye as she walked back into the house.
Kit called the big farm dog over and began walking the well-worn path to her parents' homestead. The only noises she heard were crickets singing their last songs and the padding of her and the dog's feet on the dirt track. The sun was just about to go down and the light of twilight cast an eerie pallor on the waist high grass. Off in the distance she heard a barn owl call and the shriek of one of the children. She smiled as she remembered herself shrieking if the boys had pushed her to high on the swing. As the homestead came into view Kit stopped.
The dog that had been following her plopped down and began panting. Kit gazed at her childhood home; it wasn't as bad as she had feared it would be after two years of disuse. The roof looked as if it was still intact as were the windows and door. Kit scratched the dog behind his ear and he growled in pleasure, leaning into her hand. Kit patted him on the head and moved toward the house, carefully listening to whatever warning noises the dog might make. He made none and as Kit opened the door she was greeted with a sight she hadn't expected. The house was still in good repair. There wasn't the amount of dust she would have expected for being shut up for two years. There were no scampering mice to be seen. It was if someone had been taking care of the house though no one had been living in it.
"So this is where youse grew up?" Kit jumped and turned around to face Spot. "You scared me. How did you get here?"
Spot shrugged. "Ise asked Swan where youse had gone and he pointed to da path an' said to follow it. So here Ise."
"Oh," Kit said as she walked from the front room to the door that led to the bedrooms. "Yeah I grew up here. I haven't been back in almost two years." Kit ran a hand over the dresser as she walked into the main bedroom.
"Youse know it looks good for being shut up for two year." Spot said as he sat on the bed.
"I know it is strange. Not what I was expecting at all." Kit said as she sat up on the dresser.
"So youse talked to youse uncle then?" Spot asked as he leaned against the wall.
Kit smiled slightly, "I did talk to him, he wasn't happy that I am back. And then he said I looked like my ma."
"Well then youse ma must have been very pretty." Spot smiled.
Kit lifted an eyebrow. "Oh really? Is that supposed to be a line Mr. Conlon?"
"Nah just stating the truth." Spot got up from the bed and came to stand in front of her. "Youse doing okay?"
Kit nodded and bit her lip. "I just wasn't expecting any of this to happen. I never thought I would be coming back and having to face all of this again. Cray says I have to talk with Jeremy before he leaves." Kit felt the tears well up. "I don't even know where to start."
Spot looked a bit uncomfortable. "Well youse could practice what youse going to say on me couldn't you?"
Kit seemed to be considering this. "If you are sure you want to hear about this."
"Ami you and Ise dating. Ise think Ise want to hear about it. What has been bugging youse so much?"
"All right I'll start at the beginning. I have known Josh and Jeremy Olsen since day one of my first day of school when I was 5. After our teacher left to teach in Canada our parents sent us to go to school in Lincoln. Of course it would be hard for our fathers to take us into town once harvest started so they talked with a man in town and got jobs for Swan and Cray. Joel had them work as newsies and I was allowed to be the messenger girl in the newspaper office. I joined the newsies when I was eight and Josh was my selling partner. We stayed at the school for only another year before we were kicked out after being accused of cheating. Then selling newspapers became our reason for being in town. When I was 13 my parents died and Joel and Karen, who had been my teacher, got married. That was the fall that Josh and Jeremy came to live with me and the guys here. I guess during that year I developed quite a crush on Jeremy and the feelings were mutual. The next fall was when we started to date.
Like I said before my uncle approved of neither me being a newsie or dating Jeremy. He felt I could do better and that would only happen if I stopped being a newsie. Well we fought about it and the night after the fight Jeremy found me out by the big tree crying. He comforted me and well one thing lead to another." Kit stopped her narration and slowly looked Spot in the eye.
Spot couldn't hide the anger in his eyes and when Kit saw it her eyes dropped to her hands, "Well it only happened that one time. Because the next two months were spent me selling papers and Jeremy working, we saw each other maybe once a week if that. One night as I was coming back from work two boys, Shoetree and Frost came out and threatened me. That night Jeremy and I had a date and I told him about what had happened. He blew it off but as we were walking home the two guys attacked us. They soaked Jeremy pretty good and put him into a coma for almost a month. During that month I came back here. I also realized I was pregnant. I didn't know what to do so I didn't tell anyone.
Well after Jeremy woke up Cray came to get me. Sid didn't like the idea that I was going back to the city. So after a spectacular fight he threw me off the farm and disowned the boys. Cray knew that Jeremy was going to break up with me but didn't say anything the entire walk back. After we arrived in town I headed upstairs and Jeremy broke up with me, and Josh pretty much threw me out of the room. Swan found me in the hall bawling my eyes out and helped me into bed. I guess I was mumbling about being pregnant and he heard. When I woke up the guys offered to take me with them. We left that morning without saying anything to anyone. We went first to Chicago then ended up in Cincinnati. The guys were bouncers at a bar that we lived above. About 6 months later I had the baby and gave him up for adoption. Then we moved, first to Baltimore where I ran into Chair and then to Manhattan. You know the rest of the story."
Kit stopped and slid off the dresser moving around Spot who was standing speechless. "I wouldn't blame you if you decided to go back to Brooklyn without me. I know I kept a lot from you. That was wrong but it was just so hard to tell you about without breaking down. I would understand if you left, you don't have to stay and help out. You can go back to your other life and back to the city. I'll be fine I am sure." Kit swiped at the tears that were falling inwardly cursing that she was being so weak.
Spot came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. "Ise not going anywhere without youse. Jeremy was a bastard who deserved the punch he got. Youse has gone through a lot and telling me all this stuff was hard. Ise ain't gonna leave. Don't ever think that even for a minute." Spot hugged her tighter.
Kit turned around to face him, "You really mean that?"
Spot nodded and Kit smiled before burying her face into his neck. They stood like that a very long time. Holding onto each other as if they were anchors in a storm. Spot felt rather than saw that Kit had fallen asleep. He gently maneuvered them over to the bed and laid Kit down. He then went searching in the half moon light for a blanket, finding one in the last drawer of the dresser. He shook out the blanket then laid down next to Kit and pulled the blanket over them. He watched her sleep until his eyes were too heavy, then after gathering her close one last time he allowed himself to sleep.
A/N: I am back scary no? Here is the next chapter and I can't believe how long it has taken me to get this far. I had the biggest case of writers block ever, and am only now just getting over it. Who knows maybe being at the scene where this all started will help me finish this up. I can't believe I have been pecking at this story for over a year. Anyway, thanks for reading and please Review.
The sight of her uncle who was supposed to be frail and near death out of bed and staring out the window was a shock. "Uncle Sid what are you doing out of bed?"
The tall man turned from his spot at the window to face Kit. She had a hard time keeping her face impassive. Half of his face drooped, one eye was half closed as if in sleep while the other was open fully as in anger. "Wha do you tink you ar dooen?" Sid's words were slurred as he looked accusingly at her.
"What am I doing? I brought you some dinner since Rose said you weren't hungry earlier. What do you think you are doing? You have the entire family worried about your health but here you are out of bed." Kit stepped further into the room and put the bowl of stew on the dresser, the towel underneath.
"Wha ar you dooen here? I thought I tol you to nea come ba?" Sid's eyes were full of anger.
Kit went up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. "Yes you told me never to come back. But did you really think that the boys were going to just leave me on my own in a big city to come back here to pay their last respects or whatever they are supposed to do here?"
"Ge ou of here." Sid said trying to lift his arm to point out of the door.
"No I am not leaving this room until you have eaten at least of this stew. If it gets cold too bad you'll eat it cold. You are being too stubborn for your own good. Aunt Rose is worried, Wil is worried, the girls are worried, Crale and Craig are worried, and frankly even I am worried about you. I am not going to let you starve yourself to death. Even if I have to force feed you." Kit put her hands on her hips and glared at her uncle.
Sid looked right back at her then the side of his face that had been uninjured in the stroke crept up into a smile. "You loo lie your ma."
Kit looked at him confused, "I look like Mama how?"
'You loo lie she did when your pa an' I came home drun afta Crale was borned." Sid had a wistful look on his face. "She was ma a us an you loo jus lie her."
"Oh" Kit was speechless this was the first time she had gotten any sort of comment about looking like her mother.
"O' course you ha Larr hair bu you ha her eyes." Sid sat back on the bed and closed his eyes. Soon he was snoring.
Kit picked up the bowl and walked out of the room in a state of shock. She slowly made her way downstairs and after placing the stew back into the pot she gave the dish to the girls who had almost finished the dishes. She went outside and sat back on the blanket with Mills, Rose, and Tack.
"Ami are you okay?" Rose asked concern in her eyes.
"Yes I think I am. Rose do I look like Mama?"
Rose looked a bit flustered. "Well you have her eyes and you have a smile like hers when you are up to something. Why do you ask?"
"Uncle Sid said I reminded him of her the night that he and Pa came home drunk after Crale was born." Kit picked at the grass.
"Did you go and talk to him?" Rose looked up to the main bedroom window.
"Yeah I thought maybe I could get him to eat, since you said he was being stubborn and since I can be just as stubborn..." Kit trailed off as she looked up into her aunt's eyes. "He was out of bed staring out the window when I went in. I don't know what happened after that. I might have said something and then he was smiling saying I looked like Mama. Then he laid back in the bed and fell asleep."
Rose had a halfhearted smile tugging at her lips. She motioned for Kit to sit down, "I know you have always thought that your ma and I were sisters and I know we didn't do anything to say otherwise. But really she and Sid were siblings. Their family and ours moved here around the same time. For some reason our fathers decided to put their land tracks together so my family lived in a house up the road from here and your ma's family lived in this house. Your pa's family lived on the land were you grew up and he and Sid were friends from the first day. Sarah and I were inseparable all through our growing up years, kinda like you and the boys. I think when it came right down to it everyone just expected me to marry Sid and Sarah to marry Larry. Luckily I had a crush on Sid and your pa always made cow eyes at your ma. I have a feeling though it wasn't just your eyes that made Sid think of your ma it was how you acted. You and your ma had very similar personalities, you remind me a lot of her to Ami. Don't ever let anyone ever say other wise." Rose said pushing a lock of Kit's hair behind her ear. "I think I am going to go check on him again. Remind the boys they are sleeping in the barn tonight won't you dear?"
"Yes ma'am. I think I am going to walk down to the old place. I'll be back up before it gets too dark." Kit said standing up and brushing off her skirt.
"Okay have a good night Ami." Rose had a far off look in her eye as she walked back into the house.
Kit called the big farm dog over and began walking the well-worn path to her parents' homestead. The only noises she heard were crickets singing their last songs and the padding of her and the dog's feet on the dirt track. The sun was just about to go down and the light of twilight cast an eerie pallor on the waist high grass. Off in the distance she heard a barn owl call and the shriek of one of the children. She smiled as she remembered herself shrieking if the boys had pushed her to high on the swing. As the homestead came into view Kit stopped.
The dog that had been following her plopped down and began panting. Kit gazed at her childhood home; it wasn't as bad as she had feared it would be after two years of disuse. The roof looked as if it was still intact as were the windows and door. Kit scratched the dog behind his ear and he growled in pleasure, leaning into her hand. Kit patted him on the head and moved toward the house, carefully listening to whatever warning noises the dog might make. He made none and as Kit opened the door she was greeted with a sight she hadn't expected. The house was still in good repair. There wasn't the amount of dust she would have expected for being shut up for two years. There were no scampering mice to be seen. It was if someone had been taking care of the house though no one had been living in it.
"So this is where youse grew up?" Kit jumped and turned around to face Spot. "You scared me. How did you get here?"
Spot shrugged. "Ise asked Swan where youse had gone and he pointed to da path an' said to follow it. So here Ise."
"Oh," Kit said as she walked from the front room to the door that led to the bedrooms. "Yeah I grew up here. I haven't been back in almost two years." Kit ran a hand over the dresser as she walked into the main bedroom.
"Youse know it looks good for being shut up for two year." Spot said as he sat on the bed.
"I know it is strange. Not what I was expecting at all." Kit said as she sat up on the dresser.
"So youse talked to youse uncle then?" Spot asked as he leaned against the wall.
Kit smiled slightly, "I did talk to him, he wasn't happy that I am back. And then he said I looked like my ma."
"Well then youse ma must have been very pretty." Spot smiled.
Kit lifted an eyebrow. "Oh really? Is that supposed to be a line Mr. Conlon?"
"Nah just stating the truth." Spot got up from the bed and came to stand in front of her. "Youse doing okay?"
Kit nodded and bit her lip. "I just wasn't expecting any of this to happen. I never thought I would be coming back and having to face all of this again. Cray says I have to talk with Jeremy before he leaves." Kit felt the tears well up. "I don't even know where to start."
Spot looked a bit uncomfortable. "Well youse could practice what youse going to say on me couldn't you?"
Kit seemed to be considering this. "If you are sure you want to hear about this."
"Ami you and Ise dating. Ise think Ise want to hear about it. What has been bugging youse so much?"
"All right I'll start at the beginning. I have known Josh and Jeremy Olsen since day one of my first day of school when I was 5. After our teacher left to teach in Canada our parents sent us to go to school in Lincoln. Of course it would be hard for our fathers to take us into town once harvest started so they talked with a man in town and got jobs for Swan and Cray. Joel had them work as newsies and I was allowed to be the messenger girl in the newspaper office. I joined the newsies when I was eight and Josh was my selling partner. We stayed at the school for only another year before we were kicked out after being accused of cheating. Then selling newspapers became our reason for being in town. When I was 13 my parents died and Joel and Karen, who had been my teacher, got married. That was the fall that Josh and Jeremy came to live with me and the guys here. I guess during that year I developed quite a crush on Jeremy and the feelings were mutual. The next fall was when we started to date.
Like I said before my uncle approved of neither me being a newsie or dating Jeremy. He felt I could do better and that would only happen if I stopped being a newsie. Well we fought about it and the night after the fight Jeremy found me out by the big tree crying. He comforted me and well one thing lead to another." Kit stopped her narration and slowly looked Spot in the eye.
Spot couldn't hide the anger in his eyes and when Kit saw it her eyes dropped to her hands, "Well it only happened that one time. Because the next two months were spent me selling papers and Jeremy working, we saw each other maybe once a week if that. One night as I was coming back from work two boys, Shoetree and Frost came out and threatened me. That night Jeremy and I had a date and I told him about what had happened. He blew it off but as we were walking home the two guys attacked us. They soaked Jeremy pretty good and put him into a coma for almost a month. During that month I came back here. I also realized I was pregnant. I didn't know what to do so I didn't tell anyone.
Well after Jeremy woke up Cray came to get me. Sid didn't like the idea that I was going back to the city. So after a spectacular fight he threw me off the farm and disowned the boys. Cray knew that Jeremy was going to break up with me but didn't say anything the entire walk back. After we arrived in town I headed upstairs and Jeremy broke up with me, and Josh pretty much threw me out of the room. Swan found me in the hall bawling my eyes out and helped me into bed. I guess I was mumbling about being pregnant and he heard. When I woke up the guys offered to take me with them. We left that morning without saying anything to anyone. We went first to Chicago then ended up in Cincinnati. The guys were bouncers at a bar that we lived above. About 6 months later I had the baby and gave him up for adoption. Then we moved, first to Baltimore where I ran into Chair and then to Manhattan. You know the rest of the story."
Kit stopped and slid off the dresser moving around Spot who was standing speechless. "I wouldn't blame you if you decided to go back to Brooklyn without me. I know I kept a lot from you. That was wrong but it was just so hard to tell you about without breaking down. I would understand if you left, you don't have to stay and help out. You can go back to your other life and back to the city. I'll be fine I am sure." Kit swiped at the tears that were falling inwardly cursing that she was being so weak.
Spot came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. "Ise not going anywhere without youse. Jeremy was a bastard who deserved the punch he got. Youse has gone through a lot and telling me all this stuff was hard. Ise ain't gonna leave. Don't ever think that even for a minute." Spot hugged her tighter.
Kit turned around to face him, "You really mean that?"
Spot nodded and Kit smiled before burying her face into his neck. They stood like that a very long time. Holding onto each other as if they were anchors in a storm. Spot felt rather than saw that Kit had fallen asleep. He gently maneuvered them over to the bed and laid Kit down. He then went searching in the half moon light for a blanket, finding one in the last drawer of the dresser. He shook out the blanket then laid down next to Kit and pulled the blanket over them. He watched her sleep until his eyes were too heavy, then after gathering her close one last time he allowed himself to sleep.
A/N: I am back scary no? Here is the next chapter and I can't believe how long it has taken me to get this far. I had the biggest case of writers block ever, and am only now just getting over it. Who knows maybe being at the scene where this all started will help me finish this up. I can't believe I have been pecking at this story for over a year. Anyway, thanks for reading and please Review.