THANKS EVERYONE AGAIN FOR YOUR REVIEWS. I CANT TELL YOU HOW MUCH THEY MEAN
TO ME. NOTE TO EVERYONE WHO HATES SARAH - WHAT DID SHE EVER DO TO YOU? I
CANT UNDERSTAND WHY EVERYONE MAKES HE OUT TO BE SOME EVIL PERSON OR A
MINDLESS TWIT. THE MOVIE CERTAINLY DOESN'T MAKE HER OUT TO BE THAT WAY!
ANYWAY, HERE'S THE REST OF MY STORY. HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT AS MUCH AS I LOVED
WRITING IT!!! ;-)
Dinner was finishio! Sarah put down the pot of vegetable soup on the counter. Thank goodness Papa and Mama aren't going to be home until late, she thought with relief. As much as Papa loved to sit down at a formal table every night, he's not the one that does the dishes three times a week!
Sarah took off the apron she wore over her soft blue skirt and crossed the worn rug on the floor to her youngest brother. Les was sitting innocently on the king-sized bed off the dining room, tossing a yarn ball up and down.
"High times, hard times, sometimes there's nothing to eat. Aaaaand sometimes..." Les jumped ten feet in the air when he felt a hand on his shoulder and a giggle reach his ears. Turning angrily around, he saw Sarah looking at him, her brown eyes sparkling.
"Sarah! What was dat foa? Ya trying ta scah me ta death? Why I outta......" Les cracked up before he could finish his sentence. Whenever he tried that overpowering New York accent on his sister, trying to sound like her boyfriend, he always got a laugh out of her. But Sarah wasn't laughing this time.
Instead, she was looking at he watch with an angry scowl. It was almost 6:30, David was back yet from wherever he had scampered off to, and she was still pissed as hell at him. Besides, she was really worried about the whole issue. Was David's stupidity giving Jack second thoughts? She grew chilled at the very thought. Jack was her life, she murmured, echoing his words of a few hours ago. I would never be able to live, knowing that he was loving someone else. She felt her hands clench into tight balls.
Les, while his sister was in deep serious thought, had wandered off to the room all three siblings shared. Jumping from one bed to the next, he circled the room three times before landing on David's with a breathless laugh. Guiltily, he looked around. Mama hated when he jumped on the precious feather mattresses.
Unexpectedly, he heard footsteps coming up the fire escape. Tumbling off the bed, he ran to the window to watch as Jack and David pounded up the rickety metal steps.
"Hey Jack! Guess what?" Les started to say to Jack, hanging onto his shirt. "Yesterday when I was out sellin...."
"Listen, Les, I cant really chat right now. Is ya sista hea? I need to speak ta ha. Tell ha I'm on the fire escape, k?" Jack pushed off his little barnacle and hopped back out the way he had come.
"Let's go, squirt. Sarah's probably is wondering where we are. Don't say a word about Jack, only to tell her that he's on the fire escape, alright?" David warned his little brother, who was squirming in David's strong grasp.
"And don't bother them, either. Jack has something very important to tell Sarah. Got it?" Giving his sibling a little shake, both brothers walked out of the bedroom to face the present woman of the house.
"Where have you been?" Sarah glared at David, who was giving her a very strange look. "You think that by running away I'm going to forget everything? Well, let me tell you...."
"Sarah, Sarah...." Les was pulling at his sister's skirt. She ignored him, well into her rant, all her pent up feelings of hurt and sorrow and disappointment and betrayal bursting out of her. But before she was able to finish, she felt the tugging again. She reached out a hand to swat Les away....but her hand froze mid-air as the word Les was urgently saying registered.
"Sarah! SARAH! Jack is out on the fire escape waiting for you! Hurry!" Sarah looked down in surprise. Finally, I got through her thick head, Les thought irritably. Mushy-stuff. It always works on her.
"Oh my gosh! Les, are you serious? I got to go!" Sarah threw her apron off and dashed out of the room without a back ward glace.
David and Les took one look at each other, wiped their foreheads simultaneously, and collapsed as one onto the bed.
Back on the fire escape, Jack was fidgeting from nerves and impatience. The velvet box he held was damp from his sweaty hands. Looking at the window, he heard voices being raised and then stop abruptly. Then he saw Sarah, with an amazing smile on her face come flying into the bedroom, out the window and into his arms.
They hugged in silence for a few minutes, each savoring the feel of the other's body encompassing them. Or, at least Sarah did. Jack didn't have that much encompassing going on, because Sarah's head only came to his shoulders. But it was enough.
After awhile Jack broke the embrace, pushing gently on Sarah's shoulder so he could see into those beloved eyes. Smiling, he reached into his pocket and, tracing his hand down the length of her arm, got down on one knee.
Sarah sniffed. She was almost crying from joy. Those caramel eyes were boring into her own, full of love and passion and something else......was that fear? But she didn't have time to dwell on it as Jack took her smooth hand onto his calloused one.
"Sarah..." Jack hemmed and hawed, clearing his throat before he went on. "Sarah....I'se been meanin to ax ya dis foa a long time.....I really love ya, Sarah. If you only knew how much......." Jack shook his head at his mushiness. He looked up into his love's shining, expectant eyes.
"Sarah...Sarah, will ya do the me da hona of becoming me wife?" Jack asked softly. "Please say yes...."
Sarah looked at Jack, the tears finally falling. Never mind that Jack was kneeling on a fire escape in the middle of New York City, with the neighbor's pantaloons flapping in the breeze next to them. That her brothers were in the next room, listening to every word. That she was wearing one of her oldest dresses, the one with the big patch in the side.
None of these things mattered, Sarah thought, as they crossed her mind for the fraction of a second. It didn't matter that she wasn't being proposed to in a posh restaurant, with a candles burning and music playing. This was her love, her Jack.
Tenderly, she reached out a hand to stroke his cheek. With a smile that would have broken any heart, she leaned over, looking into Jack's eyes, until she was nose to nose. Leaning in all the way, she brought her lips to his, pulling Jack up into a standing position as the kiss deepened.
She felt Jack's hard arms wrapping around her, swinging her around. Giggling, she pulled away from his and rubbed his nose with hers, as they both laughed from the sheer joy and wonder of being in love, of finding your soul mate, that comes only once in a lifetime.
With one hand, Jack flipped open the small jewelry box and pulled out a silver ring, set with a small, heart-shaped diamond.
Setting Sarah down, he slipped the flashing jewel onto her finger, its fire bright in the fading light.
"I'se been saving up foa almost a yea. I wouldda got something bigga, but dis was all I could afford...." He looked at Sarah, a blush coloring his face. "Do ya like it?"
Sarah looked at her finger as if it wasn't attached to her body. How different it looked with something so amazing attached to it......she tilted her head so her eyes met his.
"If I didn't know you always asked stupid questions, Jack Kelly, I would have smacked you." She laughed, the smile she gave him smoothing out any fears Jack might have had.
"I love it. I'll never take it off." She whispered.
Jack thought he could never he happier. His heart swelled so big he was afraid he was going to crack his ribs. After all the troubles he had undergone in his short life, finally, finally something was going right.
Grinning, he pulled Sarah close for another kiss as the stars came out to watch them. Inside each of their hearts, a sparking candle burned, lighting up both soul's private darkness.
Dinner was finishio! Sarah put down the pot of vegetable soup on the counter. Thank goodness Papa and Mama aren't going to be home until late, she thought with relief. As much as Papa loved to sit down at a formal table every night, he's not the one that does the dishes three times a week!
Sarah took off the apron she wore over her soft blue skirt and crossed the worn rug on the floor to her youngest brother. Les was sitting innocently on the king-sized bed off the dining room, tossing a yarn ball up and down.
"High times, hard times, sometimes there's nothing to eat. Aaaaand sometimes..." Les jumped ten feet in the air when he felt a hand on his shoulder and a giggle reach his ears. Turning angrily around, he saw Sarah looking at him, her brown eyes sparkling.
"Sarah! What was dat foa? Ya trying ta scah me ta death? Why I outta......" Les cracked up before he could finish his sentence. Whenever he tried that overpowering New York accent on his sister, trying to sound like her boyfriend, he always got a laugh out of her. But Sarah wasn't laughing this time.
Instead, she was looking at he watch with an angry scowl. It was almost 6:30, David was back yet from wherever he had scampered off to, and she was still pissed as hell at him. Besides, she was really worried about the whole issue. Was David's stupidity giving Jack second thoughts? She grew chilled at the very thought. Jack was her life, she murmured, echoing his words of a few hours ago. I would never be able to live, knowing that he was loving someone else. She felt her hands clench into tight balls.
Les, while his sister was in deep serious thought, had wandered off to the room all three siblings shared. Jumping from one bed to the next, he circled the room three times before landing on David's with a breathless laugh. Guiltily, he looked around. Mama hated when he jumped on the precious feather mattresses.
Unexpectedly, he heard footsteps coming up the fire escape. Tumbling off the bed, he ran to the window to watch as Jack and David pounded up the rickety metal steps.
"Hey Jack! Guess what?" Les started to say to Jack, hanging onto his shirt. "Yesterday when I was out sellin...."
"Listen, Les, I cant really chat right now. Is ya sista hea? I need to speak ta ha. Tell ha I'm on the fire escape, k?" Jack pushed off his little barnacle and hopped back out the way he had come.
"Let's go, squirt. Sarah's probably is wondering where we are. Don't say a word about Jack, only to tell her that he's on the fire escape, alright?" David warned his little brother, who was squirming in David's strong grasp.
"And don't bother them, either. Jack has something very important to tell Sarah. Got it?" Giving his sibling a little shake, both brothers walked out of the bedroom to face the present woman of the house.
"Where have you been?" Sarah glared at David, who was giving her a very strange look. "You think that by running away I'm going to forget everything? Well, let me tell you...."
"Sarah, Sarah...." Les was pulling at his sister's skirt. She ignored him, well into her rant, all her pent up feelings of hurt and sorrow and disappointment and betrayal bursting out of her. But before she was able to finish, she felt the tugging again. She reached out a hand to swat Les away....but her hand froze mid-air as the word Les was urgently saying registered.
"Sarah! SARAH! Jack is out on the fire escape waiting for you! Hurry!" Sarah looked down in surprise. Finally, I got through her thick head, Les thought irritably. Mushy-stuff. It always works on her.
"Oh my gosh! Les, are you serious? I got to go!" Sarah threw her apron off and dashed out of the room without a back ward glace.
David and Les took one look at each other, wiped their foreheads simultaneously, and collapsed as one onto the bed.
Back on the fire escape, Jack was fidgeting from nerves and impatience. The velvet box he held was damp from his sweaty hands. Looking at the window, he heard voices being raised and then stop abruptly. Then he saw Sarah, with an amazing smile on her face come flying into the bedroom, out the window and into his arms.
They hugged in silence for a few minutes, each savoring the feel of the other's body encompassing them. Or, at least Sarah did. Jack didn't have that much encompassing going on, because Sarah's head only came to his shoulders. But it was enough.
After awhile Jack broke the embrace, pushing gently on Sarah's shoulder so he could see into those beloved eyes. Smiling, he reached into his pocket and, tracing his hand down the length of her arm, got down on one knee.
Sarah sniffed. She was almost crying from joy. Those caramel eyes were boring into her own, full of love and passion and something else......was that fear? But she didn't have time to dwell on it as Jack took her smooth hand onto his calloused one.
"Sarah..." Jack hemmed and hawed, clearing his throat before he went on. "Sarah....I'se been meanin to ax ya dis foa a long time.....I really love ya, Sarah. If you only knew how much......." Jack shook his head at his mushiness. He looked up into his love's shining, expectant eyes.
"Sarah...Sarah, will ya do the me da hona of becoming me wife?" Jack asked softly. "Please say yes...."
Sarah looked at Jack, the tears finally falling. Never mind that Jack was kneeling on a fire escape in the middle of New York City, with the neighbor's pantaloons flapping in the breeze next to them. That her brothers were in the next room, listening to every word. That she was wearing one of her oldest dresses, the one with the big patch in the side.
None of these things mattered, Sarah thought, as they crossed her mind for the fraction of a second. It didn't matter that she wasn't being proposed to in a posh restaurant, with a candles burning and music playing. This was her love, her Jack.
Tenderly, she reached out a hand to stroke his cheek. With a smile that would have broken any heart, she leaned over, looking into Jack's eyes, until she was nose to nose. Leaning in all the way, she brought her lips to his, pulling Jack up into a standing position as the kiss deepened.
She felt Jack's hard arms wrapping around her, swinging her around. Giggling, she pulled away from his and rubbed his nose with hers, as they both laughed from the sheer joy and wonder of being in love, of finding your soul mate, that comes only once in a lifetime.
With one hand, Jack flipped open the small jewelry box and pulled out a silver ring, set with a small, heart-shaped diamond.
Setting Sarah down, he slipped the flashing jewel onto her finger, its fire bright in the fading light.
"I'se been saving up foa almost a yea. I wouldda got something bigga, but dis was all I could afford...." He looked at Sarah, a blush coloring his face. "Do ya like it?"
Sarah looked at her finger as if it wasn't attached to her body. How different it looked with something so amazing attached to it......she tilted her head so her eyes met his.
"If I didn't know you always asked stupid questions, Jack Kelly, I would have smacked you." She laughed, the smile she gave him smoothing out any fears Jack might have had.
"I love it. I'll never take it off." She whispered.
Jack thought he could never he happier. His heart swelled so big he was afraid he was going to crack his ribs. After all the troubles he had undergone in his short life, finally, finally something was going right.
Grinning, he pulled Sarah close for another kiss as the stars came out to watch them. Inside each of their hearts, a sparking candle burned, lighting up both soul's private darkness.