Disclaimer from Chapter 1
walks over to JustDuck, pulls her off the floor, and hugs her
Ahh, Just Duck, a girl after my own heart! I can tell that your going to keep me on my toes during this story. You are definitely correct about the disposable container thing. There were no such things in the year 1900, which if you do the math, is when my story takes place. However, if you go back and read it does not say that the container is thrown away, just that it is put in the kitchen. I was kind of hopping that every one would just over look the entire thing and I wouldn't have to say anymore about it, but you caught me. As to the idea of take out, it was possible to get things like sandwiches wrapped up in paper to take them out of the store. And I imagine that a place like Tibbie's would probably offer this kind of service to it's most loyal customers, the Newsies. This is not to say I know the magic secret to caring soup in paper, just that the idea was there.
While I, like you, try to keep my stories as historically accurate as possible, I'm sure a fellow author can understand that it does not suit our purpose to be one hundred percent accurate. Things like girls wearing pants and such would have been completely socially unacceptable at this point in time, yet may writer dress some girls in pants to make the story less complicated. In fact at this point in time no self respecting woman would have show her ankles. Women in show business, like Medda, would have worn dress that showed their knees, and this would be very scandalous. The kind of thing that no upper class woman would subject herself to. The first pants for women were invented in the late 1890's and were just I divided skirt that was tucked into knee high boots. They strongly resembled Turkish trousers, and it was called a bicycle skirt.
Then there are the allowances made by the move writers. Does anyone honestly think that David and Les would have let their unmarried sister kiss an man in the middle of the crowded street. It would have totally ruined her reputation! Or what about letting and unmarried couple alone on the roof together? While these things would have be extremely taboo in real life, they do not make it easy to write a romance story. I justify my choices with the fact that the screen writer and director also ignored this rule. Also the question of indoor plumbing was bothering me, so I did the research and found out that by the 1870'd most buildings in America had plumbing.
So basically that was my long winded way of saying that I added in the container to suit my purpose and I claim artistic license. But good job noticing!
IMPORTANT READ ME!!! this chapter is one of the reasons the story is rated R. While it is an essential part of the story, it is graphic. Read at your own discretion!
Jack was right about one thing, Cate certainly did read a lot. It was only a matter of time before she had read every single book in the apartment. David decided that this was his opportunity, so one day on the way home he stopped at the library and picked up a few books. When he got home Cate was sitting next to the window sewing up a rip in Les's good pants.
She didn't look up when he entered so he cleared his throat, her head snapped up. She gave him a small smile, "David, you're early." She looked around him, "where are Les and Jack?"
"Jack had to go to Brooklyn to take care of some things, he took Les with him." She nodded at him and he shifted nervously from one foot to the other. "Uh, here," he said handing her the books, "I got these for you today, they're checked out of the library for three weeks, which should be more than enough time for you to finish them."
She looked at the first book, Gulliver's Travels, "its really good," he said when she didn't say anything. "I read it last year, and the other one, The Odyssey, its one of Dad's favorites. I haven't read it yet, but I thought I could probably read it while we still had it out from the library. Cate still didn't say anything, she just sat there looking at the books in her lap. David began to get really nervous, "if you don't like them, I can take them back . . ."
"No! David, they are wonderful." She looked up from the books and into his eyes. He could see she was trying not to cry.
"Cate, I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to upset you, I'll just go. Look, I'll see you at dinner," with that he turned to make as quick an exit as possible.
When he was almost at the door he felt a small hand in his, he turned to see Cate smiling at him, "David, this is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me." She hugged him, "thank you so much!"
David just stood there for a second, to shocked to move. Cate had never hugged him, or let him hug her before. She had grown less afraid of physical contact during the time she had spent with them, but she only let two people hug her: Les and Jack. Sure, she let the others touch her, but nothing this intimate.
Quickly he recovered himself and wrapped his arms around her to return the hug, "you're welcome." She had gained weight sine they found her, but as he held her in his arms he realized how small and skinny she really was.
She backed away and sat down in her chair again, "why don't you stay and tell me about Gulliver's Travels?"
He pulled out a chair from the table and sat down next to her, and she picked up her sewing again. "Well, the book was originally written as a social cometary . . . ."
By the time the books had to go back to the library Cate had been living with the Jacobs for almost two months. She no longer needed to stay in bed for most of the day, and she had even started leaving the apartment to go up on the roof and do laundry. She could even do it by herself now. In the afternoons Jack would come by and talk with her, and in the evenings she and David would discuss books. Sometimes these discussions would reach such a heated state that Mrs. Jacobs would tell them they could not talk about books for the rest of the night. Jack and Sarah thought this was one of the funniest things they had ever seen. While Cate really liked living with the Jacobs, she was sure her time was limited. They didn't have a lot of money, and she was a big drain on their resources. She was sure that they didn't have enough money to waste on a hermit who wanted to hid in their house. Her worst fears were confirmed when the family and Jack started to suggest that she take a few trips out of the apartment, with Jack or David, of course.
She adamantly refused, saying that she just wasn't ready. Which was true, what if some one recognized her? What if she got separated from them? How would she find her way back? What if some one tried to hurt her? There were too many things that could go wrong, she just couldn't do it. What if someone recognized her name and took her to her father? Then no one, not even Jack and David, could protect her.
Her head was spinning with these thoughts one evening while she was up on the roof taking laundry off the line and folding it into baskets. The sun was setting, and it was the perfect atmosphere for just letting your thoughts wonder.
Jack quietly opened the door to the roof so as not to startle Cate. She was folding laundry and singing to herself softly. She seemed to be lost in thought, because she didn't turn to look at him. He cleared his throat softly, "Uh, Cate?"
She jumped a little and turned to face him, "Oh, hello Jack. You startled me."
"Sorry, its dinner time."
"I must have lost track of the time, just let me get the rest of these clothes."
"Okay, I'll wait for you."
"Okay," she went back to folding, "so, what did you boys do today?"
"Not much, Dave beat Race at cards for the foist time. It was really exciting for Davey, kinda like really being a part of the group." She laughed, "Cate, I was thinken, I think you should come with me and Dave and Les to Tibbie's for lunch this Friday."
"Jack, we've talked about this. I'm just not ready to go." "Well, when will you be ready, Cate? You know, you can't hide in this building forever. Whats out there that is so bad?"
"I don't want to talk about it, you know that!"
"Yeah, I know, you wont tell us anything, just that you don't want to leave and you don't want to talk about it." He gave a frustrated sigh, and tried to control his anger.
Cate, however, was less successful in controlling her temper. "Jesus, Jack, why do you keep pushing this? I have told you I am not ready, can't you just leave well enough alone?" she practically yelled at him. "Look, doll, I'm just trying to help . . ."
"Well you certainly have a funny way of doing it." She had finished the laundry and was about to pick it up when Jack came over and grabbed her upper arms.
"Well, maybe I would know how to do a better job if you would tell me what happened," he yelled in her face.
That was it, her control snapped. She wasn't strong enough to really fight Jack, but she could still do something. She wrenched herself from his grip and fought to hold back the tears that we prickling her eyes. "NOTHING! Okay, nothing happened!," she yelled as she walked to the other end of the roof.
"Yeah? Nothing has got you this upset! Don't lie to me Cate!," he yelled as he followed her across the roof. He was about to yell again when she spun around and faced him dead on.
Tears were streaming down her face, but she still held her ground. "FINE! YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED? DO YOU REALLY? HE LET THEM RAPE ME!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.
Jack just stood there in the ringing silence that was left behind after her screams had died. He looked at her, and could think of anything to say. Rape? Who? What did she mean?
Cate watched Jack with apprehension as her words sunk in. He wasn't saying anything, just standing there staring at her like she had grown and extra head. She let the tears fall freely down her checks. Any second now he was going to call her a whore and reject her. He knew, how could her not. Oh God! He knew, she would have to leave the Jacobs tonight. She had no where else to go. Why had she just done that?
He was still just standing there. She walked around him to pick up the laundry basket. Her movement seemed to rouse him from what ever he had been thinking.
"What?" "You heard me Jack." She picked up the basket and started to walk to the door that went inside. She had to get her things together if she was going to leave tonight.
Jack followed her. As she got close to the door he reached out and grabbed her arm. She jerked it way from him, "Don't touch me!" She didn't even look at him and her voice could have frozen water on the fourth of July.
"No." he said firmly. He turned her around so she was facing him again. "What are you talking about? Who is "he"? Who are "they"?"
She took a deep breath. He knew anyway, why not tell him? "'he' is my father, and 'they' were his business associates." That being said, she tied to walk away again. Jack kept his grip firm on her arm. "So your telling me that your father let his friends rape you?" She nodded silently. "Jesus Christ! Cate, was he the one who beat ya up." She nodded again. He just stood there trying to wrap his mind around the idea of a man letting his daughter be raped and then beating her.
"Jack, I have to go. If I'm going to be out of the apartment tonight, I have to pack and . . ."
"Woah! Who said anything about leaving. Your not going anywhere, especially not until you tell me every thing that happened!" He gave her a little shake to punctuate his point.
"Look, I'm a whore! You know that now, and your going to tell the Jacobs. And none of you are ever going to want to see me again. I know what happens to people like me, my father made it very clear that I was good for nothing but being a whore." By the time she finished this she was having to speak between sobs.
Jack looked at her, astonished, then tilted her chin up so she was looking at him. "Is dat what you think is going to happen?" She just kept sobbing and shaking her head. "Cate, no one is going to blame you for what your father did to you. Just because he is a bad person doesn't mean dat you are."
She shook her head again, "Why are you being so nice?"
"I'm not going to hate you just because horrible things happened to you. It's not the way people are." He looked down into her tear streaked face and pulled her into a tight hug. "Come on, wes gonna sit down and I'll tell you about my past, then you can tell me the entire story. Okay?"
She nodded slowly, then let him steer her over to the edge of the roof. They sat down next to each other but didn't touch. "Okay," he began, "what I said about my mom dying, dat was true. She died when I was eight. My Pop, he used to get drunk and beat her. One night I guess he just hit her too hard, 'cause she died. Dey put my Pop in jail and I started to live on da streets. I became a Newsie and met me best friend, Spot, the Brooklyn leader. We sold together for years. Den when I was eleven I stole some food. I got caught and was taken to the refuge. You know all about dat. So anyway, when I was fourteen I became the leader of Manhattan, dat was de year after Spot became de head of Brooklyn." he sighed, then turned to look at her. She had stopped crying, but looked like she might start again at any minute. "Oh, and me real name isn't Jack Kelly, it's Francis Sullivan." He laughed a little at his own name, "but I hate de name Francis. So dats my story, now its your turn."
Cate took a deep breath then let it out slowly, blowing a little hair out of her face. "Well, I suppose the story starts with my parents. I don't think that Father ever really loved Mother. In fact I'm pretty sure that they got married because she was pregnant with me. You see Father was a wealthy business man, and still is. I suppose you recognize my last name now? Flanagan?"
Realization downed on Jack's face, "you mean, your father is that Flanagan?"
"Yes, Kevin Flanagan is my father. Anyway, he would fool around with a lot of the lower class women, and I guess he and my Mother just weren't careful enough. Well, I was born and things were alright for a while. That, or I was just too young to see what was happening. The first time I remember him really beating her was when I was about seven years old. After that he would do it more and more often. We wouldn't want the servants to see her wounds, so learned how to cure them. I had to do every thing from taking care of the cigar burns he put on her arms to resetting bones that he broke.
When I was about thirteen I began to develop into a woman, and Father saw this as an opportunity. He knew mother wouldn't stand him giving her out as a "gift" to his business partners, but I was too young to know what was happening until after it was too late." She paused and took another shuttering breath. Oh God! The memories, they all came back. Every horrible encounter. Every man thrusting roughly into her body, running their dirty hands all over her. She would cry, but they would just slap her and push harder into her.
She shuddered and Jack reached out to wrap an arm around her, "No! Please don't touch me."
He let his hand fall down into his lap, "Okay, you want to go on?"
"Yes, I started and I'll finish. He let them rape me in my own room. Oh God! Jack, I can still feel the hot breath on my skin, and I can still smell the alcohol. See most of them were too upstanding to do something like what my Father offered without the influence of some kind of drink. I am sure you have heard that the first time a woman is with a man it hurts her a lot." He nodded his head, "well for me it hurt every time. Every thrust of those foul men felt like it was ripping me in two. At first I would scream and cry, but then the men would just beat me. There have been a few times when I was beaten so badly that I would pass out. I used to pray that I would die when this happened, but I would always wake up again in my own bed all alone. If I ever fought or cried Father would wait until the other man would leave then he would beat me too.
When I was about fifteen I told my father that I would not let him or any of his business partners use me like that any more. I said I would run away. That is when he started calling me a whore. He said I was a horrible person because I was no longer a virgin, that no one would ever help me or love me because I was a slut and not good enough to be with civilized people. He threatened to public announce that his daughter had seduced older men, then publicly disown me. There was nothing I could do. He convinced me that no one would believe me because I was a dirty little slut." It was at this point she lost it. Huge sobs raked through her body. Hot tears burned her checks, and she felt bile in the back of her throat. Her body heaved. Then all of a sudden she felt strong arms holding her tight. She pressed her face into Jack's shirt and cried. He softly rubbed her back and murmured soothing things in her ears. Holding her small frame so close to him he realized why she was so afraid of them all. Every man she had know had hurt her, mentally and physically. It must have taken enormous amounts of courage to live with the Jacobs. If she couldn't even trust her own family to look after her it must have been very difficult to trust complete strangers.
She calmed herself enough to continue the story. "I don't know how, but my Mother had no idea what was happening to me. One night when one of the men was with me she walked into my room. She was furious. She started screaming until Father came in and beat her unconscious. Really it would have been better if she hadn't come in at all, because father just let him rape me again because he had been interrupted. The next day Mother yelled at Father, they had a huge fight and he started beating her again. Only this time was different, he beat her until she died. Then he made me help him drag her over to the stairs and throw her down them. He made it look like an accident. Soon after that we moved here. He told every one it was because he missed Mother too much, but I think he did it just because he thought he could make more money in America.
I thought that once we got here things would be different, but I was wrong. He just started up again. I actually think it helped him start up business in this county, he offered his daughter as an added bonus." She gave a hollow laugh and then started crying again. "With Mother gone he started beating me more and more. So one night I ran. I didn't know where I was going, so I just ran, I must have been all over the New York. Then I ran into you and David, and, well, you know the rest." She turned her tear soaked face to his, "Jack, I really like it here. For the first time in many years I feel safe. Please don't tell anyone."
Jack just shook his head and gave her a little squeeze. "Cate, dese people have given you a home, dey love you like yous one of dere own kids. I know the Jacobs real well and dey won't turn you away."
"But, how can you be sure?"
"I can't. But you at least owe them the truth."
She looked up at him. She already felt better just having told Jack. He didn't push her away, he still cared for her, and she trusted him. "Okay, but you have to be there with me."
He stood up and hugged her then began to lead her to the door. "I wouldn't think of doin it any otha way. Cate I love you a lot, your like de little sistah I nevah had."
"I love you too Jack, your like the older brother I always needed." he pulled her into one more hug, then went to open the door.
Just as Jack was about to reach for the handle the door opened and David walked out onto the roof. "Cate, Jack, your missing supper . . ." he grew silent when I say Cate's tear stained face and Jack's hand in her's. "what happened?" Saving Cate from having to say anything Jack spook first. "David I think I would be bettah if we just got your family togethah and only made her tell de story one more time." David nodded somberly then lead the way back to the apartment.
It was only thirty minutes before the entire family, with the exception of Les, was seated around the table. Jack stood behind Cate's chair with his hands on her shoulders while she told the story again, omitting some of the more graphic details. She tried not to cry again, but she couldn't help it. When Jack saw this he would rub her shoulders in a comforting way. Some how she made it through the entire story with out breaking down again. When she stopped talking everyone sat in silence for a few minutes. Sarah had tears streaming down her face, David looked horrified, and Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs we holding each other's hands.
As the silence stretched on Cate felt her worst fears confirmed, they wanted nothing to do with her. She was, as her father had said, a dirty whore who didn't deserve love or care from anyone. She found her voice and stared to stand, "Well, Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs, thank you very much for helping me, but I can see that I am not welcome anymore. I will just be . . . ."
"What?" David yelled as he jumped up and knocked over his chair and walked over to Cate. He held both of her small hands in his larger ones, "we would never ask you to leave!"
Mr. Jacobs also stood, "David is right Cate. In fact," he looked at his wife who nodded, "we insist that you stay. You can live here as one of our children."
Cate wasn't the kind of girl who normally cried a lot, but she really couldn't control herself tonight. A fresh wave of tears pored from her eyes. David reached up and gently brushed them away and she gave him a watery smile. Jack came over and hugged her again, then gave her a kiss on the cheek. Sarah, who was still crying herself, hugged Cate so tightly she thought her ribs would crack. Jack sensing her shortness of breath lead Sarah up to the roof to let her calm down. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs each gave her a hug and reassured her that every thing would be alright. Then they went into the kitchen and began talking to each other in hushed voices.
That left just her and David, who looked as nervous as she felt. He sat down again and tried to find something to say.
"So, how do you like the Scarlet Pimpernel?" Was what he finally blurted out.
"David, you don't have to pretend that nothing has changed. Every thing has changed, now you know what really happened. I would understand if you wouldn't want to be as close as we were."
"Cate, I don't know how to explain this to you any differently: we are not going to leave you just because you father is a jackass!" He walked over and hugged her, "I just don't know what to say anymore. I just don't want to upset you."
She nodded and they sat down at the table again, but he held onto her had. "I really like the character of Percy. He is amazing."
"Yeah I know, to be able to be so smart and pretend to be such a moron. But he is really tortured by Marguerite."
"I know! And she by him, I really hope every thing works out . . . ."
there it is folks! I hope you liked it. Thank you for all your review, please don't stop. estrellalily
walks over to JustDuck, pulls her off the floor, and hugs her
Ahh, Just Duck, a girl after my own heart! I can tell that your going to keep me on my toes during this story. You are definitely correct about the disposable container thing. There were no such things in the year 1900, which if you do the math, is when my story takes place. However, if you go back and read it does not say that the container is thrown away, just that it is put in the kitchen. I was kind of hopping that every one would just over look the entire thing and I wouldn't have to say anymore about it, but you caught me. As to the idea of take out, it was possible to get things like sandwiches wrapped up in paper to take them out of the store. And I imagine that a place like Tibbie's would probably offer this kind of service to it's most loyal customers, the Newsies. This is not to say I know the magic secret to caring soup in paper, just that the idea was there.
While I, like you, try to keep my stories as historically accurate as possible, I'm sure a fellow author can understand that it does not suit our purpose to be one hundred percent accurate. Things like girls wearing pants and such would have been completely socially unacceptable at this point in time, yet may writer dress some girls in pants to make the story less complicated. In fact at this point in time no self respecting woman would have show her ankles. Women in show business, like Medda, would have worn dress that showed their knees, and this would be very scandalous. The kind of thing that no upper class woman would subject herself to. The first pants for women were invented in the late 1890's and were just I divided skirt that was tucked into knee high boots. They strongly resembled Turkish trousers, and it was called a bicycle skirt.
Then there are the allowances made by the move writers. Does anyone honestly think that David and Les would have let their unmarried sister kiss an man in the middle of the crowded street. It would have totally ruined her reputation! Or what about letting and unmarried couple alone on the roof together? While these things would have be extremely taboo in real life, they do not make it easy to write a romance story. I justify my choices with the fact that the screen writer and director also ignored this rule. Also the question of indoor plumbing was bothering me, so I did the research and found out that by the 1870'd most buildings in America had plumbing.
So basically that was my long winded way of saying that I added in the container to suit my purpose and I claim artistic license. But good job noticing!
IMPORTANT READ ME!!! this chapter is one of the reasons the story is rated R. While it is an essential part of the story, it is graphic. Read at your own discretion!
Jack was right about one thing, Cate certainly did read a lot. It was only a matter of time before she had read every single book in the apartment. David decided that this was his opportunity, so one day on the way home he stopped at the library and picked up a few books. When he got home Cate was sitting next to the window sewing up a rip in Les's good pants.
She didn't look up when he entered so he cleared his throat, her head snapped up. She gave him a small smile, "David, you're early." She looked around him, "where are Les and Jack?"
"Jack had to go to Brooklyn to take care of some things, he took Les with him." She nodded at him and he shifted nervously from one foot to the other. "Uh, here," he said handing her the books, "I got these for you today, they're checked out of the library for three weeks, which should be more than enough time for you to finish them."
She looked at the first book, Gulliver's Travels, "its really good," he said when she didn't say anything. "I read it last year, and the other one, The Odyssey, its one of Dad's favorites. I haven't read it yet, but I thought I could probably read it while we still had it out from the library. Cate still didn't say anything, she just sat there looking at the books in her lap. David began to get really nervous, "if you don't like them, I can take them back . . ."
"No! David, they are wonderful." She looked up from the books and into his eyes. He could see she was trying not to cry.
"Cate, I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to upset you, I'll just go. Look, I'll see you at dinner," with that he turned to make as quick an exit as possible.
When he was almost at the door he felt a small hand in his, he turned to see Cate smiling at him, "David, this is one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me." She hugged him, "thank you so much!"
David just stood there for a second, to shocked to move. Cate had never hugged him, or let him hug her before. She had grown less afraid of physical contact during the time she had spent with them, but she only let two people hug her: Les and Jack. Sure, she let the others touch her, but nothing this intimate.
Quickly he recovered himself and wrapped his arms around her to return the hug, "you're welcome." She had gained weight sine they found her, but as he held her in his arms he realized how small and skinny she really was.
She backed away and sat down in her chair again, "why don't you stay and tell me about Gulliver's Travels?"
He pulled out a chair from the table and sat down next to her, and she picked up her sewing again. "Well, the book was originally written as a social cometary . . . ."
By the time the books had to go back to the library Cate had been living with the Jacobs for almost two months. She no longer needed to stay in bed for most of the day, and she had even started leaving the apartment to go up on the roof and do laundry. She could even do it by herself now. In the afternoons Jack would come by and talk with her, and in the evenings she and David would discuss books. Sometimes these discussions would reach such a heated state that Mrs. Jacobs would tell them they could not talk about books for the rest of the night. Jack and Sarah thought this was one of the funniest things they had ever seen. While Cate really liked living with the Jacobs, she was sure her time was limited. They didn't have a lot of money, and she was a big drain on their resources. She was sure that they didn't have enough money to waste on a hermit who wanted to hid in their house. Her worst fears were confirmed when the family and Jack started to suggest that she take a few trips out of the apartment, with Jack or David, of course.
She adamantly refused, saying that she just wasn't ready. Which was true, what if some one recognized her? What if she got separated from them? How would she find her way back? What if some one tried to hurt her? There were too many things that could go wrong, she just couldn't do it. What if someone recognized her name and took her to her father? Then no one, not even Jack and David, could protect her.
Her head was spinning with these thoughts one evening while she was up on the roof taking laundry off the line and folding it into baskets. The sun was setting, and it was the perfect atmosphere for just letting your thoughts wonder.
Jack quietly opened the door to the roof so as not to startle Cate. She was folding laundry and singing to herself softly. She seemed to be lost in thought, because she didn't turn to look at him. He cleared his throat softly, "Uh, Cate?"
She jumped a little and turned to face him, "Oh, hello Jack. You startled me."
"Sorry, its dinner time."
"I must have lost track of the time, just let me get the rest of these clothes."
"Okay, I'll wait for you."
"Okay," she went back to folding, "so, what did you boys do today?"
"Not much, Dave beat Race at cards for the foist time. It was really exciting for Davey, kinda like really being a part of the group." She laughed, "Cate, I was thinken, I think you should come with me and Dave and Les to Tibbie's for lunch this Friday."
"Jack, we've talked about this. I'm just not ready to go." "Well, when will you be ready, Cate? You know, you can't hide in this building forever. Whats out there that is so bad?"
"I don't want to talk about it, you know that!"
"Yeah, I know, you wont tell us anything, just that you don't want to leave and you don't want to talk about it." He gave a frustrated sigh, and tried to control his anger.
Cate, however, was less successful in controlling her temper. "Jesus, Jack, why do you keep pushing this? I have told you I am not ready, can't you just leave well enough alone?" she practically yelled at him. "Look, doll, I'm just trying to help . . ."
"Well you certainly have a funny way of doing it." She had finished the laundry and was about to pick it up when Jack came over and grabbed her upper arms.
"Well, maybe I would know how to do a better job if you would tell me what happened," he yelled in her face.
That was it, her control snapped. She wasn't strong enough to really fight Jack, but she could still do something. She wrenched herself from his grip and fought to hold back the tears that we prickling her eyes. "NOTHING! Okay, nothing happened!," she yelled as she walked to the other end of the roof.
"Yeah? Nothing has got you this upset! Don't lie to me Cate!," he yelled as he followed her across the roof. He was about to yell again when she spun around and faced him dead on.
Tears were streaming down her face, but she still held her ground. "FINE! YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED? DO YOU REALLY? HE LET THEM RAPE ME!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.
Jack just stood there in the ringing silence that was left behind after her screams had died. He looked at her, and could think of anything to say. Rape? Who? What did she mean?
Cate watched Jack with apprehension as her words sunk in. He wasn't saying anything, just standing there staring at her like she had grown and extra head. She let the tears fall freely down her checks. Any second now he was going to call her a whore and reject her. He knew, how could her not. Oh God! He knew, she would have to leave the Jacobs tonight. She had no where else to go. Why had she just done that?
He was still just standing there. She walked around him to pick up the laundry basket. Her movement seemed to rouse him from what ever he had been thinking.
"What?" "You heard me Jack." She picked up the basket and started to walk to the door that went inside. She had to get her things together if she was going to leave tonight.
Jack followed her. As she got close to the door he reached out and grabbed her arm. She jerked it way from him, "Don't touch me!" She didn't even look at him and her voice could have frozen water on the fourth of July.
"No." he said firmly. He turned her around so she was facing him again. "What are you talking about? Who is "he"? Who are "they"?"
She took a deep breath. He knew anyway, why not tell him? "'he' is my father, and 'they' were his business associates." That being said, she tied to walk away again. Jack kept his grip firm on her arm. "So your telling me that your father let his friends rape you?" She nodded silently. "Jesus Christ! Cate, was he the one who beat ya up." She nodded again. He just stood there trying to wrap his mind around the idea of a man letting his daughter be raped and then beating her.
"Jack, I have to go. If I'm going to be out of the apartment tonight, I have to pack and . . ."
"Woah! Who said anything about leaving. Your not going anywhere, especially not until you tell me every thing that happened!" He gave her a little shake to punctuate his point.
"Look, I'm a whore! You know that now, and your going to tell the Jacobs. And none of you are ever going to want to see me again. I know what happens to people like me, my father made it very clear that I was good for nothing but being a whore." By the time she finished this she was having to speak between sobs.
Jack looked at her, astonished, then tilted her chin up so she was looking at him. "Is dat what you think is going to happen?" She just kept sobbing and shaking her head. "Cate, no one is going to blame you for what your father did to you. Just because he is a bad person doesn't mean dat you are."
She shook her head again, "Why are you being so nice?"
"I'm not going to hate you just because horrible things happened to you. It's not the way people are." He looked down into her tear streaked face and pulled her into a tight hug. "Come on, wes gonna sit down and I'll tell you about my past, then you can tell me the entire story. Okay?"
She nodded slowly, then let him steer her over to the edge of the roof. They sat down next to each other but didn't touch. "Okay," he began, "what I said about my mom dying, dat was true. She died when I was eight. My Pop, he used to get drunk and beat her. One night I guess he just hit her too hard, 'cause she died. Dey put my Pop in jail and I started to live on da streets. I became a Newsie and met me best friend, Spot, the Brooklyn leader. We sold together for years. Den when I was eleven I stole some food. I got caught and was taken to the refuge. You know all about dat. So anyway, when I was fourteen I became the leader of Manhattan, dat was de year after Spot became de head of Brooklyn." he sighed, then turned to look at her. She had stopped crying, but looked like she might start again at any minute. "Oh, and me real name isn't Jack Kelly, it's Francis Sullivan." He laughed a little at his own name, "but I hate de name Francis. So dats my story, now its your turn."
Cate took a deep breath then let it out slowly, blowing a little hair out of her face. "Well, I suppose the story starts with my parents. I don't think that Father ever really loved Mother. In fact I'm pretty sure that they got married because she was pregnant with me. You see Father was a wealthy business man, and still is. I suppose you recognize my last name now? Flanagan?"
Realization downed on Jack's face, "you mean, your father is that Flanagan?"
"Yes, Kevin Flanagan is my father. Anyway, he would fool around with a lot of the lower class women, and I guess he and my Mother just weren't careful enough. Well, I was born and things were alright for a while. That, or I was just too young to see what was happening. The first time I remember him really beating her was when I was about seven years old. After that he would do it more and more often. We wouldn't want the servants to see her wounds, so learned how to cure them. I had to do every thing from taking care of the cigar burns he put on her arms to resetting bones that he broke.
When I was about thirteen I began to develop into a woman, and Father saw this as an opportunity. He knew mother wouldn't stand him giving her out as a "gift" to his business partners, but I was too young to know what was happening until after it was too late." She paused and took another shuttering breath. Oh God! The memories, they all came back. Every horrible encounter. Every man thrusting roughly into her body, running their dirty hands all over her. She would cry, but they would just slap her and push harder into her.
She shuddered and Jack reached out to wrap an arm around her, "No! Please don't touch me."
He let his hand fall down into his lap, "Okay, you want to go on?"
"Yes, I started and I'll finish. He let them rape me in my own room. Oh God! Jack, I can still feel the hot breath on my skin, and I can still smell the alcohol. See most of them were too upstanding to do something like what my Father offered without the influence of some kind of drink. I am sure you have heard that the first time a woman is with a man it hurts her a lot." He nodded his head, "well for me it hurt every time. Every thrust of those foul men felt like it was ripping me in two. At first I would scream and cry, but then the men would just beat me. There have been a few times when I was beaten so badly that I would pass out. I used to pray that I would die when this happened, but I would always wake up again in my own bed all alone. If I ever fought or cried Father would wait until the other man would leave then he would beat me too.
When I was about fifteen I told my father that I would not let him or any of his business partners use me like that any more. I said I would run away. That is when he started calling me a whore. He said I was a horrible person because I was no longer a virgin, that no one would ever help me or love me because I was a slut and not good enough to be with civilized people. He threatened to public announce that his daughter had seduced older men, then publicly disown me. There was nothing I could do. He convinced me that no one would believe me because I was a dirty little slut." It was at this point she lost it. Huge sobs raked through her body. Hot tears burned her checks, and she felt bile in the back of her throat. Her body heaved. Then all of a sudden she felt strong arms holding her tight. She pressed her face into Jack's shirt and cried. He softly rubbed her back and murmured soothing things in her ears. Holding her small frame so close to him he realized why she was so afraid of them all. Every man she had know had hurt her, mentally and physically. It must have taken enormous amounts of courage to live with the Jacobs. If she couldn't even trust her own family to look after her it must have been very difficult to trust complete strangers.
She calmed herself enough to continue the story. "I don't know how, but my Mother had no idea what was happening to me. One night when one of the men was with me she walked into my room. She was furious. She started screaming until Father came in and beat her unconscious. Really it would have been better if she hadn't come in at all, because father just let him rape me again because he had been interrupted. The next day Mother yelled at Father, they had a huge fight and he started beating her again. Only this time was different, he beat her until she died. Then he made me help him drag her over to the stairs and throw her down them. He made it look like an accident. Soon after that we moved here. He told every one it was because he missed Mother too much, but I think he did it just because he thought he could make more money in America.
I thought that once we got here things would be different, but I was wrong. He just started up again. I actually think it helped him start up business in this county, he offered his daughter as an added bonus." She gave a hollow laugh and then started crying again. "With Mother gone he started beating me more and more. So one night I ran. I didn't know where I was going, so I just ran, I must have been all over the New York. Then I ran into you and David, and, well, you know the rest." She turned her tear soaked face to his, "Jack, I really like it here. For the first time in many years I feel safe. Please don't tell anyone."
Jack just shook his head and gave her a little squeeze. "Cate, dese people have given you a home, dey love you like yous one of dere own kids. I know the Jacobs real well and dey won't turn you away."
"But, how can you be sure?"
"I can't. But you at least owe them the truth."
She looked up at him. She already felt better just having told Jack. He didn't push her away, he still cared for her, and she trusted him. "Okay, but you have to be there with me."
He stood up and hugged her then began to lead her to the door. "I wouldn't think of doin it any otha way. Cate I love you a lot, your like de little sistah I nevah had."
"I love you too Jack, your like the older brother I always needed." he pulled her into one more hug, then went to open the door.
Just as Jack was about to reach for the handle the door opened and David walked out onto the roof. "Cate, Jack, your missing supper . . ." he grew silent when I say Cate's tear stained face and Jack's hand in her's. "what happened?" Saving Cate from having to say anything Jack spook first. "David I think I would be bettah if we just got your family togethah and only made her tell de story one more time." David nodded somberly then lead the way back to the apartment.
It was only thirty minutes before the entire family, with the exception of Les, was seated around the table. Jack stood behind Cate's chair with his hands on her shoulders while she told the story again, omitting some of the more graphic details. She tried not to cry again, but she couldn't help it. When Jack saw this he would rub her shoulders in a comforting way. Some how she made it through the entire story with out breaking down again. When she stopped talking everyone sat in silence for a few minutes. Sarah had tears streaming down her face, David looked horrified, and Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs we holding each other's hands.
As the silence stretched on Cate felt her worst fears confirmed, they wanted nothing to do with her. She was, as her father had said, a dirty whore who didn't deserve love or care from anyone. She found her voice and stared to stand, "Well, Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs, thank you very much for helping me, but I can see that I am not welcome anymore. I will just be . . . ."
"What?" David yelled as he jumped up and knocked over his chair and walked over to Cate. He held both of her small hands in his larger ones, "we would never ask you to leave!"
Mr. Jacobs also stood, "David is right Cate. In fact," he looked at his wife who nodded, "we insist that you stay. You can live here as one of our children."
Cate wasn't the kind of girl who normally cried a lot, but she really couldn't control herself tonight. A fresh wave of tears pored from her eyes. David reached up and gently brushed them away and she gave him a watery smile. Jack came over and hugged her again, then gave her a kiss on the cheek. Sarah, who was still crying herself, hugged Cate so tightly she thought her ribs would crack. Jack sensing her shortness of breath lead Sarah up to the roof to let her calm down. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs each gave her a hug and reassured her that every thing would be alright. Then they went into the kitchen and began talking to each other in hushed voices.
That left just her and David, who looked as nervous as she felt. He sat down again and tried to find something to say.
"So, how do you like the Scarlet Pimpernel?" Was what he finally blurted out.
"David, you don't have to pretend that nothing has changed. Every thing has changed, now you know what really happened. I would understand if you wouldn't want to be as close as we were."
"Cate, I don't know how to explain this to you any differently: we are not going to leave you just because you father is a jackass!" He walked over and hugged her, "I just don't know what to say anymore. I just don't want to upset you."
She nodded and they sat down at the table again, but he held onto her had. "I really like the character of Percy. He is amazing."
"Yeah I know, to be able to be so smart and pretend to be such a moron. But he is really tortured by Marguerite."
"I know! And she by him, I really hope every thing works out . . . ."
there it is folks! I hope you liked it. Thank you for all your review, please don't stop. estrellalily