I am not one for trigger warnings, but if themes of suicide bother you, you may wish to skip this chapter.


Sarah had been sitting in front of her sewing machine, staring at the marigold colored fabric on her work table for a good twenty minutes, trying to decide if she had the energy to start on the new dress that Lucy would need by the start of the next school year at the latest. Sarah's eyes were tired and her back ached from many consecutive nights of hunching over her sewing machine, thus the prospect of starting a new project, even if it was for Lucy, wasn't an appealing one. It was a Saturday, one week after Break Maiden had been raided. She was home alone.

Jack and Teddy were taking in some reels of the fight between lightweights Benny Leonard and Richie Mitchell that had been held at The Garden back in January. Seeing a boxing match at the movies was always cheaper than buying tickets to a live bout. When Teddy was younger, Jack often regaled his son with stories about the bloody and bare-knuckle prizefighting matches that he had witnessed during his newspaper selling days, bouts that had no round limits and that could sometimes end in fatalities. These tales of endurance and brute force as colorfully told, and sometimes reenacted by Jack, always captivated young Teddy's imagination. When Teddy was quite little, Sarah had forbidden Jack to take Teddy to any boxing events because she thought that her boy would be scarred by the violence, but after the child's ninth birthday, she had finally relented. Then, due to the Spanish flu, gathering in large crowds was frowned upon. Father and son didn't go to a match, at a live venue or at a picture house, for a whole year and a half. It was just recently, in the last six months, that Jack and Teddy had ventured out to enjoy boxing again.

As for Lucy, she had dashed out the front door as soon as she had scarfed down her breakfast oatmeal and had dressed for the day. It was a sunny seventy-five degrees out and Lucy had plans to play hopscotch with some school friends who lived in the neighborhood.

An unexpected knock sounded on the apartment door. Sarah looked up, slightly thrown off her guard. Jack and the kids knew that Sarah didn't keep the door locked during the daytime. It couldn't be one of them. They would have just entered without knocking.

When Sarah opened the door, a man and a woman who appeared to be in their late 60s or early 70s stood before her. The woman was a bit shorter than Sarah and had frizzy, limp red hair which had been wound into a low bun at the nape of her neck. The skin around her jaw and neck hung slack, suggesting that more flesh had once graced her frame. The man, who was rather tall, sported a gray mustache on his upper lip. The short tufts of hair that peeked out from beneath his black bowler hat were the same color as his mustache. The man also wore spectacles, whose frames would have been in vogue around the time that Sarah and Jack had been married, over his slightly rheumatic eyes. In fact, the entirety of the man and woman's wardrobes were representative of what would have been fashionable when President Taft had been in office. Sarah thought that the pair may have knocked on the wrong door because she didn't recognize them.

"Yes, may I help you?"

The woman nervously tightened her grip on the brown fan-shaped handbag that she clutched in both hands before answering. There was discernible hesitation in her voice. "We're not sure. We are looking for the sister of Lester Jacobs."

Sarah's forehead creased. Who were these people? "I'm Sarah Jacobs. I mean, I was before I got married. My last name is Sullivan now."

"So, you are Les Jacobs' sister?" the woman asked, breaking into a friendly, trusting smile.

"Yes," Sarah replied cautiously.

Now, the man spoke. He had an even and low-pitched voice. He was also deliberate in his speech, unlike his companion, who spoke quickly and let her inner emotions slip into her words. "Ma'am, we are sorry to disturb you on a Saturday. I'm Ari Delman and this is my wife, Anita. Our daughter, Alice was a…" the man hesitated, searching for the right word, seemingly lost. "…a friend of your late brother."

Sarah combed through her memories, trying to recall someone named Alice, who would have known Les. A short girl with red hair and freckles quickly came to mind. Sarah had only met her once, possibly twice. Alice had been at the going-away party that the family had held at her mother's flat in Les' honor the day before he left for basic training. So much was going on that afternoon, and Sarah had been largely responsible for keeping plates and glasses full so that her mother could relax and enjoy being with Les and the many well-wishers who had stopped by. Sarah may have only exchanged pleasantries with Alice.

"I think I remember her," Sarah said. "She worked with Les at the hotel, right?"

Anita smiled again. "Yes, she did work at the Iroquois, in the beauty salon."

That's right. Now Sarah remembered. At Les' party, Alice had offered to manicure Sarah's nails for free, but Sarah had politely declined, citing the impracticality of a seamstress having manicured hands.

"We were hoping that we could come in and discuss a sensitive matter with you regarding your brother and our daughter," Ari said. His formal tone suggested that he had rehearsed this part of their exchange.

When inviting unknown persons into the apartment for the first time, Sarah preferred for Jack or Teddy to be home, but the Delmans looked harmless enough, and honestly, how could she turn them away if there was something to discuss which concerned Les?

"Alright. Yes, please come in." Sarah moved back from the door to allow the Delmans entrance into the flat. Once the couple had stepped into the room, Sarah closed the door behind them and motioned the visitors towards the chairs that were situated on the long sides of the dining table. These were the chairs that Teddy and Lucy usually occupied at mealtimes. "Please, sit down."

Anita chose the chair on the side of the table closest to Sarah's sewing machine. Ari removed his hat and placed it on the table, revealing a receding hairline. He sank into the chair opposite to where his wife sat.

Sarah eyed the Delmans with uncertainly, but decided to play the cordial hostess. She wanted to know what they had come to discuss. "I could put the kettle on, if you would like some tea. I am afraid that I don't have anything else right now to offer. I haven't been to the store yet today."

"No, please don't trouble yourself." Ari held the palm of his hand out towards Sarah to signal that refreshment was neither desired nor expected.

Sarah sat down on the short side of the table that was closest to the front door. Before she could question the couple any further, Anita opened her mouth. "Did Les ever talk to you or your family about Alice?"

The truth was, that due to circumstance and time, Sarah and Les had started to grow apart even before she had married and moved away from home. While their relationship remained warm and affectionate, after the age of twelve or so, Les no longer looked at his older sister as a maternal figure, simply because he was able to look out for himself most of the time. "I don't remember him mentioning her specifically, but I know that a lot of girls thought that he was handsome." Sarah was being honest, not wanting to give the Delmans a false impression. "I did meet Alice once at a party that we had for Les before he joined the Navy. She was very sweet."

The disappointment that Anita felt at hearing Sarah's response was written on her face. "I see, so then they weren't close."

"Well, I really can't say if they were close or not. Les was busy working and I was occupied with the children and my sewing work.

Ari looked at his wife with some impatience. "Anita, let's just get straight to the point, shall we?" He turned towards Sarah. "You see, Mrs. Sullivan, the fact of the matter is that Alice had a baby around three years ago, a little boy."

"Our grandson, Alvin," Anita promptly added, trying to be helpful.

Ari continued. "Alice came to visit us on New Year's Day, like she did every year. The last time we saw her before New Years was in November for Anita's birthday, but we didn't notice anything different about her at Anita's party."

Anita took this opportunity to interject. "But when we saw her in January, it was obvious what her condition was."

"I see." Sarah nodded to let the Delmans know that she was following what they were telling her.

"She begged us to let her move home. She had been renting a room with the money she earned at the hotel but said that she couldn't afford to stay there anymore." Here, Ari paused. He didn't wish to overwhelm Sarah.

Anita shook her head and let out a weighty sigh. "Alvin was born in 1918, in March."

Sarah intuitively understood that there was no supportive husband or boyfriend for Alice in the Delman's tale. She could only imagine how difficult this was for the girl's parents.

Ari perceived that Sarah was waiting for him to speak when a few moments of silence had passed. "We asked her who the father was but she wouldn't tell us. The only things she would tell us were that Alvin's father was in the navy and that he had been killed on a boat near France, so there was no point in looking for him."

Sarah's pulse quickened. Blood rushed to her cheeks. Les' ship, the Jacob Jones, had been torpedoed by a German submarine shortly after leaving the French coast. What were the Delmans implying? An awkward silence filled the room.

"Did Alice say that Les…" Sarah couldn't bring herself to verbalize her train of thought.

"No, she never mentioned your brother's name," Ari replied. "But after Alice died, we began looking for Alvin's father."

"Died?" Sarah cried in disbelief. She put her fingers to her mouth to stifle a gasp.

A few tears escaped from Anita's hazel eyes. Ari sat stone-faced, refusing to let his personal feelings show themselves. "Our daughter took her own life when Alvin was only two months old." This statement also seemed like something that Ari had rehearsed.

Anita spoke through her tears, and this time, Ari didn't try to silence or talk over her. "After Alvin was born, Alice became quite despondent. She would sleep through most of the day. We're not proud to admit that we were angry at Alice when we learned she was having a baby with no husband in her life. We said some hard things to her that we regret, but Mrs. Sullivan, I can tell you that we would give anything to have her with us again."

"I am so sorry," was all the Sarah could manage. Sarah didn't know exactly how old Alice had been, but she knew that the girl had been at least several years younger than Les. She found it difficult to absorb what the Delmans were telling her.

Anita dabbed the corners of her eyes. "Alvin was crying all the time, well I'm sure you know how newborns are being a mother yourself, and Alice didn't want to hold him, or comfort him. I had to do everything. It was like I was the child's mother."

"Let's not forget why we came, Anita," Ari said sternly.

Anita wiped the dampness off of her cheeks with the back of her left hand. "After Alice left us, we decided to raise Alvin. He was our own flesh and blood. How could we give him up?

Ari looked down at his aging, spotted hands. He wasn't proud of what he said next. "You see, before Alvin was born, we suggested to Alice that maybe she should give him up for adoption."

Sarah sat across from the Delmans, trying to take in everything that was being said. While what had happened to Alice was both shocking and heartbreaking, her thoughts turned to Les. What secrets had her brother kept from her?

"We fell in love with Alvin from the day he was born…couldn't imagine giving him up. We thought we were all set to raise him. We didn't think we were old as all that, but then Ari had a heart attack just after Alvin's second birthday and I had to take care of him, as well as the child.

"And Anita had a mild case of the flu just as I was getting better. We began to question our decision to raise Alvin."

Sarah's curiosity burned like the Library of Alexandria. "I'm so sorry about Alice. I can't imagine what it was like for you to lose her, but how is this all connected to Les?"

Ari and Anita exchanged a knowing look. Ari pointedly nodded his head, giving his wife the green light.

"We think that Les is Alvin's father."

Sarah nearly choked on the salvia in her throat. "What?"

"When we inquired, discreetly of course, at the hotel, the pastry chef remembered Les and Alice spending time together, especially in the months before he left for Europe," Ari explained.

"Did Alice tell you that Les was Alvin's father?"

"No, but her friends have told us that he was the only fella she was close to around that time, and that sometimes he would stay the night at her place." Anita had reigned in her emotions and was no longer crying. "You see, our Alice was only ever sweet on one fella at a time ever since she became interested in boys."

Sarah's mind became muddled and any logic that she could bring to the conversation eluded her. Could what the Delmans were suggesting even be possible? Certainly, Les wouldn't have confided in her, his older sister and a woman, about the girls he had been intimate with. Would he have spoken to David about his relationship with Alice? Probably not. With Jack? More likely. Jack would have been less likely to pass judgement on Les' choice of girl. And, the timing? "If you don't mind my asking, what is Alvin's birthday?"

"March 15th, 1918." Anita had had the child's birthday at the ready, sitting on the back of her tongue, just waiting to be asked for it.

Ari could tell that Sarah was trying to calculate the child's possible conception date in her head. "The doctor who delivered Alvin told us that Alice was probably in a close relationship with the father sometime in early or mid-June of 1917. We spoke to the general manager at the hotel. He told us that June 27th was Les' last day of work before he left for service."

"So, it is possible that…" Anita trailed off, her meaning all too clear.

Sarah felt faint. She stared down at the table; her hands gripped its edges to steady herself.

"We know that this a lot to take in. And, we apologize if this upsets you," Ari said.

"Would you like to see a picture of Alvin?" Afraid that Sarah might ask them to leave before she and Ari could fully state their case, Anita opened the clasp of her handbag and drew out a photograph which she handed to Sarah. "It was taken this year, a few weeks after Alvin's birthday.

Sarah peered at the photograph that she held with both eagerness and skepticism. Alvin did share some similarities to Les when he had been around the same age; delicate elfin features, small nose, medium brown hair. But none of that meant that Les was Alvin's father. She handed the photograph back to Anita, who returned it to her handbag.

"What do you think?" Anita asked.

"Your grandson looks a bit like Les when he was a child, but my brother never spoke to me about his relationship with Alice, so I can't really say."

"Perhaps he confided in someone else? We understand that you have another brother?" Ari nervously fumbled with the brim of his hat.

How did the old man know that she had another brother? Sarah began to wonder what the Delmans didn't know about her family. "Yes, David."

"You could ask him?" Anita prodded.

Sarah's curiosity about Les and Alice momentarily diminished, and was replaced by misgivings about Ari and Anita. "I don't mean to be impolite, but how exactly did you find me? I didn't live in this building when Les worked at the hotel."

Ari looked at his hands again. "We are ashamed to admit it, but we followed you."

"Followed me? From where?" Sarah was stunned.

"From the cemetery, when you were visiting your parent's graves. We only had your mother's address. We understand that Les was living with your mother at the time that he left for service." Ari had been resolute in his decision to find Alvin's father's family, no matter how he went about it, but at that moment, sitting in front of Sarah, he questioned his actions.

Esther and Mayer Jacobs were buried at a Jewish cemetery in Queens. Sarah thought that the Delmans must have been desperate, and confident in their convictions, if they had gone to the trouble to stake out Mount Carmel Cemetery, but still, she felt that her family's privacy at been violated.

"You've been to where my parents are buried?"

"Yes."

"Why would you do that?"

"Mrs. Sullivan, you have to understand. After we were sick, we realized that given our age, perhaps being Alvin's long-term caretakers wasn't the best idea. Alice was an only child. We don't have any other children who could care for him if something happened to us. Your parent's neighbors told us that they had passed on. We pretended to be old friends of your mother and father, and one neighbor, a Mrs. Felstein, told us where they were buried, in case we wanted to pay our respects." As Ari was speaking, Anita finally noticed the portrait of Les in his navy uniform which hung on the wall. Just as she was about to make mention of it to Sarah, voices were heard rising in the stairwell.

"Teddy, I ain't making any promises about going to see Dempsey fight in Jersey."

"Aww, come on."

"Let's see what yer mother says."

"That's not fair. You know what she's gonna say."

Sarah looked at the Delmans, consternation on her face. "That will be my husband. My son is with him."

Seconds later, Jack and Teddy spilled through the apartment door ready to barrage Sarah with tales of their day, but stopped in their tracks when they saw that she had guests.

"Sorry, we didn't know you had company." Jack removed his fedora and hung it on the hook behind the door.

The three adults who sat at the table turned their heads to look at Teddy and Jack. Not wanting to reveal the true nature of the Delmans visit to Teddy, Sarah said the first thing that popped into her head. "This is Mr. and Mrs. Delman. They are old friends of my parents. The Delmans looked at Sarah with barely concealed surprise.

Teddy stood close to his father and remained silent, taking in the scene at the family dining table at face value. There was no reason for him to suspect that his mother's guests had never met his grandparents. However, Jack had known Sarah's father and mother for eleven and nineteen years respectively before they had died. He had been like another son to them. Never once, had either of them talked about a Mr. or a Mrs. Delman. Jack cast his wife a dubious glance and when she caught it, she knew that he doubted her. Sarah turned back around to look at Ari and Anita.

"Well, it's nice to meet ya, Mister and Missus Delman. I'm Sarah's husband, Jack, and this is our boy, Teddy." Jack offered his hand to Ari, who shook it mechanically.

"It's nice to meet you, too." Ari understood that the conversation should not be continued in front of Sarah and Jack's son. He cleared his throat loudly. "Actually, we were just leaving. We should let you get on with your day." Ari stood up abruptly and put on his hat. When Anita saw that her husband was aiming to leave, she rose from her seat.

"Oh." Sarah stood up as well, grateful that Ari and Anita were taking their leave. "Well, thank you for stopping by." Sarah opened the door to show the Delmans out.

"The general manager at the Iroquois has our phone number, if you would like to contact us. His name is Mr. Evans." Ari bobbed his head respectfully towards Sarah. The corners of Anita's mouth turned upwards slightly, but a smile didn't form on her lips.

"Yes, I will." Sarah nodded at the couple.

Once the Delmans were in the hallway, Sarah swiftly shut the door. She heard their footfalls start down the stairs. If Sarah had been alone, she would have steadied her nerves with some of the cream sherry that she and David had found in her mother's apartment when they were cleaning it out after her death. This was a rare indulgence of hers; usually she didn't drink much alcohol. Instead, Sarah turned around and addressed Teddy, eager to divert everyone's attention away from the recently departed visitors. "How was the boxing match?"

Teddy's green eyes shone with excitement. He removed his tweed newsboys cap with one hand and pushed his wavy nut-brown hair out of his eyes with the other hand, before abandoning the cap on the dining table. Sarah made a mental note that her boy would need a haircut soon. "Ma, it was exciting, so much better than reading about it in the papers."

While Teddy had inherited Jack's cheekbones and height, he was otherwise a blend of his parent's features, although where he got his eye color from when both Jack and Sarah had brown eyes, was anyone's guess.

"Benny knocked Mitchell down in the first round with a right hook, and just when you thought the fight was over, Mitchell gets up at the count of nine and when he gets up, Benny knocks him down again! And again!"

Teddy began air boxing, imitating the moves he had seen, using his father as a target. Jack had no fear of any of Teddy's punches actually landing on him, so he just stood his ground with his hands in his pockets, grinning. He watched his son with one eye, while stealing glances at Sarah periodically with the other eye, trying to gauge what she was thinking.

"So, you think Mitchell's done for, right? I mean, he's gotta stay down sooner or later. But then, he starts pounding Benny out of nowhere…leather's flying…and with a hard left, Benny goes down…the crowd went wild…everyone was on their feet except Benny…but he wasn't down for long, see…he gets back up and knocks Mitchell down four more times before Mitchell stays down in the sixth!"

Sarah had zero interest in boxing, however she couldn't help but smile as she watched Teddy float around the room. She was also aware of Jack's probing glances. She realized that he hadn't believed her story about the Delmans being friends of her parents. "I'm glad you had a good time."

Teddy stopped moving around, catching his breath and pushing his hair out of his eyes again. "We sure did. Wish I could have seen it in person."

Sarah knew that Teddy would have talked about the boxing match for the rest of the day if she let him. She had other things to discuss. "Teddy, you know that tomorrow evening your father and I are going to your Uncle David's for dinner. Lily called after you left this morning and asked that you and Lucy come too. I guess Harry has been asking to see you."

For a moment, the light left Teddy's face. "Aw Ma, I want to play baseball with Sam tomorrow after we finish up at work."

Sarah had predicted that Teddy would resist Lily's request. She had learned that there was something about a sixteen-year-old's independent spirit which often invited contrariness. "You see Sam almost every day. Baseball can wait. Besides, you know how much Harry likes you.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes," Jack and Sarah said in unison.

Jack threw Teddy a remonstrative glance which clearly communicated that the latter should not argue with his mother. "Come on Teddy, you can tell 'em about the fight. We can show Harry some of da punches that Benny threw today…he'll love it. You can be Benny and I'll be Mitchell. I'll even take a fall for ya if ya don't' give your Ma any more lip about comin' with us."

"Alright," Teddy said, finally understanding that he didn't really have a choice.

"So, are you gonna tell me why that old couple was here today?"

It was a quarter past midnight. From somewhere outside, the hazy strains of dance hall music emanating from a nearby radio drifted in through the window of Sarah and Jack's bedroom. Jack had been reclining on the bed for about ten minutes with his shoes off, reading one of Teddy's boxing magazines when Sarah entered the room to retire for the evening. Lucy had fallen asleep around ten thirty and Teddy had turned in about a half hour later. Jack's suspenders hung lazily at his sides. He had removed his socks, carelessly shucking then towards the footboard of the black iron bed frame. Under other circumstances, this would have annoyed Sarah, but she was distracted and failed to notice what her husband had done with his socks. Sarah removed her lace-trimmed apron and folded it in half twice before depositing it on top of the oak dresser that stood parallel to the foot of their bed. She walked over to the window and closed it, even though the cool air coming in from outside felt refreshing.

"Do you remember a woman named Alice who worked with Les at the Iroquois?"

Jack's ears perked up. He took his eyes off of the magazine and looked at Sarah. He, in fact, did remember Alice. She was the short redhead with the nice figure that Les has been going with when he worked at the hotel. "Yeah, I rememba' Alice."

"What do you remember about her?"

"Not too much. She worked at da hotel doing ladies' nails. She was sweet on him, like a lot of da girls were."

Sarah approached the side of the bed that Jack was on. "Mr. and Mrs. Delman, the couple that you met today, think that Les is the father of their grandson."

"What?" Jack dropped the boxing magazine on the white cotton bedspread that he was lounging on. The bedspread had roses embossed on it and had once belonged to Sarah's parents.

Sarah could not bring herself to repeat herself. "You heard me."

Jack observed how disquieted Sarah was and how clouded her brow appeared. "You ain't puttin' me on, are ya?"

"I wouldn't joke about something like this."

"How old is da kid?"

"He had his third birthday a couple of months ago. He was born in March."

"So, what, it's about nine months that a kid is in its mother, right? That would mean, what?" Jack knew how babies were conceived, but like many men of his time, he was fuzzy on most of the other particulars surrounding pregnancy and childbirth. For Jack, what happened between when a man slept with a woman and when he was morally and financially responsible for her child, if indeed it was his, was women's business.

"It means that Alice and Les would have been spending time together during the last month that he worked at the hotel."

"Well, they was spending time together back then."

"Do you think that Alice and Les had that kind of relationship?" Sarah asked before Jack could say anything else.

Jack smirked when he heard Sarah's euphemistic language. "Sarah, if youse asking me if I think that Alice and Les slept together, then I'd say da chances was pretty good. You know how he was with the ladies, but that don't mean he's da kid's father."

"Her parents believe that there were no other men in her life at that time."

"Well, what her parents believe and what da truth is could be two different things. Why don't they just ask Alice?"

Sarah sat down on the edge of the bed. Jack scooted over towards the middle of the bed to make room for his wife. "Jack, Alice is dead. She committed suicide when her baby, his name is Alvin, was a few months old."

If Sarah had told Jack that three different women had come to the apartment that day, each claiming that Les was the father of her child, he wouldn't have been surprised, but Alice killing herself? This honestly shocked him. Jack's eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open. During some of the lowest points in his life, Jack had occasionally thought that maybe it would have been better if he'd never been born, but the idea of harming himself had never crossed his mind. This was something that he simply couldn't understand. "Why'd she go and do a thing like that for? She was a nice kid."

"I don't know."

"How'd she do it?"

"The Delmans didn't tell me and I didn't think it was right to ask."

Jack ran his right hand over his forehead, trying to think clearly. It was too much to take in. "So, what are you gonna do? It's not like we can ask Les."

"I don't know."

"Did they want money from us?" Jack had to ask.

"That's just the thing, Jack. They never once mentioned money. It just seemed like they were searching for people who could take care of Alvin if they weren't able to. The Delmans seemed like good people. I truly believe that they believe that Les is their grandson's father."

Jack reached over and touched Sarah's shoulder. "We should talk to Dave."


NOTES
This chapter was written quickly because I was writing it in my head even before I wrote chapter four. I hope to have chapter six out in a few weeks, but after that my life is going to get busy, and I know that I will have to take a break for a while.

President William Taft was in office from 1909 to 1913.

Boxing References:
On January 14th 1921, Benny Leonard fought Richie Mitchell at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Teddy does a fair job of describing how the bout went.

On July 2nd 1921, World Heavyweight champ Jack Dempsey fought European Heavyweight champ Georges Carpentier in Jersey City. It was the first million dollar fight in history.