Snowflakes Over Manhattan
— Chapter 4 —
A Change In The Air
THEY FOUND ALLIE at the window of her neatly organized, compact kitchen looking out, already dressed for the day. She turned to them, eyes snapping with energy and happiness.
"Good morning! Isn't it marvelous?" she enthused. "Every morning I wake up and cannot believe I get to live in all this." She gestured outside with a sweeping motion. "If you think this is a beautiful sunrise, you should see the sunrise from Astoria Park, the Montauk Lighthouse, the Brooklyn Bridge, or the North Cove of Battery Park!"
Elizabeth looked at her with delighted surprise and a touch of nostalgia. This was a far cry from the pre-teen girl she remembered who had to be dragged from her bed for school most days during the week or for church on Sunday.
She drew near Allie and slipped an arm about her. "It is marvelous," she agreed, then turned more serious, holding Allie's gaze with her own. "And I think New York is marvelous for you."
It was true. The bright, wryly sweet, slightly awkward girl they knew in Hope Valley had blossomed.
In the booming metropolis, her intelligence was positively sparkling, her personality had an extra shade of vibrancy, the glow of her confidence unmistakable. The maturity visible in every line of her posture and movement of her mind still caught both Nathan and Elizabeth off guard, and she sometimes found herself looking for the little girl she had first know. She was still there: in the stubborn tilt of her neat chin, in the willingness to drop everything for a challenge, in the unexpectedly sweet turn of her lips when she bent over Holly.
But there was no denying how simply and truly alive she was in New York City. It energized her. Challenged her. Fulfilled her. Her enthusiasm and determination were contagious, and Elizabeth realized just how fully Allie loved living there.
Allie Grant would always be a Hope Valley girl, but she was now a woman of New York City.
She smiled as Allie rested her cheek against hers. "Thanks, Aunt Elizabeth," Allie whispered, then pulled back enough to include Nathan in her look. "And that leads me to something I've been waiting to tell you both in person."
Nathan's hand was patting Holly's back as he burped her against his shoulder. The girly-pink burping cloth was incongruous against the obvious masculinity of his face and figure, but somehow only heightened his attractiveness, Elizabeth mused. "We're listening." He encouraged Allie with a warm smile. "What is it, Allie?"
"I know when I first moved here, I said two years, but if I'm being honest. . . I don't see myself leaving," she told them quietly. Her voice was soft, her smile softer still; so anxious to share this with them, but hobbled with trepidation at the thought of hurting or disappointing them.
Nathan shared a glance with Elizabeth, then reached out and tenderly brushed the back of his fingers against Allie's cheek, as if she were that six-year old little girl again, come to him with a confession. "We know, Allie girl," he established gravely, barely above a whisper. "And while we'll never stop missing you, we'll also never stop being proud of you or wanting you to plant yourself in the soil where you bloom best."
"And that, quite clearly, is here." Elizabeth hugged Allie close, offering her support and understanding through her affection.
"Truly?" Allie's features turned, first towards one and then the other as she surveyed them. "You knew? Since when?"
"Oh, since about six months after you took up residence here." Wise love took up the entirety of Nathan's expression as he looked back at her. "But truth be told, even before you left Hope Valley, we suspected you would not come back at the end of your trial period. Your communications since then confirmed it, and now that we've seen you here, there is no doubt this is where you belong. You are thriving, Allie — despite that ogre Mr. MacCord." His eyes developed the tiniest twinkle.
Allie huffed out a small laugh. "Oh, Uncle Nathan!" But her eyes were ever so slightly teary as they shared a long group hug. "Thank you, both of you."
"Always. Now, who's ready for breakfast?" Nathan inquired with a gleam in his eye as he handed Holly into Allie's eager arms. "Bacon and toast anyone?"
"As long as there's coffee and eggs with that!"
"I haven't forgotten." He grinned over his shoulder at Allie. "Over-easy on the eggs, as I recall."
"Correct, and ooh!" Allie carefully juggled Holly into one arm and reached into a cupboard that was rather more bare than Elizabeth liked to see, pulling out a small jar. "You have to try this on your toast: rhubarb-ginger jam! You've never had anything like it. Granny Finlay — that's what everyone calls her — from two floors up makes this every year, and it's like you died and went to heaven on a slice of toast." She squeezed her eyes shut rapturously. "The recipe's been handed down through her family for generations back in Ireland and she says she wants to make sure the tradition lives on here in her new country too."
Fifteen minutes later — an apron-clad Nathan having masterfully whipped up a homey breakfast for three — they had the opportunity to verify Allie's claims about the jam.
One bite of hot, buttered toast crunching between her teeth and Elizabeth nodded vigorously at Allie. "Mmm, yes, you're right, Allie: that is wonderful, and what a unique flavor," she praised.
Subtle on the ginger and heavy on the rhubarb, it spread over the bread in a sweet smear of fruit chunks whose flavors melded together in a taste that left a pleasant, comforting warmth on the tongue.
"Excellent," Nathan confirmed, already reaching for another piece of toast. "The Irish make a top-notch jam."
"Granny Finlay's is the best." Allie handed Nathan the jar of jam for his new toast.
He smiled his thanks at her. "So, what are you thinking we should do today, Allie?"
Allie lit up. "I have a whole itinerary set for the day, and I've made sure it gets us indoors at regular intervals so that Holly isn't outside in the cold for too long."
Elizabeth gave Nathan a twinkling side-eye of affection. "Nathan here says I bundle her better even than a Eskimo baby, and that if she so much as sneezes from being outside, wrapped the way she is, he'll be shocked."
He raised a dark eyebrow, and lifting one hand, began to tick off details on his fingers. "Swaddled in layers of furs and wool; thick booties and mittens on her hands and feet; a fleece-lined wool bonnet that ties under her chin and covers everything except her eyes, nose, and mouth; and then you cover over her face, loosely of course, with double flannel blankets — tell me I'm not justified in my position."
Elizabeth stuck the tip of her tongue out at him — in her most ladylike and dignified manner, naturally — but felt her cheeks rounding in a smile despite herself as Allie snickered at their playfulness.
"Maybe I am a little overly concerned, but with her being premature, I just. . ." She trailed off as Nathan reached across the table and caught up her hand in a gentle squeeze.
"I know," he said simply. "And you know I'm the same. I just couldn't resist teasing you." His thumb brushed in a slow sweep across the back of her hand. "I love the way it turns your cheeks into blooms of pink hydrangeas."
She looked across the table at him, feeling the slow flight of butterflies flutter against her rib-cage.
If I'd known how it would be to be wed to a man like you, Nathan Grant, I'd have married you the day we met.
She let her heart's emotion show in her eyes and knew by the little stutter in his thumb's caress that he understood it.
"Oh, no, here we go again. Don't look, Holly." Allie covered the infant's eyes with a cupped hand and pretended to look severe. "It's rather tiring how in love they are, isn't it? Some would say it's unseemly. Old people married this long aren't supposed to be this lovey-dovey." Her eyebrows wobbled as she tried hard to hold onto her look of censure.
"Old people, eh?" Nathan's eyes gleamed as he and Allie fell back into their old style of teasing like no time had passed. "I'll have you know, young lady, that I can still carry you over my shoulder running up and down the fire escape outside without breaking a sweat."
"It's true," Elizabeth verified. "He can."
And he definitely could.
After leaving the Mounties, Nathan's second career building homes had slowly but steadily grown into a thriving and lucratively successful business over the years, one whose physical labor kept him in superb shape over the years, adding heft and bulk to musculature that had once been more on the lean side. He was as fit as a man a decade younger, something that Elizabeth secretly envied. If only she could eat two slices of pie and know that it wouldn't make an ounce of difference to her waistline! Happy thought. . .
"Maybe I'll challenge you to do just that while you're here, Uncle Nathan," Allie laughed mischievously, but sent a wink Elizabeth's way. "I'm sure you'll be warding off marriage offers on the spot."
He waggled the ring finger of his left hand at her, the white gold of his masculine wedding band gleaming mutedly, worn now by years of wear and tear but still sending the unmistakable message it was intended to. "Know what this tells everybody? Unavailable. I am my wife's, and she is mine," he finished simply.
"Holly, don't listen." This time it was her baby sister's ears that Allie covered. "If you do, their soppiness will give you impossibly high standards for marriage."
A yawn that stretched the tiny pink mouth into a perfectly round O was her response, and Allie's gurgle of chagrin was swiftly joined by the genuine laughter of Holly's besotted parents.
Allie looked up. "When is your appointment with your publisher, Aunt Elizabeth?"
Elizabeth's laughter dried up in her throat. Her gaze turned, a little anxious as she glanced at Nathan. Her thoughts bounced toward the string-bound manuscript that was lying in her valise, thick with written pages. Nathan gave her hand an encouraging squeeze.
"Tomorrow, Allie," she finally answered. Spending time in Allie's life wasn't the only reason they were in New York City. Her publisher had requested their first in-person meeting when he had heard from her that she was going to be in the city. Being so far apart in miles, they had always handled their business dealings long distance; an arrangement that had worked without a hitch over the years. But she had a feeling she knew why he wanted to meet.
Nerves gnawed her stomach, but she took a breath and smiled instead. "Now, how about we get started on that itinerary for today?"
"Sounds good!" Hopping up with alacrity, Allie handed her the baby and began to swiftly clear the table, plate-ware clinking against forks and knives. "But just as a heads-up, I have to stop by work to drop off those edits Mr. MacCord wanted — even if it is just for a silly society piece," she informed them, muttering the last under her breath but Nathan and Elizabeth heard it and exchanged glances. "It won't take long," she tossed over her shoulder. "Don't worry!"
"Not worried, honey." Nathan gently bumped her with his shoulder in reassurance as he got up to start washing their dishes. "We've been hoping we would get a chance to see you in your work environment while we were here."
There was a hesitation so brief that it might have gone unnoticed by anyone who knew Allie less well. "Perfect." She wiped the table down. "I'll get my coat and we can go."
With the lingering scents of coffee and bacon trailing after them, Elizabeth followed Allie into her tiny but sunny and well-appointed bedroom, and watched as she slipped into her coat, wrapping a scarf around her throat with movements that were both more graceful and more assured than they had ever been before she moved out on her own. The grey and burgundy of the scarf's plaid caught Elizabeth's eye again, and her wondering about it returned to the forefront of her mind.
She cleared her throat. "That's a handsome scarf, Allie. Is it new?"
"Oh, this?" Allie glanced into her vanity mirror, its walnut frame gleaming and polished where it edged the mirror's reflective surface. "I fell asleep at my desk working late one night a few months back and awoke sometime after midnight to a cold, deserted office — and my coat draped over me, this scarf around my neck." She fingered it absently. "No one came forward to claim it, so I just continued to wear it, wondering if the owner would ever reveal himself." She shrugged lightly, but a soft frown pulled at her smooth forehead. "I strongly suspect it was a man, but I like the scarf and it's unbelievably soft, so I keep wearing it."
"Hmm." Elizabeth mulled over the story, carefully filing the information away. "I wonder who your thoughtful benefactor could have been. . ."
"No one that I can think of." Allie smiled. "And don't think I don't see what you're trying to imply here, Aunt Elizabeth."
"What?" she feigned innocence. "I'm not implying anything."
Allie's giggle was pure happiness. "I saw that look, Aunt Elizabeth! You are trying to match make!"
"I would never!"
"You would in a heartbeat!"
The two peeled with laughter, wiping tears from their eyes. Holly's blue eyes were huge and wondering as she stared up at her mother, but a kiss dispelled her uncertainty.
"And do consider, Aunt Elizabeth — this unknown man you are rubbing your hands over may turn out to be a tottering, balding old fellow nearing retirement! Imagine! Uncle Nathan would never forgive you."
"He definitely wouldn't."
Leaning against each other with laughter, they rejoined Nathan in the kitchen, where he gave them an amused, quizzical look, but as they volunteered no information, he asked no questions.
He had taken advantage of their absence to bring their own outerwear from down the hall and now held Elizabeth's coat out to her, helping her into it. He slipped into his coat and held Holly while Elizabeth again wrapped her to within an inch of her life.
Holly mewled softly in protest and Elizabeth showered her in kisses, feeling the plump, baby-soft of her cheeks under her lips. "I'm so sorry, sweet girl, but I can't take the chance of you catching a chill."
Allie laughed from where she stood by the door watching them. "You two certainly have that down pat," she gestured at their routine of bundling Holly.
"Do we?" Elizabeth tucked her muffler round her neck. "It's been so many years since we had a baby in the house that I sometimes fear we're doing this all wrong."
"Elizabeth," Nathan interjected firmly, "you are a fantastic mother and you're doing an astonishing job raising our girls. You don't give yourself nearly enough credit."
Allie's eyes warmed with a smile. "Listen to Uncle Nathan," she advised with a sage twinkle. "He speaks truth."
"That's me, the truth-speaker," he flashed a grin as they exited Allie's apartment.
Allie locked the door behind them and walked them to the lift at the end of the hall, passing the narrow, enclosed alcove that housed the single telephone shared by all four apartments on the floor. The lift — looking like a box caged about by decorative, wrought iron bars and brass detailing — had a tiny jolt when it started, followed by a series of squeaks as it began its smooth descent to the entrance level. Holly was fascinated with the lift, staring all about with rounded eyes, as if trying to take it all in. Nathan held her up, explaining each part of the system that controlled the lift as though she understood every word he was saying. She certainly clung to his every word as if she could.
"Oh, balderdash!" Allie exclaimed before they had even reached the bottom, slapping a hand against her leg in frustration. "I forgot my work that I have to drop off." She opened the door for them and let them out. "I'll pop back up and grab them. Be right back!" And she was gone, elevating before their eyes with a series of soft clacks and whirs.
A door opened off to the side. "Ah, the Grant family," an accented voice acknowledged in a friendly fashion. Mrs. Shemanski — grey hair gathered back in a twist, matronly apron round her plump figure — came out of her apartment, dusting floury hands on her cheerfully patterned apron. As the landlady, her apartment was strategically located close to the entrance. "So I can watch the comings and goings," she had told them the night before. Elizabeth doubted little got past her shrewd if kindly eyes.
"Good morning, Mrs. Shemanski," she greeted her, smiling as the landlady made a beeline for Holly, nestled, as usual, under her father's neck.
"Did the little one sleep well?" the woman inquired. "Because I have more blankets if you need them."
"We were toasty as could be," Elizabeth assured. "All night."
"And Holly slept like a dream." Nathan turned so that the landlady could get a better look at the swaddled Holly. "She only woke up to eat."
"Ah, yes." Mrs. Shemanski's eyes dimmed with what looked like memories. "Those long nights with the newborns are the hard ones, but hold onto them. They become the past only too soon."
"That's the truth," Elizabeth mused softly, looking at the woman with compassion. She did not know her story, but the woman had such a maternal spirit it was hard not to imagine she had children somewhere.
The hum of electricity and metallic gears announced that Allie was on her way back down. Their heads lifted to watch her descend.
"Isn't it incredible?" Mrs. Shemanski marveled. "You know, we're the only building for five blocks that has an electric lift." Her eyes were proud. "None of the other boarding houses around here has one. We were the first! And I hope in the next few years, the whole building will have electricity. I own the building jointly with a private investor, and he is a good man. He thinks to improve our lives."
Nathan eyed her. "It certainly sounds that way. Does he come around often?"
The woman shrugged obliquely, glancing at Allie as she alighted from the lift. "Here and there," was her indirect answer. "Miss Allie, you look quite smart today," she changed the subject, complimenting Allie, whom she seemed to have a soft spot for.
Allie glanced down, smoothing the front of her chic, wine-colored coat. The matching feather in her cap fluttered as she playfully dipped a mock curtsy to her landlady. "Why, thank you, Mrs. Shemanski."
The woman clapped her hands, smiling. "So! Where do you take them today?"
Allie pressed a finger against her lips. "It's a secret."
"Oh, go off with you!" the landlady chortled, then waved them off. "Well, go on, enjoy your day then!"
"We'll see you later." Nathan lifted one of Holly's hand and waved back at the woman. "Say bye-bye, Holly. Bye-bye!"
Mrs. Shemanski's cheeks turned quite pink with pleasure and her happy face was the last image they saw as they exited by the front door and made their way down the broad steps and onto the sidewalk outside.
Allie looped her arm through Elizabeth, a sheaf of papers peaking out of the satchel she carried over her shoulder. "Let's go! I have so much planned for today!"
The sidewalk swallowed them in its embrace as they set out, embarking on their second day in this city of a thousand cultures.
—o0o—
A/N: For those who like history as I do—a historical note regarding the Brooklyn Bridge: "The span was originally called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge or the East River Bridge but was officially renamed the Brooklyn Bridge in 1915." (cr: Wikipedia)
We're in 1916 here, so Allie's good to call it by the name it's still known by today. :D