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Chapter 6
David's POV
"I have a very long history with Oscar Delancy. It starts before he and I were even born, but I promise, it does get around to today.
"I was born in Manhattan. My mother was a dancer at Medda's, a second-generation Irish immigrant, and my father… I don't know. I probably never will. What I do know is he had money and status. He saw my mother dancing one night and went backstage after the show to meet her. After that night, he was at every show, and after every show, my mother always received a red rose. She was hopeless for him. He started seeing her outside of the theatre. Took her to fancy parties and all that. Even introduced her to his family. She did not impress them at all. They felt that he should be with a respectable girl from an old family. He stopped taking her to the fancy parties, but kept seeing her without his family knowing. Even bought her an apartment. She stopped dancing at Medda's after that, probably because he asked.
"She got a job as a parlor maid with a well to do family. The Delancys. She missed dancing, but never went back to it. She was happy for a while. Then she found out she was pregnant. She didn't know what to do, but she believed that he would marry her. She told him, and he seemed to take it well. A week later, she came home from work to find all his things gone. All he left was an envelope that held enough money to live well for the rest of her life, along with a key, and a note that said no goodbyes, only that the key would open a safety deposit box when I turned fifteen. She was devastated. She'd cut off all her ties with her family and friends, so she didn't have anyone to go to for help with the baby. She was alone except for the midwife when I was born. She couldn't get him out of her head, though. That's why my name is Flora; it means flower. Like the flowers my father used to send her. I have her last name, because she never wanted people to know who he was.
"After I was born, she had no idea what to do with me. Where to keep me while she was working. The Delancys gave her a week off to sort out her affairs. She spent it wandering around, trying to figure out what to do. Somehow she ended up in front of Irving Hall. Medda saw her, and my mother told her everything. They worked out that I would stay with Medda during the day, while my mother worked, and she'd take me home when she was done. Medda is actually my godmother, not my aunt, but I call her auntie Medda anyway. Soon, though, my mother started disappearing for long stretches of time. By the time I was five years old, I pretty much lived with Medda full time. One day, after almost three months without seeing her, she came to Medda's house to take me home with her. Medda didn't want her to take me, because she thought she was an unfit guardian for a small child. They got into a huge fight about it, and in the end, my mother took me away. I didn't see Medda for another three years.
"I spent my days helping her at the Delancy's after that. That's how I met Oscar. He was ten back then. Morris had been sent away to school in Connecticut, but Oscar went to school in the city. He wasn't very nice, even as a child. He'd hide my things, and pinch me, and other childish cruelties. Mother never did anything about it. She was too afraid of losing her job. We went on like that for two years. Throughout that time I learned to be afraid of my mother. She would leave me alone in the apartment every night, and I kept finding empty bottles. When I seven, she started just leaving me alone in the apartment during the day while she went to work.
"One day, she came home and told me that we were moving. It turned out that someone had set us up in a house. Mother didn't work for the Delancys anymore, but she still went out everyday. She was the mistress of some other wealthy man. I was left on my own for days on end, with only books for comfort. Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, the Bronte Sisters, I read everything I could get my hands on. When I was eight, I finally decided I couldn't stay there anymore. I took all the money I could get my hands on, a few battered books, and left without a second glance. I walked all the way to Medda's house on my own, only afraid that someone would return me to my mother. Medda took me in, and I was happy for the first time since I was five years old. About a year later, someone knocked on her door.
"It was Mr. Lloyd. You saw him the other day, coming to retrieve Elle and I. He informed Medda that my mother had drunk herself to death, and based on her dying wishes, I was to be sent to St. Jerome's. She almost took it to court, but in the end I was stuck.
"That was five years ago. Earlier this year, I decided to escape to visit Medda. I made it about halfway to Irving Hall when I ran into Oscar. He didn't recognize me, but I recognized him. He made a pass, and I declined. He tried again, and I slapped him in the face. He then proceeded to beat me to a bloody pulp. The police eventually pulled him off me, and returned me to the convent.
"When I saw him today, I didn't think, I just reacted."
I sat in stunned silence. She blushed self-consciously. "Sorry about all that. You probably didn't want the whole story."
"No, no," I hastily assured her. I moved closer to her, and tentatively wrapped my arms around her. "It's alright."
She rested her head on my shoulder. "Thank you," she whispered.
"For being here."
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