A LIFE SO CHANGED
Chapter Five
Sarah got out of Rose’s bed the
next morning. She saw the bright sunlight streaming though the window. How late
had she slept? Later than usual, she guessed.
She loved the summer. To her, it
meant that new beginnings were coming. Sarah figured that she had gotten hers
early, with Cal dying--not that that was necessarily good--and Rose taking her
in.
Sarah did something she hadn’t
done in a while. She went to her room, dug though the drawer of her nightstand,
and pulled out the obituary of Cal that she had had to write for The
Brooklyn Eagle the day after he died.
Caledon Hockley, steel tycoon,
age forty-five, died on April 16, 1927 of a gunshot wound to the head. His life
was tragically cut short. He is survived by his daughter, Sarah, age fifteen.
He will always be remembered as a father gone too soon. Further funeral and
memorial announcements will be placed.
Of course, she didn’t place the
announcements. She didn’t even attend his funeral. It was in Philadelphia, with
family she had never met before. Plus, he had lied to her. She didn’t want to
go to a liar’s funeral.
Those words that she had written
two months before seemed so foreign. Really, life tragically cut short?
What had she been thinking? She could have just amused everyone and written sweetpea
in there fifty times. Really, that was all she remembered of him--and how he
always left her alone and didn’t pay much attention to her.
She thought about tearing it up.
She had her fingers positioned perfectly already. But at the last second, she
decided against it and put it back in its rightful place in the drawer.
*****
"Tell me about
yourself," Sarah said to Joey that same evening at Richard’s. They were
sitting at a table. This was Sarah’s favorite part of the day by far.
"What do you want to
know?" Joey asked.
She shrugged. "Whatever you
want to tell me."
"All right." Joey
leaned forward. "My full name's Joseph Michael Dawson. I was raised my
grandmother here in Boston basically all my life."
"Where are your
parents?"
"They died in a fire. I was
only three months old when it happened, so I can’t remember it. I was dropped
off at my grandma’s the weekend before it happened. Coincidence, I guess. But
it was almost like they knew the house was going to be burned down."
"But if they knew, wouldn’t
they have gone, too?"
"I suppose," he said.
"But I never knew them. My grandma’s like my mother, I suppose."
Sarah nodded, allowing Joey to
continue.
"I’ve been told that I have
an older brother. He’d have to be in his early thirties by now. When my parents
died, he just left, or so my grandma said. But then again, you can’t trust much
of what your grandparents say, can you?" He chuckled.
"I don’t know. I don’t have
grandparents. I mean, I do. I think I do, anyways. Everyone has grandparents.
It’s just a question as to whether they’re alive or not." She stopped,
realizing that she was rambling. "I’m sorry. Continue. Forget I even said
anything."
Joey smiled. "Um...all right,
then." He kept his eyes on her. Even when he stopped smiling, his eyes
still were. "My grandma taught me how to play the piano when I was seven.
I couldn’t stop and I’ve been playing ever since. It’s kind of like an
addiction, really. Not a real one, though. Maybe a love is more like the right
word."
She nodded.
"I also do drawings on the
side. Ten cents apiece," he said. "I’d love to draw you sometime.
You’re an artist’s dream."
Now it was her turn to smile. She
started blushing until she looked like she had been covered with too much of
Rose’s blush.
"Thank you," she said.
A slow song started playing. Joey
took her hand and led her to where some people were dancing.
"Joey!" Sarah heard
herself say, protesting. "Joey, what are you doing?"
"Taking you to dance,"
he said, a smile upon his face.
"Joey! I can’t! Rose is ten
feet away. She’s going to see us!"
Even as Sarah said that, she
wanted to experience the thrill of being seen. Even if Rose was encouraging a
relationship between the two of them, it would still be strange to be seen with
him.
Joey put one hand on her back and
took her hand in his. They started slow dancing. Sarah felt giddy that she was
actually dancing with Joey!
She looked into his eyes. All she
could find was happiness and love. She wanted to say all of these things to
him, do all these things...
The song ended. Joey and Sarah
were closer together than when they started. She realized that Joey was three
or four inches taller than her.
She couldn’t stop smiling. She
had no idea what she was doing with Joey. She was going as blindly into it as
anybody, but whatever was going on, she liked it. She liked it a lot!
*****
Sarah took off Rose’s borrowed
necklace and looked at it. A simple gold chain. Now it would hold a memory of the
first time she and Joey danced. She thought it wasn’t so simple anymore.
"You look like you had fun
with Joey," Rose mused, letting her hair down.
Sarah smiled. "I did. I had
a lot of fun. He’s a great dancer." She held the necklace in her palm.
"He looks a lot like Jack."
Rose nodded. "Yes, I agree.
Almost eerily so."
"He told me he had an older
brother and he’s never heard from him. I bet you anything that that’s Jack's
younger brother."
"It’s a bit of an age
gap..."
She nodded. "It could still
be his brother. If they had Jack young, like their late teens, it’s
possible." She walked over to Rose’s jewelry box. "Thank you for
letting me use this, Rose."
"Oh, no problem, Sarah.
Anytime you want."
She put the necklace back where
she found it, only this time she saw a necklace with an extremely large diamond
in the middle. She picked it up in awe.
*****
Cal kneeled next to Rose in
front of the mirror. Rose was wearing the necklace and staring blankly back at
Cal through the mirror.
"Rose, there’s nothing I would
deny you if you would not deny me," he said to her.
*****
Sarah gasped. This was the Heart
of the Ocean that she sang about. And Cal had given it to her.
"Rose! You’ve got to sell
this!" Sarah nearly screamed. "This is worth two million dollars!
Cal’s dead. What does he care?"
Rose came out of the bathroom and
looked at what Sarah was holding. "You found it," she said evenly.
"You need to sell this!
You’ll never have to worry about working again!" Sarah said. "You
could sell this to royalty!"
"It was from royalty, Sarah.
I can’t sell it."
"Why?" Sarah knew she
sounded insane. "You’ve got to! What if someone steals it?"
"I’m going to need it
someday. I think so, anyway. Besides, it’s beautiful. Nice to keep
around."
Silence.
"It’s from Cal!" Sarah
pleaded. "Get it out of here!" She stopped, then really examined it.
She could see why she wanted to keep it. It was gorgeous. Perfect, even. Sarah
put it away. "Some other day," she said softly.