FALLING STARS
Chapter Nineteen
To say that Jack was surprised to have the
Hockleys for neighbors was an understatement. When he arrived home that
afternoon and found Libby and Emily taking turns on the swing in the backyard,
he was stunned to find that their old adversaries were now their neighbors, and
concerned about what kind of influence the Hockley children would have on the
Dawson children. He and Rose had taken pains to teach the children that there
were more important things in life than how much money a person had, or what
their status in society was.
After Emily had gone home, Jack and Rose
argued for a long time over the wisdom of inviting one of the Hockley children
into their home. Jack wasn’t so sure that it was a good idea; he had never
trusted the adult Hockleys, and saw no reason to trust their children, either.
Rose, on the other hand, had watched Libby and Emily playing that afternoon,
and didn’t think that Emily was much like her parents. From what she had
observed, Emily had her mother’s beauty and her father’s intelligence, but
lacked the arrogance and snobbery of the adults.
At last, Jack reluctantly agreed that Emily
and Libby could continue to play together, as Emily was the first child close
in age to Libby to move into the neighborhood.
Fortunately, Rose’s instincts proved right.
Emily and Libby soon became best friends, despite the differences in their
social status. Emily had been ignored so much by her mother that she hadn’t
really picked up on the snobbery that she displayed, and, in her youth and
innocence, couldn’t understand why her mother so disliked the Dawsons,
especially Mrs. Dawson. She once asked her mother what a paramour was, but
Laura just slapped her and told her not to say such a foul word.
Cal, surprisingly, was far more accepting of
the situation than his wife. The Hockleys had not really gotten along in years,
and he had little compunction about upsetting her. Marriage and fatherhood had
made him much more mature than the arrogant, jealous man he had been on
Titanic, and he and the Dawsons formed an uneasy truce of sorts. The children
were aware of the fact that there was tension between their families, but they
ignored it, choosing to form their own childish society outside that of their
parents.
Emily and Libby ran constantly back and forth
between each other’s houses. Laura resented this bitterly, but refused to get
involved, allowing the nanny to be responsible for the children, and largely
ignoring them unless they got in her way. Cal observed them at times, but was
at a loss as to what to do with rambunctious children, and only spoke to them
occasionally, or sent them away to some other place if their games got too
wild.
Much to Jack and Rose’s amusement, Emily
developed something of a crush on Gregory, and followed him around, asking
questions and trying to get him to play with her and Libby. Gregory tried to
act as though he didn’t notice her--he still thought that girls were beneath
his notice--but sometimes she would win him over. He refused to participate in
tea parties--unless there was cake, cookies, or other sweets--and playing with
dolls was out of the question. However, he couldn’t stand to see his sister and
her friend beat him at anything, and the three children often competed to see
who could climb the tallest tree, ride their bicycles the fastest down the
street, or swim the farthest. Few things annoyed him more than having one of the
girls outdo him at something--not only were they girls, but they were younger
than he was, too.
Another surprising development was that young
Nathan Hockley--the spitting image of his father, right down to his expression
when angry--had an interest in art. Jack never would have believed that someone
who bore such a resemblance to Cal would have an interest in art--not after
what Rose had told him about Cal--but Nathan always had a question about art
for him, after his big sister had told him that Libby’s father was an artist
and owned an art gallery. Despite Nathan’s young age, he was curious about the
paintings that hung in his parents’ house, and sometimes tried to paint his
own. Though he had little actual knowledge about it--in the Hockley family, all
a painting had to be was expensive, and they would buy it--he found it
fascinating, and, much to the dismay of his father, talked Jack into giving him
lessons.
Jack was glad to have another protégé--the
only one of his children who had shown any real aptitude for art was
Gregory--and he enjoyed sharing his skills and knowledge and passing them on to
another generation.
So it was that the two families managed to
form a tie that relieved much of the earlier animosity, and stood them in good
stead through the years.