FAMILY
Chapter Two
"Kelly! There’s a letter for
you!" shouted Mary.
It had been two weeks since Kelly
had moved into the DeWitt-Bukater house, and she hated it already. Well…the
house was nice, and Rose seemed like a very nice girl, but it was Ruth she couldn’t
bear. Ruth and Cal. They acted as if they owned the world and everyone in it.
"Who is that from?"
Mary asked curiously.
"My brother."
"Your brother? I didn’t even
know you had one. Is he older than you?"
"No. He’s two years younger.
I haven’t seen him in almost seven years, when I left our hometown. I heard he
went to Europe, you know…when our parents died. But that was it. Now he’s
returned, or so it seems."
"So, he showed up all of a
sudden?"
"What? I know you, Mary.
What did you mean by that?"
"Isn’t it strange? You
know…him showing up out of nowhere. Perhaps he just wants to get something from
you…"
"Like money? No. That’s not
what he needs. He earns more money than I ever did…no, he wants something
else."
Mary wanted to ask what, but she
controlled herself. She had known Kelly since she had arrived in Philadelphia,
and it was she who had gotten her the job as a maid. It was strange, though,
because during the past few years Kelly had had several jobs and as a result of
that, she had quite a savings account.
But still, she had asked her
friend to take a job at the same house as her. It had been quite easy, because
their last maid, the one who traveled with them, had died when returning from
Europe. None of the other girls knew how, but the truth was that Ruth was
willing to hire someone to take care of her daughter and other things.
"Now…c’mon. We have to take
the girls their breakfast. You know how Ruth gets if the coffee is cold,"
Kelly said, so each of them took a tray and went upstairs.
Rose was staring through a
window, as she always did, her mind somewhere else. She almost didn’t hear the
new maid entering the room with her breakfast. Every day, it was the same.
Kelly left the tray for a couple of hours so that Rose would eat. But Rose didn’t
eat. It was the only way she could think to get her mother’s attention.
Unfortunately, Ruth didn’t care. The girl had heard her talking to Mary once
about her eating problem.
"Leave her alone," Ruth
had said. "It’s probably for the best. That way she’ll fit into her
wedding dress. I think she gained some weight in Europe."
Rose wanted to punch her in the
face. She wanted to hurt her the same way she was being hurt. But she was weak.
When Jack had been with her, she had felt capable of doing anything, but now
that he was dead, everything had changed. Everything.
Realizing that Kelly was in the
room, Rose forced herself to take a closer look at the girl who was taking care
of her. At least it was something different to do.
She was a tall young girl. She
had blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked like someone…but who? The whole face
looked strange, something Rose was not used to seeing in people around her.
After a couple of seconds, she understood it--Kelly was friendly. Immediately,
she knew that if she needed to talk, this girl would listen to her.
"How old are you?" she
asked. She had to make sure the girl was really polite and that she wasn’t
imagining things.
Kelly at first didn’t know what
to say. For two weeks, she hadn’t heard a word coming out of Rose’s mouth, and
now…she was starting a conversation.
"Twenty-two, miss," she
answered.
"Twenty-two," Rose
repeated. "That’s five years older than me." She seemed to be ready
to turn away again, so the maid walked to the door, but the redhead spoke
again.
"And you are not married,
are you?"
"No, miss. I’m not married
yet."
"I see. Can I ask you a
question? Please, don’t take this the wrong way, but…are you happy? I know it’s
not a regular question, but please be honest with me."
For a couple of seconds, she
thought of what she was going to say.
"Happy? I can’t complain.
But happy? It’s a very strong word. I mean…we are all different, you know, and
perhaps each of us is happy in a different way, miss."
"But for you…not only
married people can be happy. And marriage doesn’t mean that you’ll be happy
forever. Is that right?"
Kelly nodded. She still didn’t
understand what the young woman was asking.
"What’s your name
again?"
"Kelly, miss. Kelly
D-Doyle."
"Well, Kelly, thank you.
Thank you very much."
The maid took that as a signal to
leave the room, so she did so.
That’s one insane girl, she thought as she went to the kitchen.