HOPE
Chapter Thirteen
A Memory In The Making
July 17, 1912
Morning
Molly had long since left for Chicago, and had
insisted before she left that Lynn have the seventeenth through the nineteenth
off. That way she would have her birthday off, as well as Rose’s. Molly had
given each Lynn and Rose a small wrapped box, but had made them promise not to
open them until their real birthdays. They had agreed, but the curiosity still
remained.
Rose awoke on that particular morning not
feeling nauseous for once. She hoped it meant that her morning sickness had
finally stopped. It really was beginning to annoy her. Throwing up every
morning was not her way of starting off a day in good spirits.
Rose had been rather hot last night and had
thrown the covers on the floor. It was a hot, sticky morning already, and it
was sure to get warmer as the day progressed. She swerved her hips and sat up
so her feet were planted on the ground. She stood, expecting to have to run
into the bathroom. But she never did. It was finally over.
Rose walked into her closet and pulled down a
neatly wrapped package from the top shelf. It was Lynn’s birthday, and in
Rose’s eyes, she had found the perfect gift for her. Rose had walked around the
city all week before finding the perfect gift. While strolling on Newton Drive,
she had spotted an antiques store. She had walked in, hoping to find what she
was looking for. And indeed she had. It was a beautifully crafted jewelry box
that played the soft melody of After the Ball. It was made of beautiful
redwood, and the front opening doors were crystal. On the crystal doors were
sweetly carved pictures of birds and flowers. The inside of the jewelry box was
lined with a dark red velvet. It was the perfect gift from one friend to
another.
Rose peered out into the hallway, making sure
no one was awake yet. It was only 6:30, but people in this house rose early. Good,
she said to herself. She stuck her head back in her door and quickly got
dressed. She had something else she had to pick up down at the bakery.
Once fully dressed, Rose headed downstairs
and onto Colfax Avenue to pick up the cake at the bakery. Inside, the man at the
counter recognized Rose and greeted her. "Good morning, Miss Dawson. Here
to pick up the cake, I presume?" said a cheerful Gregory Jones.
"You know me all too well, Mr.
Jones." Rose smiled. "It is ready, isn’t it?"
"Of course. Right here." He reached
into the special orders compartment and pulled out a chocolate cake with
vanilla frosting and yellow buttercups around the border. In the middle it read
Happy Birthday, Lynn. Simple, but suitable.
Mr. Jones took out the appropriate size box
and carefully placed the cake inside. He closed the top and tied a red ribbon
around it. "I believe you paid at the time of ordering, so you’re all set.
Have a nice day." He smiled and handed Rose the cake.
"Thank you," she said, while taking
the box in her hands. She quickly walked home, not wanting anyone to notice her
absence. She was relieved to find no one awake when she arrived back home. She
gently placed the cake box on the kitchen counter.
Rose climbed up the staircase and saw a
dreary Lynn walking down the hallway. "Someone sure is up early,"
Lynn commented. Lately Rose hadn’t been waking up before ten o’clock. She had
been so tired and nauseous that she thought it best to get all the rest
possible.
"Yes. I am up early, aren’t I?"
Both smiled. "I just felt so much better this morning I thought I would go
out and take a walk."
"It is a lovely day, isn’t it?"
"Yes, indeed. The perfect day for our
birthday girl. Happy birthday, Lynn." Lynn looked almost shocked, and her
eyes widened slightly.
"I didn’t think anyone remembered, aside
from Mrs. Brown. My family never really made too much of a fuss over my
birthday. I just got used to not celebrating it at all." Her eyes became
misty at the remembrance of her childhood. She hadn’t had that of a normal
child. Her mother had died when she was born and her father had sunk into a
deep depression. When she was only five years old, her father had died. Lynn
was too young to know how at the time, and she never inquired about it as she
became older. It would have been too painful. But it was her belief that he
killed himself. Lynn did not have many memories of her father, but she did
remember that he was always very depressed, almost on the verge of suicide.
When her father had died, she had gone to
live with her aunt and uncle in New York. It had been a difficult adjustment
from country life in Iowa to city life in New York. She had never fully
adjusted. There had always been something that she felt was missing. Due to
this, she had always been a quiet child. She was always deep in thought. When
she had reached the age of eighteen, Lynn had decided she wanted to be on her
own. Her aunt and uncle had bought her a one way ticket to Denver and sent her
on her way. It was just what Lynn had needed.
She had worked in various households as a
live-in maid. In 1910, her former employers had announced that they would be
moving. They had asked Lynn to go with them, but she had refused, stating that
Denver had become her home. It was then that she had met Mrs. Brown. She had
been different than her former employers. She had actually cared about what
Lynn thought and felt. If Lynn was feeling ill, Molly would insist that she
rest, whereas others had insisted that she work despite her weakened condition.
She was thankful that she had found Mrs. Brown. She enjoyed working for her,
where she had never enjoyed a job before.
"Lynn, are you all right, hon? You look
pale," Rose stated.
"Oh, yes. I’m fine. Just
thinking...thank you." She let a small tear gently roll down her cheek.
Rose saw this and wondered what could sadden
a person so on their birthday. "Whatever it is, it’ll be all right."
She embraced her friend, letting her know that there was someone there who
cared. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine. Thank you,
Rose." Lynn let out a soft sigh and parted from her friend’s arms.
"Now I think I’ll go take a warm bath, if you don’t mind. I didn’t sleep
too well last night. It was awfully warm."
"Yes, I know what you mean. I kicked off
the covers sometime after I fell asleep. You go and freshen up. Maybe I’ll see
if I can get some extra sleep." With that said, they each walked their own
separate ways, Lynn to the bathroom and Rose into her bedroom.
Rose kicked off her shoes and took out the
pins in her hair, placing them on her vanity table. She smoothed out the
wrinkles in the sheets and lay on top of them. She placed her right hand on her
stomach and rubbed it gently. Rose wondered what it would feel like when she
felt her baby move inside of her womb. The time seemed so far away, and yet so close.
She let out a deep sigh and fell asleep once more. She wanted to make sure she
did what was best for her baby, and she knew the sleep would help.
*****
It was near 10:30 when Rose awoke again. She
ran a brush through her hair, trying to make herself look halfway decent. It
was no use. Her hair would just not cooperate with her today. She pulled it up
into a tight bun instead of trying to fuss with it.
Rose descended the staircase and found Lynn
sitting on the couch eating a pastry. "Good morning once again."
"Mornin’."
Rose sat beside her on the couch. "So,
it’s your birthday. We can do anything you want. What do you want to do?"
"Oh, I don’t know. I hadn’t thought
about it much."
"Oh, come on. There must be something
you’ve just been dying to do and never got around to it." Rose smiled
mischievously.
"Well, there is a performing arts
theater down in the middle of the city. I never got around to getting there. I
suppose it would be nice to go catch a show with my new friend on my birthday."
She gave Rose a look, as if asking, Oh, please, Rosie, please!
"The theater it is, then. I, too, have
heard about that place. It might be nice to see what all the fuss is
about."
*****
The theater was not terribly far from the
house, so they decided upon walking there. Rose and Lynn spent the day at the
theater and window shopping around the nearby parts of the city. After that,
they decided to go out to dinner. They settled on a quaint restaurant that
wasn’t too fancy, but still had a comfortable atmosphere. Over their meal, they
talked about their future plans and what they hoped to accomplish in life. Lynn
wanted to find the right man to settle down with and have kids of her own. She
said that she couldn’t wait until Rose’s baby came so she could see what it was
like to be a mother without becoming one first.
When they arrived back at the house it was
around 7:30. The sun could just barely be seen above the horizon. "Come
on," Rose said. "You want some cake?"
"You got cake, too? You’re too much,
Rose. You really are."
"Ah…it’s a dirty job, but someone has to
do it." She smiled widely.
They each ate a small piece of cake, and Rose
quickly retrieved Lynn’s present from her room. "Here," Rose said,
handing her the box. A bright smile came to Lynn’s face that Rose had never
seen on her before. It made her green eyes and blonde hair stand out more than
before.
Lynn delicately unwrapped the package, and
her mouth dropped open when she finally saw what it was. "Rose…I-I don’t
know what to say. It’s beautiful." She looked up from the jewelry box to
look into Rose’s eyes. "Thank you," she whispered softly.
"You’re welcome." Rose was pleased
with herself. She was glad that Lynn liked the gift she had chosen. "What
about Molly’s gift? Did you open that yet?"
"Actually, I did open it this morning.
Would you like to see?"
"Of course," said an enthusiastic
Rose.
Lynn placed her hands behind her neck and
unclasped her necklace. She handed it to Rose. It was a beautiful gold locket
with a picture of a baby inside it; a picture of Lynn. "It’s beautiful.
This is you, I assume?"
"Yes, it is."
"What an adorable picture." Lynn
blushed.
*****
They both went to bed shortly thereafter. It
had been a long day. They were both extremely tired. Lynn knew she would never
forget today. She had had many birthdays before this one, but this was the
first one she had ever enjoyed; the first one she had ever celebrated. She was
happy that she and Rose had met. They would be friends forever, and they both
knew it.