The young man reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. Abby gratefully accepted it and wiped her face before blowing her nose. A quick comforting squeeze from Mr. Corcoran reminded her that she was making a scene. She pulled away.
“Are you feeling better now, Abby girl?”
“Yes,” her voice was almost a whisper. “Thank you, Mr. Corcoran. I don’t know what came over me. Thank you for being here for me.”
“Tis all right colleen. You had a big loss. But, you need to thank this young man for being here. He kept you from falling on this sheet of ice.” He reached for the bag of salt he had dropped when he took Abby from the stranger. “Sure glad you were here to catch our Abby, young man.” The storeowner extended his hand.
“It was my pleasure.” The stranger returned the handshake and looked down at Abby. “Are you feeling better now?”
Abby nodded. Then a flush came over her again as she noticed the remnants of her runny nose on his jacket.
He looked down at the spot, then back at Abby. His smile seemed to light up everything. Despite her embarrassment, she felt at ease and warm being the object of his gaze. “Not to worry. It’s old, but it cleans up nicely.”
“Well …, thank …you.” The normally glib Abby was stammering. “I… don’t really know… what came … over me.” She was flustered and clutching the handkerchief.
“Now, girl. We’ve all been worried about you. You and Liam were so close.” He turned to the stranger. “Liam was her cousin. Was killed in an accident about a week ago. Only eighteen.” The old man shook his head. “Tragic. Tragic.”
“Well I’m glad I happened along at the right time.”
“Yes. Thank you so much.” Abby attempted a smile. She was worried that the tears would begin again. “I must be going. My aunt will be worried.”
“Of course. Take care of yourself.” He flashed another smile and tipped his cap before continuing on down the street. At the next corner, he turned and smiled, then disappeared from sight.
“Lucky for you he happened along, Abby.”
“Yes.” Abby put her hand to her eyes to dab at an errant tear and realized she still had his handkerchief. Somehow, it gave her comfort. She shivered with a myriad of emotions.
“Girl, go on inside. It’s cold out here. Go on now.” He opened the door and called to his wife. “Bridie, fix a cup of tea for Abby.”
****
A week later Abby sat at the kitchen table while little Eddie played with blocks on the floor near her feet. She was reading the newspaper when a want ad struck her eye. Cook wanted. Good hearty food. Nothing fancy. Involves travel. Contact Patrick Finley, Calumet Hotel by 1-31. The word travel caught her attention. She rued; it was what she and Liam had planned and now she would probably never get the chance. Girls did not go off by themselves. In fact, both she and Liam knew it would have been frowned on, if not completely forbidden, for the two of them to go off together. She smiled as she thought of anyone trying to stop Liam from doing what he set his mind to. They would have gone. Liam would have kept his promise.
“What brings such a smile to your lovely face this morning?” Kitty had come in from hanging clothes out on the line.
Abby knew better than to mention Liam. “Just reading the paper.” She stood and went to the stove. “Sit down, Aunt Kit. Warm yourself.”
“No time, Love. I promised Eddie that we’d go down to Corcoran’s for a piece of candy before he goes down for his nap.”
“Sit. I’ll run and get it for him. It’s too cold out.”
“I want to do it. I need to do it.” She picked up the child, hugged him tightly and began to hum a lullaby as she went to get his winter clothing.
The kitchen was quiet again. For the past week, Kitty had been a whirling dervish. She rose before dawn, cooked and cleaned all day and sewed into the late hours of the night. Not a moment of idle time did she allow herself. Abby worried about her, but also missed the wonderful conversations they had often shared. Lately, Abby found herself with nothing to do and no one to talk to. Her best friends had been Liam and Kitty. She loved her other cousins and Uncle Maudie, but it wasn’t the same. The loneliness was becoming unbearable.
Before the accident, she and Aunt Kit had frequently taken a few moments to sit and talk about Abby’s future. The young men in the neighborhood were definitely interested in the beautiful redhead, but she never gave them encouragement. Her life was mapped out and it didn’t include marriage and babies, just yet. Maybe it was Liam’s enthusiasm, but Abby felt there were too many wonderful things to see and do before settling down. As she mused, her eyes returned to the newspaper ad. The words, involves travel, sung to her like a siren’s song.
She looked around the comfortable, cluttered kitchen. This had been her home for her entire life. She and her mother had lived here before the poor woman had passed on. Mary Ann had been a fair-haired, fair-skinned delicate woman given to physical illnesses and flights of fancy. She had been the older and prettier of the two sisters, but Kitty, with her sandy colored hair and freckles, had always had more common sense and was often mistaken for the older of the two despite the fact that she was a full year younger.
Mary Ann bought into the tales of America being a land of milk and honey as the two young girls grew up in Cork, Ireland in the home of an older brother and his family. Their mother passed away when the girls where about ten. Shortly after her death, their father took up the bottle and drank himself to death. Just after Mary Ann’s seventeenth birthday, the girls lied about their ages and managed to get hired on as maids on one of the luxury liners that transported the rich and famous across the Atlantic. Mary Ann charmed an elderly matron who spent many lonely hours aboard ship while her husband gambled in the men’s poker parlor. The woman agreed to sponsor the two sisters for entry into the United States and had the bureaucratic acquaintances to make it happen. She arranged employment for them at a fine hotel in downtown Chicago. Her death shortly after their arrival saddened the sisters and left them eternally grateful to the kind woman.
The girls moved into a small flat in an Irish neighborhood and quickly settled in among their fellow immigrants. Kitty and Martin soon found each other and both declared it had been love at first sight. When they married, he moved into the girls flat and Mary Ann stayed on. As far as anyone knew she never dated, but a year after Kitty had given birth to Liam, Mary Ann had turned up with child, but no husband. Whether Kitty ever got the whole story out of her sister, no one ever knew. Abby had no clue as to who her father was or what her mother’s relationship with him had been.
Once Abby had been born, Mary Ann continued to work as a maid at various hotels and Aunt Kit took over the motherly duties for her small niece. In fact, as time went on, Mary Ann drifted more and more into a world of fantasy and unattainable possibilities until both Kit and Abby cared for Mary Ann like she was the child.
Kitty was a natural mother and found enough love in her heart for Abby as well as her own eight, now seven children. Sixteen-year-old Peggy was frail, quiet and lived only for the time when she could leave for the nunnery. She was a serious girl who prayed almost continuously. The twins Phil and Terry were fifteen and always walking on the edge as far as mischief was concerned. What one didn’t think of, the other did. They were close and often shut out other family members from their inside jokes and conversations. Eleven-year-old Billy, a younger image of Liam, was a pleasure to be around. He would grow up to be handsome and outgoing. He loved the world and everything in it. Bridget and Paula, eight and seven years old, were giggly little dark haired beauties. They shared a bond much like the twins and could entertain each other for hours. Three-year-old Eddie was a loving, cuddly child and Abby felt quite motherly toward him.
Abby looked around the warm kitchen, but the comfort and peace she had always felt in this room did not come to her. What did come to her was that this would never be her home. Her aunt had always shared her home, her love and her family, but it was not Abb
y’s. With a clarity she could not deny, she realized it was time for her to take the first steps into her life as an adult. She picked up the newspaper and went for her coat.
(This is the end of
Chapter One
of the novel
Abby – Finding More Than Gold
This novel is available at Amazon.com)
Finding Amy Page 10