“Tell me more about you. I want to know everything,” I said, and Jacob laughed.
“I work for the fire department at the moment, but my dream is to become an engineer. I’ve applied for an apprenticeship in Boston.” He grinned. “I’m a huge baseball fan and can’t wait for the baseball season to start. I support the Boston Braves, and I’m going to the game in Boston on April 18th, against the Philadelphia Phillies . . . Hey, come with me?”
“Yes. Will you take me with you if you get the job in Boston?” I held my breath waiting for his reply.
He took my face between his hands. “Rose, I’ll take you anywhere you ask within my means.” He leaned in and kissed me.
Pulling away, he caught sight of my chest. His eyes nearly popped out of his head. He gulped. I hid a smile. I really wanted to feel his hands on me. Heck. I didn’t know what was going on, but I was shivering all over. My skin felt alive, and between my legs, it was as if I was on fire. The feeling was so new, but I wanted more.
“Jacob, please kiss me.” I turned to him.
He lifted a shaky hand to my face in a caress. “Rose.”
He sealed his lips to mine. He slipped his tongue into my mouth. We both groaned. I climbed onto his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck. One of his hands pulled me in tight against him while his other hand traveled up my torso and smoothed along the top of my breasts.
I pulled away from his mouth. The pleasure was so intense. He kissed down my neck. I arched into him, coming into contact with the hardness between us. He kissed across my chest and lifted one of his hands to cup my breast. He squeezed and rubbed his fingers over my pebbled nipple. He groaned. I quivered and rubbed against him.
“Rose.” He growled.
I couldn’t stop moving my hips. Never had I experienced pleasure like this.
“Oh God, Rose.” He unbuttoned the front of my dress and reached into my brassiere. Pulling it down, he bared my breasts. My nipples were so hard.
The pleasure between my thighs intensified. I reached up and held onto Jacob’s shoulders, pushing myself harder against his groin and heard his quick intake of breath. His mouth went to my breast. He suckled it into his mouth and used his other hand to massage my other breast. My pleasure exploded. I saw stars . . . rainbows. Oh, my God!
Panting, Jacob wrapped me up in his arms. “Hell. Rose. That was not supposed to happen. You turn me upside down.”
“Can we do that again?” I laughed. I had no embarrassment, being half dressed with Jacob, after doing what we’d done.
He fastened my dress with unsteady hands and lifted me from his lap.
I felt rather languid after the pleasure he’d caused my body to experience for the first time.
Finally blushing, I glanced at Jacob and noticed the large bulge I’d been rubbing against.
He pulled his legs up with a wince and took some deep breaths. “We can do that again,” he whispered. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I loved what you did to me.”
He groaned. I blushed a deeper shade of rose . . . I’m sure.
I never in a million years expected to be so, brazen. He was the one. I had no embarrassment with him when I was half-naked. He felt amazing. Next time, I wanted him half-naked. I looked away so he couldn’t see my longing.
After a few minutes, he stood and helped me up from the sand. “I need to get you home. That’s not what I want to do with you, but I know it’s what I need to do. Now. Before I lose further control with you,” he said blushing. “I’m working until Wednesday. Do you want to go to the movies then?”
A twinge of guilt niggled at me as I remembered my arrangement with Richard. Should I tell Jacob about my movie night with Richard?
We walked back to my house, hand in hand, and I decided I should. “Jacob. I’m going to the movies tomorrow with a friend, Richard.” He stopped walking. “He really is just a friend. You’re the one I want to be with.”
“Okay.” He turned and looked deeply into my eyes. “I can’t say I like you going with another man, Rose, but I trust you.”
He placed a goodbye kiss on my lips. We parted with the promise of the movies on Wednesday. In five days. It was difficult to put one step in front of the other after experiencing Jacob’s touch.
Chapter 10
A week later, Mack was exhausted. First Lucas had been sick with a bad cold, which had kept her housebound, and then Thomas had come down with it. She’d insisted he move into Rose Cottage while he was sick so she could take care of him as well. Then two days ago, she woke in the night feeling yucky and sick so Thomas had played nursemaid because he had started to feel better. Of course, Lucas tried to help, but kept getting underfoot.
All she wanted was a walk on the beach to try to blow some of the cobwebs away, plus she’d missed seeing the ocean this past week. She’d also missed Rose and Jacob, because, while she was playing Florence Nightingale, she’d been too tired, then too sick to pick the diary up. She never imagined missing a story so completely, but she did. She had wanted to enjoy Rose’s writing.
Throwing the cover off her, she climbed out of bed and quickly dressed in a pair of jeans, T-shirt, and sweater. The last thing she needed was to get sick again, so she made sure she was dressed warmly. She followed the sound of voices to the kitchen.
Standing in the doorway, she just watched as Thomas and Lucas interacted together without knowing they were being observed. They seemed to know what the other wanted without words being spoken. It was sweet.
“Auntie Mack, you’re awake. We’re making you . . . You were supposed to be eating it in bed.” Lucas didn’t look impressed at all.
“Well, I would love to eat the breakfast you’ve made me, but I’ll sit here with you and Thomas. If that’s okay? Then maybe, after breakfast, we can go for a walk to the beach. I need some fresh air.”
“Yeah!” Lucas shouted, running around the kitchen.
Mack had to put her hands on her ears with the racket he was making.
“Lucas, you hush up now. You’re giving your auntie a headache.” Thomas’s words managed to shut him up, much to Mack’s relief.
They’d both made pancakes, Mack’s favorite, which she ate with a small amount of butter and maple syrup. As she placed the first piece into her mouth, she happened to glance up and noticed that both Thomas and Lucas were sitting across the table and staring at her.
She paused mid-chew.
“I dropped an egg shell in it.” Lucas had a huge grin on his face.
“Oh.”
Thomas started to laugh while he watched as Mack tried to eat the pancake without choking on eggshell.
She managed to clear her plate with only eating a couple pieces of the shell. “That was delicious, Lucas. Thank you.”
“Yeah, she liked it!”
“Thomas, are you going to walk to the beach with us?” she asked while clearing the table of the breakfast dishes.
“No, I don’t think I will, Mack. I’ll walk with you as far as my cottage.”
Lucas’s face fell. “I don’t want you to leave, Thomas. Can’t you stay?”
Thomas pulled Lucas on to his lap. “I’m only two minutes away. The thing is, I need my own space. It’s been a long time since I’ve lived with anyone, and even though it’s been nice staying here, I need to go home. I appreciate everything that you and your auntie have done for me. In fact, I bet your auntie will invite me for dinner, providing she feels up to it.”
“Consider yourself invited. Now Lucas, you go and wash up and bring a sweater down with you. I don’t want you getting sick again.”
Mack turned to Thomas and had a good look at him. He appeared pale, but he certainly seemed better than he had been. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
He smiled at Mack. “I really am fine. Just tired. I don’t sleep too well unless it’s in my own bed.”
“I know what you mean. I’m a bit like that, but for some reason, I haven’t had any trouble here. Perhaps it’s the fr
esh air and being so close to the ocean.”
“Auntie Mack, I’m ready.”
She turned her head and looked at Lucas, who did look ready with his sweater on and his sneakers on the correct feet.
“Come on then, let’s go. And Lucas, no messing in the tidal pools today. You’ve just been sick.”
“This isn’t going to be any fun,” he grumbled.
Mack just smiled and ushered him outside the cottage before she took hold of his hand. They all started walking with Thomas along the beach path.
When they reached Thomas’s cottage, Mack stood on the porch with him while Lucas laid in the lounge chair on the front lawn.
“Thomas, can I ask you something?”
“Go on.”
“Are you JT?”
Thomas stopped what he was doing and abruptly sat down on the porch swing. “I haven’t used that name in a very long time. It was her nickname for me, switching my initials around so no one would know she was talking about me,” he explained, wiping his hand across his face.
“Thomas, if it’s too painful to talk about Rose, I guess nobody has ever died of curiosity,” Mack said concerned.
“She hated me,” Thomas whispered.
Mack was stunned. “Who, Rose?”
He nodded his head. “Yes, I was always trying to get her into trouble.” He shook his head.
“Thomas, no. You’re wrong. In her diary, she said that she loved you. Wait a minute.” Mack quickly retrieved the diary from her purse and found the relevant part in the diary. “This is dated March 20, 1947. Rose says, ‘JT is otherwise known as Thomas James. He is twelve years old and regardless of what he may think, I love him dearly.’ That was what she wrote in here, Thomas.”
“I never knew,” he whispered.
After a few moments of silence, he stood up and unlocked his front door. “I’ll be fine, Mack. I’m glad you found her diary and told me. It means a lot.” He tried to reassure her. “You go and have fun with the boy and I’ll see you both at dinner.”
Thomas walked inside his cottage as Mack looked toward Lucas, who was waiting patiently in the garden. She just hoped Thomas would be all right.
Mack and Lucas had both taken a nap after they’d returned from the beach. Despite feeling better, the long walk, as they collected an assortment of clamshells and smooth bones, had been exhausting.
She loved shells and had them all over her apartment. For the past three years on Mack’s birthday, Lucas had painted some and stuck them to some sort of clay item that he’d made. She smiled in remembrance of the flowerpot, vase and coffee mug he’d made her. All unusable, but they meant more to her because Lucas had taken the time to make them. She knew she’d treasure them always.
After they’d eaten dinner, Thomas decided to stay while Lucas had his bath so he could read him another Our Gang story before they both said goodnight.
Sitting with a coffee in the living room with Thomas, Mack hoped he had decided to talk about Rose.
“What do you want to know?”
“Tell me about your sister.”
“Oh boy, she was amazing; so full of life.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I was with her the morning she first met him. Does she say that in her diary?”
“Yes, she does. She says you dragged her away from him.”
Thomas laughed as he remembered. “Yes, I did. Our father was a snob. He would have made her life so difficult if he’d any idea she was interested in someone who didn’t come from money. He barely allowed Rose to work at the library, but she refused to give the job up and said she wanted to make her own money. I don’t think she liked working there much, but it was her bit of freedom, I guess. It probably made her feel good knowing she was going against Father’s wishes.”
He took a minute. “I caught her once or twice, sneaking out to meet him, so she would bribe me with ten cents to buy Our Gang comics. She actually went out and bought me the April 1st edition to keep me quiet. It was our little secret as Father had told Mother I couldn’t have that issue for getting up to no good. I sometimes wonder that if I’d told my father about what she was doing, maybe she would have lived.”
Mack just stared at him and wondered if she heard him correctly. “What do you mean?”
With a glance into the darkness, Thomas turned back to Mack. “She died the night she was running away with him, April 14, 1947. She’d left to meet him, to go away and marry him, I guess. That was the last time I saw her.” Thomas wiped his eyes.
“How did she die?” Mack asked.
“That I really don’t want to talk about.”
“Do you know if she met up with Jacob?” She couldn’t stop with the questions.
“No, she never made it. About a month later, I overheard my father talking to my mother. It turned out that it was about Jacob. I heard him telling her Jacob had called the house asking for Rose. He told Jacob she was happily married to Richard. He said Jacob sounded really upset, and then he hung up on him.”
“Oh my, so if he’s still alive, all this time Jacob thinks Rose changed her mind and didn’t love him and used him probably,” Mack said with tears in her eyes. “That’s so sad, Thomas. I have to see if he’s still alive and tell him what happened to Rose.”
“If he is, he’ll be older than me. When I overheard my parents talking, my father said he was three years older than Rose so he would be . . .” Thomas’s voice trailed off as he did the math, “around ninety, I think.”
“I have to try, Thomas. If you read her diary, you can see and feel just how much she loved him, and if his feelings were the same as hers, then he has to know.” Mack still had tears running down her face. “If he’s still alive and remembers her, and I think he will, then he has the right to know the truth about how much she loved him.”
“I think you’re right.” He stood up to leave.
“Thank you, Thomas, for sharing that with me. It breaks my heart knowing how their love ended.”
“You have a tender heart,” Thomas told her, placing a kiss on her cheek.
“Are you okay walking home? It’s pitch black out there.”
“I’ve been walking home in the dark since I was five years old,” he told Mack with a chuckle on his way out the door.
“Okay, goodnight then. Why don’t you join us for breakfast?” Mack couldn’t help but notice the look on his face and thought perhaps Lucas had mentioned the hot cereal. “Pancakes, eggs, and sausage,” she quickly added.
“I’ll be here at eight.”
“Goodnight.”
She stood on the doorstep and watched Thomas head home. Her thoughts filled with Rose and Jacob. Their story was so sad.
Inside the cottage, she locked up for the night and headed upstairs to shower and change into her pajamas.
Back downstairs, she made her usual hot chocolate and retrieved Rose’s diary from her purse before she headed to bed with a heavy heart. Knowing how it all ended brought tears to her eyes but Rose’s story was so bittersweet; Mack was unable to stop reading it.
Chapter 11
March 22, 1947
Movie night with Richard…
Richard came calling for me, just as he said he would, in his father’s car. I was really looking forward to watching the movie, Blue Skies. Bing Crosby was one of my favorite actors. I didn’t really have the heart to tell Richard that I’d already seen the movie with Jayne. At least it was a fun movie to watch so I really didn’t mind seeing it twice.
We took our seats and Richard was ever the gentleman, even though I had reminded him that it wasn’t a date, and we were just friends.
“Rose, are you comfortable?” he whispered. The movie theater was really full tonight.
“I’m fine, thank you. Do you like Joan Caulfield? I think she’s great,” I asked.
“She’s all right, but I prefer Bing Crosby. I think he is very good.”
The movie started to get underway and stopped the chitchat. I was relieved, really. I didn’t know what to say t
o him. During the interval, I visited the restroom and was just about to open the door when two hands grabbed me. I was pulled into the cloakroom before I could even process what was happening. Jacob.
“What?” He slammed his lips down to mine. His tongue slipped between my lips. We both moaned.
“God, Rose. I can’t stop touching you. Wanting you.” He kissed me again. My arms were wrapped around his neck. His arms were wrapped around my waist. He held me against him and I felt his hardness between us.
“I wanted to remind you just who your guy is.”
“Okay.” I pulled his head back to me. I really couldn’t get enough of this man.
We were both breathing heavily when the bell sounded to let everyone know the movie was about to start up again.
“I need to get back to work. One of the guys is covering for me.” He caressed my face.
“I better get back as well. I’m really going to miss you.” I had to fight back my tears.
“I’ll miss you as well, Rose. I’ll see you soon. Now go.”
He placed a quick kiss to my lips and shoved me back through the curtains. I quickly made my way back to Richard, who looked at me with widened eyes. Oh, heck.
“Are you coming down with something? You look really flushed.”
“I think I might be, but I feel okay, really.” I took my seat again and avoided looking at him until I felt his hand creeping across the back of my chair. “What are you doing?”
“Um, stretching.” I wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not.
“Well, stretch somewhere else.”
He huffed and put his arms back down.
The movie seemed to drag after the interval with Jacob. Eventually, the lights went up, and everyone stood to stretch their legs, ready to exit.
“Would you like to go and have a slice of pie and chocolate milk?” Just about to refuse, my stomach grumbled. “I take it that’s a yes, then.”
I didn’t really have much choice, so I let Richard take me to the diner. On entering, he started to lead me to the front; he then froze and backtracked to the booths at the back of the room.
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