by Linda Ellen
“Vic… you’re a grown man and can make your own decisions, but…I’m your big brother and I just want to make sure you’ve thought all this through. I mean…the girl lied to you four years ago, lied for months and truthfully could have gotten you arrested. And then she up and married another guy – one that she apparently didn’t even love. You ever ask yourself why she’d do those things? Maybe she’s a gold-digger or something…now, she’s got a kid and her husband’s run off, and the first thing she does is come crying to you!”
Vic felt himself bristle at the accusations about the girl he loved, but holding on to his temper, he reminded himself that his brother was only trying to look out for him, that he didn’t want Vic to be hurt.
“You just don’t understand. She explained all of that. She’s beat herself up for four years about not telling me the truth about her age…and her marryin’ that T.J. jerk…that was mostly her mother’s doin’. It was my stupid fault that I shoved that letter under her door instead of makin’ sure she got it. If she had, she woulda never married him. But, she thought I was still mad, she thought I hated her, and when she didn’t hear anything from me for weeks, she let herself be talked into marrying, thinkin’ she would be helping her family. The kicker is that they discovered my letter the next day after her marriage…but the deed had already been done,” he finished, fighting back the sick feeling that thought always brought. “And as for her crying to me – it wasn’t her that called me, it was my friend Alec. She didn’t even know he’d done it. She suffered a lot with that no-good son-of-a…” he stopped himself from finishing the expletive. “And I aim to see she don’t suffer any more. We finally got a chance to be together, and we’re gonna take it. I just…I hope you guys can be happy for me…for us.”
Goldie glanced at her husband, totally convinced that her brother-in-law did, indeed, know what he was doing. She leaned forward and grasped Vic’s hand to give it a squeeze.
“Of course we’re happy for you, Vic. You know all we want is what’s best for you. But…what about her little boy…?”
Vic looked away for a moment, picturing little Tommy. At just over two years old, he was a sweet child, smart, cute, and he already had Vic wrapped around his pinky. He had quickly warmed up to Vic, even running to him whenever he came to the apartment. Now, Vic met Goldie’s eyes and allowed a half smile, still a bit on guard. “He’s a great kid…Louise has done a good job of raisin’ him so far – in spite of who his father is,” he added pointedly.
Goldie watched him, looking for signs of doubt or uncertainty about his intentions, but saw none. Satisfied, she smiled and raised her eyebrows teasingly. “So…promise you’ll let us know when the wedding will be so we can make the trip to Louisville? I, for one, want to meet your Louise – and little Tommy.”
Vic relaxed and sat back with a grin. “You got it. I know you’re gonna love her, Goldie. She’s just the best. It’s killin’ me that I have to stay here and work two weeks before I can get back to her.”
“And that’s another thing – what about a job in Louisville? You left there four years ago because you couldn’t nail down anything permanent…” Al reminded him.
Vic pressed his lips together, truly not wishing to think about that predicament. He’d cross that bridge when he got there. In answer, he just shrugged and admitted, “I’ll find somethin’. I got four years experience under my belt now with the C’s and Diamond, and recommendations I didn’t have before, from Doc and Major Connors. All I know is – I’ll do whatever it takes. She’s worth anything.”
Al smiled, finally persuaded. “Well, little brother, you come by before you leave town and we’ll give you a goin’ away dinner – right honey?” he added, cutting his eyes to the cook in charge.
“That’s right, I’ll fix all your favorite things…fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans…and for dessert…” Goldie paused and Vic grinned, waiting for it… “Strawberry Jell-O with whipped cream!”
Vic chuckled with a nod. “Sounds good. You know me, I never pass up my favorite meal.”
The small family laughed together as they settled back to discuss more of Vic’s plans for his and Louise’s future.
*
The next morning before work, Vic stopped by the local Western Union office. Rereading his message once more, he handed it over to the young red-haired female clerk, who read the words out loud in a bored, monotone voice that made the message seem cold and dry. Vic hoped Louise wouldn’t think it was cold and heartless when she received it.
The clerk totaled up the words and announced, “That’ll be twenty-eight cents.”
Vic nodded and sorted out the correct change, placing it on the counter. With little to no emotion, the clerk gathered the money with a clipped, “Thank you. Have a good day.”
Vic hesitated for a moment, wavering and unsure whether he had said enough in his telegram, before donning his uniform cap, turning on his heel, and walking out the door and into the morning sunshine.
He vowed to himself to write Louise a letter that night in his room, where he could pour out his feelings better than a one-line telegram. The problem with letters was…as he had found out tragically, you were never a hundred percent sure of their timely delivery, and he needed to be sure she received the message about his need to stay in Evansville the two weeks, hence the telegram.
Climbing into his delivery truck, he set about his day. At each stop on his normal route, he explained to the people he had come to know and befriend in the months of serving them that they would be getting a new delivery driver soon, but he would give them as good of service as they were accustomed to receiving from him. Most expressed regret to see him go, but wished him well. Only a few seemed to not care one way or the other.
When he returned to the plant that afternoon, Julie Baker, the beautiful blonde who had set her cap for him months before, caught his eye as he made his way through the racks of clean clothes. He sent her a lopsided smile and continued on to the office to deliver his paperwork.
Once finished, he turned to go, but stopped when Mr. Harford hailed him from within the head supervisor’s office. Vic went to the door, and stepped inside. A young man was seated before the supervisor’s desk. Fresh faced and clean cut, like the All-American guy, he looked up at Vic, giving a nod of greeting. Vic got the impression the young man seemed nervous.
“Vic, this is Matt Fleishman. He’ll be taking over your route. Starting first thing in the morning, you’ll be training him,” Mr. Harford informed, watching as Vic shook the new man’s hand.
“Good to meet ya, Fleishman. This is a great place to work, you’ll like it here,” Vic offered sincerely.
“Learn everything you can from him, Fleishman. He’s been one of our best,” the head supervisor, Leonard Washburn, murmured kindly as he rocked back in his chair and rubbed a hand over his rather large belly.
Vic was touched by the compliment and nodded toward the man. “Thank you, sir.”
With nods to each man, Vic stepped out of the office, feeling a confusing mixture of pride at the supervisor’s words, sadness at giving up what had been a very enjoyable job, and excitement about a longed-for future with Louise. For just a few seconds, he felt a shiver of dread wash over him as he hoped things would really work out for them. What if she couldn’t get a divorce? What if TJ came back and talked her into reconciling – or threatened to take Tommy away from her? Remembering his trouble before at securing a job in Louisville, he fought back a dry-mouthed fear of a repeat of that malady. He was, literally, jumping from a soft bed into a dark chasm.
Shaking those thoughts from his mind and wondering from where they had sprung, he moved to descend the steep stairs from the office down to the plant.
As he came to the end of two long rows of hanging clothes, he pulled up short to avoid running headlong into Julie. She had planted herself at the end of the row, hands on the ends of each rack, and prevented him from passing.
“So…I hear you’re leav
ing…” she began, gazing up at him with those potent blue eyes, her beautiful face fixed with a decidedly petulant expression.
He took in a deep breath. He had hoped to avoid this conversation, but…
“Yeah. Movin’ back to Louisville.”
“To her? The girl who ripped your heart out and left you bleeding?”
Vic closed his eyes for a moment. Trying to formulate his words gently. “Yeah. But, it ain’t like that. There’s a lot you don’t know.”
She stood gazing at him and he opened his eyes and returned her gaze, allowing her to see the depth of his sincerity – and to allow her to see there was no chance for her in the situation.
“We never would have gotten together, would we?” she finally murmured, so softly that he barely heard her over the sound of the industrial laundry equipment and the general talking and voices in the large plant.
How should he answer that? Remembering his thoughts on their last date and how he had almost given in, he surely didn’t want to tell her that. But to say there was no chance – if Louise had not come back into the picture – would be untrue. He pressed his lips together tightly, hating that she had backed him into a corner.
“I’m sorry, Julie. Who knows? All I know is…I love her, she needs me, and I’m gonna be there for her – for as long as I can. If she’ll have me – I’ll be with her till the day I die. That’s just how it is. Can’t help it,” he added with a tiny shrug.
His heart squeezed a bit as he watched her blue eyes fill in response to his words. Having been hurt by the words of others so often in his life, he was sensitive to the pain he caused people.
“I…I hope someday a man will love me that much,” she whispered, reaching into a pocket of her uniform smock for a tissue.
Vic smiled then, sure that some lucky stiff would some day scoop her up and marry her. He reached up with one hand and gently cupped her face for a few seconds. “When the right man comes along, he will.”
She emitted a tiny watery smile of gratitude for his gentleness, reached up to cover his hand with hers for a moment, and then moved aside for him to pass. He maneuvered past her, glancing back over his shoulder to give her a half grin as he headed out the door to his car.
He pushed away the thought that this was another bridge burned.
*
That night alone in his room, Vic sat with the radio playing softly, pen poised over paper, choosing his words carefully as he wrote to the love of his life…
My Mary Lou,
I miss you so much. You’ve got no idea, do you, how you hold my heart in the palm of your hand. It kills me to be away from you. I’ve never been good with words, most of the time I just stand by and not say much – but I want to tell you what you mean to me. Now that we have our chance to be together, you’ve already become my world, Mary Louise. Without you these four years, my life was hollow. I was just going through the motions of living. It was like…like nothing had much color or taste.
Sweet Mary Lou. I give you my word that I’ll never lie to you. I’ll never let you down. I’ll work hard and come home to you every night. I want to give you all the things you’ve never had. I want us to have a home of our own, and I want to buy you pretty things, like clothes and jewelry. You’re so beautiful, kind and sweet…you deserve the best. I just hope…that someday you don’t regret being with me.
He paused for a moment, fighting the sudden fear that rose up in his chest at that thought. What if she did? What if some day she regretted getting with him? What if he truly couldn’t get a job in Louisville? The thought made him shiver, and he whispered into the lonely room, “NO. I’ll move heaven and earth to make things work.”
Glancing down again at the paper, he placed the pen to it again and continued…
I’m enclosing a letter. I wrote this to you not long after I got to the CC camp, and stuck it in my locker waiting for you to answer my first letter…which, of course, because of my stupidity, didn’t happen. I hadn’t thought about it in years, but I dug it out and read it, and I think it tells what I feel pretty good.
Forgive me for breaking my word and not coming back in a few days like I said I would. I needed to stay here and give Diamond two weeks notice, just couldn’t let them down, they been good to me. I know you’re in good hands, though – you got Sonny and Sara, Fleet and Alec, and Irene and Doc to take care of you till I can get there. After that, I swear on a stack of Bibles, you’ll never be alone or scared again.
Tell Tommy when you see him that Mr. Vic sends a hug. He’s so much like you…maybe not in looks, but he’s got that sweet glow that you always have…that I fell in love with the first time I laid eyes on you.
Well, I’ll close this now and fix it up for the post. Know that I can’t wait to get back to you. I’ll send a telegram to Irene’s before I start out.
Two weeks. Then our wait will finally be over.
All my love forever,
Your Vic
Vic read over his words, satisfied that he had said everything he wanted to say, and with a quick nod, he folded up the sheets of paper and put them in the envelope he had already addressed. Then he slipped in the older one and sealed the flap.
Pleased that he had accomplished his mission, he undressed down to his skivvies and turned off the light, hoping he could sleep. He felt keyed up. And he was right, it took him a good while to drop off, but he spent that time making plans and daydreaming of everything he would do once he arrived back in Louisville.
‡
CHAPTER 3
Say You’ll Never Leave Again!
Louise huffed a bored sigh, tossing the thrice-read magazine toward the end of the bed. Looking around at her ward mates, with their visitors and families milling about, or sitting on their beds or in chairs nearby, she fought back feelings of envy.
It had only been a day and a half since she had seen Vic – or more precisely, forty-three hours and twelve minutes, by the clock above the doorway – but already it felt like forever. She wondered how long it would be before he could come back. How did I ever live for four years without seeing him? It’s a wonder I didn’t lose my mind… she mused with a rueful smile.
Sonny and Sara had come to see her for a few hours on Monday evening, and had brought her the magazine, an issue of Life that sported a cover with a young man sitting at the base of a statue. The stories inside barely kept her attention, but she didn’t know if that was the actual stories’ fault, or her impatience with missing Vic.
It had been awhile since the nurses had been in to help their bedridden patients with certain ‘chores’, and Louise was feeling the need. She fidgeted with annoyance, thinking it might be another hour before they came to help. Tomorrow I’m supposed to start getting up and walking…maybe I should try to do it on my own… she pondered, weighing her options. Recklessly deciding to try it, she threw back the covers and carefully maneuvered her legs to the side, keeping one hand pressed against her stomach. So far, so good…
But just as she put her feet on the floor and straightened up, gaining her balance, a young man walked through the open doorway holding a fistful of small envelopes. She stopped as he trained his eyes on her.
“Louise Blankenbaker?”
She nodded, wondering what he wanted. He held out one of the envelopes to her and explained with a crisp, “Telegram.”
A telegram? From Vic? Louise’s heart sped up as she took the envelope from the young man; her eyes alive with happiness as the missive made Vic seem close by. “Thank you,” she gushed happily, as if he’d handed her a thousand dollar bill. He nodded with a small, cockeyed grin, accustomed to getting that reaction, and moved on down the ward with a few more deliveries before heading back out and down the hall to the next wing.
Louise tore the envelope open and yanked out the thin slip of paper, her eyes greedily scanning the block lettering, thoroughly expecting to read a message that Vic would be returning on the morrow. What she read, however, made her catch her breath and fall back agai
nst the bed, her knees suddenly feeling weak.
WESTERN UNION
EVANSVILLE IN MAY 23 1941
LOUISE BLANKENBAKER
CARE CITY HOSPITAL 3RD FLOOR WARD BED TWO LOUISVILLE KY
HAVE TO STAY AND WORK TWO WEEKS WILL SEE YOU AFTER THAT AND FOREVER
ALL MY LOVE
VIC
“What is it, Louise?” Angie, in the next bed, asked in concern, watching Louise’s face turn pale and her hand start to shake as she held the telegram. “Is it from Vic?” Then as she watched, Louise seemed about to fall to the side, prompting Angie to squeal, “Oh Hazel! Catch her!”
Angie’s sister Hazel, who had just arrived for a visit, made it around the bed and caught Louise against her before she could fall very far.
“Whoa now honey, let’s get you back in bed,” she soothed as Louise gulped in large amounts of air, the telegram’s contents taking her totally by surprise. Painfully, with the capable woman’s help, Louise moved back to where she had been and numbly covered her legs with the blanket, her hands shaking uncontrollably.
She had believed him. He had said he would only be gone a few days…but now it’s two weeks? At that moment, Louise was absolutely sure that Vic was never coming back. He’d left her…again. Another man that tells me lies.
“What does it say, sweetie?” Angie queried, frustrated that she couldn’t maneuver herself out of the bed with the heavy cast on her leg. Angie met her sister’s blue eyes, urging her to try and take the telegram or do something to help. She was concerned at how pale Louise looked. And…was she crying? She couldn’t imagine what that sweet Vic could have said to cause such a reaction.
Louise’s head slowly moved from side to side then, her lips trembling as she tried to stem the flow of tears, vaguely wondering why lately she seemed to cry and fall to pieces at the drop of a hat. It wasn’t like her to be so weepy and emotional and it aggravated her to feel that way. Numbly, she didn’t react when Hazel gently relieved her of the telegram, read it, and immediately handed it to her sister.