by Linda Ellen
Not to be outdone, Alec turned to his wife and growled, “They ain’t gonna have all the fun!” and pulled her with him to the center, where they twisted and twirled just as vigorously as their younger counterparts.
Louise turned to Vic with a mischievous grin, taking his hand and trying to coax him to join, but he shook his head and pulled her back in his arms, joking, “I ate too much to boogie like that.” Tommy hopped up and down, clapping his hands, and reached up to tug on his mother’s skirt, begging, “Dance, Mama! Dance!”
Everyone was laughing and having a grand time…when all of a sudden, the music abruptly stopped, followed in seconds by an announcer’s nasally voice. Everyone knew at once it was yet another one of those bulletins that no one wanted to hear. Instantly subdued, however, they stopped to listen.
“We interrupt this program to bring you the following news bulletin. The Merchant Marine ship the Lyman Stewart, has been reported torpedoed and sunk somewhere in the Indian Ocean. At this time, there is no word on survivors. This makes the third Merchant ship this month to sustain attack. This station will keep you informed of further developments. And now, back to your regularly scheduled program.”
It was as if the air had been suctioned out of the room. Several gasps were heard, namely Lilly and Louise, as each realized the name of the ship was a man’s name…L.S…just as Sonny had mentioned in his last letter.
“No…” Lilly squeaked, staggering a bit as her hands rose to cover her face. Louise unconsciously gripped her husband’s arms in alarm as she turned to lock her eyes with his over her shoulder. It couldn’t be Sonny’s! It was horrible to think of him blown to bits or drowned in a ship somewhere so far away that they were having trouble even collecting all of the facts about it.
Vic hugged his wife close, his head turned toward Lilly. After a moment, he took a step toward his mother-in-law to make an attempt at comfort, but Billy beat him to it. He crossed the room and took his mother into his strong, sure arms, gathering her against his chest. “It’s not his, Mama,” he murmured as she teetered on the edge of panic. “You’ll see. He’s like a cat with nine lives. Them Nazis and Japs ain’t gonna get him.”
He kept up a steady stream of encouraging phrases until she began to relax and settle down. After a few minutes, she finally pulled back, gratefully accepting a handkerchief one of the ladies pressed into her hands.
Looking up into the dark blue eyes of her youngest, Lilly drew in a deep fortifying breath and mumbled, “You’re right. We must have faith. Our Sonny will not die in some God-forsaken ocean.”
*
Billy was right. Although the Lyman Stewart had been the ship on which he was serving, by a quirk of fate, Sonny had stayed out too long on a pass and missed the ship when it left port. He was in a transport on his way to catch up with the ship when the attack occurred – and was instrumental in helping to retrieve some of his shipmates’ remains. Although quite shaken from the incident, he was unhurt – and remained so until the end of the war, when he returned home to his family.
‡
CHAPTER 24
Happy Anniversary…Surprise!
November 1946
Eventually the War ended, men and women came back from “Over There”, including Joseph “Sonny” Hoskins, and restarted their lives, joining those who had stayed behind and carried on the regular commerce of the country. Life returned to normal. As the country’s economy improved, so did the lives of its citizens. The Matthews’ lives improved as well. Everyone settled in to normalcy and pursuing the “American Dream.” A phenomenon that would later be known as the “Baby Boom” began.
Everyone slowly got a little bit older…Doc, Irene…Al and Goldie…Edna…Sonny and Sara…
The Womack’s became close friends of the family, getting together often on Sundays to go out to eat. He and his wife, it turned out, also went to Doc’s church and after the terrible day when Vic was arrested, they had unexpectedly become good friends of the family. Just the summer before, the four of them had even gone on vacation together to Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Visits from the Blankenbakers finally ceased and they never heard from them, or from TJ and his wife. This meant no support for Tommy, either, but Louise and Vic came to believe that no contact was the best.
Louise very seldom opened her box of cherished memories, and even then, only to add something to the collection. She didn’t need to dwell on the contents, as she and Vic were making new memories as the pleasant years floated by.
On an average day after work in their comfortable apartment, Vic came in and took Louise into his arms.
“Did you ask her?” he murmured in his wife’s ear, nuzzling closer and opening his lips to nibble at her earlobe. Louise shivered in delight, trying to concentrate on his question of whether or not she had asked Lilly to watch Tommy, keeping him all night so that they could go out to celebrate their five-year anniversary and have a night alone.
“Y…yes. She said okay,” she managed to answer, her eyes closed in ecstasy.
“Mmm, that’s good,” he murmured, his voice low and seductive, vibrating against the sensitive skin of her neck and sending delicious tingles to every nerve ending from her toes to her fingertips. “Can’t wait to have you all to myself for a whole night,” he added with a naughty chuckle.
“Same here,” Louise whispered, a low moan escaping. Her knees threatening to buckle, she turned smoothly in his arms and commenced a passionate kiss. The spark was still there, seeming to burn ever hotter with each year that passed. Before they could take things any farther, however, they heard the squeak of the back screen door and the stomp of their seven-year-old son as he came running into the apartment.
“Mama,” he called. “Can I go over to Ricky’s house?”
Pulling out of their impassioned clutch with effort, Louise shook her head to formulate an answer to her son’s question. “What about your homework?”
Her handsome son, his wavy light brown hair disheveled, and his bright blue eyes gazing at her in rapt expectancy, immediately answered, “It’s Friday, Mama. Remember? Teacher don’t give us no homework on Fridays.”
“Any homework,” she automatically corrected.
“Yeah, that’s what I said. So, since I don’t have homework, can I go? Huh?” Tommy asked, having found his amorous parents standing together in the bathroom doorway in one another’s arms. A familiar sight, he wasn’t bothered in the least. He watched as Vic, or Chief as he always called his beloved stepfather, wrapped his arms around his mother and grinned and winked at him over her shoulder. Intuitive as always, Tommy knew Chief would be on his side and convince his mother to let him go, although he didn’t realize it was because they wanted to spend some time doing husband and wife things together.
Thinking she should make an argument, Louise stated, “Alright. But, it’s almost suppertime. Unless they ask you to stay, you come back home when they start to eat.”
Turning to retrace his steps out the back door, Tommy called over his shoulder, “Ricky already said I could eat with ’em!” Before Louise could reiterate that Ricky’s mother would be the one to decide if she wanted a guest for the meal, the screen door had already slammed as their son sped across the backyard with his friend and up the steps into the house.
Vic chuckled happily. “Hmm…at least an hour alone. Wonder what we can do to pass the time?”
Louise turned back around, looping her arms around her husband’s waist. “Anyone ever tell you that you have a one-track mind, Mr. Matthews? Hmm?”
His dimpled grin, twinkling eyes, and tantalizing chuckle were her answer as he bent his head and took her lips with his for a sizzling kiss. Then he scooped her up in his arms, carrying her into their bedroom and nudging the door shut with one foot, all without breaking their kiss.
It was a good thing she hadn’t yet put anything on the stove to cook for supper – as it surely would have burned to a crisp for all the two lovers would have cared.
*
The following Monday morning at work, each of them caught themselves daydreaming about their wonderful Saturday night celebration.
Vic, now the top deliveryman at Maloney-Davidson, suffered the embarrassment of being honked at several times that day on his route as he sat in his truck after the traffic light turned green, when his mind drifted to the hours he had spent in the arms of his wife.
On lunch break that day, which he ate in the truck, he allowed his mind to slip back into those magnificent hours. He felt again the smoothness and warmth of his wife’s skin as they made love together in the privacy of their bedroom. With a sly grin, he wondered if other couples, after being together five years as they had, were still as much in love and still as hot for one another as they were. For some reason, he doubted it – unless they were true soul mates, as he knew he and Louise surely were.
Taking a bite of his meatloaf sandwich from the lunch his loving wife had packed for him the evening before, he thought about the surprise he had sprung on her – and her reaction.
For several months, he had been thinking about the fact that they hadn’t had children of their own yet – by his own decision. But lately, it seemed like many of his male colleagues, not to mention his friends, had begun having children – namely sons – and it had started him thinking. Although he loved Tommy as if he was his own son, and he knew Tommy loved him, he was, nevertheless, the son of another man.
That thought still held a miniscule amount of aggravation for him, but he immediately squelched it. They had heard through the grapevine that the no-good TJ was living somewhere in Florida, and they doubted they or Tommy would see him again. However, Tommy, with his long-lashed blue eyes and his thick, wavy light brown hair, looked so much like his father…well, Vic didn’t like to dwell on it. He reminded himself that Tommy’s personality, thankfully, was remarkably like his mother’s – and for that, Vic was eternally grateful. Tommy was kind, thoughtful, loving, loyal and true – so many characteristics that his “sire” was lacking.
But Vic had begun to imagine what a son of his own might be like. He began to picture him, dark-haired, dark-eyed, Victor Herbert Matthews, Jr. So, one day on his route, he had ducked into a small shop next to one of his stops and purchased a tiny pair of blue knitted baby booties, and had kept them in the truck waiting for the right moment to present them to Louise. Then, in the midst of the wonderful night alone for their anniversary, he had reached under the bed and brought out a small wrapped box, telling his wife he had bought her something to celebrate. She had torn off the wrapping excitedly, and opened the box – only to stare for a moment without moving or blinking. His heart had sped up and he had begun to worry that he had done something wrong.
Then, her eyes slowly rising to meet his, she had mumbled, “Baby booties?”
Thinking it should be obvious what he was trying to tell her, he had leaned in and joined his lips to hers in a warm, loving kiss, before pulling away and whispering, “Yeah…I wanna start havin’ kids…”
Swallowing, seemingly a dozen different emotions fighting for precedence in her eyes, Louise had shot back, “Well, you just go right ahead and have them.”
Vic had thrown his head back and laughed, thinking she was making a joke. Then he had pulled her into his arms and they had cuddled for a long while, both of them deep in thought. For the first time in a long time, he truly couldn’t figure out what his soul mate was thinking.
Eventually, the mood had passed and they resumed the connection they always had, finishing out their glorious anniversary night with some quite thorough, baby-making lovemaking. Vic, for one, was truly glad he could finally go au-natural.
With a snicker, Vic quickly finished his lunch and went back to work, anxious to complete his route and get home to his wife. Was it possible that they were even more in love now than they were a week ago? Ahh, love is a funny thing.
Across town, Louise – back at work at the cigar factory after eighteen months slaving at a dead-end, low-paying job of stocking racks at Lerner’s Clothing Store – found her mind wandering even as she performed her job, which she could do practically in her sleep.
She, too, couldn’t stop thinking about their weekend, and especially their wonderful anniversary night. Vic had been so romantic. They had dressed up – Vic in a new suit and Louise in a lovely emerald green scoop-necked, tea-length dress that complimented the beautiful necklace Vic had given her their first Christmas together. She looked and felt exquisite. They had gone downtown on the trolley, and had eaten dinner in the Brown’s luxurious dining room. It was the first time they had been back since the magical night of their honeymoon. It hadn’t changed a bit in some ways – but then in others, everything seemed different. She suspected it was because she was really seeing it, as the first time around, she had been so nervous she could barely concentrate or eat.
This time, she allowed herself to enjoy everything. They told their waiter it was their anniversary, and that they had spent their honeymoon at the Brown, and just like before, they had been brought a cold, sparkling bottle of complimentary champagne. It was delicious. She had indulged in a full glass.
Then taking their bottle with them, they had made their way over to the Madrid Ballroom, where they had danced and danced, until they both had had their fill and were ready to go back home. That time, when the camera girl took their picture, both of them were smiling a mile wide.
They had snuggled all the way home on the trolley car, and when Vic had let them in to their apartment, he had handed her the champagne and quickly scooped her up in his arms to once again “carry her over the threshold.”
And then the lovemaking – she couldn’t remember a time that had been more passionate nor more enjoyable. It was as if Vic were on fire with desire for her. Not that he was ever cool or cold, but that night, he had seemed to have an extra bit of heat burning down deep. She had wondered many times during the evening how she had gotten so lucky as to have a husband like him.
But then – he had dropped that surprise on her. Two days later, it still made her shake her head. She knew she should have been happy – even ecstatic about it. But in the last six months, she had successfully squelched her desire to have children, telling herself over and over that they had a wonderful life. They were happy together. She shouldn’t be greedy and want more. Then out of the blue – boom. He buys her a pair of blue baby booties. She couldn’t have been more flabbergasted.
For a long moment, she hadn’t known how to react or what to say. And then when she did reply, it was to quip at him that he could go ahead and have them. Luckily he had laughed. It had taken her a bit to stop reeling from it, but once she did, and allowed herself free reign to begin wanting to get pregnant – she could truly enjoy her husband to the full.
Remembering back to when they first married and he had said he wanted to wait five years, she wondered now what brought about the sudden change. Had he just all of a sudden began to want more kids besides Tommy? Like an alarm clock suddenly began to blare inside his head? It was puzzling, to say the least.
Chewing on her bottom lip, she contemplated the mystery. Perhaps it was the fact that Ruth and Earl had a boy now – they had named him Terry. Alec and Fleet’s little boy AJ was now five years old and sharp as a tack – destined to be the life of the party, just like his father. Plus Sonny and Sara now had another girl, a little beauty they named Robbie. Edna and her husband, still in New York, had celebrated the birth of another daughter and a son she had named Sonny, in honor of their brother. Everyone seemed to be having babies. Even the gang’s old friend, Gerald and his wife Delores had just had their fourth child! It was for sure he was keeping her barefoot and pregnant, like TJ used to say. Eww, Louise gasped, where did THAT thought come from?
Shaking her head and refocusing on her job, and the new friends on the crew she had been placed with, Louise figured she had better concentrate before she messed something up and heard about it from that old grouchy floor lady, Mrs. Klazby. She sure didn
’t want to do that!
Working diligently the rest of the day, the final bell rang and she could get on the streetcar to go home.
All in all, she mused, things couldn’t be better. She had a husband who adored her, a little boy who was the apple of their eye, a job she enjoyed – for the most part – friends and family that loved her, a comfortable home, and the very real prospect of having more children.
Life was actually quite grand.
*
That afternoon when she arrived home, having gotten off the trolley at Tommy’s school and walked home with him as they did every day, Louise smiled at their neighbor from the second floor front apartment, who was sitting on the front porch.
The man, who Louise knew only as Clarence, nodded to her as he sliced a piece off of an apple in his hand and ate it. Louise thought it a bit odd that he was sitting outside in the cool fall temperatures, but she shrugged it off. The man was more than a bit odd anyway.
“So,” he interrupted her trek to the front door. “What’dya think about old Miz Despaine sellin’ her building next door there?” he asked, jerking his head to the left and indicating the apartment building mere feet from theirs. It was identical to theirs in every way.
Louise raised one shoulder in a shrug and said it didn’t matter one way or another to her. Miz Despaine could do as she pleased – who would stop her? “I don’t see where it concerns us any.”