Once In A While (The Cherished Memories Book 1)

by Linda Ellen

  He pressed his lips together and gave a negative shake of his head. “Nah. Got it with some ‘a the floorboard money,” he explained softly, choosing not to tell her that Larry, at the pawn shop, had assured him it was a real amethyst, but Vic had his doubts because everyone in town knew the man was a bald faced liar.

  She smiled lovingly, her eyes twinkling in the carousel’s lights. “Thank you. But I…I feel bad that you spent money on me like that…” she insisted, knowing that without a steady job, his small cache of money would eventually be depleted.

  Shaking his head again, he reached for one of her hands, brought it up to his lips, and grazed the surface of her knuckles with a soft kiss. He wanted to tell her that, if he could, he’d shower her with presents and gifts, but the words sort of stuck in his throat. Instead, he managed, “You’re worth it. You’re an angel. The sweetest, truest, most beautiful angel I’ve ever known,” he added softly.

  At his words, her conscience crimped sharply. Oh my gosh…what will he think if he finds out all the ways I haven’t been honest with him…

  The thought stilled in her mind as he leaned forward, sealing his words with a soft kiss. She melted into his embrace, as always. However, after just a few moments, the operator making his rounds passed them and tapped Vic on the shoulder to remind the amorous couple that they needed to comport themselves properly. After all, there were children nearby.

  The two sat back and softly chuckled, for a moment resting their heads against one another. Vic gently stroked Louise’s arm as she closed her eyes and held tight to her necklace.

  Too soon, the magical carousel ride began to come to an end as the large apparatus began to slow down – along with their idyllic day.

  They disembarked together, holding hands, just as their friends came walking into view. Billy ran up to his sister, launching into his day in the park and how the six young people had spent most of the afternoon in Hilarity Hall, enjoying the Barrel of Fun, the Sugar Bowl, and the Devil’s Slide, along with the house of fun mirrors. Billy wanted his older sister to be proud that he had spent his money wisely. He did leave out, however, that he had grown used to Bernice and by that time had even begun to feel a bit of attraction to the sister of her friend.

  Overflowing with happiness, Louise just couldn’t turn Billy down when he pleaded with her to ride the carousel with him, just like they always did when they came to Fontaine Ferry. With a grin and a shrug to Vic, she took her brother’s hand and together they ran up onto the glittering ride, both of them hopping onto brightly painted jumper horses.

  Vic stood with his friends, arms across his chest, grinning from ear to ear and thinking one day soon he would gather his courage and tell Louise how he felt about her. However, for now he was content just to watch the angel he adored laughing and waving each time the big wheel came around.

  By the time the group left the park that evening, the sun was almost to the horizon. The gleaming lights in the massive entrance were just coming on as they passed through it and when they reached the street, Louise stopped and turned, gazing back at the lovely sight. She knew she would treasure the memory of that enchanted day for the rest of her life.

  She just didn’t know how much.

  ‡

  CHAPTER 18

  On the Idlewild

  Vic held Louise’s hand securely in his as they followed their friends ascending the wide partitioned staircase.

  Reaching the top, they moved over to allow more people to crowd in as Alec pointed the way to some empty chairs along the side of the already quite full deck/dance floor of the Idlewild. The atmosphere bristled with electricity for not only the dance, but also the old boat itself.

  There was a kind of magic about the old packet steamboat. It had been built in 1914, and sported the fancy embellishments of the Victorian era, including latticework and decorative tin ceilings with carved arched trusses. The distinctive sound of the steam calliope playing such catchy tunes as Down By the Riverside, Camp Town Races, and Take me out to the Ballgame added to the thrill; although the patrons did begin to tire of the repeated melodies on the thirty minute wait to board.

  By the time the six friends had made it through the throng, any empty seats to be had were taken. With a shrug to one another, they gravitated to the edge near the railing to await the start of the cruise.

  The band tuning up was a local ensemble that had already gained a regional reputation as being ‘pretty keen’. Mere minutes later, conversation halted and the crowd reacted with gasps and chuckles as a jarring, overwhelmingly loud hum erupted without forewarning when the engineer released valves on the old steam engines in preparation for getting under way. The large craft gave an unsettling shimmy, and then the passengers felt it begin to move as the captain maneuvered the boat away from the dock. It took a moment for them to adjust and find their ‘sea legs’.

  “This is gonna be so much fun,” Ruth squealed. Earl and Vic exchanged amused glances, and Vic silently wondered if Earl’s girl knew he wasn’t much for dancing.

  “Yeah. I’ve been on the Idlewild lots of times, but never for a dance,” Louise crooned, gazing around at the crowd and turning her head to check on what Vic was doing. He and the other fellas had their heads together, apparently engaged in ‘Guy talk.’

  Just then the bandleader, Charlie Raeburn – a tall, thin young man sporting a suit two sizes too big, black rimmed glasses, and his bright red hair an unruly mop – called out to get everyone’s attention. His voice seemed a tad rough, as if he might be coming down with a cold, as he announced their first song, a rousing and well executed rendition of Tommy Dorsey’s ‘Marie’.

  The group of friends immediately took to the dance floor, trying to crowd their way in and still have room to move.

  “Sold too many tickets, looks like,” Alec observed to Vic as he turned to take Fleet tightly into his arms.

  “Yeah, moneygrubbers,” Vic folded Louise into his arms as well, grumbling as he looked around and tried to calculate the number of passengers. Having worked one season on the boat, he knew its particulars, and he wondered if they were over their maximum allowed capacity of six hundred and fifty.

  Louise had a bit of trouble trying to follow Vic, as other dancers kept unceremoniously bumping into them. Nevertheless, when the band began to sing the words to the tune, Vic leaned close and murmured, “Marie…it’s almost your first name. It could be your song, huh?”

  Vic mumbled the words with the band, including the lines regarding heartache and tears.

  Louise laughed and shook her head. “I like that song, but not the words so much.” Vic chuckled, “No, I guess you’re right.”

  They finished the dance with Vic striving not to allow the crowded conditions on the floor to raise his frustration level.

  The band immediately launched into popular songs of the day, including Benny Goodman’s ‘Stompin’ at the Savoy’, and other fast tunes. It wasn’t long before everyone was feeling hot and sticky in the summer evening, despite being out on the river. Even the open-air deck seemed closed in. A Tommy Dorsey ballad, ‘Alone’, began, and the dancers seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as they could just shuffle their feet to the soothing tune.

  Half way through the song, Alec tapped Vic on the shoulder and indicated he wanted to switch partners. With a scowl from Vic and a giggle from the girls, they did. Louise found that she could follow Alec’s lead so much easier – though she would never voice such a thing to Vic – but it was almost as if she could anticipate Alec’s moves. After about a minute, he grinned down at her.

  “Hey, you’re pretty good, Little Bit,” he complimented, using the nickname he sometimes called her, which referred to the fact that she was quite a bit shorter than her friend Fleet.

  “Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself, Double A.” They chuckled together as the song came to an end.

  Vic was immediately at Louise’s elbow. Gently taking hold of her arm, he tugged softly on it, mumbling, “C’mon. Let’s sit a few
out.”

  She nodded, and they began to make their way through the crowd. Before they made it to the side, however, the bandleader began explaining that they usually had a female singer with them, but she was out sick.

  “But if there’s any girls here who think they can sing and would like to give it a try, come on up.”

  The floor was immediately abuzz with chatter, people trying to convince one girl or another to go up and take the stage, but no one would. That was when Fleet came pushing through the crowd to Louise’s side.

  “You do it, Lou. Get on up there!”

  “Me?” Louise balked, immediately nervous. Looking around at the packed deck, filled with hundreds of people she didn’t know, she felt decisively intimidated.

  “Sure honey,” Vic encouraged. “You’ve got a great voice.”

  Louise looked up into his eyes, his belief in her abilities warming her and bolstering her confidence. Seeing her wavering, he prompted, “Go on, you can do it.” Then without waiting for a reply, he quickly grasped her hand and began tugging her behind him toward the stage at the far end.

  “Nobody game?” Charlie the bandleader called out as he scanned the crowd.

  Vic and Louise broke through the pack a few moments later and Vic held up one hand.

  “Yeah, here!” He escorted her to the steps at the side of the raised platform and as she turned to him, eyes wide, he kissed her cheek and whispered, “Knock ‘em dead, babe.”

  Charlie met her at the steps and extended a hand to help her up.

  “So, you can sing, honey?” he asked in a friendly manner, his engaging grin helping to put her at least a bit at ease. She nodded.

  “Ok, what’s your pleasure?”

  Thinking quickly, Louise swallowed her nervousness and balled her hands into fists, pushing on through the fear and shyness. She’d always had the uncanny ability to hear a song once or twice and just ‘have’ it, remembering the tune and the lyrics almost verbatim. Thinking of one of her recent favorites, she answered, “Um…do you know, Once in A While?”

  “Sure do,” Charlie nodded in satisfaction and turned to his band mates. He tapped out the rhythm and the band began to play the smooth melody.

  Louise walked to the center and looked out over the large crowd. Most had begun dancing again as soon as the music started, but her eyes quickly found her friends – Fleet grinning from ear to ear, Alec, Earl, and Ruth giving her the thumbs up, and especially the warm, twinkling brown eyes of Vic. As she gazed at him, he winked and nodded encouragement.

  About forty seconds in, taking a breath, she began to croon the lyrics. The song fit her voice perfectly, so that she didn’t even have to strain to hit any of the notes. As she sang the words about wanting a lost lover to think of her after they were no longer together, a cold chill made its way down her spine, in spite of the hot, stuffy atmosphere of the wooden deck and hundreds of perspiring dancers. Determinedly pushing such thoughts aside, she pressed on as her smooth soprano floated beautifully on top of the melody created by the instruments.

  Vic watched with chest-bursting pride as his lovely Louise stood up there on the stage, becoming more confident with each line. He could see her standing a little straighter, and singing a little fuller as the song went on. During the middle interlude, she even moved to the beat, flashing a smile over at the band as they confidently played. They grinned back at her, each one nodding support. The dance crowd reacted with scattered applause as they gave appreciative encouragement.

  At the last time through the chorus, she took in a deep breath and sang out, her pitch and vibrato wonderfully perfect. Part of her consciousness registered that she had never sung better – and she was so glad for it, with so many witnesses.

  Then, the song was over and Charlie was thanking her for volunteering. “You wanna stay up here and sing some more?” he asked with a grin. But suddenly shy again, she shook her head with a polite, “No thank you,” and looked around for Vic. She found him at the steps, waiting.

  “Let’s give it up for the little lady!” Charlie yelled out, prompting the packed crowd to erupt in applause before the band started another number and everyone went back to dancing.

  “Lou, you were great! Just great!” Fleet gushed, giving her friend a quick hug. “You’re every bit as good as some of the girl singers on the radio. You could sing with the big bands like Goodman and Dorsey,” she added with genuine affection. Although Fleet could sing as well, she wasn’t nearly as good as Louise, but she had that rare gift of being truly happy for her friend and not harboring any petty jealousies.

  “Ya done good, kid,” Alec added with a wink as Louise grinned at her friends, feeling as if she could jump over the moon. Turning to Vic, she found him gazing at her with a mile wide smile. He didn’t even need to say the words that he was immensely proud of her – she could see them in his expression.

  The three couples went back to dancing, with Louise now and then being congratulated on her song by couples close by. As the band began to play a ballad, Louise and Vic swayed close together, trying to be lost in their own world in the midst of the crowd.

  All of a sudden, Vic felt a tap on his shoulder. Thinking it was Alec again he turned his head to growl at his friend, but instead came face to face with a young man wearing a dress shirt, striped tie, and pants that were creased sharp. He had a squarish, plain sort of face, blue eyes, and wore his light brown, wavy hair slicked back.

  He addressed Vic, but his eyes were focused on Louise. “Mind if I cut in, Mac?”

  Vic opened his mouth to say something along the lines of He** yea, I mind, but somehow the other man took the hesitation as consent and grabbed Louise’s hand, pulling her into his arms and whirling her away through the crowd. Stunned and wondering how the heck that had happened, Vic stood there dumbfounded, unable to do anything about it without making a scene. Moving over near the edge of the dance floor, he strained to keep sight of his girl.

  Louise hadn’t liked the fact that this unknown man had horned his way into her dance with Vic, but being innately well mannered, she tried not to show her aggravation as she concentrated on following his lead.

  “You sing real good,” he complimented as he adequately maneuvered on the packed floor.

  “Thank you.” She gave him a polite smile, taking the opportunity of a turn to crane her head and look for Vic, as he seemed to have just disappeared.

  They danced in silence for about a minute. “Ain’t seen you around before. You from Lou’vll?” he inquired persistently, taking advantage of a sudden press of the other dancers to draw her closer into his arms. The action made her uncomfortable and she tried to pull back.

  “Y…yes, I am,” she answered, wishing she knew a ladylike way to tell him it was none of his business as she made a mental note to ask Fleet how to get rid of unwanted wolves.

  “Good. Maybe I’ll see ya around some time. Would ya like that?” he continued, slowing to a stop as the song came to an end.

  “I…I really don’t think so. Please, excuse me,” she added, searching the immediate area for Vic, but not finding him anywhere.

  “Your boyfriend seems to’ve flown the coop,” he pointed out as the next song started. Reaching out, he clamped his hands on her arm and her side, but she resisted, something about him and his persistence making her extremely uncomfortable.

  “I… I’d rather not…” she began, but he shook his head as if he wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. “C’mon, babe, don’t be a cold fi—” He stopped in mid-sentence when an arm suddenly came from off to the side and separated the two of them. The hand attached to the arm clamped possessively onto Louise’s elbow.

  “The lady said ‘no’,” Vic’s voice murmured in a low, menacing tone. Louise looked up at him in gratitude, noticing the firm set to his jaw, and the dark glint in his eyes.

  “Now, look, Mac,” the stranger began, but Vic stepped between the man and Louise as his left arm smoothly swept her behind his back.

  The
two men stood eye to eye for a moment, Vic about an inch taller than the other man.

  “The name ain’t ‘Mac’. And she’s with me,” Vic added as he touched the stranger’s chest with two fingers and gave him a short, but firm, shove. “Got that?”

  Unsure if fisticuffs were about to ensue between the two men, the other dancers moved back a bit. The stranger considered pushing the envelope, but something in Vic’s eyes made him change his mind. Finally, he backed off another step and took his eyes from Vic’s to nod to Louise. “Some other time,” he ended, before turning to slip into the crowd.

  For both of them, the incident had spoiled the good time they had been having. Vic turned and looked at Louise, and then took her hand. “Let’s go get some fresh air,” he mumbled, already towing her toward the bow of the boat. She gladly followed as they weaved their way between the throng of dancing couples, as the loud music began to fade with each yard they covered.

  Reaching the steps, they climbed to the top deck, emerging out into the evening air and the cool breeze coming off the water. To Vic, it was much needed, as he had begun to get extremely hot under the collar back there on the floor – and not just from the heat. Inside he was near to reaching his boiling point, as something about that stranger sweeping Louise right out of his arms had stuck in his craw.

  The breeze felt marvelous on their heated faces as they gazed out at the sun low in the sky, casting long streams of light on the surface of the river.

  Both took in deep breaths.

  “Ahh, it feels good up here,” Louise murmured as they set out strolling along the weathered wooden surface of the deck. She slid one hand under the hair at the nape of her neck and allowed the cool breeze to flow through as she sighed with relief. Vic squeezed her other hand as he tugged her along beside him, and turned his head to gaze at her face.