Once In A While (The Cherished Memories Book 1)

by Linda Ellen

  “Well, you look healthy and fit…and like the C’s were good for you…” Al commented, noticing a decidedly more mature appearance to his youngest brother.

  “Yeah, it was alright,” Vic nodded, looking around at the other passengers disembarking and heading off to their destinations.

  “Well, come on, let’s go home. I’ve fixed a big pot of stew and a chocolate cake for your coming home meal,” Goldie crooned, turning to hook one arm in her husband’s and one in Vic’s.

  He leaned down to grab his duffle. “Sounds good to me. Ridin’ for miles like that always make me hungry.”

  “Seems I remember you’re always hungry,” his brother teased.

  All three laughed comfortably as they began the walk back to the apartment.

  *

  “Here you go, Vic,” Goldie said with a grin as she handed him a small brown bank deposit booklet first thing upon walking in the door.

  He took it and smiled broadly, feeling as if he had hit the jackpot – or won the Derby. The front read, The Old National Bank, Evansville, IN. A line beneath that had been filled in by hand with his name – Victor Herbert Matthews. Carefully, he opened the cover and read the date in October of 1938 when the first deposit of thirty-five dollars had been noted in ink. Subsequent forty-dollar deposits were added each month, and Vic quickly flipped the pages to see the balance written at the last entry – including interest, it was over a thousand dollars. Speechless, he was now thinking he knew what millionaires must feel like when they survey their wealth. He had never had so much money in his life. And to think – it was his to do with as he wished!

  He glanced up, his eyes twinkling as they met Goldie’s shining blue eyes.

  “Every cent accounted for,” she assured softly.

  “You guys coulda took some out for expenses…” he began, but Al interrupted.

  “Nope. After all that crap happened with Jack and Liz, we were determined you were not going to be cheated out of your rightful pay this time. They really dealt you a raw deal last time and I want you to know, I let him have it over that. I don’t care he’s the oldest in the family, what they did wasn’t right. Nope, it’s all yours, brother.”

  Goldie giggled softly as she watched Vic in rapt concentration as he ran his finger down the pages over each entry in the little book as if he were feeling the very money itself.

  “What are you going to do with it? Have you made any plans?” she asked gently.

  For a moment, his countenance dimmed just a bit as he thought again of his plans that had fallen through. He pursed his lips in a tiny pout and shrugged.

  “Don’t know. Been thinkin’ and thinkin’ and tryin’ to make plans, but…I keep comin’ up with nothin’. Maybe…maybe buy myself a car…or take a vacation,” he added, half joking.

  “That’s an idea,” his brother agreed as they moved on into the apartment. “You always said you wanted to see Florida and the ocean. Be a good time to go, before winter sets in.”

  “Aww, ain’t no fun travelin’ alone,” Vic responded with a shrug.

  Al chuckled. “Oh, I think we might be persuaded to join you, if you were in a mind for some company. I always wanted to see Florida myself,” he added with a grin.

  Vic opened his duffle bag then and rummaged around a bit. Finally drawing out two clumsily wrapped packages, he handed one to his brother and the other to his sister-in-law.

  “What’s this?” Goldie asked as she took the item. “You didn’t have to…”

  “I know I didn’t,” he interrupted. “But, I want you guys to know how much I appreciate what you did…and standin’ by me all this time. It…it means a lot,” he added sincerely.

  Al opened the paper wrapping on his gift to find a hand crafted pipe, the bowl of which was carved into the shape of an Indian chief’s headdress. The workmanship was quite detailed.

  “Wow, this is something! Where’d you find such a thing?” Al exclaimed as he closely examined the piece.

  Vic smiled, pleased at his brother’s reaction. “There’s an old man who makes these in that little town near the camp. Kind of a hobby, I guess. But he sells one now and then, mostly to people traveling through. Figured you might like it…that is if you can stand to give up the cigs,” he teased, knowing his older brother’s three-pack-a-day cigarette habit.

  Al laughed at that. “We’ll see.” Then flashing a grateful smile at his brother for having thought to buy him a gift, he added, “Thanks.”

  Vic nodded and turned to Goldie as she finished unwrapping her gift, a beautiful, enamel decorated compact, with a gold tone metal mesh base. The lid was dark green with a central cartouche featuring a romantic couple in old-fashioned dress. She gasped at the beauty of the object, carefully opening the push up catch on the front edge to reveal a circular mirror on the lid’s inside. The case was empty, and ready to be filled with her favorite powder foundation.

  She raised joyous eyes to his. “Oh Vic…thank you. I love it!”

  Vic grinned and nodded, bending to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Glad ya like it,” he murmured softly as he pulled back and watched her run her fingers gently over the decoration on the lid.

  “Oh I do! I’ll treasure this always. You’re such a sweetheart,” she added fondly, leaning over to show her husband her new treasure.

  “I asked the lady that runs the little mercantile in Dana if she knew somethin’ I could get for ya, and she had some catalogs…so I ordered it – all the way from New York,” he added proudly, glad that he apparently had chosen right. “I knew green was your favorite color…right?” he added, watching as she nodded and brought the item up to her cheek.

  “It’s lovely. I almost don’t want to use it and get it dirty,” she added with a laugh.

  A few minutes later, they sat down at the table as Goldie began serving up steaming bowls of fragrant beef stew, and Al mentioned casually, “I thought you might want to make a trip to Louisville…” he paused as Vic’s eyes quickly met his. “I mean, you know…visit your pals…and that Doc fella…and that Miss Irene…”

  “Oh that reminds me, a letter came for you last week. We didn’t forward it on since you were getting out so soon,” Goldie shared, walking into another room and retrieving the envelope.

  She handed it to Vic and he saw at once it was from Irene. His heart sped up, as he had hinted to her in his last letter a hope that she would try to check on Louise for him, and to see if she could determine the state of ‘things’. Quickly he tore open the envelope and read the words she had written, his feeling of hope slowly turning to one of resignation.

  After a few moments, he sighed deeply and carefully stuffed the letter back in the envelope, sitting for a moment just staring straight ahead.

  “What is it, Vic?” Goldie quietly murmured.

  Vic shook his head, a soft whispered snort escaping as he silently chastised himself.

  Pursing his lips in a disgusted pout, he admitted, “Well…I might as well tell ya. I’d been thinkin’ about goin’ back to Louisville…cause I’d heard that Louise…well, she ain’t exactly happy with that jerk she married…”

  “Oh Vic!” Goldie gasped softly. “It wouldn’t be right to come between a husband and wife like that…”

  “And man…didn’t she dump you…?” Al pointed out softly.

  Vic shrugged, “That’s a long story…she didn’t get my letter ‘till it was too late…” Then taking a deep breath, he went on, his voice gaining a certain edge, “But it don’t matter now anyway. I say, let’s take that trip to Florida. Might as well get some fun outta life, right? Maybe I’ll buy me a car with what’s left.”

  Goldie exchanged glances with her husband. Reaching out, she laid a hand gently on her brother-in-law’s arm.

  “What’s happened, Vic? What did the letter say?”

  Clamping his lips together, still reeling from the news Irene had imparted, as gently as she could, in her letter, Vic softly sneered, “Louise is stayin’ with her husband now for su
re. Seems she had a baby a few months back.”

  The words left a bitter taste in Vic’s mouth.

  At that moment, he would have given his right arm if Louise’s baby could have been his.

  PART IV

  THE TURNING POINT

  ‡

  CHAPTER 29

  The Devastating Surprise

  March 1941

  Nineteen-year-old Louise stared out the window of the bus, contemplating that the miles seemed to be rolling slowly by like the days, weeks and months of her life. Endless fields still brown from the long winter seemed to stretch on and on. Houses scattered along the route only made her wonder about the people living there. Were they as unhappy as she? Or did they have love, laughter, and fun as part of their daily routine…

  The child in her arms stirred in his sleep and she glanced down at him, adjusting her position and his to make him more comfortable. Her little boy, Thomas Joseph Blankenbaker, Jr., was the one breath of fresh air in Louise’s life.

  Slightly flushed from sleep, his sweet face was turned toward hers. He’s such an angel… She smiled softly, lifting a hand to ever so gently smooth a few strands of light brown hair on his forehead.

  Louise studied his features. Nearly two years old now, he greatly resembled his father, having inherited his blue eyes and light brown hair. However, she knew little Tommy favored her in other ways – his gentleness, the way he warmed up to people quickly, the cowlick in his hairline…

  That brought to mind another cowlick…on a head of dark brown wavy hair…above the most beautiful set of warm brown eyes…

  With a sigh, Louise determinedly turned her gaze back out the window and purposely set her thoughts on other things.

  She reflected about her parents and younger brother moving to Bowling Green when Willis received the surprise invitation of a job as machine shop foreman at the company that had laid him off. She smiled softly as she remembered his twinkling eyes behind his wire rim glasses as he chuckled that the college boy they had hired must not have worked out. It was like a dream come true and it meant more money than he had been making before. After much consideration – and since Edna, Sonny and Louise were married and starting families of their own – they decided that Lilly and fifteen-year-old Billy would go with him.

  That had been a sad day for Louise, watching her parents and younger brother pack their things and move away. It had made her loneliness all the more acute.

  But, at least it’s not so far that I can’t go to see them, like Edna living in New York, Louise mused, thinking over the enjoyable two weeks she was just returning from with her family.

  She had arrived at the Bowling Green terminal and eagerly lugged her suitcase and child into the waiting arms of her grinning father. Willis had relieved her of both burdens after a warm hug and kiss, before ushering her quickly toward his surprise – he had purchased his first automobile. Although it was only a 1931 Ford Model A Tudor, with slightly dented fenders, several rusted areas, and quite dull paint, he was proud of it, as well as relieved that there was one less aggravation for his wife to stew about.

  It had been so good to see her parents and brother living their lives happily content, although her mother did fuss quite a bit about having to live in Bowling Green. Over those two weeks, Louise never found out the exact reasons for Lilly’s displeasure, but at least the majority of the time had been spent in getting reacquainted with her family, and for them getting to know their grandson and nephew. The two weeks had flown by with family dinners, a trip to the movies, and hours of relaxation, which was a break from the norm. She had truly not wanted to return to her life back home.

  Although she wasn’t totally devoid of family in Louisville, as Sonny was still there, that situation wasn’t ideal as far as Louise was concerned. Owing to his expert salesmanship, Sonny had settled into a job selling advertising space for the newspaper, and married a girl he had met through a friend. They were expecting their first child soon. Louise unconsciously made a face when she thought about Sonny’s wife, Sarah. Though she was lovely, with honey blonde hair and soft blue eyes, there was a hard edge to her personality that was difficult to pinpoint. Privately, Louise thought of her as the ‘Ice Queen’, as she was a cold, uppity person – at least to the rest of the family – but she doted on Sonny. Indeed, she had succeeded, in the short time they’d been married, to successfully keep Sonny from regular contact with the others. Louise resented how Sarah seemed to regard their family as ‘trash’.

  Shaking her head to clear those thoughts out, Louise focused on a more pleasant subject, her friends from the old gang. She occasionally saw Ruth and Earl at the local grocer, which was always a happy meeting. When she had last seen Fleet, she had stopped by the apartment to tell Louise the joyful news that she was going to have a baby. Since Louise hadn’t seen her since then, as T.J. still complained loudly and rudely if her friends visited, she now wondered how Fleet was doing, and if she’d had the baby yet. Surely they would let her know…

  Thinking of T.J.’s contrary ways, Louise sighed again. Closing her eyes, she laid her head back against the seat and her cheek against the crown of little Tommy’s head. She pictured their apartment, and the furniture her husband had insisted on buying – on credit – when they moved in. He’d been so excited to get it ‘for her,’ or so he said. Although that was fine, as they had never until that point had much in the way of furniture and nice things, the fact that they owed a large payment each month meant that he could use that as another excuse to keep from giving Louise any money. It also provided him with yet another reason not to take her out dancing, or out to eat, or to buy new clothes for her and Tommy. Resentment bubbled in her chest and she pressed her lips together in an unconscious show of displeasure.

  “He’s been so good on this trip,” a voice crooned softly, bringing Louise out of her brooding thoughts.

  Louise opened her eyes and smiled at the older woman in the next seat. “Yes…but he’s always good. I’m very lucky,” she whispered back.

  The woman smiled and lowered her gaze to Tommy’s head, and then to the necklace around Louise’s neck.

  “That’s a lovely amethyst you have there,” she murmured, still keeping her voice soft so they wouldn’t awaken the sleeping child.

  Louise smiled again, reaching her free hand up to lovingly touch the treasured piece of jewelry, as she had thousands of times before. She rarely took the cherished memento off. Truly, the only time had been when she’d been in the hospital after having Tommy. “Thank you…it was a gift,” she added.

  “From your husband?” the woman asked innocently, noting that Louise was wearing a wedding band.

  Louise’s eyes darkened at that and she shook her head. “No…from someone I used to know,” she answered, stopping herself from saying the words she longed to say…from the man I love.

  The lady nodded, her attention returning to the reading material in her hands, which happened to be a well worn, leather bound Bible.

  As usual, it didn’t take much to sway Louise’s thoughts to Vic, and now images of him swam before her eyes. She saw him as he had smiled and handed her the velvet box the necklace had been in – and the expression in his eyes, as if he were holding his breath until he found out if she liked his choice of a gift. She allowed herself to relive when he leaned in and touched his lips to hers, and felt a tiny bit of the sparks that always occurred between them.

  Fighting the oppressing feeling that her life resembled a prison sentence, she glanced over at her seatmate, noticing how she seemed to be quite engrossed in her reading. Louise could see there were notes in the margins, bookmarks in several places, and the tip of a small writing pad protruded out at the back. This lady must really know the Bible…and God… Without preamble, Louise spoke what she was thinking.

  “How long do you think God punishes a person…when they do wrong? Years? Or are you punished for the rest of your life?”

  The woman’s lips parted and she turned her head, seei
ng the seriousness of the question in the younger woman’s eyes. She also saw a load of hurt and despair.

  Placing a bookmark between the pages, the woman closed the Bible and sat for a moment, thinking how to formulate an answer. Finally, she said softly, “Well, honey…I think that depends on many things, like on our asking for, and receiving His forgiveness within ourselves. I think people make rash decisions, which have consequences, and then blame God for those consequences…”

  Pausing a moment when she noticed Louise’s eyes react, the woman smiled gently, reaching over to pat her seatmate’s hand in a motherly fashion. “Honey…my name is Irene. May I know yours?”

  Louise smiled, feeling oddly at ease around the older lady. “I’m Louise. And…and this is my little boy, Tommy.”

  Irene nodded, striving not to show her surprise at meeting up with the girl that her young friend, Vic, had loved…and still did. She knew it was the same girl…by a picture he had once shown her, and by the necklace Vic had told her about… Irene knew that this must be what some called a ‘divine appointment’, and she offered a quick silent prayer that she would use wisdom and care in answering the young woman’s questions.

  Irene smiled and patted her hand again. “I’m very pleased to meet you, Louise. Now, to finish answering your question… I believe that once we have asked God’s forgiveness, like the Bible says, ‘He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’. Then, as we begin to live as close to His ways as we can, He can begin to bless us in many ways, even amidst circumstances that we created…even if it was by our own poor choices.”

  Louise pondered that for a few minutes. Lately, things in her life did seem to be looking up. She thought back to the time immediately after Tommy’s birth, which had been a grueling two-day affair that had left her wondering several times if she would even live through it. She had spent some time praying and thanking God for giving her such a precious little son, and she had even, in a roundabout way, asked Him to forgive her for all of the things she had done wrong. But…was that enough? She asked Irene as much.