The Bold Venture (The Cherished Memories Book 2)

by Linda Ellen

  The announcer went on with more details, adding something about President Roosevelt approving more firepower and ships to aid war-torn Europe, before finally ending his interruption and allowing the show to continue. It was, however, already over and the ending theme song was playing.

  Their earlier jovial mood shattered, the adults glanced at one another. Lilly remembered well the tense time when the United States entered World War I, and how many brave young men fought and died. Now she sat with one hand covering her mouth as she dreaded what this development would bring.

  Vic and Louise gazed into one another’s eyes. They had been hearing more and more reports such as this over the course of the year, each one seeming worse than the last. “Oh Vic…do you think the United States will go to war?”

  He grimaced at the thought. “We’re already in it, babe, just not officially. Question is, what’s gonna happen to force Roosevelt into making the declaration.” He paused, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t want to be in that man’s shoes for all the tea in China.”

  Her eyes welled with tears as she thought of her brothers, friends…and of course Vic, that would surely be called up if war were officially declared. They’d instate the draft for sure.

  Vic smiled softly and drew her into his embrace as Lilly got up from her chair and busied herself by fussing over getting Tommy ready for bed. Billy slipped off to his makeshift room.

  “I know what you’re thinkin’,” Vic whispered against her hair. “But not everybody gets called up. And they told me when I joined up to do my hitch in the C’s that it would make me exempt from service, should war break out. At least…for a while.”

  She nodded, fitting her face into the warm area between his shoulder and his throat. Surely after so much has happened, all these years, and we just got back together…surely nothing will happen to separate us now…

  ‡

  CHAPTER 14

  Brothers Can be Friends

  Sunday afternoon, Vic made the decision to do something he hadn’t done since he’d come back to town – go to visit Jack, Liz and the kids.

  While in Evansville, he had seen them twice, both times on a holiday when they had come to visit Al and Goldie. The visits had been carefully cordial, and quite brief, but he had enjoyed seeing his niece and nephew, and marveled at how quickly they were growing and maturing. Timmy was twelve now, and nearly as tall as his mother. He still had her coloring, and very little resemblance to his father, Vic’s brother Jack. Shirley had turned ten, and her once carrot red hair had mellowed into the more subtle auburn of her brother and mother. The Matthews men all had dark hair and dark eyes, and slightly olive skin, a trait they had received from their father. Vic knew from a small oval framed picture of their mother, Cordelia, which he had inherited, that she had been very fair skinned, auburn haired, and green eyed – that is, if the hand-tinted 1921 photograph was correct. Of course, he had heard of traits coming down through the generations, so it’s possible the kids had inherited some of their coloring from their grandmother. However, in this case, it was more likely from the children’s auburn-haired mother.

  When Vic had mentioned taking the plunge and going to visit his family, Louise immediately insisted that he take her with him, which he gladly obliged. It was proper that his family meet the woman who would be his wife…besides, he reasoned, it would be nice to have her presence at his side. He put in a call to their apartment building and managed to get his brother on the phone, who surprisingly, quite readily agreed to a visit. So, after church, Vic, Louise and Tommy made the trip to Fifteenth and Market.

  They parked out front of the large building and Louise nervously fussed with Tommy’s little wool cap, the collar of his white shirt, and the buttons on his blue jacket and matching short pants. His shoes were a bit too large, but she knew he would soon grow into them – and then out of them. He looked so adorable in his first real Sunday dress up clothes that Louise couldn’t help but be proud. She wet her fingers and tried to plaster down an errant curl sticking stubbornly out from under the bill of the cap.

  “He looks real good,” Vic murmured before angling the rear-view mirror down and checking his own reflection. He had splurged for a haircut and he was sporting a new shirt and jacket that he had purchased with a few dollars of his advance. He straightened the flowered tie and tugged at the lapels of his second hand jacket, which was dark blue wool with tweed sleeves and collar. Louise was wearing a lovely light blue linen dress with short sleeves and a v-neck, along with her amethyst necklace, and topped with a brown street-length wool coat with black velvet collar.

  Vic cast a look at the two people that meant the world to him and pride swelled in his chest. If this visit with his brother’s family didn’t go well, he quietly determined, he wouldn’t let it dampen his joy or drag down his self-esteem, the way it always had before.

  “Come on. Let’s get this over with,” he mumbled as he exited his door and walked around to assist Louise and Tommy.

  Vic knew Jack had moved his family up to the third floor to a larger apartment with two full bedrooms and a large living area that contained a Murphy bed for Timmy. Therefore, once they reached the interior stairs, Vic leaned down and scooped Tommy into his arms to climb the three flights of steps.

  Finally, as they stood before the door and knocked, the couple was nearly trembling with nerves. Louise wet suddenly dry lips and took in a deep breath, quickly closing her eyes to send up a desperate prayer for courage.

  Then, the door was opened and ten-year old Shirley squealed, “Uncle Vic!” and flung herself against his side as he hugged her with his free arm. Jack walked over and ushered the visitors inside.

  Vic proudly introduced Louise and Tommy to his brother, niece and nephew. He noticed Liz stood at the stove cooking, but she at least looked their way and smiled what could pass for a welcome as she reached up to smooth a lock of auburn hair that she had tied back in a ponytail. The expression on her plain, make-up free face and in her moss green eyes seemed carefully neutral.

  “Oh…we didn’t mean to interrupt your lunch…” Louise began, hesitant.

  Liz and Jack exchanged a quick look before she answered, “No, you’re welcome to join us. There’s plenty.”

  Vic met Louise’s eyes and she answered with a small shrug. He looked again at his brother and sister-in-law. “Okay, we’d like that…if you’re sure it’s alright.” Liz nodded and turned back to the stove.

  Jack took their coats, and indicated for them to have a seat on the couch. Vic paused, glancing at it and thinking it was a welcome addition since he had lived with them. Back then he had slept on the hardwood floor because there was no couch. He shook his head to rid the memory and took a seat.

  Louise hesitated, calling softly over to Liz, “Can I help you with lunch…?”

  Liz glanced over her shoulder with a tight smile. “No thanks, I’ve got everything under control.”

  Louise nodded uncertainly, and holding tightly to Tommy’s hand, sat down next to Vic, pulling Tommy onto her lap.

  “So,” Jack began as Timmy, Shirley, and he settled nearby. “You’re the Louise I’ve heard so much about. And this is your son with your current husband?”

  Louise’s eyes flared for a second at his choice of words, but she immediately felt Vic’s hand move to take hold of hers as he cleared his throat. “Yes,” she managed, not knowing what else to say. She thought she heard Liz make a sound over at the stove and she wondered if she imagined it, or if it was truly a soft snort. Louise felt her heart rate speed up as she swallowed uncomfortably.

  Vic answered the unspoken question. “It’s a long story. We met,” he paused, turning his head to smile into Louise’s eyes, “right before the Flood.” Turning back to meet his brother’s eyes, he continued, “I even rescued their family. Among about two hundred thousand others that B-13 rescued,” he added with a touch of pride. Jack gave a nod in recognition and Vic went on, “After the Flood, we dated, but…we had a big misunderstanding an
d…Louise didn’t get a letter I’d written her. As I said, it’s a long story, but she believed I wasn’t coming back when I left for the C’s, so she let her family talk her into marrying. It was never happy.” Again, he turned and met her eyes. “It shouldn’t have happened. But it did, and now we’ve just got to get on with our lives.” Then, he looked pointedly over at Liz at the stove and added, “Her ex left her for somebody else.”

  For a few moments, tension bristled in the air and the couple realized they had probably been the subject of discussion before they had arrived.

  But then, as he so often did, Tommy came to the rescue. He suddenly wiggled off Louise’s lap and trotted over to Timmy, who was sitting in a chair perusing the Sunday comics. With the innocence of children, he leaned against the older boy and gazed at the paper. “Whas dat?” he asked sweetly.

  Timmy glanced at him with a smile and answered, “It’s the funny papers.”

  “Whas dat?” Tommy asked again, his favorite question.

  Timmy laughed and pointed out several comic strips, including The Lone Ranger. When he said the title, Tommy lit up like the sun peeking through the clouds. “Woan Wanger?” Then training his eyes on the paper, he squealed, “Dat him?”

  Timmy laughed again as Tommy suddenly climbed up in his lap, making himself at home. Shirley giggled and came to the other side of her brother’s chair as the three children gazed at the images. Timmy proceeded to read the strip, pointing out the words and their corresponding pictures. Tommy couldn’t have been more enraptured to actually see his hero with his eyes. He was so excited and so very adorable, he instantly melted the hearts of everyone in the room.

  Louise, her eyes misting, turned and met Jack’s brown eyes, which were so very much like Vic’s. “Tommy’s the only good thing to come of my marriage. TJ broke our marriage more than once, but part of the trouble was always me, you see…” she paused, gripping Vic’s hand and looking into his eyes. “I’ve been in love with Vic from the moment we met…and I’ll always love him.” Vic smiled lovingly, clasping her hand tightly.

  Switching back to Jack, then to Liz, who had turned to give them her attention, and back to Jack, she added, “I’m thankful that I get a second chance to be happy.”

  Jack smiled back, clearly able to see the strong emotion between his brother and the lovely young woman hugging his arm as they both turned to watch her son interact with his children.

  Jack looked over at the precious little boy, his wide-eyed, open-mouthed wonder warming his heart as Timmy read to him from the comics. Jack raised his eyes to his wife, who had walked closer to watch as well. She met his eyes with a sad smile. He knew instantly she was thinking of the child she had lost and he hoped this wouldn’t send her into a bout of melancholy. But instead, he saw her take a fortifying breath and turn back to begin placing the food on the table.

  “Let’s eat, everyone,” she called.

  The group came to the table, Jack and Timmy bringing extra chairs from around the apartment for their guests.

  All in all, it was a pleasant meal and a carefully amiable time.

  By the time they were ready to leave, as Vic was helping Louise into her coat, he said to Jack, “So, we’re not sure what the weddin’ date is yet, but it should be in about a month. You’ll come?”

  Jack and Liz met glances and Jack cleared his throat. “Sure. We’ll try…unless something else comes up.”

  Fairly pleased with the answer, Vic nodded and they all said their goodbyes. As they went out the door to go on their way, Tommy happily clutched in his little hands the copy of the Sunday funnies.

  As Vic lifted him in his arms, the little boy wiggled his fingers sweetly at the people assembled in the doorway, as he called, “Hi-yo Siver! Away!”

  The family laughed and stood in the door of their apartment, watching as Vic, Louise, and Tommy descended the stairs and turned at the landing.

  It had been a surprisingly good visit.

  *

  The next morning, after a fitful night’s sleep, Vic met his friend Steve Baugh at Willie’s Pub and followed him to the work place.

  All night, he had battled his conscience, Louise’s words about them having no secrets from one another eating him up on the inside. He felt trapped in a revolving door that was spinning round and round. Staying inside was dizzying, but taking a chance on jumping out, as the door passed an opening, seemed like almost certain pain. He kept telling himself that the job wasn’t that illegal. If it were illegal liquor production, or something worse, he would have turned it down flat. But maybe he should have thought about it more before telling Steve he’d take the job – and more to the point – accepting the advance, and spending it to boot!

  By the time they arrived at a shadowy door at the end of a dark hall, Vic’s hands were damp with nerves and his tongue felt stuck to the roof of his mouth. He was thinking he’d just about kill for a cold drink right then. Even a beer, though he didn’t particularly care for the taste.

  Steve knocked on the door in code that consisted of three, two, and three strikes against the wooden surface, speaking to a man from inside in a low voice. They heard the key being turned, and the door swung open. Steve and Vic walked into a sparse, windowless room. Several men in rolled up shirt sleeves and dark trousers were sitting at a long table pushed up against the side wall, talking on old black telephones, the kind with separate mouthpieces attached by a cord, and making quick notes on small slips of paper. A large blackboard dominated the wall above the table, with words, times, and dates scribbled on its surface. Another wall held a calendar and a clock, while another held a small table that appeared to be where the men might take their lunch, as there seemed to be crumbs on its surface. The room was filled with cigarette smoke, the stench of overflowing ashtrays on the tables, and the odor of sweaty men. The air seemed overly hot, as if the room were near a large source of heat. Vic would find out later that it was; there was a laundry business on the other side of the back wall.

  One of the men looked up at Steve and nodded, and he inclined his head back as the man who unlocked the door sat down at the table to answer a ringing phone.

  “This is where you’ll be working,” Steve told Vic, proceeding to introduce him to the other men and explain the details of the job. It seemed pretty simple, and when the last phone on the table began to ring, Steve motioned for Vic to answer it. With Steve at his side to coach, Vic took down the information. When he hung up from the caller, he glanced up at Steve, and the man was grinning at him mischievously.

  It all felt…bad to Vic and for a moment, he almost told Steve he’d changed his mind. Then, he remembered that he’d already spent his pay advance. He promised himself that it wouldn’t be forever, just until he could get something better…and legal.

  “Good job. Okay, shop closes at three. Somebody’ll be by some time after twelve with some lunch. See you later,” Steve said, bidding them goodbye and closing the door after him. The man who let them in got up and locked it securely.

  The telephone on Vic’s table rang again. With a sigh, he answered it. And so, his new job began.

  He just hoped he wasn’t getting in over his head. And I hope Louise won’t be too shocked when she finds out…

  *

  Louise ran the last few yards to the front door of the factory, alarmed that no one was still out front milling around before work. She knew she was late, but in her haste she had forgotten to put on her new watch, so she didn’t know exactly how much. Swallowing nervously, she hoped it wasn’t too much.

  Dashing inside, she glanced quickly at the clock on the far wall and blanched. Seven twenty! Oh no! She could already hear the sound of the cigar machines humming, the squeaky wheels of the carts being pushed around the floor delivering the raw tobacco to the various stations, and the loud voices of the workers calling instructions or comments to one another. A hundred times already that morning, she had berated herself for lingering for one more cuddle with her little boy, who had awakened as
she was giving his forehead a tiny kiss goodbye. That cuddle had caused her to miss her bus and she’d had to wait ten minutes for the next. Now the whole day had gotten off to a bad start.

  She hurried up the steps, her eyes darting around the large busy area for a glimpse of Miss Clazby. Not seeing her anywhere, she scurried toward the area and her customary machine, with Agnes, Wanda and Stella, praying fervently that the machine had started and the three were working without a fourth. However, as she passed the last machine before theirs, her heart dropped to her toes as she saw another girl sitting on the finishing seat. Louise had seen the girl before. She was sort of a floater.

  Before she could move or think, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Thinking it was Miss Clazby, she steeled herself and turned to face her wrath…but it wasn’t. It was the floor manager, Clarence Bigsby.

  “You’re late,” he grunted, stating the obvious.

  “I know, Mr. Bigsby, but I can explain,” Louise gushed. “I got a late start out the door and missed my bus, had to wait for the second. Please don’t send me home, I need this j…”

  The old man held up a hand to stop her. She looked up at him with big innocent eyes, anxiously biting her lip.

  He glanced around for Mr. Greenwell, but he was nowhere around. “You know I should send you home, but…I need somebody over on lefts. I’ll let you go over there.”

  Relieved that she wasn’t being sent home, Louise released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and allowed him to tug her along with him as he grasped her elbow. Her relief was short-lived however, when dread set in. She had heard from others about working lefts, but she’d never done it before. “What happens over on lefts?”

  He grinned over at her, obviously thinking she was teasing. “Same thing as on rights, just opposite.”

  They made their way past the open area and giant sink, on through the maze of machines and people, and over to the mysterious ‘other side’ of the large open floor. Once there, Louise gazed at the machines. Indeed, they were the same…but opposite. On her machine, everything about the process flowed to the right. But in the other half of the cavernous building, the whole process flowed to the left! The machines rolled the cigars to the left, the knurlers rolled to the left, the claw swung to the left. Why in the world would that be? What purpose could that serve?