She lay alone in her bed, deep in thoughts. Linda was surprised by
Ginger and Jeff's arrival, but she was happy for them. Deep down,
Linda knew that they were meant for each other, and their
reconciliation had been only a matter of time. But since Linda never
could figure out who was more stubborn, her brother or his wife,
Linda thought it best she didn't interfere with their relationship.
She smiled as she thought of her baby brother being married to her
best friend. Jeff was married, Hank, unfortunately was a widower, and
then there was Linda.
Never married, she often wondered if her mother was disappointed or
ashamed of her. But in the past year or two Anne had changed more
than her kids ever thought possible. But Linda realized these were
positive things. She smiled as she recalled introducing her now step
father, Al Kahn, to her family.
Linda was not ashamed that she wasn't married. After all, it wasn't
her fault that Michael died. Mike Sloan had died before he could
explain his overseas marriage to Linda. " Women do not need a
husband to be happy. There is more to life than just men, babies,
changing diapers, and hanging laundry.", she thought. In that aspect,
Linda had a lot going for her. She was a writer for the local
newspapers, after paying her dues in a man's world of employment.
She thought about her time spent with her boss, Phil. Although they
had been closer than she would ever admit to anyone, Linda knew in
her heart that Phil wasn't the marrying type. She had had enough
dosage of reality to know that.
"What am I doing?", she said aloud. She was not prone to bouts of
pity, and she vowed she wasn't about to start now. Linda turned over
in her bed, and drifted off to sleep as she thought of Phil.
*********************************************************
"It's your local newspaper delivery boy!"
Gina smiled as she got up to answer the door. She would know that
voice anywhere.
"Charlie, come in!" she said with a smile.
"How did you know it was me?" Charlie asked with a slight hint of
teasing in his voice.
"Maybe it was because I was thinking of you, and so you come to see
Emma and me!:" she replied in her Italian accent.
"Where is my favorite girl...other than her mother, of course. Ever
since he'd laid eyes on Emma, which happened to be when he delivered
her, Charlie felt a fatherly bond with the child.
"She taking a nap, she has not been asleep long."Gina answered.
"Well, yesterday I got paid, and so I was hoping you would go out
with me tonight."Charlie asked her.
"You mean to splurge?". Gina learned quite a few English words from
Charlie, so she used every opportunity to show them off.
"Right! Gina, your language is coming along so well. Before too long,
you will have better English than me!" Charlie knew his English
wasn't the best, and ever so often he feels awkard with Gina about it.
But then he noticed something about Gina. Her large brown eyes were
moist. Charlie wasn't prone to emotional outbursts, so he became
alarmed. But then again, he'd realized long ago how hard it was
sometimes for Gina to talk to him about anything personal.
"Gina, what's eating you? You look like you're crying.
She decided to tell him the truth. "It is difficult to describe what
I feel," she started in her broken English. " today I find picture
of Mike and I see much of Emma in him. I think about Mike dying,
about the war, about my mama."
Charlie felt both sympathy and relief. He was relieved that she had
been up front with him. He was never good at reading women's modods
anyways, and in the past Gina hadn't always told him what was going
on with her. It had caused some problems in the relationship.
Then Gina lit up. "But tonight we go splurge, and we see movie. will
you stay with Emma so I can call Mrs. Davis?", she asked.
"That's the spirit!," he said. "Go on, I''ll keep an eye on her."
******************************************
"Hey Mutt!," yelled Charlie as he saw Jeff and Ginger walk past their
table at Ruperts. Normally Charlie wasn't keen on being in a
neighborhood like this, but the Davises had been so good to Gina and
Emma, so he didn't mind visiting their restaurant.
" I didn't know you two were back in town! I hear you're a married
man." Charlie was relieved when Jeff married Ginger. Partly out of
his shame how he dumped Ginger during the war,so he was glad she was
happy. And mostly he was glad his ex wife Caroline wasn't able to
land Jeff.
Jeff was in a good mood, so he decided to put aside his reserved
feelings torwards Charlie.
" Yeah, we're great. By the way, we ran visited Hank when we passed
through Chicago. He said to tell everyone he was doing swell."