Little Woman in Blue by Jeannine Atkins

Author:Jeannine Atkins [Atkins, Jeannine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-63152-988-7
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 2015-09-15T04:00:00+00:00

ONE EVENING, SETTLING IN THEIR ROOM WITH WINE and apricots, Louisa remarked on how good Alice was to keep her company while May was sketching.

“I know I said that Alice would be willing for you to come with us to Europe, but the truth is, she insisted on your presence,” May confessed.

“I wondered when you would tell me.”

“You knew?”

“She mentioned it on one of our walks. Couldn’t you have just told me you needed me to come along?”

“I’m sorry. I was wrong to lie. I hate to ask for so much, and be beholden. I suppose it’s how you felt owing money to Mr. Fields. I don’t mean to envy you, but it’s hard when you have so much of what I want. Even strangers love you.”

“Gawking isn’t love.”

“All that attention must feel like a hand on your shoulder, assuring you that you’ve done good.” May imagined that hand was as comforting as her sisters brushing her hair all those years ago.

“Applause always ends. Then it’s me, pen, and paper.”

“That used to be enough.”

“Which is what I miss. I might never have written if I didn’t need to prove an Alcott could pay her bills. Poverty, people’s lack of faith in me, all the things that stood in my way kept me working, too. Here I am the renowned author I dreamed about when we were children, but the fantasy seemed better back when we played dress-up. You don’t know how lucky you are to be unburdened by fame.”

“You mean no one expects anything of me. That’s a curse, too.”

“I mean you can paint whatever you want with no one waiting to judge it. People can’t wait to compare whatever I write next with Little Women, and find it wanting.”

“You forget that though I’m not the famous sister, I’m not quite anonymous either. People think they know me because they read your book. We have to move ahead. You wouldn’t want those old days back, being poor. I remember your old stories about Italian cads with gold rings and vials of poison. Why don’t you write again about palaces with towers and trapdoors?”

“You forget I’m a proper children’s author now, renowned for my morals.”

“I don’t forget anything. Lu, you’re rich and famous. You can do whatever you want. Why don’t you try something new? Maybe the story of a woman who does work she loves and finds romance, too.”

“No one will believe that.”

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