Modern Women by Ruth Harris

Author:Ruth Harris [Harris, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: women's fiction, 1960s, 1970s, New York, bestseller
Publisher: Word International
Published: 2012-05-08T04:00:00+00:00

41

ELLY

MARCH 1964:

Refusing to get involved, neighbors passively watch as Kitty Genovese is murdered in Queens. The event makes headlines across the nation.

LOUISE Cullen, despite her chic Sassoon haircut, and up-to-the-minute wardrobe, was vehemently opposed when, in early March, Elly told her that she and Owen Casals were going to live together. Louise feared that Elly would wake up an April Fool.

“Live together? And not get married?” Louise asked her daughter with a sharp intake of breath.

“Not right away,” Elly said. Owen had told her that since he had no job and nothing except his hopes for The 39th Parallel he couldn’t really offer marriage. On the other hand, he said, he loved her and wanted to live with her. “We’re going to live together and find out if we’re compatible. If we are, we’ll get married later.”

“And why, pray tell, should he marry you ‘later’?” Louise asked.

“Because I love him and he loves me!”

“If he loved you, he’d marry you,” said Louise. “He’s just taking advantage of you.”

Elly’s father was equally opposed.

“Owen is a playboy. He’s almost ten years older than you are. He’s been married twice and divorced twice. He gave up an excellent job for what? To write a book?” Brian said. Brian McGrath remembered the Depression. He could not understand how anyone could have quit a job like Owen’s at Newsflash. “Suppose he never finishes this book? Then what?”

“He’ll finish it,” said Elly. “Owen’s very talented.”

“Talent means nothing. Determination and discipline are what counts. Even if he does finish it, who says that it will ever be published? Most writers starve.”

“Owen’s different.”

“What makes him different? A few articles in a news magazine and a quickie paperback? That’s a far cry from writing and publishing a book and making a living at it,” Brian said. “If Owen respected you, he’d get a job and write his book in his spare time. Then when he was established, he’d marry you.”

“He does respect me. He loves me,” insisted Elly.

“Then why doesn’t he marry you?” her father asked.

“He thinks we should live together for a while to see if we’re really compatible,” said Elly. “Is that so terrible?”

“It’s ridiculous and even if you don’t know any better, Owen should. You’ll never really know if you’re compatible until you get married,” Brian McGrath said. “Playing house doesn’t have the slightest thing to do with the problems and adjustments of marriage.”

“I don’t see why not. After all, what difference does a piece of paper make?” said Elly.

She was determined to move in with Owen no matter what her parents thought or said or did. Her parents were old, Elly told Ethel. What did they know or care about love?

In mid-March, Elly moved her clothes, books, and records from her parents’ apartment to Owen’s.

“You’re making a big mistake. He’s using you. He’s going to break your heart,” Louise told Elly as she finished packing.

Her father helped Elly carry her suitcases and cartons downstairs.

“You still have time to change your mind,” Brian told Elly as they stood on the sidewalk in front of the building Elly had grown up in.

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