the Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay (2010) by Jensen Beverly

Author:Jensen, Beverly [Beverly, Jensen,]
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.
Published: 2011-01-14T19:13:35.156000+00:00

In the Family Way

Prescott Mills, Maine

September 1931

“Idella?”

It was impossible to hear clearly over the phone. Idella put a hand over her other ear. “Ethel? Ethel, is that you?” She hated to talk too loud with the phone here in the hall, on the bottom floor of the apartment house on Haskell Street. She’d been washing her hair in the sink when she heard the three-long, two-short ring that was theirs. The towel she’d wrapped around her head kept untwisting, and she needed both hands to get it back together. “Ethel?” She was sure she’d heard Eddie’s sister saying her name and then nothing, no sound. “This is Idella. Is that you?”

“It is. It’s me.”

She sounded terrible. “Is everything okay? You sick?” More silence. “Is Mr. Jensen okay? Ethel, what is it?”

“Idella, I’m . . . I’m . . . Oh, God help me, I’m going to have a baby!”

“A baby!” It came out of Idella like a gust of wind. Her towel fell to the floor behind her, and her wet hair flopped into her face. “You’re sure about this?”

“I am. I been to Doc Russo. It’s four months now.”

“You been to the doctor?” Idella wasn’t absorbing the information as quickly as she got it. She could feel herself a beat behind. Four months! She reached up and squeezed the back of her wet hair. Dribbles of still-soapy water went down her back and got her dress wet. What in Holy God’s name was Jessie going to do? Who would tell Edward?

“I’m afraid, Idella. I’m afraid to tell.”

Idella hesitated. She had to watch what she was saying out here in the hall. Old Mr. Bentley was just coming in with his daily quart of milk. He nodded to her as he shuffled by and opened the door to his apartment. He wouldn’t care. But if Mrs. Rice up on the second floor got wind of this, Ethel wouldn’t have to worry about who would be doing the telling.

Idella lowered her voice. “Is it? . . . Was it? You know . . . that did it, that was the source?”

“Yes. O’ course. He’s the only one I been out with, Idella. He said . . .” Ethel was crying. Idella could tell by the jerky gaps in her words. “He promised he loved me . . . and he said . . .” Oh, she was really going to pieces. “He said he’d been fixed. . . .”

“Fixed?” Idella didn’t think she’d heard that right.

“Fixed. You know. Not like he was broke, but I thought it didn’t work. He told me that. Oh, God, Idella, what am I going to do? You’re the only one I dare tell. I had to tell. I’m showing!” Ethel’s sobs were coming right through the wire.

It worked all right, Idella thought. That bastard. A soldier stationed down in New Hampshire. He’d seemed nice enough. He’d seemed too nice. Oily. Over Ethel. She was not the type to attract . . . well . . .

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