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As he stood before me, all tall, dark, and mysterious, he reminded me of the actor Gregory Peck, but with a more muscular build, I thought.
“Hello. I haven’t seen you before,” he said to me.
I was still trying to get my mouth to work and just about managed to croak out, “I’ve been sick.” What an idiot. I had the most handsome man I’d ever seen standing in front of me and all that came out of my mouth was ‘I’ve been sick’!
I came back to my senses and held my hand out to him. “I’m Rose.”
He took hold of my hand and I felt as though I’d been struck by lightning. If the widening of his eyes was anything to go by, he’d felt it, too.
He cleared his throat. “Jacob Evans. I only moved to Cape Elizabeth about a month ago. Do you live around here?” His eyes stayed on mine.
“Not too far away, near the beach. I work in town at the library.”
He was still holding my hand when JT came running over. “Sis?” He looked back and forth between the two of us. “What’s going on? Why are you talking to him?” he asked, pointing at Jacob. “You’re supposed to be marrying Richard, you can’t talk to him.”
I blushed at JT’s impetuous remark. He was a teenager, and I really wished I could shut him up. I really hated him right now, especially mentioning Richard. Ugh. Brothers!
I quickly glanced up at Jacob. He looked sad as he released my hand and took a step back from me.
r /> “Rose, come on,” JT said, whose impatience was really starting to irritate me.
“I better go with him. I hope to see you again,” I said, as JT finally succeeded in dragging me away.
“I hope so.” The last words he spoke to me at the time would come true. I was a very determined young woman so I would make sure to see him again.
Before I lost sight of him completely, I glanced back to look at Jacob, only to find him watching me walk away. My heart had yet to stop its rapid beating. Such a feeling was entirely new to me.
“Sis, you shouldn’t be talking to strange men when you’re marrying Richard.”
“JT, I am not marrying Richard now, or ever, and one day Mother and Father will realize that.”
After dinner, my best friend Jayne called at the house. I dragged her around the side to sit in the garden. I didn’t want anyone overhearing what I had to tell her but, by the end of the evening, I wish I’d kept it to myself, as she told me I was being stupid. That no one could be infatuated with someone they had only just met!
March 8, 1947
Richard came calling today…
It has been four days since I’d seen Jacob. Every time I walked through town, I found myself looking for him. Why didn’t I ask him where he worked? I told him I worked at the library but, perhaps, he didn’t want to see me, which distressed me more than it ought.
While I’d been spending my time dreaming about Jacob, my mother had been filling my mind with all things Richard. Richard was the only child of Bernard and Evelyn, who just so happened to own the local newspaper, a hotel in Boston, and a few other local businesses. So, of course, he was a great catch. Mother didn’t seem to understand. I wanted to marry for love, not money.
Richard was a really good-looking man; tall, blond hair with blue eyes, but he had more interest in tinkering with cars than he did with me, or anyone else for that matter. I actually found him boring. On the two dates I’d been on with him, I couldn’t wait to get back home. I’d only agreed to go on them to stop my parents from bothering me about him.
Today, I was lying in the hammock in the garden in an attempt to hide. Mother had allergies for just about everything you could get an allergy for, so despite her love of the garden, she never actually went into it. She certainly wouldn’t risk getting all blotchy to find me. At least, I hoped she wouldn’t.
“Rose, you in here?”
“Richard?” He nearly had me falling out of the hammock. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to see you, isn’t it obvious?”
Why did that reply make me feel nervous?
He helped me out of the hammock and led me over to the bench inside the newly built gazebo.
“How have you been, Rose?” He shuffled his feet and gazed, nervously, around the garden.
“I’m fine now. Thank you for asking. How are you?” I really hated polite conversation.
