AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The idea of Lena here left me feeling strange. I couldn’t imagine her here. She would not like it, I suspected. Too much dirt. Was that true? I didn’t really know her well enough to know if she would like Colorado or not. That was the truth of it.
6
ADDIE
A week had goneby since I’d learned of James’s impending nuptials. For the most part, I’d avoided him, spending most days volunteering at the library or helping my sisters with their children.
However, on this particular morning, I had no plans whatsoever and decided to brave breakfast, even if James was there. Delphia and I entered the dining room together. Metal bins with scrambled eggs, potatoes, and biscuits lined the buffet. I sniffed the air, taking in the nutty scent of freshly brewed coffee.
Mama and Papa were nearly finished. Papa had his head buried in the newspaper. Mama, strangely enough, wasn’t reading. Instead, she stared out the window seemingly lost in thought. Whatever those thoughts were, they troubled her. I could see it in the knit of her brow.
“Good morning,” Delphia sang out before heading to the buffet to load her plate with eggs and biscuits.
“Morning, girls,” Mama said, jumping slightly. She hadn’t heard us come in.
Papa lowered his paper to give us each a smile before returning to whatever article had grabbed his interest.
“Where’s James?” Delphia asked.
“He’s on his way down,” Mama said. “The poor man’s exhausted. I made him promise to sleep as late as he wanted.”
I put some eggs on a plate and added a few slices of peach and a handful of raspberries. This time of year, we had the most glorious fruit from local growers as well as from our own garden. Usually, I delighted in them, but today everything tasted of dirt.
Papa laid aside his newspaper. “You’re both looking lovely. What are you doing today?”
“I’m working a shift at the library,” I said. If it were slow, I usually worked on my stories in between patrons.
“I’m headed over to Cym’s,” Delphia said. “She needs me to look after the girls.”
“What’s she doing, I wonder?” Mama asked.
“Shopping, I think,” Delphia said.
Jasper came in then with a handful of mail in his hands. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said. “There’s a letter for James and something here from the university for Miss Delphia.”
Delphia’s fork clattered on the table. Her hands flew to her mouth. She looked over at me, fear in her eyes.
Jasper set the letter for James on the buffet and laid the letter from the university in front of my sister. I saw him and Papa exchange a glance. One I couldn’t interpret. Was it a commiseration between two fathers who had to let their daughters leave the nest? Or was it an unspoken fear? Would Delphia be disappointed? None of us wanted that. She would take it hard. Like Theo, she’d had aspirations of higher education for years now, pushing herself in her studies. Although she was only sixteen, she’d already finished high school and had applied to attend several colleges in the east. Two had already denied her entrance, saying they did not accept female candidates and especially ones so young. She had one more hope, a college back east, and had been waiting for their letter. This was it. She would know now, one way or the other.
If she got in, then I would be here alone. Florence was already at university. She wrote often, telling me of her adventures. She didn’t ask but I know she wondered why I wasn’t interested in attending myself. I figured anything I needed to know was in the books at our library, and I didn’t need to be away from home to learn it. Anyway, Florence and Delphia were the adventurous types, and I was not.
Delphia slid the letter across the table toward me. “Addie, you have to open it for me. I can’t look.”
I took the slim envelope and slid a finger under the seal.Please God, let her have this, I prayed silently. The correspondence was written on the thin paper used with typewriters and folded in three. I unfolded it with sweaty fingers and used my quick reading skills to take in my sister’s fate. The first sentence said it all.
We are pleased to accept you into the fall semester of 1935.
“It’s a yes,” I said.
“Marvelous,” Papa said, clearly pleased.
“Thank goodness,” Mama said under her breath.
Delphia yelped and rose up to dance around the table until she reached me. She picked up the letter and read it for herself, then whooped again and grabbed me into a hug.
“I told you,” I said. “I knew you’d get in.”
“I didn’t. I truly thought this would be the third rejection.”
