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Poor Alice.
Poor Henry!
“Then Henry doesn’t know about his...origins.”
Alice shook her head. “He believes his father died of the pox just before he was born. My sister Emily bid me to come live with her and her new husband in Seattle. I did so for a time, but the arrangement became inconvenient for all parties.
“I had a little money saved, so I ventured to Silver Falls and opened up this store. People here naturally assumed I was a widow woman, and I didn’t contradict them. It’s better for business, for Henry, for everyone concerned.”
“I imagine so.”
“So there it is, my darkened past for you to see. Do you despise me now?” she asked with lifted chin. “I wouldn’t blame you for leaving this minute. I wouldn’t wish to taint your good name to be associated with the likes of an immoral woman and her bastard child.”
I blinked hard at the blatant challenge.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Alice. I don’t think less of you and never will,” I said, laying a hand on her arm. “Just because some deadbeat guy didn’t rise to his responsibilities doesn’t change my good opinion of you. You or Henry.”
“Thank you.” Alice frowned saying, “I could have cleared my name, you know. I lived in Boston at the time, and there was a local woman who...aided women in such predicaments.
“My aunt ordered me to do so if I wanted to continue living in her home. She was afraid of the scandal, you see. For her family, for me. Being an unwed mother meant no suitable marriage could ever be found for me. It could be done with no one the wiser, and my life could return to normal. All very convenient.”
I shuddered at the thought of a young girl suffering a horrific nineteenth century back-alley abortion. Most never survived the monstrous, agonizing procedures. Those who did were never the same.
Convenient, indeed. But for whom?
“You didn’t go through with it though,” I added quietly.
Alice cracked a wistful smile, placing a light hand on her abdomen as if remembering the phantom occupant.
“Once I felt the tiny jump in my belly, I knew and loved Henry with my whole heart, even having never seen him. My life hasn’t been easy since then, Lord knows, but he has well been worth any trouble I’ve encountered along the way.”
“Of course, he is. Henry’s an incredible young man who I have no doubt will do great things someday.”
“Do you think me a stained, immoral woman because I willingly gave up my virtue to a man who gave me no vow?” Alice asked.
“Absolutely not,” I replied. “I said as much, and I meant it.”
I was going to let her know that my own mother had never married, and I never knew my own birth father either. Very similar circumstances, just in a different time and place and culture.
...You see, Callista, your real father’s name...
...don’t bother searching for the man, because you won’t find him...
Of course, I was raised in the 1960’s, so there were still whispers about my mother’s notorious reputation from neighbors and classmates. But I didn’t figure out the truth of my illegitimate heritage until I was fourteen, and mom and I had to change our last names and move out of state for the umpteenth time.
Then mom was killed in a shocking auto accident when I turned twenty-two, and I received her last letter to me through her attorney. Against her wishes and sage advice, I did try to locate the man.
In the end, she had been right though. It had been a waste of time, money and effort.
“Besides, true virtue is of character and heart,” I added, “and you are purer of heart and spirit more than any woman here in town, Alice Mae Bautista. Married or not. As was my own unwed mother.”
“You were..?”
“I was, am. So you see, I understand and appreciate your situation a bit better than many of the self-righteous biddies in town.”
“Thank you, Callista. It took me a bit, but now you are a sister to me,” she said, slightly turning the conversation’s direction yet again. “After Emily passed, well, it was hard for me to give my heart over to another in that way, but the hole remained painfully opened. Thank you for filling it.”
“I love you like a sister, too,” I said, clasping her hand.
