My Suitcase

Part 3

Our mother, Mary, had worked for the Buchanan's for 22 years before she passed away. She was the best seamstress in town, and they knew it. After our father, rest his soul, hadn't come home from the war, they allowed mother to move into a small corner of the the attic with us girls when we were very small. Alice was 5, and I only a few months old. Mother always told us stories of our father, Henry, and how great a man he was. "Always thought of me, and you girls. Although, he didn't meet you, Ruby, he knew you were coming and loved you so." He would write the most romantic letters to her. She kept them in a wooden box next to our bed. Reading them made her whole face light up. The small script was so neat, and flowed like a poem. A true love, between them. He was her match in every way. I hoped to find mine one day.
Alice learned to sew right alongside mother, while I was tasked with keeping the scrap piles in order and picking up the trims. We were happy. It's funny to think back now, on what seems to have been a lifetime ago, how easy things felt. I'm sure it was hard for mother, but Alice and I didn't notice that. We had a warm bed, and food, and friends. There was a little boy, just a year older than me, who lived there as well. Michael wad my best friend. We were always into something. I remember his mother and mine were very close and we would hear from both of them if we were ever caught with a toe out of line. Michael always wanted to test the boundaries. "We haven't climbed to the top of this one yet, Ruby." Somehow my dresses always came home with snags and dirt after we had been allowed a free afternoon. I missed him, so much. He held Alice and I's hands the morning mother passed away in her bed. She had been in bed for weeks with a horrible cough that wouldn't stop.

A tear rolled down my cheek as I thought of her. Wiping it away, I blinked back to the now. Letting those memories fade away. Alice reached over and held my hand. Somehow she always knew when I needed her. "Almost there", she whispered. I pulled out my mirror from my bag and began to take stock. I was pale and weepy. That wouldn't due. I rolled up the window. I gave cheeks a quick pinch to bring a bit of color, and did my fair best to get my hair back in order. Pushing the last pin to keep ny hat in place, we started to slow down. I looked over to Alice, as she stared at the massive building at the end of thr drive. It looked like a Castle.