North Road {HS}

2. Kitty

Tacoma, Washington. 1919.

The year is less than a minute old and yet I can feel it in my bones. Changes are coming. The horrid war is over, the boys who left are coming home, and things were going to move forward. The world was changing around us and I was ready to change with it.

But first I would dance.

The last notes of Auld Lang Syne still hung in the air as I twirled with my partner. It was past her bedtime and she was fighting off yawns fiercely as we danced. I watched as she stumbled over her own feet so I picked her up and swung her onto my hip letting her head rest against my shoulder as we went slowly in circles.

"Happy New Years, Hattie girl," I whispered to her before planting a quick kiss on her forehead, "Let's go find your mother, shall we?"

We made our way through the crowd to where I knew her mother was waiting. She sat in a quiet corner nursing a glass of sherry with a chubby little boy snoring on her lap.

"She put in a valiant effort," I laughed as I dropped into the seat next to her, "She's got your stubbornness, Marj."

Marjorie laughed, "I can only hope she has more of her father her than I do."

I examined the little girl sleeping in my arms and smiled because she was already the exact image of her mother with rich, olive skin and chocolate colored hair.

I admired Marjorie Dawson and her ability to keep four young children cared for while her husband was away. I figured that if Hattie was anything like her she would be just fine.

"How are the twins?" I asked. To add to the feats of Marjorie Dawson, she had given birth to twins just after Christmas and yet, here she was, upstairs at a party past midnight only days later.

"Good," she answered, "They're sleeping downstairs. They weren't as determined to make an appearance as these two," she laughed quietly.

The Dawson's had moved into the basement of the Winslow's home a few years back when they had married. It was supposed to be temporary. Marjorie was meant to help around the house and her husband to keep the grounds until they built a place of their own. But then Marjorie had found herself giving birth to four children in less than four years and Arthur left to join the war and their dreams had been put on hold.

"Would you like me to help you take these two down to join them?" I offered.

"No," Marjorie smiled a quiet smile. She was nearing twenty-one but the exhaustion lining her face made her look older, "I got it. You go enjoy the rest of the party. Go dance some more while you still can."
I wonder if she missed it but I laughed as I stood.

"I have been dancing," I shrugged.

"With boys," she said raising an eyebrow teasingly, "Your own age."

I sighed dramatically and then giggled, "All right."

I placed a kiss on Hattie's forehead, "Good night, sweet girl," then one on her brothers, "Night Roy."
I turned to head back into the thick of the party, "Night Marj."

I hardly made it ten yards before I was stopped.

"Ah, Adelaide, I was looking for you-"

"Actually, sir, I'm not-" I interrupted before he continued and I gave up correcting him. He was an older man with a too tight waist coat who I recognized from my father's business.

"You see," he continued, "I just felt the need to congratulate the hostess of such a lovely party."

"Well then you should congratulate my mother," I corrected even though it was true. I had done much of the preparations, "She's somewhere over there."