Well you guys are just going to love me…yes this another little sister story. Yes, Yes I know there a lot of them out there, but I had an idea and I needed to run with it lol: )
ANYWAY this is my second fanfic. I'm still working on Into the Sunset, which is located in the Titanic section, so doing both of these at once will be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it : ) (that is if ya'll like it.)
All of my chapter's titles are going to be songs from the era the story is set in…just to give it more of an old time feel. Just thought I would let ya'll know : )
A/N: I have issues with proof reading…lol…it's a warning. I do my best but I miss things on occasion.
Chapter One: You'll Be There
October 11, 1923
It had been one of those stormy days that you only read about in ghost stories. Lightning cracked violently across the sky every few minutes or so followed by the loud rumble of thunder. Danny Walker was only 6, but he was brave, and ignored the sounds coming from outside his bedroom window. His model airplane was enough to keep his mind of off just about anything and with his small hand he dove it off and on the runway he had constructed out of blocks and half a deck of playing cards.
"Vroom vrooooom."
Danny wished Rafe, who was 7 and his best friend in the whole world who only lived a half mile away, was here to play with him. Rafe always had a way of making airplanes more exciting and Danny wasn't really sure how. Rafe's daddy was a crop duster and so of course Rafe knew all about that sort of thing, but Danny knew a lot as well.
He was smart, his Momma told him that everyday and she truly meant. After all, most parents who say that say it because it is their child and there is no love quite like a mother's for her child, but Belle Walker knew her boy was something special; he was quick and grasped things with ease.
Danny hadn't seen his Momma in awhile though. She was going to have a baby and shortly after dinner two nights ago she went to lay down in her and Daddy's bedroom. An hour later Daddy had come to him and told him Momma was having the baby and then went to call Dr. Hopper and Aunt Angie.
Aunt Angie was in charge of Danny and wouldn't let him set foot downstairs, which was where Momma and Daddy's room was. She brought all of his meals up to him and even some new toys, but all Danny had wanted was his plane and Rafe.
The door opened and Aunt Angie appeared. She carried Danny's after dinner snack, crackers and milk, on a tray and set it down on his desk.
"Has the baby come yet?" Danny asked in his angelic voice, not looking up from his airplane.
Aunt Angie smiled and shook her head. "Not yet, darlin, but real soon."
Danny stopped playing and looked at his Aunt. "Tomorrow, if it still hasn't come, could I go play with Rafe, and his Momma could watch us for awhile."
"If you're a good boy, then yes. Now hurry up and eat your snack, then change into you jamies and I'll come tuck you in." she said and ruffled his hair, then kissed the top of his head.
Aunt Angie was nice, Danny thought. She was Momma's younger sister, but looked just like her. Blond hair and big brown eyes. Danny had his Momma's eyes and he always felt warm whenever anyone told him that, it was like a part of her was always with him.
Danny munched on his crackers for a bit and drank all of his milk before cleaning up his airplane mess and pulling his pajama's out of the bureau and putting them on just like he was told. Aunt Angie, true to her word came back and tucked him in. She listened as Danny said his prayers and then kissed him goodnight, turned off the lamp and left him to sleep.
Danny fell asleep not long after she left. He dreamt of airplanes flying over the ocean, with a big pink sunset in the background. He did barrel rolls and Rafe was there with him, they flew together higher than the birds, higher than the clouds, almost touching heaven…
It was Vivian McCawley's least favorite time of the day; bedtime. You couldn't really blame her after all, with 5 children under her wing she had a right to dread the moment when they all turned against her when the clock struck 8 every night.
Lorraine, who was only 6 months old, had gone to sleep fairly early that evening, around seven right, after she had been fed. Kay and Shawn being 11 and 9 respectively went down without too much of a fight; it was Rafe and Alice who were the challenge. Every night it was something, and tonight was no exception; Rafe had purposely hidden his younger sister's cherished doll, Lulu. It took a half hour to find it, and Alice had cried the whole time, it was the worst thing that could happen to a 3 year old.
It was Jake, her husband, who had finally found it. Stuffed in one of his work boots, Alice's brown eyes lit up when he carried it into the room and being the daddy's girl she was, she crawled into Jake's arms and allowed him to tuck her into bed.
Vivian meanwhile, dragged Rafe into his and Shawn's room and put him in his bed.
"Rafe Charles McCawley that was a very naughty thing to do." she scolded.
Rafe's face fell and realized what he had done was wrong, for the time being anyway. He was told no dessert for a week and kissed goodnight. Vivian clicked off the light and met up with Jake in the hallway who handed her baby Lorraine.
"Allie woke her up."
Vivian sighed and took her youngest child into her arms. "Tell me again why we have five children."
"Because you're an excellent mother." he replied and kissed her on the cheek. He then kissed his daughter on the top of the head and said good night.
Vivian sighed heavily, she loved her family, and Lord knows she did, but sometimes she just wished for some time to herself. She looked at Lorraine, whose cherub like face grinned at her with sleepy eyes. She couldn't help but smile and was suddenly reminded how much she loved every one of her children.
She carried Lorraine downstairs and went to the kitchen to warm up a bottle when there was a knock on the door. Shifting Lorraine from one hip to the other she walked back into the living room and then to the front hall where she looked out the window to see Angelica Walton standing there.
"Angie?" she asked as she opened the door, inviting her in.
Angie walked in, and it was then that Vivian noticed her face was stained with tears and her swollen eyes were spilling more out onto her face.
"Angie what is it?"
"Belle, its Belle…" she sobbed. Vivian used her free arm to guide her into the sitting room and sat her down on the sofa. She set Lorraine down on the floor, allowing her to crawl over to her toys in the corner.
"Tell me about Belle." her voice was low and comforting, helping Angie to calm down and finally tell her.
"She had the baby, a little girl…but it wasn't breathing…" she swallowed back more tears and Vivian patted her back. "…then there was so much blood and it just didn't stop and they lost her…" Having gotten it all out Angie began to sob freely again and Vivian pulled her into an embrace.
Oh Belle, she thought, you wanted that baby more than anything, now you're both gone.
Belle and Vivian had been close for as long as their boys were. Rafe and Danny were inseparable, and Vivian usually found that it was either her or Belle that was cleaning cuts and scrapes and making boo boos all better. They had exchanged stories and shared experiences over many glasses of lemonade and found yet another thing in common when both of them discovered they were going to have babies earlier this year.
Lorraine had been born in April and Belle had been there to watch the other children. She had always been such a wonderful friend and Vivian let her emotions get the best of her. She comforted Angie, while she herself was letting her tears flow.
"Where is Danny?" she asked sometime later.
Angie pulled away and wiped her eyes. "He's still asleep, I couldn't wake him."
"It's best that you didn't. He doesn't need to be around all of this…perhaps we should bring him over here. There's an extra bed in Alice and Lorraine's room, I can put Shawn in there so Rafe and Danny can be together."
"You would do that?"
"Of course, Danny is like my own and he's never happier than when he and Rafe are together."
Angie gave her a small smile and sniffed back more tears. "I'll get him I…I just…" she began to cry again and Vivian pulled her back into her arms and comforted the young woman.
For over an hour they sat there; crying, comforting, sobbing…
Vivian's heart went out to Cole, Belle's husband, who not only had lost his wife and daughter, but was now left to raise his young son. She vowed to be there for Danny though, after all with five children, who would notice one more.
Danny had been woken from his slumber by Aunt Angie and his Daddy, who carried Danny's downstairs wrapped in a blanket, while Aunt Angie stayed in his room packing a suitcase.
"Daddy…what's wrong?" he asked, noticing the grief in his father's face.
Cole Walker sat his son down on the couch and put his arm around him. "Your Momma has left us, son."
Danny still didn't quite understand, he was only 6 after all, and looked at his father for more information. Cole hesitated before he spoke, trying to find just the right words to say to him. It's what Belle would have wanted, he thought.
"Momma and your baby sister have gone to heaven to be the angels."
Danny's eyes, though tired, opened wide when he heard this. "Am I going too?"
Danny watched as he daddy struggled to explain to him that no, he wasn't, when Aunt Angie came downstairs and the three of them moved outside to the truck where Danny found himself being placed in Aunt Angie's lap and driven down the road to Rafe's house.
When they arrived Rafe's daddy and momma came out to greet them. Rafe's momma took Danny into her arms and carried him upstairs and into Alice's room, where she laid him down on the extra single bed.
"You can sleep here for tonight, darling. Then tomorrow you and Rafe can share a room."
She then began to tuck him in when Danny asked her if she knew about his Momma and baby sister going to live with the angels.
She nodded her head and pushed away the tears that were coming to her eyes. She whispered a tiny prayer for him and kissed him softly on the forehead and told him to sleep.
"Dream about your Momma." she said and shut the door, leaving the room illuminated by only a dim night light in the corner.
Danny turned over in the bed. The only sound he could hear was the steady breathing of both Alice and Lorraine, who were lost in their own dreams. The rain still pattered lightly outside, but other than that there was nothing. He turned over again pressing his face into the pillows that smelled like Rafe's momma; soap and lilac perfume.
He missed his Momma.
He turned over again and looked out the window. He knew that if Momma was with the angels then he wouldn't see her again for a long time. That's what they said in Sunday school and suddenly he began to cry. He wanted her. He wanted her to hold him and kiss him…
"Danny?"
Danny sat up from his tear stained pillow and saw little Alice sitting up in her bed and looking at him. Her hair was a mass of curls and she looked at the little boy with her eyes wide. "Why are you crying?"
For being 3, she was very perceptive and already had a sensitive spot for others.
"My momma is with the angels and I can't see her no more." Danny cried.
Alice looked sad and climbed out of her bed and walked across the bare floor in her hand-me- down flannel nightgown and climbed into bed with Danny. Just like she had seen her Momma do so many times to people who were sad; she took Danny's hand into her own and laid her head on his shoulder.
"It's okay, my Grammy is with the angels too…I talk to her all the time and she comes to visit me when I'm sleeping."
Danny sniffed and wiped his nose roughly with his hand. "Really?"
She looked up from his shoulder. "Yep. And the angels are very pretty; they wear white nightgowns and roses in their belts. And they always smell good…like church."
Alice's words struck something in Danny and he turned to the little girl next to him and smiled.
She smiled back.
The next morning when Vivian came to wake up the children she found Alice and Danny in bed together, holding tightly to one another's hands. It was such an innocent beautiful sight; she stood in the doorway for the longest time, just looking at the two of them. In times such as this it was hard to believe in happier moments but right before her, there was one.
She thought of Danny's words the night before, about his Momma being with the angels. She smiled when she thought that maybe Danny had an angel of his own, right here on earth.
(Peaking out through one opened eye) Well what did you think? I've never really written from a narrative POV before so let me know if it sucks...please no harsh reviews...if you're gonna be mean do it in a nice way lol. I welcome nice criticism and reviews.
THANKS (muah!)