aphrodites-anus:
Pikesville, Maryland
1927
Jonathan laughed at a joke Wilford told him. “Well that’s quite wild, but don’t be making jokes like that in front of the boss!”
“Well, that’s why I told it before I went in!”
Jonathan chuckled. “You are the most entertaining man in the office, WIlford.”
Wilford smirks and tips his hat. “Kind of you to say. Now, I am going into the office and I will behave.”
“Oh you do that. I will be coming in soon.”
Jonathan wiped the crumbs off his lap. He had purchased breakfast from a bakery nearby, but chose to sit and eat it outside instead of at his desk. It was a beautiful spring day and everything was coming alive. He was distracted by their secretary Mary hurrying toward him at a fast shuffle.
“Goodness, Marybelle, what is the rush? Emergency typing?”
She swatted at him. “No, you rascal, I have something serious to tell you.”
“Well what is it?”
She looked around. “Not here. When you get settled, call me into your office ok?”
Jonathan looked bewildered. “Copy, darlin. I’ll make my way in.”
Mary adjusted her skirts. “Thank you.” And then marched inside.
Jonathan went to his office and opened a window. He went through his planner, and then set to writing a letter. “Mary? Darlin’ could you come in here please?” He called out through the open door.
The telephone rang. “One moment please.” Jonathan waited. He soon heard her heels on the wood floor.
“Well what is it?”
She closed the door and a smiled bloomed on her face. “I have your answer to your prayers.”
Jonathan stared at her.
She folded her skirt under her and sat down at the chair opposite his desk. “I’m in the family way,” she whispered.
Jonathan’s eyes went wide. “Marybelle, you aren’t–!”
She noticed the open window and got up to shut it. “I am. Very much am. Doctor thinks it’s over a month now.”
“Well I – congratulations?” Jonathan tilted his head. A spike of jealousy went through him but he tried to be cordial.
“I want you and Samuel to have it.”
Jonathan dropped his pen and gasped. “Marybelle! Did you – did you get pregnant just for-”
She waved her hands in front of him. “No, no. I saw a suitor back in March. Things …well, you know. When I found out I was pregnant, I told him. He gave me a few dollars, told me to do the right thing, and vanished.” Her cheeks turned red.
“What a bastard,” Jonathan murmured.
“He is,” she said. She pushed a tear out of her eye. “He didn’t care about me or the baby. He would rather me die on a back alley abortion table than burden him with responsibility.”
Jonathan reached out to caressed her arm. “My apologies. Being a woman isn’t easy in the city.”
She nodded. “Part of me wishes I stayed in Maine, but part of me knows this is what happens to city girls who let their emotions make choices for them. Which is why I want to make some good come out of this. Please, won’t you and Samuel at least think about it?”
“Mary…”
“ I may be fired once i start showing, being unmarried and all, so you may only have one or two months left to make a decision.”
“I won’t let that happen!”
Mary smiled. “You’re sweet, Jonathan. I would have gone after you if…”
Jonathan gave a crooked smile. “If you haven’t caught me and Samuel being sweet at the Christmas party last year?”
“That, yes,” she chuckled girlishly.
“I am glad it was you that caught us. Oh, I shouldn’t have drank so much wine…I was such a fool.”
Mary swatted him. “We all drank too much. Did I ever tell you I was coming out in the garden to vomit?”
Jonathan burst out laughing. “I did not! That’s not very ladylike.”
“No it isn’t, but you know, city girls.”
They shared a chuckle.
Jonathan grew quiet. He glanced at his mostly blank letter and then spoke agian.
“Mary…this is, erm, quite something, this gift you want to give us. Honestly it’s just now sinking in what you told me. I almost don’t want it be real, because the thought of having the idea taken from me is almost too painful. It’s all Samuel wants is to be a father.”
Mary smiled. “The baby will grow with our hope. I know you’ll raise it well. And I’ll be nearby.”
“Yes. Oh Mary…” Jonathan took his hands in her own. “Bless you. Thank you.”
“Oh, it makes me so happy you agree. So very happy.” She pulled her hand out of Jonathan’s so she could wipe away from tears. Jonathan gave her his hankie.
“Thank you.”
“Of course. Have you seen a physician?”
“Yes. That’s how I knew I was a month.”
”Oh right.”
”I have to go buy some special vitamins, but I’m going to wait until the weekend when I have to go pay my electricity bill. It’s on the other side of town and I can get the vitamins at the pharmacy there without anyone noticing.”
“You are so determined. I hope this baby will be fierce and headstrong like you.”
Mary swallowed. “Please don’t make me cry at work.”
Jonathan chuckled. “I am so sorry. But I am so grateful. I cannot wait to tell Samuel when I come home tonight. I do wish I could phone him, but I don’t want to pull him away from work at the factory. We may need the money, it looks like.”
Mary stood and smiled. “Always sensible. I want a full report on his response the next day.”
“You will get it, absolutely. May I call you at home?”
Mary wrote down her number. “It’s a boarding house, but just ask for me and the matron will find me.”
Jonathan pocketed it. “Thank you. I will.”
“Now, Mr. Greyson, do you need any other reports typed this afternoon?”
Jonathan chuffed. “No, Mary that’ll be all. If anyone asks why your eyes are red, tell them I scolded you on typos.”
“Oh you couldn’t scold me if I set the typewriter on fire!”
“…Can you do that?”
Mary left the room laughing and went back to her desk at the front. Jonathan sat in his chair for a while and then went to open the window again. He glanced out at the buds in the trees, the pretty colors erupting in the flower beds. Everything was coming alive. Oh, it would be so hard to hold in this joyous news for the whole work day. Jonathan spent a good twenty minutes thinking how to tell Samuel before reluctantly going back to work. Oh, wow, a baby of their own! How was he supposed to focus on that letter now??
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Captions are fictional. Gettin’ vintage in here.
