Author's Chapter Notes:
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Gabriel was the last one to turn himself in for the night and he slept on one of the plush love seats in the sitting room of Dorothy’s suite. Salomi stayed in Vernon’s arms until she fell asleep talking to him. He fell asleep holding her while David felt it was best to sleep in the bed next to them and not near Dorothy. He didn’t know how she felt about their recent realization. They all slept soundly and Dorothy was the first to wake. She immediately called for breakfast to be sent to the room and the morning paper. When the breakfast cart came in, she grabbed for the newspaper first. On the front page was a headline that said,”COUNTERFEITER JAILED FOR LIFE”. She sighed with relief. The paper also talked about the film, the premiere and the arrest of Morietti and his men.
The smell of sausages was what woke up Gabriel and he went straight to the cart and began to eat. Dorothy laughed,”Well good morning”
“Morning”he said as he stuffed his face, he glanced at the paper and then stopped.”Thank God…guess I'm free”
“I guess you are. Now I'm offended that you had to resort to organized crime for monetary purposes. I thought that I paid you enough at the theater-“
“No Dorothy, please believe me its not like that at all”Gabriel explained but then Dorothy smiled.
“I'm just being silly Gabriel”she said as she hugged him.”I know you didn’t really have a choice in it and I know you wanted to tell someone but didn’t feel it was right. I'm just glad you are alive and well and I'm glad that you saved Salomi as well. If it weren’t for you….”she said and stopped,”You’re a good man”she said as she hugged him tightly
“Thank you Dorothy”he said to her. They then ate together in silence for a few moments as he read the paper,”So what are we going to do about the suitcase?”he asked her.
“I'm going to get rid of it. That’s what I intended to do last night I just didn’t really think it through. I could throw it in the Hudson…I just don’t want to have anything to do with it anymore”
“You aren't going to keep the money?”Gabriel asked her
She shook her head,”Not to be cavalier but I feel that I;m too good for that money. It isn’t mine for the taking anyway. I think Vernon or Salomi should have it but it needs to be put in the bank if they decide to keep it. But its counterfeit. Its all fake, the papers say that the president is trying to pass a new $5 bill so that money cant be used”she sighed.”I don’t know”
Just then Vernon and David walked into the room. They said their good mornings and they made their plates. They talked about what was in the paper and they were all pleased. It seemed that the nightmare was finally over.
“Is Salomi still asleep?”Dorothy asked Vernon
“No. She had a nightmare about the Titanic. I guess having me back brought back the memories. She cant sleep, shes still in shock. I'm going to see if shes going to try to eat something”he said as he made a plate for her
Dorothy sighed. She remembered the nightmares that they both used to have 2 years ago when they got back to New York. Salomi’s lasted for months. She would hate for them to come back and have her go through that turmoil all over again. Vernon took the plate into the adjoining room. They all ate together but Salomi never joined them.
Once Dorothy was done, she took a bath and then went to the front desk to wire Ruth to see if she was ok, Maisy’s to see how last night went if there was a go at all and the other stars in the film to see if they made it out of the premiere safely. Vernon did the same thing and wired Abby to tell her that everyone was alright. David left early since he got a wire from his attorney about the happenings at the premiere and the press was all over it. Gabriel used that time to bathe as well. He got dressed and walked back into Dorothy’s suite when a door opened and there was Salomi, wearing her gown from the night before. Her hair was disheveled, she looked like she didn’t sleep well and she was a little pale but she was still so beautiful to him.
“Hey you”he said to her
“Hey you”she repeated with a small smile
“You alright?”he asked her
“I honestly don’t know”she said as tears came to her eyes. He wanted to run to her and comfort her but didn’t know how to act around her anymore. Did she still love him? Can they ever be the same again? “Gabriel? Can you forgive me?”she asked him
He stared at her in shock.”Forgive you? Of course but what for?”he asked her
“For being a stupid little girl. All along I thought that you were just trying to take advantage of me when you have just been protecting me. I flirt with older men in front of you to piss you off and because I'm still searching for a man like my father. But I know that he is priceless and he isn’t like anyone I know right now. No one can take his place.”
“But Lomi I have been stupid too-“
“I love you Gabriel”she interrupted him.”I always will. And I know that no one can take the place of my father but I'm still…young”she struggled to say,”Ive been in a rush to grow up, to forget this childhood half filled with no mother and the other half without a father. But I still need to be held, to be told that everything is going to be alright. To be protected. That’s what you have been, that’s what you have always been. Can we go back? Can we….be a we again?”she asked and then laughed,”That must sound stupid doesn’t it?”she asked and as she finished the sentence he came to her and kissed her passionately and she got her answer. It wasn’t stupid at all, he wanted the same thing. And she never could have been happier.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
With Vernon back in her life and Gabriel as well, Salomi was soon normal herself. She never left Dorothy’s side but did visit Abby and Vernon during the weekends to help Abby take care of the kids as she struggled through her pregnancy. She had gotten sick more during this pregnancy; they all feared that it would be fatal but Dr. Livingstone still did check ups on her and she was fine, but needed to slow down.
As with the suitcase, they all decided to use the money for good. They gave half of it as an anonymous donation for Titanic survivors that were still struggling. The rest Vernon put in the bank, they threw the empty suitcase into the Hudson and after that it felt that a huge weight was lifted from their shoulders. However a few months later, a war started overseas after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife. It was all the papers could talk about and everyone in America watched, as Europe became a huge battlefield. Thank God America was staying out of it…
After months of agonizing, Dorothy finally accepted David’s invitation to be in another film. With the money paid from her last film, she was able to fix up Maisy’s and hire more workers and performers. Now Ruth, Salomi and Gabriel had more help with the club. She felt that it was in good hands for the next month and a half of filming.
On July 30th, 1916 an ammunition supplies plant in Jersey City was attacked by the Germans. The attacks were so bad that the Statue of Liberty was damaged, windows in lower Manhattan were shattered and the Brooklyn Bridge shook. On January 11th, 1917 another plant was destroyed. Everyone in Manhattan watched as the plant burned to the ground. A few months after Salomi’s 17th birthday, America entered the Great War allying against the Germans. Days after the president made the decision, thousands of American men volunteered. Gabriel considered it but decided against it when an event occurred that was much more important to him than the war.
Gabriel turned the key into the lock of Dorothy’s apartment and walked in. He was going to surprise Salomi by taking her out to breakfast.”Hey Lomi? You decent?”he asked and then laughed as he walked toward the bedroom,”Well why should that matter?”he said and then he heard vomiting. He walked toward the bathroom and saw Salomi clutching the sink.”Baby? Whats wrong?”he asked as he ran to her.
“Don’t…”she said weakly,”You don’t want to be near me”she said to him as she sat on the floor. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths. Then she opened them and ran some water in the sink to clear it out,”I'm fine”
“I don’t think you are”Gabriel said as he came up to her and put his hand to her forehead.”You are a little warm there”
“Its not a cold if that’s what you are thinking. Its May. Its getting hot outside”
“You can still have a cold in May. Believe me, I have learned that the hard way”he said,”What you need to do is lay down. I will go stop by the store, get you some soup, bread and fresh water. You should be fine in no time”he said to her as he put her arms around her.
“I'm not hungry”she said
“Well if you are not hungry now, you are going to be. Looks like you threw up everything you ate yesterday”Gabriel said concerned.
Salomi sighed,”Gabe I don’t think its just a cold”
“Well what do you think it is? Did you eat something bad? Or something out of the ordinary the past few days? You have been working a lot at Maisy’s. Maybe you need to slow down-“
“I'm 17…not 70…I don’t need to slow down-“she interrupted angrily
“Lomi…I'm just trying to help-“
“I think you’ve done enough”she said and then sighed as she slowly sat down on the bed.”I have symptoms…the same symptoms…”she said
“Symptoms? Ok…the same symptoms of what?”he asked her
“Fatigue, sore breasts, not being hungry or wanting to eat the same food that I usually eat….morning sickness…”she said.But Gabriel just stood there, clueless.”Gabriel, I'm pregnant”
He stared at her wide eyed,”What?”
“I'm pregnant. We…are pregnant”she said to him.
“How do you know this?”
“Abby has been schooling me on symptoms. I have all of them. I'm not a virgin.”
“Does she know?”
“No…no one knows. Except us”she said to him and looked down. Tears came to her eyes,”I'm so sorry”
“Sorry?”he asked her as he knelt in front of her,”What is there to be sorry for?”
“You are young too. 20. You wanna live your life, you don’t want to be tied down to some teenager with a baby”
“Salomi. Ive always wanted to be tied down to you. I mean…I don’t feel tied down at all. Not in a bad way. Baby, we did this together and we are going to get through this together”he said as he got happier. He was now getting over the shock and seeing the reality of the situation. He was going to be a father. Salomi, the most beautiful girl in the world, was carrying his child.He hugged her close to him as tears of joy ran down his face,”Oh baby, I love you. I love you so much. Thank you”
“Thank you?”she asked
“You are giving me the best gift that anyone could ask for”he said as he kissed her stomach through her dress.”Wow, my baby is alive in there?”
“So it seems”Salomi said with a smile. She was so scared to tell him. She has been feeling sick for days now and she never had the courage. Now she didn’t know what the hell she was waiting for anyway.”I'm so glad that you aren't upset. I thought you would be”
“Why?”
“Because…you want to live your life. You want to be a performer, make lots of money. Now I'm having your child. The child is going to be eating up all the money you…we have. You have your whole life ahead of you-“
“Everyone's got their whole life ahead of them Salomi. Even you. Don’t think that this baby is going to ruin or stop my life from going the way I want it to. It may change a lot of things but it will be changes for the better. It will make our lives together so much more meaningful and brand new”he said and then kissed her long and hard. Then when they pulled apart he said,”Marry me”
“What?”
“Marry me. We are having a child together, we are in love. Marry me”
“No”she said
“Wait….what?”
“I don’t want to get married just because I'm having your child”
“Its not. Ive always wanted to marry you. Even before the baby-“
“Gabriel, I love you. I really do. But lets do one thing at a time-“
“But…that means you will be having a child out of wedlock…do you want to go through that?”
“I think giving birth to a child married or not will be just the same. Painful”she said and then stopped. What if she died giving birth like her mother had?
“What?”Gabriel asked her as he slowly saw her panic.”Are you ok? Baby you look pale”
“I don’t want to die”she said in a scared whisper.
“Salomi, what are you talking about? You are not going to…”then he realized her fear. He sighed and hugged her close to him,”Your mother had complications, yes, but that doesn’t mean that you will. We can see the same doctor as Abby. He has done wonders for her right?”he said to her as he stroked her hair
“I'm scared Gabriel. I'm really scared. I don’t know if I can do this”
“Yes you can baby. You know why? Because I'm here. Dorothy is here, Abby is here, Vernon is here. Everyone is here to help and make sure that you will be alright”
“I don’t know if I'm ready to tell them”
“Alright, we will tell everyone when you are ready. But we cant wait too long, they will start to notice”he said and smiled but she didn’t. He sighed, she was really scared about this. She sighed as she laid down on the bed and he laid next to her, holding her.
“You know what my worst fear is?”she asked him. He shook his head,”It used to be boats. I mean that’s probably my second worst but my ultimate….my number one… is death. I don’t want to-“
“Death is not an option for you. Not right now. Not anytime soon, don’t think about it. You will stress yourself out and it wont be good for either of you”he said. “You need to just relax. Be extra careful. Abby can be your midwife since she has 3 healthy children of her own. We can both take turns in learning how to take care of children by helping with hers. You may need to stop working at Maisy’s and just focus on graduating. No more sneaking whiskey for you alright?”he said to her and she nodded.
She yawned,”I'm scared Gabriel. I'm going to need your help and I'm going to need a lot of it”
“That’s what I'm here for baby. That’s what I'm here for. I'm never going to leave your side. Not for anything”he said
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
About a week later was when Salomi was ready to tell everyone the news. Dorothy, Abby, Vernon and Ruth were all happy for her but they all insisted that she and Gabriel get married. But she refused. She wanted to get married strictly based on love, not because a baby was on the way. They also were weary as well since she was so young. Vernon also had the same fear as Salomi had, what if the birth complications were hereditary? It could be possible and he made many appointments with Dr. Livingstone to keep track of Salomi’s condition. The baby was very healthy and the due date was set for January 20th, 1918. Which was a coincidence in itself since it was 5 days before Salomi’s 18th birthday and 10 days before Gabriel’s 21st.
The war got worse and more men signed up. The death toll was getting very vicious which led to more men signing up. Gabriel decided against it because he didn’t want to leave Salomi during this time. He also didn’t want to miss the birth of his first child. There were so many things that needed to be done. But some other people had different opinions.
Abby had just tucked in all three children when she heard the door open. She smiled and left the room and saw Vernon. He looked very tired. She then realized the time, he was always home before she tucked the children in. What was he doing? She walked up to him and gave him a hug. “What happened at the shop? Why are you home so late?”she asked as she ushered him into the kitchen and prepared some stew for him.
“Nothing really. As you know, Johnson left for the war last week so there's a spot that we all need to fill. We just realized how much of a good worker he is because we were all running around like a chicken with its head cut off”he said wearily
“Well you do cut chickens heads off for a living. It is a butchers shop after all”she said with a smile. She then looked at him and noticed a different expression, he wasn’t just tired. Something was wrong,”Vern, whats wrong?”
He looked at her and then said,”Abby, can you sit down?”he asked her. She nodded and sat down next to him. She was a little scared now, whatever it was, it was serious. “Ive been doing a lot of reading on this war and I'm glad that we aren't just standing by while other countries that have helped us before duke it out for their freedom. After this whole organized crime business, I want to actually do something good for our country. Abby, I want to volunteer. I want to help. I want to fight”he said as he took her hand
Abby stared at him blankly. She couldn’t comprehend what he just said. He wanted to fight? He wanted to leave her? She then hugged him close and started to cry. Not knowing what to say.
*__________________________*