“Good morning, Jack.” Joyce nodded at him. “I’m not late today, am I?”
He shook his head, moving into the room to survey the work his employees were doing. He was a large, round man with a pleasant demeanor and a quick hand to help anyone who needed it. Like his employees, the woman who worked for him were treated with a great deal of respect and encouragement. He paid them a decent salary and never tried to withhold any money from them. They did good work, and he liked to reward them for their efforts. “Not at all, Joyce. You just didn’t get here early!”
He grinned at her and she returned his smile, sitting to begin her work. She enjoyed the job and had been saving her money for some time now to do some traveling. She wanted to get out of the small Virginia town that had become her home after coming over from Ireland to New York. Her mother had detested New York and moved them South as soon as she could.
The morning went by quickly, as Joyce had hoped it would. She was pulling on a light shawl and heading out the door before she knew it.
Glade Hill was on the other side of the street and down just a bit from the sewing shop. She stopped on the way and took an apple from a cart, flipping the vendor a coin as she went. He snatched it from the air and grinned at her.
“Thank you, Joyce!” He called out, holding the coin up in the air. She nodded at him and took a big bite from the apple.
When she reached Glade Hill, she pulled open a small white iron gate that surrounded the bottom of the hill and went through. A stone path would lead a winding way up the hill, and she set about going up it, looking to the left and right to see where her aunt had decided to sit. She soon spotted her and left the path to walk over the grass to the blanket Grace had spread out for them to sit on.
“Good day, Joyce!” Grace stood up and approached, her arms spread out for a hug. They met, and Joyce hugged her mother tightly.
“Hello, Auntie!” She greeted her.
“How has your day been at the sewing shop?” They took the few steps back to the blanket and sat down. Joyce made herself comfortable and happily took a small bottle of Coca-Cola out of her aunt’s basket.
“It’s been fine. We’ve gotten a lot of work done. But I’ve been waiting for this picnic, auntie. I’m so glad to be able to see you and talk to you again. I’m glad you’ve come back from visiting.”
Grace nodded. “I must do what I can for our Irish old-timers, Joyce. Visiting them seems to bring them great joy, so I keep doing it.”
“Yes, I know, Grace. You have a very strong sense of loyalty.”
Grace smiled wide. “It is an Irish thing. You possess that quality, too. You just have different things you are loyal to.”
Joyce happily took a turkey and cheese roll from her aunt. “I do? Such as?”
“You are very loyal to your job. When was the last day you didn’t go to work?”
Joyce gave her a look. “If I don’t work, I don’t make any money. How will I save and get ahead then?”
“You are loyal to yourself as well.” Grace chuckled. “You want what you want, and you’re going to get it, are you not?”
“That is my plan. I must get out of this little town.”
“You will miss me?”
“I will.” She leaned forward and put her hand on her mother’s arm. “You are going to be the person I miss the most, auntie. You know that.”
“Your brothers and sister have missed you in the last month or two. You should go visit them.”
Joyce laughed. “Before I leave this place, I will visit them. Until then, they know where I am! And since they have their families now, I would only be intruding if I just went over there. Robert would think I am only there for a meal!”
The women laughed softly.
“I do have something I wanted to show you and discuss with you, Joyce. Something you might want to consider as you think about traveling and leaving here.”
“Oh?”
“Yes.” Grace reached back into her basket and pulled out the newspaper from a larger town some distance from them. It was one of the towns she had visited where they had relatives. They had relatives all over town and all over the state of Virginia, who had migrated down from New York to escape the blistering cold of winter and the crunch as people from around the world flooded into the main streets there.
Grace looked through the paper, snapping it open and folding it so that a particular page was displayed. “Look at what this says here.” She pointed to a small ad in the middle of the page.
Joyce read through it. “Auntie, are you suggesting I travel to the West to become this man’s bride? Why would I want to do that?”