Secrets, part ten

Leta was having her weekly lunch with her sister-in-law and best friend Florence, and after several meetings and conversations, Florence had begun to question her inconsistent behavior. One moment Leta was as happy as a schoolgirl in spring the next she was as withdrawn and noncommunicative as a young woman in adolescence. Florence had already noted that Leta’s behavior was similar to a young woman’s in love, which seemed to be uncharacteristic considering Leta had been expressing unhappiness in her marriage with Ora.

In only a few seconds, Leta’s countenance went from excitement to gloomy.

 “What is it?” Florence questioned.

“What?”

“You became very sad all of a sudden.”

“Really? I don’t know why.”

Then their server arrived, allowing Leta to change the subject. Florence accepted Leta’s decision but continued to search in Leta’s words and expressions for hidden information. When they finished their meal and parted, Florence made one more attempt to coax Leta into revelation of the basis of the emotional inconsistency, but Leta ignored it and simply sent a loving greeting to her brother and nieces.

From that moment, Leta realized that she must be more guarded with her emotions. While she had not even started talking with her much missed Albert until after she had formally separated with Ralph, she was more than socially involved with Leech and simultaneously very much married to Ora.

Although she had scheduled a lunch date with Leech for the following day, Leta chose to remain at home instead. This was not a definitive decision for her to make. In fact, she felt so vexed by Florence’s observations that she spent the afternoon, evening and much of a restless night anxiously reviewing her situation and alternating between continuing her relationship with Leech and abandoning her attachment altogether. The only time she felt happy in her life occurred when she was with Leech, but when she wasn’t with him, she struggled with a combination of guilt and eagerness to see him again.

Perhaps sensing her distress, Ora awoke early in the morning with her. While she was dressing, he made the coffee and had a steaming cup waiting for her. She cooked breakfast, of course, but he assisted in the kitchen and chatted with a liveliness that she had not experienced in a long time. When the children made their way to the breakfast table, he greeted them with a big smile, complimented her cooking to them and then handed each of them a dollar. Vivian accepted with a quiet thank you, but Dale, who had been eyeing a set of adventure novels was ecstatic and begged his mother if he could stop at Woolworth’s on his way home from school to purchase several.

“You may spend fifty cents,” Leta stated. “The rest I want you to save. Vivian, you, too.”

Dale started to protest, but Ora interjected firmly, “You heard your mother.”

Rather than obtain the desired effect of humble obedience, Ora’s remark caused Dale’s face to redden with fury. Leta cleared her throat quickly. She had recently had long conversations with both of her children, developing with them several calm responses to any of their stepfather’s vicious remarks or demands.

“Yes, Ma,” Dale said grudgingly.

A short time later, Leta was alone. She set herself to washing the breakfast dishes and then her housework directly. She needed to keep busy and follow a strict schedule in order to distract her from the lure to meet Mr. Hoose for lunch as planned. The time passed slowly, and in spite of her best efforts, she looked at the clock every ten or fifteen minutes. After she washed the coffee percolator, she made another pot and drank continually all morning. This only intensified her tremulous movements.

At twelve twenty-five, five minutes before she had planned to meet Leech for lunch, she turned away from the clock completely. She made herself a chicken sandwich for lunch, poured herself the last cup of coffee and tried to read the newspaper. The sounds in the quiet room were thunderous, from the clock’s steady ticking and the rattle of the breeze on the kitchen window to her own chewing. Each sip of coffee reverberated throughout the kitchen.

To be continued.