𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚜 - 𝚋𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚢 𝚋𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚜

sweet caroline

Love Grows (Where my Rosemary Goes)
-Edison Lighthouse

June 1942

The hot summer sun beat down on Caroline as she moved the last of her stuff into her father's blue Cadillac sitting in the driveway of their modest home. Cara lived with her father, John Rogers, her stepmother, Jane, and her younger siblings, Dorothy and Darren.

John was a rather skinny man with tan skin and a long face. His wrinkles were deep set into his forehead and his smile lines, but he had the kindest smile. Jane was a petite woman, standing at a shocking 5'0, and had short blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her siblings looked just like Jane with brown hair.

Cara was quite a bit older than her siblings though, as she was 22 and her siblings were 9 and 7. Cara's mother, Dorothy passed away when she was 8 and her father remarried a few years later, honoring his late wife by naming his new baby after her. Cara looked just like her mother. She had tan skin with honey blonde hair and warm brown eyes. Freckles dusted over her nose and cheeks, and she was rather petite.

Finally done moving the stuff she knew she could take with her, Cara stopped to look at her now bare bed. The last 22 years of her life packed up into a trunk and a few bags sitting outside waiting for her. The only proof of life in the room was Dorothy's stuff on the left side. Smoothing out the baby blue sheets, she picked up a brown teddy bear and walked out to find her little sister.

"Dorothy Jane?" Cara walked through the hall, not able to find the scrawny brunette child. Soon enough, she found her sitting on the back steps crying. "Are you alright?" Dorothy wouldn't look her sister in the eye.

"You're leaving me." A sniffle came from behind the curtain of brown hair she was hiding her face under. Cara held the bottom of her skirt and took a seat next to her.

"I am not leaving you. I will be back! I just want to go out on my own. Surely you understand?" Cara wrapped her arm around her sister's back and pulled her close. "I brought you something."

Dorothy stopped crying for a second to look up into her sister's eyes. Cara looked away to pull the teddy bear close to her, making Dorothy's eyes light up at the sight.

"I want you to have him. So if you ever miss me, you can have him by your side. I'll write to you as soon as I can." Cara pushed the bear into her sister's arms. Her tears had stopped coming down.

"Cara, honey?" Her father's voice pulled the two from their moment, making them look behind them. "It's almost time." She nodded, kissing Dorothy's hair before getting up to find her brother. She quickly found the frail boy waiting with his mother by the car.

"Hey kid," Cara's words made him turn to face her. "I will write to you as soon as I can, I want to know everything about your new school." She pulled him into a tight hug and kissed his head before giving Dorothy another hug and walking up to Jane. The bony woman wrapped her arms around Cara tightly before pulling back and putting her hands on Cara's cheeks. A tear slid down her cheek as she looked at the girl she practically saw as her daughter.

"I'm so excited for you. New York City is a wonderful, wild place and you will fit in perfectly, my dear. You never let go of your free spirit, you embrace it. I'm so proud of you." Emotion hit Cara like a bus as tears built up and her lip quivered at Jane's kind words. She kissed her on the cheek before Jane moved close to her ear. "I know your father would never approve, but I know you dream of being somebody, and you do whatever you damn well please. Please follow your dreams no matter what." Pulling back, Jane handed her a blue bag with a pink ribbon on it.

"Don't open it until you settle into your room at Steve's." Jane gave her one last wink before she smiled through her tears at her siblings and got in the passenger side of the car, her father in the driver's seat. They both sat in silence, not yet ready to say goodbye. the soft lyrics of Shoo Shoo baby played through the radio as Cara focused her gaze on the road ahead of them.

The blue Cadillac pulled into the train station much too soon. People moved quickly around the two as Cara walked next to her father to her train, her trunk in his hands and the bag in hers.

"Station 10 train to New York City boarding now!" The worker shouted through the busy walking area and Cara felt a tear slip down her cheek. This is it. John turned to look at his daughter and gave her a small smile.

"You got your train ticket?" He asked her, making her rummage through her purse to pull the ticket out. She bit her lip, not ready to let go. Cara instantly wrapped her dad in a bear hug, his arms immediately wrapping around her shoulders. The girl sobbed freely. A small tear even slid down her father's face, making her cry even harder. Cara forced herself to pull it together.

"I'll miss you." She sniffled as she pulled away from his shoulder, looking him in the eye.

"You live your life, sweetheart. Enjoy yourself, make friends, and have fun. The city is the perfect place for you. I will miss you dearly, but I want you to enjoy your life. I love you, sweetheart." He kissed her forehead before helping her pack her trunk in an empty compartment and sharing one last hug before finally parting ways. Cara took a seat on the window side of the compartment and kicked her feet up, preparing for the twelve hour train ride. She propped her book in front of her and focused on the pages of Emma by Jane Austen, reading for a few hours, her eyes slowly drifting closed the more the sun set outside of the window.

"Miss?" Cara woke up to a gentle hand patting on her shoulder. She opened her eyes to find a plump older woman with wiry brown hair pinned into a bun looking her in the eye. "The train is unloading." Cara's eyes shot open at the mention that they were at their destination. The woman nodded at her then walked out of the room. Cara looked at her watch to see the time read as 7:30 in the morning. She was supposed to meet Steve, her cousin, at 8:00. Cara was renting out his mothers room, since he was struggling to pay his rent without having anyone else there. Steve told her that his friend James would be over some times, but he was serving in the army so he would be in and out every few months.

Cara sat doe eyed and giddy on the bench of the train station with her trunk and bag next to her. She smoothed out her yellow skirt once again and tried to fix the sleeves of her white blouse. Her hair was pinned into a low bun and a small yellow ribbon held it together. Cara knew her face was probably puffy from the amount of tears she shed the day before, but she was too excited to care.

"Caroline?" Cara turned her body to find Steve's small frame standing beside her. She smiled at him, making him smile back.

"Cara is fine!" Cara had not seen Steve for a good five years, but the boy had not grown very much since. He was only a few inches taller than her and they probably weighed the same if they looked.

Steve helped her carry her trunk out to the road where he called a taxi to bring them to his apartment. The taxi ride was rather awkward, for the driver spoke in a very heavy Spanish accent and it was hard to understand what he was saying. The car hugged the carb when it parked and they lugged the trunk up to the front door of a small apartment, her bags around her shoulder. Steve fumbled for the keys before finding the right one and opening the door to a simple apartment. The living area sat close to the entryway and a small kitchen was to the right, with a 4 seater table in the back. Three doors sat to the left of the area, one open with a clear view of a tiled bathroom, and the other two closed.

"The uh door to the left is yours. It doesn't have much, except for a few of my mother's things. I didn't have it in me to move them." Steve scratched the back of his neck, nervous about his new roommate. Cara smiled at him before grabbing her stuff.

"That's alright. I bet she had great taste." Pulling open the door, Cara found a simple room with a queen bed on the left, 2 nightstands, a small vanity with a mirror, and a wardrobe on the right next to the door. 2 big windows sat right in front of her, letting the morning sun come through perfectly. Cara smiled big, before setting her stuff down and running to the curtains, quickly pulling them open to find a view of the busy streets and tall buildings in the distance. A fire escape sat right in front of her, allowing her to crawl out the huge window, and taking a seat on the steps. Cara took a deep breath and smiled, letting herself lay back on the steps behind her and finally enjoy her new found freedom.

This is her new life.