Jean Harnett

Chapter 24: Melancholy

Jean stood in front of the mirror in the bedroom she'd shared with Brenna for as long as she could remember. She loved the soft mauve linen dress and the huge tan picture hat that she wore. A gold and pearl chain was draped around her neck several times, and pearl earrings were clipped onto her ears. She hadn't worked herself up to having her ears pierced yet. So many women were doing that. Maybe this summer.

Jean's eyes traveled down her reflection in the mirror. White heels and short white gloves completed her Easter outfit. How wonderful to be wearing Spring's soft pastels again after the drab winter colors! And how wonderful to be in Canton with her family and their special guest, Craig Martin, for Easter morning church service.

"Jean, are you about ready?" her father called up the open staircase.

"Coming, Daddy!" She grabbed her white string bag with its gold medallion clasp. How coordinated she was!

"And tell your sister that there's some guy waiting for her down here."

Jean laughed. "All right, Daddy. Brenna's helping Mother." Jean stepped into her parents' bedroom.

"Look, Jean," Brenna said. "Don't you think the dress looks fine on Mother?"

Jean looked enviously at both of their frothy Junior Petite fashions and wished for the five-millionth time that she hadn't inherited her father's height and sturdy frame. Junior Petite fashions never looked quite right on her, even if Junior High.

"Brenna's right, Mother. You look beautiful. Dad's eye won't stray with you around, that's for certain."

"I just can't seem to get these pleats to lie right," Louise said, tugging at the dress.

"Just act like the beautiful person you are, and nobody will notice the pleats."

"You sound like your father, Brenna. You have his logic." She studied Brenna's dress. "Your pleats are lying nicely."

Brenna and Jean exchanged glances. Both sisters knew that Louise's problem was her spreading figure, but neither wanted to mention it.

"Here, Mother, let's see what the hat looks like with the dress."

"Thanks, Jean." Louise placed the bonnet on her dark hair, and her daughters stood back in admiration. Louise's small frame was covered with a layer of squishy fat which softened her features. If she were smaller, she'd be a fragile doll, but now she was a cuddly mom. Her husband loved her gentle ways and her ability to be always flustered. And while Brenna was like their quiet, orderly dad in temperament; Jean was a duplicate of their mother. But in build, Brenna copied Louise's small frame and dark complexion while Jean reflected Frank's larger frame and lighter features.

"Ready, ladies?" Jean asked. "Let's present the Harnett family annual Easter parade for our admirer. But, of course, this year we will present it for Craig, too."

Together, the three Harnett women descended the open stairway and smiled at the two men looking up at them in admiration.

"Well, look at that," Frank Harnett exclaimed as he stood and gave them a wolf whistle. 'Now, Craig, if a man was to see a sight like that and then be struck blind, he'd be a happy man."

"Oh, you tease," Louise said as she patted her husband's arm. "You're full of the blarney today."

"I have a reason to be. It's not every man who gets to escort such a pretty colleen to church."

"I think we have the wrong holiday, but I'll forgive you," Louise said as she took his arm.

"Hello, Craig."

"You look beautiful, Brenna."

Jean smiled at the two couples and, although they were some of the people she loved the most in the world, she suddenly felt alone. They loved her, too, but they had each other. And she had no one to call her own.