Ellie DeWitt Bukater: Part II

Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Ellie

The rest of the weekend had passed and Monday evening had come. For now, it was just me and Sarah with the kids while Tommy and John were out. I knew Tommy was giving one last attempt with the job search while John had a late meeting with a client.

"Thomas has been out for quite awhile hasn't he?" Sarah inquired from the living room floor, surrounded by her children with practically every toy you could think of. I lifted my head up from the dishes I was finishing up from dinner, making eye contact through the small archway above the kitchen sink.

"Well this will be the last day he'll be looking for a job. I'm sure he's making it last for as long as he can," I let slip. Sarah looked perplexed.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say I have the feeling when he gets home, he'll be willing to take that offer from John."

"You finally led the horse to water," she laughed in disbelief, "How did you talk him into that one?"

"A lot of persuasion, but I think he decided to finally listen to me at the right time," I shrugged, taking a seat next to her on the floor. James was occupied in an endless loop of stacking and knocking down block towers. Lizzie was surrounded by dolls of various hair colors and sizes. Grabbing one made from yarn with yellow, straw like hair and a purple dress, she forcefully shoved it in my hand.

"Here!" She smiled gleefully.

"Oh thank you," I smiled warmly, "She's lovely."

"Her name is Jane. It's her bedtime," she brought my attention to her wooden dollhouse, "That's her home, her bed is in there."

"Ah, I see. Shall we tuck her in?"

Lizzie nodded, her golden curls bouncing.

"It's coming up on your bedtime too, Lizzie," Sarah stated, "You and Ellie can tuck Jane in and then we have to get you and your brother off to bed."

"But I'm not tired, mama," Lizzie pouted.

"You've had a busy day, you'll fall asleep as soon as you hit the sheets," she ruffled her hair.

Any hopes of getting the kids down to bed shortly were dashed when Tommy swung the door open with a huge smile on his face.

"El, start packing your bags, we're out of here!" He practically picked me up off the floor, swinging me around before kissing me, not caring about his aunt and cousins in the room.

"What are you talking about?" I laughed, confused.

"I got a job!"

I exchanged glances with Sarah, who looked equally confused.

"I thought you were going to take John's offer."

"I told you to give me one more day, didn't I?" He seemed so eager, so proud of himself, "It's a steel mill job. I hit it off with the manager, after telling him about Titanic of all things. He wanted to know my experience, and he wants me to oversee some of the lines. Better than a line worker position, but not a supervisor role. He says I could easily move up in time."

"Do you believe that?" I knew these jobs were dangerous and I certainly did not want him to be taken advantage of.

"I think so," he shrugged, "We'll find that out in time. But El, there's housing. We could have our own place."

"What, is living here so bad?" Sarah jumped in the conversation. Tommy smiled sheepishly.

"Of course not, Sarah, it's more than comfortable. But we've been here for five months, I think we've been in your hair long enough."