Cherry (GirlxGirl)

Chapter 9

It was Sunday and Cherie and I were in my room, on the floor, surrounded by boxes and notebooks and random items from the collection of Marie and Felice's things that we had acquired.

We had started working right after breakfast and had yet to stop. It was nearly dinnertime. My mother was in the kitchen, her humming audible from downstairs as she made us both dinner. 

In the day we had gathered loads of information. Me and Cherie both had a spiral notebook and pen, writing notes and recording everything that we found, sharing the interesting parts. 

John Wells and James Cole, husbands of Felice and Maria and the grandfathers of me and Cherie, had both perished of cancer in their 60's, which ran in the male side of both families. Maria's husband, John, had died first of prostate cancer, his best friend James going two years later of stomach cancer. Felice and Maria remained together since, living together until they were in their 70's. There were few diaries from this time. Most of the documentation they kept was from their younger years. When they were both in their 70's, Maria died of a heart attack in her sleep. Felice lived on her own for a few more years, then moved in with us in her 80's. She got Alzheimer's two years before her death, which was only a few weeks before. 

In their youth, the two women lived with their husbands, separate from each other. But the men often were away on business, and they spent as much time together as they could. They frequently wrote letters to one another, and saved a lot of them. Felice especially liked writing in diaries and saved them all, giving us a sizeable look into their life. Maria wrote in diaries, too, but not as often. She had a few in the boxes, dated during the period that they were young and in love. The diaries cut off, for the most part, in the women's early 50's. Felice wrote in a notebook about her feelings, documenting bits of her and Maria's relationship. There was a rush of daily writing towards the end after Maria died, but I refrained from reading more than the beginning because it was so sad. I would finish it later when I was alone and had some tissues.

Maria and John had their son and Cherie's father, Ethan, soon after marriage. Maria was overjoyed to have a child. But she didn't speak of John or his involvement in her life much. She avoided talking about him throughout her diaries. Now that she had an infant, Felice came over her house when she could, which was rare. Maria, unable to leave the house, mainly exchanged letters with Felice during this time.

Felice and James had Helen, my mother, a bit after Ethan was born. Felice, too, was delighted to have a baby and loved her with all her heart. She didn't talk about her husband. Now that both women had young children, they communicated through writing almost exclusively. This is when they traded diaries, too. Despite the distance, their love never wavered and they were always right there beside each other. 

When the children grew older, they saw each other more. Their kids were off in school or on dates, and their husbands were working. So they spent more time with each other in person. They would spend days together, but rarely were able to spend nights together, though they did sometimes. This period of time was fine for them. They were content with the time they had with one another. They spent equal time on their children as they did with each other. They had playdates when they were younger, but as time went on, it was easier for them to keep their family life separate from their lives together, as much as they wanted to be involved with each other's children. 

When they were in their late 40's, their children had grown and moved out, living their own lives. This was a honeymoon period for Felice and Maria. They spent every minute their husbands were away with one another. Their husbands went on frequent "business trips"-it was clear that both men had a series of affairs due to their wives lack of interest towards them- and they spent those nights together. This is where a lot of Felice's art was made. She drew Maria fondly, all the time. Looking back through the portraits and reading entries from this time from both women's diaries, it was clear that this was a wonderful time for them.