Forget Me Not, Books I, II and III

Picture This

Brookhurst

Fall, 1943

 And that was exactly where she found herself three weeks later. Curled up in a blanket, staring out of her window at Mr. Lockhart's dark empty restaurant across the road, alone with her baby, no husband, and no job. Liza was back home with Ella, and Teddi had left her grandmother, refusing to take her son into the house with the likes of her uncle. She wanted independence. Calvin didn't want her in his apartment alone, but she was not technically alone any more. She had a gurgling little boy named Matthew William Wynne living with her. He was amazing. His eyes shined just like his father's, and his nose—she thought it might one day look like her grandfather's—strong and regal.

Teddi stood up and walked over to his little bassinet. He was sleeping soundly. She had been taking good care of him. She had never really been so good at anything in her life. Her grandmother, still refusing to let Teddi dip into her trust fund, gave her a "gift" of two thousand dollars to celebrate the baby's birth and then added a bit more for the baby to begin his own little trust. Uncle Richard did not like that very much, but he didn't have much say in the matter.

Eight o'clock and she hadn't eaten since morning. During all of this caring for the baby, she sometimes forgot about herself. She didn't mind personally. It was just her stomach that complained some of the time.

Teddi went over to the refrigerator and took out the makings for a ham and cheese sandwich, then removed a bottle of milk. After pouring herself a glass, she topped her sandwich with Swiss cheese and mustard and moved to the little kitchen table to eat alone. She finished off her glass of milk first. She must have really needed it. Then she bit into her sandwich.

"Theodora. Oh, Theodora!" an obnoxious voice called from outside her front door. The owner of said voice was banging loudly and, of course, the baby woke up and began wailing.

Only to shut the frightening knocking up, Teddi went to the door instead of her baby and flung it open. "Hugh Morgan! I have—or had—a sleeping child in here!" She left him standing there and flounced back toward the bassinet. She felt the tension in her shoulders automatically melt away as she scooped up the baby and tried to soothe him.

"Isn't that the sweetest sight a guy ever did see?"

Teddi whispered and cooed to the baby for a bit before looking up. "Hugh, what are you doing here?"

"I have a package for you, but if you don't want it..." He stopped talking and turned toward the door, holding the brown box in the air to taunt her.

"Stop right there, Hugh," she said, rubbing Matthew's back as his cries turned to tiny sniffles.

Hugh turned around with a grin.

"So you do want it?"

"If it's really mine, of course, I want it. The question is—" She paused for a moment as she put the baby gently back down. He wasn't asleep again yet, but he would be there soon. "It's okay," she whispered to Matthew as he opened and closed his eyes. "Mommy's here and the very rude man will be leaving very soon," she said, then stepped quietly away from the baby and faced Hugh. "The question is, what are you doing with a package for me?"

"Can't you just accept a good deed when you see one?"

"Your stealing my mail is a good deed, is it?"

Hugh shrugged. "Your grandmother asked me to bring it to you, if you must know."

"Why didn't she just bring it?"

"She said she wasn't feeling up to it but that you had to have it right away. She was actually kind of crazy about getting it out of the house."

"Why would she be crazy about something like that? And why would she trust you?"