Six Years From Now

Part Six: Hugo

"I, uh, yes!" Winnie said. "I don't want him to know."
"Right. Well, I'll help you avoid him," Katherine said with a smile. "But not forever."
Not forever. She couldn't avoid him forever.
"Thank you," Winnie said. At least now she had a cover.
"Come on," Katherine said. "Let's have a picnic in Central Park."
Winnie carefully evaded Jesse for two weeks. She never went to the boarding house and always turned the other way when she saw him on the streets. She felt horrible every time she saw the disappointed look on his face. The only things that comforted her were Hugo's letters.
One day she was reading the latest one when a knock came on the door.
"A caller for you, ma'am," the maid said when she was told to enter. "I left him in the parlor."
"Him?" Did one of the newsies come visit her?
Panic seized her. Did Jesse come?
Well, she couldn't just cower in her room. She went down the stairs.
The parlor door was halfway open, and Winnie could just see a shiny black boot. None of the newsies, then, including Jesse.
The who was it?
She pushed open the door.
"Winnie!" Hugo exclaimed.
"You- you're here!" She ran to give him a hug. "Why on earth..?"
"I decided to surprise you," Hugo said. "I could tell from your letters you were having a hard time."
"Oh! Not really. Katherine's been wonderful. But... there's a problem."
"What is it?"
She bit her lip. "I can't say."
"How am I supposed to help if you won't tell me? Besides, I'm a detective. I'll figure it out eventually."
"You'd never guess this."
"Wouldn't I?"
Winnie told him everything. Even the parts she swore never to tell. Even if it wasn't fair to share secrets that weren't her own, she realized that she trusted Hugo with anything.
When she finished, he was quiet. "So you love him," he stated finally.
"No! Well- yes. But I don't..." She couldn't figure out what to say.
"No, it's okay." His tone suggested that he thought otherwise.
"What am I going to do?"
"Winnie, you can't avoid this forever," Hugo said. "Sooner or later you'll have to tell Jesse that you won't drink."
"I can't!"
"You have to."
"But... how can I leave him alone forever?"
"You're not obligated to stay with him. And besides, if you had... children... they'd drink and the problem would grow."
He was bringing up the same points Miles and Angus and Mae had pointed out six years ago.
"I know. I just can't tell him."
"Do you want me to?"
"No! He can't know I told you."
"What-" Hugo was interrupted by shrieks of, "Fire! Fire!"