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Romance and Rivalries

Helen S.’s 16th birthday party was in a week and she and her mother had agonized over the guest list, tweaking it here and there to make sure there were enough boys attending so that each of her girlfriends had someone to dance with. The year was 1938 and all the songs newly popularized by Benny “the King of Swing” Goodman were more fun with boys who could dance.

When Helen’s girlfriend offered to ask a cousin to bring two more boys, she was relieved to match everyone up.

When the cousin arrived with Stanley W. and John P., Helen was delighted. Then in walked Stanley’s 15-year-old sister, Elaine, with her best friend, Paula.
Elaine wasn’t just a head-turner, she was model-gorgeous, with a dense flow of dark wavy hair framing her pretty face. Petite and curvy, she was dressed in red and smiling coolly. Paula always said that Elaine could get any boy she wanted and Helen knew instantly that the kid sister that just walked in the door had just wrecked all of her matchmaking efforts.

“I go where my brother goes,’’ said Elaine, matter-of-factly as she handed Helen her coat.

Helen’s mother shot the birthday girl a warning look, as if to say, ‘‘Hush.’’

Though she wanted to cry, Helen took the coat and welcomed the Wicks into her living room. Decades later, long after she married Stanley, Helen W. would remember the moment she met Elaine, seeing the way the serious boy deferred to his beautiful, brazen sister.. Those were high times for Elaine, riding high on the seemingly endless rainbow of youth. She had looks, ambition, and talent. She also had her family as a constant source of strength.

Or so it seemed.

A week after the party, Elaine and her family had to retreat into themselves to deal with a devastating blow, one that shook their family to the very core. It would be a long time before Helen would hear again from the W. kids, who wouldn’t date anyone during that terrible year.
 

This work is copyrighted to A Novel Life. No portion of it may be used or reproduced without the expressed and written permission of A Novel Life.