Author's Chapter Notes:
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“Let Aunt Dorothy get a look at you”Dorothy said as she saw the three children, they walked up to her and she gave them a hug and a gift as always.
“Arent you technically ‘Grandmother’ Dorothy?”Jules asked with a small smile,”Since their mother is technically your daughter?”
“Oh do shut up Jules”Dorothy said to him as she gave new tap shoes to Rita, a toy train for Michael and a doll for Dahlia.
Salomi smiled,”Im green with envy, you give the best gifts”she said as she hugged Dorothy.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t leave you out either”she said as she gave Salomi a bottle of her favorite perfume. Salomi gave her a hug and a big thank you,”Don’t mention it, they are getting so big!”
“Yes they are, Michael just started school. Dahlia will be going next year. Rita is becoming quite the dancer”Salomi said to her as they sat down in the parlor and talked as they sipped on some tea. The children played with their new gifts excitedly. Jules and Gabriel watched this but with different expressions. Jules seemed worried about something and then he got a cigar and walked out on the front porch, Gabriel followed suit.
“You got a good looking clan there sport”Jules said to him,”Nice work. Dahlia and Rita are going to drive the men wild one day”
“Don’t remind me”Gabriel said as he lit his own cigar,”So how are things?”
“They’re going well”Jules said simply as he puffed on the cigar and then slowly exhaled the smoke.
“Well? Not exciting? Swell? Fantastic?”Gabriel asked him
Jules sighed, he then looked inside, as if he were checking to see if the children or the women were around and then he turned to Gabriel,”Well theres…investment troubles”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, you have stocks, right Gabriel? I mean you know whats going on right?”Jules asked him
“Yes I do, I have plenty on credit”Gabriel said,”That’s why my children are going to a good school, keeping Salomi happy and have a luxurious roof over our heads”
Jules nodded,”And Im happy for you, but you do know whats going on?”
Gabriel shook his head,”I haven’t paid much attention, just taking the checks and certificates as they come in. I think I can double the family fortune”
Jules sighed,”Gabriel, for the first time in years, the stocks arent doing so well. They are starting to sink”
“Ok so a little recession, I have heard talks about it, but it cant all go kaput, it will rise again by Monday”Gabriel said nonchalantly
“I hope your right”Jules said
“What else is it?”
“It’s the film industry these days, now that the ‘talkies’ are out, they are doing away with silent films”Jules said,”Which may mean less money for me. I mean I don’t know how the new equipment works, a lot of the silent actors don’t want to do ‘talkies’ because they are afraid of how they sound. The transition is a little harder than I thought”
“You’ll get the hang of it”Gabriel said as he watched the sun start to set,”I mean as I said to Salomi, these past 10 years have been hard but very prosperous, we cant possibly go anywhere but up”
“I hope your right”Jules said
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
“You look beautiful Dorothy”Salomi said as she saw Dorothy in her dress. The adults were going to go out for the evening for cocktails while the housekeeper took care of the children and put them to bed.
“Oh this old thing?”Dorothy said modestly,”Thank you and I must say Lomi, you look wonderful. You have grown up to be such a lovely woman and mother”
“Oh Dorothy, you don’t have to say that-“
“I don’t know how you do it, you look like a movie star still and with three kids? They are so well behaved-“
“Oh no, you don’t see them when we eat breakfast in the morning-“
“That’s quite alright, they can misbehave around you, that’s how they learn, but out in public? Around family? They are supposed to be polite like they have been. Im very proud of you Lomi”
“Thank you”Salomi said,then she frowned,”So..have you and Jules…”
“We have been trying but we gave up…Im 44 years old now. Im too old to have children”
“Who said that?”
“I said that. You don’t see old ladies like me popping out children….”she said and then sighed,”Its fine…I had a feeling that maybe it couldn’t happen but Im not upset. We thought about adoption”
“That’s a great option. I mean why bring more children into the world when theres children already here that are in need?”Salomi asked
Dorothy nodded,”Good point”she said but she still looked upset.
“What else is it?”Salomi asked,”Are you two alright?”
“Jules and I? Oh we are fine, just as we were when we married 9 years ago”she said
“Well you look upset about something, you can tell me”
Dorothy sighed,”Im afraid Im going to have to quit acting in films”
“Why? What happened to that movie with Greta Garbo?”
“I didn’t get the part…theres this new actress…Colleen Moore…she got it. Shes all the rage now”Dorothy said sadly
“Im sorry, but don’t give up-“
“Im going to have to”Dorothy said,”People can hear actors talk now….my voice…it just doesn’t sound good. Many people have commented how they don’t like how I sound. They would rather keep me in the background and not say a word and Im better than that. Times are changing, this whole sound phenomenon…it ruined me”she said as tears came to her eyes
Salomi stared at her in shock,she couldn’t believe that THE Dorothy Gibson, her Dorothy, wasn’t good enough for the film industry anymore. The film actresses out now all seemed to credit her as an influence, it was insane. “You cant get a vocal coach or something? I mean Dorothy come on, you talk to me, you sound fine”
“Some people don’t like the Jersey accent that I have, they say its nasally. One person said that ‘it seems that her voice doesn’t match the mouth that its coming out of and the mouth is very beautiful’. What is that supposed to mean?”Dorothy asked angrily. She then calmed herself down,”But Im fine Salomi really.Im obviously still bitter yes but…that’s all a part of getting old I guess. My photos with William are still selling, he even wants to put one of my best photos as a stamp. Can you believe that?”Dorothy asked her, her eyes getting their delightful shine back.
“That’s wonderful. Now whenever I send a letter,Im going to have your face on it”Salomi said with a smile
“And Jules is still working in the industry.Hes behind the scenes,they cant possibly kick him out for bullshit reasons like not having a pretty enough voice”she commented,”Besides,if we adopt, I need to be home with the children. No nannies for me”
“I agree”Salomi said to her,”However sometimes I feel like I need one for each child”
The door then opened and Jules peeked his head through,”You gals ready yet? Or are you still drowning yourself in rouge?”
“We’re coming darling”Dorothy said to him as she forced a smile. The whole quitting the film industry still hurt her. They met Gabriel downstairs and went to The Seagull. Both Jules and Dorothy both had a lot on their minds with the stocks plummeting, the drastic changes in film and the problems with having a child of their own, however, with Gabriel and Salomi’s happy and optimistic natures, they couldn’t drown in their worries for too long.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
The next morning, the six of them went to the beach. The children were ready with their swimsuits, pails and buckets. They played in the water and sand while the adults relaxed in the sand.
“Goodness Lomi, your bathing suit…”Dorothy said to her as they both watched Michael try to make his own sand castle. It was coming along great actually.
“What?”Salomi asked her
“Its very…so much skin”Dorothy said,”I mean you are showing a lot of leg, shoulders..everything”
“Oh come off it Dorothy, everyone thinks we ‘flappers’ show way too much skin”Salomi said with a laugh
“I personally think that she doesn’t show enough”Gabriel said as he sat down on the other side of Salomi and the two women laughed. Salomi swatted him,”Hey! Im just being honest”he said with a laugh.
Then they heard a really loud scream. Dorothy and Jules both jumped and looked around, it was Dahlia. Her suit was wet and she was running away from the waves as they washed on the shore.”Is she alright?”Dorothy asked
Salomi laughed,”No that scream tells us that shes doing just fine”
“Geez that was loud”Jules said with a laugh,”Does she scream like that all the time?”
“Only when she gets very excited…or very upset…or when something doesn’t go her way”Gabriel commented,”So…yes it does happen a lot”he said as Dahlia screamed again. But this time another scream came after hers and he turned to see what happened.
“DON’T! LIA, YOU RUINED IT!”Michael screamed at her. Apparently Dahlia stomped all over his sand castle. He then pushed her away and she fell into the sand on her bottom, she screamed in agony as if it was the worst pain ever.
Gabriel and Salomi quickly got up. Gabriel comforted but yet scolded Dahlia for ruining the castle as Salomi calmed Michael down. They brought the two back over to the adults.”Looks like someone wants to go home”he said to Dahlia as he sat her down next to him
“NO! I DON’T!”Dahlia cried out loud
“Well you better sit still and be quiet, your argument isn’t convincing me otherwise”he said to her. Dahlia sat there with her arms crossed,pouting, sniffling every now and then.
“You cant push Lia, even if she did something wrong, you know better than that”Salomi said to Michael.”Apologize”she said to him. They both said they were sorry to each other and sat there in silence next to their parents. Rita met a friend and they were playing with her dog as they ran around and got in and out of the water.
“I want a doggy”Dahlia said in a small voice
“Well we will have to think about that. But dogs are only for good children”Gabriel said to her. Dahlia didn’t like that answer and kept pouting. Dorothy then started to laugh,”Whats so funny?”he asked her
“I never thought that I would see the day. Gabriel Brewster, star of the stage, being a family man and scolding the children. It’s a shock”she said.She looked at Michael and Dahlia,”I remember when Gabriel was only 15. We met on a ship, he got in trouble a lot”
“I don’t think that’s a very good story to tell them”Jules said with a laugh
“Why not? Their father was young once”Dorothy asked him
“Daddy’s in trouble?”Dahlia asked, still pouting
“Not now, but when he was younger, yes. What did he do to you the first day he met you Lomi?”Dorothy asked her
Salomi laughed, remembering her first hour on the Titanic. She remembered exploring the deck while Uncle Vernie and her father stayed in the cabin and tended to the cash that Morietti had them deliver back to the States. She smiled,”I remember it quite clearly. A waiter gave me some croissants for breakfast, I took two or three and I remember the strange look he gave me. I take set my croissants down next to me and turned away for a second and one of them was gone! I turn and see a boy running off with it. It turned out to be Gabriel”she said as they laughed,Dahlia and Michael didn’t understand,she turned to them,”Your Daddy stole my food”
“Ooooooh!”Dahlia said in a tone that told Gabriel that he was in trouble
“I was hungry!”Gabriel said defending himself,”And Salomi pushed me!”
Michael gasped as he looked at his mother. “Ooooooooh!”Dahlia said again
“I pushed you only because you stole from me. You could have just asked me”
“Oh like you would have given it to me. You were a greedy,spoiled brat! That’s why you had two! You wanted both to yourself, you wouldn’t have shared”Gabriel said
“You should share”Dahlia said, quoting her mother on various occasions
“But I let you keep it, remember that? I even bought nuts for you. We became friends after that…then more”Salomi said and blushed, feeling like she was 12 again.
Gabriel smiled at her, she looked so cute when she blushed. She was almost 30, but she still looked like she was 21. “Your blushing arent you?”he asked her. Dorothy and Jules laughed. He leaned in and kissed her,”Remember our first kiss?”he whispered to her.
Before she could answer, Dahlia and Michael were saying “eeew” and complained about their parents kissing in front of them. “Why don’t you two go off and play, and behave…or we will just have to go home early”Salomi said to them, they both eagerly ran off. Michael returned to his sand castle and Dahlia ran off screaming towards Rita, her new friend and her dog. The dog didn’t like the screaming and started to run off, the three girls chasing it. Salomi shook her head,”That girl is going to be the death of me”
“But shes so cute”Jules said. Whenever Dahlia pouted, it made him feel so bad. Just like it did to everyone else, that pout was very powerful.
“Yes but-“
“Shes just a baby, darling”Gabriel said to her
“Gabriel, she will be a monster when shes 10 if we don’t start disciplining her better!”Salomi said to him. Rita and Michael were easy but it seemed that Dahlia was a different breed.
“Discipline is for boys”Gabriel said to her,”Besides, all you have to do is give them rewards and consequences. She was an angel this week wasn’t she?”he asked her
“Almost”Salomi said, even though he was right. The three children were well behaved since they wanted to go to the beach so badly.
“What do you mean?”Dorothy asked
“Coming here was a reward for them, for good behavior. I told them that if they did anything that was considered wrong, no beach. And look where we are”Gabriel explained to her
“So what happens in the coming months? When it gets cold?”Jules asked
“Hey Christmas is around the corner, theres always that wire to Santa”Gabriel said as they all laughed.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
“Call us when you get home. Oh Im going to miss you so”Dorothy said as she hugged Salomi and kissed each of the children goodbye. They all had a nice Sunday picnic on the beach and after that they packed and got ready to go back home. Michael and Rita had school the next day and needed plenty of rest.
“Thank you for having us”Gabriel said as he hugged Jules.
“It was a pleasure. Anytime”Jules said to him, he then leaned and whispered to him,”First thing Monday, check on all your stocks. This could be serious and you can lose everything”
“Its not as bad as all that-“
“Just do it. Alright? It will be for your own good”Jules said.”Im going to the bank and Im checking myself”he said
Gabriel sighed,”Alright I will”he said
*___________________________*