Runaway (Lilah, PG-13, Champagne Challenge #137)

[MickLifeCrisis]

This is beautiful! Made me teary-eyed, too. And we all know Mick is "charming" don't we?

Loved this part:

"I watched my son and Ray both court you, and I consoled him when you chose Ray over him. But Mick respected your choice, so did I. I thought then, and I think to this day, that Ray is the man for you. For better and for worse. And much as it breaks my heart to see you and Micky so brokenhearted, I think you both need to find a way to accept the blessings you’ve been given, and move on. You have a husband who’s been returned to you by the grace of God. And Micky has a life to make for himself. Without you. Do you know the guilt he’s suffered because of this? How much pain would you add to his guilt if you left your husband, took his child from him, out of some misplaced feeling that you don’t deserve to be happy?”

[...]

“I didn’t think about it that way,” she said in a very small voice.

“Nobody does, honey. When our troubles are so big they block out everything else, we do some very stupid things.”

What a wise woman Arlene is. Lilah had to be made to realize that if she left, she would be ruining all of their lives. All three of them would be unhappy and guilt-ridden. Not to mention depriving her baby of a father. Lucky that Arlene could be so honest and straightforward and laid it out plain and simple for Lilah.

And I have to add that I got a little pang in my tummy when you mentioned the milk skin at the bottom of the cocoa pan. That always happened when my mom made me cocoa on the stove.

Absolutely loved this! Thank you!

[allegrita]

Fleur de Lisa, thank you so much for your wonderful comment. Sometimes we need help to see the reality of a situation. Arlene was that help for Lilah. She wasn't wrong to love Mick, and Mick wasn't wrong to love her. But for Lilah to desert her husband out of a misplaced feeling of guilt? THAT would be utterly wrong. Arlene was able to help her see that.

fairytoes, thank you! It was such a pleasure to write this story. I'm really happy you liked it.

francis, I'm glad you liked the stocking thing. I remember running one stocking of a pair and keeping the other one, so I figure women did it all the time back then.

MickLifeCrisis, I'm so glad this worked for you. Your tears are the best compliment. I agree that Arlene saw the situation much more clearly than Lilah could, and her love for Lilah and Ray (and Mick!) made her step in when she felt it wasn't really her place. But love is like that.

Ooh I'm so glad you liked the milk skin! That's the worst thing about cocoa made on the stove--cleaning the darn pan! But it tastes soooooo delicious made that way...

[librarian_7]

You know, on the stocking thing...the other night I saw a movie about two sisters set in NYC in the 40s, and there was a scene when one of them was running off to do something important, and her sister stopped her because she had a ripped stocking, and gave her one.

Lucky

[allegrita]

Ooh, cool! I like that.

My mom had a story that I just loved... during the War, all the silk and nylon was being used for parachutes and so forth, so women's hosiery was made of rayon, which was a poor substitute. My mom said that rayon stockings lost their shape and you could NOT stop them from bagging at the ankles, plus they were an ugly, muddy color. But one must sacrifice for the war effort, so everyone just put up with them.

My mom had one pair of silk stockings that she'd been saving for when my dad returned from the war. She wanted to have pretty legs for him. But unfortunately, when he got back and she was dressing to go down to meet him, she discovered that some little bug or something had eaten the stockings. When she went to put them on, they just tore into shreds. So she had to wear the ugly rayon ones after all. (Not that my dad noticed what her stockings were made of, mind you.)

[librarian_7]

My mom has actually talked about using "leg makeup" and drawing on the "seam" down the back, when stockings were in really short supply. Sounds like SUCH a pain.

[MickLifeCrisis]

My mom has actually talked about using "leg makeup" and drawing on the "seam" down the back, when stockings were in really short supply. Sounds like SUCH a pain.

I was just going to say that! I had heard about women drawing the seam onto their legs too, to make it look like stockings. I can't even imagine what a nuisance that must have been.

[allegrita]

Not to mention, that makeup rubbed off very easily, so it got all over your clothes, the furniture, your beau's dress blues...

[Shadow]

Oh . . . this is one of those times when I really, really wish RL let me keep up with stories as they get posted here! Thank goodness that every now and then I have time to do a little exploring, to see what I've missed, because this is such a treasure. I particularly love your stories that are set in this time period, or in the fifties, because they rings so true and are so full of detail from the period . . . yet all that detail is slipped so quietly into the story you don't even realize it's there until later. Nothing interferes with the storyline.

It's just heavenly to get such a deep look into the life of Mick's mother, not to mention into Lilah's. In Arlene I can see so much of how Mick came to be the person he is, where he got his compassion and kindness and values. And knowing the future, it brings me to tears to realize that she is part of the family Mick had to give up when he was turned. And there's obviously a hugely loving bond between Arlene and her husband. (I love the way she so fondly tells Lilah how Mick takes after his dad, and how embarrassed that makes Lilah!) And I love knowing that Arlene is going to be there to look out for Lilah -- and that Arlene understands why Mick couldn't go back even to see Ray. It feels as if Mick shared all of this with his mom, which is such a testament to how close they were. Maybe Arlene even helped Mick decide what he had to do when Ray showed up again alive.

And it's so sweet to see her wry disapproval of Mick's musical career and his current wild ways. She was right that he would eventually be happy and find the right girl, but oh, she could never have guessed what he'd have to go through on the way. And what pain she must have gone through when he disappeared! Now that I feel I've met her, it really hurts from this side, too.

Lilah's story is just perfect, too. Of course she'd feel that way, that she was somehow betraying Ray with this pregnancy. And running away like that is such an instinctive thing to do. It's totally believable, and almost inevitable, that Lilah would react that way at some point. I'm so glad Arlene saw her when she did and was able to talk her out of running away. And there's something about that coat which Arlene gave to Lilah to wear . . . somehow I think that must be Mick's coat . . .

I'm so glad I finally found this! It's definitely one to re-read many times.

[allegrita]

Shadow, thank you so much for this amazing comment. It means so much to me when something I create has a big effect on a reader, when their perspective gets changed somehow by my story. I really love Arlene too. She is a lot like my grandmother, who was one of the most amazing and inspiring women I've ever known. Wise, funny, earthy, full of energy, and filled with love and caring. I have written a few stories about Arlene, and I can really hear her in my head when I'm writing her.

I agree with you that Mick is who he is, in great part, because of the people his parents were. And it breaks my heart too, to think of him losing such wonderful people--and them losing him. I wrote a short piece for the 250-word conversation challenge, where Arlene and Mike got the news that Mick and Coraline had disappeared on their wedding night, and it was terribly hard to create that scene. I felt so sorry for them.

I really hope that Arlene and Mike had the opportunity to watch Robert grow up, and that Arlene got to give him a snuggle from time to time. I think it would have helped her a lot to watch him grow up, knowing that he might be Mick's... knowing that, in some way, her son lived on. (Of course, unknown to her, he really was living on... but she couldn't know that, poor thing.)

This:

Maybe Arlene even helped Mick decide what he had to do when Ray showed up again alive.

makes me think a lot... Thank you!

[cassysj]

I love Arlene and this is one of my favorite stories. Lilah was in a tough spot none of which was her fault. I do love how Arlene nudged it out of her that she had sex with Ray so it was possible.

[allegrita]

Awww... thank you, Carol! It makes me inordinately proud and happy that this story is a favorite of yours.

[allegrita]

I'm bumping this story, as it was one of the March Madness Challenge entries... and I am very proud of it.

[cassysj]

What a nice spring surprise to see this story again.

[allegrita]

This story of mine was part of the March Madness Challenge, and it's a favorite of mine, so I'm bumping it. I'm very fond of Mick's mother Arlene, and I like to think that she'd help Lilah through her momentary bit of March Madness. It also makes me happy to think that Arlene watched Robert grow up, and remained a friend of Lilah and Ray, even though Mick couldn't stick around. Some women have such big hearts, there's room for everyone inside their love.

[MickLifeCrisis]

How wonderful to read this heartfelt story again, Alle! I stand by everything from my original comment, even the skin on the bottom of the cocoa pan. Mick's mother is wonderful in this, and (it may sound corny) is really like a guardian angel for Lilah, isn't she? Thank you for bringing this to the top again!