Fortune Is a Woman - Elizabeth Adler [49]
He wrinkled his nose disdainfully, mocking her educated tones. “Oh, very grand, aren’t we? Well, you’re gonna have to come down to earth a bit now, Miss Francesca Harrison. It ain’t exactly Nob Hill around here.”
“Francie knows that and she don’t want Nob Hill,” Josh said, pushing past Sammy into the house. The hallway smelled of years of stale cooking and grime and Francie wrinkled her nose as they walked up the uncarpeted stairs. She was out of breath by the time they reached the fourth floor and Josh put his arm around her waist as they climbed the last five steps together. He flung open the door proudly.
She stared at the tiny room squashed under the eaves, the ceilings sloped almost to the ground; but it was still bigger than her old room at home and there were no bars on the big window that filled the room with gray March light. She looked at the sagging brass double bed covered with a thin white cotton quilt, at the battered dresser with one drawer missing, at the worn brown oilcloth on the floor and the old rug, at the red plush armchair with the stuffing hanging out and the rickety gate-legged table with a jar of anemones placed carefully in the middle.
And she thought it was perfect. It was light and airy and Josh’s flowers made it feel like home. She felt dizzy from love and happiness and the long climb up the stairs.
He was looking anxiously at her. “Is it all right? I know you’re used to a grand house, but it’s the best I could do. At least it’s away from the noise of the saloon. And I’m just at the foot of these little stairs, so you need never be afraid.”
Francie laughed as she took his hand. “I’ll never be afraid with you around, Josh.”
Sammy Morris eyed them dourly from the bottom of the steps. “I’m off to work now, Josh,” he said, tightening his muffler around his neck and buttoning his jacket. “I’ll see you later.” And without a glance at Francie he stumped off down the stairs.
Francie watched him go and she knew for sure he didn’t like her, but Josh told her not to worry, it was just Sammy’s way. “He’s used to there being just the two of us, you see. That’s the way it’s always been since we were kids. He’s never met someone like you before, but once he gets to know you, he’ll love you too.”
Francie wasn’t so sure he would, but she smiled as she walked around her new home. “We’ll have tea here,” she said, running a hand over the rough tabletop. “And just look at the view. Why, you can see practically all of San Francisco from here.”
They stared together at the white sea birds circling the iron-gray March sky and at the busy sprawling streets, and she said, “You never told me why you came to San Francisco.” Josh turned away, not answering, and she added hurriedly, “I didn’t mean to pry, it just seems a long way from your home, that’s all.”
After a few moments he said, “I came here to seek my fortune, like my father before me.”
“Your father?”
“Aye. Frank Aysgarth. He came here thirty years ago, for that same purpose. They were poor, my mam and dad. There had never been much money in the Aysgarth family, except for Aunt Jessie, and she was only by marriage. It was Aunt Jessie that left a hundred pounds to my sister, Annie, and Annie gave it to me and Sammy to come out here.”
Josh told her the story of his mother and father, about their poverty and how his father had come to San Francisco and learned how to make his fortune.
“Anyway,” he concluded, “that’s the way our Annie tells the story. And she should know, she was there. She’s a good lass,” he said warmly. “She was better than any mother.”
Francie uncurled herself from the bed where she had been listening to him. She flung her arms around him and said, “You’ve told me all about yourself, so now I really know you and you know me. We have no secrets from each other.” She laughed. “We shall be just like your mam and dad, working hard so that one day we can have kids of our own to raise, and a house like Ivy Cottage.”
Francie’s days soon fell into a pattern; Josh would run upstairs and wake her at ten o’clock with a kiss and a cup of coffee