Chapter 8 #2
She and Kenny were inseparable the first six years of his life, until it came time for him to attend first grade.
Justine had taught him to read and count before enrolling him, and when she’d met his teacher for back-to-school night, Mrs. Connolly recommended he skip a grade.
Justine had rejected it, because she felt her son wasn’t socially mature enough to be with older kids.
Her rationale was if he was academically gifted, then he would always rank at the top of his class.
She hadn’t disclosed to Kenny’s teacher that she also had been an above-average student.
Justine made good use of the hours when Kenny was in school.
She’d taken the subway downtown to the Barnes a stack of spiral college-lined notebooks were filled with notes covering each subject as she read the books from cover to cover.
Her fervent wish to become a schoolteacher did not end once she’d become a mother. In fact, it was stronger than ever.
A month before Kenny was scheduled to graduate from the sixth grade, Justine spoke to her caseworker about seeking employment.
She wanted to earn enough money so she wouldn’t have to rely on the city’s welfare checks.
After her caseworker warned that teenagers needed close monitoring when left at home alone, the woman was able to secure a position for Justine at St. Luke’s Hospital in Morningside Heights, and if Justine was interested, her hours would be eight in the morning until two in the afternoon.
She was interviewed, given a typing test, and was hired a week later.
She would leave the house before Kenny; however, she’d be home before his classes ended at three o’clock.
Her beginning salary wasn’t enough for her to be taken completely off of the welfare rolls, but she would receive a lesser amount for her to maintain her current lifestyle.
Justine had felt as if she were finally in control of life, with a new job and her son entering junior high school. She had lectured Kenny about not allowing kids in the house when she wasn’t there, and he was to make certain to take his key and lock the apartment before leaving for school.
She deliberately hadn’t befriended any of the tenants in the building, because she didn’t want to repeat the lies she’d told Pamela Daniels.
There were times when she thought about her former neighbor and her children, experiencing a modicum of guilt for losing contact with her.
But when she’d moved, it was to begin life anew without the web of lies that she feared had been spinning out of control.
Now her life was on an even keel with a job she loved and a son who made her proud to be his mother.
He was a straight-A student, and he made friends with boys who also were good students.
The first time he asked if Frankie and Ray could come over to study for a science exam because there were too many people and noise in their apartments, Justine had given her approval.
The first time she saw Francis D’Allesandro, she thought she was looking at a young Tony Curtis because of his brilliant blue eyes and dark hair.
Ramon Torres was equally attractive with his swarthy complexion, large dark eyes, and curly hair.
She’d heard talk around the neighborhood that girls were constantly flirting to get their attention.
Justine was forthcoming when she spoke to Kenny about keeping his distance from girls who wanted him to be their boyfriend, because it would lead to disaster if he were to have sex with any of them.
She told him she’d only married after finishing high school, and planned to go to college, but she had to forfeit that plan once she discovered she was pregnant.
What she hadn’t planned on was losing her husband so soon after their marriage, leaving her to raise their son on her own.
Justine hated lying to her son about his father, while she promised herself that there would come a time when she would reveal the truth about his birth.
She would wait until he was old enough to decide whether he wanted to exact revenge on the women who, with their money and influence, had blackmailed her into having a child they’d planned for her to carry, then turn over to them.
No one—not Precious Boone, Lillian Crawford, or even the midwife Miss Cynthia—had known she was carrying twins.
She may have been forced to give up one baby, but not the remaining twin.
She would do everything possible to keep and raise him, because after all, she was his biological mother.
She closed the door, sat down at the desk, and rewound the tape recorder, her fingers paused on the typewriter keys.
Justine had been contemplating purchasing a new IBM Selectric to replace the outdated manual.
A smile flitted across her face. She’d made enough money from typing papers to purchase a new electric typewriter.
It would be a gift to herself for her thirtieth birthday.
After making her own clothes and buying secondhand and used items, it was time she began to think she deserved better.
And because of all she’d gone through, she now deserved owning something that was brand new.