Constancy

By Jacqueline T. Lynch

Constance takes on the guardianship of a friend’s young daughter, and her own elderly grandmother, and a three-story apartment house. Emotional interruptions by her sometimes boyfriend in the Army have competition from the new man in her life— the electrician who shows up in his Civil War reenactor’s Union Army uniform.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jacqueline T. Lynch
• Release date: Jul 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9781516317677

Jacqueline T. Lynch

Jacqueline T. Lynch has published articles and short fiction in regional and national publications, several plays, some award winners, one of which has been translated into Dutch and produced in the Netherlands.   Her several books, fiction and nonfiction, are available in eBook and print online.  She has recently published the first book on the career of actress Ann Blyth – Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.  She writes a syndicated newspaper column on classic films: Silver Screen, Golden Years, and also writes three blogs: Another Old Movie Blog (http://anotheroldmovieblog.blogspot.com)  A blog on classic films. New England Travels (http://newenglandtravels.blogspot.com)  A blog on historical and cultural sites in New England. Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. (http://annblythactresssingerstar.blogspot.com) website: www.JacquelineTLynch.com Etsy shop: LynchTwinsPublishing --  https://www.etsy.com/shop/LynchTwinsPublishing?ref=search_shop_redirect

Book preview

Constancy

By

Jacqueline T. Lynch

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Copyright 2011, 2015 Jacqueline T. Lynch

All rights reserved by the author. Unauthorized copying is prohibited.

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Constance Ridleck looked rather like a young Greer Garson.  This was noticed almost immediately by fans of classic movies, and never by anybody else.  At eighteen, she had grown into an unusually unpretentious woman with high, full cheekbones, rather merry robin’s egg blue eyes, copper colored hair that fell in a thick, naturally curling mass to her shoulders, and an attitude of detached amusement about almost everything around her, despite the fact that, as her mother often pointed out, she was seriously stubborn.

Constance put the last box of her belongings into her car, a late 1980s fugitive from the scrap heap, while her mother kept busy refusing to watch.  Her mother had mixed feelings on her daughter’s leaving home: on the one hand, frustrated that this stubborn girl of hers was so foolish as to throw her life away; and on the other hand, relieved that the constant failure this daughter represented to Tina Ridleck would be out of the realm of her responsibility now. Tina was free now to devote her extraordinary energy to sculpting her younger daughter, Brianna.

Tina looked at the bright side of life, and needed this gift, for she was burdened with loved ones who did not measure up to her expectations.

Her husband, Eddie, was not exactly a go-getter, as she was wont to remind everyone thereby sealing her martyrdom.  She had to prod and push him more than once.  However, at least his weaker personality did not let him interfere with her hard work on turning their life around.  That was the bright side of it.  As long as it did not involve him, he was all for it.  With any major decision or crisis, he went fishing.  That included the purchase of their home, subsequent re-financings of their home, and the births of his three children.

Their oldest daughter, Hayley, named for a favorite soap opera character, may have let Tina down in the looks and smarts and go-gettingness department, but at least she had gotten married young to an apparently steady man with a secure job in the office (the office, not the plant floor) of a local factory.  He had a nice-sounding surname: Burton.  Tina (nee Gormey) Ridleck had always cringed at making the