Page 26 of The Women of Oak Ridge

BY WEDNESDAY EVENING, I was beyond worried about Sissy.

I told myself every morning I awoke to an empty bed across from mine that she and Clive were living it up as newlyweds, without a care in the world.

Yet somewhere deep inside me, I didn’t believe it.

Sissy wasn’t the type of person to run off and get married without telling anyone, especially me.

Even if they had eloped, wouldn’t she have called or sent word, knowing I’d be concerned when she didn’t return from Knoxville?

But if they hadn’t run off together, where were they?

I’d spoken with Mrs. Kepple again yesterday morning. The dorm mother had stopped me in the lobby when I came downstairs and asked if Sissy had returned. She’d frowned at my negative answer.

“I must tell you this is most unusual,” she said, clearly vexed. “I will have to report her absence to the administration if she doesn’t return soon. They’ll need to terminate her employment at Y-12.”

Thursday morning I boarded the bus to K-25 with one objective: to discover if Clive Morrison had returned from Knoxville.

I’d gone to Mr. Colby’s office yesterday and asked in a roundabout way if he’d seen Clive, pretending I needed to speak to him about something related to the job, but my boss, busy looking over technical drawings of the pipe gallery, had offered an impatient shake of his head.

“Why would I know anything about Morrison? Ask his supervisor, Captain Barger.”

I’d never met the captain, but I was determined to locate the military officer today and find out once and for all what was going on. Surely he would know if Clive and Sissy had eloped, especially if Clive had taken time off for an impromptu honeymoon.

My plotting, however, came to a screeching halt shortly after lunchtime when I nearly ran Clive down with my bicycle.

Mr. Colby had sent me on an errand, but I was so distracted with my personal mission that I didn’t notice him when I turned a corner.

I dodged around him, slammed on the brakes, and skidded to a stop.

“Hello, Mae.” He gave me his usual pasted-on smile. “You’re in a hurry.”

My mouth hung open while I stared at him, catching flies as Mama would say.

“Where have you been?” I blurted, ignoring pleasantries. “I’ve been worried sick about Sissy. She should have called me or Mrs. Kepple to let us know the two of you wouldn’t be back right away. Did you elope? Has she moved into your trailer already?”

Accusation laced my words, but I didn’t care.

He’d kept my roommate away from her friends with no consideration as to how concerned we would be when she didn’t return home.

His feelings were of little consequence to me at this point.

I’d be even more furious if he said they weren’t married.

Sissy’s reputation would be forever ruined when word got out she’d spent the past four days with him without the benefit of marriage.

Yet instead of the guilt his face should have worn, Clive gave me a puzzled look. “Elope? What are you talking about, Mae? Sissy and I broke up Saturday.”

The floor seemed to tilt, and I stumbled backwards.

I studied him, struggling to figure out if he was jesting or not. “No, that’s not true. You took her to Knoxville with the intention of proposing to her. When she didn’t come home that night, I assumed the two of you had eloped.”

His brow shot up. “Good grief, Mae. Who told you that wild tale? Sissy?”

I could only stare at him.

What was going on? Why was Clive acting as though he hadn’t seen Sissy lately?

“If you didn’t elope with Sissy, then where is she?”

It took a moment for him to answer. My heart nearly stopped as his expression grew serious.

“Are you telling me she didn’t return to the dorm Saturday afternoon?”

Tangible fear poured over me with the implications that came with his question.

“Sissy is missing, Clive.” Panic tightened my throat. “I haven’t seen her since you picked her up for your outing to Knoxville.”

“Whoa, now.” He raised his hand. “I didn’t take her to Knoxville. I’d told her I needed to talk to her about something, which was that I didn’t think we should see each other anymore.”

I gasped in disbelief. “ You broke up with her ?”

He nodded. “I realized we didn’t have much in common.

She’s a swell girl, and we had some fun times, but I knew she wasn’t the one for me.

” He paused. “She took it kind of hard. Cried and begged me to reconsider, but I told her she’d find the right guy soon.

I’m sure it won’t be long before she’s dating someone else. ”

My mind spun, completely bewildered. “If you didn’t take her to Knoxville, then where is she?”

He seemed genuinely confused. “I don’t know.

I didn’t want to break up with her in public, so we drove to the river and parked like we usually do.

We were there a couple hours before she was ready to return to the dorm.

I dropped her off sometime in the afternoon because I had to work the late shift. ”

While I attempted to sort through the information he’d shared, he glanced at his watch.

“I have a meeting in ten minutes I can’t miss.

” He put his hand on my shoulder. It felt clammy through my coveralls.

“I’m worried about Sissy, Mae. I wish I’d known earlier that she didn’t make it back to the dorm.

The only thing I can think of is she was too embarrassed to face everyone and took a bus home to Georgia. ”

I watched him walk away, stunned by everything I’d just heard.

Clive and Sissy hadn’t eloped. They hadn’t even gone to Knoxville to see a movie and have dinner. They hadn’t left Oak Ridge, according to Clive. And contrary to what Sissy said before she left, he had not proposed but had instead broken off their relationship.

I don’t know how long I stood there, my mind reeling. I didn’t know who or what to believe. Had Sissy lied to me? Had she suspected Clive was going to break things off and told me a story to cover her embarrassment?

I thought back to our last conversation Saturday morning. Clive says there’s something important he wants to talk about. I think he might be planning to propose.

Had she made it all up?

Then I remembered her next words. A few weeks ago, I thought I was in love with Clive and wanted to marry him. Lately, though... She hadn’t finished her thought nor had she come right out and said she’d changed her mind, but that’s what I understood her to mean.

I went back to work, but all the while my mind labored to unravel the mystery of what happened between Sissy and Clive. What was true and what wasn’t. Who was lying and who’d told me the truth. By the time I met Garlyn at the portal, I was an emotional mess.

“I don’t know what to think,” I said after filling him in on my conversation with Clive.

He held my hand in his. “Maybe you didn’t know Sissy as well as you thought you did. You just met her in August, after all. She may have guessed Clive was about to break off with her and lied to cover it. It sounds like she didn’t want to face everyone and just went home.”

I heaved a sigh. “I suppose you could be right, but she’s never given me reason to doubt she was anything but an honest, unpretentious young woman. We’ve shared lots of things with each other, and she always seemed sincere.”

By the time we reached town, I wasn’t hungry. I just wanted to go to sleep and wake up tomorrow to a new day.

Garlyn walked me to the dorm and gave me a long hug. “Get some rest, Mae,” he said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Sissy is no doubt safe at home with her family, so you don’t need to worry anymore.”

I sniffled. “I hope you’re right. Maybe I should write a letter to her and send it in care of her parents’ address.”

“That’s a good idea. I bet she’ll write back with an apology.”

I bid Garlyn goodnight and headed for the stairs. However, Prudence Thorpe waylaid me as I passed through the lobby.

“Mae, you’re just the gal I’ve been lookin’ for,” she said, drawing out her words in an exaggerated manner.

“Rumor has it Sissy didn’t come back from Knoxville.

I declare, I would have never guessed our sweet Sissy was the type of woman who would stay overnight with a man.

” Her big blue eyes grew wide with feigned shock.

My blood boiled with her insinuation. As aggravated as I was with Sissy, I wouldn’t let her reputation be sullied by wild gossip, whether she returned to Oak Ridge or not. “You’re mistaken, Prudence. Sissy went home to Georgia. Her mother is ill,” I said, not flinching at the bold-faced lie.

Disappointment filled Prudence’s face. No doubt she’d relished spreading the juicy gossip about my roommate. “Well, we’ll miss her sunshiny personality,” she said, her sugary-sweet words as false as her smile.

Once in my room, I closed the door and leaned against it.

Guilt washed over me. I’d lied to Prudence about Sissy going home.

God and Mama didn’t approve of telling falsehoods, but I couldn’t stand by and let the meddlesome young woman badmouth my roommate.

Besides, even Garlyn seemed to believe Sissy had gone back to Georgia.

It hurt my feelings to think she left without saying goodbye.

On the other hand, I was relieved my fears about Sissy eloping with Clive had been unfounded.

I changed into my nightgown, brushed my teeth in the bathroom, then fell into bed, exhausted from the upheaval of the past few days.

My mind, however, raced with everything that had happened.

From Sissy’s confession about her feelings for Clive on Saturday, to his shocked expression when I told him she hadn’t come home.

I tossed and turned until midnight before I finally sat up and clicked on the light.

The entire situation was driving me crazy. I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I figured things out. One question seemed to hold the key.

Did Sissy know Clive intended to break up with her?