Blue Moon of Kentucky

Chapter 17

The summer of 1950 was the best summer Loretta ever had. She saw Elvis every single day and they made a pact to each other that no matter how busy school and his part-time job kept him, Elvis would still make time for Loretta.

And despite increased demands and homework at school, he did.

Everyone close to them was a little worried about the ring when they first saw it, but they all calmed down when it became clear that Elvis and Loretta hadn't secretly gotten married and would wait until Elvis graduated from high school.

It was so far off still, and sometimes Loretta couldn't stand it. She wanted to be married today, right now. To be married and move into their own little cabin, where she would make him the meals Gladys taught her to make. And after supper they would sit on the porch together in the summer and in front of the fire in the winter.

Oh, how nice it would be to share a bed, especially right now, in the icy cold of winter. But that wasn't too be, not for many years to come. All she could do now was dream.

It was January 8th, a Monday, and also Elvis' birthday. Elvis wasn't going to work after school today, and nor was he going to stay at the music room or library after school. He would instead come home to have a small get together with his few friends and Loretta.

Sometime around seven thirty in the morning, as she helped her parents get Donald and Peggy Sue to school, the idea of making a cake for Elvis entered her mind.

Betty Ruth, who had turned five a few days back, was the only Webb child not yet in school. Loretta hadn't had too much trouble with her, especially since her daddy, by some miracle, managed to get her a little doll for Christmas. It kept her quite occupied these days. Loretta showed her how to sew little diapers and clothes for her 'baby'. The clothes were sewed quite sloppily and Betty Ruth often pricked her fingers, but it kept her busy for hours on end. This allowed Loretta to complete her chores much more quickly, though there really was no completing the laundry. They had few clothes and there were many of them. Soon enough diapers would be added to the load.

Miss Presley was right; she should accept the new child because it would join their family whether she liked it or not. It wasn't the baby's fault that he or she was the 8th child of a family living in a two room cabin.

God sent that child, so she made sure to include it in her prayer. She also added a request to please not send her as many children once she was a married woman.

All of the seven Webb children were born at home. Junior, Loretta, Herman and Jay Lee in the small cabin and Donald Ray, Peggy Sue and Betty Ruth in the big one. Loretta had no reason to even suspect that her mother would want to have this baby at the hospital, but apparently she did. Her parents pulled her to the side and told her that, when the time came, she would have to watch the children. It made her more nervous then it should. She watched them every day, but it had never been over night or for more than eight or ten hours at a time. Herman and Jay Lee were supposed to help her, but Herman had to go to the coal mine and Jay Lee was a boy of fourteen.

She looked over at Betty Ruth, who was muttering to her doll. "Betty Ruth!" The little girls head snapped up. "We're gonna go to the miner's store, come on."

"Don't wanna go to the miner's store."

'That's too bad." 

Gladys had given her a few recipes, including one for birthday cake along with butter cream. She grabbed both and stuck them in her pocket along with the shopping money.

"We're gonna make Elvis a cake and a cupcake for everyone else," Loretta said.

"For me?" Betty Ruth perked up.