Work Text:
“Oh, Nellie! It’s perfect!”
Nellie squirms, just a little, as Samantha carefully holds the valentine up to the light and gently touches the elaborate loops of ribbon that border the heart-shaped card. “I made it. For you,” she clarifies shyly as Samantha runs a finger around the ribbons with the air of one paying tribute to a religious idol.
She knows that Samantha loves to make valentines. Samantha is a crafty girl; she made Christmas presents for everyone instead of buying them last year, and Nellie’s present was a beautiful little cape for her doll, Lydia. She made it herself out of blue velvet and trimmed it with white satin ribbon and a little piece of white fur. Nellie still doesn’t know where Samantha got all the fabric and the trim. But that little winter cape means so much to her now, almost as much as the doll itself.
(Nellie still sleeps with that doll every night, swearing that it keeps the nightmares away, just as Samantha would do if she were there at Nellie’s side. But she isn’t about to tell Samantha that. After all, a girl of ten is far, far too old to do something so sentimental, so… babyish.)
Samantha is clever and artistic and perhaps most importantly, she’s a girl of means. She knows where to get supplies for such unnecessary, fun little things. But Nellie isn’t rich, can’t just run to a craft shop whenever she feels the urge to create. And even if she could, she doesn’t have the artistic eye that Samantha does. Or the time to put such detail into her projects.
Still, Samantha deserves a valentine, so Nellie endeavored to make her one. It took some doing to find the materials. The pink paper for the card itself came from an empty box of soap-flakes. The gold trim was cut off a discarded calling-card from one of Mrs. Van Sicklen’s visitors. The ribbon came from an outgrown petticoat that Clarisse, the eldest Van Sicklen daughter, carelessly threw into the rag-bin one night; Nellie rescued it and spent a whole hour carefully unweaving the ribbon from the hem of the unwanted petticoat. She took the lace from the same source. (Honestly, the things people just throw away without thinking of the possibilities! It will never cease to annoy Nellie just how wasteful her so-called betters really are.)
And now on the big day, after much careful poring-over of fashion magazines and even more careful construction of the gift itself, here they are. Samantha’s just given Nellie a whole pound of candy (a whole pound! it’s so extravagant, and Nellie just can’t wait to share it with her sisters), and Nellie shyly hands over her own tribute, expecting perhaps a bit of encouraging praise with no real meaning behind it.
But Samantha seems enraptured with her gift. “You made this yourself?” she says, tenderly cradling the little heart-shaped card elaborately decorated with the lace and ribbon in both hands, like it’s something incalculably precious.
“Well, yes.” Nellie is a little nonplussed; surely Samantha doesn’t think she could buy something like this?
“Oh Nellie, it must’ve taken you ages! I love it. Thank you so much.”
Samantha’s eyes are shining, and she looks so utterly delighted that it’s infectious. Nellie finds herself smiling along, and then gasps in surprise when Samantha launches herself in for a hug. Samantha is affectionate, Nellie is used to that, but usually she at least gets some warning.
If Samantha is so excited about the card she’s practically tackling Nellie like this…well. Nellie supposes she’s done all right. As usual Samantha’s hugs make her feel warm inside and out. She’ll carry this feeling for the rest of the day, all the time she’s ironing and helping with dinner and sweeping the floors, because it’s so good it makes her want to fly. She’s happy that Samantha likes her valentine but more than that, she’s happy that Samantha understands. That the homemade gift has been appreciated, seen as a sign of just how much Nellie cares, instead of a sign of her lack of money.
“I wish I’d made you something too,” Samantha is saying into her hair now, “but I thought you would like the candy…I know you’ll give some to Bridget and Jenny too, it’s why I got so much…”
It’s so sweet. Too sweet. Suddenly Nellie feels like she’s going to cry. She tempers the feeling, as best as she can, by hugging Samantha back for all she’s worth. Samantha trails off and just breathes, squeezing Nellie as if they’ll both break when she lets go. And then the time seems to slow and they stay like that, just two happy best friends sharing a Valentine’s Day hug in a stolen moment before one of them has to feign interest in becoming a Proper Lady, and the other has to go back to work.