The Lancaster's lived in a red brick Colonial home on five acres in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. A really beautiful home with cozy rooms and three fireplaces. The kitchen had French doors leading to the private rear yard complete with cobblestone paths, bird baths, farm animals, and most of all, trees!
They were well respected in the area, and welcomed when the young couple moved in late in the spring of 1900. You see, after the civil war, this was a coal mining community. The other residents of the town were hard workers and welcomed all the help they could get. The charming couple attended church where the congregation didn't know the couple had only been married a month when they moved in, they were just looking forward to have a baby join them within the next few weeks.
Yes, That's right. When young Estella's parents learned that their only daughter had gotten pregnant out of wedlock, they were surprised because she usually kept to herself. She enjoyed knitting in the windowsill watching the storms and baking bread with her mother. So to avoid a scandal they made her marry the scoundrel who had taken advantage of her. His name was Mr. Jack Lancaster. He wasn't an unattractive man, nor was he a cruel man. But kind, thoughtful, and gentle did not describe him either. There was a sense of mystery and charm that he held in his dark eyes which had a tendency to lure people in.
No matter -- her parents arranged everything, from the wedding, to getting him a job in a coal mine.
Despite being forced to marry, the couple seemed to be happy. When their baby was born the elation only grew. They had agreed on the name Drisella. It had always been a favorite of Jack's, and Estella liked that it sounded like rain drizzling down the window. When Jack got home from working in the mine he was delighted to meet the tiny new arrival. As gently as he could manage, Jack picked up his new daughter with his permanently dirty hands and marveled at how her whole body could fit in his two clunky hands. He brought her to his lips and kissed her. When he handed the infant back to her mother she bantered, "You got soot all over her. You ashen beast! She looks more like Cinderella than Drisella." They both laughed as she cradled her carbon-smudged baby to her chest.
The name stuck.
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Come read more of The Story of Cinderella next Monday!
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