Chapter 3
I traveled up the slippery sidewalk to the second McLean home I’d visited in the past two weeks.
A wide porch ran the length of the building’s facade, and window boxes burst with an assortment of happy flowers.
Peeking out from the edges of their “country” home, I could see the start of an emerald lawn and magnificent garden.
Though the house was large enough to call it a mansion, the energy of the McLeans’ second home felt less formal, more inviting, than the monstrosity on McPherson Square.
Even in the soggy weather, I saw precisely why the McLeans had named their large Georgetown estate Friendship and why they planned to spend most of their time here on Tenleytown Road.
I mounted the stairs to the porch, closed my umbrella with icy fingers, and glanced down at my stockinged feet.
They were drenched from the steady rain.
Given our financial status of late, I’d decided to save the taxi fare and took the tram to its farthest point instead and walked the rest of the way.
Now I regretted it. I wasn’t a fashionable woman by any stretch, but I knew not to arrive for an important meeting at the home of an elegant socialite looking like a drowned rat.
And yet here I was at the McLeans’ doorstep, having made another poor decision.
Trepidation tingled in my hands as I knocked at the door.
I didn’t know if I’d be cleaning Evalyn McLean’s collection that day or not.
I also didn’t know how to handle the matter of fees and scheduling, or whether I should discuss the Hope Diamond with her.
Julien had never recorded his time in the ledgers as he ought to, and I was left to piece a plan together on my own.
Most of all, I was uncertain how I should speak to Evalyn.
I’d made something of a mess of it before, showing up not once but twice, uninvited and unprepared, at her home on the night of one of her parties.
I was lucky she would see me again at all.
I was invited inside by the same butler from before.
“I’m Jerry, ma’am, should you need anything. It’s nice to see you again.” His demeanor toward me had relaxed.
“And you as well,” I replied, wondering why he’d changed toward me.
Perhaps it was because I didn’t look as if I belonged in the McLeans’ world but rather more like I belonged to his.
Or maybe it was because I hadn’t shown up unannounced.
Either way, he might make a great ally one day, should the need arise.
“Please ignore the smell of paint,” he said as we threaded through the rooms. “Friendship was used as a convalescence for soldiers this past year. We’ve reopened the house only yesterday.”
“How kind of the McLeans to open their home,” I replied.
“They’re a generous family,” he said.
But it wasn’t the odor of paint that I noticed right away; it was the squawk and chatter of birds. “Does Evalyn have birds?” I asked in surprise.
“Parrots, ma’am. Care to meet them?”
“I… Sure. Why not? I’ve never seen a parrot before.”
He led me to a sunroom populated with beautiful wicker furniture, several potted green plants and brightly colored tropical blooms, and a large gold birdcage. “Here they are.”
“Pretty girl,” one of the birds said. “Pretty girl.”
“Hello,” I said to the pair of birds with grass-green bellies and plumes of red, black, and white feathers. As I reached toward the cage, Jerry held out his hand.
“Better not, ma’am. They bite.”
“Oh!” I yanked my hand back.
“They can say ten words and a few full phrases. They’re very intelligent.”
“So I see,” I said, marveling at yet another outcome of having too much money. One could buy anything, exotic animals included. “Thank you for showing them to me.”
“Of course. Mrs. McLean is partial to animals. She has a dog named Mike, a llama, and several others. I’m sure you’ll meet them in time. For now, we’d better show you to the parlor. Mrs. McLean will be waiting for you. She would have you join the others.”
The others? Though I hadn’t the slightest idea what he was talking about, I nodded to be agreeable and followed him as he showed me to a smaller private parlor in the farthest part of the house.
Several women were already strewn across the furniture like flower petals blown by the wind, their figures prone as if their day had been taxing.
I wondered what I was interrupting and why Evalyn had invited me to join her while in the midst of a gathering.
As I glanced at the impossibly stylish women, I felt myself shrink in their presence.
“May I present Miss Elisabeth Beaumont,” Jerry said.
“Beaumont?” one of the women said. “As in the jewelers? I bought my favorite bracelet from Beaumont Jewelers.”
“Yes, ma’am, that’s us,” I said with a nod, pleased our name had been recognized and that she liked our pieces.
Several of the others murmured among themselves. I tried to relax, to present a professional front.
“Jerry,” Evalyn said, “do be a dear and tell George to bring the ladies our afternoon sherry. In fact, he may as well leave the bottle. Beatrice will be joining us, too, and you know how she is.”
I wondered what Evalyn meant by her comment. Did Beatrice drink twice as much as everyone else, or was she insufferable and the others drank more to dull their senses around her? If Jerry knew something about his mistress’s reference, he didn’t show it. He was the consummate polite professional.
“Of course, ma’am.” He nodded and left the room as quietly and swiftly as a ghost.
“Lizzie, darling…” Evalyn waved me forward. “Come in and have a seat.” I must have looked as uncomfortable as I felt because she added, “Really, we don’t bite.”
The ladies tittered at her comment. I blushed and inwardly chastised myself for being so easily embarrassed.
“Ladies, this is Lizzie,” Evalyn said. The ladies greeted me with a nod or polite hello but didn’t rise from their chaises longues. “Lizzie, this is Rita, Sharon, Gwen, and Carrie.”
Two of the women looked familiar, and I was certain I’d seen them before, perhaps at one of the jewelry shows or the bazaars.
One of the two in particular caught my eye: the woman named Carrie.
I racked my brain for some memory of her as I stared at the beautiful redhead, her ruby lips, the white silk that poured over her willowy frame.
She held a cigarette between two fingers, and a thread of smoke snaked above her head.
Boredom stamped her perfect features and vacant eyes.
I came up blank, yet I couldn’t ignore the echo of recognition.
Carrie noticed my stare and looked at me properly then, and I suddenly felt uneasy in her direct gaze.
She was a part of the crowd, and yet she clearly stood apart from the others.
Something about her expression was vulnerable: her large doe-like eyes, her soft mouth.
As I met her eyes, she looked away to the window opposite her as if she were searching for something, or someone, that wasn’t there.
“Why don’t you sit down and join us,” Evalyn said.
Though I wanted to flee instead of making conversation with the women, I did what I was told.
Remembering my posture, I sat rigidly on a chair.
I couldn’t imagine why Evalyn would be so open to my joining their party.
We weren’t friends, and I certainly wasn’t of their social standing or breeding.
I silenced the nagging questions in my mind; I was too glad to have been invited and more than ready to learn about the world my brother had inhabited before his death.
Everyone prattled on about the weather, a charity luncheon, and inane details about some holiday bazaar their ladies’ club would be putting on in the fall.
All the while, I sat quietly, hands folded in my lap, wondering if Julien had met these women, if he had sold them any of our pieces.
I also wondered if Evalyn had opened her doors to him as readily and easily as she had to me.
My eyes were drawn to the gregarious hostess, and I watched her as she smiled brighter than the rest, her peals of laughter inviting the others to laugh in kind.
A single diamond-studded barrette held the dark hair at her temples out of her eyes, and the rest fell in soft waves to her shoulders.
Her lips were shell pink, her skin luminescent against the cream silk of her day dress.
Around her neck, she wore two necklaces draped in concentric loops, one a long gold chain with a locket and the other, the Hope Diamond.
I watched the diamond and the locket and the way they shifted as she moved.
The Hope dazzled in comparison to the lesser necklace and to every other piece of jewelry in the room.
It was almost impossible to tear my gaze away.
Jerry suddenly reappeared. “Excuse me, ma’am. Ladies, may I present Mrs. Beatrice Cauldwell.”
“Bea!” Evalyn exclaimed. “There you are.”
Bea strode into the room confidently, wearing a printed floral skirt and oversize hat.
After the sherry was poured, it wasn’t long before the small party erupted into giddy laughter with Evalyn leading the charge.
I didn’t dare interrupt them after my antics the first time I’d met her, and yet I wondered if I’d been forgotten as I sat quiet as a cat, watching the women and their mannerisms, their tongues becoming looser as Jerry refilled the sherry.
I found I didn’t mind that I was invisible to them—I’d never liked being the center of attention—but I also yearned to speak with Evalyn about my services.
“Who might you be?” Bea asked at last. Her eyes raked my form, taking in my not-quite-dry stockings, the worn hem of my navy dress, and my limp hair.