Chapter Two #2
“Oh, I can think of many good uses for this fork right now,” Grace retorted as they were ushered to a round table in the courtyard to sit down for dinner.
There were large, vibrant clay plates set on a mosaic-patterned tablecloth.
Oliver and Lillie were seated across the table.
Grace’s name was scrawled in elegant script on a place card between a man named Earnest Allred and… Theodore Parker.
She sighed and swept into her chair, dejectedly eating an olive.
“Well, I suppose that’s two things I’ve never done before tonight,” a man said, taking his seat next to her.
“Arrive at dinner by gondola?” she asked, turning toward him and pointedly away from Theodore’s brooding presence.
“Visited fake Spain and had the pleasure of your acquaintance,” the man said. “I’m Earnest.” He extended a hand to her. “Allred.”
“I’m Grace,” she said, “Covington. I’m Oliver and Lillie Carter’s cousin,” she said clearly, so that Theodore could hear her—so that she could prove to him that she had nothing to hide.
Theodore cleared his throat into his water glass.
Grace examined Earnest as he said hello to Theodore and Harriet. He had strawberry blond hair, dimples like Oliver’s, and a friendly face. He seemed quick to laugh and was everything that Theodore wasn’t. As such, she took an instant liking to him.
The waiter lit the candles on the table and served them bowls of something he explained was called salmorejo.
“Your surname is Allred?” Grace asked Earnest, taking a bite of the soup. It was rich with cream and tomato, one of the most flavorful things she’d ever tasted. “You’re related to Frannie, then?”
“Her brother,” he clarified, stealing a look at where Frannie was engaged in conversation with Oliver. He made a knowing face at Grace. “I take it you’ve met?”
She smiled a little into her spoon as she took another bite of soup.
“Some of us have expensive taste in my family,” Earnest said, taking out a copy of the fair’s weekly program. He smoothed it out in front of him. “And some of us just like things that are beautiful.”
He winked at her.
She flushed, enjoying his attention as Theodore sat beside her in stony silence.
“What are you most interested in viewing this week?” he asked, moving the program between them so she could see it.
They bent together. She could smell his cologne, cinnamon and anise.
She loved the warm light of the candles filling the cavern, flickering off the stone walls.
She loved the intimacy of this private space, dinner with fifty people while tens of thousands of others walked in hidden crowds around them.
She traced the canals on the map that ran to the Palace of Electricity. “I want to see something historic and meaningful.”
“And here I am just wanting to ride the observation wheel,” he said, laughing. She smiled. Earnest had none of the airs of his sister. He was friendly and engaging, with an easy smile.
As a bonus, Frannie was glaring at them from across the table. And the chance to annoy Frannie and Theodore all in one go was almost too delightful to pass up.
Theodore turned and opened the question to the rest of the table for discussion. “What are you most looking forward to this week?”
“The Palace of Lights ball,” Frannie said.
“The Pike,” Harriet said immediately. “And I love to scream my lungs out on roller coasters. But—it’s ridiculous—” She smiled a dazzling, self-deprecating smile. “These days I find I have to sing instead, so I don’t injure my voice.”
“Well, that’s it. I want to hear Harriet scream-sing,” Lillie declared. “And I want to eat fairy floss. And see acrobats. Theodore?”
Theodore swallowed. “I’d like to see the inventions,” he said stiffly. “Thomas Edison himself is supposed to be at the Palace of Electricity overseeing some of them.”
“Speaking of marvelous inventions,” Oliver said. “I’m determined to try that waffle wrapped around ice cream. A cone, they call it.”
“Hear! Hear!” Lillie said, raising her glass of Spanish cider.
They cheered and as they ate paella and mussels, Earnest told Grace about his background growing up in St. Louis in the dynasty of the Allreds, who were known for their propensity to make money in lead, mercantile, and railroads.
He’d wanted to go into aeronautics, but his parents had recently died, and he had inherited the family business instead.
“Oh. I’m sorry for your loss,” she said. Her eyes flicked to Frannie with a newfound sympathy. Grace’s parents were at home, patiently waiting for her to finish her St. Louis adventure and walk back through the door into their lives. Frannie would never have that experience again.
“Thank you,” he said. “I can tell that you mean that.” He gave her a small smile, then listened with interest as she told him about growing up in Kansas City and her father’s restaurant.
“His vision is to be the next Delmonico’s,” she said.
He had even taken her there once, on a trip to New York with her mother.
Her father knew the chef and they’d been given a tour after hours.
She remembered the cartoon drawings sketched across the menus, the rich sweetness of the ice cream and berries the chef had served them in the gleaming kitchen.
Earnest’s attention to her as she described it was flattering.
She felt Theodore’s eyes drift toward her.
When they stood, she was glad to realize that they had barely interacted.
“Are you always this sullen at parties?” she asked, gathering the train of her dress in her hand as she got up.
“You talked enough for the both of us. Half the table, really,” he said.
She pulled on her gloves with a sharp, exaggerated precision. At least there had been no dancing tonight. Just intimate conversations over low-burning candles while flamenco guitars played in the background.
Perhaps too intimate. She noticed that Harriet and Oliver were bent toward each other, talking. Harriet was giggling at something he said and their faces drew nearer, sharing a confidence. Oliver was beaming, staring at Harriet with unmasked adoration.
Lillie was taking notice, too, glancing at them. Grace would have to tell Oliver to confess the truth soon or make a concerted effort to tone down his affections.
She didn’t see Aunt Clove approaching until she was practically on top of them.
“Aunt Clove!” Grace exclaimed, attempting to block her. But the look of adoration on Oliver’s face was unmistakable as he beamed at Harriet, and Clove’s own face had settled into an alarming frown.
She stared at the space between them with something nearing a scowl. Oliver paled.
And Lillie stood beside them, looking confused.
Grace was just trying to decide what to do next when Theodore stepped forward.
“Mrs. Carter,” he said, bowing formally to her. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.”
“And you, Theodore,” she said, clearly still distracted. She began fanning herself in distress.
Theodore wove between Oliver and Harriet, then made a show of putting his hand at the small of Harriet’s back.
“Mrs. Carter, have you met my…” He hesitated, his voice breaking a little, then cleared his throat. “My Harriet?” he asked.
Harriet smiled warmly and leaned in first toward Theodore, and then toward Aunt Clove. “How do you do?” she said, extending her hand. “I hope you don’t mind that I’ve joined the party.”
Aunt Clove visibly relaxed. “Of course not, dear,” she said, her fan slowing. “I’ve always said that any friend of the Parkers…”
She stepped back, relieved.
“Hawthorne Shaw is here tonight,” she said, turning to Lillie. “I’d love to introduce you.” She threw one last glance over her shoulder at Theodore and Harriet and added in a low voice, “Theodore Parker is set to inherit eight million dollars. I would’ve hoped he’d set his eyes a little higher.”
“Oh, Mother,” Lillie said, rolling her eyes. “You know how this talk of money bores me.”
Finally, Lillie broke free of her mother and came to take Grace’s arm.
She spun her around, then whispered in her ear, “Hurry, before my mother tries to marry me off to a man thrice my age.” They giggled and darted together up the stairs to exit the Spanish plaza and into the humid St. Louis night perfumed with flowering azaleas and dogwood trees. Grace’s head swam with joy.
“What you did back there with my mother was brilliant,” she heard Oliver say in a low voice to Theodore. She turned to catch his look of pure gratitude.
Theodore didn’t smile. “You know,” he said dryly. “If you plan to make her the grandmother of Harriet’s children, she’s likely going to find out at some point.”
“I know, I know,” Oliver said. “I’ll have to come clean soon. But if you could just play along a little longer… it will help my family warm to the idea of Harriet. Please.”
Theodore worked his handsome jaw.
“I can get down on my knees and beg if debasing myself would help,” Oliver offered.
“Fine,” Theodore finally agreed. He grimaced. “Are we the only two who know?” he asked, tilting his head toward Grace.
Oliver nodded. “Yes. I’d trust my cousin with my life.”
Theodore gave Grace a shrewd look that seemed to peer into the very depths of her. He frowned but surprised her when he bowed his head to her in a show of respect. “Well then. Bound together by the secret.”
She narrowed her eyes and nodded, curtsying back.
Then she turned away. Oliver seemed so grateful to Theodore that she decided to hold her tongue.
What a confusing man Theodore Parker was, a coin that kept flipping and showing different faces.
But all the favors to her cousin in the world wouldn’t make up for the dark side of him she had seen that night in Chicago.
She wouldn’t trust him as far as she could row a ship.
“Shall we meet back here tomorrow, then?” Lillie asked, pulling on her cloak. “We’ll be sophisticated and cultured and tour the exhibits and the gardens. I want to eat an ice-cream cone and see the giant working clock fashioned entirely out of flowers.”
“And then eat fairy floss and ride the carnival rides until we’re sick,” Harriet said.
“I love our little party,” Earnest said, in a manner that seemed true to his name. And true to her own nature, Frannie hmphed.
Oliver’s eyes were positively shining.
And Grace saw her dreams of her last, intimate week with her cousins fading away.
“Will I see you both tomorrow?” Earnest asked Grace and Lillie quietly. Grace nodded, and he bowed, a beautiful grin lighting his face. “Until then.”
Theodore tipped his hat in a wordless goodbye at them all, his jaw tightening as Aunt Clove and Uncle Reginald approached.
“May I see you home?” Theodore asked, pivoting toward Harriet. “My driver and groom will accompany us.” Harriet met his gaze and nodded.
Under the watchful eye of Grace’s aunt, he escorted her into his waiting carriage.
“And then there were three,” Oliver said, taking Lillie and Grace each by the arm.
Look at me, the jam in the sandwich, he used to say when they were children. The sweet that holds it all together.
The seedy part, I think you mean, Grace would reply.
The part that never fails to leave behind a sticky mess, Lillie would add.
Grace smiled at the memory.
“You seem to have enchanted Earnest Allred at dinner,” Oliver said slyly to Grace as they strolled down the promenade. “Perhaps we’ll make a permanent St. Louisan out of you yet.”
“Oh! Don’t tease me like that! Wouldn’t that be everything, Grace?” Lillie squealed. “We could see each other every week instead of twice a year!”
Grace shook her head, laughing. “He was merely being a gentleman, Oliver, something understandably hard for you to recognize.”
She should tell them now that this week would be the end, but she couldn’t bring herself to. Instead, the image of Theodore’s stormy face flashed across her mind.
Oliver watched the Parker carriage leave with Harriet inside, so trusting of his new friend Theodore. Grace hoped that her cousin’s belief in him wasn’t misplaced. She let Lillie take her by the arm, putting her head on her shoulder.
“Doesn’t this feel like the kind of week that could change our lives forever?” Lillie said.
“Yes,” Grace said quietly. She already knew that it would. Electricity crackled through the air like a coming storm.
New futures would be forged this week in the Ivory City, and beloved childhoods put to bed.
But for now, Grace thought, they were all together, and she knew no greater joy.