Waiting for Christmas

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28

Adelaide went down to the kitchen the next morning, while Howard was shaving, and peeked into the maid’s room. Jack was gone! The bed looked unused, the extra blanket neatly folded. The back door was still bolted from the inside, so he had to be in the house somewhere.

“Jack? Jack, where are you?” She searched the kitchen and the pantry before deciding to fix breakfast, hoping he would appear when he smelled food. She stoked the kitchen stove and added fuel—opening the flue correctly, this time—and was pleased when the embers caught fire. Addy had mastered tea and toast this past month, and by the time the teakettle boiled, she had filled the rack with toasted bread. She poured water and tea leaves into the teapot, turned to set it on the table—and there stood Jack. “Oh! I wondered what happened to you.”

“I was hiding.”

“Why?” She spread strawberry jam on a piece of toast and handed it to him. He perched on the edge of a chair as if prepared to run as he bit into the bread. “Why were you hiding, Jack?”

“In case they came and tried to take me back there.”

“I see. Well, we haven’t contacted the orphanage yet, but we’ll have to do it later today. Do you like porridge? I can try to make some.” Before Jack could reply, Howard strode through the kitchen door, remembering to duck. He had bumped his head on the lintel a few times before learning that the doorframe had been built for maidservants, not men of his height.

“How about some bacon and eggs, instead?” he asked. In a few easy motions he draped his suitcoat over a chair, took down the cast-iron frying pan, layered the bottom of it with bacon from the icebox, and set it on the stove. He’d lived alone before they were married and was much better at domestic life than Adelaide was.

“Won’t you be late for work? I can try to finish cooking if you tell me what to do.” The skeptical look he gave her, with one eyebrow raised, made her smile. “Well, I have to learn sooner or later.”

“This won’t take long.” The bacon was already sizzling. Jack watched Howard’s movements as the wonderful aroma filled the air. Addy watched him as well, determined to learn from him. Howard cracked two eggs into a bowl and beat them with a fork while the bacon cooked, pausing to sip from the cup of tea Addy had poured for him. “Would you like some eggs too, darling?” he asked.

“No, thank you.”

When he finished, he handed the plate to Jack while crunching into an extra piece of bacon. “How old are you, Jack?”

“Eight.” His left arm encircled the plate protectively as if expecting someone to snatch it away if he didn’t hurry.

“And you said your sister was almost four?”

“She’ll only talk to me. Nobody else.”

“Why is that?” Jack didn’t reply. “Do you know where you lived before you went to the orphanage?”

Jack hesitated as if deciding something, then bent to shovel the rest of his eggs into his mouth before speaking. “In a tall building with lots of steps and lots of people. We had our own rooms there, with a stove and beds and everything.”

“It sounds like a tenement house,” Addy said. One of many hundreds in the city. “Do you remember what street you lived on?” Jack shook his head.

The clock upstairs chimed the hour. Addy pulled Howard’s jacket from the back of the chair and held it open for him. “You need to go to work, Mr. Forsythe. I’ll figure out what to do about Jack.”

He slid his arms into the sleeves and grabbed a piece of toast. “Don’t go to the orphanage by yourself, Addy. Try to find someone to go with you.”

“I will.” He pulled her close for a kiss and she felt embarrassed in front of the boy. She couldn’t recall ever seeing her parents kiss, although she knew they loved each other. How different her married life in this simple town house was going to be from her parents’ life in a vast mansion. She sat at the table after Howard left, sipping her tea, and watching Jack scoop spoonsful of strawberry jam onto the rest of the toast. She was trying to figure out how the two of them would travel to the orphanage later today when there was a knock on the kitchen door. She opened it to find a tidy, pleasant-looking woman in her fifties smiling up at her. She was dressed in black, from the shawl draped over her iron-gray hair and shoulders, to her long dress, woolen stockings, and sensible work shoes.

“Mrs. Forsythe?” the woman asked.

Addy hesitated, still unused to her new name. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

“Good morning. I’m Mrs. Gleason. I’m here about the position of cook and housekeeper.”

“Yes, of course. Please, come in.” A rush of cold air entered the kitchen with the woman, along with a timid-looking girl in her late teens who slid inside behind her. “Please, have a seat,” Addy said, gesturing to the kitchen table. The toast had disappeared, and so had Jack. Mrs. Gleason and the girl remained standing.

“I understand you’re looking for someone to cook and clean house for you,” she said with a smile.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Well, I’ll get right to the point. I worked for the Jonathan Hall family for more than thirty years as their head cook. Along with various assistants, I prepared all their daily meals as well as food for dinner parties and balls and other special occasions. You can contact Mrs. Hall or her chief housekeeper for references.”

“I’ve been a guest in the Halls’ mansion on several occasions,” Addy said, “and I’m sure you’re very well qualified. The food was always excellent. But I think I should explain that my husband and I hardly require an experienced chef. There are only two of us, you see, and we won’t be doing any entertaining.”

“I know,” she said, her smile widening. “That’s exactly what I’m looking for. I’m too old and arthritic to stand on my feet all day doing enormous amounts of cooking. I’ve retired from all that and I live with my widowed sister now, so I’m not seeking a live-in position. I’ll only work weekdays, but I’ll leave you well supplied with meals for the weekends. Mind you, I’m a cook and nothing more. If you hire me, my great-niece Susannah will do the housekeeping.” She gestured to the girl, half-hidden behind her, shivering like a frightened rabbit. She had fair hair and a round, wholesome-looking face that might be pretty if her cheeks weren’t so wind-chapped or her hair pulled back so tightly.

“I’m pleased to meet you, Susannah.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She gave a little curtsy.

“Susannah was raised on a farm upstate and has recently come to live with my sister and me. She’s never been in domestic service before, so she doesn’t expect a large salary. But she’s a hard worker, and I’ll teach her everything she needs to know. You’ll need to take us together, Mrs. Forsythe, or not at all.”

Addy had a lifetime of experience with maids and domestic servants, and recognized a wonderful opportunity when she saw it. Mrs. Gleason struck her as the type of woman who was sensible and levelheaded, a woman you could turn to in a crisis and trust to be calm and efficient. Her smiles were warm, and judging by her smooth brow, frowning didn’t seem to be part of her nature. “The job is yours, Mrs. Gleason. I feel fortunate to have you and Susannah.”

“Very well,” she said with a brisk nod. “We’ll get started right away.” She removed her shawl, and pulled a starched white apron from her bag. She prodded Susannah to do the same.

“Oh! I wasn’t expecting you to start today.”

“Why ever not? We’re already here, aren’t we? We’ll go over some menu plans and I’ll purchase groceries later this morning. Susannah, those breakfast dishes aren’t going to wash themselves, and—hello! Who is this?”

Jack had reappeared as silently as he had disappeared and stood in the kitchen doorway, appraising the women. “This is Jack. He stowed away in my mother’s carriage yesterday when we visited the orphanage where he lives. We’re going back there later this morning to sort things out.” The boy looked ready to bolt again, but Mrs. Gleason reached out with surprising speed and grasped his collar.

“Very well, Mrs. Forsythe. You may get on about your day and leave everything to us. Susannah will see that Jack is properly scrubbed and combed and ready to leave when you are.”

Addy battled mixed feelings as she made her way upstairs to get dressed. She knew how fortunate she was to have such a capable, experienced servant as Mrs. Gleason. Between her and Susannah, the household’s domestic needs would be taken care of without Addy giving them a second thought, just as they had been her entire life. And yet... she had recognized the shallow emptiness of that way of life in her parents’ vast mansion and had determined to begin again, living a more purposeful life with Howard. He had been raised modestly, a minister’s son, with a mother who could run a household, raise children, and still find time for meaningful charity work. Addy longed to be like her, to do everything herself, to make Howard proud. But how would she ever learn to be the wife he needed if servants did all the cooking and cleaning for her? She would have to convince Mrs. Gleason to teach her how to cook and to run the household while she was teaching Susannah.

As for her trip to the orphanage today, it would be difficult and dangerous to travel by streetcar all the way there, so Addy decided that she and Jack would take a trolley to her mother’s mansion and ask to borrow her carriage and driver for the trip. At least, that was her plan. When it was time to leave, Jack was nowhere to be found.

“But—he was right here a moment ago,” Susannah said. “He just disappeared!” Addy called his name, and she and Susannah searched everywhere for him with no luck.

“He’s a slippery little thing, isn’t he?” Mrs. Gleason said. “And very good at hiding, I’ll give him that.”

Adelaide had no choice but to leave without him, determined to accomplish something today. Perhaps the authorities from the orphanage could come back to collect him later. She traveled uptown and found her mother in her mansion’s morning room, sipping coffee. Addy sat down to explain everything that had transpired as the maid fetched her a cup. “Jack made it pretty clear that he didn’t want to go back to the orphanage,” she finished. “He’s worried that he’ll be selected for one of the orphan trains. I’ve decided to go to the orphanage without him and try to get this straightened out. May I borrow your carriage and driver for the morning?”

“If you wait for me to get dressed, I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know. But the Stanhope Foundation supports several orphanages in this city, so it concerns me that siblings are being separated or sent away for adoption when they have families.”

A short time later, they were on their way. “I’ll be glad when Howard and I can afford our own carriage,” Addy sighed. “It’s another inconvenience that I’m unaccustomed to, but for now, the expense of a horse, carriage, and driver just isn’t affordable on Howard’s salary.”

“I know how much you love Howard,” Mother said. “And you’re wise not to injure his pride by wanting more than he can afford.”

“But why can’t a woman contribute more money to the household expenses than her husband does? That’s the kind of backward thinking that the suffrage movement is trying so hard to change. At least we’ve made some progress since the days when a woman wasn’t even allowed to own her own property. Before that law was changed, my entire inheritance would have become Howard’s when we married. I feel as though that money belongs to both of us, but Howard insists that it’s still mine.”

“There are many decisions that newlyweds need to work out, dear. You must try to be patient.”

Feathery snowflakes were sifting from the sky when Addy and her mother arrived at the Children’s Aid Society. The director, Mr. Drayton, seemed surprised to see them again, but quickly made time for them, inviting them into his office. The special treatment wasn’t unusual since Mother was chairwoman of the Stanhope Foundation, one of New York’s largest charitable organizations, and a supporter of the Children’s Aid Society.

“Mrs. Stanhope, Mrs. Forsythe. What brings you back so soon?”

“One of your wards, Jack Thomas, stowed away in my carriage when we were here yesterday. Adelaide found him shivering beneath her bushes last night.”

“Well, that’s a relief! We were worried when we discovered he was missing. Did you bring him back with you?”

“He’s at my town house,” Addy said. “He spent the night with us, then hid when I was ready to leave. He told my husband and me quite a story, which we weren’t sure was true. I wonder if you could tell us what you know about Jack?”

“I have his file right here. We got it out when he went missing yesterday to see if we could figure out where he might have gone.” Mr. Drayton put on a pair of spectacles and opened a folder, taking a moment to look it over. “It seems Jack’s mother died of dysentery about a month ago. The building superintendent contacted the police, who contacted us. There were no clues about any other relatives and no sign of his father. The neighbors said they hadn’t seen him for several months. We had to assume he’d abandoned the family.”

“Jack insists that his father is working on a ship and will be coming home for Christmas. And he claims he has a three-year-old sister named Polly.” Mr. Drayton studied the file again.

“There’s no record of a sister.”

“Might she also have died?”

He shifted a few more papers. “There’s nothing about a child’s death in the police report. Only the death of the mother, Krystyna Thomas, and her burial in a pauper’s grave. It seems young Jack put up a fight when they brought him here. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing in the report about a sister.”

“Could she have gone to an institution for younger children?” Mother asked.

“It’s possible. But it’s not uncommon for children who have been through trauma to create imaginary siblings or friends so they don’t feel quite as alone. If he had a sister, we would have worked hard to keep them together.”

Addy had to admit Polly could be a figment of Jack’s imagination. But she wasn’t quite ready to give up the search. “Supposing she was found later, where might she have been taken?”

“You might check with the police in that precinct,” Mr. Drayton suggested.

“May we have Jack’s last known address?” Addy asked.

“Of course. I’ll write it down for you. The tenement is not in a very nice part of town. I don’t recommend you ladies go there by yourselves.” He scribbled the address on a piece of paper.

“When was Jack brought to the orphanage?” Addy asked after he’d handed it to her.

“Let’s see... on Octobertwenty-sixth of this year.” It was the day Addy and Howard had married.

“Will you be bringing Jack back later today?” Mr. Drayton asked.

Addy hesitated. “I’m not sure we’ll be very successful with that. He refuses to return, saying he doesn’t want to end up on an orphan train.”

“Oh, there’ll be no more trains until next spring,” he said. “But I’m sure you ladies will agree that placing children in homes with families is much more humane than institutionalizing them in orphanages.”

“Yes, I do agree,” Addy said. She made a quick decision. “Would it be possible for him to stay with my husband and me until we learn more about his father and sister?” She hadn’t thought it through ahead of time and hoped she wouldn’t regret it later. “It’s just that Jack has threatened to run away again if we bring him back here, and I fear he won’t survive the freezing temperatures.”

Mr. Drayton frowned, removing his spectacles. “You may do so if you wish, but I don’t recommend it, Mrs. Forsythe. These children can be very manipulative, playing on your heartstrings to get their own way. And keep in mind he’ll be missing school. I’m sure you agree that education is the key to a better future for our orphans.”

“I’ll make sure he studies every day. Jack seems quite bright.” Adelaide could tell by Mr. Drayton’s wrinkled brow that he wasn’t happy with her decision. Mother asked a few more questions about the orphan trains, the orphanage’s policy regarding siblings, and how exactly Jack had been able to slip away from their care. A few minutes later, they said their goodbyes.

“I should have talked it over with Howard before offering to let Jack stay with us,” Addy worried on the way home. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I don’t know anything about caring for a child.”

“I don’t think Howard will mind, do you? He has a very big heart.”

“That’s true.” Howard was eager to start a family of their own, but the idea terrified Addy. “It’s just that Howard and I have so many other things to learn about each other, and I still don’t know anything about running a household, and now it seems I’ve taken on the responsibility for a little boy.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Addy. Give it time.”

“How will we ever find his sister—if she even exists? There must be a dozen orphans’ homes in the city.”

“I can give you the addresses of the ones our charity supports. If the girl is only three years old, she may not have been able to tell the authorities very much about her family.”

“Jack keeps saying that she won’t talk to anyone but him—or something like that. Do you really think she might be imaginary?”

Mother laughed. “Wouldn’t that be something? I suppose it’s possible.” They were nearly to Addy’s town house when Mother said, “By the way, how was your big suffrage meeting last night?”

“We didn’t meet our election goals despite all our hard work. It’s so discouraging.”

“You’re fighting centuries of entrenched beliefs and misconceptions about women’s roles and abilities. But think of the progress your grandmother was able to make in her lifetime, founding and running a major charitable foundation. You and I are building on her achievements.”

“Are you busy, Mother?” Addy asked when the carriage halted in front of her town house. “Come in and meet our new cook and maidservant. I think they’re going to work out very well. And you can meet Jack, if he’ll come out of hiding. I would like to hear your opinion of him.”

Mother agreed, and Mrs. Gleason, who had already done the shopping, prepared a light lunch for them. Jack had reappeared, and had been bathed and scrubbed clean, something Addy hadn’t thought to do last night. He was presented to them with his hair neatly combed and Susannah’s firm hand on his shoulder.

“You’re the penny lady!” Jack said when he saw Mother.

“Yes, I suppose I am. How do you do, Jack. I understand you’ve run away from the orphans’ home. Is it really so terrible there?”

“They send kids away on a train and nobody ever sees them again.”

“But those children will have new homes with good families to take care of them. They’ll be much happier in a real home than in the orphanage, don’t you think?”

“I already got a family. After I find Polly, we can go home and wait for Papa. He’s coming home for Christmas.”

“What does Polly look like?” Addy asked, wondering again if she was imaginary. Jack shrugged, then held out his hand, three feet from the floor.

“She’s little. With brown hair like mine.”

“And you said she’ll only talk to you? Why is that?”

Jack shrugged again as if the question was silly. “Because I understand her.”

Addy sighed. “We just had a conversation with the director of the orphanage. They’ve been very worried about you.”

“Did you tell them I ain’t an orphan?”

“They believe you are. We’ve agreed to let you stay here with us, for now. But listen, it was naughty of you to run away and cause the people who care about you to worry. If you want our help, you’ll need to stop running away and hiding from us. You can’t keep disappearing, and it’s too cold to be wandering around outside on the streets. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He looked chastened, but only for a moment. “Papa will keep his promise, I know he will.” Addy and her mother exchanged looks.

Mrs. Gleason served lunch upstairs in the dining room, and it seemed like a page from Addy’s former life as she dined with her mother on the fine, gold-rimmed plates and silver tableware she and Howard had received for wedding presents. Jack, who ate in the kitchen, was intrigued with the hand-cranked dumbwaiter that carried food up to the dining room. Susannah promised to let him crank it once again to return the dishes to the kitchen.

“I don’t know where to begin with Jack,” Addy whispered when they’d finished their meal. “I’ve promised to tutor him, another task I know nothing about.”

Mother seemed amused by her worries. “It looks like he could use some new clothes and a decent pair of shoes. Dixon’s Department Store would be a good place to start, I should think. I’ll send you that list of orphanages when I get home. Let me know how you fare with your search.”

Adelaide was waiting in the front hallway when Howard returned home from work that evening. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her before she had time to warn him that their new maid might be nearby. When they pulled apart, he sniffed the air. “Something smells good. Have you been cooking?”

“I hired a cook today, remember? Mrs. Gleason prepared dinner for us tonight.”

“Great. I hope it tastes as wonderful as it smells.”

“It should. She’s a very experienced cook. And her niece, Susannah, is going to do all the cleaning and housekeeping.” He looked a bit surprised, so she hurried to finish. “I hope you don’t mind that I hired both of them, or that they’ll cost a bit more than one servant would have—”

“I trust your judgment, darling. Are they still here? I would like to meet them.”

“If you hurry and wash up and change your clothes, they’ll serve our dinner right away.”

On his way to the stairs, Howard peered into the dining room where Susannah had set the table with a linen cloth, napkins, and their best dinnerware. “My, my! Looks like we’re dining in style. Shall I put on my tuxedo?”

She gave him a playful nudge. “Don’t be silly. It’s just that Mrs. Gleason used to be the head cook in a mansion, and I think she wanted to make a good impression on her first day.”

This merging of two lives was proving to be very complicated. Would Howard think she was being pretentious by hiring two servants, trying to live the way she had as a spoiled heiress instead of as his wife? Maybe she should have said no to Mrs. Gleason and hired a single, ordinary housekeeper as she and Howard had agreed in the first place.

Addy was still fretting after she’d introduced the servants to Howard, and the two of them sat down together for dinner. She held her breath as she watched him taste the food and was relieved when he raved about it. “This is better than a fancy restaurant, Addy. You made a great choice.”

Addy felt a glow of pride that Howard agreed with her decision. “I’m hoping Mrs. Gleason will give me lessons so I can cook for you myself—”

“You know I don’t care about those things. I—” A loud clanking from the dumbwaiter interrupted him. “Are we expecting more food?”

“I don’t think so. Jack enjoys tinkering with the crank, and Susannah promised he could help clear the table.”

“Wait. Didn’t Jack go back to the orphanage today?”

“I couldn’t take him back. He hid somewhere when it was time to go and we couldn’t find him. Mother went with me, instead. I hope you won’t mind, but I told the orphanage that Jack could stay with us until we learn more about his family.”

“Of course. Poor little fellow.”

“Mother suggested I take him to Dixon’s and buy him a warmer coat and new shoes.”

“Good. He needs them.”

“I am trying to stick to our budget, Howard, and I know that extra expenses like two servants and a new coat and shoes for Jack aren’t included in it, but—”

“There’s always room in our budget for charity. So, tell me what you learned from Children’s Aid.” Howard piled more mashed potatoes onto his plate.

She lowered her voice so Jack wouldn’t overhear. “They confirmed that Jack’s mother died a month ago, but they don’t have any record of his father or any other relatives, which is why they brought him to the orphanage. There’s no record of a sister, either, so I’m wondering if she might be imaginary. If so, we’ll be going on a wild goose chase if we try to find her.”

“Sounds like a lot of dead ends.”

“But they did give us the address of the tenement where Jack used to live.”

“Good. We’ll go there on Saturday and talk to some of the neighbors.”

“Don’t forget, we’re invited to my friend Felicity’s engagement dinner Saturday night.”

“We’ll be back in plenty of time to get dressed for dinner.”

Addy took a few more bites of food, then stopped. “Oh, no! What will we do with Jack when we go out? Mrs. Gleason and Susannah don’t work on weekends.”

“I’ll think of something.”

She had managed to make their simple life more complicated with her impulsiveness. She needed to make it right. “I’m sorry I didn’t consult you before making all these decisions today. I know we agreed to do everything together as husband and wife, but...”

He laid down his fork and reached for her hand. “I fell in love with you because you’re an intelligent, capable woman who doesn’t need my permission to follow her heart.”

Tears filled Addy’s eyes. How had she managed to find such a wonderful man? She squeezed his hand in return. “I love you so much, Howard Forsythe.”