by Linda Ford
“Sterling! You’re just the man I want to see.”
“Oh? What’s up, Mr. Johnson?”
“Well, the boss man just told me he’s agreed to give some reporters and a photographer free access to the building to do a series of articles. Says you might know them.”
“Afraid I do. I was hoping he’d say no.”
Johnson chuckled. “I’m glad to hear you think like I do. But we aren’t the ones who make the decisions. He is and we’ve got to ‘help in any way we can.’”
“Yes, sir.”
“I suppose if you know them, you also know one of the reporters and the photographer are women?”
“I do.” He wasn’t going to tell the man about Millicent being petrified of heights, although he wondered if he should.
“Well, it’s going to be up to you to see that none of them get hurt.”
Matt let out a long sigh. “I can’t say that thrills me, but I’ll do my best to keep them out of harm’s way.” Especially Millicent—he knew John would be watching out for his wife.
“I know you will. Not sure when they’ll begin, but I’ll let you know soon as I know. Or, since you’re friends with them, you can let me know if you find out anything first.” The slap on the back Matt received did nothing to calm the frustration he felt over their boss actually agreeing to the crazy idea. No one needed inexperienced people on a building site like this.
But he didn’t have a say, so he just nodded. “Will do.”
“I know I can count on you, Sterling. See you tomorrow.” With that Johnson gave a wave and walked away.
Matt wondered if Millicent had heard the news yet. It truly was a golden opportunity for her and he could understand why she felt she must accept it. But it wouldn’t be easy on her. He shrugged. It wasn’t going to be easy on him, either.
He was attracted to Millicent—more than he was comfortable with and way more than he should be. And she’d looked so pretty the night before, dressed in a blue-and-white summery outfit that made her eyes appear even bluer and her blond hair lighter.
Even when they disagreed on something—and that was often—he felt more alive around Millie than any other woman he knew. Distancing himself seemed to be the only way to counteract it. And trying to do that was difficult enough living in the same place. How could he manage putting distance between them when it’d be his job to watch over her while she took those photographs?
Matt headed to his trolley stop while silently praying, Dear Lord, I don’t know what Your plan is, but if possible, I’d sure appreciate it if You’d nudge Millie to turn down this offer from the Tribune and give her another opportunity to make a name for herself. Please forgive me if I’m being selfish, but only You know what I’m dealing with here. If it’s Your will that she take the offer, I accept it, but oh, Lord, I sure hope it’s not.
Somehow he wasn’t surprised to see John standing at the trolley stop when he got there—they sometimes rode home together, on their way to their respective homes. His friend grinned from ear to ear, alerting Matt to the fact that John must have heard the news.
“We got the assignment,” he said.
He couldn’t help but be happy for John even as he dreaded the weeks to come. “I just heard. Congratulations.”
“Thank you, Matt. This means a lot to me and Elizabeth.”
“I know it does. Has Millicent been told?”
John shook his head. “No. I telephoned Elizabeth, though, and she’s going to get in touch with her.”
Matt nodded.
“I thought we could meet tomorrow evening at the ice cream shop to do some planning on when would be best for your crew for us to come to Park Row.”
“Good idea. I’ll check with Millicent when I get to Heaton House. She might need more time to make a decision.”
“We do need an answer by tomorrow evening.”
“I’m sure she’ll have one for you by then.” She didn’t have any choice.
*
Millicent checked on the last photos she’d developed that morning. It wasn’t a paying job, wasn’t actually a job at all, but something personal. All the boarders, Mrs. Heaton’s family and the former boarder couples had gone on a picnic to Central Park a couple of weekends earlier, where she’d taken snapshot after snapshot.
She smiled now as she took them down from the drying line strung up in a storage closet on the third floor that Mrs. Heaton let her use for a darkroom. At one time, Mrs. Heaton’s son Michael had allowed her to use a storeroom in his office building. But being able to do her developing at Heaton House made things much easier—at least until she could afford to open her own shop one day. What a dream come true that would be—to have a studio where she could take photos and develop them all in one place. But was she willing to face her fears to make things happen faster?
She’d gone out earlier in the day to look at the Park Row Building John and Elizabeth wanted her to photograph. Her heart had begun to race as she’d looked up shielding her eyes against the sun to see how high the structure climbed into the sky. The actual floors only went a little over halfway up the steel frame, but still, the floored part stood taller than any of the surrounding buildings. When finished, the Park Row would be the tallest in the city. She’d shuddered and swallowed hard, willing her heart to slow down at the very thought of being up so high.
Thinking about it made her queasy now. “Dear Lord, please give me guidance in what to do if John and Elizabeth get the assignment,” she whispered. “I would so like to do this and I think I’d enjoy looking out on the city from that vantage point. Matt’s stories have always made me want to see what he does from up there. I’d really like to get past this fear I don’t understand. Maybe this offer is just what I need to get over it. Lord, I’d appreciate your help in letting me know what to do. In Jesus’s name, amen.”
Millicent turned out the light and closed the door before heading down to her room. While Christmas was still several months away, she’d decided to make Mrs. Heaton a photograph album of the group outings and the photos she’d taken of them at Heaton House.
Letting herself into her room, she laid the photos on the desk that looked out onto Mrs. Heaton’s small garden and then hurried to the bathroom to freshen up for dinner. She’d work on the album when she came back up later that night.
The aroma wafting up the staircase made her tummy rumble and she realized how hungry she was. The telephone rang just as she reached the bottom of the stairs and she hurried to answer it. “Heaton House.”
“Millicent?”
“Yes. You sound excited, Elizabeth, have you heard something?”
“We did. We have the assignment and we’re wondering if you’re going to take the photos for us. Have you decided if you’ll be our photographer?”
Millicent’s stomach did a dive while apprehension warred with excitement. “I wasn’t expecting to have to make up my mind quite this soon. I—”
“I understand. And I’m sorry, but we really need your answer by tomorrow, please.”
“All right, I’ll have one for you by then.”
“Thank you, dear friend. Have a good evening.”
Millicent hung up the receiver and prayed once again, Dear Lord, please help me to know what to do. Then she joined the others in the front parlor to wait for Mrs. Heaton to call them to dinner.
Julia and Joe, along with Stephen and Emily, were there, and just as she wondered if Matt was going to be late, he rushed in. His damp hair told her he’d probably just got home and she hoped there’d been no more accidents at his work.
“You running late again, Matt?” Joe asked.
“A little. But I made it before—”
“Dinner is ready,” Mrs. Heaton said from just outside the dining room, interrupting what he’d been about to say.
They all headed across the foyer and Matt seated their landlady and then held Millicent’s chair out for her before taking his seat beside her. Joe and Stephen performed the same courtesy for Juli
a and Emily.
Mrs. Heaton asked Matt to say the prayer, and then Gretchen and Maida began to serve the meal of roast beef, scalloped potatoes, green beans and rolls. Meals at Heaton House were always something to look forward to, along with the table conversation.
Their landlady always asked how each of their days went, which helped get conversation started and led to easy rapport among them all. Millicent remembered how welcomed she’d felt from the very first night at Heaton House. It’d meant so much to her that she’d tried to emulate Mrs. Heaton’s example when the new boarders came in. But tonight her attention wasn’t on the conversations going on around her. All she could think of was the decision she needed to make.
Once they’d finished their desert of coconut cake, they all headed toward the parlor once more, and Millicent and Matt both turned to one another.
“May I speak to you for a moment?” Matt asked.
“Of course. I wanted to tell you Elizabeth telephoned—”
“And she told you the news? My boss told me this afternoon and then I ran into John at the trolley stop. Have you made up your mind?”
“Not yet. I was hoping to have more time to make a decision. I told Elizabeth I’d let her know tomorrow. I’m sure they really want an answer now, but—”
“I understand. John wants to meet with us tomorrow evening to make plans.”
“I suppose I’d better do some serious thinking and praying.”
“Might be a good idea. And just so you know, I’ve been assigned to keep you safe while you take your photographs.”
“Oh…well, that does make me feel better, I suppose.” She managed a smile.
“You don’t have to take the offer, Millie.”
“I know.”
They walked toward the foyer. “I’m sure there’ll be another one of these days.”
“Perhaps. I assume you want me to say no.”
“It might make my job easier.” He grinned but then turned serious and surprised her when he said, “Actually, Millie, I want you to do whatever you believe the Lord is leading you to do.”
He sounded so sincere Millicent felt bad for presuming she knew what he was thinking. “Please say a prayer I get some direction soon.”
“I will.”
Millicent nodded. “Thank you. I think I’m going on up. Good night.” She headed upstairs. Oh how she wished she and Matt weren’t so different, that he didn’t disapprove of her starting her own business. Especially now she’d seen a side of him he’d never shown her before—his strong belief in letting the Lord guide them.
*
As always, the next day passed fairly fast for Matt. There was always much to do and he loved seeing the progress being made. When they broke for lunch, he told his crew about the upcoming photo shoots and wasn’t surprised by their reaction.
“What? Is the boss crazy? He’s letting women up here?” Burl asked.
“He is. I don’t like it much, either, but we don’t have a say in the matter. We just have to watch out for them, and a few of you men need to watch your language, too. You know who you are.” Some of his men talked as if they’d been raised out on a ship somewhere and he certainly didn’t want them offending Elizabeth or Millicent.
“Yes, sir,” several men murmured.
“I don’t like it, though,” Henry said. “I know all too well how easy it is to lose one’s footing up here.”
He was one of the men who’d had a near accident earlier in the week. “I know you do, Henry. I’ll try to keep them away from the edge. I don’t think it will be too much of a problem.” With Millicent’s fear of heights, he wasn’t very worried. But he wasn’t about to tell his men about that fear—they were already skittish about having women on the job as it was.
The rest of the afternoon, they mumbled and grumbled about the upcoming week, but he knew they were just getting their frustration out. Better they do so now rather than later.
Matt wished he could relieve his stress as easily, but it was his friends who were going to be disrupting their work, and he didn’t know who he could complain to, except the Lord. But He already knew how torn Matt was with wanting to help them and not wanting them in his workplace.
When the work whistle blew letting them know it was time to quit for the day, Matt waved goodbye to his crew and after checking the jobs they’d all done to see where they’d begin the next morning, he took off, too.
The men’s grousing had set them back a bit on getting the day’s work done and by the time Matt arrived home, it was almost dinnertime. He hurried downstairs to wash up and made it back up just in time to hear Mrs. Heaton announce that dinner was ready.
He was burning with curiosity to hear Millicent’s decision. Would she decide against taking the offer or would she face her fear?
At the dinner table, he pulled out her chair and heard her whisper to him, “Elizabeth and John want to meet us at the soda shop around eight so we can talk about a schedule of some kind. Will that work for you?”
“You’ve decided to take the offer, then?”
“I have. I telephoned Elizabeth this afternoon.”
Matt nodded. “Eight will be fine with me, then. I’ll meet you in the foyer around seven forty.”
“I’ll be ready.”
Matt wondered if she really were ready for this assignment. But he knew she wouldn’t want any advice from him. She was aware he knew heights frightened her and that he’d been assigned to keep her safe. Her decision was out of his hands and all he could do now was pray that he could keep her out of harm’s way.
*
After dinner, Millicent hurried upstairs to neaten her hair and get a lightweight jacket for the walk to the soda shop where she and Matt would meet Elizabeth and John. As the clock in the foyer chimed the time, she rushed downstairs to find Matt standing in the entry to the big parlor talking to the other boarders while he waited for her. Something about his profile, the way that lock of his hair fell across his brow, made her pulse skitter through her veins.
“Are you ready, Matt?”
He turned with a smile. “I am. Just waiting on you.”
“Let’s go, then.”
Once they were on the sidewalk outside, she said, “I hope we won’t disrupt your workday too much.”
He shrugged. “You all won’t be there every day. We’ll catch up if you do.”
“That’s true. I’m not sure what the scheduling will be or how you and the Talbots want to go about it all. I suppose it’s a good thing they want this meeting.”
“I’m sure we can figure it all out.”
Millicent enjoyed the walk with a star-laden sky overhead and lights appearing in the windows of the homes they passed. They turned the corner and walked down to the next, to get to the soda shop the Heaton House group often frequented in warm weather. They didn’t visit it much when the days and nights became much cooler. Somehow ice cream didn’t sound quite as good when it was cold.
Their timing was good. John and Elizabeth were approaching from the other direction and they all reached the shop at the same time.
Their friends’ excitement was evident on their faces and Millicent prayed once more that the Lord would give her courage to do the job she’d agreed to do. She didn’t want to disappoint them and she badly wanted to conquer the fear that threatened to paralyze her. And if she were honest with herself, she wanted to show Matt that she could.
They all entered the shop and Matt looked down at her. “Do you want a sundae or a shake? Or maybe a cone?”
“A chocolate cone, I think.” Millicent began to dig in her reticule for some change.
Matt stilled her digging hand with his. “This is my treat.”
“No, it’s mine,” John said. “After all, you two are agreeing to this because you’re our friends. Come on, Matt. Elizabeth, I know what you want. Why don’t you and Millicent grab that table there by the window before more customers arrive?”
“All right, dear.”
Seeing the
look Elizabeth gave her husband, Millicent felt a small stab of envy. She wanted the kind of relationship they had, but she didn’t think it was in her reach. She’d come to believe that all men were against women being independent and owning their own business.
She sighed and followed Elizabeth across the room and took a seat at the small round table overlooking the street. They watched as the young man behind the counter made their cones and handed them to the men, one at a time.
“John is so happy you’ve agreed to help us, Millicent,” Elizabeth said. “He’s thrilled about these articles and so am I. We do love bringing attention to the needs in the tenements and won’t stop doing that, but we’re glad for the chance to do something different.”
“I understand.” And she did. She’d been along with them to take photos several times. “Reporting about the conditions so many live in must get depressing at times and this will be a nice change for the two of you. I’m excited about it, too.”
“I’m glad to hear you are,” John said as he and Matt approached with a cone in each hand.
Matt handed Millicent hers and took a seat beside her while John sat down next to his wife. Millicent took a lick and closed her eyes. She loved chocolate ice cream.
“Well, I thought we should talk about a schedule of some kind, so we all can plan. Matt has said late morning or early afternoon might be best, as the weather will be getting pretty cool going into fall. He’s used to working up high in changing climates, but we are not. So I think the decision should be left to you women to make.”
Millicent and Elizabeth exchanged glances. Both of them were morning people.
“We’d like mornings,” Elizabeth said.
“Sounds good. How about nine?” Matt asked. “That will give us time to get some work done and know what needs to be taken care of for the rest of the day. Hopefully, I can keep the men working instead of ogling you two lovely ladies.”
Millicent felt her face heat at his compliment. “Nine is fine for me. What about you, Elizabeth?”