Emma was thrilled to hear her mother mention Elliot’s architecture school, confirming that her brother’s secret remained safe.
“And I have flowers for you!” gushed Emma.
“Oh, thank you, darling.” Beth smelled the flowers as if they were the most exquisite blooms she’d ever seen.
“Please, Maisie, would you mind putting these in water for me? They are so pretty.” She patted Emma’s hand. “You really mustn’t look so worried, Emma. As a matter of fact, I have been marching about the room to get my exercise in recent days under the serious and heavy regimen that Maisie has determined to be in my best interests. I’m getting stronger all the time. Am I not, Maisie?”
“You are indeed, mum. You are an excellent patient, I must say.”
“Well, I shan’t be a patient for much longer. I have had quite enough of being confined to these quarters. Emma, how would you like to go shopping with me? Come to Montreal with me. We’ll see what new fashions are on Sherbrooke Street and spend some time with Grandmama.”
“Oh, Mother, how absolutely wonderful that would be. Are you sure you are strong enough to go?”
“I am better every day. Truly I am, Emma. And I must tell you that your father came to me with the most exquisite news. From Montreal, he and I will be traveling on to Florida for a few weeks.”
Emma gasped. This was the first she had heard of the potential for a southern holiday. Her mother rushed to allay her fears.
“Now, now, Emma, I know what you are thinking. I can see it all over your face. You and I will spend every waking minute together for ten full days. You will be positively sick of me by the time you leave to return to Winnipeg.”
“Florida! I thought you and Daddy were going to skip your winter holiday this year.”
“Well, your father seems to think that the warm ocean breezes will hasten my full return to good health, and I must say it is too tempting to resist. Now just think, darling. Won’t it be fun to travel to Montreal with me and have a bit of a holiday yourself?”
“Will I travel home alone?” Emma suddenly imagined herself as a woman of the world, boarding the train on her own, in fabulous traveling clothes, of course, for the journey.
“Certainly not! What on earth are you thinking? You’re not even fourteen years old.”
“I will be fourteen in just a few months, Mother.”
“Alfred will be joining us in Montreal as well,” her mother explained. “He will travel east a couple of days after our departure. He and your father have some business to attend to and he will escort you home on the train.”
“But are you really strong enough to travel, Mother?”
“I truly am fine, and just to be sure …” Beth stopped and looked at Maisie. “Well, I haven’t asked you yet, if you would mind, Maisie, but all of this is coming along so fast. I would like you to come along with Mr. Willows and me, in the capacity of my personal maid and nurse, should the need arise, that is, just to be sure that I am well looked after under all circumstances.”
Maisie’s eyes flew open and her knees went weak as she fought to maintain her composure.
“Florida?”
“Yes, please do say you will come. It will make all the difference to me. I’ve already discussed the matter with Lizzie, so you needn’t worry about her being offended. It seems she has been rather nervous about my illness and is quite happy to have you take her place to help me with my travels.”
Emma was starting to feel the excitement. Mother truly was on the way to being back to her normal good humor, and getting away for the worst of the winter was probably a very good idea.
“Maisie, I think you should go. You would love St. Augustine, I’m sure.”
“Oh, not St. Augustine, dear. We’re going to Palm Beach.”
“Palm Beach!” Maisie and Emma said in unison, and then clapped their hands over their mouths.
“Dear me, how funny you both are! Yes, we’re traveling to Palm Beach. We are to be the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Flagler at their extraordinary new mansion, which I believe is called Whitehall. It’s a terribly grand residence, I’m told,” Beth gushed. “Apparently there are more than fifty rooms. Imagine a private home that large! And Mr. Flagler absolutely insisted that your father bring me there so that we could relax and recover from the terrible trials of the fire. Such a dear and thoughtful man, he is. Oh, Maisie, do say you will come with us. You have taken such good care of me all these weeks. You saved my life, I do believe. I just couldn’t bear the thought of traveling without having you near. You will come, won’t you?”
Maisie couldn’t believe her good fortune. By contrast with Winnipeg’s harsh winter, the thought of warm ocean breezes was absolutely tantalizing. With shining eyes and pink cheeks she turned to her mistress and curtsied. “I would be honored to accompany you, Mrs. Willows.” Wait until she told her family she was escaping a Winnipeg winter to travel to Florida!
Emma sat immobilized on the edge of the chaise lounge, her ears ringing like an alarm bell.
“Emma, child of mine,” her mother reached out to comfort her daughter. “You look like you have been struck by lightning. What is it?”
“Mother, I thought you were going to St. Augustine!” said Emma as her hands flew high.
“St. Augustine?”
“Yes!” Catching herself, Emma blurted, “I thought you were intending to go to the Alcazar Hotel to enjoy the sulfur pool and the Roman baths to help you recover.”
“Well, yes, that is a rather nice thought.” Beth reached out to stroke Emma’s hair. “Goodness, I am surprised you remember such details, darling. Sometimes I think you don’t hear me at all, and look at all you remember from my prattling on. We’ll see what Daddy thinks about stopping at St. Augustine on the way home.
“But really, you mustn’t be concerned with any of this, Emma. You look like I’ve given you shocking news. Is there something I should know about?”
“Not a thing. No, not a thing, Mother.”
Emma was starting to feel a little queasy. Palm Beach? She felt for the letter hidden in her dress pocket and held it, to be sure it wouldn’t fall out and spill its secrets into the room. “It’s just that I thought you liked St. Augustine. That’s all.” As she hugged her mother, she saw the clock on the mantle. “Oh, goodness. Look at the time. Mary is coming over to study with me. Please excuse me, Mother.”
“Of course, darling. As a matter of fact, I am feeling so well that I will join the family in the dining room this evening. You run along. I’ll rest a bit before Maisie helps me dress for dinner, and I’ll see you later.”
Emma embraced her mother again and left the room, the letter now squashed into a damp ball in her sweaty palm. She scooted along the hall and down the stairs to her room, locking the door behind her. Whatever should she do? How could she possibly reach Elliot to warn him?
She pulled the letter from her pocket. Like Elliot’s previous letter, this one had been hidden in his gift to her. Maybe she’d only dreamed what it had said. She smoothed it out to read it again.
Paris,
November 15, 1904
My dear little sister,
I have the most extraordinary and delicious news! You won’t believe how fortunate I am. Of course, what I am about to tell you is to be kept secret as a matter of highest priority. You are the only person I am telling, so please understand how crucial it is that you tell absolutely no one about this. This is so top secret that you may not even tell Mary about it!
So here it is, then. By the time you are reading this I will be busy at work in a paying job! Not just any job, mind you. I have accepted employment of a temporary nature as an executive chef for a special client. I was selected through a rather large and serious competition to be the chef for “the season”, as it is called, for a very important man who lives in New York but takes his winter holiday in Florida. His name is Henry Flagler. I’m sure you may know the name, as he happens to be friends with our father. I have not met him, for
I was hired by one of the executives in his employ. They believe my name is Chef Louis La Chance. How do you like my new name?
Now, here is the most important part of this message. Father would be horrified to learn of my change in occupation, as he was so determined that I should become an architect. I am quite sure he would be frightfully wounded, and my relationship with him might well be irrevocably damaged were he to hear that I have chosen to cook for a living. I do plan to tell him in time, but not just yet. A great deal of finesse will be necessary. So, I am asking you, dear sister, to help me keep up my pretense that I am continuing at architecture school.
I expect that as you are reading this I will be frightfully busy running the main kitchen at Whitehall in Palm Beach, Florida. Mr. Flagler is very highly thought of in Florida and does a great deal of entertaining. I can’t tell you how utterly relieved I was to receive a letter from Mother that she and Father had decided to forego a winter vacation this year due to Father’s demanding schedule since the dreadful fire. Knowing that there would be no chance of my running into them made all the difference in the world. I just jumped for joy.
The season in Florida will come to an end about early March. After that I will travel to New York, and from there I plan to come to Winnipeg as a surprise for everyone. I will fill you in on the details, darling sister.
Wish me luck!
Affectionately yours,
Elliot (I mean Louis!)
Emma fell back onto her bed. Wish me luck! She thought of her brother’s words. He would need more than luck. How could she keep all these secrets? First, her mother had forbidden her to tell Elliot she was ill. Then, Elliot had insisted she keep his change in professions secret to protect Father’s feelings. Now all these lies had the potential to end in disaster. She thought about sending Elliot a letter from Winnipeg, but considered it far too risky. How would a Parisian chef named Louis La Chance explain a connection to Winnipeg? Talking to Mary was also out of the question. Elliot had asked her not to tell, so she could not. If she followed his instructions, she would tell no one, and he would be ambushed by his own parents! It was a huge dilemma, and there was no one she could turn to for help.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Travel Plans
Dec. 30, 1904
Maisie was overjoyed to finally be at the Selkirk Avenue home again, after so many weeks at Mrs. Willows’ bedside. The family took time over dinner to catch up on everyone’s news.
“I have something else to tell you,” Maisie said, looking up from her plate with a smile. “I will be unable to see you for some weeks, again, I am afraid.”
“Again? Is someone else ill?” Baba Bayla wanted to know. “It has been two months since we last saw you. The letters are nice, but it’s a smiling face we like to see.”
“No, no, Baba. In fact, this is a great opportunity. I will be traveling to Palm Beach, in Florida, with Mr. and Mrs. Willows.” She tried not to sound like she was bragging.
“Florida!” Ziporah let out a whoop.
“Palm Beach?” Mama couldn’t hide her distress. “Where is this Palm Beach, and why is it you have to be the one to go with them?”
“I’m going, Tanta Hannah, because Mrs. Willows insists that she will not travel without me to care for her, and Mr. Willows is adamant that she be given every chance to recover her full strength,” Maisie explained calmly. Her cousins sat spellbound at the idea of what amounted to a holiday in warm summer weather, and by the ocean, no less.
“You don’t mean you are now the official nurse in that house, do you?” Hannah waved a serving spoon in an accusing fashion.
“No, of course not.” Maisie glanced at her grandparents for support.
Zaida looked amused as he exchanged knowing looks with Bayla. Maisie knew she could count on them for understanding.
“You aren’t going to tell me I shouldn’t go, are you, Tanta Hannah?”
“It’s the voyage I don’t like.” Hannah plunged the spoon firmly into the bowl of mashed potatoes in front of her and jammed her hands onto her hips. “You know how I feel about ocean travel! Your tanta will be worried for you the whole time, my darlink.”
“Oh, my. If that is what you are worried about, then there is no problem. You see, we are traveling by train.”
“The whole way?” Hannah was astonished. “You can go so many thousands of miles to a place where it is summer all year round and you don’t have to go on the ocean? Where is this Palm Beach?”
“Mama!” shouted Mendel. “There are maps in one of Aaron’s books from school. I can show you where is Palm Beach.”
“And how will you get there?” Hannah asked again.
“It is quite a journey and very far south,” Maisie explained. “We will travel in Mr. Willows’ private rail car. He wishes to go to Montreal first and then we’ll travel to New York. Mrs. Willows will do some shopping with her sister there and then we will go south to Palm Beach. Mr. Willows’ friend, Mr. Flagler, built the railroad. It is quite incredible, don’t you think?”
“Oy gevalt.” Hannah scrutinized the map Aaron showed her. “And for how long will you be there?”
“I’ll be back home by the end of March. Not that long, really.”
“Ach, well, you have to do what you have to do. What do you think, Zev?”
“I think Malka, excuse me, I mean Maisie, is very fortunate to travel in this way. May you go with comfort and safety, God willing,” said Zev, nodding with a smile at his niece.
“Thank you, Uncle Zev.”
Baruch cleared his throat and took his wife’s hand. “Wonderful news. You will see something of the world and enjoy something new every step of the way. We are happy for your big opportunity.” He cleared his throat again. “Well, while we are talking about far away places. Aaron, please bring to your zaida that book from school. Does it have a map also of Palestine?”
“Sure, Zaida. I will find the page for you.”
“Let me find it! Let me help,” shouted Mendel, and together the two found the correct page.
“Well, please pass the book so everyone can see where Jerusalem is marked on the map, as I have a big announcement to make,” said Baruch.
“You’re going!” shouted Ziporah, clapping her hands in a rush of emotion. And suddenly everyone was talking at once.
Baruch put his hands up to silence the family.
“Yes, it is true. The time has come for your grandmother and me to leave Canada for Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel. We will go this summer. As you know, I have been writing to Dov Ber Weidman for many months now, and he assures me that he and his wife Rachael are very happy in Jerusalem. You know, it has been almost a year since they arrived there. I, too, wish to have that happiness he speaks of in his letters … to be in Jerusalem, with my wife by my side, to be close to God in the land of our ancestors.”
Bayla’s eyes shone, giving her the appearance of a young woman, full of determination and passion for life.
“I was in the Weidman store yesterday, and I talked with Mordecai about his parents,” Baruch continued. “We had a long conversation and he, too, assures me that both he and his brother Hiram Leib are certain their parents made the right decision to go to Palestine.”
“Mazel Tov!” exclaimed Zev, who had known for some time that the announcement was coming.
“But don’t you think at your age a long trip might be very hard?” Pale with fear, Hannah sat wringing her apron in her hands.
“Because we are older?” asked Baruch.
“Oh, Papa Baruch,” Hannah was immediately embarrassed to be caught being so transparent in her greatest objection. “I didn’t mean to be insulting in any way. It’s just I worry so much.”
“The Weidmans are older than we are and they made it fine. It is like the old saying: a man is not old until his regrets take the place of his dreams.”
There was a great to deal to talk about and the family’s conversation continued late into the night. It wasn’t all planning for the future;
there was also a lot of reminiscing.
When they finally said goodnight, Isaac went upstairs to his room and pulled out a brand new notebook. He opened it carefully, almost with reverence, and turned to the smooth, clean first page. As neatly as he could, in the center of the page he wrote: The Stories of the Zigman Family of Winnipeg.
Perhaps one day his own children, and even his grandchildren, would want to know how it was that the Zigmans came out of Russia. Maybe they would be excited to read how in 1905 his courageous grandparents, Baruch and Bayla would go to live in the land of Israel.
He sat for a while thinking about how happy he was for his grandparents, and how much he would miss them. What an adventure to go to Jerusalem! Gradually his thoughts turned to his own long journey to Canada and the family’s arrival in Winnipeg. Then he knew where to begin his story. He dipped his pen in the inkwell and in his clear, beautiful hand, wrote the title for his first chapter: “The Day I Met My Zaida Baruch”.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Sewer Tour
January 10, 1905
Dawn broke with the promise of a brutally cold, bright January day as James sat alone in the breakfast room with his coffee and a stack of Winnipeg newspapers. He was totally engrossed in what he was reading.
“Would you care for more coffee, sir?” Chadwick appeared from nowhere, startling the young doctor.
“Good heavens, Mr. Chadwick! I almost jumped out of my skin. Must you be so silent all the time?”
The butler bowed his head in exaggerated politeness. “I’m terribly sorry, sir.”
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