Diana and the Three Behrs

by Fleeta Cunningham

  “Perfect day for the wedding. I wondered what we’d do if it rained.”

  “Papa wouldn’t let it. I’m certain he sent in a special request for the day to be clear and not too hot.” Adler put one hand over hers. “It was a perfect day. Especially since you were here to share it.”

  She didn’t want the conversation to go that direction either. She sat more erect in her chair and brushed her skirt smooth. “I should probably begin to head home. I’m giving Fred and Otto their final exercise tomorrow. It’s a fairly stiff test of their abilities. If they can manage to perform well on it, I think they’re ready to take on any correspondence or reports you may assign them. They’ve done well.” She looked at Elizabeth, who was halfway curled in her chair. “I think that young lady is about ready to call it a day.”

  “She’s going home with Trinka for the rest of the week, until Papa and Lotte get back from their short wedding trip.”

  “Oh, I wondered how you’d manage with Papa gone. I thought you might have to bring Elizabeth to the bank with you.”

  “No, she’s excited about spending a few days with Trinka out at the farm. I think I heard something about a new litter of kittens. Don’t be surprised if old Katje has a new companion in a few weeks.”

  “Katje may be less than thrilled.” Diana looked around to see if any of the other guests were beginning to leave, but she didn’t see any movement that indicated the party was breaking up.

  “Don’t go yet, Diana. I’ll walk you home in a while, but you don’t want to go just yet. Look over by the edge of the garden.”

  She looked in the direction he indicated and saw a group of men, twenty or more, clustered at the end of the walk. “What’s going to happen?”

  His shoulders shook with silent laughter. “My esteemed papa and his new wife are about to be given a shivaree.”

  “A what?”

  “A shivaree. It’s an old world custom, and in some parts of the world, it’s a pretty rowdy and even boorish custom involving kidnapping the bride and making the groom ransom her, usually with drinks for the culprits. That’s not the way it’s done here, however. We’re a bit more genteel and adult about it. Papa and Lotte are planning to leave for San Antonio in the morning, but they’re spending their wedding night in one of the Sunday houses, one that belongs to some of Lotte’s kin. Their friends will help them have a memorable beginning to their life together.”

  “Oh, no, Adler! They aren’t going to play some kind of nasty trick on Papa Behr and Lotte, are they?”

  Before he could answer, the group at the end of the walk began to converge on the newlyweds. They formed a circle around the pair, joining hands and walking in a slow ring about them. Then one deep voice began to sing. One after another, other voices joined in. Diana listened, finally recognizing the old song “Because I Love Thee.”

  “How sweet. They’re serenading the newlyweds.”

  “They are, but Papa and Lotte may not find it quite so charming after a while. They’ll walk right behind them all the way to the Sunday house and keep on serenading them until Lotte and Papa come out on the porch and give them each a dollar to go away. Stubborn as those two people are, it may take till sunrise.”

  “Adler, that’s awful.” Diana couldn’t keep from giggling at the standoff that might ensue. “Won’t the serenaders eventually give up and leave them in peace?”

  “That’s the local glee club. They’re called Echo, and this is one way they raise money for their activities. The money goes for a good cause, and they have learned to be persistent. We’ll see who holds out the longest.”

  The circle opened, permitting Erlich and his bride to start down the walk and out of the churchyard. As the couple reached the street, Echo, forming a half-circle behind them, followed. More songs, sweet old favorites, accompanied the pair.

  “It could be interesting to see who wins the battle of wills,” Adler suggested.

  Trinka came across the green to the chair where Elizabeth was almost asleep. “I’ll take her home, miss. My mama said we should leave with her. We go now.” She gathered the child up. “Say goodnight to your uncle and Miss Diana, pet. You’ll see them tomorrow when we come to town.”

  Elizabeth managed a tiny wave. “Night, Unkler. Night, Miss Di…” She yawned and snuggled her head against Trinka’s shoulder. “Night.”

  Diana watched them cross the churchyard toward a waiting flivver. “She’ll be asleep before she’s in the car. Little tyke had a full day.”

  Down the street, the harmony of the glee club began to fade as the party turned the corner. Diana noticed the other guests were beginning to drift out, leaving a few motherly souls clearing up the remains of the party.

  “I should do something to help.” She looked at the bustling figures in the lamplight.

  “I think they have it well in hand, dear.” Adler’s arm circled her shoulders and turned her toward the street, where pools of light lessened the darkness of the pavement. “Let’s leave them to it and take a stroll through town. It’s cooler now, and after all that dinner, I could use a slow walk. And a chance to kiss a pretty girl.”

  Chapter 18

  Walking back through town with Adler brought the evening to a pleasant end. The pools of light along the way made the footing easy, and a slight breeze sprang up to cool the little town. Diana and Adler walked in silence for almost a block, other guests drifting past and calling out farewells to friends and neighbors.

  “How long before Papa Behr bribes their company to go away, do you suppose?”

  Adler lifted the pocket watch out of his waistcoat and held it up to the streetlight. “I’d give him about twenty more minutes before he bursts out the door and orders them to leave. Another ten for negotiation, five more for Lotte to intervene. Say half an hour, maybe forty-five minutes, before Echo finds its treasury replenished.”

  Diana laughed. She could see the scene in her own mind. “I was amazed when she told me that your papa and Elizabeth will be moving into her house when they come back. I’m going to be her last paying guest. She and Papa Behr and Elizabeth will really be a family.”

  “It wasn’t easy for Papa to make that compromise. I think that’s been one of the sticking points in their relationship all along. Both had homes they didn’t want to give up, homes with memories.” Adler paused to tuck his watch back into his pocket. “Lotte had made that boarding house into a very comfortable business, as well. She was making a sacrifice, too, closing that.”

  “But it’s better all around for Elizabeth. She’ll have the family she needs.” They walked on another few steps, the heady scent of honeysuckle surrounding them as they passed a darkened Sunday house. “Oh, Lotte will have one more round of guests, anyway. She’s agreed to play hostess when Trey and the professors arrive in a couple of weeks. Pam would stay with me anyway. It’s going to be good to see her.”

  Adler took her hand as they crossed the street at a place where the brick pavement had crumbled. “No, I think Trey and Pearce and his cohorts will stay with me. Elmsford and King and Withers will be with you and your sister. It’s less crowded that way, and Trey and Pearce and I will enjoy catching up. I think we’ll all get together for meals down at Bindler’s; Lotte won’t be tied to the kitchen.”

  “But then, when we all leave, you’ll be alone. That’s a big house for just one person.”

  Adler didn’t answer directly. He waited until they were near the Hepple house. “I know Trey and his colleagues will be going back to Pennsylvania for the fall term. They’ll only be here for a few days, long enough to look at all the material you’ve gathered for them. But what about you and your sister, Diana? Have you thought about what you’re going to do? You can’t very well go back to Fort Worth. You’d be in the same jeopardy you were when you left, both you and your sister.”

  They walked up the stone path, a scattering of leaves muffling their steps. “I know, Adler, and I’ve worried myself almost sick over it. Miss Bradford is expecting me back by the
end of September for the fall session, but it’s clear that I can’t go back there. Pam, oh, Pam…I don’t know what to do about her. She’s determined to be a news reporter on a big paper. She’s been talking news, news, news, since she was in high school. It’s almost impossible for a woman to hold that kind of job. She was with a little weekly paper at home for a long time, long enough to be in charge of the advice column. It wasn’t what she wanted, but she was making progress. Now, I don’t know where she can go to do what she is driven to do.”

  Adler followed her up the porch steps and drew her to sit beside him on the creaking porch swing. “You don’t have to go, dear. You know that. You can stay here. Marry me. You’re safe, and you’d have a home and a man who loves you. I know we have different views, want different things, but isn’t your safety, your life, worth making a change or two?” His concern was real, and she could feel the tenderness in his words.

  “Tempting, Adler, I admit it. Especially when I think of what Tommy Gunn and his men would do if they found me.” She shivered in spite of the warm night. His arm around her shoulders felt safe, as if it belonged there. She let her head rest against his shoulder, accepting the reassurance he represented. “I’d be breaking faith, breaking a promise I made a long time ago. A promise that’s about as binding as those promises your papa and Lotte made to each other this evening.”

  “A promise? To whom, Diana?”

  “To my mother.” She stirred a little, tilting her head so she could see him. “When my father was killed by that…that rogue gambler, Pam and I were still little girls. He didn’t leave my mother much of anything, just the little house where we lived. At least we owned that, shabby as it was. There was no money coming in after he died. His lodge brothers took up a collection that was enough to bury him, but that was all. My mother didn’t have any training or skill at anything but keeping house. She was barely sixteen when they married, and Pam and I came along pretty quickly afterward. She kept house and raised babies, expecting that to be her life, but suddenly found herself alone with two young children to provide for. Grandmother Higgins came to live with us and looked after Pam and me as best she could. She was in a wheelchair herself, so she had limitations. Mama went out to work, cleaning houses for other women, looking after their little ones, and came home to clean and cook for us. We managed, but it was hard. Grandmother had a small railroad pension, and that made up for some things. A lot of girls in our situation left school as soon as they could to help out at home, but Mama insisted Pam and I were going to get an education. We both finished high school, and we made the grades Mama expected us to. She said her job was to give us what we needed and our job was to make the most of what she gave us. The year Pam finished high school, Grandmother Higgins died, and her pension died with her. Mama had to make some decisions. I had two more years of school, but Pam had graduated and was ready to do something else. She had this crazy dream of working on the newspaper, of being a reporter. Mama learned about the secretarial school where Pam could learn typewriting and shorthand. Skills like that would at least get her some kind of work with the newspaper. Only the tuition was a stumbling block. We just didn’t have it. Mama sold our little house, and the three of us moved into a couple of rooms with a widowed lady she knew. It was a make-do existence, but there was enough money for Pam to take the secretarial course. Right after she finished, she got a job on the paper, copying stories for the reporters. What she made paid my tuition at the same school. I worked, helping out the teachers, and that cut my expenses, too. When I finished, I worked at the school in Miss Bradford’s office for two years, and then they offered me the job teaching. I loved teaching, just loved it. Finally we were beginning to get ahead, but then Mama’s heart played out. She’d worked so hard for so long and done without things she needed to make life better for us. It took a toll. She saw she’d got her girls to a place where they could carry on, and she just…it seemed like she just faded away. She knew she wasn’t going to get better, and she made Pam and me promise her we’d never let all her effort go to waste. We’d not be dependent on anybody else to take care of us. We’d do for ourselves so we’d never find ourselves in the terrible situation she’d been in, taking any job for any amount of money just to stay alive. We wouldn’t be beholden to any man to make our way for us.” Diana sat up, turning a bit so the moonlight washed over her face. “I guess you could say Pam and I made our mother a deathbed promise. When I think about doing what you suggest—and I am tempted, I admit—I know it’s not right. First, we don’t want the same life. We’d quarrel and make each other miserable. Second, I won’t let someone else fight my war, deal with a situation I created. I wouldn’t be happy if I gave up everything, and I’d feel guilty for letting you carry the burden, Adler. I’d feel caged. I’m fairly certain that in a while you’d happily open the cage and watch me fly away.”

  He drew her back against his shoulder, his hand gently ruffling her hair. “I learned something from watching Papa and Lotte spar over the years, my love. No matter how they fussed, they always came back to each other in the end. It took Elizabeth to finally draw them together and make them blend their differences. Lotte said to me, when they finally broke the barriers, they had to begin at a point where they could agree there was something they both wanted. Both of them wanted Elizabeth to have a home, security, and a family to give her the right upbringing. From that point, things began to fall in place.” He tilted her chin up. “Darling, can’t we take a lesson from those stubborn souls and learn from them? Isn’t there something we can agree we both want? Can we find a starting place?”

  Diana buried her face in her hands. “I don’t see what it would be, Adler. You love your life here. You have deep roots, people who depend on you, and there’s always Elizabeth, who is only five, still almost a baby. Papa Behr and Lotte love her, but they aren’t youngsters. They’ll need you to help out. You aren’t going to change your life; you couldn’t do that and be who you are. At the same time, you don’t approve of women who work.” She moved back from him, putting the width of the swing between them. “I will work, probably all my life. I love taking a student and opening a new world for her. Showing her she can be independent, make her own choices, and not have to accept a situation because she has no options. I couldn’t change that about me.” Diana could feel the protest he was about to release and held up her hand. “You don’t see what that means to me, but just think about what happened at the bank. Fred and Otto came into the bank to do one job, one at the teller’s window and one helping people apply for loans. They probably expected to be doing that same job until they were your papa’s age. Then they learned something new, how to use those typewriting machines your father bought so impulsively. Now they can not only make use of the new equipment that would otherwise rust on the shelf, they also can make your work easier while taking on more responsibilities. On the personal side, Fred tells me his Freya’s papa is likely to give his blessing to the couple. That’s what I get out of my work, satisfaction in seeing that happen. I don’t want to give that up. The gratification is important to me.” She sighed. “I did promise Mama I’d never be without the means to take care of myself. So, no, Adler, I don’t see how we can find a single thing we both want or can agree on.”

  He stood, his shoulders down, head low, and started toward the steps. “That doesn’t answer the question, does it, Diana? Where can you and your sister go and be safe if you don’t stay here?”

  “I don’t know. Truly I don’t. I hope when Pam gets here, she and I can think through this muddle and come up with the answer.” She opened her small handbag and took out the door key. “I’ll see you at the bank in the morning. It was a beautiful wedding. Thanks for walking me home.”

  “It was beautiful. Wish it had been ours.” He waited until she was inside the door before going down the last step. “Goodnight, Diana. Sleep well.”

  She watched him walk down the path, the moonlight casting a touch of silver on his hair. At the end of the p
ath, he straightened his shoulders, buttoned his jacket, and turned back to raise a hand in farewell. Diana felt something warm and bright followed his departure, leaving her world a little darker.

  The house had a hollow, empty feeling, with an oppressive darkness. A slight shiver went up her spine as she closed the heavy front door and locked it. She lit the parlor lamp, then the one in the dining room. A covered tray waited in the center of the table. Dear Lotte Hepple—or no, Lotte Behr now—even in the excitement of the wedding, she left me supper. She lifted the cover and found a slice of sauerbraten and two potato pancakes waiting. After the wedding feast, she couldn’t imagine how Lotte might think her last boarder would need another meal. She covered the plate again and took it into the kitchen. Katje, curled up on the kitchen chair in the corner, opened her yellow eyes and regarded the plate hopefully.

  “All right, cat, just this one time.” She put the slice of meat down on the clean plate by the kitchen door. Katje stretched majestically, then flowed like a silken ribbon of orange and black and white to her special plate and delicately nibbled the offering. “Leaving you to it. It’s been a long day. I think I’m going to bed.”

  Turning out the lights as she went, Diana climbed the stairs to her room and slipped into her sanctuary. White curtains fluttered in the summer breeze, and the room was filled with the same honeysuckle sweetness she’d sniffed in the air as Adler walked her home. Without turning on a light, Diana changed her silk crepe dress for pajamas. She turned the bed down and slipped under the comforting softness of the quilt. Slowly the silence of the house enveloped her. She wasn’t afraid of being alone, not in that warm, inviting house. She wasn’t uneasy or apprehensive, but suddenly the reality of alone filled her mind. This is my life now. A room, not this room but one like it, somewhere in a town or city I don’t yet know. A room that is mine only as long as the person who owns it doesn’t need it back. A city or town that is mine only as long as no one makes it impossible or impractical for me to live there. A job that is mine only as long as no one decides someone else can do it better. No matter what Pam says, even if we find a place together this time, one day we won’t go the same way. We’ll have to go by separate roads at some point. Even now, it may be safer if we don’t stay together. Then, when we do part, whenever that may be, that will be my life, too. Alone, with work that’s never forever, in a house that isn’t my home, and with people who aren’t mine. Alone, always alone. The weight of that future she would spend alone sent a single tear down her cheek. Then another followed.