Diana pointed to the rocking chair in the corner. “Just sit and catch your breath, and then tell me. Are you sure you lost Tommy Gunn’s men? I don’t want them to find their way here and make trouble for the people in Pfeiffer. Or us.”
Pam sank back in the chair and kicked off her high-heeled shoes. “I’m not sure they found us; really I don’t think so. Trey and your owls got a little nervous because somebody said a man had been asking about the car, or about a big red car. But Trey’s car gets a lot of attention anywhere, and it may have just been curiosity. Either way, we needed to get going. Trey and the fellas have to be back for the new semester soon, so it was time for us to come.”
“I’m glad you did.” Diana slipped the blue dress over her head. She started to button it, but impulsively reached for Pam’s hand. “I’ve missed you something awful. It seems like it’s been a year since we said goodbye in Dallas. Or a lifetime.”
“I know. It’s been fun, in a lot of ways, but hard, too. The owls are sweethearts mostly, and even King has his moments, but about ten times a day I wished we were together.”
Now dressed and a little more in charge of herself, Diana sat on the bed in front of her sister. “Pam, it’s been hard for me, too, but things—well, there are some things I have to tell you.”
“That sounds ominous. What have you been up to?” She glanced out the window at the quiet street below. “In a town this size, I can’t think you’ve managed to stir up much trouble. It looks as placid as an old cat around here.”
Diana wanted to leap to the defense of what she’d adopted as her home, but tamped down the impulse. “It’s pretty quiet, true, but it’s comfortable and has its own charm. The people have been wonderful. I have some pretty exciting research for Dr. Elmsford, thanks to the people here. I helped out at the bank, teaching two of the employees typewriting. They were grateful. And Lotte, you met her, she’s become almost like family. She and Papa Behr, after waiting way too long, got married. It was the sweetest thing. There’s little Elizabeth, and her doll Mary Ann. She had a birthday party and the whole town came. It’s been wonderful. So many good people and special times. Pfeiffer isn’t like any place I’ve ever known.”
Pam shrugged and slipped on her shoes. “I suppose it has its moments, but not for city girls like us.”
“You mean city girls like you, Pam. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.” She drew a breath. “I’m not one, anymore. I’ll be staying here.”
“Staying here? Di, are you out of your mind? What on earth will you do here? It’s the back side of nowhere. What’s going to keep you in Pfeiffer, Texas, will you please tell me? There’s not one thing of any interest, as far as I can see.”
Diana felt the heat rising in her cheeks. “Oh, yes, there’s more than one thing of interest, Pam, a lot more than one. There’s Lotte and little Elizabeth and the Saturday night socials. There’s walking in the moonlight, and picnics by the river. A lot of things, important things. But mostly there’s a wedding I have to attend.”
“A wedding? Whose wedding?”
“Mine. Adler Behr and I are going to be married. I think he expects me to stay here afterward. At least, that’s the plan.”
Pamina, for once caught with nothing to say, stared at her. She leaned slowly forward and put her hand against Diana’s forehead. “You’re not running a fever. You don’t look deranged, or at least only a little mad.” She dropped back in her chair. “You and Adler Behr? You and the great Horned Owl? The one who doesn’t like working women?”
“Yes.” Diana let the answer sit, not amplifying or explaining, until Pamina reached over and took her hand.
“You aren’t…pregnant…or something, are you?”
Diana giggled. “Not that I know of. I just fell in love with that Horned Owl, who isn’t nearly as stern and indifferent as he appears, and I decided to marry him before he changes his mind.”
“And do what? Produce little Horned Owls, learn to knit, and give afternoon tea to the Ladies’ Aide Society?” Pam snorted. “Di, that’s not the life you want.”
She had to agree. It wasn’t a life she’d embrace or even tolerate. “Certainly not. One or two little owls, maybe, but no knitting or afternoon teas. Adler understands I’d be miserable at that. We’re working out how to blend my interests and his. He knows I’ll be working somewhere, doing something that I think is useful. Not tidying the kitchen or ironing his two dozen white shirts.”
“Well, I suppose you could work at the bank. Maybe be his secretary or something.”
Waving that idea away, Diana explained she’d trained someone at the bank, a very capable young man, to do that job. “We’ll find something that I can do. Adler’s very supportive.”
“It appears you’re determined to carve your own road to disaster, no matter what I say.” Pam brushed her fingers together as if washing off all responsibility. “I remember this man had dinner with us in Dallas, and at the time I was of the opinion I liked him better than you did. Now you’re going to marry him? What spell did he cast on you, Di? When do we actually get to visit with this Adonis you’re committing matrimony with? When is the wedding?”
“He’ll be here in about an hour. And the wedding?” Diana giggled again. “It’s as soon as we can make it happen. He wants Trey for his best man and I want you for bridesmaid. And all the owls have to be there, too. It has to be…sooner than soon.”
Chapter 21
“He’s all right, your Adler.” Pam and Diana sat in the creaking swing on Lotte’s front porch, watching Adler and Elizabeth walk down the stone path. “The way he sits and talks to his niece as if she is as grown up as he is, that’s something to see. Of course, it’s pretty clear that he’s mad about you. He looks like he’s about to pop his buttons every time somebody says something about the wedding.”
“Three days, Pam. Can it really be three days? Then Adler and I will go away for a few days, Trey and the owls will head home, and…and what about you, dear? I’m so excited about my own plans, I forget you still haven’t said what you’ll be doing.”
Pam stretched her arms out, as if throwing all questions into the wind. “I don’t know, Di. I looked into the newspaper business in San Antonio. They might give me a shot at doing the social page, debs and dinners and who is engaged to whom, I think. Not real news, not what I keep trying to talk my way into, but better than the agony column. I’d be close to you. That’s positive, at least.”
“I don’t want to see you give up your dream, even if it does mean you’ll be close.” Diana watched Adler and Elizabeth seriously discussing something they saw in the flowerbox at the end of the street. “I don’t want to give up mine, either, but I can’t seem to see anything for me. If I hadn’t been so quick to teach the fellows at the bank typewriting, I might have talked Adler into letting me help out there.”
“Too bad you can’t stir up more research for El and King and the others. El has been half over the moon with your interviews, especially the things you got about Butch Cassidy. He’s promised to come back next summer and see if he can find your Mary Smith or locate anything that will verify what the old drover told you.”
“I hope he can. I’d love to help him out next year, but I can’t wait a whole year for something to do. Adler says that, first of all, I should come over here and let Lotte teach me to cook, at least a few things, so I can manage if I have to.”
Pam found the idea of Diana doing anything in the kitchen amusing. Her derisive laugh told Diana how much stock she put in that idea. “Grandmother said you’d better stay out of the kitchen because you’d scald yourself or fall in the flour barrel trying to reach the teakettle. At least that was what happened when she asked you to help her.”
“Well, I was only twelve.” She tapped Pam on the shoulder. “You weren’t any better, as I recall. Who was it that mixed up the molasses and the furniture polish?”
“Don’t remind me. Remember Grandmother’s face when she bit into the molasses cookies?” Neither gir
l had forgotten the scolding that had earned them.
“Seriously, Di, have you looked at all the places in town—that accountant’s office, and the telephone office?”
“I did. I even talked to the man in charge of Citizen’s Power and Light. Nobody wants a woman. They’d like help, and they could use my skills, but they want the skills wrapped in trousers and a tie.”
“You said you taught those men over at the bank. Couldn’t they, oh, maybe tell their friends? Perhaps some of the other places, like the power and light office, would like to have someone instruct one or two of their people.”
Diana shook her head. “No, it wouldn’t take long to get someone trained, and then, well, what would I do? Fred and Otto were able to get the skills down in no time. It was nice to have them for a couple of hours a few times a week, but that didn’t last long. In a few weeks, or at most a couple of months, I’d be right where I am now.”
The girls fell silent, watching Elizabeth chase a butterfly as Adler followed her. The sun was dipping low. Soon the townspeople would be sauntering along the road, heading for dinner, thinking of the chores that waited at home. Trey and the owls would come by shortly. Dinner at Bindler’s would bring the party together for the evening. Dr. Elmsford had spent the day with Diana’s files. No doubt Pearce and the others had been party to his discussion of the material and would have questions or points to bicker about. Her abstracts and indexing had even made her superfluous to the academics, it seemed.
Diana had never thought she’d miss their squabbling and sometimes acrimonious wrangling, but just now, she’d give a good deal to have them set up shop in Pfeiffer, where she’d have notes to take and reports to decipher. That would never be as satisfying as teaching her skills to the young women at Miss Bradford’s, but it would be something useful and keep her out in the world. Too bad Miss Bradford hadn’t put her school in Pfeiffer. She could teach… The thought expanded. It took root, grew, and blossomed.
“Pam! It could work. It really could.”
Pamina, wide-eyed, stared at her. “What could? There’s a look in your eye that tells me you’re about to do something screwy. When you get like that, it’s usually all wet. But we’re reaching for moonbeams here, so spill, sister, and tell me.”
“I teach. I teach people to typewrite, and I teach them to take shorthand. I’ve done it for Miss Bradford for three years, and she said I’m good at it. And I taught Fred and Otto.” Diana bit her lip, trying to weigh the possibilities. “Why couldn’t I do the same here? Have a little classroom, like I did at the bank. Take four or five students at a time. Teach them the same thing I taught at Bradford? I could do that, Pam. I’d need three or four typewriting machines, a blackboard, and maybe we could order instruction books. It wouldn’t take much to get started.”
“That’s the berries, Di! You could do it. I’ll bet Adler would think it was the elephant’s eyebrows, too. Not too many hours every day, maybe a couple of classes a year. Sure, he’d see that.” She stopped. “But would a town the size of Pfeiffer support it? Pretty small bunch to draw on.”
Diana could see the possibilities, but she knew she’d have some problems as well. The prospect kept her distracted, causing Lotte and Erlich to tease her through dinner about her “bride’s oblivion.” She approached Adler with the idea after dinner, when everyone else had drifted to the back porch for some of Lotte’s home brew. Adler brought up all the points she’d been worrying over.
“I think it’s essentially a good idea, Diana. It makes good use of all your training and your skills, but Pfeiffer is a small town, where people are not very progressive, and the idea of women in the workplace is pretty radical. Still, you did a great job with Fred and Otto. The bank is much better off for the training you gave them, so you have a proven example of what you can do. That gives you a good start.”
She leaned against his shoulder, his arm warding off the cool breeze of the evening. “I saw some interest from the man at the light and power place. He wasn’t going to hire a woman, of course, but he was interested in having someone in his office who could use a typewriting machine. He’d been talking to Otto, I think, and saw some benefits. We have an accountant in town who thinks he may need a clerk, male gender specified, preferably one who could do his letters for him. I think there are some people who’d try it, anyway.”
“What about the high school, Diana? Could you teach some of the young people who are just graduating? If they had something to keep them here, we might not lose so many to San Antonio, where they can find more interesting jobs. I know a lot of the boys don’t see much excitement in working their papa’s farm, but they might be attracted to the business world. Some of the other small towns nearby might have young people who would be interested too.”
“My students were girls, you know, but I’d take boys, young men who seriously wanted to learn. You think there would be some? Would their parents be willing to pay for the class?”
Adler tilted her chin up. “The good folks of Pfeiffer and the little towns around are always interested in giving their children a better future. And in keeping them here. It’s a good bet they’d support some instruction, especially the ones who don’t think their youngsters will be going to college.” He kissed her, slowly, regretfully. “It’s late, darling girl, and I have a bank to look after tomorrow. Why don’t you sleep on the idea? If it still seems good, when we get back next week, we’ll sit down and make real plans. I think you could probably persuade our local bank to let you rent that meeting room for a nominal fee. The president of the bank might even lend you enough money to buy some of those machines you love and whatever else you need in the way of equipment. But don’t rush into opening your school just yet. Darling, we still have a wedding to manage and a short trip away for a few days. I want to enjoy my bride, have her all to myself, at least the first few weeks. Can we do that?”
“Wonderful man, we can certainly do that.”
****
Diana’s wedding day dawned clear and sunny. Only a few torn clouds meandered across the azure summer sky. Pam, curled in the window seat, looked down at the scattering of people along the street.
“I guess it’s going to be all right, you here and me, well, probably in San Antonio, grubbing away at trying to find a way to describe Myrtle Mae’s dress or Aunt Sophie’s tea so it sounds like the last word in fashion.”
Diana braced the hanger on the edge of the wardrobe and lifted the gossamer embroidered silk of her wedding dress, again amazed at Lotte’s skill.
“Is it definitely San Antonio, then? Nothing more…interesting?”
“You mean nothing in the way of an invitation, say from Trey?” She tossed the ruffled pillow from the window seat to the bed. “In a word, no.”
“I was certain he was looking at you in that…that hopeful way.” Leaving her delicious dress and the promise it represented, Diana went to her sister. She knew, in spite of all the sophisticated slang and breezy denials, Pam had deep feelings for the bespectacled literature instructor. She also recognized they were worlds apart, Pam with her newspaper ambitions and he with his Pennsylvania academic career; neither was likely to give way to the other. It pained her to see Pam, the vibrant, outgoing New Woman, pining for a man who apparently didn’t see her the same way.
“Aww, for crying out loud, Di. There’s no point in kidding myself. The bluenose and the flapper? It never was a likely match. We had a spat—or at least I thought it was just a spat. Guess it was a little more than that in his mind. Trey’s pretty well given me the icy mitt ever since we left Dallas. I’m just carrying a torch for somebody who wouldn’t recognize a torch if it set his coat on fire, much less care two cents for the gal carrying it.”
“Well, at least you won’t be far away. You can come and visit.” She hugged Pam with all the fervor a happy sister could offer an unhappy one. “Just think, if the newspaper job doesn’t work out, you could come and help me teach. We’d have such fun!”
Pam shuddered at th
e thought. “On the whole, I’d rather write a dozen agony columns as think about teaching even one class. Thanks, but no, ab-so-tively no.”
“Well, it was just a thought.” Diana took a white box from the wardrobe. She put it on the bed and lifted the top, unfolding a ream of tissue paper. “Isn’t my veil the most gorgeous thing you ever saw? It’s like stardust or moth wings, it’s so delicate.”
Pam left the window seat to touch the sheer lace. “I never saw anything like it.”
“It was Lotte’s mother’s veil. Lotte wore it when she got married the first time. It’s knitted lace, and she says it’s so fine it will slip through a wedding ring. I can’t believe she’s letting me wear it.”
“It’s perfect with your dress. Just that little slip of a dress, a band of flowers in your hair, and that sumptuous veil. You’ll be the most beautiful bride this little place ever saw.”
“As long as Adler thinks so, no one else matters.” Diana folded the veil back into its cocoon of tissue. In a few hours, she’d be his bride and starting a new life with him, happy beyond anything she’d ever imagined.
“By the way, Di, I heard something downtown yesterday about a shivaree? What is that about? Not some savage local custom, heavy on bucolic wit and rough humor, I hope.”
Remembering the last Behr wedding, Diana shook her head. “No, Pam, it’s really very sweet.” She sat on the bed and told her sister about the glee club serenading the newlyweds. “The only way to get them to leave is to make a substantial contribution to their treasury. If you see a group of young men making a circle around us tonight, and they start singing some old romantic ballads and sentimental favorites, and then walk us down the road, that’s what’s happening.”
Diana and the Three Behrs Page 26