“What did it look like?” Yvonne leaned towards him curiously.
“Rocks, golden rocks. It was really hard to get out of the frozen ground.”
“Just rocks? You would think that gold would look different, wouldn’t you? So, now Daddy says you are quite rich. Even richer than he is.”
“Quite,” Joseph said. “We can do anything we like.”
“So we can have a party?” Yvonne sat up straight.
“Would you like that?”
“I would love it so. Daddy hasn’t allowed me to have a party in the longest time and I’ve been away you know, in New York. There are probably a lot of people that don’t even know I’m back and certainly don’t know you’re back. A party would be perfect.”
“We could announce our engagement,” he said.
“We could.” She plucked a bit of grass from the blanket thoughtfully. “But you’ve only just returned and we have plenty of time to do that.”
“I’d like to marry as soon as possible.”
“Let’s have a party first and you can get your store open again.”
“I don’t plan on reopening the store,” Joseph said. “I don’t need it now that I have so much money.”
“Oh, I suppose you’re right. So what will you do then if you don’t have your hardware store?”
“Get married!” Joseph grinned.
“Your letters,” she said. “You said you got hurt. Are you alright?”
“The mine caved in once and I got buried in the dirt.”
“Heavens! How did you get out?”
Joseph opened his mouth to explain how Alice had pulled him free and then stopped. He looked off into the distance remembering.
“Joseph?” Yvonne watched him curiously.
“I guess I don’t remember all that clearly,” he said.
“Joseph,” Yvonne giggled. “You were always so funny. Oh, look! Here come Betsy and Miranda. Won’t they be happy to see you!”
Yvonne stood up and waited while her friends’ carriage came to a stop.
Joseph got to his feet. The young women chattered so enthusiastically he could barely make out a word they said.
“Did you come back with gold?” one asked.
“Are you getting married now?” asked the other.
“Now don’t be pawing him that way. He came back to see me. Let him tell you about his gold himself,” Yvonne said.
“Hello, Betsy, Miranda. You two have certainly blossomed while I was gone.” Joseph could see that both girls, once quite thin, had filled out into rather attractive young women.
“I’m getting married in June,” Betsy blushed.
“And Elijah Stewart proposed to me just last evening,” Miranda announced.
“Proposed?” Yvonne said in shock. “He proposed? You’re getting married as well?”
“In the spring.” Miranda smiled shyly. She held up her hand displaying a delicate engagement ring.
Yvonne stepped up and examined the ring closely. “Pretty,” she said.
“Joseph is going to buy me the most beautiful ring ever, aren’t you?” Yvonne tilted her head and smiled at him enticingly.
“Whatever you like!” Joseph slipped his thumbs into his pockets and smiled broadly.
“We’re going shopping for my ring soon and then we’ll be discussing our wedding as well. It’s going to be huge, of course, so it will take a terribly long time to plan.”
The women giggled and fussed and talked wedding gowns through lunch and supper and into the evening. By nightfall Joseph could barely keep his eyes open.
“I think I will leave you ladies to your preparations and bid you goodnight.” They all acknowledged him and then resumed their conversation. “Yvonne would you mind walking me out?” he suggested.
On the porch the moon shone brightly and the evening air was warm and humid.
“I missed you. Every day I thought about you,” he confided to Yvonne, taking her hands.
“For the whole year?” Yvonne looked up at him, her eyes dark in the moonlight.
“Two years,” he corrected. Her face looked pale, nearly white in the blue light of the moon. “I’m so glad to be home. I wouldn’t mind if we kept the wedding simple, that way we could marry right away. Then we can take a honeymoon for months, anywhere you like.”
“Like Niagara falls?”
“If that is what you want. Anywhere you like. We can get the best accommodations and enjoy a nice room together.”
“That’s sounds nice. I’ll have to tell the girls that we might plan to go to Niagara Falls. It’s supposed to be the best place for a honeymoon. I’m sure neither one of them could possibly go there.”
“We’ll want to be completely alone anyway.” He took her into his arms and looked down into her eyes. “I missed you so much.” Joseph bent to kiss her lips and she avoided him, pecking him on the cheek.
“I shouldn’t leave them waiting, they’re liable to disturb Daddy. Goodnight, Joseph.” Yvonne smiled sweetly and then went inside. She stopped in the foyer where she could not be seen and took a deep breath. It was exactly as she had imagined it before he had left. He’d come back and they’d marry. Everyone always said they were perfect together. Yvonne was not sure she still felt the same way anymore.
Joseph stood alone on the porch. He’d forgotten how proper and virtuous Yvonne was and that she had told him she did not like kissing while she was being courted. He remembered how, together, they had made the decision to wait. Waking up next to Alice the way he had so many times had made him forget himself. He would need to work on his self-control.
He recalled a day he had happened upon Alice by the pool. They had discovered a small spring beyond the creek and found that the water was warm almost any time of the year. He’d thought he had privacy and decided he might enjoy a bath. He walked around the big boulder that hid the area from sight and found that she had already had the same idea.
The pool was not very large, or deep. If she stood in the deepest point it only came to her knees. She’d brought a large container, stripped and waded into the pool. In the streaming sunlight she bent forward and filled the container. Then she stood and poured the warm water over her head and a light steam rose from her skin. Her breasts were full and firm and her waist thin above rounded hips. He’d stood and watched far longer than he knew was proper and when he had finally turned away he could barely contain his excitement.
For days afterwards he had avoided her, but the vision of her standing naked in the warm water returned to his mind again and again. He had tried to drive her from his mind and would instead think of Yvonne on the porch in the moonlight. Now he stood alone on that very porch and realized that he was thinking about Alice. He climbed into his carriage and rode home.
Joseph lit his lantern and climbed the back stairs to his home above the store. When he had turned on all the lamps he could see that his bed was dust covered and there had been birds inside the building. There were droppings everywhere. He stripped off the sheets, found another, somewhat less dusty set in the cabinet, and remade the bed. When he finally climbed inside, exhaustion had given way to aggravation and he lay staring at the ceiling.
Nothing had gone the way he hoped when he had returned. Yvonne had not run to greet him on the platform as he stepped from the train. They had not ridden back together excitedly sharing his good fortune and caught up in their plans for the future. He’d not even thought about what condition the store would be in, or even where he’d sleep. More and more over the last two years he’d imagined how excited she’d be to see him. Maybe he’d stayed away too long, he thought. She did tell her friends they were to be married and seemed excited about the idea of going on a honeymoon. It was just too much of a surprise, he decided. Tomorrow would be different.
Chapter Fifty
Alice walked around the vacant shop with her account manager. He had been highly recommended by the bank to help her with a plan for her business. She described the floor plan, proposed
her advertising ideas and explained her goals.
“Your ideas are wonderful, but a bit on the costly side. They could bring you handsome profits but it might be some time before you recovered your investment.”
“Mr. Foster, I thank you for your input, but I have the money for the investment. From the first day I open my shop I want it to be the best in Society Hill. All the construction will be complete and it will be fully decorated and stocked. I want the best girls I can find for the job. If it takes time to pay for itself, so be it.”
Oliver Foster liked her adventurous spirit. She understood that making a big impression from the start could mean a very good reputation in the city and news could spread quickly. He was sure her stunning beauty would not hurt either.
Alice gathered catalogs, found the perfect mirrors, and ordered millinery supplies from around the world. Her grand opening would be very heavily advertised. She had befriended young reporters from large newspapers to visit her shop on opening day to write articles. Alice had approached every beautiful and rich woman on the street. She’d attended every opera and passed out her calling cards. She even had an appointment to spend an afternoon in the office of the city’s most notorious madam. Her opening would take the city by storm.
When she was not putting together her new endeavor she pampered herself in the area’s finest salons, making business deals with the shop owners and patrons.
Within days of purchasing the shop, the carpenters began work and she had the panes of windows glazed and painted a fresh white. She also began to furnish her new home. She threw herself into the projects with abandon, determined to make a new life for herself.
Daniel from the café stopped in often but Alice never seemed to fall prey to his charms. She always treated him kindly and then sent him on his way.
On the day she was to meet with the madam, Alice dressed carefully in an expensive gown, put on her most elaborate hat and ventured down the narrow alleyway to the brothel. Several men passed her along the way wondering if she was some new girl they had not yet seen in the house.
She tapped on the door, was escorted into the parlor and then down a narrow hallway to a small office. The room was draped in heavy velvet and Alice thought it had the look of a gypsy wagon. When the madam entered, Alice took her hand and smiled.
“One of my girls said you approached her on the street and wanted to talk about a shop you are opening in town.” Pieternella Vaughan was a large woman with a massive bust line and a confidence to match.
“I did,” Alice settled onto the settee.
“I will ask you then how you knew where we are located? One of the men who visits here perhaps? Are you looking for employment? I’m sure I could find room for you.”
“I am not looking to join your house. I am the daughter of Dora Ellis, perhaps you have heard of her?”
Pieternella eyed Alice suspiciously. “I have. Your mother ran the house that was burned out west. Are you starting your own home in this city?” She was visibly upset.
“No, I have given up the life. I am opening a millinery shop nearby and I would like to offer your ladies a discount. I know the impact that ladies such as the ones you employ have on what the local woman wear.”
Pieternella relaxed and chuckled. “Then you know it is jealously. They think a fancy hat or dress will keep their men home. Tell me, did you have a specialty, aside from your looks?”
“I did, but that was in the past. Now I just make and sell hats. Send your girls in when I open up. Just have them say they are from here and I will take care of them.” Alice thanked the madam and left, nodding to the men who walked up and down the alleyway.
By the time she had returned to the shop the carpenters had built all of the counters she had ordered and the painters had begun. The walls of the shop were a soft blue, opening up the wide space visually. Alice looked forward to decorating and stocking the shop.
In the afternoon she interviewed several young women in the tiny office near the back of the shop and chose two that she thought would be perfect. Both had experience, were attractive and well groomed. She wanted sales girls who not only knew the work but looked attractive in the bonnets. Alice wrote down the name of the seamstress she had hired to make uniforms for the girls and sent them both for a fitting.
In the morning new furniture would arrive for the house above the shop and Alice looked forward to the day she would not have to travel back to the hotel. No matter how full her life was, her bed seemed empty and she lay awake at night.
Chapter Fifty-One
Without a store to run, Joseph grew bored waiting for Yvonne to fit him into her constantly busy schedule. The party she planned would be massive and she asked him to make arrangements to rent a large hall and have it elaborately decorated. It would be lavishly catered and when he saw the bill he was surprised at the amount.
“I thought that money was not a concern.” Yvonne tugged at his jacket sleeve, straightening it in the carriage beside him on their way to dinner.
“It isn’t really. That’s not the point. I’ll bet Elijah and Miranda aren’t paying this much for their entire wedding.”
“Of course not. Elijah hasn’t much money, just his farm out there. He’s not well-to-do like we are,” Yvonne said.
“I like Elijah,” Joseph said.
“I do too, but he hasn’t a lot of money. Miranda is wonderful too, but she’s a bit plain and Elijah is probably the best husband she can get.”
Joseph considered her remark. Miranda was not nearly as beautiful as Yvonne, but she had a stunning figure and a wonderful sense of humor. Joseph was certain she would make Elijah a great wife as well as good partner on his farm.
“He’s not rich, that’s true,” Joseph said. “He and Miranda will be happy though, I think, running that farm.”
“They like that sort of thing. All that dirty work and getting up so early in the morning,” Yvonne said.
“What will we do with ourselves once we’re married? We can’t just plan parties all the time.”
“Joseph,” Yvonne laughed. “You are so funny sometimes.”
“I’m perfectly serious. What will we do?”
“We’ll have money. We can do anything we like.”
Joseph shook his head. “When I was in Alaska I wanted to get back here and do so many things. Now it seems like I’m just idling my days away waiting for something. To get married mostly. I thought it would be different.”
“Didn’t we talk about having the party tomorrow night first and then planning a wedding? Why should we hurry? We’ll get married in time. I haven’t even thought about my gown yet. I need time, Joseph. You were gone so terribly long.”
He knew that Yvonne liked to sleep late in the morning, sometimes until after noon and then she would dress for hours. Her schedule left little daylight to get anything done, but he wondered what she would do if she were up mornings. After they were married he thought she’d like to get up earlier with him. When they pulled up in front of the restaurant in Harrisburg he helped her from the carriage.
As soon as they entered, Yvonne lit up with delight. Several of her friends from childhood had gathered on a visit to town and she wanted to see them all before the party.
“Hello, everyone,” she announced to the table. “I am so excited that you all have come to see me and you can meet my fiancé. Some of you know Joseph already, but I’ll bet none of you know that he just came back from that Alaskan Klondike everyone is talking about and is now a very rich millionaire.”
The group toasted them and the men shook Joseph’s hand in congratulations.
“He had to dig in the dirt so many times and he even knew that gold looks like a rock when you dig it out. I would never have recognized any of it! Then he carried all of it back himself and it was terribly heavy,” Yvonne explained.
The group listened and nodded and patted Joseph on the back. Every one of them was captive to Yvonne’s stories. He watched her animated conversation with her hair
beautifully arranged and her nails perfectly manicured.
“When will you marry?” one of the women in the group asked.
“Oh, we are waiting for a while,” Yvonne said. “I have so much planning to do it might just take years.”
“Years?” Joseph nearly choked on his drink.
“Not literally, dear.” Yvonne patted his hand. “I just mean there’s so much to think about.”
“Did you read in the society page about that socialite in New York who got married on a ship in the harbor?” one woman said. “How romantic would that be with a millionaire?”
“We could get married on a ship. Right, Joseph? If we liked?”
“We could go to the justice of the peace tomorrow.” Joseph raised his glass and several of the men laughed and toasted him.
Joseph was exhausted when they finally pulled up in front of the hotel where they were to spend the night. In the morning they would need to be up early in order to get back in time to prepare for the party.
“I’ll knock on your door when I get up.” Joseph said to her as he bid her goodnight.
“Not too early. I’m so tired I’ll need my rest.”
“We’ll need to get back for the party.”
“Joseph. It’s my party, I can show up whenever I feel like it. We needn’t think about hurrying back. If we’re late it won’t matter. Besides, let them wait a bit.” Yvonne played with the button on his jacket. “It made you angry when I said we wouldn’t marry right away didn’t it?”
“I’ve done a lot to come back and marry you. I just don’t want to wait too long.”
“We haven’t even talked about where we would live. There’s so much to plan. I mean we can’t just move into the hardware store, you have all that money and not even a decent house. I have all my things that would have to be moved and I need plenty of closet space and we’ll have to hire someone to take care of the house and a cook. There’s so much to think about.”
“I suppose it’s good I came home rich,” Joseph said. He had not imagined even half the things she planned on buying.
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