“I could ask the same of you,” she said with one eyebrow raised. “Even when you’re mingling, you have an impenetrable mask on.” She flushed as she bit her lip after her rash words.
He chuckled. “You see more than you let on, don’t you? Which, I imagine, makes you a wonderful reporter.”
He paused as she remained quiet, and then he said, “I was disappointed to not see you when I visited the NWP headquarters in May.”
She sighed. “I was informed of your visit after you had departed. While you were at Lafayette Square, I was sitting outside the president’s office, attempting to speak with him.” She shook her head. “I should have known he would never meet with us, but we had to try.”
He smirked. “A man like Wilson won’t concede more than he has to.” His smile became genuine as he looked at her. “I’ve greatly enjoyed your articles.”
“You’re reading The Suffragist?” she asked.
He moved to the edge of the alcove and snagged two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and then hid again in the alcove with her. “Of course. I had to see if the woman who wanted to blend in with the wallpaper was as successful as she thought she was.”
Her jaw clenched at his words. “And?” Her eyes shone with challenge.
“And I think you are wrong.” He saw her fight disappointment as she pasted on a smile. “I think you are a brilliant reporter, and there is no need to hide in the shadows. These people are too foolish to watch what they say around you because they’ll always underestimate you.”
She gaped at him, her disappointment replaced by incredulity. “I … I don’t know what to say.”
“Quite an achievement to make a journalist speechless,” he said with a chuckle. He motioned for her to be silent as a small group of women paused near them, not realizing the alcove was occupied. He and Rowena instinctively moved farther into the shadows.
“I tell you, that woman should have known better than to return to society. She should have remained in that godless country with her penniless carpenter,” one woman said in a strident voice.
Another tsked her agreement. “How he has had the courage to remain married to her is beyond me. I would worry she’d stab me while I slept.”
The third woman tittered at the thought. “Although they are quite rich due to her actions. I should wonder how the authorities allowed her to carry out such an act without suffering any jail time. It sends a dangerous precedent.”
The first spoke again in her authoritative voice. “Well, the McLeods were wrong to believe they could bring her here and have us accept her. She will never be respectable company again.” She sniffed in disgust, and the three women moved away.
“Oh my,” Rowena murmured. “It’s worse than Savannah feared.”
“Who is Savannah? What were they talking about?” Perry asked as he sipped his champagne.
“How can you walk around a roomful of people gossiping about one topic and have no idea what they are discussing?” She shook her head in wonder. “Savannah, the mother of that young girl you were dancing with, killed her first husband. She’s your friend Lucas’s sister.”
He choked on his champagne and gaped at her. “This isn’t some figment of your imagination?”
Rowena nodded to where the three women had stood. “No. It happened. From what Zylphia has told me, Jonas Montgomery was an abusive, horrible man, and Savannah fled his home. Preferred to live in sin with Jeremy than with her husband. Jonas surprised her one night at her parents’ house and tried to force her home. In his attempt to persuade her, Jonas shot her brother and father, who almost died.”
“Lucas was shot? He almost died?” he asked.
Rowena raised her eyebrows and nodded. “Yes. Savannah attacked Jonas with a letter opener, and he died instead. The authorities deemed it self-defense, and she was set free.”
His shocked gaze roved over the crowd, once again seeing Melinda standing by her father in an ostracized circle along the wall. “They’ll never accept her daughter.” He saw mothers berating their sons and recognized them as the young men who had approached Melinda after Perry’s dance with her.
“No, never,” Rowena said. “I would have thought it better to forego the balls and entertainments and merely enjoy being by the seaside.” She shrugged. “But Mr. McLeod can be a determined man, and he is irate at how Savannah is punished for protecting herself.”
“I would think her husband would protect her from such censure,” Perry said with confusion as he watched her husband glare at the crowd.
“No, not Jeremy. Aidan McLeod. You remember him? Few would dare to defy one of his wishes, but I fear he cannot control public sentiment on this occasion.”
Perry watched the crowd, their mild disinterest in his presence now making sense as they were too busy reviving ancient gossip. “Would they have preferred her to die?”
Rowena snorted. “For some, it would have been the most advantageous outcome. A woman who believes she deserves more than the back of her husband’s hand is a dangerous woman.”
Perry’s focus shifted from the crowd to the woman standing next to him in a demure gold dress. “You miscalculated in your attire. Not every room has gold wallpaper.” He saw her smirk and then focused on what she had said. “I should think they would celebrate such a woman.”
“Then you are a singular singer,” she said as she moved past him to join Zylphia, who now stood by Melinda. “Good evening, Mr. Hawke.”
He gripped her hand as she was about to slip out of the alcove. “Dance with me,” he whispered, his brown eyes lit with a passionate intensity.
“I have no more desire to be the focus of this crowd’s interest than Savannah does,” she murmured, freeing her arm from his grip. “Good evening.” She moved effortlessly through the crowd until she stood beside her friend.
He watched the quiet misery enveloping the small group on the side of the ballroom as Zylphia, at turns, attempted a show of gaiety and then glared at those in the ballroom. He snickered as Rowena rebuffed another man’s attempt to dance with her, and then Perry snuck out a side door, breathing in the fresh night air as he headed back to his modest rented rooms.
* * *
Zylphia stood next to Melinda, attempting to smile at the ball guests as they gossiped about her and her family. Zylphia played a game with herself where she looked a guest in the eye and counted the number of seconds before the guest broke eye contact. “Four,” she murmured. “Spineless fool.”
“Who’s a spineless fool?” Rowena asked.
“Oh, are you done hiding?” Zylphia asked with a bright smile. “I’m seeing how long it takes for guests to break eye contact with me. So far, the most stalwart has taken seven seconds.”
“You don’t expect those here to be courageous, do you? They bolster each other up in their small-mindedness, but, if they were alone, they’d fall to the ground in a spineless heap.” Rowena raised her eyebrows as Zylphia smirked at her.
“They should be thankful your pen is aimed at those against suffrage.” She took a sip of champagne as she eyed the restive crowd.
“Yes, but we will win the passage of the amendment, and then I will still need something to do. Evenings like this make me think I’d enjoy writing accounts for newspapers.”
Zylphia watched her curiously. “After the first report, you’d never be allowed into another ball.”
“Who’s to say I’d use my real name? And none here are astute enough to think mousy little Rowena Clement could string two sentences together, never mind an article condemning them for their narrow-mindedness.” She frowned as her friend stiffened. Zylphia’s expression had blanked, and her eyes were glacial in their lack of warmth.
“Hello, Mr. Hubbard,” Zylphia said. She looked at the preening woman in peacock blue next to him. “Mrs. Hubbard.”
His smile was ingratiating and condescending at the same time. “Miss McLeod, always a pleasure to see you. Not dancing this evening?” He looked at the wide expanse of
open floor around her family and smirked. He seemed to enjoy his attempt to remind Zylphia that she was undesirable, even though he knew she had chosen to marry Teddy over him. “Seems the men are intelligent enough to keep their distance from women like you.”
“Yes, they fear that they might have to think if they were to speak with us,” Rowena snapped. “Such a dreadful outcome.”
Owen Hubbard, a man who had vied for Zylphia’s hand before she had married Teddy, had perfectly styled blond hair and an air of debonair ennui about him. However, his primped and manicured fingers gripped his glass of champagne at Rowena’s comment. “Always disappointing to see they continue to allow you admittance.”
“Some of us don’t have to profit from a war to maintain our standing in society,” Rowena said. “Or marry to curry favor for more kickbacks.” She met Eudora’s surprised gaze at the comment as she was Parthena’s sister. However, Eudora had never been close to Parthena’s friends and was always disdainful of the suffragist cause.
Eudora Hubbard glared at Rowena and then Zylphia. “You are abominable women.” She made a pointed glance around the room. “Only tolerated because of your fathers.”
Zylphia smiled. “If you believe it is any different for you, Eudora, you’re a fool.” She relaxed as a hand stroked down her arm and then linked with hers. “I believe you remember my husband, Mr. Goff.”
Owen and Teddy shared a loathing-filled look. “I had hoped that your English upbringing had taught you a sense of honor, but it seems your penchant for poaching my clients continues.”
Teddy’s eyes glinted with amusement. “As long as you continue to mismanage their funds.” His lips quirked in a smile intended to rouse Owen’s ire. “Mr. Hawke has not complained of our aid.”
“He was thriving under our tutelage!” Owen hissed.
“Yes, and you were profiting handsomely from his commission. Tell me. Do you bleed all your customers dry, or do you leave them with just enough blood so they can crawl away to die out of your sight?” Teddy’s voice, although soft, was lethal with its hatred.
Owen’s eyes flashed with anger, and he glanced around to ensure no one was listening in on their conversation. He glared at Zylphia’s and Rowena’s amused expressions. “I had hoped you’d finally been sent to an asylum, Teddy. Everyone knows you are hardly sane since your return from England. Although, by the accounts I hear, they should have a suite of rooms set up for you and your wife.”
Zylphia smiled, refusing to flinch under his insinuation that she and Teddy needed to be in an insane asylum, him for his time spent at the Front and her after her jail time in DC. “You’ve always been a singularly unpleasant man. Even when you courted me, you only cared about prestige, money and my father’s influence.” She looked at Eudora. “I hope that will be enough for you.”
Eudora gave a stilted smile and turned away from Zylphia, Teddy and Rowena. Owen glared at them. “You have no right to upset my bride.”
Rowena shook her head and glared at him. “But you have a right to attempt to put us in what you consider our place?” She raised her eyebrows at him as she called him on his hypocrisy. “You are a fraud and a weasel, and, one day, you will wish you had people like us to support you.”
Zylphia watched him leave and then shared a look with Rowena. “Bravo,” Zylphia said. “I never thought you’d speak to him in such a way.”
“I loathe him, and I hate that he believes himself superior simply because he is a man.”
Teddy choked on a laugh. “I believe it’s more than that.” His silver gaze glinted with malice as it followed Owen’s progression around the ballroom.
Zylphia leaned into Teddy’s side. “He’ll always resent that you are a brilliant financier and that he has to pick up the scraps left by others.”
“Did you really steal away Mr. Hawke’s business from him?” Rowena asked.
Teddy shook his head, relaxing with Zylphia nestled into his side. “No. Mr. Hawke approached Aidan about the prospect of us looking at his portfolio when he sang at Aidan’s mansion in January. He visited us the following day, and it was shocking to see the risks being taken with his investments.” Teddy shook his head and glared at Owen as he mingled with guests across the ballroom. “Thankfully Mr. Hawke has good instincts and knew something was not right.”
“So you and my father have been helping him?” Zylphia asked.
“Yes. Mr. Hawke is intelligent and curious. From all I have learned, he’s worked hard for his money and doesn’t want it squandered. I rather like him.” He took a sip of his champagne, kissed his wife’s forehead and moved to speak with Jeremy.
“Well, that’s as much of an endorsement as Teddy will ever give, but I’m glad he likes Mr. Hawke.” Zylphia shared a look with Rowena, who then stared at the crowd with bland impassivity. “Come. Let’s try to raise Melinda’s spirits a bit before we head home.”
They joined the young woman and soon had her giggling and animated as they discussed the dresses, the food and the stately home.
* * *
Sophronia sat on the back veranda of the mansion Aidan had rented for his family’s use for the season in Newport. The gentle roar of waves sounded in the distance, and she glared at the steady stream of people as they walked along the Cliff Walk at the far edge of the lawn by the coast. Before today a mere trickle of society members had been eager to take a stroll. However, after Savannah’s reappearance at the ball the previous evening, the back of their rented home seemed to be of greater interest. Tall hedges on either side of the lawn afforded privacy from their neighbors.
“What do they hope to see? A reenactment of that fateful night as we sip our tea?” Savannah muttered as she turned her back on the beautiful water view and focused on the veranda and hydrangea bushes that formed a hedge on one side of the house.
Sophie tapped her cane down and would have waved it about had it done any good. “Insufferable fools,” she muttered. “Didn’t have the good sense to speak with you last night, and now they want to peer at you while you relax at home.”
Savannah held a hand over her growing belly and fought tears. “I was the fool. I should never have agreed to reenter society.”
Sophronia harrumphed and then focused on the young women joining them, a wide smile bursting forth. “I never thought to see you here.” She embraced Parthena and watched as she sat beside Rowena while Zylphia sat on a wicker love seat with Melinda.
Melinda watched the conversation with wide-eyed interest, content to listen and rarely speak.
“I convinced Morgan that we should escape the city and join our friends. When he realized he could work with Teddy and Mr. McLeod here, he wasn’t as reluctant to leave Boston.” She sighed with contentment as she took a deep breath of the ocean air.
Sophronia watched her with eagle-eyed alertness. “Weren’t you just along the coast, but north of Boston instead of here in Newport?”
Parthena gripped a day pillow as though protecting herself. “Yes, but it was horrible. The only person who desired my company, besides my husband, was my youngest sister, Isabel, and even she was banned from speaking with me by my mother.”
Zylphia grimaced. “Rowena and I had the unfortunate pleasure of speaking with Eudora and her husband last night at the ball. She is delusional in her belief that she has made a brilliant match.”
Parthena fought tears, but a few leaked out. “She lorded over me the fact that she was not being forced into marrying a wealthy man. That she had been successful in choosing an affluent man our father approved of while I had been forced into my marriage with Morgan. She relished taunting me with the indiscretions of my past.”
Rowena made a tsking noise. “Does it matter what nonsense she spouts? She has to know, on some level, what a scoundrel and loathsome man she has married. She was quite uncomfortable last night when Zee and I criticized her husband. I think she has more doubts than she cares to admit.” Her expression was filled with compassion and loyalty as she beheld her friend. “You’
ve always only seen the best in your sisters, and you thought you made a sacrifice for the good of your family when you married Morgan. Thankfully you’ve found happiness with him. However, your two youngest sisters are selfish, and often cruel, something you don’t like to admit.”
Parthena sniffled. “I hated being at the estate my father rented in Manchester-by-the-Sea. I was seen as nothing more than a decorative object to dangle from my husband’s arm. I couldn’t escape soon enough.”
Zylphia patted her hand. “Well, you’re here now, and we’ve always loved you better than your family.” She winked at Parthena as her friend grinned.
Parthena focused on Savannah. “I wish I could have been here last night to offer my support.”
“It was a hopeless endeavor,” Zylphia said as she collapsed against the back of the settee. “That crowd was only too eager for something else to talk about other than Marty Higgenbothem’s scandalous affair with the opera singer.” She flushed as Melinda giggled next to her. “Sorry, Sav,” Zylphia whispered as she shot a chagrined look in Savannah’s direction.
“No, Melly needs to learn about the realities of life, and this seems the perfect time.” Savannah met her daughter’s worried gaze with a tepid smile. “Not everyone is kind, and too many relish cruelty.”
“Would it really be that awful for Mr. Higgenbothem to wed a singer?” Rowena asked.
“Only if he wishes to eat,” Sophie muttered.
Zylphia gaped at Rowena as Parthena choked on a biscuit, swallowed, then spoke. “Of course it would! That particular opera singer has had dozens of lovers already and is rumored to have three children from three different fathers,” Parthena said. “No man of society could marry such a woman.”
“But your sister married a musician and is quite happy,” Rowena said to Parthena. She flushed as though remembering Parthena had been involved with Lucas before he fled Massachusetts with Genevieve. She mumbled an apology that Parthena waved away.
Parthena nodded and smiled. “To my great delight, they are as happy as I am with Morgan. I was too blind to see how happy Morgan and I would be together, and I’m thankful I have discovered how much I love him.”
Abiding Love: Banished Saga, Book Eight Page 17