“She has applied,” the first woman said before being cut off by Mrs. Dobbs.
“We do not discuss membership applications.”
“She’s quite clever.” Billie said, “I’m sure she would do you ladies credit.” There. If Matron was hovering she’d hear that Billie was on her side.
Mrs. Dobbs rose. “Come meet my daughter. She’ll introduce you to proper society. You’re here with your uncle, you say? The men don’t always know proper upbringing. Your instincts were good to come here, child. We’ll take care of you.”
Billie felt a change in the air. A slight version of the electricity she felt at the shack. If pressed to name what Matron was feeling, she’d say Matron was angry instead of pleased that Billie was speaking well on her behalf. The electric air dissipated, leaving Billie chilled. What had she done?
“Oh, good, here’s my daughter now.”
The door to the left of the stage opened, and the girl from the street walked into the room. The one who’d insulted her in front of Winn. The girl’s eyes opened wide, but she smiled as she’d been trained. Her friend ran in behind her and smiled and waved in acknowledgment.
“Hazel, meet Wilhelmina, she’s new in town.”
“How do you do, Wilhelmina. Did you want to play checkers?” Hazel dutifully asked.
“Another day,” Billie said. “I’m meeting Winn Harris at the Waldorf.” It was petty to bring Winn up in front of the girl, but she couldn’t help it.
The girl’s look turned sour before the pasted smile returned.
“Oh, my. Winn Harris?” said the first lady. “There are plenty of other young men we could introduce you to. Others more suitable.”
“Excuse me,” Billie said, extracting herself from the conversation. “I must freshen up for the Waldorf.”
Chapter 36
There was too little time for her to freshen up at the hotel, so Billie quickly used her handkerchief to blot the beads of sweat from her forehead while she waited for Winn in front of the Waldorf.
He arrived wearing a suit and his new Stetson.
Her heart melted even more. He really did think this was the end. She blinked back tears before he could see them.
“Impressive,” she said, putting on a big smile.
“You always look so beautiful. Was about time I cleaned up, don’t you think?”
“You clean up very nicely, Winn Harris. I’m proud to take dinner with you.”
Winn adjusted his bow tie, and Billie tried not to laugh as he made it more crooked than it started out.
“Where did you get that?” she asked as Winn held the door open for her.
“Your uncle. He saw me cleaning up at a water barrel and asked what we were doing tonight. He told me I better have one of these or they might not let me in.”
“My uncle? I don’t believe it.” Either he had a plan, or his heart was getting soft.
Winn picked at the bow tie some more. “It cuts off my air supply. Be ready to catch me if I faint.”
“Oh no. I’ve learned my lesson. You’re staying within the radius of town.”
The restaurant was all white linens and crystal glasses. They ordered some sort of beef, although Billie had forgotten what kind by the time it arrived at the table. Every time she looked at Winn her stomach performed somersaults. She’d never been so tongue-tied before. She couldn’t think of one intelligent thing to say.
Winn didn’t seem to be doing much better at carrying the conversation. They eventually settled on talking about the food. A neutral topic after they tried to put so much importance on this one dinner.
It was the kind of dinner at which you’d expect to talk about the future, but doing so would only remind them of how bleak the odds were that they’d have more dinners like this. She wanted this meal to be special for Winn, but it seemed to be falling short.
Under the table, Winn shifted, and his leg touched hers. She smiled. He grinned back. Their legs remained touching for the rest of the meal, and Billie couldn’t be happier. He seemed to be feeling the same awkwardness that she was. It opened her heart, and she told him all about growing up a Bergmann, her mother’s illness, and her worries for the future.
“My uncle and I had our hopes set on the mirror being able to make the medicine we needed to cure her.”
At the mention of the mirror, Winn shifted uncomfortably.
“I’m sorry, I know we were trying to stay away from talking about it.”
They lingered over a shared chocolate cake before finally giving up their seats in the restaurant. When he got his change, Winn handed her the pennies and smiled. Pennies from their special dinner to go toward her wedding shoes. She slipped them into her pocket, glancing away.
“I wish you could see the fireworks with me,” Billie said they stepped outside. As soon as she said it, she wished she hadn’t. It was another reminder that he’d be back in the mirror tonight, maybe for good.
“I’ll spend as much time with you as I can.”
“Let’s go somewhere away from the crowd, so when the mirror pulls you back no one will notice.”
“The best location to watch is over there.” He pointed at a spot up the mountain. “But it doesn’t matter where I am. Somehow all the witnesses have amnesia afterward.”
“I didn’t.”
“You’re special,” he said.
“Why do you think?” she asked, not fishing for a compliment, but trying to figure out how the mirror worked.
He thought for a moment. “Might have to do with your family’s connection to the mirror. Or maybe because you notice me while the people here have already written me off. No thanks to Matron. She’s probably the one who started the rumors about me, and because I dealt Faro for her, they were easy lies for people to believe. That, and she was exaggerating what I was actually doing, so there was a piece of truth to it. People like to believe the worst in others.”
“Well, you’re not dealing for her anymore, and we’re going to get you out of the mirror soon, so the other unexplainable happenings around you can stop. And in a town like this, people will move on and new folks will come around. The stage will get robbed, and all attention will be elsewhere again.” She spoke with more confidence than she felt.
“And you are a stranger, so you could disappear and no one would notice. You need to be careful.”
“No talk like that tonight. Let’s end our day celebrating.”
They settled into a clear spot on the mountain as the light faded to near darkness and Billie realized Winn was still with her. Winn was still with her.
“You should have been pulled in by now, right? What if the mirror has broken for both of you?”
Winn examined the sky. “You’re right.” He grinned. “I’ve not seen beyond a sunset in months. I could kiss you for that, Miss Wilhelmina.”
He leaned in, putting his hand at the back of her neck and pulling her close. “Happy Fourth of July.”
Billie panicked. She’d never been kissed for real before, and it was happening too fast. Did she want it to happen? She’d been waiting for Branson, always imagined he would be her first kiss. And shouldn’t she be doing something with her hands besides squeezing them so tightly together?
She closed her eyes, licked her lips, and leaned in before she completely ruined the moment. Winn’s hand suddenly left her neck, and she opened her eyes.
She was alone on the hillside.
Billie blinked back tears. Winn had been pulled into the mirror.
No, no, no. It wasn’t right.
A fairy tale should stay in a book, not have fingers that reached out through time to wreak havoc in the lives of regular people. She raised her knees up to meet her forehead as she curled tightly into a ball. Her black crepe was not only for mourning the death of her father but the death of her hopes. How could they fight something they couldn’t see or understand?
The first pop of a firework cracked the air. Soon there was a barrage of pops and whistles, followed by startled s
houts, and then a call for the fire department.
Billie stood to see what was going on when she noticed the young boy Billy running off into the night. If there was a disaster nearby, that child was bound to be front and center.
“A spark lit all of the fireworks at once,” said Matron from behind.
Billie jumped. Matron must have just come down from the mountain, the mirror having exchanged her and Winn.
For Winn’s sake, Billie masked her anger. She wanted to fly at the woman and make her fix things. Make her release Winn. But there was too much they didn’t know. Was Matron to blame, or was she as stuck as Winn? As long as Matron didn’t know all that they had learned, Billie had to pretend nothing had changed. It was the best way to catch Matron off guard.
“What a mess,” Billie said watching the fireworks explode too low to the ground. “Something so beautiful that was meant to be shared with the town is now ruined.” She was talking about Winn’s life, but Matron didn’t need to know that.
“Yes. It’s unfortunate, but life presses on. Why don’t you meet me in my office in an hour? Go around back; it’s at the top of the stairs. I’d like to talk about your future.” Matron continued her way down the mountain without waiting for an answer.
Meanwhile, the fire department scrambled to contain the fireworks and keep a fire from starting, while the crowd watched with interest.
Matron had extended another invitation, which meant maybe she was impressed with what Billie had said at the Women’s Club. But that didn’t lessen Billie’s worry about the meeting. What future could Matron have in mind when she knew Billie was here with her uncle and would leave as soon as he did?
Billie’s time in Bisbee would be nothing but a dream that would haunt her for her entire life. The tragic meeting of a boy trapped in a magic mirror.
She held on to her turquoise cabochon. If she couldn’t change Winn’s fate, this stone would be the only proof that this special summer ever happened.
Chapter 37
At night, the player-piano music seemed louder, the gamblers, wilder. Billie skittered around the back of the building like a mouse seeking a hiding place, only to find the lack of lights made the night dark indeed. She didn’t linger but raced up the stairs as soft on her toes as one could be in clunky work boots. Funny how she’d gotten used to wearing them. They were so practical in this town.
She knocked on the back door and waited, listening to the cicadas’ eerie chirps. Below her a door in the adjoining building opened, and a man stepped outside. She suddenly felt vulnerable and tested the handle.
It was open, and a light shone into the hallway. Matron did say to meet at her office.
Billie slipped through the outside door, keeping her eyes open and her ears pricked for any suspicious noises.
She made her way down the narrow hall and passed a powder room, its door ajar. The next door was shut and Billie listened intently. She heard nothing, but noticed the sliver of light under the door, and so she knocked. Quietly at first. She couldn’t help feeling she wasn’t supposed to be here. All her training was screaming that no society girl should be sneaking up the back staircase of a saloon at night. It made her jumpy beyond belief.
“Matron?”
When no one answered, Billie tried the door, and it too, was open. I really hope this is the right place. She pushed into the room.
Red silk curtains draped the window at the back, and the electric light came from a crystal chandelier, of all things. A sitting area with a plush sofa and chair created a cozy nook with a small mirror above a table laden with fresh flowers. Matron had mixed bold solids and stripes to lovely affect. Less of an office and more like a sitting room, if it were not for the imposing oak desk in the middle. A room the Women’s Club would be proud of, if Matron were ever able to get a representative to visit.
No one was around, but the scent of Matron’s perfume lingered. Billie noted a small bottle of No. 4711 on the desk beside a bottle of ink. Now she recognized that blend of citrus and flowers. She was in the right place, and Matron had been there recently.
Billie tried to find something to fault Matron on, but by all appearances everything she did was first rate, even how she decorated her office.
Time was running out, so Billie zeroed in on the imposing oak desk to look for anything nefarious. Music from the saloon below beat against her boots and masked the sound of anyone who might be approaching. She had better be quick, or she’d be caught with her hand in a drawer.
Based on the paperwork left out, Matron was in the midst of filling out purchase orders. Her pen lay perfectly perpendicular to the document, itself situated at an exact right angle to the edge of the desk. Would an evil mastermind be filling out purchase orders?
Billie gave herself a chill thinking about it.
She slid out the top drawer to reveal a variety of fountain pens and squat ink jars filled with India ink. The deeper drawer to the right contained more papers pertaining to the saloon. Closing one, she opened another. More business dealings, including notes on stock purchases of the Copper Queen. Matron was planning to buy them out.
None of this provided any clues for Winn’s freedom, though. He’d said his attempts at restitution didn’t save him, so what could save him if a changed life wasn’t enough to free him from his prison?
The story books taught a lie. They said good people won. Evil was vanquished because good won out. But if being good wasn’t enough, what else was there?
Frustrated, Billie put her hands on her hips and surveyed the room. The piano music came up through the floor, and she tapped her toe along with “Maple Leaf Rag.”
She hadn’t much time before Matron would return.
There had to be a secret drawer or hidden box with evidence of Matron’s clandestine activities. The woman was too clever to leave anything out where her employees would stumble across them.
A noise sounded in the hall, and then the door opened. With no time to find a hiding place, Billie dropped to the ground, scrunched under the desk, and pulled the chair back to its original position. As she did so, her feet struck Matron’s shoes, discarded under the desk.
Billie held her breath as the door closed, leaving a small gap as if someone kept their hand on the handle.
She chided herself. Why did I hide? A guilty reaction. She should have stood where she was, like she’d been patiently waiting, taking an innocent look about the room. Too late to correct her mistake, Billie held her breath and did the only thing she could. She eavesdropped.
“I tried to get her back into the store, but she waved me off.”
It was Miss Brooks from the salon. Billie had met her in the street during the parade and Miss Brooks had tried to get her to come in for another beauty treatment.
“Be more insistent next time,” said Matron. “She craves pampering. Play on her vanity, and she’ll be a loyal customer.”
“She’ll need to be a loyal customer for one of the other girls. Remember, I’m leaving at the end of the summer to go back to California.”
“Yes, so you’ve said.” Matron’s voice delivered an edge that cut. “You weren’t a good fit anyway. Don’t bother coming into work anymore.”
“But we’re still saving up for travel expenses. I can finish like I said.” Miss Brooks sounded confused, hurt.
“It’s already decided. Leave me. I don’t want to see you again.”
Maybe Matron had tried to trick Miss Brooks into the mirror and failed.
Billie shifted her weight and bumped into the shoes again. They were the deep red shoes that she had admired so much. She’d looked all over town for these shoes, but they weren’t in any of the stores.
“Matron!” called a male voice from downstairs. “It’s broke again.”
“Imbeciles. Can no one do the job I ask?” Footsteps sounded away from the office and Billie quickly scrambled out from under the desk. She’d sit on the couch like a normal person, waiting for Matron. Seconds turned to minutes, turned to
endless waiting.
Billie paced the room. Maybe she should go. This was a mistake from the start. She took one last look around to make sure she’d not made a mess of things and noticed one of the red shoes she’d kicked earlier was now sticking out from under the desk.
Oh no. Matron was so particular, she’d notice. Billie went to shove the shoe back under, but instead, reached for the other. They glittered in the light so tantalizingly, begging to be tried on.
Dare she? Before she fully realized what she was doing, she had one boot off already. It was just like the time she and her friends snuck into Jane’s older sister’s room and tried on all her fancy clothes.
Quickly, she pulled off the other boot and slipped both feet into the dainty shoes. As her toes slid in a feeling of warmth began spreading rapidly up her legs, her torso, her arms, her head.
A falling sensation gripped her, and she reached out to catch herself, missing the edge of the desk and falling into the room.
But it wasn’t Matron’s room she fell into. Unless Matron’s room had suddenly been enveloped in smoke from a fire below or a mist from the mountains.
She thought she saw Matron come through the door, a look of surprise, followed by a smile, but then she was gone, drowned by the fog.
The ground came up to meet her and Billie smacked down hard. The fire in her body died back the way it had come, leaving her breathless. She stood and turned around but the room was gone. White mist landed on her with a cooling sensation, floating around her legs, her arms, her fingers. Everywhere.
She stepped tentatively through the swirling air, not confident of the ground beneath her. The air smelled stale, strange. Adrenaline coursed through her body. Where was she?
She kept walking forward. Her steps were muffled and there was no other sound. No more piano music from the saloon, no raucous voices.
Panic began to well up to choke her. She’d seen this white mist before. At Lou’s cabin.
No. It couldn’t be.
She had been cautious. Careful. Matron hadn’t tricked her.
Snow White's Mirror Page 20