A Good Woman

“We’ll figure it out. Maybe California or somewhere in the Rockies. Or Canada, or maybe even Maine. New England is beautiful that time of year.”

“I don’t care where we go, Josiah,” she said honestly, “just so I’m with you.” It was exactly how he felt about her. He signaled for the waiter then and paid the check. Everything had gone perfectly and he had apologized to her for not having a ring yet. He had been nervous about choosing the right one.

He drove her home, and her mother was still up when they got there. Knowing what was happening, she had been too excited to go to sleep. She looked at them expectantly as they came through the door, and they were both beaming.

“Do I have a son-in-law?” she asked in barely more than a whisper.

“You will in August,” Josiah said proudly, with an arm around his brand-new fiancee’s shoulders.

“In Newport,” Annabelle added, smiling ecstatically up at him.

“Oh my Lord, a wedding in Newport in August, with only three months to arrange it. You two don’t fool around, do you?”

“We only want a small wedding, Mama,” Annabelle said softly, and her mother understood why. Hearing that was a great relief to her too.

“You can have anything you want,” she said generously.

“We really only want about fifty or sixty people, a hundred if we have to, in the garden.”

“Your wish is my command,” Consuelo said gamely, wishing she could call the florist and the caterer at that very moment. Instead she walked up to Josiah and hugged him, and kissed her daughter. “I’m so happy for you both. I think you’re going to be very happy.”

“So do we,” they said in unison, and then all three of them laughed. Consuelo insisted on pouring each of them a glass of champagne, and then suddenly Annabelle remembered the day in October she had come home from the hospital to find her mother and Josiah drinking champagne in the garden.

“Did you really get a promotion that day?” Annabelle asked him, as her mother served their champagne.

“No, I got you, or your mother’s permission. I told her I wanted to wait until May to ask you.”

“You sneaky people,” she laughed, as Consuelo toasted them.

“May you be as happy as Arthur and I were, may you live long and happy lives, and have a dozen children.” Both Annabelle and Josiah raised their glasses and took a sip, and then Annabelle reached out to her mother and hugged her tightly. She knew that in some ways this was hard for her too. They all missed her father and brother so much. “I love you, Mama,” Annabelle said softly, as Consuelo held her close.

“I love you too, sweetheart. And I’m so happy for you. And I know that wherever your father and Robert are, they are too.”

Both women wiped their eyes, as Josiah cleared his throat and turned away, so they wouldn’t see that he was crying too. It was truly the happiest night of his life.

Chapter 7

For the next several weeks, Consuelo was insanely busy. She had to organize the caterers and florist in Newport, speak to the minister, hire the musicians. She had already decided to open the house in June. Josiah’s father had agreed to host the rehearsal dinner, and was planning to hold it at the Newport Country Club.

Consuelo also had to order invitations. Annabelle needed a wedding dress, and a trousseau. There were a million details to plan and organize, and it was the happiest Consuelo had been in a year. She was sorry that Annabelle wouldn’t have her father there to see it, and Consuelo wanted to make it even more beautiful for Annabelle, to make up for it.

Their engagement was announced in the New York Herald the day before Annabelle’s birthday and the following day Josiah presented her with her engagement ring. It was a ten-carat diamond that had been his mother’s. And it looked spectacular on Annabelle’s hand. He had decided that his mother’s ring was more meaningful than a new one, and Annabelle loved it. She and her mother were already looking for wedding gowns by then. And by sheer luck, they found the perfect one at B. Altman’s on the first of June. It was a slim gown of exquisite French lace, modeled after a Patou design, and just simple enough not to look out of place at a garden wedding in Newport. It had a long graceful train, and an enormous cloud of veil. Annabelle looked magnificent in it. And when she talked to Hortie about being her matron of honor, her old friend screamed.

“Are you insane? You can’t get married until after I have the baby. If your mother is ordering a tent, she’d better order a second one for me. It’s the only thing I can wear.”

“I don’t care how you look or what anyone says,” Annabelle insisted. “I just want you to be there for me.” It was still a sore subject for her and her mother, but she had decided to walk down the aisle alone.

“I’m not even supposed to go out in public once I’m that pregnant. All the old biddies in Newport will talk about me for years.” Annabelle was well aware of that too, and Hortie was nearly in tears.

“Who cares? I love you, however you look. And we don’t want to wait. August is perfect for us,” Annabelle pleaded with her.

“I hate you. Maybe I can swim a lot and have the baby before. But I’ll still be fat.” When she realized that Annabelle couldn’t be convinced to postpone her wedding for her, Hortie finally gave up, and promised that come hell or high water, she’d be there. It was the week before her due date, and she almost hit Annabelle when she suggested that maybe the baby would be late. She wanted it to come early. She was tired of feeling ugly and fat.

Annabelle and Hortie went shopping together, to look for items for her trousseau. And Annabelle and Josiah still had to figure out where to live. Josiah had a very respectable small summer house in Newport that he’d inherited from his mother, but his apartment in New York would be too small for them once they had children. They agreed to look for a bigger one after they got back from Wyoming, which they had chosen for their honeymoon. It was just too frantic trying to find a new place to live now. For the time being, his apartment was big enough for the two of them. And it was close to where her mother lived, which Annabelle liked. She hated to move out and leave her alone. She knew only too well how lonely she would be.

But for the moment, Consuelo was too busy to be lonely. She took two trips up to Newport to start planning the wedding and tell the gardener what she wanted planted. And they had managed to find a tent the perfect size, left over from a wedding the year before.

And much to Annabelle and Josiah’s amazement, by the end of June, all the details were attended to and in place. Consuelo was a model of efficiency, and she wanted Annabelle to have the perfect wedding. Josiah was adorable throughout. He showed no sign of jitters or nerves, despite his long wait to get married at thirty-nine. Once he made up his mind, he was ready and completely calm about it. Even more so than his bride.

As soon as the announcement came out in the Herald, they were invited everywhere, and were out almost every night. They made a striking couple, and only two of Consuelo’s friends made unpleasant comments that they thought Josiah was too old for Annabelle. Consuelo assured them that he was just right. Her own cousin, John Jacob Astor, in his forties, had married Madeleine at eighteen. Josiah was proving daily that he was the perfect husband for her. And Annabelle even managed to continue her volunteer work, with his blessing, until the end of June. She took a leave from it then until the fall.

The only thing Consuelo wanted from them, and she said it regularly, was grandchildren as soon as possible. Annabelle thought that if she heard her say it once more she would scream.

And Hortie couldn’t stop talking about the surprises Annabelle had in store for her, and how great the sex would be. It unnerved her to hear all the unwanted advice her old friend gave her, as she got bigger every day. Hortie was huge, and Annabelle hoped that when she got pregnant, she wouldn’t look like her. She said as much to Josiah one day, and he laughed.

“You’ll be beautiful when that happens, Annabelle, and our babies will be too.” He kissed her gently. They had so much to look forward to, and for the next two months so much to do.

It seemed as though everyone Josiah had ever known wanted to give them a celebration. At the age of thirty- nine, he was finally getting married. Henry Orson gave a bachelor party for him. The entire group had hangovers afterward for three days. Josiah admitted they’d had a hell of a lot of fun, although he didn’t go into detail. None of the men who’d been present did.