“Of course you will,” Gladys contradicted. “Ladies enjoy having an opportunity to dance, and I know you’re no exception to that.” She smiled. “Now, mind your manners and tell Norman you’d be delighted to attend the ball with him.”
Beatrix threw up her hands. “Fine, I’ll go to the ball with you, Norman.” She shot a look to her aunt. “Happy now?”
“Ecstatic.”
Unexpected relief slid through Norman until a troubling thought struck. “Will I be escorting you to the Palmers’ ball as well, Gladys?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Gladys said. “Edgar will be accompanying me.”
“Your butler?” Norman asked.
“Indeed. And now, with all of that settled, I’m in desperate need of some tea and cake.”
The next thirty minutes were some of the most unusual minutes Norman had ever passed, probably because he’d never been in the company of such unusual women before.
The conversation swirling between the two tables was what one could only describe as rousing. Gladys and her band of turban-wearing women first launched into a discussion about politics, which he always thought was a subject one shouldn’t discuss in company, given the animosity such a topic could bring out in people. They then began an earnest debate about the labor unions and how those unions were attempting to secure better hours and working conditions for the laborers. After that, Mamie broached the subject of bustles, which again, he’d thought was a subject that women never broached while in mixed company. However, because Theo sat forward and was listening intently to every word uttered about bustles, he sat back in his chair and didn’t lodge a complaint, learning more than he ever thought he would about the subject.
After Gladys and the women polished off most of their tea, coffee, and cakes, Blanche abandoned her table and pulled up a chair right beside Theo, where she immediately started inspecting Theo’s hair again.
Theo, after sending Blanche a startled look, began trying her best to ignore Blanche’s attention, resettling her attention on the women sitting at the other table, who were now earnestly discussing the best theaters in Chicago to see a show, but at a reasonable price. Norman couldn’t help noticing the clear longing in Theo’s eyes as she watched the other women interact, although what she was longing for, Norman couldn’t say.
“Good heavens, would you look at the time,” Gladys exclaimed after she’d pulled out a gentleman’s pocket watch. “We’re going to be late.” She returned the watch to her reticule, blotted her lips with her napkin, set the napkin aside, then clapped her hands, drawing everyone’s attention. “Ladies, we must take our leave.” She then gestured to one of the servers, who immediately stepped up to their table.
“The check, if you please,” she told the man.
“My treat,” Norman said, nodding to the server. “You may bring me the check.”
Gladys nodded in approval as he helped her from her chair. “You are a surprisingly delightful man, and I certainly hope I’ll see you running through Hyde Park again.”
“You’ve been running in Hyde Park?” Beatrix asked, moving closer to him, so close in fact that a hint of her perfume drifted to him, a scent he found most compelling.
“Norman enjoys trying new places to run so that he doesn’t become bored with his chosen method of keeping himself in fine form,” Theo said for him, earning his eternal gratitude when he realized he’d allowed Beatrix’s perfume to render him all but mute.
“Seems to be working for him since his form is very fine indeed,” Mamie said, which earned her a roll of the eyes from Gladys, who then bid him a hasty good-bye before she hustled Mamie out of the restaurant. The rest of the women followed quickly behind.
“Do let me know if you hear anything of interest from the Pinkerton man,” Beatrix said, a statement that left him wincing because he’d forgotten all about the near disaster they’d experienced.
“We’ll be certain to do that,” Theo said briskly as Beatrix nodded, bid them a good evening, then hurried to catch up with her aunt.
Retaking his seat because he’d yet to settle their bill, Norman ran a hand over his face. “This has been a very interesting afternoon.”
Theo didn’t hesitate to nod, her gaze settled on Gladys, who was now bustling past the restaurant window, her pink turban bobbing. “I have the uncanny feeling that I’m soon to find myself taken in hand by Gladys Huttleston.”
Norman grinned. “I’m afraid you might be right about that, although if it makes you feel better, she seems to want to take me in hand as well.”
Theo turned from the window. “Too right she does. She effectively maneuvered you into agreeing to take Beatrix to the ball with relatively little protest on either your or Beatrix’s part.”
Heat crept up his neck. “I couldn’t very well have refused to take her, not with how you first extended her an invitation on my behalf earlier. Then, with Gladys all but insisting I escort Beatrix to the ball—”
“You’re fond of her.”
“Gladys is an acceptable sort.”
“Not Gladys,” Theo said. “Beatrix. You hold her in some type of affection, and now I understand why you insisted we visit Marshall Field & Company today. I am, however, still confused about how you knew Beatrix was working at the store, unless you’ve actually taken to running in Hyde Park as an attempt to encounter Beatrix by happenstance, or to learn her daily schedule.”
Norman’s first impulse was to deny everything, but he pushed that impulse aside because . . . he was fond of Beatrix. He found her fascinating, more fascinating than he found electrical circuits at the moment, a notion that should have been incredibly disturbing but wasn’t for some unfathomable reason.
“I suppose I’m rather fond of her, at that,” he finally admitted. “And while you’re certainly going to find this surprising, I feel compelled to admit to you that I have been running around Hyde Park in the hopes of checking on her.”
Theo’s
