“Since when have you begun being considerate of what Theo is or is not comfortable with?”
“Do you want to know about Beatrix or not?”
“Sorry. I’m listening.”
Five minutes later, and after he’d explained how he’d come to know Beatrix, Norman ended with, “I’ve decided I’m rather fond of her, which is why Theo and I decided I needed to make some improvements in the hopes that Beatrix may decide at some point she’s fond of me as well.”
Constance tapped a finger against her chin. “Let me see if I’m understanding this correctly. You’ve become fond of a woman who works at Marshall Field & Company?”
Norman nodded.
“Interesting,” Constance said. “Although I’m not overly surprised that you don’t seem concerned about her lack of societal standing, because that’s never been something you’ve worried about, even if the gossips are going to come out in droves if you begin courting her.”
“Gossip has never bothered me.”
“True, but again, there will be a lot of that, especially since Beatrix is the niece of Miss Gladys Huttleston, an eccentric lady about Chicago if there ever was one.”
“Gladys is actually a rather nice woman,” Norman felt compelled to say. “But speaking of Gladys, I’m certainly going to have a chat with Alice when she returns from Paris about those stories she told me about Beatrix’s aunt. Here I’ve been under the misguided notion that Gladys was guilty of abducting orphans when that wasn’t true at all.”
Constance’s lips twitched. “You were always remarkably gullible, and I’m afraid I also may have told you some exaggerated stories when we were younger.”
“You told me stories too?”
“Indeed, but because I feel slightly guilty about that, how about if I make it up to you by assisting you with what you should wear today?” She nodded to the jacket Theo had been considering. “That’s a bit too much for a shopping expedition, so let me see what else I can find.”
Twenty minutes later, Norman was dressed in a blue tweed suit paired with a matching blue shirt and blue waistcoat. He was also wearing the wing-tipped collar Beatrix had chosen for him, his tie done up in what he’d learned was called the Avondale knot, which, thankfully, Constance had known how to tie.
Stepping up to the mirror, he looked himself over, pleased with the reflection he saw, then turned, faltering for a second when he caught sight of his mother, whom he’d not heard enter the room. “Hello, Mother. I thought you’d be having tea with Gemma and Oscar by now.”
Mary narrowed her eyes at him. “I was having tea, but then felt compelled to seek you out after Gemma asked me if I knew a Beatrix.” Mary arched a brow at Constance. “I well remember how you were at Gemma’s age, my dear, always overhearing things not meant for your ears, so I thought it might be prudent for me to come out here and see if any of you can explain to me who Beatrix is.”
When Constance didn’t say a thing, his mother turned to him, and when he stayed silent on the matter, she turned to Theo.
She folded within a minute of being the recipient of Mary’s rapid-fire questions.
“Beatrix Waterbury is a delightful lady who works at Marshall Field’s in the coat check, and she’s the lady Norman’s taking to the Potter Palmer affair because he didn’t want to go with Miss Dinneen or Miss Ashburn,” Theo said in a rush.
Mary pinned Norman with a scandalized gaze. “You’re taking a coat check girl to the Palmer ball?”
The conversation only went downhill from there.
Chapter 20
“Be careful with that, girl. It’s ermine, and as such it deserves to be handled with the utmost care.”
Keeping her smile firmly in place, Beatrix accepted the ermine wrap Mrs. George Blossom all but dumped into her arms. The less-than-careful handing over of her wrap suggested that Mrs. Blossom wasn’t all that concerned over its treatment but had made her demand in order to make sure that the two ladies in her company knew the wrap was ermine, and thus, expensive.
“It certainly is a luxurious wrap, Mrs. Blossom. I’ll take extra care with it while you shop,” Beatrix said as she handed the lady a claim ticket.
“I would hope you treat every garment with extra care, whether it be ermine or not.” With that, Mrs. Blossom spun on her heel and marched away, whispering furiously to the two ladies marching alongside her.
“Don’t mind her,” Miss Dixon, one of the other two coat check girls, whispered as Beatrix hurried down the long rack, searching for a space to hang Mrs. Blossom’s coat. “She’s always unpleasant.”
Miss Jaycox, the other woman working in coat check, nodded as she bustled past Beatrix, carrying a gentleman’s overcoat of charcoal gray, along with a black hat. “Indeed she is, but we’ve encountered worse.”
Hoping that someone worse than Mrs. Blossom wasn’t waiting next in line, Beatrix hurried back to the counter and took a blue jacket from a lady who had two adorable little girls holding on to her skirts. Beatrix smiled at the girls, her smile fading when the lady released a sniff and hurried the girls away.
Over the week since she’d been reassigned to the coat check, Beatrix had experienced more than her fair share of nastiness from people who apparently believed it was their right to deliver such slights because she was a coat check girl.
Frankly, their slights were only fueling her desire to become more involved with the suffrage movement, because if women could obtain the vote, they’d then hopefully begin to see their circumstances improving through better work opportunities and greater chances for advancement.
As it stood now, what with how men ruled over work environments and had
