Chapter 13 Ruby

Chapter 13

Ruby

It was gorgeous out. Hot but not humid for a change, just beautiful. Ruby leaned back against the rough oak behind her, enjoying the breeze, wishing it was just her and Harrison still hidden in the secrecy of the Tremaines’ hedge maze. Here in public, she had to settle for the brush of his arm against hers when he reached for a scone or a piece of diced fruit. The earthy-sage scent of him would drift over, fill her senses, and leave her feeling briefly light-headed. Oh, it was torture not being able to sneak the little touches they had before! Secret meetings, like the day they’d met at the museum where he’d proposed, were completely out of the question now, every bright moment edged with a public dread that made her feel jangly.

Enjoy this day, she reminded herself. Today, the Carters joined them—they were picnicking in Jackson Park, revisiting a spot from their early courtship where she knew privacy was scarce. The trees provided shade and the lake glinted in the distance. What better way to avoid anything untoward than to display a demure comportment in plain sight for all of Chicago to see?

“What a lovely day!” said Odette. Harrison’s friend had shed her gloves and was fanning herself furiously. Unlike the linen dress Ruby was wearing, Odette’s day dress was of a heavier cotton and a tighter bodice. Her brother, Carter, sat beside her watching someone’s game of croquet nearby. The leisure class, as Olivia now called anyone with the means to enjoy daytime hobbies, enjoyed chilled sweet teas under the shade of the trees, and umbrellas held aloft by their servants. They smelled of earth and the sweet jams and fresh breads they’d brought with them.

Carter frowned. “You have lighter dresses at the house,” he said. “You chose that contraption to highlight your figure. And now you complain?”

“Hush!” Odette hissed. She closed her fan in one swift motion and slapped her brother’s elbow. “You can’t go around spilling a girl’s secrets.” She winked at Ruby.

“I hardly think it’s a secret!” Ruby smiled. “I often find fashion the simplest form of communication.” She pulled her fan from her skirt with a flourish and bashfully looked at Harrison. Curse those rumors! She imagined his lips briefly brushing her temple at her cheeky comment, his arms circling her waist, pulling her in—

Carter laughed, loud, making Ruby jump. His eyes found hers, full of mirth.

Harrison reached for her hand and squeezed it. “I will do well, then, to not interfere with your and Olivia’s shopping days.”

“You would,” she said. But she felt the smile on her face freeze as she saw Mrs.Johnson, a friend of her mother’s and Mrs.Davenport’s, walking down the path. This is why you came, she chided herself. So people would see you courting in a respectable place with other wholesome young people.

Odette’s peal of fresh laughter drew Mrs.Johnson’s eyes, and the older woman waved enthusiastically. Ruby noticed other patrons of the park, their umbrellas high to protect their light complexions, whip their heads to the source of the laughter. Ruby tugged her skirt over her ankle, as if this small act of modesty might compensate for her new friend’s outburst.

Mrs.Johnson, undeterred by the lack of propriety, approached the small party. “Miss Carter, how lovely to see you,” she said. Odette stood and they clasped hands. The older woman broke contact to address Ruby. “And Miss Tremaine.” Her eyes softened with pity.

Ruby tilted her chin higher. “Good afternoon, Mrs.Johnson. Enjoying your stroll?”

“Oh, I am.” The older woman turned to Harrison, who had stood to take her hand. “Mr.Barton, it was wonderful seeing you at the community center last night. I think we need more of the junior members of society involved in the goings-on of the city.”

Harrison dipped his head. “It was an informative experience,” he said. “I’m still quite new to Chicago.”

“I hope to see you again.” Mrs.Johnson straightened. “Oh—I see my party up ahead. Well, enjoy the weather while you can. Winter will be here before we know it.” She said her goodbyes and left.

Ruby snapped open her fan as Harrison settled again on the blanket. She turned to him, brows furrowed. “You attended the gathering for my father’s rival?”

Harrison sat straighter. “We need to get our voices heard by lawmakers, as quickly as possible. Otherwise the work your father started, the work the laborers and suffragists and Olivia are doing, might be forgotten.”

Ruby glanced at the Carters, who were now engrossed in a conversation of their own. “People question my father’s ability to lead, Harrison. How will it look if his future son-in-law is supporting the winner of his race—his competition?”

“They will think we are a family that puts the city and its people first. Your father should also be attending these events. He owns a textile factory in the city, one of the few still operating at full capacity during the strike. If they see support from his whole family, it will only strengthen his future bids for office. And put to rest any of the reservations that were brought up at the party on election night.”

Ruby scowled. But Harrison was right. She also recognized that this was not some problem she could work her way out of on her own. Ruby Tremaine was out of elaborate plans. She felt tired. What could she do but wait this one out? Though waiting was most definitely not her strong suit. Meanwhile, she endured her father’s exaggerated sighs and booming footsteps as he wordlessly displayed his disappointment in not only the election results but in her.

“I just hope my parents—our parents—come around,” she said. Her mother had made a show of coming to her defense during dinner with the Bartons. But in the weeks since, Ruby had come to understand that her mother’s position behind her father—as it was the night of the election results—remained firmly fixed.

Her stomach clenched. She knew the rumors about them—about her—had put a strain on the Barton family as well. She suspected Harrison hid the extent of it.

“I hope they do too,” he said.

Ruby looked at him, into his warm brown eyes, and counted herself lucky. She had made the right choice. This she knew. Even if her parents did not truly see all he did for her, for them. She watched his gaze touch her lips, her collarbone. She imagined it was his hand that left the resulting heat on her skin, that she had the freedom to kiss him where and when she pleased.

“Harrison is right,” Odette chimed in. “And you can ignore those awful rumors about you.”

Ruby startled, then bristled at the young lady’s interjection. She wondered how much Odette had overheard.

Odette reached over and placed a reassuring hand on Ruby’s knee. Ruby could feel the dampness of the girl’s palm through the thin linen layers of her skirts. “They are old-fashioned gossips who have outdated notions of how things should be.” Odette straightened and gestured to the group of young white people playing croquet nearby. “We are a decade into the new century, and they are clinging to society’s old, nineteenth-century ways of thinking.” She dropped her voice an octave and added, “Notions that did not include people like us when they were implemented. You don’t have to play by those rules.”

“In time, you’ll learn how I feel about rules.” Ruby’s eyes flitted again to where Harrison sat, watching her with a smile that calmed her and warmed her more than the summer sun.

“Oh, how divine!” Odette laughed over her fan. “Harrison, you’ve hit the jackpot with this one.” She turned to Ruby, dropping her voice low again. “Now that Carter and I are to become Chicagoans, we’ll need you to tell us what’s what.”

“Odette, can’t you stop and just admire things instead of imposing on everyone we meet?”

“How am I imposing?” Odette protested. “ Harrison, ” she said, “is an old family friend. And I meant what I said—I don’t think the antiquated customs of our elders should dictate how we live.” She preened and looked at Ruby. “Especially to ones so fabulous.”

Ruby blushed and straightened her shoulders.

Carter grumbled under his breath. His body angled toward Harrison. “I just think you should have more tact. Mr.Tremaine’s associates sound like they wield a lot of power and influence. It’d be terrible to see that used against you, my friend,” he said. “What has your family said about the engagement?”

Ruby’s spine straightened. Harrison had shared his family’s misgivings with her, their concern that her reputation may be too much to overcome for their son, a young man trying to make his way in a new city—Harrison had only arrived in Chicago this past spring. And people’s snap judgments about his parents’ coupling…people could be leery, uncomfortable. Having seen Mr.and Mrs.Barton together, there was no doubt of the depth of their affection and their bond. The same was true for Harrison and Ruby. Harrison had said he chose her, that together, they could face anything. She remembered how he stood beside her the night of the election results, under her father’s thunderous gaze, and refused to step back.

“Ruby and I will figure it out.” He turned to her and squeezed her hand. “My parents are as thrilled as I am to welcome her into our family, Carter.”

Carter had the good sense to look embarrassed.

“Yes, we’ll figure it out.” The words sounded more forceful than Ruby felt. She fought the urge to reach for the pendant at her throat. Harrison had become accustomed to the gesture and read it as a sign of her discomfort.

“Well, this city is full of potential,” said Odette. “I’ll have to find some hobby to pass the time.”

“Hobby?” said Carter. “I’d prefer you work. I’m afraid what type of trouble you’d find through a hobby. ”

Odette, a question on her face, turned to Ruby, who froze. Until recently, she’d spent the majority of her free time eating at Marshall Field & Company’s tearoom or shopping at Madame Chérie’s boutique with Olivia. “I have a hobby,” Ruby started. Don’t I? “I…have been sketching again, mostly dress ideas. Right now, my maid, Margaret, executes the patterns, sewing it all together.” Though calling her own scrawled drawings “patterns” was generous. If only she could still afford the services of Madame Chérie’s boutique.

Odette’s eyes lit up. “You’re so fashionable and brave. Forget about the rumors of you being a harlot—”

Ruby cringed at the choice of words.

“—and chase down the ones that name you the most fashionable socialite in Chicago.”

Ruby chose to focus on the other, much better part of what Odette had said. Shopping and fashion had always been passions—and talents—of Ruby’s.

Carter sat straighter. His eyes traveled from Ruby’s face to her shoes, poking from beneath her dress. “I’d even say you’d be an eye-catching model. I know I’d buy for a woman whatever you have on.”

Ruby felt heat flood her face. She broke eye contact with Carter long enough to see Harrison frown at his friend.

Carter held up his hands. “I mean no disrespect. Just admiring a beautiful lady. You must count yourself lucky, my friend.”

Harrison turned to Ruby. “I do.”

“My goodness!” said Odette. “It is not quite time for those words.”

“You didn’t let me finish. Carter, we might have to find out if that jaw of yours is made of glass if you keep looking at her like that.” There was an edge to his voice that Ruby had never heard. His hazel eyes were hard. Ruby reached for his arm and squeezed it gently until the tension released and his hand relaxed. Carter shifted opposite them. They were in public. Mrs.Johnson was still close enough to see them. Ruby withdrew her hand, though it made her ache.

Odette clucked her tongue. “Men.”

Ruby smiled and forced a laugh. “Always spoiling for a fight.”

“Oh, Ruby, you must wear something special to the Pekin Theatre. Everyone who’s anyone will be there, so it will be the perfect opportunity to showcase your skills. Perhaps I’ll call on a buyer friend of mine,” she said, her face thoughtful. Odette began talking about her new friend— all her friends were new—and Ruby saw her chatter melt the tension between the two gentlemen. Like a conductor, Odette deftly redirected the conversation. As if she’d done it countless times before. While Odette spoke, Ruby wondered, Do I have skills to share? Helen was a talented mechanic, as unpleasant as that sounded. The younger girl’s passion and know-how were unwavering. As were Olivia’s for her Cause, as she put it. Somehow, during Ruby’s matchmaking schemes, they’d found and nurtured callings of their own.

The croquet-playing group nearby let out a sudden cheer. Ruby turned to them. They were a rainbow of pastel colors, brushed in the signature strokes of the latest Marshall Field & Company had to offer. “You would do that? You don’t mind?” she said, turning her attention back to Odette.

Odette’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Mind? Oh honey,” she said with recognition. “I insist!”

Ruby listened to Odette clap and felt her shoulders relax. She wasn’t sure when cutting up and reconfiguring dresses to hide her change in circumstances had turned into an enjoyable pastime, but she knew it had taken her mind off more troubling matters. Perhaps a new enterprise awaited her. A distraction turned amusement. This was the hope she was holding out for.