Chapter 33 Ruby

Chapter 33

Ruby

It was late. From the way the light slanted through the window, Ruby knew she had slept longer than she should have. She sat up and reached for the sketchpad that had fallen to the floor. When she’d returned from the Davenports, she’d felt inspired. She’d put her thoughts to paper until her eyes wouldn’t stay open, and now she woke itching to begin again.

“Miss, should I tell her to go?”

“Oh!” Ruby startled. Margaret hovered over her. It must have been the maid who’d woken her. “Thank you, Margaret— Who’s here?”

“Mrs.Jennings is downstairs.”

Ruby’s room was a mess from the preparations for Helen’s party. And what wasn’t for her friend’s event was for her own wedding. She sprang up from the chaise and shuffled together loose sketches. Fantastic, she thought. I can show Lucille what I’ve drawn while I fill her in on last night’s reactions. “This is perfect. Margaret, I had one with a ruffled—” Ruby fluttered her fingers around her neck. Her maid handed her the drawing, and Ruby’s mind tingled at the thought of seeing it in real life. “Thank you!” She threw on a dressing gown and threw open her bedroom door.

“Our dress is a hit!” Mrs.Jennings exclaimed as Ruby came running down the stairs. She shoved the morning paper in Ruby’s face. Ruby squinted at the smudged photo and then the text. In the society pages, Agatha and Bertha praised the Davenports’ party and their wonderful hosts, stating how much they enjoyed seeing the changing fashion trends, including a piece worn and designed by the daughter of a former mayoral candidate, Miss Ruby Tremaine, and the art gracefully carried by debutante Miss Helen Davenport, with design and execution assistance from Miss Tremaine’s creative partner, Mrs.Lucille Jennings. Next to a photo of Helen making her grand entrance was one of Ruby, mid-spin in her dress. A coy smile lit her face as she appeared to look over her shoulder at the camera.

“Wonderful!” Ruby couldn’t take her eyes off her photo. There she was in black and white— in her own design! “Agatha asked me if we’d make one and name it after her. The publicity would change everything, Lucille. It could be just what we need to move forward.”

Mrs.Jennings scoffed. She picked up her son, now trying to crawl under the console table, and settled him on her hip. “As if we’d ever make a dress for her.”

Ruby frowned. She reread Agatha’s description of the night and her dress. They were glowing. “What do you mean?” Mrs.Jennings’s tone dampened Ruby’s joy. It was a break—one they desperately needed if the buyer from Marshall Field’s was correct.

Lucille Jennings’s gaze dropped to the floor. She shifted her son to her other side. “I thought you knew.” Ruby stared at her until she looked up and began to speak. “Miss Leary is friends with that young woman. Odette Carter. They’ve been spreading tales about you.” She coughed quietly and adjusted her skirt with her free hand. “They’ve been saying you’re about town with gentlemen who are not your betrothed, including John Davenport. They whisper in the tearoom at the store, and in the fitting rooms where others can hear. They’re behind what’s been said about you, Ruby, what’s circled back to your father.”

“No,” said Ruby. Her chest felt tight. She didn’t want to believe that her peers were telling lies about her to anyone who’d listen. Agatha was an opportunist, for sure, and a gossip, but never spouted anything truly malicious. And Odette. Ruby had been nothing but kind to her. Agatha and Bertha had immediately welcomed the newcomer, the three of them whispering incessantly amongst themselves. It was then that Ruby began to piece together odd coincidences. Odette and Harrison’s past relationship kept secret, Odette’s flirtatious looks at Ruby’s fiancé, and her friendship with Mrs.Johnson. Mrs.Johnson, who traveled in her parents’ social circle and had the ear of every influential woman over forty. The thought made Ruby feel ill. “If my reputation is ruined, no one would fault Harrison for backing out of our engagement. He’d be a free man, able to pursue a new potential wife.”

Mrs.Jennings opened her mouth to argue but then seemed to change her mind. Ruby knew her partner had figured it out correctly. To stem the flow of misinformation, she needed to go to the source. “Thank you, Lucille, for bringing me this.” She focused on the happy picture and the positive press their work had garnered. Ruby Tremaine would not be deterred. “And for waking me up. I have a very important social call to make.”

···

Ruby pounded the knocker of the Carters’ residence. “They had better be home,” she mumbled. She had arrived in style, of course, except for her manners. Ruby’s day dress, pale pink, had a daring flared skirt and fewer petticoats. Her fascinator, parasol, purse, and fan were bright shades of red that accented the paler hue. Margaret, who waited in the carriage, had gathered her hair at the nape of her neck and brushed flat all her stubborn curls.

The door finally swung open. It was Carter. He visored his hand over his eyes squinting. “Ruby, it’s always a pleasure to see you.”

She pushed past him into the sparse foyer, suppressing the ick she felt. “The pleasure is all mine. Is Odette available?” She noted her tone but left it unchecked. The air was thick and sharp, the walls freshly painted, the tasteful eggshell replaced by earth tones too dark to be welcoming.

“I’m right here, Ruby.” Odette clipped her earrings into place. She looked fresh-faced and calm. “What a surprise to see you here.”

“I understand you and Harrison have a history,” said Ruby. She wanted to pace herself, but she’d had plenty of time to stew in the carriage, and now the words came fast and neat. “I hope you understand, Miss Carter, that that is where your relationship with him stays. In the past. Sabotage is beneath you, and your efforts to drive Harrison and me apart will fail.” She cut her eyes to Carter and back to Odette.

The young woman frowned. She took her time in pulling on her gloves and picking up her reticule from the side table. Each movement, purposeful and unhurried, made Ruby more angry. But she knew she was not wrong. She had designed many ways to direct John Davenport into her path on numerous occasions. She was only annoyed she had not seen all this sooner. You know now, she thought to herself. “Starting baseless, harmful rumors not only hurt me but also my family. You are new to Chicago, so hear me. This scheme will not work.”

“Miss Tremaine,” said Odette. “Mr.Barton is a grown man, and he can choose how and with whom he spends his time without any input from the pair of us.”

“You’re right,” said Ruby. “I have nothing to worry about. You do. This is a small community. Treachery is not rewarded. There is no space for it given how quickly things can change. Chicago can be your home, but you must earn it.”

···

Ruby took a few deep breaths in the carriage. She had one more stop before the morning was done. She alighted at Harrison’s house and smoothed down her dress, trying not to dwell on the haughty way Odette had neither denied the accusations nor defended herself. Not now, she scolded herself and knocked at Harrison’s front door. She had said her piece. It was up to Odette to make her next move.

Luckily, Harrison answered, his face lighting up at the sight of her as he pulled her gently into the front hall. Ruby couldn’t help smiling back, feeling suddenly like a lovestruck schoolgirl. Their closeness at Helen’s party the night before now made her ache for more of him. “Ruby, have I forgotten we had plans today?” They stood closer than propriety would allow, but Ruby would have gladly taken another step had she not heard the voices of his family down the hall. “Have you come to join us for lunch?” But Harrison made no move to escort her to the dining room. His face hovered just inches from hers, as if the same thoughts had crossed his mind. She tilted her face up, felt his cool breath on her cheek, knowing she was tempting fate.

The clatter of cutlery hitting the floor in the other room dispelled the fog of desire that clouded their judgment. They stepped apart.

Ruby recalled the way she’d burst through that door just two months ago, running from a dress fitting to profess her love to Harrison. “No, I just came from the Carters’. Odette was behind the rumors about me, Harrison. She had hoped to win back your heart.”

Harrison’s shoulders deflated. “I didn’t mean to keep my past relationship from you, Ruby.” He scrubbed his hands over his face, looking suddenly wretched. “The two of you had already met, and every time I thought to bring it up, something got in the way. Soon, it felt like too much time had passed. And—”

“Harrison.” She put her hand on his arm. “I just wanted you to hear it from me that I visited them this morning. I don’t want to believe Odette was the one behind the rumors about me, but she didn’t deny them.”

Harrison glanced behind him. “Step outside with me?”

Ruby nodded. She let him take her arm and together they stepped onto the brownstone stoop into the midday sun.

“Anne-Marie told me this morning what happened at the Learys’ garden party,” Harrison said. “I’m sorry for bringing this to you, for what they’ve done….” He shook his head as they walked down the front steps. “The Carters and the Bartons grew up together. One summer, Carter saved Jeremiah from drowning. We had disobeyed—things got out of hand and I almost lost my brother. And although Carter and I grew apart, I see glimpses of the boy I once knew, and I always hope, perhaps foolishly, that he’ll return.” Harrison winced as they came to a stop at Ruby’s carriage. “Our relationship has changed. I’m not sure I’ve fully grasped what that means until now.”

Ruby’s anger simmered, Harrison’s words easing the heat of it. She knew all too well this feeling he described. He helped settle her in the carriage, and she leaned forward, looking him in the eye. “My father has not thawed in his treatment of me, Harrison. I do not feel the warmth of his love as I once did. My mother asks for patience, for trust.” Ruby took a breath. “It is for her sake alone that I continue to wait.” She put a hand to his face. “I do not want what they have.” Though his family was just inside, and the world all around them, Harrison leaned into her hand, into the closeness of the carriage, and Ruby met him there, her mouth, his, his scent and feel and the everything of him—almost more than she could bear. He pulled her to him to deepen their kiss. His neck felt hot under his collar where she held him tight.

At last she pulled back, and he pressed his lips to her forehead. “You are the only woman I’ve ever wanted to marry, Ruby Tremaine, and in a few days’ time, I’ll be able to call you my wife.”

Wife. Husband. The pair of them would value all that the other had to give. This love, she would protect fiercely.