We could get oranges in Seattle, but grapefruit were harder to come by. Last year I’d saved my tip money for a whole week and bought a single grapefruit. It had cost a fortune, but I’d felt very fancy slicing into its thick skin, until I discovered that the flesh inside was rotten.
The steward bowed and let himself out, and I relaxed a little when he did.
“I want to do this every day,” Charles said, smiling at me from across the table.
“Me too,” I said.
I took a sip of orange juice, taking in its tangy sweetness. I wished I could share some with Caroline and the others. I thought about tucking a croissant in my pocket for Georgia. She’d always wanted to try one.
“I was wondering,” Charles said between bites of omelet. “What are you doing tonight?”
“I’m afraid I have to work,” I said.
“Work?”
“Yes. It’s a little thing one does to earn a living,” I said sarcastically.
“Very funny,” he said playfully. He looked at me for a long moment. “What if you didn’t have to work again?”
“What do you mean?”
He placed his hand on mine. “What if—”
The hinge of the door squeaked. Someone was coming into the suite. I felt like sinking my head deeper into the robe and hiding under the table, especially when I saw who it was: Charles’s sister, Josie. A maid followed behind her, carrying a dozen shopping bags.
“Charles?” she said with arched eyebrows. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” he countered. “I thought you were in Vancouver on a shopping trip with Mother.”
“We came home yesterday,” she said, walking toward us. “I was just picking up some things in town, and I thought I’d stop…” She paused the moment she recognized me. I could see the look of astonishment in her eyes.
“Josie, you remember Vera,” Charles said, as if there was nothing awkward about reacquainting his sister with me, while I was clad in a bathrobe. “Vera Ray.”
“Of course,” she sneered, staring at me for a moment longer than was comfortable. In the morning light, I noticed a familiar quality I had missed at the dance marathon. Where had I seen her before? “Yes, Vera, from the dance hall.”
“Hello,” I managed. I wished I’d decided to dress before breakfast. The robe was a terrible mistake.
“Well,” Josie huffed. “Clearly I’m interrupting an intimate moment, so I’ll go.” She eyed the envelope of cash on the side table, the one Charles had given me the night before for the widow in my building. What must she think of that? I prayed that Charles would explain, but he ignored his sister’s shocked expression and continued eating.
“See you,” he simply said. The maid followed with Josie’s parcels. The door slammed behind them.
I spent eight more glorious weeks with Charles before the fairy tale came hurtling to an abrupt end. There were gifts—one night at dinner, he slid a sapphire bracelet around my wrist—flowers, trips, phone calls. It was enough to make my roommates green with envy.
Even so, I waited to tell him about the baby. I’d known about the pregnancy for almost two weeks, and I wanted to give it more time to be certain. I knew he’d be overjoyed. We were having a child together. A child conceived in love. And yet, I worried. Everything was perfect, and I feared the news could change that.
And then, one night in the hotel suite, he knelt down and asked me to marry him. I said yes, of course. He might as well have been a boy from the factories; I’d have married him anyway. I had fallen in love with his goodness, his heart, not his money. And when he gazed into my eyes, I almost told him about the baby right then and there, but the nausea had subsided, and I worried I’d miscarried. I couldn’t bear to think of telling him I had lost his child. So I waited.
“It’s about time you meet my family,” he said. “Why don’t you come for dinner at the house tonight?”
“I don’t know,” I said, feeling apprehensive about the previous interactions with Josie.
“They’ll love you.”
I scrunched my nose. “I’m not so sure.”
“You’re worried about Josie, aren’t you?”
I nodded.
“Well, don’t,” he said. “You’re the woman I love, and that’s that.”
I nestled my head into the fold of his shirt, breathing in the comforting scent of pipe tobacco and cologne.
“You make me so happy, Vera.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I do?”
“You do. I love your strength.” He traced my nose with