Theodore wove between Oliver and Harriet, then made a show of putting his hand at the small of Harriet’s back.
“Mrs. Carter, have you met my…” He hesitated, his voice breaking a little, then cleared his throat. “My Harriet?” he asked.
Harriet smiled warmly and leaned in first toward Theodore, and then toward Aunt Clove. “How do you do?” she said, extending her hand. “I hope you don’t mind that I’ve joined the party.”
Aunt Clove visibly relaxed. “Of course not, dear,” she said, her fan slowing. “I’ve always said that any friend of the Parkers…”
She stepped back, relieved.
“Hawthorne Shaw is here tonight,” she said, turning to Lillie. “I’d love to introduce you.” She threw one last glance over her shoulder at Theodore and Harriet and added in a low voice, “Theodore Parker is set to inherit eight million dollars. I would’ve hoped he’d set his eyes alittlehigher.”
“Oh, Mother,” Lillie said, rolling her eyes. “You know how this talk of money bores me.”
Finally, Lillie broke free of her mother and came to take Grace’s arm. She spun her around, then whispered in her ear, “Hurry, beforemy mother tries to marry me off to a man thrice my age.” They giggled and darted together up the stairs to exit the Spanish plaza and into the humid St. Louis night perfumed with flowering azaleas and dogwood trees. Grace’s head swam with joy.
“What you did back there with my mother was brilliant,” she heard Oliver say in a low voice to Theodore. She turned to catch his look of pure gratitude.
Theodore didn’t smile. “You know,” he said dryly. “If you plan to make her the grandmother of Harriet’s children, she’s likely going to find out at some point.”
“I know, I know,” Oliver said. “I’ll have to come clean soon. But if you could just play along a little longer… it will help my family warm to the idea of Harriet. Please.”
Theodore worked his handsome jaw.
“I can get down on my knees and beg if debasing myself would help,” Oliver offered.
“Fine,” Theodore finally agreed. He grimaced. “Are we the only two who know?” he asked, tilting his head toward Grace.
Oliver nodded. “Yes. I’d trust my cousin with my life.”
Theodore gave Grace a shrewd look that seemed to peer into the very depths of her. He frowned but surprised her when he bowed his head to her in a show of respect. “Well then. Bound together by the secret.”
She narrowed her eyes and nodded, curtsying back.
Then she turned away. Oliver seemed so grateful to Theodore that she decided to hold her tongue. What a confusing man Theodore Parker was, a coin that kept flipping and showing different faces. But all the favors to her cousin in the world wouldn’t make up for the dark side of him she had seen that night in Chicago. She wouldn’t trust him as far as she could row a ship.
“Shall we meet back here tomorrow, then?” Lillie asked, pulling on her cloak. “We’ll be sophisticated and cultured and tour the exhibits and the gardens. I want to eat an ice-cream cone and see the giant working clock fashioned entirely out of flowers.”
“And then eat fairy floss and ride the carnival rides until we’re sick,” Harriet said.
“I love our little party,” Earnest said, in a manner that seemed true to his name. And true to her own nature, Frannie hmphed.
Oliver’s eyes were positively shining.
And Grace saw her dreams of her last, intimate week with her cousins fading away.
“Will I see you both tomorrow?” Earnest asked Grace and Lillie quietly. Grace nodded, and he bowed, a beautiful grin lighting his face. “Until then.”
Theodore tipped his hat in a wordless goodbye at them all, his jaw tightening as Aunt Clove and Uncle Reginald approached.
“May I see you home?” Theodore asked, pivoting toward Harriet. “My driver and groom will accompany us.” Harriet met his gaze and nodded.
Under the watchful eye of Grace’s aunt, he escorted her into his waiting carriage.
“And then there were three,” Oliver said, taking Lillie and Grace each by the arm.
Look at me, the jam in the sandwich, he used to say when they were children.The sweet that holds it all together.
The seedy part,I think you mean,Grace would reply.
