Caroline’s next step was to get Mrs. McKinley’s permission to leave for an entire week. Her intention was to leave for Cuba the day after the inauguration, which would be perfect timing, since Washington would rest in exhaustion following the whirlwind of festivities. She mentally prepared herself as she helped the first lady with the final fitting for her ball gown.
Caroline had expensive tastes, but even she was astounded by the splendor of Ida’s inaugural gown. Two seamstresses and Ludmila were on hand to help with alterations and caring for the garment while Caroline watched from the far side of the bedroom. How marvelous the gown looked! Made of cream satin, embroidered with silver thread, and lavishly embellished with crystals and pearls, the gown cost eight thousand dollars, more than most people earned in a year. If the price of that gown ever slipped out to the public, it would trigger a hail of condemnation, but there was no denying that Ida McKinley had good taste. The gown was fit for a queen and tailored to perfection.
“You look amazing,” Caroline said.
“You will be the apple of the president’s eye,” Ludmila added with a wink at Caroline. They still worked on English languagequirks, but now that Ludmila was attending night school, her English was even better.
“I suppose it will do,” Ida teased in a flash of good humor. Her health was good, her husband had won a second term, and he’d just plunked down a fortune to ensure his wife outshone every other lady in the city.
Caroline only hoped Ida’s good mood would last, because getting her permission for the trip to Cuba was going to be a challenge. Caroline had worked seven days a week for the past year, so a single week didn’t seem like a lot to ask, but one could never be certain of Ida’s mood.
Caroline worked with both seamstresses to carefully lift the dress off the first lady. It was so heavy! Or perhaps she was merely nervous. How odd it felt to be handling thousands of dollars in seed pearls and satin while preoccupied by thoughts of her brother sweltering in a jail cell.
The seamstress helped Caroline hang the dress in the wardrobe while Ludmila filled the satin slippers with wadded tissue paper. How best to raise this delicate topic? Ida was very focused on her own needs, so perhaps that was the best place to start.
“The inauguration is going to be an exhausting day,” Caroline said. “I’ve made certain to keep the following week entirely free of commitments so you can rest.”
“Humph,” Ida said. “I’ll probably need the followingmonth. All this inauguration folderol has been exceptionally draining.”
It was the perfect opening. “I feel the need for some time as well,” she began cautiously. “I’d like a chance to see my brother and will need a week to make that happen.”
“But your brother is right here in Washington,” Ida said in confusion. “You can see him at any time.”
“I was thinking of my other brother.”
Ida froze. “The one in Cuba?”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not!” Ida’s voice cracked across the room so suddenly that Ludmila dropped a slipper. “It’s one thing to have a traitor in the family, but quite another to abandon your post on his behalf.”
“As a Christian, I feel compelled to visit the sick and impris—”
“Don’t ‘as a Christian’ me! That man is a traitor and a scoundrel and a turncoat. He deserves everything he gets!” Ida grabbed a slipper and hurled it across the room, narrowly missing one of the seamstresses. “I forbid you to leave your post. Forbid it!”
If Caroline caved before Ida’s tantrums, she wouldn’t have lasted a week in this job. She raised her chin and prepared to fight for what she needed. “I will fulfill every duty on Inauguration Day and will stay until the last—”
“You certainly shall! It’s the very least I can expect.”
That from a woman who’d spent the last two months knitting baby booties while Caroline slogged through ice and slush to find housing for six hundred visiting diplomats. Now she wanted seven days off, and she intended to get them.
“You can expect me to deliver a spectacular inauguration ceremony, a luncheon that will come off without a hitch, and an inaugural ball that will echo through the ages. After that, I’m sailing to Cuba for a week.”
Ida waved a finger beneath her nose. “You’re really pushing it, Miss Delacroix. Really pushing it.”
“And I’ll keep pushing it until I have my week of leave.”
The first lady threw the other slipper, this time knocking over a vase that crashed to the floor, scattering glass shards. A tap on the door interrupted her tirade, and a guard opened it without permission, his hand on the butt of his pistol.
“Is there trouble here?” he asked.
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous!” Ida shouted. “I have a bratty and disloyal secretary, but I can handle her.”
“Not if you deny me leave to go to Cuba,” Caroline said. “I’ll quit, and you can find someone else who knows high fashion as well as me. Good luck!”
“I’ve been dressing myself for fifty-odd years,” Mrs. McKinley yelled.
“And you’ve never looked nicer than since I started shopping with you.”
