She pulled the drapes closed, plunging the room into darkness, then switched on the tungsten bulb to provide a dim amber glow in the room. The arc lamp at the small end of the enlarging box beamed through the negative, casting the image onto the bromide paper.
“I feel like I should whisper,” Luke murmured in the darkness.
“You don’t have to,” she whispered back. “All we have to do is hold still and not jostle the box. The chemicals are doing all the work.”
She repeated the process to enlarge twelve additional pictures, then began the process of developing the photographs.
“This is the stinky part,” she warned as she poured solution into the developing trays. She set the first page into the chemical bath, and Luke stood by her shoulder, watching as she gently tipped the tray to keep the liquid gently washing the paper. The images developed quickly, but if she didn’t lift them from the solution in time, they darkened to an unacceptable degree. After a minute, she lifted the paper out with tongs and set it in the stop bath to neutralize the chemicals. Ten seconds later, she set it in the final tray to fix the image. Then she clipped the photograph onto a clothesline to dry.
After Luke watched the process a few times, he wanted to try. He caught on quickly, and soon she happily turned the task over to him. He was fun to watch as he went through the steps she’d taught him.
“Do you like being a government photographer?” he asked as he clipped another photograph to the clothesline.
“I love it. Developing the pictures is the most tedious part, but now that I’ve got you on the job, my life is just about perfect.”
He smiled, but it vanished quickly. “I’ve heard some rumors about the photographers who work at your department.”
She wondered about the note of concern in his voice. “That they’re going to give us the axe?”
“That’s the one.”
“Maybe. All the photographers are compiling portfolios of our best work. The hope is that we can convince the department that a picture can tell an important story, but I’ll be fine no matter what happens. My father won’t let me starve.”
Luke continued clipping up her photographs, and even in the dim light she could see the affection on his face. “If your father lets you down, let me know,” he said. “I like rescuing damsels in distress.”
“I’m not a damsel in distress.”
“Could you pretend? I’m actually just searching for an excuse to see you again. Do you think that’s something we can arrange?”
“I hope so.” She’d never in her life been so attracted to a man, and she scrambled for an opportunity for them to be together. “My father has tickets to a performance at the Lafayette Square Opera House. He’ll let us use them if I ask nicely.”
Luke let out a low whistle. “He must be well-connected. I tried and failed to get tickets.”
“He’s a congressman. People tend to offer him things like that.”
Luke swiveled to look at her. “Oh? Who is he?”
“Clyde Magruder, representative from the fourth district in Maryland.”
Luke blanched and swallowed hard. She smiled, because despite her father’s lofty title, he wasn’t an intimidating person.
“Your father is Clyde Magruder?” he asked in an awful whisper.
“Yes. Do you know him?” It could be the only reason for his strange behavior.
“Did you know my last name is Delacroix?”
It felt like her heart stopped beating. She blinked, hoping she had misunderstood. “As in Delacroix Global Spice?” she finally stammered. “Are you joking?”
“I wish I was.”
She felt like a sleepwalker as she wandered to the window. The Delacroixs were terrible people. They were arrogant, privileged snobs who looked down on hardworking people like her father and grandfather.
“Your brother has said horrible things about my family,” she managed to say. “Unforgivable things.”
“That was a long time ago,” Luke said.
Not long enough for her to forget. She still rememberedcoming home from school one blustery autumn day, delighted that she’d finally passed her math class, only to see her mother’s tear-stained face as she held a magazine on her lap. Gray Delacroix thought nothing of slandering them in the press, and that interview in which he attacked their entire family caused her parents no end of pain. Her grandfather won a libel suit against him, and the Delacroixs had to pay a shocking settlement fee, but money couldn’t restore a tainted reputation.
