“He and the children would appreciate that,” Alice said with a smile.
Leo turned back to Mattie, his eyes searching hers. “Are you okay with me leaving? I’d stay, but I thought you and the gals might like to have some time without any male company. I sure did like seeing your prototype work, though.”
“I enjoyed you being here,” Mattie told him and wished she could embrace him, but they had decided to keep their new relationship quiet for now—at least from everyone but the eagle-eyed Vera.
“I’d kiss you, Mattie, but not with an audience—not yet. So I’ll just tell you toodle-oo.”
“Toodle-oo?” She almost giggled at the ridiculous words.
“My way of secretly embracing you when I can’t physically,” Leo said, his explanation causing her heart to swell like a hot-air balloon.
“Toodle-oo, then, Leo.”
With a nod of his head to the others, Leo slipped from the room. Still feeling bubbly inside from his words, Mattie accepted the teacup that Vera handed to her.
“What’s in here?” Mattie sniffed at the liquid, smelling gin and honey.
“A bee’s knees,” the flapper told her as she rejoined Ruby on their chair, “because that’s what your invention is. The bee’s knees.”
“680.” Carrie called out the next station.
James Scott’s “Broadway Rag” came blaring out over the speaker. Lily squealed and began to two-step around the room with an imaginary partner.
“There’s no need to dance alone, darling,” said Vera as she assumed the role of the man. Mattie was so intent on watching the whirling women in their glittering gowns that she entirely forgot to look at thesignal. She had to wait until it came back around the second time. “Three o’clock!”
At that precise moment, Vera dipped Lily. With her golden curls pointed toward the floor, Lily cried out, “Correct once again!”
In lieu of her twin, Sadie checked the bearings, and the RadioNavigator successfully indicated each one. The rest of the Flying Flappers danced as the music turned from ragtime to jazz back to ragtime to some fast-tempo Broadway. Finally, one by one, the women dropped back into their chairs. It was Vera, not Lily, who was the last one dancing, with Ruby in her arms. She probably would have continued, but the dog twisted her head to give Vera a rather mournful expression just as Mattie flipped to a station broadcasting a gothic drama about a young bride trapped in a sea-cliff mansion.
“Oooooh,” Lily cried out. “Let’s listen to this!”
Mattie, who was now seeing the blonde twin in an entirely new light, complied. The actors were good, and it didn’t take long until all the Flying Flappers were thoroughly engrossed. When the segment drew to a sudden end, they all gasped.
“And so, listeners, as the young Mrs.Langton hangs perilously above the abyss, we must bid you adieu. Will the mysterious figure save her? Is the man her husband or his evil look-alike? Tune in tomorrow to see what happens.”
“And that is why I am never going to get married,” Vera announced to no one in particular as she dumped the remainder of her hip flask into her teacup.
“Because your husband may either be mad or have a mad twin who will attempt to throw you off a cliff face?” Lily asked with a little hiccup at the end of her question. They were all a little pie eyed from the cocktails, but Lily was the most ossified.
“Vera views all marriage as a metaphorical leap off a precipice.” Aida waved her fountain pen haphazardly.
“If your parents all had a marriage like mine do, you’d know why walking down the center aisle is my version of a living nightmare.” Vera tossed back her tequila and then gave a sharp shake of her head against the sting. “And to make matters worse, they keep trying to foist an equally horrid union on me.”
“At least you have your own funds,” Aida pointed out.
“Yes.” Vera eyed her empty glass. “Thank goodness for my grandparents and Great-Aunt Opal. Between those three, I am blessed to be free of my parents’ plans to trade me off to the man with the best title and who will happily squander my family’s cash on mistresses, horseflesh, and crumbly houses.”
“Not all marriages are like that,” Alice said gently as she cast her cousin a concerned look. “Look at my union or your grandparents’.”
Vera snorted, sounding rather like her dog. It was the first ungraceful sound that Mattie had ever heard from her. Even hersneezesgenerally sounded fashionable. “Those are as rare as finding two identical snowflakes. I’m afraid I have no desire to risk my independence on such a gamble. If I’m going to take a risk, I prefer it to be at two thousand feet with my head dangling toward the ground.”
“Marriage is just another social construct.” Aida tapped her chin. “You are not bound to have one like your parents any more than you are bound by the social mores you currently reject. Although I do not believe a woman should feel a need to marry, neither do I think she should feel an obligation not to. I think a union like Alice and John’s could be quite rewarding.”
Mattie shifted in her seat, wishing she hadn’t started on her third teacup. Vera’s and Aida’s views on marriage feltcriticalto Mattie, even as they twisted her stomach.
“It is funny how men have recently begun to refer to their wife as aball and chain, when it is the female who is more tied down by marriage,” Vera sighed. “Society is not yelling athimto keep house and care for his offspring. Yes, there is a sense that he must provide for his family,but he has so many ways to fulfill that duty. If a woman has the audacity of pursuing a career outside of the home, she is wrongfully perceived as abandoning her family.”
“Is that why you are always warning me to not take my relationship with Leo too seriously?” Mattie asked before she realized what her question had revealed. The women, however, seemed to understand that this was not a time to ooh and aah.
