The jangle of coins reminds me of the swingy rag “Opportunity.” That’s seven pounds per Johnny, a whole month’s wages.
Olly bites down on a gold coin that doesn’t look English. “If I was going to America, the first thing I’d buy is an Oreo biscuit. Heard tell it’s like eating chocolate cake and hardtack in one bite. That or muscles the size of Mr. Domenic’s.”
Jamie chortles. “That’s out of your budget.”
“But youcouldget muscles the size of Bo’s,” Wink pipes up.
“Get in line,” Bo mutters. We all laugh, and Bo pulls Wink’s cap over his eyes.
Then Jamie does a handstand in the middle of the beds. Letting his legs spread, he carefully lifts one hand from the floor and holds his position, looking like a seabird flexing its wings. The lads clap and holler, and hope rises in my chest.
Jamie is remembering how it feels to fly.
The hour approacheswhen Mr. Stewart is due on his deck chair. Judging by his reaction, the man liked what he saw, but if he didn’t, Mrs. Sloane will find out.
I don the honeycomb dress, vanilla coat, and bowler, which Charlotte sent to Room 14 in a traveling valise. Wrapping our treasure in two towel bundles so they don’t make noise, I carry it in the valise to the safety of Mrs. Sloane’s room, rehearsing what to say to Steward Latimer in case I run into him. Fortunately, he does not appear. After I add our earnings to the seat cushion, reserving a few coins for my pocket, I make my way to the Promenade.
Jamie and the banker’s daughter are already deep in conversation next to the lemonade stand by the time I arrive. Charlotte wrings her hands as she speaks, a dress of dotted swiss swishing as she fidgets. Strudel paces between them,issuing a yip-yip! when she sees me. Charlotte sucks in air through her teeth. “I’m sorry for my clumsiness.”
I fix my lips into a reassuring smile. “You did well today, and we appreciate it.”
“I did?” Charlotte looks from me to Jamie.
He nods. “Absolutely.”
Before they stare each other’s eyes dry, I pipe up, “We’d better get moving before someone steals our seats.”
Jamie and Strudel pad off in one direction, Charlotte and I in the other. We find Mr. Stewart’s deck chair empty, and fortunately, so are the ones next to it. But after ten minutes of making small talk, the man still hasn’t shown.
Charlotte watches me glance around for the dozenth time. “Maybe he’s drawing up a contract right now. Or maybe he’s sending a telegram to Ringling Brothers and telling them the good news.”
I brighten at the prospect, but then my mind switches directions. Perhaps he’s trying to avoid Mrs. Sloane. Maybe he enjoyed the act, but it wasn’t up to snuff. Where would that leave Jamie and me? My bones sink more heavily into the chair. Without a way into America, Jamie will continue on to Cuba. I will have no choice but to return to England. A band of sweat collects around my forehead, and I stop myself from tearing off my hat and fanning myself with it.
Jamie appears a hundred feet away with Strudel tugging him forward. I shake my head at him, and he continues back the way he came.
Charlotte watches him leave. “If the news is good, is there any”—she licks her lips—“possibilitythat Jamie would go with you to America?”
I cannot see her face, but perhaps she doesn’t want me to read it. “That’s my hope, though he has other plans.”
She points her delicate chin at me, and her soft eyes press for more.
The sea coughs up mist, and with it, a rainbow shimmers in the air, stirring a memory in me. “Jamie and I always wanted a pet. One day, during a break in the rain, we saw a rainbow, and that meant it was a lucky day. So, we decided to sneak a baby heron out of the London Zoo.”
Charlotte gasps. “Oh, my!”
“We got halfway home before Mum discovered it in Jamie’s jacket and made us give it back. You know how she punished us?”
“How?”
“She kept us apart—it was the worst thing she could do. We were as miserable as a pair of trousers torn in half.” I draw up my knees and lace my hands over them. “We used to be inseparable. But now he wants to shovel coal.” I lean my head against the back of the chair, grateful once again for the veil. “When your family falls apart, it’s a knife twisted in slowly.”
Charlotte nods, fiddling absently with one of the buttons that trail down her front like glittery ants. Her hands are as smooth as magnolia petals and don’t bear a single freckle. I hide my own hands, suddenly feeling like the imposter that I am.
“I know that feeling. Father wanted Mother to be a socialite, which he thought would be good for business. He considered her work with the Home for Little Souls to be beneath her. But the more parties Father pushed her to attend, the more she resented him. He stopped pushing after she got sick, but they rarely talk now. And the funny thing is, she loved my father before.”
Am I like Charlotte’s father, wanting Jamie to be someone he’s not? I know Jamie prefers the view of the sky from the ground, not up in the air like me. But the circus is a means to an end. If Mr. Stewart comes through, we’ll get the chance to shoot the three balls of fame, fortune, and a future in America, all with one swift jab of the cue stick. How could anyone turn down such an opportunity?
Jamie pops up again, this time stopping in front of our chairs. At the sight of him, Charlotte’s lips bloom like a rosebud unfurling.
