One
Chicago
Fall 1885
In hindsight, taking a small group of students from the Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies to a county fair to assess their progress regarding the rudimentary rules of civility wasn’t quite the brilliant opportunity Miss Annaliese Merriweather had expected it to be—not when two of the five young ladies had slipped away from the group, undoubtedly intent on delving into a bit of mischief.
Resisting the inclination to heave a perfectly justifiable sigh, Annaliese summoned up what she hoped would be taken as a stern look instead.
Truth be told, she wasn’t a lady who was predisposed to stern looks in general, but if she’d learned anything during the scant four months she’d taken up the unexpected role of decorum instructor, it was this: Young ladies who’d spent their lives with little instruction pertaining to the rules of propriety were far more likely to respond to a stern look over any expression that hinted at even a smidgen of geniality.
After tucking a strand of flyaway red hair behind her ear, Annaliese settled her attention on the student most likely to foldunder pressure—Miss Coraline Whittenbecker, who’d recently become related to Annaliese through the marriage of Drusilla Merriweather, Annaliese’s sister, to Rhenick Whittenbecker, Coraline’s brother.
“Any thoughts as to where Norma Jean and Velma might have wandered off to?” she asked, which earned her a rather deer-in-the-lantern-lights look before Coraline began taking a marked interest in the dirt she was now scuffing with her sturdy button-up boot.
“Well, ah, not that I know this for certain,” Coraline began, “but Norma Jeanmighthave gone off to speak to her brother Seth.”
“And she didn’t ask permission from me to do that because ...?”
“I’m sure she didn’t want to interrupt your scolding of that man you felt was mistreating his performing monkey.”
“It wasn’t as if I simplyfelthe was mistreating the monkey. Hewasmistreating it as I’m sure the poor monkey didn’t appreciate being poked with a stick when it couldn’t maintain its balance on a bicycle.”
“And I’m sure everyone within the near vicinity of the monkey is now aware of its mistreatment since you were really loud when you were taking the man to task over the poking incident.”
“My distraction with the monkey is hardly a credible excuse for Norma Jean to meander off without a word to me.”
“Maybe not, but after Pippin jumped off your shoulder and looked like she wanted to tussle with the monkey man, your distraction level increased.” Coraline stopped her scuffing and looked up. “Everyone knows your ferrets can turn vicious when provoked. I’m sure Norma Jean decided that you would have your hands full managing Pippin and left the group without bothering you, thinking she’d be back before you had your ferret under control again.”
Annaliese took a second to give a scratch to Pippin, the neediestof her three rescue ferrets, who was lounging around her neck and taking a well-deserved rest after her almost-attack of a horrid monkey owner. After earning a chirp from Pippin in return, she resettled her attention on Coraline and frowned when a thought took that moment to strike. “If Norma Jean truly was off to have a word with Seth, why didn’t you go with her?”
“And chance leaving you annoyed with me when we’ve only just become related?” Coraline asked with a far-too-innocent bat of her lashes. “I think not.”
The innocent lash batting continued, a telling sign if there ever was one.
Annaliese tilted her head. “Forgive me if I’m mistaken, but aren’t you the young lady who only two or three weeks ago was proclaiming in our table etiquette class that Seth McCormick was the dreamiest man you’ve ever laid eyes on?”
“You heard that?” Coraline asked.
“You weren’t exactly speaking in a hushed tone.”
“I thought you were occupied with instructing Penina Zambarello on how to properly butter a piece of bread when I was talking about Seth,” Coraline muttered.
“It’s not as if my ears were occupied as I watched Penina butter bread, but to return to my point. If, as you said, Norma Jean went off to speak with Seth and you consider that man oh-so-dreamy, I would have thought you’d have seen that as a prime opportunity to admire Seth and all his dreaminess again.”
“Coraline’s no longer smitten with Seth McCormick,” Miss Phoebe Studebaker blurted out, earning an immediate scowl from Coraline in the process.
Phoebe missed the scowl because she’d returned to ripping off a piece of the turkey leg she was clutching in her now grease-stained gloved hand, a piece she shoveled into her mouth. A few rapid chews commenced before she swallowed and patted her chest, eliciting a very unladylike belch, then opened her mouth. “Coraline, like a lot of other girls, finds Riley, yourstable hand, to be far dreamier than Seth these days. That’s why all of us were disappointed when you arrived to pick us up in the wagon instead of having Riley drive us in one of the Merriweather carriages.”
Before Annaliese had time to grasp the notion that the apparent dreaminess of her stable hand was obviously behind why so many young ladies at the academy had broached the subject of adding riding lessons into their weekly schedules, let alone address the whole inappropriate belching situation, Coraline crossed her arms over her chest.
“I don’t recall asking you, Phoebe, for your input regarding my interest in Seth McCormickorRiley,” Coraline grumbled before she turned a scowl Annaliese’s way. “And even though you’re the decorum instructor, Miss Merriweather, it’s hardly a mark of proper civility to insert matters like dreaminess into a conversation in such a willy-nilly fashion. Willy-nilly fashion tends to take a person by complete surprise, especially if it revolves around subjects such as dreaminess. Furthermore, broaching this topic goes completely against the unwritten code ladies are expected to adhere to about these matters.”
“There’s a code?” Annaliese asked.
“More than one,” said Miss Mabel Glessner, whose father had made millions in the lumber business, before Coraline could do more than nod. Mabel gnawed at her turkey leg for a moment, swiped a sleeve over the turkey grease that was left behind on her chin, and wrinkled her nose. “I would have thought, Miss Merriweather, since you attended that fancy lady academy in New York, that all of the numerous friends I’m sure you had there would have spent their time with you whispering about all the codes and what lady friends could and couldn’t speak about when out with ladies who weren’t considered the best of friends.”
Considering most members of the feminine set found her to be more than a little peculiar, Annaliese had never enjoyeda close-knit circle of friends, which explained why she was evidently woefully uninformed about lady codes.
