“Oh, nothing at the moment, thank you, I’m just showing the girls around.”
“Yes, madam,” he said, and in an instant he was gone.
From the outside the cabins looked rustic and modest, and the interior was designed in the same spirit: wood-planked walls, bed frames made from knotted tree limbs, a stone fireplace. But upon closer inspection, I realized that nothing had been left to chance. When I lay back on the bed, it felt as though I were sinking into a pillow of the finest duck feathers wrapped in the softest, most luxurious cotton sheets you might find in a fancy hotel.
“Look at this,” Ruthie called out excitedly from another room.I jumped up and found her standing on the screened-in porch. A huge tree trunk erupted from the ground and went straight out the roof, the rest of the porch and its furnishings having been designed artfully around it. A curved two-seater with a matching curved footstool wrapped around the tree’s base. I sat in it and admired a clear view straight out onto the lake, the boathouse just to the left and down a short pathway from where I sat.
“Do you think they just didn’t want to cut down the tree?” Ruthie asked. “So they built around it?”
“Looks like it,” I said. “It’s grand to be staying here. I thought we’d be in the workers’ cabins or something.”
“Maybe thesearethe workers’ cabins.” Ruthie grinned. “What’s this?” On a table at the far side of the porch there was a welcome basket with a bottle of wine, chocolates and a book about the area. Behind that, there was an enormous bouquet of red roses with a card. Ruthie picked it up. “It’s for you.”
I jumped up and took it from her.
Dear Olive,
I feel terrible about our encounter on the train, and it seems we’ve had a misunderstanding. Please can we find some time this evening to talk? I do hope you’ll forgive me for upsetting you.
Please accept my apologies.
Je ne peux pas arrêter de penser à toi. Amour de ton plus grand admirateur,
Archie
“Well, what does it say?” Ruthie was grabbing at the card, bouncing around me like a madwoman.
“I have no idea,” I said, holding it above my head out of her reach.
“What do you mean you have no idea?” she said, still jumping.
“I don’t know—it’s in French.”
“French?” She looked confused, and I handed it to her, resuming my place at the tree.
“Je ne pew paz arr-et-air dey pen-ser a toy,” she read aloud. “I don’t know what it says either, but he sure sounds stuck on you.”
“Well, maybe he is, but unfortunately for him he’s got himself stuck in another engagement.”
She plucked one of the roses from the bouquet and inhaled deeply. “How on earth does anyone get their hands on a bouquet of roses like this in the mountains, anyway?”
“I suppose if you have enough money you can get your hands on anything you want.”
Getting dressed in evening attire for dinner felt strange and unnecessary in the middle of the forest, but when we left our cabin the lanterns had been lit, creating a magical glow, and our guide, Eugene, was waiting to escort us to the main lodge. We met with the rest of our group on the way over, and as soon we entered the main room, Anne applauded and drew everyone’s attention to us.
“Oh, how wonderful you’re all here,” she said. “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our latest guests, the wonderful and talented Ziegfeld girls.” About twenty other guests turned and joined her in a round of applause. “We have the pleasure oftheir company at dinner this evening—please get to know one another.”
I surveyed the room—magnificent tall ceilings with dark wood beams, an enormous wood fireplace set with grey stone that took up the entire back wall. The room was heavily decorated with taxidermy, including an owl, wings spread as if it were about to take flight and pick its prey from among us, and a giant grizzly bear keeping watch over the room.
“Menacing, isn’t it?” Anne said as she walked over. “I shot him myself while traveling through the West.” She had a gleam in her eye and I couldn’t quite tell if she was serious. I tried to picture her, now in full evening dress, holding a gun and facing down a grizzly.
“This is my husband, Raymond,” she said, looking up at the tall man beside her.
“So kind of you to come all this way,” he said with a noticeable lisp that was endearing and somehow welcoming. I’d been expecting the owners of these properties to be snooty, but so far that wasn’t the case at all. “We can’t wait to see your performances—what a welcome change it will be.” He then introduced Howie and the girls to a few of the trail guides who’d be wilderness companions for the guests over the next few days, leading hikes, taking the men shooting and educating anyone who wanted to know about the area. Raymond explained that the guides served as professors of the wilderness, friends of the great outdoors, and they would be with us at all social occasions, during dinner and after, so we could continue the conversation into the evening. They’d grown up in the area and knew the terrain, the weather and the hunting patterns inside and out and were therefore treated with high regard. Raymond and theguides showed us around the room, pointing out different hunting trophies.
“Archibald has been eagerly awaiting your arrival,” Anne said in a hushed tone, gently keeping me back from the tour. I tried not to act surprised at the mention of his name, or that he’d discussed me with her, but I casually glanced around the room. “He’s in the far corner by the piano. Don’t be too tough on him, he can come off as a big shot because he’s so respected on the business side of things, but deep down he’s a real softy.” She smiled and I had to bite my tongue. I was not about to engage in this conversation with our gracious host. “Not the kind of softy that’ll be bouncing a baby on his knee, mind you, he doesn’t slow down enough for that kind of life, as you probably know, and he tells me you two are cut from the same cloth.”
“Well, I’m a show girl,” I said a little roughly, though I knew my sharpness should be directed toward Archie and not Anne. “We don’t tend to have those domesticated bones in our bodies.”
