She stretched her neck out and started nudging my hand impatiently. “All right, Lady, hold on.” I opened my hand flat and let her take a carrot off my palm, her wet lips and nose making me laugh. She munched on it quickly and sniffed my hand for more, so I held another one out for her and smoothed down her long, muscular neck.
“Some people say if you blow in their nostrils it helps them bond with you,” Jose said. “I think it’s an old wives’ tale myself, but some horse folk swear by it.”
“I’ll come back and visit you, Lady,” I said, admiring her long eyelashes, her sharp eyes looking at me.
Later that night after dinner with the Belmonts in the main lodge, Archie and I collapsed into bed.
“How far did we walk today?” I asked.
“A long way.”
I lay on my back, stretching my legs one at a time, pointing my toes. “What if we got married right here?” I asked.
“Here?” He propped himself up on an elbow and smiled. “I thought you’d want to do something ritzy in the city, at the Plaza or someplace.”
I lay back. “My whole life is pretty ritzy. I have so much glamour onstage and our city life is so fun and extravagant. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but this would be special, different and real.”
“Our friends could join us here,” Archie said.
“Can you imagine the fun—transporting everyone up here by train and boat?” I said. “It would be a party before the party even begins.”
“It should be summer,” Archie said.
“End of summer, or Ziegfeld will be furious if I’m not there for the midsummer shows.”
Archie laughed. “Whenever you want, Olive. I will be the luckiest man alive.”
I snuggled into him. “And I will be the luckiest girl.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Back in the city, Ziegfeld called a meeting and told us the show must go on. He said he refused to be bullied by some crooked agents attempting to hold up an absurd and crooked law, so we all, very gratefully, got right back to work.
But one month later I was already asking for a few days off to attend the wedding of one of Archie’s business partners in Cincinnati. Ziegfeld wasn’t thrilled about my leaving right before opening the new holiday show, but I knew it was important to Archie for me to meet his mother and his business associates, and this was the ideal opportunity.
Archie had been in Ohio on business for a week already. He picked me up from Union Station in his hunter-green Rolls-Royce Phantom, and that baby could purr. The late November air was biting, so I quickly pulled the windows shut.
“Are you crazy driving around in this weather with the windowsopen?” I asked. “It’s freezing out here, and I just fixed my hair and face.”
“Everyone’s going to love you no matter how you look,” he said, leaning over to give me a kiss.
“Keep your eyes on the road, darling, precious cargo here. I have to get back in one piece, the Christmas show’s starting in a week.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“When will I meet your mother, Archie?” I was quite looking forward to finally meeting the woman who’d raised this fine man.
“She’ll be at the wedding, so definitely today.”
“Oh good, I’ll be on my best behavior, then.” I laughed. “I have to say, this is a beauty,” I said, running my hand along the dashboard of the car. He had a thing for cars and kept them in a garage at his family home, which he promised to show me over the weekend.
“She’s my newest addition and she’s one of my favorites.”
He draped his right arm over the back of the seat and around my shoulders.
“If you love cars so much, why do you have a driver in the city?”
“The fun really comes when you’re driving like this, out on the open road, no one honking at you, no streetcars competing for space on the road.”
