“How nice you look,” Mother said to him. “The girls have been getting ready for hours.”
Lewis glanced up and admiration shone in his blue-eyed gaze as he smiled at me. “You look lovely, Caroline.”
“Thank you.”
“And do you remember our niece, Miss Irene Baldwin?” Mother asked Lewis. “She visited here when all of you were younger.”
Lewis stepped over the threshold and into the foyer as Irene moved out from behind me.
He seemed surprised at the sight of her and said, “It’s nice to see you again, Miss Baldwin.”
They shook hands, and Irene’s cheeks blossomed with color, whether from excitement or the appearance of our handsome escort I wasn’t sure. “Please, call me Irene. How kind of you to offer to take me along tonight.”
Lewis only smiled and tossed me a side glance. He hadn’t really offered to take us. I had insisted.
Father exited his office in time to greet Lewis and say, “Don’t stay out too late.”
“We won’t,” I promised as I tried to hurry Irene and Lewis out of the house. The less interaction we had with my parents, the better.
Lewis offered both of us an arm, and we walked down the sidewalk together.
“How many men can boast two pretty ladies on their arms?” he asked as he grinned from me to Irene. “I’ll be the envy of every man at the Coliseum.”
Irene smiled coyly, and I only shook my head at Lewis’s flirtation.
It took us about fifteen minutes to get to the Coliseum on the corner of Lexington Parkway and University Avenue in Saint Paul. Irene and Lewis reminisced about the last time Irene had visited, each recounting stories the other had forgotten.
“How old were you at the time?” Lewis asked her.
Irene, who was sitting in the back seat, leaned forward to rest her arms on the front bench and said, “I was just fourteen.”
“That’s why you look so different.” His charming smile shined brightly tonight. “You’ve done a lot of growing up since then.”
Irene’s pleasant laughter filled the car, but I was too anxious about my meeting with Annie to join in their banter.
The Coliseum Ballroom was enormous. The newspapers boasted that the 100-by-250-foot dance floor was the largest in the world. As we pulled into the massive parking lot, I was surprised to see so many vehicles on a Monday night. It was both nerve-racking and relieving. With so many people, I hoped I would just be another face in the crowd.
I was even more surprised when we stepped out of Lewis’s Chevy and I recognized a couple waiting by the front door, presumably for us.
Thomas and Alice.
My brother leaned against the building, smoking a cigarette, with his arm around Alice.
“What took you so long?” he asked as he threw his cigarette butt onto the ground and smashed it with the toe of his boot.
I paused as Alice smiled at me. Her pregnancy was more evident under her loose evening gown. “Hello, Caroline.”
My anxiety rose another notch as I turned to Lewis. “Why did you tell them we were coming?”
“We needed backup,” Lewis said as he opened the door into the Coliseum. “If something goes wrong, I want a trusted friend here to help.”
“I don’t even understand why you’re here,” Thomas said to me, frustration in his voice. “Lewis won’t tell me.” He paused and waited for me to tell him, but when I didn’t, he said, “After the stunt you pulled a few weeks ago at Nina’s, I shouldn’t be surprised. Apparently, we all have secrets we’re keeping from Mother and Father.”
“I’m not keeping secre—” I paused, because Iwaskeeping secrets. “Thomas, you remember Irene.”
“Of course I do.” He nodded at our cousin. “Irene, this is my girlfriend, Alice Pierce.”
“How do you do?” Irene asked as she shook Alice’s hand, struggling to keep the surprise off her face as she dropped her gaze to Alice’s midsection.
