Stuyvesant grinned. “Do you realize this is the first time we’ve ever been alone together?”
“Mother makes certain of that,” Cordelia said, but instantly wished she hadn’t, for Stuyvesant’s smile faltered.
“About that—”
“Don’t,” Cordelia said, pressing her finger on his soft lips that she’d just kissed. “I can’t bear for you to scorn anyone in my family.”
Stuyvesant’s hand covered hers and he gently kissed her finger as he took it away from his mouth. “I would never censure you or any member of your family. I don’t care that your parents are divorced. I have loved you since the first day I saw you. You had just moved in next door, and you wore a little blue coat with a matching beret hat.”
“I’ve only loved you three years, not fifteen.”
“Someday you’ll catch up with me,” Stuyvesant said, and kissed her temple. “Cordy, I’m leaving on a trip to South America tomorrow and I’ll probably be gone several months, but I want you to know before I go that you are the girl for me. The only girl for me. And I mean to court you when I come back and marry you when you turn twenty-one.”
“That’s in three years. I should be done with university by then.”
“Exactly. Set the date and start planning.”
Cordelia couldn’t help but smile. “I hope you intend on asking me more romantically for our official proposal, Romeo.”
“Rapunzel, I risked my life to climb over to your tower because you refused to let me climb your hair. What could possibly be more romantic?”
“If you remembered my name.”
“I love you, Cordelia Violet Jones.”
“And I love you, Stuyvesant Eugene Bradley,” Cordelia whispered and then pulled his head down to hers for another kiss. Stuyvesant’s hands moved to her waist and he pulled her closer to him.
A knock on her door broke their reverie.
She pulled back from Stuyvesant. “Who is it?”
“Your mother. Now open this door at once.”
Cordelia’s throat constricted. She felt as if someone had a hand on her neck and was choking the air out of her. She looked at Stuyvesant, who was silently laughing. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and then preformed his acrobatic move to cross from one balcony to the other. One of his feet slipped, causing his legs to dangle. He was holding on only by his strong arms. Her heart dropped in her chest.
“Cordelia Violet!” her mother’s voice rang loudly through the door.
She couldn’t move until she saw him safely reach the other balcony. Stuyvesant managed to get one foot back up and pulled himself over the railing onto the safety of the other side.
“Do not keep me waiting!” her mother yelled loud enough for every mansion on Fifth Avenue to hear.
Stuyvesant scrambled to his feet and waved for her to go to her mother. Cordelia blew him one last kiss.
“See you soon, Rapunzel,” he called and walked into his house.
Cordelia waited until his door closed before dashing into her bedroom and unlocking her own door for her mother. Mother did not say a word but strode purposely into the room. She was still wearing the same green silk gown with a black lace overlay that she’d worn to church. It clung perfectly to her mother’s ample curves and narrow waist. Not one golden hair was displaced on her head. Her mother’s cold blue eyes looked at her with patent disapproval. Cordelia turned from her mother and picked up one of her old dolls off the bureau, foolishly seeking comfort and love from it like she had as a child.
“You are too old to be playing with dolls,” her mother snapped. “You are about to be married. You are no longer a child and I cannot allow you to behave like one.”
Cordelia dropped the doll and its porcelain face shattered on the marble tiled floor. She felt cold all over. “Excuse me?”
“Do not make me repeat myself.”
Dozens of thoughts whirled through Cordelia’s mind. Did her mother know about Stuyvesant’s visit? How soon would they be married? In only two years, instead of three? New York society deemed any engagement less than two years unduly fast. Surely she would have at least a Season before there was a formal proposal and announcement. Would her father be invited to her come-out party? To the wedding? Cordelia hadn’t seen him in over two months since before the divorce. He seemed to have washed his hands not only of her mother but Cordelia and Edith as well.
“I did not think that I raised a dullard.”
Her mother’s comment stung, but Cordelia was trained from her first words to subject herself to her mother’s iron will. To never fight back. Her mother demanded complete obedience. Cordelia swallowed and straightened her posture. “I assumed that no wedding announcement would be made until after my come-out. Stuyvesant just turned nineteen and I am barely eighteen.”
