A Certain Age (21 page)

The hardest task in a girl's life is to prove to a man that his intentions are serious.

—HELEN ROWLAND

THERESA

Returning home, a moment later

I
DON'T
know why you're so disgruntled,” I say to the Boy. My arm is tucked securely inside the corner of his elbow, but I can tell he doesn't want it there. I can feel his skin recoiling from mine.

“She's just a girl, Theresa. You're toying with her, like a cat.”

“I'm not toying with her. I wish her nothing but joy. I'll do anything to make certain she's happy with Jay.”

He doesn't reply. We emerge from the building and into the open air. It's past eight o'clock, and the streets are settling into quiet, the Manhattan sort of quiet, in which taxis rattle past and people hurry down the sidewalk, but at a lessened pace, a reduced volume. You can breathe a little, even if the air is dank and sour and oily, and smells of rotting garbage.

I stop in my tracks and pull the Boy around to face me. “Listen to me,” I whisper. “Look at me. Do you think I'd wish a marriage like mine on any girl? Do you think I'd wish that kind of heartbreak on her? Grief and divorce and everything in pieces?”

He looks sorrowfully into my face. “No.”

“Of course not.” I place my hands on his cheeks and savor his warmth through the leather. A nearby streetlamp gives off a gaseous yellow glow. “She needs out of that house. She needs a husband to give her a loving freedom, and a friend to guide her through the thickets. I'll be that friend, Boyo, I swear it. I'll keep my brother on the straight and narrow, I'll make sure he's a good husband. Whatever she needs, I'll give it to her.”

That's all. That's all I can say to him, because I've run out of oxygen. I've burned it all up in honesty, and the back of my throat is scorched. I suppose you don't believe me. But I assure you, I'm no villain. I'm well aware that I've taken something our sweet Sophie wants, because I happen to need it more, and because a girl like that can't possibly appreciate a Boy like him. But I want to repay her. Maybe there's nothing I can give her to make up for the loss of the Boy, no possible gift in my possession, but I'll try. I'll give her what I can.

And maybe the Boy, looking down on me like that, in such a terrifying way, doesn't understand all this. Maybe he does. Either way, he's not telling.

But he does bend down and place a chaste kiss on my lips, and we continue next door and up the stairs to his apartment, where he lets me in with his key.

Before marriage, a man declares that he would lay down his life to serve you; after marriage, he won't even lay down his newspaper to talk to you.

—HELEN ROWLAND

SOPHIE

Returning home, a quarter of an hour after that

J
AY KEEPS
his hand on the small of her back, all the way up the front steps.
Just let me do the talking,
he said, on the way over, and she lets him do the talking.

“Here she is, safe and sound!” he announces cheerfully, and Sophie is smothered by a sudden descent of arms and kisses. “We had a grand time.”

“All that time, she was with you?” Father says.

“Yep.” Jay nods with vigor, and then his face turns beautifully puzzled. “Wait a minute. You didn't
know
she was with me?”

“She didn't leave a word behind.”

Jay turns a reproachful gaze on Sophie. “Darling. Your poor father.” Back to Father. “She came running after me, when I left. We went out to tea and had a long talk. I guess we lost track of time.”

What a brilliant liar, Sophie thinks. His face so open and guileless, the untruths slipping so glibly from his mouth. The funny thing is, she rather admires him for it. Maybe this talent of his doesn't bode well for married life,
but there's something so alluring about a man who can pull the wool over Father's eyes—
Father's
eyes!—without even troubling to blush.

In the middle of Sophie's present misery, it's the only small joy.

“Well,” Father says, “all's well that ends well, I guess.”

“Indeed it is, sir. But there's more good news. I'm delighted to say that Sophie's agreed to a Valentine's Day wedding, and what's more, my sister's going to make it all official with a grand party at her apartment, the first Saturday of February. Isn't that right, Sophie darling?”

“Yes, it is,” Sophie says.

And Father's slapping Jay's back, and Jay's tolerating it manfully, and the air buzzes with masculine congratulation and relief. Sophie takes a kiss on each cheek, and she even slips her arm around Jay's, just to be a good sport.

Only Virginia remains quiet, near the stairs, and her face is heavy with some expression that might, or might not, be the anxious exhaustion of a mother tending a sick child.

Don't worry, Sophie wants to tell her. I know what I'm doing. Just you wait and watch me.

But Virginia doesn't wait. She turns and treads back up the stairs, back up to Evelyn's little room on the top floor, and Sophie turns back to her fiancé and keeps her secrets to herself.

The New York Herald-Times, May 31, 1922

TIT AND TATTLE, BY PATTY CAKE

As promised, the scrumptious Mr. Octavian Rofrano climbed into the witness box of the Trial of the Century this morning, electric and refreshing as one of those thunderstorms that tumbled over the horizon late yesterday afternoon, breaking the heat at last.

Much to everyone's disappointment, he showed no sign of the wounds he sustained early last February, when the whole affair came to the attention of the public and the police department. His refusal to press any charges against the accused, you remember, has remained one of the most celebrated (and speculated-upon) facts of the whole case. Nonetheless, here he is, called as a witness by the prosecution, so I suppose he had a greater scheme in mind.

Mr. Rofrano is one of those rare specimens, a very young man—he was one of our greatest aces in the late war, counting eleven enemy planes to his credit—who has the self-possession of the middle-aged. I would not actually call him handsome. His face is a little too lean and hungry for my drawing-room taste. But his eyes are an arresting shade of aquamarine blue, his hair is dark and glossy, his complexion is somewhat swarthy, and he exudes a great deal of energy without moving an inch. There you have it.

He answered the attorney's questions with ready honesty, if not exactly an excess of words. As a friend of the lucky Mrs. Marshall, he told us, he was asked by that lady to do a little quiet investigation into the nether branches of the Fortescue tree, because not every girl, however dazzlingly wealthy, makes a suitable bride for a family so old and august as the Ochsners, who have led New York society since the Revolution. (This last observation is mine, by the way: Mr. Rofrano answers all questions with utmost economy and no opinions whatsoever; the prosecuting attorney, like a surgical dentist, is made to work hard for every fact he draws out.)
He undertook his appointed task in the usual underhanded manner, by insinuating himself into the friendship of the Fortescues, until he was able to discover that they were not, in fact, Fortescues at all. That Mr. John Ephraim Fortescue was really none other than Mr. Montague Charles Faninal, who had disappeared from public notice sixteen years earlier following the murder of his wife in the family home in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Upon further questioning, Mr. Rofrano admitted that his interest in the case was more than casual, for he himself had been raised to manhood within that same unfortunate building. He would not otherwise have made the connection, it seems, because when asked how his suspicions were first raised—considering, that is, how well the accused had covered all traces of his previous existence—Mr. Rofrano replied simply, “His ears.”

(Having been presented with an unobstructed prospect of said organs—perhaps
wings
will provide the reader with a more accurate description—for the past three days, I can confirm that no amount of careful disguise, by beard or by hat, could obscure this singular and unfortunate feature of the accused's person. If, as Mr. Rofrano admits, he has studied this case from childhood—photographs, newspaper articles, and the like—I don't wonder that he should look upon those ears with the same familiarity as a long-lost relative.)

In any case, once the first alarm was rung, Mr. Rofrano's quick intellect began to gather other telling details: the names and ages of the daughters, the long absence of a mother, the curious reclusiveness of the family despite its riches. The singular profession of the accused, and his habit of disappearing for fathomless hours into his workshop. Further inquiries—such as that made of Mr. Philip Schuyler—soon hardened his suspicions into certainty.

The prosecution then attempted a line of questioning to do with Mr. Rofrano's childhood memories of the case, to which the defense objected—
Hearsay!—
on the grounds that he had obtained his information from a neighbor, unreliable because of their mutual youth and the dozen or so years that had passed in the meantime. The defense then took over cross-examination of the witness, to which Mr. Rofrano responded—to the extent one can determine Mr. Rofrano's emotional state at all—with some relief.

Why, the defense wanted to know, having formed this startling suspicion, did Mr. Rofrano not immediately report his discovery to the police? Mr. Rofrano
replied that he had no proof at all, that the crime had occurred nearly two decades earlier, and that he had no wish to inflict such an ordeal upon the family of the accused, who were only young girls at the time of the awful event, and who would be greatly disturbed to learn all the grisly details of their poor mother's demise. As the younger Miss Fortescue was engaged to be married, and the elder was already bound in matrimony, they would soon be removed from their father's immediate physical influence in any case. On the other hand, Mr. Rofrano worried the threat of prosecution could inspire the heretofore complacent Mr. Fortescue—if, indeed, he
were
the killer—to commit some desperate act that might place the young ladies in danger.

Weighing all these considerations, and with due respect for the presumption of innocence, Mr. Rofrano said he decided that the safety and happiness of Miss Fortescue and her sister must, in this case, be placed above the demands of criminal justice.

Mr. Rofrano uttered this speech—longer by many degrees than any previous statement—without a single glance toward the two ladies in question, nor the accused himself. As to whether his words elicited any emotion from the former Misses Fortescue, I had no way to determine, other than the fact that both remained quietly in their seats, and disdained any audible reaction.

The defense, perhaps not surprisingly, did not dwell upon the dramatic events of the fourth of February, and Mr. Rofrano was dismissed with the admonition to hold himself ready for recall, should either side require further testimony from him.

Adjournment was then called until the next morning. As the temperature in the courtroom had, by this time, descended to a more habitable height, there was some disappointment that we would not have the opportunity to hear from Mrs. Lumley, the Scarsdale housewife who once served as a humble char in the Faninal household in Greenwich, now raised to respectability by a munificent husband, and on whose testimony the prosecution's case is expected to hinge.

I suppose that in criminal justice, as in all else, such good things must come in their own time.

You will never win if you never begin.

—HELEN ROWLAND

SOPHIE

February the fourth, just past seven o'clock in the evening

F
ATHER'S WAITING
in the parlor when Sophie sails down the stairs in her party clothes. She was hoping to avoid him, but you can't avoid Father when he wants to be found. He folds the newspaper and climbs to his feet, and to her surprise he's wearing evening dress, black and white and crisp all over.

“Why, you're not
coming
?” she gasps.

“Why not? It's my daughter's engagement party, isn't it?” He meets her dismay with an unexpected smile, and Sophie, bewildered, detects wave after tiny wave of satisfaction shimmering from his skin, like he's applied some strange new variety of shaving soap with a tonic effect. A different man from the one who stomped home from the workshop last night, muttering dusty nothings into the wallpaper.

“Yes, but—”

He laughs. Laughs! Laughs and uses her old nickname. “Never fear, Baby. I'll come along later and linger at the back. You won't even notice I'm there.”

Sophie hovers. Wavers. Starts forward a few steps and brushes his satin lapel. Where on earth did he get that jacket? Her fingers are shaking a little; her brain is recalculating. Somewhere in the corner, the gramophone is singing tinnily, some kind of sentimental nonsense. “Don't be silly. I
want
you there. It's just a surprise, that's all. Last I heard, you'd decided not to come. It was just me and Virginia.”

“Well, it's not my kind of party, you know. It's the kind of thing your mother would have loved.” He takes her fingers, another unexpected gesture. “But I just—well, Baby, I'm not a man of many words. I haven't been the most affectionate papa, I guess—”

“Don't be ridiculous. You're the best father in the world. You've given us a wonderful home, and a—a—that time in Europe, and . . .”

How strange, he won't let go of her hand. His eyes are steady, but without all the awful steel. She can't look away. She can't quite remember what she was saying.

Then the gaze drops. Down to their linked hands.

“I just wanted to keep you safe, that's all,” he mumbles.

“Well, you've done that, all right,” she says brightly, “and now look! Off we go, into the future.”

“Yes. A good, solid future. Trust me on this, Baby. Ochsner will make you happy. He might seem a little rackety, but he's a good man. A good man. He'll give you everything I can't, and maybe—well, one day . . .” He looks up and finds her again, and this time it's as if he's pleading, just a little, in the corners of his eyebrows. As if there's something he needs from her.

Wonderful. Just wonderful.
Just
what Sophie needs right now, when she's all resolved, when her plans are laid. She glances over her shoulder, hoping to see Virginia descending at last, and turns back with a faint laugh. “Oh, Father. You're not getting sentimental on me, are you? It's just a party.”

And the plea disappears, just like that, leaving his eyebrows back at their ordinary angles. He tugs an earlobe and steps back, dropping her hand. “Just a party. You're right. Go on and enjoy yourself, I guess. Virginia will keep an eye on you for me.”

“And you'll be there, too.”

“I'll be there, too. Just for the toast, mind you. I can't take any more than that.”

Oh,
only
the toast, Sophie thinks. A thin-skinned bubble of laughter rises in her throat. At least he's going to get his money's worth.

Virginia's voice floats down the stairway. “Sophie! The taxi's here!”

Sophie smiles and leans forward to kiss her father's cheek. The skin is drier than she remembers, like he's transforming into paper. An old man with two grown daughters.

She pats the cheek she's just kissed: an act of supreme and modern boldness, but he doesn't seem to mind.

“It's going to be spectacular, I promise.”

SOPHIE HAS THIS FUNNY HABIT,
when she's walking down the street or entering a room. She's doing it now, from the back of the taxi, in the middle of Fifth Avenue, on the way uptown to her engagement party.

Sophie was only two years old when her mother died, and she doesn't remember her at all. Virginia says that's a good thing.
You never knew Mother,
she says,
so you never had a chance to miss her.

Sophie doesn't agree, though she'd never say this to Virginia. Her sister cared for her so devotedly as a child, and she might be hurt. But Sophie grew into girlhood bearing a small yet distressing fissure in the center of her heart, and she was always looking for ways to fill the gap. There was Virgo, of course. There was the housemaid who came to live with them, a maid-of-all-work, really: a young woman from Brooklyn who gave Sophie sweets from the pocket of her pinafore apron, and who had a little girl of her own who was being brought up by relatives upstate. This was a
secret,
Muriel told Sophie, showing her the photograph, and Sophie ate the sweets and kept the secret and listened to her stories in the kitchen during the evening, when Muriel was doing the dishes. Until Muriel was dismissed, quite suddenly and without explanation, and Sophie turned to Mrs. Kelly and her soda bread downstairs.

The funny thing was, Sophie never really believed her mother was dead at all. In her childish way, she felt that Mother had only gone away, for some tragic reason of the variety you read about in sentimental novels, and that she was actually lurking around New York in some kind of disguise, watching over her family and
longing
to rejoin them. Sophie used to look for her, on the way home from school, or walking around the neighborhood. She would look in taxi windows and through library shelves; she would peek into the back rooms of shops and at every face they passed along the sidewalks. Hoping for a flash of recognition. Hoping that, if she—Sophie—were good enough and sweet enough and generally irresistible, her mother might be tempted to return to them.

Until Sophie turned twelve or thirteen, and she put away childish things. She understood her mother really was dead—yes, lifeless, expired, banished from human existence—and she wasn't coming back, no matter how well Sophie behaved.
How did she die?
she finally asked Virginia, and Virgo said that she had become very sick, and one day she was too sick to go on.

That was all Virginia would say. She wouldn't talk about what Mother was like, or where they used to live, or why they came to New York after she died. Only a few small, blurred photographs remained of that previous existence: one on Father's bedside table, and three in the scrapbook Virgo keeps in her chest of drawers. (Mother was one of those people who hated having her photograph taken, apparently.)
You look like her,
that was all Sophie was told, and she used to gaze into the mirror, turning this way and that, wondering which features were borrowed from this mysterious woman who was present at her birth, and which belong only to Sophie.

But childish habits are hard to break, and when the taxi staggers into a knot of traffic on the corner of Forty-Ninth Street, Sophie's gaze falls first on the face of a black-coated woman hurrying south along the sidewalk, brows all worried, clutching a pocketbook in her left hand; then a lady of massive bosom, steaming along like an ocean liner, flanked by two giggling girls; then a woman wearing a small hat, very neat and businesslike, carrying a valise that bounced against her leg.

Virginia nudges her. “What are you thinking about, Baby?”

“I was thinking about Mother.”

“Mother! My goodness. Why?”

“I don't know. Because it's my engagement party, I suppose. Every girl wants her mother to attend her moment of triumph.”

Virgo takes her hand and squeezes it. “She would be so proud of you, Baby. Look at you. All grown up and beautiful.”

“I don't know about beautiful, but I do feel rather grown-up.”

“Your
dress
is certainly grown up.” Virginia's tone stops just short of admiration.

“Julie helped me pick it out. We had a grand time at B. Altman's, trying everything on. It's a shame you couldn't come.”

“You should have had something made for you, an occasion like this.”

“There wasn't time. Anyway, who wants to sit around a dressmaker's shop for endless fittings, when you can have anything you like in a department store?”

They still haven't moved. It's Fifth Avenue, always crowded. A beautiful new bronze and granite tower rises from the center of the avenue, topped by a light shining white for
GO
—mocking them, really, because there's nowhere to move. A few dozen horns burp in outrage. Unconcerned, the light switches back to green.

“Let's walk,” says Sophie.

“Walk! But your shoes!”

“It's only a dozen blocks or so. I'll bet we get there sooner than the taxi.”

“Oh, Baby, no—”

But Sophie doesn't listen. She takes a dollar bill from the sequined bag at her wrist and shoves it over the seat at the driver. “Come on,” she says, reaching for the door handle.

Poor Virgo. She's spent the past two weeks nursing a sick child, fever up and down, rashes appearing and disappearing, hardly two hours' consecutive sleep. Little Evelyn's doing better today, but now her mother's a ruin. Her dress is ancient—of course, she hasn't had time to shop—and her serene face
is no match for her fatigue. Her old-fashioned hair is done up at the nape of her neck, without a sequin or a joyous feather in sight. But she's here. She's gathered up her strength for an evening out, her first bit of fun in ages—maybe ever—and as they clatter up the sidewalk, maneuvering around gray-hatted businessmen and floral-scented secretaries and the odd late shopper, Sophie feels the smallest bit guilty.

Maybe she should warn Virginia of what's to come.

But no. Virginia—serene, staid Virgo—will be horrified. Virginia will try to talk her out of it. Virginia's expression will stretch into astonished horror—
Oh, Sophie, no!
—and Sophie's such a good girl, how can she resist a heart-tugging appeal like that? No, no, no. Virgo's going to be just as surprised as the rest of them.

It's going to be grand. It's going to be—as Julie Schuyler puts it—
fireworks.