by Nash, Jean
After dinner, they retired to the south tower apartment, where Susanna prepared the spicy claret punch with which the Sterlings always toasted birthdays.
Jay’s gift to her was a garnet necklace set in gold. Dallas presented her with a pure white kitten whose lineage, he said drolly, could be traced back to the time of the pharaohs.
“Her name is Snow,” he said as Susanna cradled the purring ball of fur in her arms. “It’s said of that breed that it brings happiness and prosperity to all who own one.”
“Really?” Susanna laughed, startling the kitten, who immediately resumed its purring when she kissed its soft pink nose. “And how did you chance upon this priceless possession?”
“I, like Jay, have my sources,” Dallas drawled. “That diamond comb you told me about may have been difficult to come by, Sunny, but my finding Snow was nothing short of a miracle.”
“Why aren’t you wearing the comb?” Jay asked Susanna. “It would have set off your gown perfectly.”
She looked down at her white satin enriched with elegant beadwork. “It would have,” she agreed, “but I’m nervous about wearing it. It’s so precious a piece. What if it falls out of my hair and I lose it?”
“Nonsense. Have you ever lost a hair ornament?”
“No,” she had to admit. “But neither have I ever owned one so exquisite.”
“Why don’t you encase it in glass?” Dallas suggested to Jay. “You can display it in the Excelsior’s lobby and set a bronze plaque under it, saying that it’s a gift from you to your wife. Just think how impressed people will be.”
“I didn’t buy the comb to impress people,” Jay said tightly. “I bought it to please your sister.”
“Jay, it does please me!” Susanna said at once, regretting the foolish fear that had kept her from wearing it. “I wish I had worn it tonight. I’ll do so tomorrow night, I promise.”
Jay nodded and said nothing. Susanna nuzzled her cheek against the kitten’s silky head to hide her embarrassment. Jay looked over at Dallas, who returned his gaze smugly. When Susanna raised her eyes and looked at them, she had the oddest impression that a battle had just been fought, and that Dallas, the lesser armed, had emerged victorious.
Toward the end of January, Susanna, in her seventh month of pregnancy, began to feel an overpowering need to own a home of her own—not a tower apartment, not a luxurious hotel suite, but a house with a yard and garden enclosed by a picket fence.
“I’m not surprised,” Dallas said when she told him of her desire. “You’re nurturing life, so your body tells you to prepare a home for it. I don’t know why you want a house, though. You and I were both hotel babies, and neither of us has suffered because of it.”
“I want one,” she said stubbornly. She had not yet mentioned it to Jay. “I’m tired of living in a hotel. I want to be normal, like other people.”
“Do you mean like your husband?”
Susanna eyed him askance over her teacup. They were in Dallas’s quarters at Peter’s Beach. The room was drafty and depressing. Floorboards creaked. The wind rattled the windows. A layer of dust covered every lamp and piece of furniture in the room. Dallas, who was so fastidious, seemed oblivious to the squalor. Susanna had to consciously restrain herself from boxing his ears and telling him to come home where he belonged.
“What’s wrong with the two of you?” she said irritably. “Why can’t you get along?”
“Why, Sunny,” he said in mock surprise, “we do get along. I have nothing but respect for my brother-in-law.”
“You should, you know,” she said sternly. “He lent you a great deal of money. I don’t suppose you’ve paid him back.”
Dallas put down his teacup. “As a matter of fact, Sunny, I need more money. Twelve thousand dollars, to be exact.”
“Twelve thousand dollars? Dallas!”
“Hush up!” he snapped. “Do you want Charley to hear you? I need the money. Don’t bother lecturing me. Just ask Jay for it. I know he’ll be happy to help me out.”
“Are you insane, Dallas? Jay doesn’t have that kind of money at his fingertips.”
“Sunny, don’t make me laugh. He got you that bauble for Christmas that easily cost a hundred thousand. The garnet necklace wasn’t a five-and-dime piece, either. I don’t know what fairy tales Jay tells you about his finances, but he’s got money to burn, take my word for it.”
“Even if he did,” she retorted, “why should he give it to you? Did you steal that money from Charley?” And when Dallas stared at her stonily, she appealed to him, “Dallas, Dallas, what are you doing with your life?”
“I’m living it!” he shot back. “Which is more than I can say for you. You lived Papa’s life before, and now, as Mrs. Jay ‘Hotel Magnate’ Grainger, you’re just living the life your husband has mapped out for you.”
“For the love of heaven, what’s wrong with that? I want to be a hotelier. It’s my choice, Dallas.”
“Is it? How much hotel work have you done since Jay took over the Sea Star? And have you talked to him about buying a house?” Her silence gave him the answer. “I didn’t think so,” he said acidly. “Jay won’t agree to a house, I’ll stake my life on that. He doesn’t want ties or domestic responsibilities. He wants only to build more and more hotels. He wants to have more money than God; he wants to be God, Sunny, can’t you see that? He wants total control over his life and the life of his menials. He killed Teddy Addison, you know.”
Dallas’s last words were disconcerting in themselves. To hear her suspicions given voice gave Susanna a further jolt. “What are you saying?” she demanded.
“He as good as killed him,” Dallas qualified. “Jay sent him to Boston, where he died. It wouldn’t have happened if Teddy had gone to Baltimore, as he wanted to.”
“Don’t be absurd.” Susanna’s voice was steady, but her heart pounded erratically. “Whoever murdered Teddy would have done it in Boston, Baltimore, or anywhere else.”
Dallas’s face suddenly lost its color. “What do you mean ‘murdered’?”
Susanna explained what Ford had told her, while Dallas grew even paler. “So whoever murdered him in Boston,” she concluded, “would have done it in Baltimore, too.”
“How do you know that?” Dallas said harshly. “What do you know about Teddy, for that matter? He was the best friend I ever had. He always lent me money when I needed it, no questions asked. And if it hadn’t been for Jay—”
“Teddy lent you money? When?”
Dallas’s mouth tightened, and his eyes flickered away from hers. “Once or twice,” he mumbled. “Not much—a few dollars.”
“Dallas, you’re lying.”
He faced her again with that stony, guilty look.
Susanna rose abruptly. “Were you and Teddy stealing from Jay? Did you—“ She caught her breath as another thought occurred to her. “Dallas, dear God, did you have anything to do with the embezzlement in Baltimore?”
“Thank you very much,” he said bitterly. “The next thing you’ll accuse me of is murdering Alan Devlin.”
“How did you know his name?” she asked sharply.
“You told me,” he said, “when you told me about the embezzlement. Don’t you remember? You told me Jay’s finances were in such bad shape that you had to give him your half of the Sea Star so that he could mortgage it to raise money.”
“I never told you Alan’s name,” she persisted.
Dallas shrugged. “Then Teddy probably mentioned it when he told me about the embezzlement.”
“Why should he discuss such a thing with you?”
“Because we were friends, Sunny. Friends discuss things with each other. You wouldn’t know about that, would you? Your husband makes a habit of never telling you anything.”
“Be quiet about Jay!” she cried. “You never have a good word to say about him, but that doesn’t stop you from asking him for money.”
“No, it doesn’t,” he said coldly. “I’m his beloved wife’s brother. He should co
nsider it a family duty to lend me money. And if you don’t want me to end up like Alan and Teddy, you’d better make it your business to convince Jay to give it to me.”
With a dread that kept raising the hairs on her arms, Susanna prepared that evening to ask Jay for the money. By no means did she approve of Dallas’s conduct. She was both appalled by his larceny and terrified of what Charley Smith might do to him if he learned of it. But Dallas was her brother. She loved him and would do anything in her power to protect him from harm. She would even go so far as to brave her husband’s wrath, though if given a choice, she would prefer to confront a lion in the wilds of Africa.
Jay had been gone since early morning, meeting with his new attorney, Ian Carmichael, in Sea Isle City, twenty miles south of Atlantic City. Carmichael had assisted Charles Landis in founding that community on Ludlam Bay, which was to have been a duplicate of Venice, the Italian jewel box of canals and cathedrals. This plan never quite succeeded. Sea Isle City turned out to be merely a smaller version of Ocean City. But Jay was so impressed with Ian’s handling of seemingly insurmountable legal difficulties that he had wooed him away from Landis by offering him a salary increase too great to refuse.
“Didn’t I tell you money talks?” Jay had said to Susanna when recounting his coup.
Yes, he had told her that—more than once. Why was it, Susanna thought, that so much in life depended on money?
Her plans for persuading Jay to lend Dallas the money were surprisingly methodical, despite the chaos that wreaked havoc with her thoughts. From the hotel kitchen she ordered all Jay’s favorites, including consommé à la Dubarry, spotted fish with Queen sauce, goose stuffed with sausages and chestnuts, and coffee mousse ice cream for dessert.
The wines, too, were chosen with care: Amontillado with the consommé, Perrier Jouët with the fish, and Romanée Conti with the entrée. It was Susanna’s hope that Jay would be so filled with good food and wine that his anger toward Dallas—and perhaps toward her—would be somewhat mitigated.
If that failed, she was planning to use feminine wiles on him. Although her pregnancy was advanced, her figure was still slender save for the rising curve of her abdomen. That, however, was easily remedied. She put on a Nile green negligee, cut low in the bodice and banded beneath the breast in the Empire mode. She considered wearing the diamond comb to further weaken Jay’s defenses, then decided against it. Instead, she loosened her hair, brushed it until it shone like burnished copper, then coaxed one shining ringlet to curl provocatively on the curve of her half-exposed breast. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she had the uneasy feeling that she looked like a courtesan.
Jay returned at eight, frozen to the bone. He shed his hat and greatcoat, went directly to the fireplace and stood warming his hands over the welcome heat of the fire. Susanna was in the bedroom, nervously stroking the kitten on her lap, as she gathered the courage to greet her unsuspecting husband.
“Susanna! Are you home?”
Reluctantly she rose, put down the kitten, and moved slowly to the door. A vague resentment skittered through her mind. Home? This wasn’t their home. They didn’t have a home. This was only a hotel suite, no matter how luxurious, and all the money in the world wouldn’t make it a home.
“Here I am, sweetheart,” she said brightly, entering the sitting room. She went to her husband, wound her arms around his neck and kissed him lingeringly on the mouth. “I’m glad you’re back,” she murmured, moving sensuously against him. “I’ve missed you unbearably.”
Jay held her a moment, then he moved back a bit to inspect her attire with an approving smile. “My dear wife, how extraordinarily seductive you look tonight. If I’d known what was waiting for me, I would have ended the meeting hours ago.”
“Did all go well?” Susanna linked her arm through his and directed him to the sideboard, which was laden with covered warming trays.
“Yes,” Jay said. “I think Ian and I are going to get on well. What’s this?” He gestured at the food. “A banquet?”
“It’s a treat I planned for you,” Susanna said, nuzzling her cheek against his sleeve, “because I missed you so much.”
Jay raised an eyebrow and eyed her suspiciously. “What devilment are you up to, my wily enchantress? I think you want something from me. What is it? Something for the Sea Star?”
“Let’s not talk about it now.” She avoided his searching gaze. “Come, let’s eat. I’ve ordered all your favorites.”
Susanna switched off the electric lights and lit the two candles that flanked the table’s centerpiece, a bowl of crimson Aztec lilies from the Excelsior’s greenhouse. They filled their plates and sat down. The setting was romantic, the food delicious. Jay ate with gusto. Susanna barely touched a morsel. Throughout the meal, she talked and laughed vivaciously in order to conceal the tremors of apprehension that rippled through her.
When at last she poured coffee into pearly translucent cups, Jay lighted a cigarette, leaned back in his chair, and asked quietly, “Will you tell me now what’s on your mind? I’ve been expecting you to jump out of your skin all evening.”
She put down the coffee pot with a look of dismay. She hadn’t fooled him after all. How silly of her to have thought it possible to do so. Jay had always been able to read even her most secret thoughts.
“I.... What I’m about to say is going to make you angry,” she ventured nervously. “I’m angry about it, too, Jay, but I beg you to be understanding.”
“I’ll try,” he said, watching her.
“It’s about Dallas.”
She expected the storm to break, but Jay only said impassively, “I rather thought it was. What is it now?”
“It’s....” A vein was throbbing furiously at her temple. “It’s money again. Twelve thousand dollars.”
Jay’s eyes looked very dark in the candlelight. Susanna tensed, and he saw it. Crushing out his cigarette in an ashtray, he said evenly, “That’s a great deal of money.”
“Yes, yes,” she gabbled, relieved by his apparent calm. “But, you see, Jay, if you give it to him this time, I know it will be the last. Dallas can’t be so stupid as to think he can keep getting away with what he’s doing.”
“He admitted stealing from Charley Smith?”
“Not in so many words. But when I accused him of it, guilt was written all over his face.”
“I see.”
She started to say more, to tell Jay of her momentary suspicion that Dallas had been involved in the embezzlement scheme in Baltimore. Good sense prevented her from confiding such a thing. Besides, the very idea was ludicrous.
With a finger, Jay traced a path around the rim of his coffee cup. Susanna, on the edge of her seat, tried to guess his thoughts and failed.
“You will lend him the money, Jay? Dallas said—” She broke off, too upset to say more.
Jay saw her face pale. Only the sudden tightening of his jaw betrayed his emotions. “What did he say, Susanna?”
“He said if I didn’t want him to end up like Alan and Teddy, I’d better make sure you gave him the money.”
Her face went even whiter, her mouth quivered. Jay rose quickly, went to her and drew her into his arms. “Stop worrying,” he said, his voice low and soothing. “I’ll take care of it, Susanna.”
“Oh, Jay,” she said, “I was so scared you’d be angry.”
“I’m not angry,” he assured her. “I promise you. Now I want you to stop worrying about your brother. Just leave everything to me.”
“Jay, thank you.” Her eyes stung with tears of relief. “It means so much to me that you—”
“Dear God, don’t thank me,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “Don’t you know there’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for you? Don’t you know yet how much I love you?”
“Yes, I do,” she said, reaching up to kiss his mouth. “But, Jay....” A pang of guilt assailed her. “I’m afraid I owe you an apology.”
“An apology? For what reason?”
&n
bsp; “I thought you’d refuse to help Dallas,” she said, repentant. “I misjudged you so badly, and I’m sorry I did. But I was so worried about Dallas.”
“Don’t apologize.” His voice was gentle but his eyes were curiously hard. “I’m going to see to it that your brother never worries you again.”
Eighteen
Susanna’s child was born on April 3, a day so balmy, with blinding blue skies laced with trailing white clouds, that it was easy to deceive oneself that spring had arrived.
As Ford had confidently predicted, she had a son. He was born on the stroke of noon. Dr. Griffith, who attended Susanna in her bedroom at the Excelsior, said he wished all his patients’ deliveries could be as trouble-free as hers.
An hour after the birth she was sitting up in bed, her hair freshly brushed and held back with a satin ribbon, her beautiful son sleeping contentedly in her arms. Jay stood at the side of the bed, looking down at his heir with a blend of love and awe that brought a lump to Susanna’s throat.
Jay touched the infant’s cheek and his sweet milk-stained mouth. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” he said in a soft, wondering voice. “A few hours ago he was an abstraction, something I could only imagine. And now, here he is, warm and breathing, a tiny living thing. I never dreamed I’d be so—”
He laughed, as if embarrassed by his show of emotion.
“He looks just like you,” Susanna said softly. “See how dark his hair is. And he has your stubborn chin. I wonder what he’ll be like when he grows up.”
“He’s going to have everything,” Jay said, gazing down at him with the fierce possessive look Susanna knew well. “He’ll go to the best schools, know all the right people. There won’t be anything he wants that he can’t have.”
“Jay, I don’t want to spoil him.”
“Having everything doesn’t spoil a child, Susanna. Not being able to have what one wants is what spoils and eventually destroys a man.”
“That’s not true,” she said gently, sensing his thoughts. “Look what you’ve done with your life. If your father hadn’t lost his money, do you think you’d be what you are today?”
