Ruffling Society

by Kay Moser

  “I am okay, Father,” she insisted.

  “Why would you do such a thing?”

  As memories of her father’s many acts of courage flew through her mind, the corners of her mouth turned up. “Why would you have done it?”

  He pushed Nancy aside and took his beloved daughter in his arms. “Because I am a Gibbes. And so are you. We are not easily deterred from what we perceive to be our duty.”

  “I love you, Father. Now, where are the girls? I heard them crying.”

  “That was several hours ago. They know you are going to be fine, and you are, if you rest and do everything the doctor tells you to do.”

  “She must stay in bed, keep the shades drawn, and receive absolutely no visitors,” Dr. Shockly decreed. He leaned closer to her. “Christine, I would not for all the world have made you a widow, but a widow you are, and you must withdraw from society for a time.”

  Christine nodded.

  “I shall call on you tomorrow,” he said as he turned to leave the room.

  “Please see Dr. Shockly out, Nancy,” Christine murmured.

  “But Miz Christine—”

  “I can find my own way—”

  “Go, Nancy!” Christine raised her voice. “Please, do as I say.”

  Alone with her father, she asked, “Where are the girls?”

  “Fretting in the hall, I’m afraid. Josie put them to bed, but they refused to stay.”

  “Send them to me.”

  “Of course. And Victoria and Hayden are downstairs waiting.”

  “Such good friends, but … just the girls tonight.”

  “They are only waiting to know you are okay. Shall I tell Victoria that you will contact her tomorrow?”

  “Yes, please do—” The door burst open, and the girls dashed through.

  “Mommy!”

  “Come here, darlings.” Christine held open her arms, and as the girls raced to the bed, General Gibbes caught them and lifted them into their mother’s arms.

  “I was so afraid, Mommy,” Juli exclaimed. “So was Ceci.”

  “We thought you had gone to visit Jesus—”

  “No, no. I am right here, and I just need to rest. Now snuggle down here with me, and let us all get some sleep.”

  General Gibbes leaned over the bed and tucked the covers around all three of them.

  CHAPTER 15

  When Lee closed the bank lobby to the public at two o’clock the next day, he slipped out the back door, leaving the clerks busy with their bookkeeping tasks. The hot summer sun had no problem defeating his straw hat and forcing him to squint to avoid its glare, so he hurried around the sparsely populated town square, seeking the wide awnings of Hodges Store. The interior of the store, with its window shades down and its electric fans blowing, provided the best heat relief in town, and Lee paused gratefully, removed his hat, and allowed the moving air to strike his face.

  Few shoppers strolled the aisles. The elevator boy yawned as he stood at his post at the open door, waiting to take Lee to Hayden’s fourth-floor office. Since he found no secretary in the outer office, Lee tapped on the slightly ajar, inner office door, and poked his head in. He saw Hayden, his coat abandoned and his white shirt sleeves rolled up, poring over a ledger at his massive mahogany desk.

  “Come on in, Lee,” Hayden invited as he stood and walked around the desk, his hand extended. “I’ve sent Mrs. Burke home. I’d like to send the whole sales staff home. Too beastly hot to be anywhere but on a porch.”

  “They’re lucky to be working here. The bank is at least ten degrees hotter inside. Wish we had some of your fans.”

  Hayden grimaced. “They’re lucky to be working anywhere these days.” He screwed the top on his fountain pen and tossed it lightly on the desk. “Come on over here and sit closer to the fan.” Hayden pointed to a grouping of leather chairs. “I’ve got some tea—afraid the ice melted long ago.”

  “You must be the only one in town with any ice,” Lee said as he took the glass Hayden offered him.

  “I just hope it holds out.”

  “I’m sure the ladies who visit your tearoom rely on it.”

  “It’s Victoria who relies on it.” Hayden bit his lip. “I don’t know how she’s going to make it through the summer even if the ice holds out.”

  “Still sick?”

  “Sicker than ever, but of course she’s forced herself to stay on her feet for Christine’s sake, so I guess we can’t expect her to get better.” Hayden studied his hands a minute. “I don’t know how this town is going to survive without Richard Boyd.”

  “The bank has been full of people all morning. They don’t seem to have any real business there; they just come and stand around and insist on talking to me about the weather or something equally useless.”

  “They’re looking for confidence. Their futures depend on Boyd Bank, and they believe that the bank only stayed solvent in the past because Richard was there.”

  “I suspect there have been periods in the bank’s history when that was true.”

  “There have been. Take my word for it. There have been times in the town’s history when people stood outside the bank to see if the shades would be raised and the door would be unlocked at nine o’clock. Richard made that happen no matter what the state of the economy.” Hayden looked squarely into Lee’s eyes. “Now you have to do the same.”

  Lee’s heart pounded harder in his chest. “I’m going to give it my best.”

  Hayden reached over and lightly slapped Lee’s knee. “That’ll be enough. Now, you didn’t come here to talk about the bank. What’s on your mind? Sarah?”

  Lee nodded as he drew in a deep breath. “Always.”

  Hayden waited.

  “I want to marry her,” Lee said.

  “Have you asked her?”

  “No, I thought I should wait until she comes back from Colorado. She needs this adventure before she—before she—”

  “Settles down?”

  Lee nodded.

  Hayden shifted in his chair. “It’s not that simple, Lee, with a young woman like Sarah. You can take it from me; Sarah is like Victoria, and such women don’t ever settle down. They create change. They are going to chart new paths whatever we men want or society approves.”

  “I know, and honestly, until Richard’s death, I thought I could wait and let her chart her path, but now …”

  “Death seems lurking right around the corner.” Hayden finished Lee’s sentence. “I know, I feel the same way. And somehow—somehow I’ve got to get Victoria out of this heat. I’ve taken her away every summer, but the store’s just not doing well enough … Sorry, Lee. You’re here to talk about Sarah, not my financial problems. How can I help you?”

  “Hayden, you’ve been a good friend to me. If there’s anything I can do—”

  “No, no. It’s just a matter of conserving cash and getting past the summer. Sales always pick up once the heat breaks. I’m not personally hurting for money. The farm incomes keep me a wealthy man. I just need to be here, to have my hand on the reins of the store. A lot of jobs are at stake.”

  “But if you’re here, Victoria is here.”

  “There’s the rub.” Hayden sighed. “Back to Sarah ...”

  Lee nodded. “As you said, Victoria and Sarah are alike. I just thought that since you—well, since you managed to talk Victoria into marrying you, I thought you might give me some pointers.”

  “Two things. Victoria loved me, but that wouldn’t have been enough if I hadn’t been able to make it possible for her to continue her art.”

  “I think Sarah loves me.”

  Hayden nodded. “I think she does too.”

  “But I don’t have control over whether she is allowed to teach. As you know, she just got her first job, and even though it’s not the job she wanted or deserved, she’s not going to do anything to risk losing it.”

  “No, she’s not,” Hayden agreed.

  Both men fell silent, Hayden absent-mindedly rubbing his chin as L
ee stared out the open window at the roofs of the lower buildings behind the store.

  Hayden suddenly slammed his hand down on the leather-covered arm of his chair and sat up straighter. “Why don’t we have control of whether Sarah—or any other woman—is allowed to teach in this town?”

  “Because the school board has control.”

  “Why don’t we have control of the school board?” Hayden demanded.

  Lee’s mood lifted instantly as he followed Hayden’s line of thinking. “There’s a school board election this fall! Who can we run? Victoria?”

  Hayden shook his head. “No, too controversial, way too controversial.”

  “Christine? No, too soon for that.” Lee answered his own suggestion. “How about my mother? She was raised in this town, is much beloved, everybody knows—”

  “But she’s a woman,” Hayden cut him off.

  “Isn’t that the point? Aren’t we trying to give women new options in this town?”

  “No, we’re trying to give female teachers, specifically Sarah, the option of marrying. Getting a woman elected to the school board is a worthy goal, but that could take years. What we need is to elect a man who is sympathetic to the plight of female teachers. We could make that happen in this next election.”

  “Who? Will you run?”

  Hayden shook his head. “Not a good strategy. I’m too close to Sarah, and since I married Victoria, considered too liberal on matters regarding women.”

  “Well, clearly it can’t be me,” Lee concluded. “I’d do it, but—what about Dr. Wiseman, the president of Travis College? With his connection to education, he would be easily elected.”

  “Not after his remarks at graduation about educating women.”

  “John Neville? He’s educated, civic-minded—”

  “And new to town. He wouldn’t be my first choice. Actually, there’s only one man who is guaranteed to win.”

  “Who?”

  “Who is the one citizen of this town that any southern man would follow to his death?”

  “General Gibbes. But will he do it? Can he do it? His responsibilities are enormous now, and he’s not young.”

  “Never count an old soldier out. Never. Besides, the board only meets a couple of times a year.”

  “He is known to favor Sarah. Would that keep people from voting for him?”

  “It would stop some of the women, but women don’t have a vote, do they? It’s men we have to persuade, and I think we can count on them to elect their general.” Hayden chuckled. “And it won’t hurt a bit if a few women oppose his candidacy; that just guarantees their husbands will vote for him.”

  “So … we ask General Gibbes to run for the school board?” Lee asked.

  “We do. Now what’s your next move?”

  Lee stood. “I’m going to propose to Sarah before she leaves town. I’ll come over this evening after supper if that’s all right with you.”

  Hayden rose and held out his hand. “Of course. Good luck.”

  “I need more than luck, I’m afraid. I need a miracle.”

  “That you do.”

  Lee walked to the office door, paused and looked back. “Has it occurred to you that the new century is going to present some interesting challenges for us men?”

  Hayden laughed. “Regarding women? Oh yeah! That occurred to me the minute I met Victoria. Are you just figuring out that you’re not going to live the same kind of married life your father lived?”

  “Yeah, I guess I am. Sarah is teaching me a lot of things.” Lee grinned, then walked out.

  “It’s just the beginning,” Hayden called after him.

  CHAPTER 16

  After Victoria and Hayden retired to the upstairs sleeping porch shortly after supper, Sarah wandered out to the front verandah to contemplate the full moon. Its white light splashed across the front garden, creating a vivid contrast of dark and light. The shadows of the tree trunks crisscrossed the near-white lawn. The fountain’s spray of water caught the moonlight and turned into a shower of crystals. Even the insects seemed inspired. They whirred in the moist night air, their different calls slurred together creating a noisy new language.

  None of Sarah’s sensory experiences, however, dug deep enough inside her to extricate the sadness she felt. I don’t understand myself. In five days I leave on the most exciting adventure of my life. Yet I feel reluctance, even despair—not excitement.

  She walked to the edge of the verandah and stared up at the moon. It shines over Colorado at this very moment, and before it wanes, I will be looking up at it with mountains at my back. Totally inexplicable tears flooded her eyes, and as she fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief, she plopped down on the top step. Behind her, someone turned off the lights in the library, and half the verandah fell into shadow. A soft sob escaped her lips. What a perfect metaphor for my feelings—like something is leaving, dying.

  Sarah heard the screen door open behind her. “Does you want me to leave the drawin’ room light on for you, Miz Sarah?” Frances asked. “Is you expectin’ company?”

  Sarah hastened to wipe her face. “No. No, thank you, Frances. I think the whole town is too exhausted to be visiting tonight.”

  “Yes’m, I figure you’s right. Been a powerful hard week. I just leave that little lamp on in the hallway.”

  “Thank you, Frances.”

  “Don’t you be stayin’ out there too long. Them skeeters eat you up for certain.”

  “No … no, I won’t stay out long. Good night.”

  “Night, honey.”

  Sarah heard the soft thud of the screen door fitting itself back where it belonged, and a moment later, the other side of the verandah went dark as Frances extinguished the drawing room lights.

  There’s something so melancholy about the lights going out. Sarah felt a new wave of tears washing down her face. “But the moon is so bright,” she said to encourage herself. “Think of the moon.”

  The lights in the house across the street went out, and Sarah’s heart lurched. In quick succession, lights up and down the street were extinguished as the neighbors went to bed, and Sarah’s spirits sank lower with each loss. She lowered her head into her hands and let her tears fall as an insistent question whirled through her thoughts. What is wrong with me?

  “Sarah.”

  Lee! Sarah jumped up, ran down the sidewalk, and curled herself into the arms of the young man standing next to the fountain.

  “Shhhh.” Lee clasped her to his side with one arm as he lay a bouquet of roses on the edge of the fountain, fished into his pocket for his handkerchief, and soaked it in the bubbling water. “Look up,” he quietly directed. When she lifted her face, he gently dabbed it with the cool water. “How does that feel?”

  “Better,” she whispered. “Good, almost magical.”

  He smiled at her. “And so it must be. Right? After all, it’s water from Miss Victoria’s fountain. Surely water delivered by the muses has magical powers.”

  “I need … I need …”

  “Magical water? No, I don’t think so.”

  She smiled weakly, took the handkerchief from him, rewet it under the spray of water, and dampened her face and neck. “I need Victoria’s strength. Oh, Lee, I’m such a coward.”

  “Compared to Victoria, we’re all cowards. Now …” He put his arm around her shoulder and walked her toward the verandah. “Let’s go sit down and talk. How about on the screened side-porch?”

  “Yes, that would be better. I can’t bear to watch another light go out in the town.”

  “Why is that bothering you?”

  “Everything is ending. No, everything is dying.”

  “Or perhaps, just changing?” he suggested as he took her arm and escorted her up the walk.

  “Isn’t that the same thing?”

  “No. The seasons change, but they don’t die. They return, and we experience them again but with greater appreciation.”

  She stopped on the verandah stairs and faced him. “Rich
ard Boyd is not going to return.”

  “No, he’s not. He’s home now. Is that what’s bothering you tonight? Richard’s death?”

  “I think so.” Sarah sighed. “The truth is, I don’t know. Victoria is sick again, and Christine is in such pitiful shape. Oh, Lee! How can I leave now?”

  Lee took her arm again and directed her across the verandah into the screened porch. “You think you should change your plans?”

  “Yes … yes, I do. I should change my plans.”

  “So your tears are tears of disappointment?”

  “No! How can you think I would be so shallow?”

  “It’s not shallow to be disappointed when some exciting event you’ve worked for, planned for, dreamed of, seems to be going down the drain.”

  “You think I shouldn’t go, don’t you? You think the same thing Mrs. Bellows thinks. That I’m being selfish!”

  Lee cupped her chin in his hand and forced her to look into his eyes. “If you weren’t so upset and clearly not thinking straight, I’d turn you over my knees for that comment.”

  “You wouldn’t!”

  He released her chin and grinned at her. “No, I wouldn’t, but your accusation is childish. I’ve stood by you for over two years as you pursued your dreams.”

  Sarah slumped onto the wicker divan. “Things are different now, aren’t they?”

  He joined her and took her hand. “Yes, things are different. I think Richard’s early death has been a slap in the face for all of us.”

  “It seems like time is running out, like there’s not a minute to waste. I need to rush on, grab as much as I can as quickly as I can. But Victoria is sick. She’s not getting any better, and Christine’s lost Richard. They need me. How can I leave them? After all they’ve done for me, how can I leave them?”

  “Have you talked to them about this?”

  “Yes … of course, I have.”

  “And what did they say?”

  “Go to Colorado! Without hesitation, they both insisted I go.”

  “Well, there is their answer. They want you to continue with your plans, with your dreams for your future. Now, do you want to know what I think?”