A Timely Concerto (12 page)

“Do you like it?” Daisy asked. “It looks as if it was made for you. I think you look more beautiful in it than I did.”

“I love it,” Lillian said. “But there’s no way I could look better than you.”

“Look in the mirror,” Her new friend said. “You look like a princess from a storybook.”

She did. Pirouetting before the mirror, Lillian liked what she saw and she thought Howard would too. While she had no doubt that he loved her, a bride who was the epitome of this era’s fashion would honor him well. She would present a good image for his friends, his neighbors, and his peers.

Like most little girls, Lillian played bride and draped lace curtains over her head like a veil. She borrowed the flowers out of her mother’s dining table centerpiece for her bouquet and forced her cousin, one year older, to serve as groom against his will. Now she looked every inch the perfect bride, star of the fairy tale wedding she never dreamed she might really have. She was Cinderella at the ball, she was Snow White restored, and she was Sleeping Beauty awakened.

Daisy encouraged her to wear the dress downstairs to show the ladies so she did, delighted by their gasps and giggles of appreciation. With the help of all those assembled, she chose a veil, a lovely headpiece made like a small crown with a waist length veil of silk tulle, trimmed with Brussels Lace. It matched the dress to perfection. All she needed now were shoes and Daisy promised she could borrow a pair of white kid slippers. She had stockings that would work, she thought, and Howard promised to provide the bouquet.

“You will need orange blossoms,” Miss Julia said, staring through her lorgnette after giving approval to both dress and veil. “It is not the season but I think I know where we can get some wax ones that will look perfect with the veiling.”

Daisy and Rose helped her remove the gown and veil, and then hang them with care in the closet. As she swiftly redressed, Lillian thanked them and they laughed. Since she knew no one else in Neosho, she asked if each would serve as matrons of honor, a position both accepted. Daisy would wear the pale green silk dress she wore at her son’s christening and Rose said she had a light pink dress from her high school commencement that still fit. Lillian promised to provide bouquets for them as well.

After the other guests departed, Miss Julia remained, questioning her about every detail of the wedding. Whether Howard had asked her or not, Julia had become the wedding planner and Lillian did not argue. The wedding would be at Seven Oaks at two o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday, June 2, the day after tomorrow. Lillian, dressed in the Brussels lace gown and veil, would descend the front staircase on the arm of Howard’s father since she had no father or brother to give her away.

The ceremony itself would take place in the front parlor with the furniture moved to make room for rows of chairs, each of which would sport a white bow. Flowers culled from every garden in town would beautify the room into a bower. Shugie would make a cake, a confection of daunting size and style. Miss Julia’s great-niece, an angel of a child named Ruth, would be the flower girl who walked just before Lillian, tossing rose petals as she came.

Lillian thought it sounded wonderful and romantic but exhausting. She did not tell Miss Julia that it sounded tiring but displayed what she hoped was the appropriate amount of enthusiasm. Before Howard returned from the farm, Lillian retreated upstairs for a blissful moment of solitude and another glass of ice tea begged from Shugie. Shugie also provided her with three aspirin tablets; simple Bayer tablets that she hoped would abate her headache.

When she heard Howard’s buggy, she ran outside to meet him and would have thrown herself into his arms but his expression warned her not to do it. Lillian settled for a chaste kiss on the hand, leaning forward to hear him whisper,

“Miss Julia is watching from the upstairs window. Unless you wish to gain an unsavory reputation, we must save our kisses. Take heart, though, dearest, the day after tomorrow it will not matter. Then, you can kiss me whenever, wherever you please.”

She frowned at him. “I hope so.”

He frowned back. “Darling, is all this too much for you? If it is, we can stop now and you can return, if you still can.”

That was the one thing she would not do, no matter what. “Never. I love you and I said I would marry you. I want to marry you, Howard, and spend my life with you. I’m staying.”

Howard laughed, and then smiled. “Good girl. That is what I want to hear, Lillian. I need to go and wash before dinner. I am filthy.”

An hour later, with Howard clean and dressed in a very natty serge suit, they gathered in the dining room for dinner. Lillian, who would have come down to the meal wearing the same blue skirt she had worn all day, changed at Miss Julia’s urging into a chiffon rose-printed “day dress” with long, trailing sleeves and a small train. The Brussels lace around the open collar made it dressy enough for dinner or so said Miss Julia, her self-appointed fashion consultant. It was one of his Cousin Maggie’s gowns but apparently Julia failed to recognize it or she was too polite to comment. At the warm look in Howard’s eyes, Lillian glowed and decided she was glad, after all, that she had changed.

They began with a clear soup and advanced to a chicken fricassee served with potatoes and fresh asparagus that Howard said came from the farm. Every bite was so flavorful, so fresh, and tender that Lillian thought she could keep eating forever. Although the food was delicious, she was ill at ease, feeling like a child playing dress-up. If she had ever had such a formal meal, she didn’t remember when it might have been. Even holidays were simple in her family. Uncomfortable, she said little and neither did Howard. Miss Julia, resplendent in a black velvet gown and elaborate headdress, nattered and chattered, was unaware that she carried the conversation alone.

Howard kept looking at Lillian with a furrowed brow; she tried to smile but he seemed to sense she was uneasy. His foot touched hers, poked it, and then remained beside it. As she smiled, a little, Howard asked how the wedding plans were progressing but she didn’t have a chance to answer.

“We have it in train, dear boy,” Miss Julia said, nodding enough to make the feathered aigrette she wore bob. “We have scheduled the wedding for two o’clock Saturday afternoon in the parlor. I plan to have it looking like a bower or garden by then. Your bride will descend the front staircase on your father’s arm, preceded by her two matrons of honor and the flower girl. I thought we would position Reverend Millibanks before the mantle.”

“Lillian?” Howard’s voice was calm and caring. “Is that how you wish the wedding to be?”

She swallowed and nodded. “Yes, Howard. Miss Julia and I talked about it. I just want our wedding to be beautiful.”

“Oh, it shall be!” Miss Julia crowed with delight. “No fairer bride will ever grace these walls, my dears. I have even arranged for a photographer!”

“Capital!” Howard said. “I have the license, even with short notice. The Judge came through for me. Here comes Shugie with dessert. Is it queen cake?”

It was. After they ate the queen cake, he rose from the table, bowed to Julia, and offered Lillian his arm.

“What would you say to a nice walk in the garden, dear heart?”

That was exactly what she needed, fresh air, freedom, and Howard all to herself. Feeling like a kid on the last day of school or a prisoner set free, she linked her arm in his.

“I would be delighted, Howard.”

Miss Julia raised her lorgnette and studied them.

Please do not chaperone us
, Lillian thought,
please don’t.

“I’m rather tired, dears,” she said. “I think I will retire to the parlor if you don’t mind.”

Howard bowed to her. “We don’t mind at all, Miss Julia. You deserve your rest. Darling?”

Lillian nodded and they exited the dining room, strolling through the house and out the front door onto the lawn. She drank in air like a parched person drinks water, inhaling huge breaths and exhaling.

“Are you quite well, my dear?” Howard asked, with a quizzical little lift of one eyebrow.

“I am now,” she said, reaching up to cup his cheek in her hand.

He laughed as he stopped strolling.

“You seemed preoccupied during dinner, dear heart. Marriage is a huge undertaking even if one does not return more than a hundred years into the past. Is there some small thing I can do that would that might make the transition easier?”

He was so sweet and his concern touched her like a healing balm.

“Just love me, Howard,” Lillian answered him. “It’s different here or now or whichever I should call it. However, I can adapt and I will. I promise. I am nervous about meeting your parents and I hope they like me. –“

“They will adore you.”

“I hope that they will. And I hope I don’t make any mistakes that embarrass you or them,” Lillian said. “Miss Julia is a bit much or is that just me?”

Howard chuckled. “Miss Julia is a pill at the best of times but she serves a purpose. She will leave tomorrow after my parents return. Once we are married, life will settle into a nice, pleasant routine. There is something more, isn’t there?”

She could not fool him; there was indeed something more. Lillian missed her family more than she could have imagined. She wished Vinnie could be here to be a bridesmaid, that her mother would be on hand to help her dress and to cry at the wedding, and that she could walk down those beautiful stairs on Joe’s arm. None of that was possible, though, but it didn’t help the heartache and she told Howard so.

“My poor Lillian,” he said, without any mockery at all. “I wish that your family could be on hand but it isn’t possible. Are those tears in your eyes? Dearest, please don’t cry. I never know just what to do when a lady cries except offer a handkerchief.”

“Just kiss me,” Lillian said, around a knot of tears in her throat. “Please, Howard.”

It might be a scandal but she couldn’t see how, not when news of their impending wedding must have spread through the small town like wildfire. Howard turned her to face him and pulled her into the circle of his arms, then kissed her. His lips covered hers and she let him shelter her with his embrace, letting the kiss temper her sadness. Any doubts she had vanished; this was where she wanted to be and he was the man she wanted as her husband.

Her smile widened her lips and as they strolled onward, down to the street and then back up the house meandering through the gardens, Lillian’s joy renewed. She could smell the blooming roses, the honeysuckle, and other flowers. The fresh breeze that wafted the scents over them was warm and welcoming like a benediction. Her fears retreated and in his love, she found the strength to carry her through the wedding and for always.

She changed her dress twice before his parents arrived on the morning train, wanting to present the ideal image of a daughter-in-law. Lillian settled on a navy blue percale shirtwaist, one with a sailor collar trimmed with white and bishop sleeves over a walking skirt, plain and severe in the same shade of blue. It looked neat and stylish but not too gaudy or so she hoped. Her fingers would not work when she tried to put up her hair and she swallowed her pride, asking Miss Julia if she could help. With the same almost berserk efficiency she displayed for wedding planning, Miss Julia had her hair braided, then pinned up in a very trim figure eight shape in minutes.

She came downstairs to wait, running her perspiration-wet palms along the banister as she descended. Howard loved her and she loved him. That was simple fact. However, since they would share their home with his parents, everything hinged on whether or not they liked her and if she felt the same. Lillian could not imagine that two people she wouldn’t like could produce a man such as Howard but she couldn’t help being nervous. She had endured her own maternal issues over the years so no wonder she was afraid that his mother might not like her. Added to that was the possibility that she might do or say something out of place in 1904 and alienate them forever.

By the time, she heard the wheels of the Landau carriage, a larger and much finer conveyance than the buggy Howard picked her up at the station in, her stomach churned and her headache threatened to return with force. She had dashed upstairs to the state of the art bathroom ten times but it was too late now so she tried not to think about her need to urinate and do her best to be charming.

“Miss Lillian, they’re here,” Shugie proclaimed from the doorway, gesturing toward the short hall that opened to the portico door. “Don’t you want to meet them? You probably should be there to greet them, make a good impression.”

“Should I?” She thought she could wait here, posed like a proper young lady.

“Yes, you should. Get on in there,” Shugie said. “Hurry up!”

She tossed down the copy of
Illustrated American
that she had been perusing and dashed toward the portico, remembering to slow down and walk with a ladylike gait. Just as she stepped into the hall area, the door opened and Howard entered with his mother on his arm.

“Good morning,” Lillian said, hoping her smile looked nice, not like a grimace. She wondered if she should curtsy but that seemed too much so she stood, waiting with the smile fixed to her face.

“Good morning, dearest Lillian,” Howard said. He beamed at her, a certain sign of approval so she must be doing all right so far. “May I introduce you to my mother, Mrs. Anna Speakman? Mother, this is my bride-to-be, Miss Lillian Dorsey.”

His mother looked like the quintessential grandmother figure, with the kind of sweet face framed by gray hair found on cookie packages and retro prints of happy family holidays. She looked like the grandmother that you went over the river and through the woods to visit or like the grandmother eaten by the Big Bad Wolf.

“I am delighted to make your acquaintance,” Lillian said, hoping the words were right. “I have long looked forward to this day.”

Mrs. Speakman smiled. “My dear, it is my pleasure. You do our family a great honor by joining us, by wedding our dear son. Welcome home, dear Lillian.”

Howard’s mother leaned forward and kissed her softly on the cheek, then embraced her. The warm, maternal welcome moved her to tears and she wept silent tears as she returned the hug. His mother’s words were a balm to her heart but it also made her miss her own mom more.

“Thank you,” she said, as they separated.

Howard touched her cheek with a light hand. “Lillian, darling, this is my father, Mr. Jonathon Speakman. Father, this is my bride.”

“She’s lovely, son,” Mr. Speakman said. He was an older, more weathered version of Howard, she thought. He extended his hand to her and she took it, wondering if he meant to shake hands but he surprised her by kissing her hand. “Welcome, dear Lillian.”

She didn’t know what to say so she smiled, hoping that would suffice. Howard escorted his mother into the parlor where she sat down, removed her large traveling hat and veil, and patted the sofa.

“Come sit beside me, child. I want to get truly acquainted with my new daughter-in-law.”

Lillian sat, remembering to keep her posture straight. Howard settled into a chair across from them and his father directed Shugie’s Jim, laden with luggage, upstairs. As Mr. Speakman followed Jim, Miss Julia appeared.

“Oh, Anna, you’re home,” she tootled. “Isn’t it wonderful about the wedding? We have it all in train, everything planned.”

“I am in your debt,” Mrs. Speakman said. “Thank you for chaperoning Lillian. I wouldn’t want to keep you, though. I am certain you have so much to do at home but please, come early tomorrow to help with the wedding preparations, Julia.”

“Oh, I will,” Miss Julia said. “Don’t mind me, I can see myself out.”

Anna Speakman turned to Lillian and studied her.

“You are indeed lovely, Lillian,” she said, her voice calm and quiet. “You must call me Mama Speakman, if you would like. I know we are going to get on together just fine. Now tell me, just how you and Howard met.”

What calm she had regained exited in a flood of panic. Their story, the one they concocted, now seemed thinner than paper and she wondered if they would believe it. Things were going so well that she hated to do anything that might upset the balance but with Mama Speakman – that name would take some getting accustomed to using – looking her in the eye, she had no choice.

“We met in Kansas City,” Lillian said, choosing each word with care, hoping that she would not make any mistakes and that she sounded honest. “I was a teacher in one of the high schools there and Howard came to visit our botany professor, Mr. Schemp. He had published an article in the newspaper about his efforts to create a new variety of apple and that interested Howard very much. We met at school.”

“What did you teach, Lillian?”

“History.” It was better to stick with the truth where she could although that would not last much longer. Now the lies began. “I boarded with the Schemps; Mrs. Schemp is my cousin, Nellie.”

She moved from truth to storytelling with difficulty. Lillian looked at Howard and made a face, hoping he would notice her distress and bail her out. He came to her rescue.

“And so when Professor Schemp invited me to dinner at his home, I was delighted to accept,” Howard said. “It was marvelous to find Lillian there and I was smitten almost immediately.”

Lillian did not think he lied any more often than she did but he did it well or else his mother just wanted to believe in fairy tale romance.

“How sweet,” Anna Speakman said. “How long ago was that?”

After a pause that seemed awkward, Lillian said, “It was last spring, a year ago. Howard has been coming to Kansas City when he could since then and we’ve written letters.”

“Have you, my dear?” Howard’s mother looked doubtful. “I am surprised. I often collect the mail when it arrives and I don’t remember seeing any letters from a young lady in Kansas City.”

Shugie bustled into the room and stopped.

“That’s because Mister Howard asked me to look for the letters, special,” she said, with an impish grin on her face. “So I sorted them out for him.”

She lied better than either she or Howard, Lillian marveled, something to remember but at this moment, she blessed the woman for her skill.

“Yes, that is correct,” Howard said. “Would it be time for luncheon, Shugie?”

“Yes, sir, Mister Howard, it’s all ready. I’ll serve whenever you’re ready.”

Now would not be soon enough for Lillian so when Howard nodded and winked at her, she sighed, glad of the respite from questions.

“I know I have worked up an appetite,” Howard said. “Mother, shall we?”

“Yes, most certainly.”

This time, Howard crooked his arm for Lillian and she accepted it. His father appeared just in time as they sat down and Shugie; bless her for all eternity, served the meal. To Lillian’s relief, this was a simple meal; salmon croquettes with dressed lettuce, hot rolls, and gingerbread with cream for dessert. Lillian, unaccustomed to eating little lunch, felt stuffed, stomach full. The light chitchat over the meal had been simple, talk of the farm, of the strawberries now ripening, of the World’s Fair and all the wonders. Since she had read all she could found about the famous Fair before coming, Lillian could hold her own by asking questions and her interest in the marvels Mama Speakman described was genuine. In her own jaded, bored era, people took such things for granted, always seeking the best, the newest so the stories of the great Palaces pleased her. She had often visited Forest Park, the site of the great fair but most of the original sights were long gone.

“Why, that Palace of Electricity by night was a wonder to see,” Mama Speakman said. “You just cannot imagine how lovely it looked, how the lights banished the night. It was a marvel, one of so many.”

“It sounds beautiful,” Lillian said. She noticed, last night, staring out of her bedroom window how dark the streets seemed. “Did you like coming down the Pike?”

“We did but such a mob,” Mama laughed. “But we had ice cream cones, such delicious treats. It is a baked dish you can eat, my dears, filled with ice cream. It was so light and crispy. I have no doubt they will become the very thing for ice cream.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Lillian said, remembering the many ice cream cones she had enjoyed and taken for granted. “What was the greatest wonder of the Fair?”

Howard’s parents exchanged a glance and then they laughed.

“It was the telegram that said Howard had brought his bride home and that the wedding would be on Saturday,” Papa Speakman said, chortling with delight. “That was the best wonder of them all!”

She liked them and even this early, she was more than halfway to loving her soon to be in-laws. They were delightful, so real, charming, and so innocent compared to the adults of her own time. Both welcomed her with openness and with what seemed to be real joy. Beneath the table, Howard’s foot touched hers and she looked up to meet his happy grin.

“There is one thing we wondered, however,” Mama said as Shugie cleared away the dessert dishes. “How did you decide to wed so quickly? And, why?”

Lillian had considered how to explain this a hundred times but she had never discussed it with Howard. Feeling more confident now, she plunged in with the reason she created, one she hoped would work. She did not want to do anything that would upset or hurt these gentle people.

“I don’t know if Howard has told you that I’m an orphan,” Lillian said. She wasn’t but in this time, it was all but true. “My sister, Lavinia, moved to Denver when she married and so Cousin Annie, Professor Schemp’s wife was my nearest relative. However, they are moving to Columbia, Missouri where he will take a post at the university as a biology professor. That left me alone in Kansas City and I did not want to board with strangers. We were planning to marry anyway but not as soon but when Howard learned of my situation, he suggested that we wed. And I was very happy to become his bride.”

Mama Speakman clasped her hands together and sighed. “Well, whatever the reason, we are so pleased that Howard is gaining a wife and you are part of our family.”

“Yes, we certainly are,” Papa Speakman said, smiling. “I’m going out to smoke a cigar, if you ladies will excuse me.”

Anna rose with grace. “We most certainly will, Jonathon. I am going upstairs myself to rest; that train journey exhausted me. Shugie will be in to clear the table in a moment. Howard, dear, are you going out to the farm?”

He couldn’t
, Lillian thought,
please don’t go
. She needed to spend time with him, to bask in his presence.

“I certainly should,” Howard said. “The berries are ripening but if a man can’t take the day before his wedding off to show his bride her new hometown, then I don’t know when he could. I thought I would take Lillian about town on a nice drive.”

“That would be lovely,” his mother said, beaming. “Enjoy your drive, both of you.”

“Darling?” Howard said, with that special lilt in his voice he seemed to reserve for her name or any endearment directed her way. “Shall we?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“I kept the carriage out,” Howard said, sweeping her from the room. “Do you want to get your hat?”

Lillian didn’t but she supposed that she should so she nodded and hurried upstairs for it. She just had one and she hoped it would serve the purpose. As she jabbed the hatpins in to hold the jaunty Leghorn style dress hat in place, she hoped she would not stab her brain. The straw hat suited her, she thought, as she checked her reflection in the mirror; the clusters of wild flowers that bedecked the hat along with white satin ribbon appeared to match the outfit well enough.

Resisting the urge to lift her skirts and dash down them, Lillian descended the back stairs with as much grace as she could muster, then almost ran outside beneath the portico where Howard waited.

“There you are at last,” he said, a smirk teasing his lips. “You look radiant, dearest.”