The Dilemma of Charlotte Farrow (17 page)

Charlotte hesitated. “It's not my place,” she said again.

Emmaline reached up and stopped the brush in midmotion, catching Charlotte's eye in the mirror.

“Did you check on him before you came in here?”

“Yes, miss. He is sleeping well.”

“Charlotte, you and I are on the same side when it comes to Teddy. You see him the way I do, as a real little boy who deserves a happy future.”

“Yes, miss.”

“Why shouldn't that happy future be with me?” Emmaline asked. “He needs a home, and I have a lavish house with everything a child could ever dream of. I don't believe in coincidence.”

Charlotte resumed brushing. “Do you really believe things happen for a reason?”

“Don't you?”

“I never thought much about it,” Charlotte admitted.

“Teddy is meant to be mine. I just know it.”

Charlotte put the brush down. “I'll turn the bed down before I go.”

“Thank you, Charlotte.”

As soon as she could, Charlotte fled down the servants' stairs and out to the courtyard to lift her face to the night sky. Constellations glittered from unfathomable places, while closer to the ground a breeze cooled Charlotte's flushed face.

“Is anybody even there?” she asked aloud, staring at a far distant point of light.

Her hand was in her apron pocket, fingers wrapped around the folded envelope. She did not need to look at the note again to remember what it said:
Imagine my surprise when I took a tour of Prairie Avenue and saw you. What have you done with it?

Charlotte let herself fall to the grass where her baby had played only last week, and covered her face with both shaking hands.

 18 

C
harlotte, you haven't left the house in almost two weeks—and I mean that literally. You haven't been to the markets or shops. You barely even go out in the courtyard anymore.” Alone in the kitchen with Charlotte, Archie trailed her as she inspected a shelf of staples.

“I'm fine, Archie,” Charlotte said. “I have so much to do, with the baby, and Miss Emmaline, and laying the table every time I turn around.”

“You should tell Mr. Penard it's too much.” He did not believe for a moment that she was fine. “Surely Lina and Elsie can help more than they do. And Sarah.”

Charlotte scoffed and shrugged out of Archie's grasp to set a carton of baking powder next to the dwindling supply of sugar. “She seems capable enough in the kitchen, but she's slow. Mrs. Fletcher is apt to go after her with a meat pounder if she doesn't speed up soon.”

“You can't bear this load,” he insisted. “I've been saying that for weeks. I'm tempted to speak to Mr. Penard myself.”

“Please don't do that.” She met his gaze finally.

“I can't help feeling there's more than you're telling me.
You're working yourself into exhaustion because you're frightened of something. Tell me what it is.”

“I don't know what you're talking about, Archie.”

He exhaled. “Charlotte Farrow, you are as stubborn as anyone I've ever met. Fine. Do what you think you must tonight, but tomorrow morning you are going to the World's Columbian Exposition for Chicago Day. Miss Emmaline Brewster wants you to, and the Bannings have put you at her disposal.”

“Right now I have to go up to the nursery,” she said.

“Don't change the subject.” He held his position.

“I really have to go.”

Archie glanced at the wall clock. “You put Teddy to bed two hours ago.”

“He didn't seem settled to me. I want to check on him.”

“Are you afraid for Teddy?”

“Why would I be afraid for the baby?”

Her voice did not carry the determination of her words. “I don't know. You tell me.”

She looked him in the eyes. “Archie, it would be better for everyone if you leave me alone.”

“I don't agree. It would be better for you if you told me what's going on.”

“You would be entirely wrong about the matter.”

The pasty color of her face only heightened his resolve to gain her trust, but this moment had yielded all it would.

She turned to go up the servants' stairs. “As you pointed out, tomorrow is going to be a big day. I still have a lot to do tonight so we can be ready in the morning. So do you.”

From the bottom of the steps, Archie tracked her swift progress up the stairs. Too swift.

In the morning, the entourage gathered. Charlotte handed Archie a basket to set inside the carriage. The baby buggy already was strapped to the back of the carriage.

“I'm surprised Miss Brewster has not moved out of the house,” Archie said, “after the stir she caused. Surely she has resources to stay somewhere else.”

“She won't leave without the baby.” Charlotte thought that much was obvious.

“Mrs. Banning could insist.” Archie stood beside the open carriage door.

Charlotte shook her head. “She can't risk what Miss Brewster might do in a showdown.”

“And what might Miss Brewster do?” Archie twirled a button on his jacket. “She has no claim.”

“She might bring in the authorities,” Charlotte said. “Then the Bannings would have no claim either.”

The front door opened and Emmaline Brewster appeared at the top of the steps with the baby in her arms. Behind her was Violet Newcomb, and then Sarah.

Emmaline had decided that Chicago Day was the perfect day for the fair. Such an undertaking required elaborate preparations, however, so Emmaline had conscripted Archie to drive the carriage and lift the baby buggy, and both Charlotte and Sarah to help manage Henry or attend to other needs that she and Violet might have.

“Didn't she go to the fair last week?” Archie asked.

Charlotte nodded. “With one of Miss Newcomb's eligible bachelors. I don't think she much cared for him, but she did like the fair.”

“Does Mrs. Banning know she's taking the baby?”

“Mrs. Banning left early this morning and will be out for the whole day.”

“She won't be happy.”

“Miss Brewster is not going to steal the baby while we're all with her. Nothing will happen.”

Archie glanced toward the door. “Is she really bringing Sarah today?”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “She thinks maybe Sarah has learned her lesson and might be trusted with the baby again. She lets Sarah sit with him while he's asleep at dinnertime.”

Emmaline Brewster descended the steps. “What a beautiful day. There's no reason Teddy should not know his Chicago roots.”

At the carriage Emmaline handed the boy to Charlotte to hold while she settled in her seat. Charlotte stroked his head before handing him back to Emmaline.

“No one knows exactly how old he is,” Emmaline said. “‘Chicago Day' at the fair is a perfect day for a birthday. October 9. That will be his birthday.”

Archie next offered a hand to Violet Newcomb, who settled herself in the carriage next to Emmaline. Then it was Charlotte's turn. She slid to one end of the bench across from Emmaline, leaving plenty of room for Sarah. The girl smiled warmly at Archie and held his hand longer than necessary, in Charlotte's opinion, before sliding onto the bench herself.

Charlotte turned her gaze out the window on the other side of the carriage. She could not blame Sarah. Archie Shepard had much to commend him, and Charlotte had asked him to leave her alone just the night before. Perhaps Sarah's flirtations would make him reconsider his persistence.

At the last minute, Karl appeared and hoisted himself up on the driver's seat beside Archie. Emmaline had specifically asked for Archie to accompany her for the entire day, but they would need someone to stay with the carriage and horses while they walked the fairgrounds.

Archie got the horses moving. Charlotte thought,
It takes half the household staff to take a woman and child to the fair.
If there were a simpler way, apparently it had not occurred to Emmaline Brewster. A train or streetcar, for instance, would have saved a lot of trouble, in Charlotte's opinion. Lucy Banning Edwards would have taken public transportation. The thought made Charlotte smile. But Emmaline was not Lucy, and no doubt even Sarah was gloating at the poor souls who could not afford to go to the fair by carriage.

Archie headed east on Eighteenth Street and within a few blocks turned south along the drive running along the lakeshore, which would take them down to Jackson Park. Charlotte settled in for the journey, resigned to the crowds and congestion sure to characterize the day. From Emmaline's lap, Henry cooed at Charlotte, and she could not help but smile at him.

“See!” Emmaline said. “Teddy is already having a good time. Happy birthday, Teddy!”

They were inside the fairgrounds at last, entering through the Cottage Grove Avenue entrance on the Midway Plaisance, rather than by boat on the pier or the massive railroad station that served the fair. Archie took the baby's buggy off the back of the carriage before Karl disappeared with the horses, and Sarah took charge of arranging the baby in the buggy.
With Emmaline pushing the buggy and leading the way, the entourage progressed along the Midway.

“They want to break the attendance record for a world's fair today.” Emmaline spoke above the clamor of the crowd. “That's why I thought it would be fun to bring Teddy today—the biggest birthday party in the world.”

“Yes, miss,” Charlotte said. “Someday it will be a wonderful story to tell.”

Sarah took this opportunity to push in front of Charlotte and follow more closely behind Emmaline and Violet. She craned to see the baby in the buggy and left Archie and Charlotte to bring up the rear. Charlotte glanced awkwardly at Archie.

“You're going to have a nice day,” he said. “Just let yourself.”

In the thick crowd, Charlotte could hardly discern the attractions along the Midway Plaisance, the one-mile stretch of parkway incorporated into the fairgrounds and now populated by sideshows, concessions, and games. Merely avoiding collisions with other fairgoers required all the concentration she could muster. When Emmaline stopped briefly to adjust the toys in the buggy, Charlotte took advantage of being stationary to look around.

Even against the din around her, she heard herself gasp.

That muscular form was unmistakable. Or was it? All she saw was a profile, with his head turned the other way. The hair was longer at the collar than he had ever worn it, but it had been more than a year, and a man could change his mind about a haircut. She could not see if the permanent sneer seared into her memory was part of this man's face, or the eyes that never quite believed anything anyone said.

“Charlotte?” Archie said. “What is it?”

She shook her head. “It's nothing.”

His note had said he was in Chicago. He had even been on Prairie Avenue. She knew his tone well enough to hear it even in his written words. He could be patient, but he never walked away from what he wanted.

When she looked again, he was gone.

Finally, they approached the Court of Honor, pausing to admire the welcoming statue,
The Republic
, rising in grandeur at the east end of the Grand Basin. Around the water, fourteen massive stately buildings of the fair beckoned, each one covered in the same gleaming white stucco. Dozens of smaller buildings filled out the landscape.

“I hardly know where to start.” Emmaline surveyed several directions. “Leo mentioned his fascination with Machinery Hall, but I also heard it's just a collection of steam engines. I don't suppose it's really of any interest.”

“We only saw half of the Liberal Arts Building,” Violet observed. “There is so much more to see there.”

“I wonder what Teddy would like to see,” Emmaline mused.