Band of Sisters (32 page)

Maureen sighed and turned the knob. “I’ll wait for you in the hallway.”

Such a simple, foolish girl. But I envy you, Katie Rose. What if this Jesus really loves you?

“I wondered if I might join you lovely ladies in your pew this mornin’?” Joshua Keeton tipped his hat as he met Maureen, Katie Rose, and Mrs. Melkford on their walk to church Sunday morning. He offered his arm to Mrs. Melkford, who smiled at his courtly manners and slipped her arm through his.

“You’ll not be sitting with the Wakefields this morning?”

“I believe Mr. and Mrs. Meitland will have returned. It would make the pew a mite crowded with all of us, and after all, my connection with the family was only to deliver a letter to the Misses O’Reilly.” He nodded toward Maureen and Katie Rose but didn’t address them. “I’d be most grateful for the pleasure of your company.”

Mrs. Melkford dimpled. “I’m not simple, Mr. Keeton. I know when my presence is a matter of convenience. Still,” she sighed, “it’s been quite a long while since I walked through a church door on the arm of a handsome gentleman, and I’m pleased to do it.”

Joshua winked in return, knowing his eyes twinkled. But he kept them fastened on Mrs. Melkford and the sidewalk ahead.

He sensed more than saw that Maureen had stiffened in displeasure and that Katie Rose had melted at the sight of him.
Walkin’ a precarious line, I am, but a line that must be walked.

“What is it that you do, exactly, Mr. Keeton?” Mrs. Melkford asked. “Besides seek out missing ladies?”

“In Ireland I worked the land with my father and brothers. But here I’ve worked makin’ deliveries for department stores, and now I’ve taken a position with Mr. Morrow in his publishin’ firm.”

“Oh?” Mrs. Melkford inclined her head approvingly. “What exactly—?”

“There’s not much farmin’ to be had in the midst of Manhattan.” He smiled.

“No, no, I don’t suppose there is,” she replied. “But—”

“You’re lookin’ dapper today, Katie Rose. I believe this New York City air agrees with you.”

Katie Rose blushed from her neck to her hairline. “I believe it does.” She hesitated only a half second. “You know, I’ve a position too, Mr. Keeton.”

“Have you now?”

“With the Triangle Waist Factory. I’m a seamstress—I operate one of the new machines at full wages.”

“That’s quite commendable. Perhaps I should be callin’ you ‘Miss O’Reilly’ rather than by your Christian name.” He tipped his hat to her. “Forgive me if I’ve been impertinent.”

He heard Maureen snort.

“No, please call me Katie Rose; I love the way it sounds when you say it.”

He nodded. “Katie Rose it is, then.”

Maureen spoke at last. “Mr. Keeton, you were about to say what you—”

“Ah, here we are.” Joshua walked Mrs. Melkford through the portal of the church with a flourish and guided her up the balcony stairs, Katie Rose at his heels and Maureen taking up the rear.

He stood aside as the ladies filed into the pew and was more than pleased when Maureen, in her lagging behind, ended up beside him.

“Oh, look! There’s Miss Olivia and Miss Dorothy!” Katie Rose pointed into the congregation below.

“You mustn’t point in public, my dear,” Mrs. Melkford corrected softly.

Katie Rose sat up straight, and Joshua smiled his sympathies toward her.

“Don’t you think they’ll be expectin’ us to sit with them?” Katie Rose whispered to no one in particular.

But Joshua answered quickly, “I think Mr. Morrow is glad for the opportunity to accompany Miss Olivia with none to distract.” He leaned toward Maureen conspiratorially. “I rather think he fancies her.”

Maureen shifted in her seat beside him. “You seem to have an opinion about everythin’ and everyone, Mr. Keeton.”

Joshua couldn’t help the smile that grew inside him. “On the contrary, Miss O’Reilly. I’ve no opinion about you.”

She shifted again.

“I’m at a loss what to think,” he teased, but from the corner of his eye he saw her redden and her mouth flatten in a straight line.

Oh, will you never lay down your prickles and armor, Maureen O’Reilly?

By the service’s end, Joshua’s head was more filled with the nearness of Maureen than of the Savior he loved and served. Still, he wasted no time in hastening the ladies down the balcony stairs and out the door. He walked them all the way back to Mrs. Melkford’s street and at a steady clip.

“You’ll stay to dinner with us, won’t you, Mr. Keeton? I’m serving roast chicken and gravy, potatoes, and—”

“If only I could, Mrs. Melkford, and it’s very kind of you to offer. Very kind indeed. But I must be off. I’ve a bit of work to catch up on.” And he stepped along more lively yet.

“Are you off to a fire, Mr. Keeton?” Maureen fussed as she caught Mrs. Melkford’s other arm when the good lady nearly tripped over a cobblestone.

“Beggin’ your pardon, ladies,” Joshua apologized sincerely. “I’m used to bein’ about my business, and my farmer’s legs don’t stride a lady’s pace. Are you all right, Mrs. Melkford?”

“Yes, yes,” she said, a little breathless.

“Exactly what is your business?” Maureen demanded.

Joshua tipped his cap as they reached Mrs. Melkford’s door. “Seein’ you ladies safely home at the moment, Miss O’Reilly.” And he left just as quickly as he’d come.

For once, Maureen did not doubt Joshua Keeton’s sincerity or word.
What was that about? Did Aunt Verna bid him watch over us?

“I still think we should have stayed to speak with Olivia and Dorothy.” Katie Rose pouted. “I don’t know why Joshua rushed us out so, not if he wasn’t goin’ to stay to dinner.”

“Nor do I,” Maureen answered.
Not that I’m anythin’ but grateful to avoid either one of the Meitlands. But I wonder . . . It’s as though he didn’t want us to speak with them—any of them. Why?

When Mr. Crudgers came to the door for the rent, Maureen was still at work, and Katie Rose was two dollars short.

“You’ll have to make it up before the month is out, little missy.” He stepped over the threshold and leered, his tobacco-stained teeth and liquored breath too near her face. “Unless you want to work for it.” And he fingered the stand-up collar of her shirtwaist.

But Katie Rose, her senses screaming, pretended to see her neighbor from across the hall, just beyond his shoulder. She waved and called, “Mrs. Kaminsky! I’ll be right there. Mr. Crudgers is just collectin’ the rent.”

He stepped back into the hall then and turned. Quickly, Katie Rose slammed and bolted the door in his face.

“You little minx! You think you’re clever,” he shouted through the door. “You get me that two dollars, or you and your sister get out!” He thumped down the stairs to the bar below.

Katie Rose wrapped her arms around her torso, going weak in the knees, and slipped, her spine against the doorframe, to the floor. In the minutes it took for her breath to come evenly and for her heart rate to steady, she tore the collar from her waist and threw it on the floor. Then she made three decisions:

First, I’ll demand that Maureen take Olivia up on her offer for us to move into Morningside.

Second, if Maureen refuses, I’ll go without her.

Third, I’ll ask Joshua for help and company, no matter what Maureen says. He has demonstrated himself a protector—completely trustworthy and every bit a gentleman. A gentleman I’d be proud to walk out with . . . proud to marry.
She felt the heat race up her arms and face at her own confession but did not repent the thought.
Perhaps he’ll notice me more if I’m not forever standin’ in Maureen’s shadow.

“Absolutely not!” Maureen fumed that evening. “You’ve no idea what you’re sayin’.”

“He wanted to touch me!” Katie Rose shouted. “Do you hear me? That filthy, lecherous man wanted to touch me!”

Maureen pushed her tea away and leaned her elbows on the table, her hands covering her face.

“He said that we could ‘work’ for the rest of the rent! Do you know what he meant?” Katie Rose demanded.

Maureen felt the weight of the world descend. “Yes, yes, I know. Do you know?”

“Don’t be stupid! Of course I know. I told you on the ship that I would never have done it in Ireland, and I won’t do it now.” Katie Rose stood before her, hands on her hips, but Maureen could not bring herself to speak.

How has it come to this?

Katie Rose slumped into the chair across from her and clasped Maureen’s hands in her own. “We can’t go on like this, Maureen. You must go back to your old wages and your old job.”

“They’ll not take me. I don’t even know if I’ll have a job at the end of my ‘probation period.’”

“We’ll never pay the rent at this rate, let alone eat. It’s plain as plain we have to move somewhere, and Olivia’s offered to take us in—rent free.”

Maureen ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. “Yes, I know we have to move, but not there. We can’t make ourselves beholden to her or her sister—none of them. We can’t trust them. We must make it on our own.”

Katie Rose stood again and pushed her chair beneath the table. “I thought you’d say that. And I’m tellin’ you now that I won’t move to someplace lower and cheaper and dirtier, with who knows what or who livin’ above or beneath or beside us. Vermin live with vermin, and that’s what we’ll become if we go on like this. We’ve barely enough to keep body and soul together now—to keep ourselves clean and respectable enough to stay employed.”

“It will only be for a short time, until I can find a different position.” Maureen sat up. “What about the Triangle Factory? I could learn the sewing machines too. And I’m fair with fittin’—you said they needed more fitters. You could put in a word for me.”

Katie Rose colored. “They need more fitters, but girls are standin’ in line for those jobs. They pay better than runnin’ the machines, and they’ll not appreciate someone waltzin’ in off the street and snaggin’ the position from them—especially not Irish.”

“Does it matter what they think?”

“It matters to me. Those girls are my friends. They and their families need the work as much as we do. And I think it’s best if we don’t work at the same place.”

“But I’m your sister.”