Shaken to the Core (17 page)

Kate stared at herself in the mirror. With a frown, she tugged at the front of the dress, then at its ruffled sleeves that ended at her elbows. “I feel like a little girl playing dress-up in her mother’s good clothes.”

Oh no. You look very grown up, believe me.
Giuliana bit her tongue before she could say it out loud. What strange thoughts was she thinking?

When Kate bent to put on her shoes, Giuliana quickly looked away.

“Heavens,” Kate mumbled and clutched her ribs. “I had almost forgotten how restricting these things are. I can’t even tie my own shoes. Would you mind?”

Shaking her head, Giuliana knelt in front of her and tied her laces. When she stood, she caught another whiff of Kate’s perfume. With the thick soles of her shoes, Kate was even taller, bringing Giuliana at eye level with her chest. She wrenched her gaze away.

“Can you do my hair?” Kate asked.

“I hope so. I never do well with my messy curls. They do not stay up. Your hair will work better.”

“Are you kidding?” Kate stared at her. “Most women I know would kill for hair like yours.” She reached out as if wanting to touch a lock of Giuliana’s hair but then snatched her hand away, turned back around, and sank onto the stool in front of the mirror.

Her heart pounding, Giuliana stepped closer.
Why are you so nervous?
Kate wouldn’t dismiss her from her position if she didn’t do a good enough job. With a deep breath, she reached over Kate’s shoulder for the silver brush on the dresser and trailed it through Kate’s hair to remove the tangles. The tresses felt as soft as silk beneath her fingertips.
Get on with it.
She’s not a doll for you to play with.
She took a comb, made three partings, and put them up into a pompadour, which she fastened to the top of Kate’s head with hairpins. Two ringlets she left out, letting them frame Kate’s fair face.

When she was done, she stepped back and awaited Kate’s judgment.

Kate carefully touched her hair with her fingertips and eyed herself in the mirror. Then she turned and smiled at Giuliana. “Well done. You should be a lady’s maid.”

The compliment brought heat to Giuliana’s cheeks. To hide her face, she turned and got the hatbox that sat on Kate’s bed. When she opened it, she found a silk hat decorated with a plume of pheasant tail. She carried it over and pinned it to Kate’s hair with a pearl-tipped hatpin.

Kate glanced at herself in the mirror and let out a sigh. “I look like a vain peacock.”

“You look very pretty.” This time, it slipped out before Giuliana could stop it.

Kate turned and looked at her. A smile spread over her face. “You really think so?”

Giuliana could only nod. “You—”

The door was swept open, and Mrs. Winthrop marched in. “Are you ready, Kate? Mr. Jenkins is waiting for you in the back parlor with your father.”

Quickly, Giuliana stepped back and busied herself pulling loose strands of hair from the silver brush.

Kate let out a quiet sigh that just Giuliana could hear. “I’m coming.” She walked to the door, then stopped. “Oh. My gloves.”

A pair of black silk gloves was lying on the dresser. Giuliana picked them up and handed them to Kate.

Their fingers brushed.

“Hurry, Kate,” Mrs. Winthrop said from the doorway. “A man like Mr. Jenkins shouldn’t be kept waiting.”

Kate put on the gloves and sent Giuliana one last less-than-enthusiastic glance before following her mother downstairs.

Giuliana stayed behind. Her chest felt tight, as if she were the one wearing a corset. What was going on with her? She looked at herself in the mirror, staring at her flushed cheeks. A terrifying thought shot through her mind. Was she getting sick, like Turi?

She shook her head at herself. Other than that strange feeling in her chest, she was perfectly fine. Even her ankle had healed. The situation was probably just catching up with her. Losing her brother, getting employed by a wealthy family, being surrounded by all this luxury…And Kate. She was an experience all by herself. Their friendship was new and risky, so was it any wonder she felt a bit shaky around her?

Explanation found, Giuliana put the brush back on the dresser. Her gaze fell on the three crystal bottles lined up in front of the mirror. Did they hold Kate’s perfume, the reason why she always smelled so nice? Giuliana knew she shouldn’t, but she just couldn’t resist. After a quick glance back to the door, she reached for one of the bottles and pulled out the golden stopper. This bottle alone had to cost more than she earned in a month. She lifted it to her nose and inhaled deeply. The fresh, light scent of lilacs teased her nostrils and made her eyes flutter shut.

The door behind her swept open.

Quickly, Giuliana opened her eyes, whirled around, and hid the uncorked bottle behind her back.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing!” Biddy’s accusing voice cut through the room.

Heart thumping, Giuliana slid the bottle back onto the dresser. “W-what do you mean? I am doing nothing.”

Biddy stalked past the bed like a lioness on the hunt. “You don’t fool me for a second.”

Giuliana took a step toward her and held out both hands in a pleading gesture. “Pi fauri. Please, do not tell anyone. I swear I did not want to steal the bottle.” Oh Madonna, if Biddy told Mrs. Winthrop, the lady of the house would surely dismiss her. And what would Kate think when she found out Giuliana had been caught sniffing her perfume?

“Bottle?” For a moment, Biddy’s brow wrinkled, then the fierce look of anger settled back on her face. “I don’t know what you’re blabbing on about. I’m talking about you trying to steal my position!”

Now Giuliana really didn’t know what she meant. “Your position?”

“My position in this household! You’re trying to get promoted to my position as a lady’s maid. That’s why you’re thick as thieves with Miss Kate. You’re trying to get into her good graces!”

“What? No! This is not true. Mrs. Winthrop told me to help Miss Kate. This was not my idea.” She didn’t want to be a lady’s maid—certainly not Mrs. Winthrop’s and not Kate’s either. Not when helping Kate dress was making her chest feel all tight. But, of course, she couldn’t tell Biddy that.

“I’m warning you,” Biddy said as if Giuliana hadn’t spoken. She lifted her index finger and shook it only inches from Giuliana’s face. “I won’t let you take my position away from me! If you try anything, I’m gonna get you kicked out. I have my ways, you know? You just wait and see.”

“Oh, Biddy, you do not understand. Please do not—”

Biddy didn’t wait for her to finish. She whirled around and marched out the door.

Giuliana covered her face with her hands. Maybe it would be better if she stayed away from Kate. But the thought of losing her made her chest hurt even more.

She stepped toward the window to open it. Maybe some air would help clear her head and would sweep away the last traces of the perfume’s scent. With her hand on the window, she paused.

A gentleman clad in a fine suit and a top hat left the house, his arm extended for Kate to hold on to. His chest puffed up with pride, he led her to his automobile and assisted her as she took her seat. They looked like a couple from a fairy tale, both rich and beautiful.

Clutching the windowsill, Giuliana watched until the automobile had disappeared down the hill.

* * *

The Palace Hotel stood at the corner of New Montgomery and Market Streets, just a few steps away from the Newspaper Angle. As William steered them past the Spreckels building, Kate tilted her head back and glared up at the office of the
San Francisco Call.

On Tuesday, she’d marched up there with her photographs of North Beach and the fascinating people living there. Mr. Fulton hadn’t even spared her pictures a glance. Without looking up from his work, he had waved his hand at her and told her to leave them and that he’d take a look when he got around to it.

Which, judging by the piles of paper on his desk, would be never.

She needed to find a way to get him to at least look at her work. Having it dismissed as not good enough would be one thing. She could accept that, if it was his honest opinion. But for him to completely ignore her just because she was a woman…

William followed her gaze. “Something wrong with the Spreckels building?”

“Oh, no, it’s fine.”

“Of course it is,” he answered. “It was designed by my father’s architecture firm after all.”

Kate looked over at him to see if he was joking, but he appeared entirely serious. William might have many fine qualities, as her mother kept pointing out, but a great sense of humor wasn’t one of them.

“Did you know that we used granite for the first three floors and white marble for the floors above?” he asked.

When Kate shook her head, he took that as an invitation to tell her every detail about the building’s construction. He was still going on about it when they left the automobile on New Montgomery Street and walked around the corner to the Palace Hotel. The white seven-story building took up almost the entire block. As far as Kate knew, it was still one of the biggest hotels in the world.

The first step into the large courtyard that held the Palm Garden restaurant always took Kate’s breath away, and this time was no different. The court was as high as the hotel. She stared up at the stained-glass dome a hundred feet above, its light reflecting off the polished marble floor. White columns and several floors of galleries encircled the court.

William offered his arm and led her across a plush, red carpet to one of the small tables covered in white linen, flashing silver, and fine crystal glasses. A tropical garden with tall palms and other exotic plants surrounded them. An orchestra played in the background, and champagne corks popped over at the mahogany bar with its long gilded mirror.

How different this was from Luigi’s small trattoria, where she’d had lunch with Giuliana last Sunday! Here, she had no problem reading the menu and ordering the bass à la béchamel when the waiter approached with a white napkin over his arm. But there also was no laughter at the table.

By the time their dinner was served, William finished his explanation about the Spreckels building. But before Kate could draw breath to introduce another subject, he said, “Did you know that the Palace Hotel is entirely fireproof? They even have seven reservoirs with thousands of gallons of water up on the roof. Nothing can destroy this place.” He tapped the table as if to prove its solidness.

Kate hummed her agreement in all the right places and otherwise focused on eating her fish. It was delicious, no question about it, but it didn’t have that astonishing blend of sweet and savory flavors that the pasta con le sarde possessed. “Have you ever had Italian food?” she asked, interrupting his monologue about steel-enforced walls.

He looked up from his filet de boeuf and wrinkled his nose as if she’d asked him if he’d ever eaten a shovelful of horse manure. “I haven’t tried it, but I heard about it. I doubt I’d like it. All those vegetables…” He shook his head. “It’s clearly a poor man’s cuisine.”

Kate had to think of the noodles with escaped sardines. The corners of her mouth curled up into a smile.

William smiled too. “Did I say something humorous?”

You wouldn’t know humor if it walked up to you and introduced itself, dear William.
She also doubted that he’d appreciate the Italian sense of humor, so she shook her head.

He took another bite and looked around the courtyard while chewing. “Have you ever stayed here?”

“At the hotel, you mean? No.” And why would she? Her family had a perfectly good home in San Francisco, so she didn’t need a hotel suite. “Did you?”

“Oh, yes. Each suite comes with a private bathroom and an electric call button to summon someone from the hotel’s staff. It’s really amazing.” He gave her a long look. “It would be a wonderful place for a honeymoon.”

A piece of fish nearly lodged in Kate’s windpipe. Coughing and wheezing, she reached for her goblet of water and took a big sip.

He watched her closely. “Is the thought of getting married really such a surprise to you? I know I’m not the best at expressing my feelings, but surely you had an idea about my intentions toward you by now?”

Kate had feared that he’d speak of marital intentions sooner or later. So far, he hadn’t mentioned it on any of their weekend strolls, making her hope he would wait until he inherited his father’s architecture firm in a year or two. “Mr. Jenkins…”

“Please, won’t you finally call me William?”

“William…” She dabbed at her lips with her napkin while she searched for the right words. “You’re very pleasant company and a brilliant conversationalist.” All right, that was a bold lie, but she couldn’t very well tell him that she found him as boring as a piece of dry bread. “You’re a handsome man and a successful architect. Any woman would be happy to have you, but believe me, you’d be happier if you married someone else. Someone less…unconventional.”

He pushed back his plate. “Unconventional? In what sense?”

“Well, for one thing, I want a career.”

“A career?” he repeated and started to look as if his food hadn’t agreed with him.

She nodded. “I want to be a photographer.”

“Oh, I have nothing against you taking a couple of photographs every now and then.”

“That’s just it. I don’t want to take a couple of photographs every now and then; I want to be a professional newspaper photographer.”

“But…but who would supervise the servants and take care of our children?”

The thought of having children with him made her lose her appetite. She folded her napkin and put it on the table. “I’m not sure I want any.”

They stared at each other across the flickering candles on the table.

“Why didn’t you say so sooner?” he finally asked.

Kate lowered her head. “I’m sorry. I should have spoken up sooner, but I just didn’t know how to explain…” It had simply been easier to go along with her mother’s wishes and hope that William would realize they weren’t well suited. She peeked up at him. “I’m truly sorry.”

William glared at her, gulped down his wine, and signaled the waiter for the bill.