Shaken to the Core (20 page)

She would have loved to go back and see that fascinating actress again. Would Kate be willing to come with her, or would she not want to see the impersonator again? Giuliana wasn’t sure. Kate had seemed stunned, even long after they had left the theater.

When Giuliana entered the house through the servants’ entrance, the kitchen was brightly lit, but there was no sign of the cook. Maybe Mrs. Tretow hadn’t yet arrived from her home at the edge of the financial district. Instead, Kate was waiting in the kitchen.

“Kate! Good morning.” Giuliana beamed at her. “You are awake early.”

Kate didn’t return the smile. Her fair complexion seemed even paler than usual. “Something happened. You have to—”

Mr. Winthrop entered the kitchen. “Julie.” He gave her a stern nod. “Could I have a word with you?”

A lump formed in Giuliana’s throat. So far, Mr. Winthrop had never spoken to her directly; she hadn’t even been sure he knew her name. “O-of course.”

When Kate followed them from the room, her father stopped so abruptly that Giuliana nearly collided with him. “Not you,” he said. “Go to your room, Kate.”

“But, Father—”

“Go to your room,” Mr. Winthrop repeated.

Giuliana had never heard him speak in that tone with Kate. He had always seemed to dote on his only daughter. Alarmed, she stared at Kate, who met her gaze with a look of concern.

Mr. Winthrop ushered her past a grinning Biddy into his study and closed the door between her and Kate.

Cut off from her only ally in the house, Giuliana stood stiffly in the middle of the room. What was going on? She couldn’t help feeling that something awful was about to happen. Her throat was so dry that breathing started to hurt.

Not saying a thing, Mr. Winthrop walked around his desk and settled in his chair. He regarded her with a look she couldn’t interpret.

She licked her lips. Should she say something?

He pulled out one of his desk drawers, reached inside, and threw something on the mahogany surface of the desk. “For your services.”

Giuliana stared at the gleaming coin. A half eagle. “Sir, you gave me money on Saturday.”

“It’s for this week,” he said.

“But today is only Monday.”

“That might be, but today is your last day in this house.” He nodded at the coin. “I want you to take this and never darken my doorstep again.”

She started to tremble and couldn’t stop. “This is because of the bookshelf, no? I promise you, I dusted it every day since—”

“It’s not about the damn bookshelf. I admit you’re a good worker, but I need a maid who knows her bounds.”

“Scusa? I do not understand. Know her bounds?”

“My daughter and her future husband will inherit my company and the family fortune one day. She needs to learn to keep the right kind of company,” he said flatly.

Giuliana stared at him. This was about Kate?

He slid the coin across the desk toward her and waved at Giuliana to take it.

She shook her head and slowly backed away. Money wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to keep her position. She wanted to keep seeing Kate every day.

Mr. Winthrop flicked the coin halfway across the room. It landed at her feet. “Don’t be stupid. Take it.”

It was clear what he was really saying: take it and go.

Giuliana wanted to refuse. She wanted to scream and struggle, but she knew it wouldn’t do any good. His mind was made up. Just as she had told Kate from the start—a friendship between a maid and the heir of a wealthy family was impossible, and now it had cost Giuliana her only means of support.

“Oh, and take this too.” He slid a piece of paper across his desk. “It’s a letter of recommendation.”

Giuliana didn’t move. Another employer might ask for a reference, but she couldn’t show anyone that letter. Not without being able to read it first. Who knew what horrible things about her he might have written?

“Don’t worry,” he said as if guessing her thoughts. “I didn’t write it. Kate did.” He picked up a stack of documents from the corner of his desk and started to leaf through the papers, clearly dismissing her.

Giuliana forced herself to take the letter and pick up the coin. She would need both now that she was without a job. The half eagle’s edges dug into her palm as she ran from the room.

Biddy was still lingering in the hall, but there was no sign of Kate.

Hatred flashed through her. “You!
Bestia maliditta!”
Hands clenched into fists, she took one step toward the lady’s maid. “You did this to me! You take away my job!”

Paling, Biddy backed away.

Giuliana followed, but then the futility of it all hit her. Even if she throttled Biddy or scared her half to death, the damage was done. She whirled around and, with one last glance toward the stairs to Kate’s bedroom, she left the Winthrops’ home for the very last time.

* * *

The last time Giuliana had walked past the Fairmont Hotel, where people were unloading furniture from a delivery wagon, she had been humming. Hard to believe that it had been less than half an hour ago. Now she trudged down the hill with her head hanging low. She barely registered a neighbor’s servant calling out a greeting.

It’s not that bad,
she tried to tell herself. Last month, the newspaper had been full of advertisements from people looking for hired help. That probably hadn’t changed, so she would find a new position within a few days. But that thought did nothing to cheer her up. There wouldn’t be a Kate greeting her with a smile instead of ignoring her as if she were a piece of furniture. From the very first moment, Kate had made her feel like a valuable human being, not just a servant. It was like saying good-bye to her family all over again, except that she hadn’t even gotten to hug Kate.

When she reached the cable car stop at the corner, a voice behind her pierced through her haze of despair. “Giuliana! Wait!”

She whirled around.

Kate was running down the hill toward her, not wearing a coat over a slightly rumpled shirtwaist. Her upswept hairstyle was threatening to come undone.

“What are you doing?” Giuliana whispered when Kate reached her. What she really wanted to do was throw her arms around Kate, but with the other people waiting for the cable car next to them, she didn’t dare. “If your father sees you…”

“I don’t care.” Kate’s blue eyes seemed to spark. “What else can he do to me? He already did the worst thing he could do. I’m so sorry, Giuliana. Please don’t be angry with me. You warned me that being friends was a bad idea, but I just…I’m sorry.”

“This is not your mistake. Biddy never liked me. I think she saw us at the Orpheum and ran to your mother to tell her all.” Now Biddy had done what she had accused Giuliana of—taken her position from her.

Kate’s hands clenched into fists. “Tarnation! To blazes with that darn woman! I’ll wring her neck!”

Her cursing was mild in comparison to what Giuliana had heard from the fishermen at the harbor, but she didn’t want Kate’s reputation tarnished. Quickly, she looked around.

Other people were staring at them while trying to look as if they weren’t paying them any attention at all. The rich people up on Nob Hill and their servants had perfected that strategy.

“You cannot change what happened,” Giuliana whispered.

Kate kicked out at a pebble. “I hate feeling so powerless. It’s just so unfair. It was all my fault, not yours.” A deep sigh ruffled a strand of hair that had come loose. “What will you do now?”

“I need to work. I will search another position.” All she wanted to do was hide away in her tiny room and cry, but she couldn’t afford that. Life had to go on, even if it was a life without Kate. Amazing how much that thought hurt.

“Here.” Kate took off the pendant watch she’d been wearing on a chain around her neck and pressed it into Giuliana’s hand. “You can sell it to tide you over until you find another position.”

Giuliana stared at the gleaming gold watch in her hand. “No. I cannot take it.”

“Yes, you can.”

“This is not necessary. Your father gave me money. I will be good.” Giuliana tried to hand back the watch, but Kate stepped back, refusing to take it. “I know you want to help, Kate, but people will say I steal it if I try to sell it. I cannot have it.”

“Then keep it as a memento,” Kate said. “Something to remind you of me.”

The clanking of a brass bell pierced the momentary silence. A cable car clattered up the hill and came to a stop next to Giuliana.

“I must go,” she said but didn’t move.

Other people muttered in annoyance as they had to step around her to board the cable car. Giuliana didn’t pay them any attention. The only thing she saw was Kate, who suddenly rushed forward and wrapped her in an embrace.

Giuliana’s eyes fluttered shut. She hugged her back for all she was worth, not caring who was watching.

“Take good care of yourself,” Kate whispered. Her breath stirred the hairs at Giuliana’s temple, tickling a little.

Giuliana nodded, her head buried against Kate’s shoulder. “You too, please.”

“Miss,” the cable car conductor called, “do you want to board or not?”

Reluctantly, Giuliana let go of Kate. She walked backward toward the cable car, stepped up, and clutched the pole, her gaze still on Kate.

The brass bell rang, and then the cable car started to move, carrying her away from Kate, who stood at the edge of the sidewalk, her arms wrapped around herself as if she was cold without Giuliana’s warmth against her.

At the last moment, Giuliana remembered that she still had the pendant watch. “Kate! The watch!” She held it out over the edge of the moving cable car.

“It’s yours now,” Kate shouted. “I…”

The wind and the clattering cable car drowned out the rest of her words.

Giuliana clutched the pole with one hand and the watch with the other. She stared back up the hill and watched Kate become smaller and smaller in the distance until she couldn’t see her anymore.

CHAPTER 11

Grand Opera House

Mission Street

San Francisco, California

April 17, 1906

Kate had rarely felt as lonely as in the crowded lobby of the Grand Opera House. The city
’s elite sipped champagne and flaunted ermine-trimmed coats, silk top hats, and diamond chokers that were outshining the enormous chandelier above. Next to her, the Baker sisters and their mother chatted excitedly about Enrico Caruso, yesterday’s opening of the opera season, and the weather, which had turned spring-like today.

Kate clutched her champagne flute and suppressed a yawn. She hadn’t been in the mood for the opera, but her parents had insisted she come.

“It’ll take your mind off things,” her mother had said. What she had really meant was that it would take her mind off Giuliana.

No such luck so far. Not even the photographers and the newspaper reporters milling about the lobby could distract her. She hadn’t even been tempted to sneak her camera into the opera house. Tonight, even the scent of the orchids and roses decorating the lobby got on her nerves. She wanted to steal a glance at her pendant watch but then remembered that she had given it to Giuliana.

I wonder how she’s doing.
Had she found a new position by now? Did her employer treat her well and pay her fair wages? Was she thinking about Kate too, or had she moved on already?

“Good evening, Miss Kate,” a male voice said next to her.

Kate turned.

George Baker, the oldest son of her parents’ friends, stood in front of her, dressed up in tails, with his silk top hat in his hands. He gave her a little bow and a smile. “You look lovely tonight, if you allow me to say so.”

“Thank you,” she replied but didn’t return the compliment, hoping he would move on to someone else—anyone else.

He looked around the lobby. “Where’s Mr. Jenkins tonight?”

“Oh, he’s around somewhere.” She waved her hand. If she let George know she was here without a male escort, he might want to keep her company, and she didn’t feel up for that tonight. “He just stepped outside for a moment to exchange a few words with a business associate.”

“Well, then. I think we’d better take our places in our boxes now.” He gave her another bow before joining his sisters.

Kate took her father’s left arm and ascended the sweeping staircase with her parents. A heavy red velvet curtain separated their private box from the other operagoers, so at least she wouldn’t have to interact with anyone else.

“Why didn’t you ask William to join us in our box?” her mother asked as they settled on their velvet chairs.

For a moment, Kate was tempted to hurl the truth at them, but in the end, it would hurt her more than it would hurt them. They would immediately start looking for another eligible bachelor who might want to court her. “He had a previous engagement.” Usually, she felt bad whenever she lied to her parents, but since they had dismissed Giuliana from their service, she was so angry with them that no feelings of guilt set in.

Soon, the electric lights dimmed, and the audience’s excited chatter died away. The curtain went up, and the orchestra began to play in the orchestra pit below.

Her parents moved closer to the railing of their opera box so they wouldn’t miss a second. As Olive Fremstad entered the stage as the seductive gypsy girl Carmen, Kate lifted the opera glasses to her eyes so she could watch the singers.

The story the opera told matched her mood. Several hours later, after a lot of heartache and drama, it ended with Carmen leaving Don José for a bullfighter and Don José killing her in a jealous rage.

As the last notes of the opera died away, the three thousand people in the audience leaped to their feet, applauded wildly, and threw flowers onto the stage.

Again, Kate was reminded of her afternoon with Giuliana at the Orpheum.

It seemed to take forever until the crowd slowly moved down the staircase and through the portal of the opera house. A long line of automobiles and horse-drawn carriages waited along Mission Street.

Her father, who had wisely decided to leave his own automobile at home, signaled one of the top-hatted drivers, and they climbed into the cab.