The Pursuit of Lucy Banning (13 page)

She had to find out if Mr. Emmett knew anything! Charlotte had hidden a baby in the Banning home for eight days now. Even with Lucy’s help, her luck could run out at any moment. Henry was getting bigger by the day, and his cries louder. Flora might send a servant into Lucy’s room looking for a piece of jewelry, or Bessie might bring up a bundle of laundry and forget the instructions to leave it in the hall. Anything could happen. It was urgent that Mr. Emmett find a place for Henry to board—soon.

Lucy paused for the fourth time to look at the watch hanging from a gold chain around her neck. Almost half an hour had passed since she left her seat. How long would it take before Daniel wondered where she was? The notion that he might come looking for her was far-fetched, though, and after a while, Lucy no longer cared what Daniel might be thinking. She had to get through this crowd and find a carriage driver who would take her to the orphanage, or at least to a train stop. The silence of the last four days was enough to persuade Lucy she ought to pay to have a telephone installed in the orphanage office, but that did little to solve the immediate problem. The only way to talk to Mr. Emmett was to go to the orphanage.

Although the ceremonies were well under way, people still swarmed toward the Manufactures Building. Trying to go the opposite direction, toward the empty cabs, was like swimming against the ocean current. Lucy made little headway and generally was swept off course to the side. Even on a late October day, she was beginning to perspire from the effort. From a distance, she saw cabs coming and going, but none was within her reach.

Lucy sank onto a bench and sighed. The errand she proposed would take far too long. It was hopeless. She would just have to go back inside and sit with Daniel, Will, and Leo and ponder how she might carve an opportunity to go to the orphanage out of the busy weekend schedule.

Will watched her compose herself sitting on the bench for another ten minutes. She took a handkerchief out of the small embroidered lace bag she carried and dabbed at her hairline. Clearly she had tried to leave—but why? And what made her give up? Lucy looked at her watch several times and glanced over her shoulder at the jostling cabs. Eventually, though, she stood up and began to retrace her steps toward the building. Will waited for her at the light post.

Finally, she was close enough and he made his presence known.

“Lucy.” Will stepped into her path.

Lucy sucked in her breath. “Will! You startled me.”

He looked into her green eyes, judging how hard to push. Finally he shrugged and said, “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I was worried.”

“Why on earth would you worry about me?”

“I had the sense something was amiss when you left the hall.”

“I just needed some air. I realize it’s been quite awhile, but I’m sure there’s still a couple of hours left. I can’t have missed much of importance.”

“I suppose not,” Will said.

“I walked around for a bit—a preview tour of sorts,” she explained.

Will nodded.
You did more than walk. You tried to leave.

“I should go back in,” Lucy said. “By now Daniel will be getting worried.”

“I’m sure he’s wondering if you’re all right.”

“I’m perfectly fine, I assure you. Shall we go in?”

She seemed to have brightened up, but Will wasn’t convinced. “I think I’ll catch a bit more air,” he said. “Can you find your way back to your seat?”

“Of course. I found my way out, didn’t I?”

Will nodded. “Then I’ll see you inside.” Daniel would not be pleased if he saw Will escorting Lucy back to her seat. For Lucy’s sake, he chose not to cause a stir. No doubt she would have enough explaining to do already.

But something was wrong. He was sure of it.

Lucy hated deceiving Will. Technically she hadn’t said anything grossly untrue. But she hadn’t said everything there was to say, either.

No one could know about Charlotte. No one. She couldn’t even risk sending a messenger with a note.

She made her way back to Daniel, experiencing firsthand that the crowd had grown even thicker during her absence. An enormous choir was singing Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus, and the audience was on its feet in traditional deference to the masterpiece. Lucy reached her seat at the peak of the music.

“Where have you been?” Daniel asked.

“I told you I needed some air.”

“You were gone a long time.”

“I know. It’s an awfully long time to sit and listen to speeches.”

“Where’s your friend?”

“What do you mean?”

“That friend of Leo’s. Edwards. He went out right after you did.”

“Thousands of people are coming and going. Why would I know where Mr. Edwards is?”

The music ended, and the audience broke into applause. As Lucy brought her hands together, she spotted Will slowly working his way back to his seat. She glanced at Leo and realized he had followed her gaze and was watching Will also. Curiosity lit his eyes, and Lucy quickly looked away.

A dignitary from Kentucky rose to give the next speech. Lucy settled in to at least look as if she were listening.

 14 

P
enard set the receiver down and turned from the telephone in the foyer.

“Charlotte, please let Miss Lucy know she has a telephone call.”

“Yes, sir. She’ll want to know who’s calling, sir.”

“The caller seems reluctant to give his name,” Penard said flatly. “Perhaps it’s orphanage business. Just go upstairs and ask her if she’d like to take the call.”

Orphanage?
Charlotte raced across the foyer, through the dining room, into the butler’s pantry, and across the kitchen. She clumped up the narrow wooden stairs as rapidly as she could. This could be the word they were waiting for. She knocked quickly, then entered Lucy’s suite.

“Shh!” Lucy whispered. “Henry just dropped off again.”

“The telephone! You have a telephone call.”

Lucy jumped to her feet. “Do we know who it is? Are you sure it’s not just Daniel?”

Charlotte shook her head. “Mr. Penard would have said if it were Mr. Daniel.”

“I’ll go down immediately.”

Lucy burst into the hallway and scampered down the hall to the top of the stairs. Behind her, Charlotte closed the door quietly and watched as Lucy composed herself before descending the marble steps with grace and poise. Charlotte turned in the other direction and went down the back stairs with as much serenity as she could muster. By the time she arrived in the foyer, Lucy was in the midst of guarded conversation.

“That’s lovely news. . . . I would be delighted to handle that for you. . . . Yes, I quite understand. . . . Yes, that is correct. . . . Good-bye.”

Charlotte thought her heart might stop. She couldn’t tell anything from what Lucy was saying! Of course, the phone was in the foyer and anyone could walk by, so Lucy would choose her words carefully.

Finally, Lucy hung up the phone. “Charlotte,” she said loudly, “may I have a word with you in the dining room?”

Shoulders erect and head up, Lucy walked into the dining room. Charlotte followed meekly behind. In the dining room, Charlotte glanced around. Lucy pointed at the butler’s pantry, and Charlotte gently pushed the door open to see if anyone was there. Empty. Charlotte turned to Lucy expectantly.

“He’s found someone!” Lucy’s voice was barely above a whisper. “He knew it was urgent so he asked to use the telephone of a neighbor and called me immediately with the address. We can take Henry there today.”

“Today?” Charlotte echoed.

“Now. We can go now! Go get Henry ready. I’ll be up in a few minutes. I’ll take care of everything.”

Lucy turned and walked out of the dining room, leaving Charlotte stunned, her eyes stinging.
Henry.
She would have to leave him. She would have to take her baby to another woman and leave him there. She would have to kiss his sweet face and walk out the door. Her chest heaved just at the thought of it. Gasping for breath, she moved through the kitchen and up the back stairs once again.

Lucy breezed into the parlor with far more calm than she actually felt. Her mother had her needlework on her lap, and Aunt Violet was flipping through a magazine.

“Mother,” Lucy said, “I’m going to go out for a few minutes. I have to go to Lenae’s shop.”

“The dressmaker? But she’ll come here if you ask her to.”

“I prefer to go to her today.”
Don’t say more than you have to.

“Lucy, dear, can’t this wait a few days? Your father is at the ceremony dedicating some of the individual fair buildings. Daniel is coming for you, and you haven’t begun to dress suitably.”

Lucy hadn’t expected to leave the house for several more hours. It was true she was dressed in a plain yellow day dress from two years ago and had never intended to go out in it. Under the circumstances, though, plain garb might be the best thing.

“Daniel has given me several lengths of fabric for holiday gowns,” Lucy said. “I’d like Lenae to look at them and make some sketches as soon as possible. The holidays will be here before we know it. I’m sure Daniel has a full calendar planned.”

Daniel
was the magic word, and Lucy knew it. If Daniel wanted it, then Flora was more likely to concede.

“Are you sure this can’t wait until Monday?” Flora said.

Violet looked up from her magazine. “Let her go, Flora.”

“It will be a quick errand,” Lucy said, “and I know the shop is open today.”

“But your father and your brothers have taken the carriages,” Flora pointed out. “How will you get there?”

Lucy’s heart lurched into her throat. She hadn’t thought about the unavailability of transportation. The address Mr. Emmett gave her was too far south to walk, and she couldn’t infer to her mother that she would ride the streetcar.

“I can get a cab on Michigan Avenue,” Lucy said, which was true enough.

“Nonsense.” Aunt Violet inserted herself again. “The cabs will be busy with all the extra people in Chicago. Take my carriage. Paddy is outside with nothing to do. Your mother and I are not going down to Jackson Park until this evening for the fireworks.”

Lucy met her aunt’s eyes evenly. Paddy sometimes took her to class at the university. She could trust him to take her anywhere, and Aunt Violet knew that.

Gratefully, Lucy smiled. “That’s a wonderful idea, Aunt Violet. We won’t be gone long.”

“We?” Flora asked.

“I’m taking Charlotte with me,” Lucy explained. “The fabric is rather a lot to manage without assistance. Daniel was generous in the quantities.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“No longer than necessary.”
But perhaps longer than you think.

Violet stood up. “Go get your fabric, Lucy. I’ll tell Paddy to get ready for you.”

Charlotte clutched Henry to her chest. She couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him! But what choice did she have? Going home was not an option, and Henry couldn’t stay in Miss Lucy’s bottom drawer forever. A growing child needed fresh air, and soon he would start being wakeful for more and more of the day. Already Bessie and Elsie were muttering that Charlotte was not carrying her weight with the work of the household during this busy week. It wasn’t fair to expect Miss Lucy to protect her indefinitely.

Charlotte laid her son on her grandmother’s quilt spread out on Lucy’s bed and began to bundle him up. She didn’t try to stop the tears that moistened her cheeks. Even though she was in Lucy’s suite, the sound of the door opening made her jump.

Lucy closed the door behind her.

“What if I don’t like her, Miss Lucy?” Charlotte choked on the thought. “How can I be sure she’ll take good care of him?”

Lucy put an arm around Charlotte’s shoulders. “You’re his mother. Of course you’re worried. But the name Mr. Emmett gave me is someone who has cared for several infants in the past. I haven’t met her, but I’ve seen the children when they’re old enough to come to the orphanage. They’re happy and healthy.”

Charlotte stroked the baby’s cheek. “I knew this was going to happen, and I know it’s the best thing I can do for Henry right now, but it’s so soon! He’s barely five weeks old. All of a sudden I have to give him to a stranger.”

“You can see him,” Lucy assured her. “Has Penard settled on your regular day off?”

“Thursday.” Charlotte’s throat thickened. “As soon as luncheon is prepared, I’m free to go.”

“Then you can see him every Thursday and every other Sunday afternoon when you’re off. I’ll make sure Mrs. Given understands that Henry has a mother who loves him.”

“That’s her name? Mrs. Given? Her real name?”

Lucy nodded. “Mary Given.”

Charlotte picked up her bundled baby and sat on the edge of the bed with him. Lucy opened an armoire and removed several folded flats of fabric from the center shelf.

“This is our excuse,” Lucy said. “Daniel brought these back from his last trip to New York. I told Mother I want you to help me take them to the dressmaker.” From the bottom of the armoire, Lucy took a basket. “You can make Henry comfortable in here, then we’ll cover him with fabric while we go downstairs. You can carry him. Aunt Violet’s carriage is outside.”

“Do we have to go now?” Charlotte asked. “A few more minutes—”

“I’m sorry, Charlotte,” Lucy said softly. “I can only imagine how hard this is for you. But we must go now or I won’t be able to help you.”

Charlotte’s reply was hoarse. “I can’t do it by myself.”

“You don’t have to. But we must go.”