Chapter 15
Norman could no longer deny that his life had turned downright peculiar.
Gone were the days spent working on his inventions and scientific experiments without distractions, and unfortunately, he was beginning to believe returning to those distraction-free days was not something that was going to happen in the foreseeable future.
He’d been certain that once he parted ways with Beatrix after their ill-fated adventure, his life would return to normal. However, he’d not seemed capable of resisting seeking Beatrix out, even when he had to resort to convincing Theo to go with him to Marshall Field & Company.
It was a decision he was now regretting, what with how Theo had all but invited Beatrix to the ball for him. Not that the thought hadn’t crossed his mind to invite Beatrix to attend the Potter Palmer affair with him, but what gentleman wanted someone else to speak for him?
“What in the world are the two of you doing?”
Blinking, Norman turned and discovered Beatrix bearing down on him as he stood beside Theo on the wooden sidewalk outside Marshall Field & Company. She was now wearing a fashionable hat that had blue and green feathers attached to it, those feathers waving back and forth as she marched toward him.
For some reason, her eyes were flashing with temper, and given that the jacket she was wearing wasn’t properly buttoned, leaving it bunched up on one side, he got the distinct impression she’d been in a hurry to leave the store.
He pulled out his pocket watch and consulted it. “I thought the store didn’t close until six.”
She waved that aside. “Mr. Field allows his female employees to leave earlier than the men so that we, being of the fragile set, won’t be making our way home in the dark.”
“Generous of him.”
Additional temper flashed through her eyes. “Hardly not when he also evidently believes women don’t need to be paid as much as men, nor, apparently, does anyone at that store believe women deserve to be promoted to higher positions. That right there is why I was just taken to task because I did not turn the sale I made through your purchases over to one of the men in the furnishings department.”
“The salesmen didn’t assist me with my purchases.”
“Well, indeed, but they certainly were quick to complain to their supervisor about me stealing sales from them.”
Theo raised a hand to her throat. “You weren’t fired because you helped Norman, were you?”
Beatrix shook her head. “I wasn’t fired, although I was demoted to the coat check room, which results in a reduction in my weekly pay. And Mr. Selfridge informed me that if I’m sent to his office again, I’ll be dismissed on the spot.”
“I need to have a word with Mr. Selfridge,” Norman said, striding into motion only to be pulled to a stop by Beatrix before he’d made it very far.
“I don’t want you to have a word with Mr. Selfridge, although I thank you for the gesture.”
“But you were demoted because of me.”
“It was my decision to assist you even though I had the sneaking suspicion that leaving my counter wasn’t going to be considered acceptable by management.”
Norman frowned. “Didn’t Mr. Selfridge speak with that saleswoman who offered to watch over your counter, the one who encouraged you to go with me to select collars?”
“Mrs. Goodman spoke with her, but even after Miss Wheeler rose to my defense, Mrs. Goodman chose to lay all the blame directly at my feet, probably because she seems to believe I’m trouble.” She glanced at Theo, frowned, then looked back to him. “But enough about my problems. Why were the two of you just standing in the middle of the sidewalk, staring at each other?”
Norman shrugged. “I was waiting for Theo to say something first after she caught up with me.”
Beatrix arched a brow at Theo. “May I dare hope that you’ve only recently caught up with Norman?”
“I found him about five minutes after I parted ways with you,” Theo mumbled.
Beatrix flipped up the face of a dainty watch that was attached to a bracelet around her wrist. “You do realize that was over forty minutes ago, don’t you?”
“Theo and I haven’t been standing out here for forty minutes.”
“We have,” Theo countered. “But I thought you were staying silent so I’d know how annoyed you were with me over the business about Miss Waterbury going to the Palmer ball with you.”
A dull throbbing took root in the back of Norman’s head. It was becoming abundantly clear that his life wasn’t simply peculiar of late; it was rapidly moving toward the chaotic. He didn’t enjoy chaos, tried to avoid it whenever possible, but it seemed to be closing in on him, causing him to act in a very un-Norman-like way . . . ever since he’d met Beatrix.
Theo turned a scowl on Beatrix. “You have done something to him, haven’t you?” she demanded, thrusting Norman directly back into the chaos.
Beatrix rolled her eyes. “Why do you keep asking me that? I already told you I’ve not done anything to Norman. If you’ll recall, I mentioned that you were to blame for him abruptly leaving the store, while also telling you how to rectify that situation, something you’ve evidently not attempted to do yet.”
“I couldn’t seem to find the right words.”
“Would you care to have me assist you with that?” Beatrix shot back.
Theo began dragging the toe of her shoe in the dirt on the sidewalk, the action causing a weight to settle in the pit of Norman’s stomach.
He’d been acquainted with Theo for years, spent hours every week in her company, and . . . he knew her. Any experiment he was working on, she was by his side, handing him whatever tool he needed or lending him her advice when an experiment failed.
She was incredibly intelligent and more awkward than he was in social situations, but she always tried to be helpful.
Realization hit him square in the face.
Theo had not deliberately set out to embarrass him with Beatrix. She’d only been trying to spare him the unpleasantness of having to attend the ball with Miss Dinneen or Miss Ashburn. He’d done her a disservice by storming off in a huff as well as by refusing to speak to her once she’d rejoined him.
Grabbing Theo by the hand and all but dragging her closer to Norman, Beatrix then gave Norman a bit of a push as well until no more than a few inches separated him from Theo.
“You two are probably the most intelligent people I know,” Beatrix surprised him by saying.
“Thank you,” he said in unison with Theo.
“I wasn’t finished.”
“Of course you weren’t,” he muttered.
“Intelligence aside,” she continued as if she hadn’t heard him, “you’re both incredibly dense when it comes to what most people consider common everyday occurrences, such as the situation you now find yourselves in.”
“Did she just insult us again?” Theo asked.
“I think she did.”
Theo’s nose wrinkled. “I might be a touch deficient with social expectations as pertains to interactions with others, Miss Waterbury—”
“Beatrix,” she corrected.
“Beatrix then, but—”
“And shall I call you Theodosia?” Beatrix interrupted.
Theo’s mouth dropped open for a good few seconds before she smiled. “That would be lovely.”
Beatrix returned the smile. “Wonderful, and you were saying?”
It took a full minute before Theo spoke again, one she evidently used to gather her thoughts, a very unusual occurrence for Theo if there ever was one.
“Ah yes, as I was about to say,” Theo continued, her cheeks a little pink, “I may be deficient when it comes to interacting with others, but I was going to take your advice in regard to Norman. I just hadn’t sufficiently composed what I wanted to say to him before you happened upon us.”
Beatrix nodded. “Perfectly understandable, but may I dare hope that you’re ready now?”
Theo gave a jerk of her head and turned to him. “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you before with Beatrix. That was not my intention. I was merely trying to . . . ah . . .”
“Make it possible for me to attend the ball without Miss Dinneen or Miss Ashburn as my guest?” Norman finished for her when Theo faltered.
“Exactly.”
“I just recently came to that conclusion as well, but allow me to extend an apology to you. It was not well done of me to storm off like that.”
“I’d embarrassed you.”
“You did, but I’m afraid I overreacted.”
Theo inclined her head as the comfortable silence he was accustomed to whenever he was in her company settled around them, until Beatrix opened her mouth.
“Don’t the two of you feel so much better?” she said cheerfully. “And see, that wasn’t very difficult at all, and now the two of you will be better prepared the next time you suffer a spat, something that friends occasionally suffer.”
Norman frowned. “As has been mentioned before, by both of us, Theo and I aren’t friends.”
Beatrix released a snort. “Of course you are. One doesn’t normally ask an acquaintance to participate in a shopping expedition, but here both of you are, standing outside Marshall Field & Company after spending time in each other’s company while shopping. Furthermore—”
“There’s a furthermore?” Theo interrupted.
“There’s always a furthermore,” Beatrix said.
“And while I’m sure you’d love to launch into what that furthermore entails,” Norman hurried to say before Beatrix could continue, “I’d like to return the conversation to something I believe is more important, that being the reduction in pay you mentioned earlier. You never said how much of a reduction you’re going to take.”
“That’s hardly more important than what I was going to say, but if you must know, fifty cents a week.”
“I suppose that’s not too extreme,” Norman said slowly.
“It is when you were only making seven dollars a week to begin with.”
Norman blinked. “Forgive me, but did you say seven dollars . . . a week?”
“I did.”
“I feel a distinct urge to run down Mr. Marshall Field and have a nice chat with him. And before you argue with me about that, you should know that I live near Mr. Field on Prairie Avenue. Given the extravagance of his home, he’s certainly capable of paying his employees more.”
“I’m sure he is capable of paying more, but I don’t want you to seek him out. Besides, he’s not at the store today. I heard he’s spending his time over at the dry goods warehouse on Madison and Market.”
“Then that’s where I’m heading,” Norman said before he took off, pretending he didn’t hear Beatrix’s protests.
Striding around a group of ladies wearing enormous hats, he headed down the sidewalk, intent on getting to Madison and Market as quickly as possible.
A hand on his arm had him slowing his pace right as he got to the corner of the Marshall Field & Company building.
“You really can’t run down Mr. Field to have a chat with him,” Beatrix argued, her hand tightening on his sleeve. “He won’t appreciate your interference in what is really only a small matter of one of his employees being disciplined for leaving her department.”
He ignored that as he looked to the left and then to the right, coming to a complete stop when the traffic rumbling past him on State Street made it all but impossible to cross the street. “But Mr. Field is, without question, paying you too little.”
“He pays all his female employees too little, but that’s an accepted practice, at least from what I’ve been told, because working women enjoy the reputation that comes with being an employee at Marshall Field & Company.”
“But you’re being required to accept a decrease in what is already an unacceptable wage to begin with. Aren’t you concerned that the decrease is going to leave you in an uncomfortable financial situation?”
“A loss of fifty cents a week will not ruin me financially.”
Norman frowned. “But you’re making very little as it is, and—”
The rest of what Norman wanted to say was interrupted when a man stumbled into him, which had him stumbling into Beatrix, which sent her careening into the street, right in front of a large delivery wagon.