Chapter Four

“You girls need anything?” Kate’s mom asked as she breezed through the apartment. “Josie? Anything you want me to tell your mom?”

“No, Mrs. Allen. Just that I’ll see her later.”

“All right. And Nessa, thanks for taking Kate to the airport later today. Josie’s mom had me committed to this fund-raiser weeks ago. You girls enjoy.”

The door shut, and Josie jumped up to turn on the radio. She danced a little jitterbug back to the sofa where the girls were working. Nessa had come over to help teach Josie how to tat lace. Apparently tatting was also a skill passed down in the Kolodenko family.

Aunt Elsie had taught Kate the art of lace-making as part of her education to be the Keeper. The ball gown was trimmed in lace, as was the matching shawl. Kate needed to know how to fix any holes that might develop and teach the next Keeper how to make the complicated pattern. Despite being all thumbs at first, Kate had developed quite a talent for it. The rhythm of the shuttle and the thread felt comforting. But Josie was having as much trouble getting started as she had.

“It won’t flip,” Josie complained. She was firmly planted between the two of them, which was appropriate, since she liked being in the middle of the action.

Kate held back her giggle. She knew exactly how frustrating it was to try to get the thread from the shuttle hand to flip onto the ball thread as you gently pulled. “Loosen your left hand. You’re holding it too tight.”

“Honestly. If I loosen it, it falls off my fingers.”

Nessa held out her hands to demonstrate. “You’ll get the hang of it with practice. Are you nervous, Kate? I know I’d be, meeting my boyfriend’s mother for the first time as he flies off in a plane, leaving you there, having to, what is the word?” She leaned over and asked Josie.

“Chitchat.”

“Yes, chitchat.”

“I wasn’t very nervous until you brought it up.”

“Nah, it works out perfectly, since we’re coming along,” Josie piped up. “You get to say good-bye, and meet the mom, with the support of your good friends to back you up. Then later we all get to help Nessa do more shopping.”

Nessa and her grandmother were returning to Italy via ship later in the week so Nessa could finish getting ready to move to America for college. Their current trip to New York had been unexpected, as they left straight from a vacation in France when they’d seen a photo of the famous Cinderella Window in the fashion papers. They had thought they’d lost the dress forever until that photo appeared. Nessa wasn’t prepared to stay in New York. She wanted to go home for the summer and finish her packing.

And before they left, they wanted to get in a few more purchases. Apparently certain goods were still hard to come by in Europe.

“Girls, that reminds me,” Nessa said. “Did you hear the news? Princess Elizabeth is engaged. There have been rumors about it for ages, but now it is official. I must find something to wear to the wedding.”

Josie’s mouth gaped. “You got an invitation to the wedding of the future queen of England?”

“Not yet, but we go to all the royal weddings. I’m sure we’ll get one.” Nessa said it without any guile as she continued to study her tatting pattern. Being used to such events, she couldn’t relate to how that would sound to two average girls living average lives in an average apartment building in New York.

Looking bug-eyed at Kate, Josie grinned. “I hate when I don’t have the right dress to wear. You don’t want to overshadow the bride, but with all the royals, you can’t be demure either.”

Nessa looked up and smiled at Josie. “Exactly. You understand my problem.”

Josie winked at Kate. “Why don’t you wear the ball gown from the Cinderella windows?” she suggested.

Kate pulled too tightly on her thread and made a knot. The Cinderella dress wasn’t a dress to be worn willy-nilly. She picked out the knot, listening for Nessa’s response.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Nessa said. “What a great idea. I’ll have to ask Babcia what she thinks.”

No, not a great idea. Nessa didn’t know enough about the dress to wear it in public yet. What if something happened to it? The princess would have to take it to England all by herself and get it back to Kate in one piece.

“Isn’t a ball gown too fancy for a wedding?” Kate asked.

“A royal wedding,” corrected Josie.

“I’ll see what the other girls are planning to wear before I decide.”

The knot in the lace Kate had been working on fell out, and with it the little bit of tension she had been feeling. She was being overly protective. Nessa always dressed immaculately and was driven around by a chauffeur. Surely the girl could manage a ball gown. Or Kate could travel with her. She would hobnob with the other servants in the back halls of Buckingham Palace while they waited for the dancing to be over. Kate hadn’t realized how much she still didn’t know about the Kolodenkos’ expectations of her until now. Since she hadn’t grown up knowing the secret, she had a lot to learn. It seemed everyone assumed she knew what she was doing. They forget that Elsie’s explanations were spotty at best.

“That’s one problem solved,” Josie said. “Kate, did you ever figure out what Floyd’s strange message was about?” Josie returned her focus to her tatting, but Nessa looked up sharply.

“What strange message?”

Kate kept her eyes on her shuttle and thread. She hadn’t planned on telling anyone about the diamond until she had worked out its purpose, and why her dad had hidden it inside his sketchbook. It was such an unusual gem. A blue diamond. She wouldn’t have known it was a diamond if Floyd hadn’t said so. She wanted to take it to Tiffany to see what the jewelers there thought of it. They had the famous canary-yellow diamond in the store, but she didn’t want them asking any questions. She’d learned her lesson with the dresses—unusual things should be kept secret until you knew all the facts.

Having to keep secrets about killed Josie, so Kate was reluctant to say anything to her. If the diamond were an anniversary gift for Mom, no big deal. But if the diamond were linked to something else, like the reason Dad went missing in action, that would be a detail she should keep quiet until Floyd could give her more information.

“Kate? What message?”

“Oh, uh . . .” she started. She pretended to be sidetracked by a particularly difficult stitch in her tatting. Could Nessa be trusted? Her own mother and grandmother hadn’t told her about the Cinderella dresses until a few weeks ago. It was Nessa’s older sister who’d known about them and was to inherit them. Kate looked up to see both girls staring at her. If only Josie hadn’t said anything. But how was her friend to know the underlying currents in her family?

“Her brother sent her a cryptic telegram mentioning the words ‘Dad’s box’ and ‘diamond.’” Josie put down her tatting and opened her eyes wide at Nessa. “What do you make of that?”

“Who’s he in cahoots with?” Nessa said, looking to Josie for slang approval. “Diamonds are one of my favorite topics.”

“The message didn’t make much sense,” Kate said. “Hopefully he’ll send a follow-up letter explaining it better.”

“But if he sent a telegram, timing is important,” Nessa persisted.

Kate avoided looking at Josie. “We searched in his toolbox but didn’t find anything.”

“Where else could we look?” Nessa asked, pulling her thread taut to close off a ring. She stood, hands on hips, to survey the apartment. “We’ll help.”

“No, it’s okay. Floyd’ll send a follow-up letter. With him, the message could mean anything.”

“Does your brother often play tricks?” Nessa asked. “I’ve only a sister to compare, and she wasn’t much for tricks. She was always so serious.” She blinked rapidly, her brown eyes swimming with tears. “I am sorry, it still hits me every so often.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Josie asked.

Nessa shook her head so slightly, Kate knew it was a sensitive subject. It was the same way she felt when well-meaning friends wanted her to talk about what happened to her dad.

Lots of people refused to discuss what happened during the war. It was as if they needed time to process, and if they spoke about it too soon, they’d be releasing the memories too quickly.

“We should probably get ready,” Kate said. She put her tatting supplies into a bag.

Josie grabbed Kate by the shoulders and shoved her in the direction of the bathroom. “Hair and makeup first,” she said. “This is the last time you’ll be seeing your honey for a while and you want to leave the right lasting impression.”

“Honestly, Josie.” Kate rolled her eyes.

“May I remind you about Italian girls? Starving for some fun after a brutal war?” She put her hands on her hips. “Trust me on this. I’ve seen how flirty my sister can get.”

Kate caught Nessa’s eye, and the two burst out laughing.

“What? What did I say?” Josie asked.

Giggling, Kate answered. “How flirty your sister can get? How about you?”

Josie gave an exaggerated bow. “Fine. I stand accused. But you know I’m right. Let me just tidy you up a little.”

As Josie set to work, Kate tried not to let Josie’s words get to her. Johnny never seemed to pay too much attention to the girls who were trying to be noticed, but some girls were awfully persistent. Like Fran. How long could he hold out before he noticed them? Her?

Either Kate and Johnny’s letters would sustain them over the summer, or things would fizzle. She’d never perfumed her letters, but this summer she might need to.