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Lily looked irritably at Caroline. "Perhaps this was a mistake," she said, stopping in the street and turning to her.
"Nonsense," Caroline replied. "You need a night out. You've stopped going to work again and must do something with your time. It might as well be something enjoyable."
"It has only been two days since Edward left me. I'm not sure I'm capable of enjoying a card game."
"Don't be silly. Whist is always enjoyable. Besides, you said you wanted to speak to Mrs. Ashton, and she'll be there."
Lily frowned. Caroline had shown up on her doorstep an hour ago demanding to know what was going on with her, as Lily had not spoken to her or Dr. Shannon in the last two days. Caroline had been worried, and once Lily had filled her in, she'd grown angry, calling Edward a series of names that Lily would never have repeated in public.
"I'm not sure tonight is a good night to speak with Mrs. Ashton on the subject. I'm not in the best of spirits."
"You'll feel better once the play begins. Besides, it is Della's turn to host, and you know she enjoys putting out a spread."
Lily could not help but smile. Della did indeed enjoy the preparation for the game as much as playing it.
"And you needn't worry yourself," Caroline continued. "I'll say nothing of your child or Edward to anyone in the room unless you bring it up first. Agreed?"
Lily drew in a deep breath. "Agreed," she said with a nod, though she was not at all certain she could get Della to agree to the same.
She would have to get her friend alone quickly and ask her to remain silent on the subject. She was afraid Della might demand to know what had happened between her and Edward and had settled on telling her the truth but not during the game. Lily would just have to insist that Della hold her tongue and wait until later. When the game had finished, she would fill her in on Edward.
They arrived at Della's doorstep and Caroline knocked. Della opened the door wide and smiled at them.
"Thank goodness you're here," she said, yanking Lily's shoulder and pulling her quickly inside. "I was beginning to think you'd disappeared on me. Where have you been? Why have you not been to work? Edward will tell me nothing."
Lily groaned. This was exactly what she'd been afraid of.
Caroline cleverly engaged the other girls in a discussion regarding the new dresses from Paris that had just come into town while Lily took Della aside and told her precisely what she had planned to. Della pressed her lips together but agreed not ask her any more questions until after the whist game had concluded.
The girls gathered around the tables Della had set out and play commenced. Periodically, one or more of the girls would get up and refill their plates with a variety of the foods Della had put out for them.
"You really shouldn't have gone to so much trouble," said Naomi Washington, Caroline's sister. She was married to the mayor of Blisspeak, a likable man who used to be sheriff of a nearby town before moving here to marry Naomi.
"I enjoy it," Della said, pointing to a silver platter filled with something that looked like mini pies. "It's called quiche. It's French. I got the recipe out of a women's periodical I recently read."
Everyone tried some and declared the quiche delicious. Play then resumed, and talk began.
There were eight women in all, seated four each around a card table. Lily was at the same one as Caroline, Naomi, and Della. The other consisted of Kathryn Gillespie, a front receptionist at Saunders Factory; Victoria Richards, a likable woman who owned a dress shop in town; Mrs. Gladys Ashton, the midwife; and Eliza Underwood, a friend of Victoria's and the daughter of an elderly woman named Grace, who lived in town and was amongst the most well-liked women of Blisspeak.
They played and chatted together, those with husbands speaking of them, those without speaking of the men they were interested in. Lily lasted only a half hour before tears formed in the back of her eyes. She attempted to excuse herself to the washroom, but Naomi stopped her.
"What is the matter?" Naomi asked, looking concerned.
"Nothing," Lily said.
Victoria said, "I thought your spirits would be better now that Ray is gone, but you seem even more troubled than when he was still living with you."
"It's not that," Lily said and finally could hold her tears back no longer. They fell and fell until a puddle began to form on the floor. The cards were quickly forgotten, and the women gathered around her.
"Are you ill?"
"Are you frightened?"
"Are you hungry?"
Finally, Lily could take it no more. "I'm carrying Ray's child," she told them. "And Edward Saunders, the man I love, has rejected me because of it."
Seven sets of arms wound around her, comforting her. She allowed herself to take comfort in them.
Della whispered, "Tomorrow at work, I'll give the fool a piece of my mind and refuse to do any work for him. When I must speak to him, I shall do so only in my special tone."
"No, don't," Lily said. "I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with Mr. Saunders because of me."
"I won't. I'm sure Mr. Saunders will agree with me once I put it to him plainly. Edward can do his own typing from now on." She nodded with a definitive "Hmmph" and Lily didn't dare argue with her.
She could not help but feel at least slightly heartened by the words of her friends. Even Eliza, whom she barely knew, suggested they should all go down to Edward's this very evening and play some trick on him.
After a while, Lily's tears stopped, though play did not resume. Instead, they sat around talking about past loves and losses as well as current ones, until finally the night grew long, and the women grew tired. Before leaving, Mrs. Ashton put a hand to Lily's belly then bent over as if listening to the child inside her, who could not yet be bigger than a pea pod, perhaps a small tomato.
"It's a girl," Mrs. Ashton declared and offered Lily her congratulations.
Lily stared at her, dumbfounded, and asked how she knew.
"I've been a midwife for thirty years; that's how I know," she said with a wink before taking her leave. "Trust me."
Lily did, and as the woman departed, she could not help but picture a little girl's face in her mind's eye, and suddenly, her troubles seemed to vanish.
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