Twenty-Two
Luke wolfed down breakfast at the boardinghouse, grateful he was in the control group this week. He had personally appealed to Dr. Wiley to be spared chemical concoctions in the days before Caroline’s wedding. The doctor refused to confirm Luke would be in the control group, but the old bachelor had a huge sentimental streak he kept deeply hidden, and Luke was certain his request had been honored.
He headed to the Delacroix town house, where a team of seamstresses, a florist, and a hairdresser had already arrived to help Caroline prepare. Gray would be giving the bride away, and Luke still ached at the thought that after tonight, someone else would forever be first in Caroline’s affections.
Gray’s wife was in the front hall, taking an inventory of a huge mound of wedding gifts piled on the hall table.
“Good heavens, you look lovely,” he said to Annabelle, who was already dressed for the wedding in a breathtaking gown of canary yellow silk. It was a soft, floating gown that easily accommodated her expanding waistline.
“Caroline’s doing,” Annabelle replied with a wink. “We visited three different dressmakers before she was satisfied with a design for it.”
As a farmer’s daughter from Kansas, it had taken Annabelle a while to adjust to the elegant fashions of Washington’s high society. Annabelle normally preferred to dress simply, but there was nothing normal about today. This was going to be the wedding of the year, and Luke’s formal suit was waiting for him upstairs.
“I’d better get dressed as well. I take it Caroline is still upstairs?”
Annabelle nodded. “She’s with the hairdresser. The train of her gown will get crumpled in the carriage, so the wedding dress has already been delivered to the church. We leave in an hour so she’ll have plenty of time to get dressed.” She glanced at the clock with an expression of baffled amusement. “I never realized it took so many hours to get properly dressed.”
He leaned in to kiss her cheek and forced himself to sound cheerful. “Hang in there. You’re doing a great job.”
Today was already harder than expected. He was thrilled for Caroline. Of course he was. And he was a master at faking good cheer even when he didn’t feel it.
Ten minutes later Luke was inserting a white carnation into the lapel of his black cutaway coat. He was in full formal attire, with a high starched collar and a lavender silk cravat secured with a tiny diamond stud.
Time to face Caroline. He flipped open the lid of a slim velvet box, gazing down at the gift he’d had custom-made. It had galled him to commission it, but Caroline deserved to know that he was fully prepared to accept Nathaniel into their family. Would she understand the symbolism of the brooch he designed for her? He didn’t want it getting lost among the dozens of gifts already mounded in the hall below, and he wanted to be there when she opened it.
He crossed the hall to her bedroom, where the hair stylist was putting the finishing touches on an artistic coiffure. Most of Caroline’s hair was artfully coiled atop her head, but plenty cascaded down her back in loose spiraling waves.
He met Caroline’s laughing gaze in the mirror. “Can I steal two minutes?” he asked as the hairstylist left the room.
“You can have as many as you want,” she said. “Or at least as many as you need before ten o’clock. That’s when the carriage arrives to take me to the church.”
“Dad always called us two peas in a pod,” he said as he retrieved the slim box from his pocket.
Actually, everyone called them two peas in a pod. As twins, they had shared the same womb and arrived into this world within six minutes of each other. They shared a crib for their first year and a school bench when learning to read. They had an uncanny bond of camaraderie as they grew older, but it was time to say good-bye to their exclusive friendship and widen it to include others.
“A wedding gift,” he said casually as he set the box on Caroline’s dressing table.
“Can I open it now?”
“Please do.”
She lifted the lid and gasped at the brooch. He needn’t have feared she would miss the symbolism, as her eyes misted in understanding.
The brooch was five perfectly cut diamonds nestled in a green enameled hull. Five peas in a pod. Over the past year, the bond he and Caroline shared had finally widened to include their sober older brother. When Gray married last year, Annabelle became a part of their family too. And now Nathaniel made five. They were five peas in a pod. No more Luke and Caroline, the intrepid duo who’d set Washington society on fire. It was time for them to loosen the bond and permit sunlight between them.
Caroline rushed to him, surrounding him with her lemony perfume as she embraced him, careful to protect the sculptural masterpiece of her hair.
“Thank you, Luke. You can’t imagine how much this means to me. Nathaniel has no family. He’s been alone most of his life. I know you aren’t natural friends, but—”
“Shh,” he interrupted. “In a few hours, Nathaniel will be one of us. Never doubt it.”
A knock sounded at the door. “The carriage is here,” Gray said from the opposite side. “It’s early, but perhaps we should leave now. Rumor has it there will be quite a crush at the church. Something about a big wedding with all of Washington society invited.”
Luke offered his arm. “Shall we go?”
Luke sat in the front row of the church next to Annabelle as Gray prepared to walk Caroline down the aisle. He spent these last few minutes scanning the guests in the pews. No Magruder would be invited to Caroline’s wedding, but Luke was on the lookout for Colonel Phelps, Clyde’s hand-picked suitor for Marianne’s hand. Luke had met the colonel a few times over the years and had never heard anything but praise for the army’s youngest colonel. That didn’t mean Luke had to like him.
At ten minutes to eleven, the church was almost full. He was used to pomp and ceremony, and it was on full display this morning, with the church bedecked in white orchids and the guests wearing satins, silks, and uniforms.
But not everyone was lavishly dressed. Caroline and Nathaniel had lived at the White House during the final year of the McKinley administration, where they formed tight friendships with their fellow staff, and those people were here in force to celebrate Caroline’s wedding. For once, instead of cooking, cleaning, or gardening, the White House servants would be treated as honored guests at the most festive party in town.
His gaze strayed to a cluster of men in uniform. There were probably half a dozen officers here, but Luke instinctively focused on his rival. Colonel Phelps wore his blue dress uniform with epaulets at the shoulders and a chest full of medals and ribbons. The colonel caught Luke’s gaze and sent him a polite nod.
Luke turned around. He wasn’t going to let that man spoil his enjoyment of Caroline’s wedding, but he didn’t feel the need to extend the hand of friendship either.
Nathaniel stepped into place at the front of the church, dressed in tails, a starched white collar, and an indigo satin vest. Nathaniel usually dressed like a puritan, but there was nothing fusty about him today. He looked flushed with good health and happiness.
Then Nathaniel’s eyes widened in surprise, and quiet whispers stirred through the crowd. Luke turned to see what had caused the commotion, and it wasn’t hard to see. Ida McKinley, the former first lady of the United States, was walking down the aisle with the aid of a cane on one side and her middle-aged sister on the other. Caroline had been Ida’s personal secretary and almost like a daughter to the infamously difficult first lady. Their falling out last year was a wound that still ached for Caroline.
Nathaniel beamed at Mrs. McKinley’s unexpected arrival and stepped forward to escort her into the pew behind Luke. A few minutes later, the organ began playing Mendelssohn’s classic wedding march, filling the church with its joyful and majestic chords. Pride filled Luke’s chest, and he turned to see the church doors at the end of the aisle open, revealing Gray and Caroline.
She looked as radiant as a queen. The bodice of the gown had a high collar and long sleeves made of ivory satin but shot through with gold embroidery. She beamed as Gray walked her down the aisle. Luke flashed her a wink, and she winked back.
Then she saw Mrs. McKinley, and her composure cracked. Once Caroline was alongside the older woman, she dropped Gray’s arm and leaned over to embrace the former first lady.
“Thank you for coming,” she whispered. “A thousand times, thank you!”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Ida McKinley said. “Although it looks like you’re driving your brother into the poorhouse with that gown.”
Caroline beamed. “You would be disappointed in me if I didn’t.”
Luke laughed but still had to reach for a handkerchief. His embarrassing tendency for getting weepy-eyed was coming on strong, and it looked like Caroline’s wedding was going to be his Waterloo.
The wedding reception was held in a clubhouse on the outskirts of town. It was a good thing the weather was fine, allowing them to open the French doors so the crowd could spill out onto the flagstone patio. Flowers adorned the tables, music filled the air, and uniformed waiters circulated with a selection of delicacies.
Luke ate nothing. His stomach growled during the champagne toasts, during which he casually held aloft a flute of wine to toast the bride—it would have looked awkward if he hadn’t—but he was still a member of the Poison Squad and needed to abstain from eating or drinking anything other than plain water.
He met Gray’s eyes across the dance floor. His older brother raised a toast to him and drained the glass. This was a change of pace! Luke was supposed to be the hard-living, reckless one. Now, when he should have been popping corks and kicking up his heels at Caroline’s wedding, he obeyed the rules and didn’t let a morsel pass his lips while Gray picked up the slack.
It was stuffy inside the clubhouse, so he made his way outside into the warm evening. Then a tiny old woman with a surprisingly strong grip pulled him aside to castigate him for supporting Caroline’s work on the McMillan Commission.
“Tell your sister I cannot countenance the removal of the arboretum outside the Department of Agriculture,” she said in an iron-hard voice. “Those trees are a treasure to the city, a green oasis amidst the concrete rubble.”
“Ma’am, they will be replaced by miles of open parkland. The view will be—”
“Who cares about a view?” she barked. “It’s shade trees this city needs.”
Others joined the conversation. Political chatter was commonplace whenever more than a dozen people in Washington gathered, and soon the talk drifted to the upcoming budget, the restructuring of the War Department, and even the arrival of two bald eagles at the zoo. Maybe it wasn’t the thing to discuss politics at a wedding, but Luke loved it. He loved it. What a blessing that after years of struggling to find a meaningful purpose in this world, he’d found it right here in his hometown.
Then Caroline and Nathaniel came outside, and attention shifted to them as a photographer set up his tripod to take a special photograph Caroline requested. During her time at the White House, she shared a dormitory with nine other women who worked in the building. Two cooks, two telephone operators, three maids, a seamstress, and a laundress. Today they were all respectably dressed, but their work-roughened hands gave them away.
One of the older women seemed reluctant to join the others for the photograph. “We’re not the sort for a posed photograph,” she said.
“Nonsense!” Caroline exclaimed. “You nine ladies are the only sisters I ever had.”
The older woman beamed in reply and fell into place. Soon the women left, and Nathaniel posed with a group of Secret Service officers for their photograph with the bride. Jokes flew as the former White House colleagues reunited for the first time in almost a year.
A group of army officers, including Colonel Phelps, stood only a few feet away. Old instincts kicked in, and Luke immediately started eavesdropping. Often people felt compelled to jabber when they were anxious, but Luke had always found one could learn far more by simply listening. He held the glass of flat champagne in his hand, pretending to enjoy the view but privately scrutinizing Colonel Phelps.
The officers were speculating about additional army encampments moving out west, and if there was any room for promotion by accepting postings that far out of the limelight.
“If a rebellion in the Indian territories happens, it will come quickly,” Colonel Phelps said. “Things may appear calm at the moment, but the promotions will go to the men out in the field, not the staff officers in Washington.”
Personally, Luke would like nothing better than to have Colonel Phelps transferred out west. Perhaps Hawaii.
Soon the conversation shifted to the quality of the crab salad and the bacon-wrapped filet mignon. Luke’s stomach growled, but he had fended off worse hunger pains than this, and he was curious to hear Colonel Phelps’s opinion of Caroline’s gourmet selections. If Colonel Phelps aspired to an alliance with the Magruder family, he would have to become a fan of potted ham and chicken spread.
Sadly, Colonel Phelps said nothing disparaging about the food. He comported himself like a perfect gentleman for the entire ten minutes Luke eavesdropped.
Until the colonel slipped and made a derogatory comment about Nathaniel. “I don’t personally know the man, but a Delacroix marrying a civil servant is a bit of a step down, isn’t it?”
Luke didn’t wait to hear the reply. He pushed away from the wall and approached the group of officers. “That ‘civil servant’ is my brother-in-law,” he said coolly.
Colonel Phelps blanched and took a step back. “My apologies,” he said. “I had no idea any family members were in the vicinity.”
“Obviously.” Luke’s gaze flicked to Colonel Phelps’s collection of medals and the epaulets on his shoulders. “Nathaniel Trask doesn’t have medals or a fancy title to prove his heroism. He has worked quietly behind the scenes for years, but he’s the reason the paycheck you draw each month isn’t rendered worthless by an ocean of counterfeit. He is the kind of man that keeps the heartbeat of America strong, and I am proud to call him my brother.”
He hadn’t bothered to lower his voice, and several people were surreptitiously watching him. He didn’t care. He wasn’t going to stand aside and let Caroline’s husband be insulted at his own wedding.
“My apologies,” Colonel Phelps said. “I’ve heard nothing but fine things about Agent Trask.”
Luke nodded his head in concession. “Myself as well.”
He turned away, rubbing his chest and wondering at the strange ache he felt. He was lonely. Marianne should be here. He was proud of her and didn’t want to sneak behind her parents’ backs any longer. He was ready to venture into the world with the woman he loved beside him, but he feared Marianne might never be able to cross that bridge.
Marianne waited for Luke on a bench in the arboretum. The moon was bright enough that she could show him the pictures she developed that morning. The ones they’d taken of each other in the treetops were dazzling, probably because they looked so happy.
“For you,” she said as she handed him the box of photographs. “Two for you, and two for me. They aren’t fully dry, so be careful for the next couple of days, because they can still smudge.”
Luke was somber as he gazed at the photograph she’d taken of him standing in the trees. “You need to be careful with these pictures for longer than that,” he said. “Your father would implode if he caught you with this.”
She didn’t want to dwell on her father. Their time together was too fleeting to waste it on worries. “Tell me about the wedding. Tell me everything.”
He started pacing before the koi pond in the center of the arboretum. “Caroline was beautiful, and the music almost made me weep. The weather held, and the setting was perfect. The food smelled and looked good, but I can’t vouch for how it tasted. All I know is that I was mostly miserable because I kept missing you and wanted you there. I’m tired of running around behind people’s backs. I want us to be together. I love you, and that’s never going to change. Please say you feel the same.”
The hint of uncertainty in his eyes cut straight to her heart, and she stood to clasp his face between her hands and look straight into his eyes. “You adorable man. I fell half in love with you when we were on the ice, and then all the way when you found out my last name was Magruder and you still treated me like I was a princess. I know we have stumbling blocks ahead of us. I’ll clear them away. No more waiting.”
Instead of looking delighted, he looked even more worried. “Your parents might disown you, like they did your Aunt Stella. I can’t bear being the cause of that.”
“You won’t be the cause of it. They will.”
He grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “I love you so much,” he murmured. “I need to know what you are willing to risk for us to be together.”
“Everything,” she said without hesitation.
“Would you be willing to skip a fancy wedding? Walk away from your family’s fortune and burn the bridges behind you?”
“Fetch me the match,” she replied, and he smiled but sobered quickly.
He squeezed her hands. “Your father hates me. He’s already destroyed my office, and it will get worse once he knows our intentions are serious. Are you truly willing to walk away? Follow in your Aunt Stella’s footsteps?”
She swallowed hard. She didn’t even know what happened to Aunt Stella, so how could she answer? All she knew was that she loved Luke, and if her family couldn’t accept him, she would follow wherever he led.
“You once painted a dream of San Francisco,” she said. “A place where we could have a garret apartment and live like vagabond artists.”
It was hard to keep speaking when he kept kissing her, but she loved every moment of it.
“We’ll try to do everything right,” Luke whispered as he traced kisses along her jaw. “We’ll be patient. I’ll behave myself. I’ll offer a truce with your family and turn the other cheek. Whatever it takes, we will find a way.”
He shed his coat and laid it on the grass for her. They watched the moon and the stars rotate overhead. Tomorrow their world might topple over in chaos, but for tonight, they held hands and dreamed of the world to come.