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Chapter Fifteen
On Friday evening Eddy got dressed and went downstairs to await Zeke’s arrival. This would be her first time stepping out with a man, and she was both excited and nervous. She was wearing the lace-edged blouse Vera had made for her and was glad the seamstress had overridden her protests about not wanting something nice.
Zeke arrived a short time later dressed in a worn but clean brown suit. He looked very handsome and the flowers he handed her touched her heart. “Thank you.” Having little to no experience with flowers, Eddy had no idea what kind they were, but they were lemon-colored, fragrant, and beautiful. “Let me find a vase.”
After finding one in the kitchen and putting the flowers inside, she rejoined him.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He offered his arm. “I don’t have a buggy or wagon, so we’ll have to walk.”
She took his arm. “I don’t mind.” Truthfully, she didn’t. A majority of the city’s residents walked to their destinations. Only the wealthy were able to afford buggies and carriages.
As they set out, Eddy felt a bit self-conscious, especially when they passed people they both knew and were given smiles and nods. Being together this way was a public declaration linking her with the handsome carpenter. “So tell me about the concert?”
“The musicians are an all Colored band. Mostly horns and a drummer. They perform at the Union a few times a year.”
“Will it be inside?”
“Yes.”
She hadn’t seen Rhine since the night he’d found out about the twins’ possible adoption. She’d felt his grief and since then had been wondering how he was doing.
“Eddy?”
She startled. “I’m sorry. I was wool gathering. What did you say?”
“I asked if you liked music.”
“I do, and you?”
“I do.”
Embarrassed to have been thinking about Rhine when her attention should’ve been on Zeke, she was determined not to do it again.
But it was difficult at first. The moment she entered the crowded gaslit interior, her mind once again went back to being upstairs in the soft silence of his bedroom and how kind and caring he’d been. And then, seeing his ivory-skinned face and jet black hair behind the bar made her remember all she’d learned and felt about him since then.
“How about we sit over there?” Zeke asked.
“That’s fine.” Determined once again to keep her attention where it belonged, she let Zeke lead her to the table and help her with her seat.
He asked, “What would you like to drink?”
“Lemonade would be fine.”
“Be right back.”
Instead of the tables being spread randomly throughout, as they’d been at the Lincoln Club meeting, they were now lined up in rows like in a school. At the front of the room was a long, flat, slightly raised platform she assumed would be the stage for the musicians. Unfortunately though, she was close enough to the bar for it to be in her peripheral vision and she only needed a slight turn of her head to see it. And when she did, she was instantly snared by a pair of intense green eyes that threatened to tow her under, so she looked away.
Zeke returned with her glass of lemonade. “Thank you.”
He sat. The place was filling up. People now familiar to Eddy nodded or came over to offer a personal greeting.
“So,” Zeke said. “How did you meet Rhine Fontaine?”
The abrupt question caught her off guard and she wondered where this was going. “I was robbed while crossing the desert. I was near death when he and Mr.Dade found me and took me to Sylvie. They saved my life.”
