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Elvenna tossed back skeptically, “I’ve never seen any Colored women at any of the banks. Which one was this?”
“The Bank of California.”
“Why that’s one of the state’s biggest and most influential,” Winston said, eyeing Portia with even greater interest.
“My brother’s on the board of directors,” Rhine explained.
“Is he married?”
“Elvenna!” her brother gasped.
Wineglass in hand, she waved him off, “I’m just making conversation, Phillip.”
Portia shared a look with Eddy.
Rhine replied to her question, “He is, and very happily, I might add.”
“Pity,” she said. “My Saul’s been dead three years. I’m very lonely without him. Have you ever been married, Portia?”
“No.”
“Then you’re probably lonely as well.”
Portia responded politely. “Honestly, I’m not. My life is very full.”
Elvenna chuckled knowing, “Unmarried women always say that, but everyone knows the truth. Deep down inside every woman wants to be married. Society holds her in higher esteem if she is. It pities her if she’s not.”
Ada snapped, “That is narrow-minded rubbish.”
“Maybe, but you have to admit it’s true.”
“Views change,” Portia told her coolly. “Thirty years ago, society doubted the race would ever rise like it has. Now we have colleges, doctors both male and female, and our men have been in Congress. In ’81, Colored washerwomen took on the city of Atlanta and forever changed how they are viewed. In the end what society thinks is never set in stone.”
Winston raised his glass. “Well said, MissCarmichael.”
Portia met her aunt’s and uncle’s approving smiles and caught Regan’s wink. Having put the now sour-looking widow Gordon in her place, Portia returned to her meal.
“That was a perfect set down,” Ada said to Portia later as she walked the Jakeses to their rooms after dinner.
“It needed to be said.” She disliked being underestimated.
Winston walked beside his mother and although he hadn’t had much to say after toasting Portia with his glass, he’d spent the rest of the meal watching her with unmasked admiration. “Any man able to engage you in conversation on a daily basis would be lucky indeed, Portia.”
“That’s very kind of you to say.”
“I plan to add you to that list of astute women I mentioned on the ride from the depot.”
Portia was warmed by the praise. “I’m honored.”
Ada seemed pleased as well. “Winston bemoans the fact that the women he meets leave a lot to be desired intellectually. But you give him hope.”
“Mother!”
“I’m simply stating fact. She’d make an excellent daughter-in-law. You have the length of our five-day stay to make your case.”
He shook his head with amusement. “As you probably sense, my mother’s impossible to manage.”
His usage of the word manage brought Kent to mind. She thought it probably ill-mannered to think of one man while conversing with another, so she put the cowboy out of her mind. “Even though I have no plans to marry, I appreciate a woman who speaks her mind. My aunt Eddy is that way.”
