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The sightof Fiona and Addie on the platform had given me a lump in my throat. They were both lovely in their summer dresses, so pure and fresh after the long train trip from New York. Fiona was my dearest friend and had been since we met in Paris. Her husband, Li, was a close second. They’d quite literally given me a new sense of purpose when they’d invited me to return with them to America. During that first visit in the summer of 1928, I fell in love with the entire Barnes clan. They were my truest and closest friends, a second family when I desperately needed one. It may be that I needed them more this summer than I had the very first one. How would I tell them all that this might be the last? Even if I were to come in future summers, it would be with Lena by my side. I couldn’t imagine her here. Not as my wife, anyway. This would be the last of my idyllic summers with the Barnes family.
I’d answered Fiona honestly about my work, but I’d not told her about my personal life. The company I worked for had been bought by Maxwell Masters, one of the richest men in America. Many of my colleagues had been let go. I had kept my job. At first, I had not known why. Now I knew the terms. I knew what he wanted from me.
Last week, I’d been summoned to Maxwell Masters’s offices and escorted into a room with a large desk. Behind it sat Mr. Masters. Plump and red-faced and dressed impeccably, he’d offered me a drink at eleven in the morning. I’d declined, thinking of my father and what drink had done to him.
The office smelled of cigars, good whiskey, and new money. I could practically taste the newly printed bills. The depression had hit even the richest of New York City. There had been suicides and disgraces splattered all over the streets of the city in the early days after the crash. Masters had taken advantage of this, buying up property and businesses for pennies. All good businessmen seemed to have a sixth sense for this kind of thing. If only my father had, I would not be in my current predicament. Currently, Masters was set to rule the world.
“I suppose you wonder why I’ve sent for you?” He pressed his fingers into his white mustache and looked across the desk at me. Green eyes, I noted. Like Lena’s. Instead of placed in her pretty face, on Masters they seemed to peer at me from doughy pink folds between his forehead and cheeks.
“Yes, sir.” I swallowed. Had I been brought here because I’d taken his daughter, Lena, out several times? Once for dinner and a play, another time for a stroll in Central Park. We’d met at a party in the early spring and had immediately liked each other. Like the soiree, she’d been light and funny, a welcome distraction from the seriousness of the times. “Is it because of Lena? Because I can assure you I’ve been nothing but a gentleman.” Was I going to get sacked for dating the new boss’s daughter?
“I’m aware of your courtship. Lena tells me everything, you see. She’s quite taken with you.”
“And I with her, sir.” I’d not thought much about her, if truth were told. She was out of my reach. I was a penniless editor living in a one-room apartment eating beans and stale bread for dinner.
“James, did you know I know your father? We met years ago, right after the war.”
I sat there, shocked, waiting for what was coming next. Was this why I’d kept my job? “How do you know him?”
“It’s a long story that I won’t go into today,” Mr. Masters said. “Suffice it to say, we had business dealings that were more advantageous to me than him.”
Most were, I thought. Especially those done over the poker table.
“He’s informed me of his troubles,” Masters said. “Of the situation with your family.”
Situation. Thesituationwas that my father had gambled and drunk away the family fortune, or what was left of it anyway, and now they were unable to keep up the estate or staff. The gardens had gone to ruin, the damp and dark house infested with vermin. Father had written to me earlier this year that all of the money was gone. There was no place for them to go. He’d asked for too many favors from my mother’s only relative, a rich aunt. He didn’t know what he was going to do, and could I send a little something to help them?Think of your sister,he’d written. What money, I’d thought? I’d written back to him.I have none to give you. Not the vast amounts you need.Not any amount, for that matter. I barely made enough to afford my apartment and meager meals.
“It’s quite sad, isn’t it?” Mr. Masters asked. “A man like your father. Such potential. I was always envious of his station in life. Nobility and all.”
“Yes, sir.” I didn’t know where this was headed, but I bristled. Why would he care about stations? Masters was an American. None of that mattered here.
“I’ve been in contact with your father,” Mr. Masters had said. He leaned back in his chair, placing his hands over his stomach. “We’ve come up with a plan that I think will be agreeable to all of us.”
“A plan, sir?”
“You are to marry my daughter Lena at the end of August. In exchange, I’ll take care of your father’s financial difficulties.”
My mouth went dry. “What?” Surely I’d heard him wrong? Marry Lena? I hardly knew her.
Masters shifted in his chair, causing it to squeak in protest. He was not a small man. “You two are the perfect match. She has a bit of a wild streak, you know. You’re respectable and handsome, plus your noble birth. This is of great use to us.”
I didn’t know, but nodded anyway. Lena had seemed perfectly tame to me. Charming, well-educated, and absolutely stunning to look at, with big green eyes and a pointy little chin and thick auburn hair. The few times we’d spent together, I’d quite enjoyed her company. There had been a definite hint of attraction. Still, marriage hadn’t occurred to me for obvious reasons. “Why would you want her to marry me? I’m nearly penniless, and you obviously know about my father.”
He set his elbows on his desk and leaned forward. “I’ll be honest here. Lena has been shut out from society because of me. I have a reputation, as I’m sure you’ve heard.”
I nodded, not knowing what to say. There were rumors about shady business deals and possible illegal activities during Prohibition. Regardless, I didn’t pay much attention to any of that, too busy with my books. In hindsight, maybe I should have.
“We’re not respected by the society women in this town, and they run the world here. You may not be aware of what that means to us. Lena wants to be accepted and invited to their ridiculous parties. So do I, for that matter. It’s good for business. You bring titles and all that.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “Sir, I’m not sure about this. What does Lena think of me? Of this idea?”
“She sees the logic in my thinking. With you, doors open for her that have been slammed right in her face.”
“Aren’t there other men that could solve that problem?”
“She wants you. She says you’re kind and witty and God knows you have the looks. In fact, she thinks she’s in love with you. Her mother died when she was a baby. It’s just been the two of us. I’ve never seen her this way before.”
“Really?” I hadn’t thought we’d spent enough time together to fall in love. Maybe I was missing something?
