The Wedding Dress(29)

“What a mean, selfish thing to say, Daniel Ludlow. He bought the ring for his intended. He found one he adored and knew that sooner or later, he’d find the woman to match it.” The waiter set a lemonade on the table. “Isn’t it time for you to be moving on?” Emily peered toward the bright front of the diner. “Mother will be along.”

Daniel halted the waiter and motioned to Emily’s glass. “I’ll have what she’s having.”

“So.” She sighed as if resigned to keep his company. “You’ll be starting your teaching position soon.”

“Yes, as a matter of fact. Please keep your alma mater in mind, Em. Education needs benefactors.”

“I’m sure Phillip will be most generous to the institute.”

“Phillip? Or you?” He grinned. Come on, Em, give it up. Show me your gorgeous smile. “You know what they say, men earn it, women spend it. That’s the beef with some of my friends and the women’s suffrage. Why give women the right to vote, to have a say in the taxes and politics, when the men are the ones out there doing all the work?”

“Such a small, manlike notion. Women work plenty.” Emily came to life, squaring her shoulders, lifting her chin, charging up the familiar spark in her eyes. Daniel used to love to bait and debate her. “For no wage at all. Cooking, cleaning, and ironing a man’s clothes, bearing his children. The men in the Sloss or Saltonstall furnaces would fall to their knees whimpering at the first labor pain. What price shall we put on labor and birth, hmm? What of the unmarried woman? The widow? Should they not have a say in the use of their taxed wages?”

“Good, you made your case. You sat there so stiff, I thought Saltonstall had drained all the spit and fire out of you.”

“He’s not like that, Daniel. You don’t know him.”

“Tell me.” Daniel angled over the table. “Do you know him?” The waiter swung by with another lemonade and asked if they were ready to order. Emily declined, saying she would wait for her mother.

“Yes, I know him. That’s twice you’ve insinuated I don’t. I’ve known Phillip most of my life, as have Father and Mother and Howard Jr.”

Daniel reclined against the booth, raising his lemonade for a long, cooling drink. More for his soul than his throat. The sweet and sour blend reminded him that he had options here. Would he tear Emily down with what he knew or give her his support, be the friend he claimed to be?

Yet, by gum, there was no mistaking what he’d witnessed on the corner of 19th and 3rd Avenue North. He’d know Saltonstall anywhere. He was the only buster in town who wore spats in the day.

“I’m happy for you, Em.” Daniel set his glass down and rested his gaze on her face. “Truly, I am.”

“Thank you. Your words mean a lot.”

“Did you ever find my letters?”

“What does it matter, Daniel? We’ve moved on. We’re different people.”

I’m the same man, Emily. The one hopelessly in love with you.

“I’ll have my words with the United States Postal Service. I had quite a few good tales in those letters. The time we won thirty to zero. When Broderick and Stonewalter got in a fistfight and I stitched both of them up with needle and thread. The time we went swimming in the Ohio. And the night I heard a banjo player singing about his true love and I couldn’t stop thinking of you. I wanted to hold you, dance with you, kiss—”

“Don’t, Daniel.” She tipped her head to one side. “It’s no use now.” She lowered her gaze. “Perhaps providence intervened when we weren’t wise enough to know better.”

“Oh, but I think we did know better.” Daniel ran his hand over his hair, springing a few curls over his forehead. “But if you’re sure, then I’m sure. I’ll be going. Good luck to you, Em.”

Daniel reached for his hat as he slid out of the booth. But Emily snatched at his hand. “Danny, wait. When you came to Highlands, to see me, you said something about Phillip. Something about—oh, I can’t remember, but you cast a shadow on his character. And just now you asked if I really knew him. What did you mean?”

“It’s time for me to go.” He lifted her hand from his. But Emily took hold again.

“If you care about me at all, you’ll tell me.”

“I don’t think you know what you’re asking, Emily.” He regarded her for a moment. “And you are wearing his ring.”

Emily glanced down, a ruby blush on her high cheeks. “I trust you, Daniel. Heaven help me, but I do. I saw him on the street corner today.” Daniel perched on the edge of the seat. So she did see what he’d seen. “I was on the fourth floor of Loveman’s, looking out the window when I spotted him. He’s the only man in town who wears spats every day, you know. A thin woman approached him, and before I could bat an eye, he swept her into his arms.”

When her voice broke, Daniel slid into the booth beside her, running his arm along the top of the seat and around her shoulders. “Perhaps she was a friend, a cousin, the daughter of an associate.”

“Do you think so?” Her tone, her innocent expression . . . it was all Daniel could do not to sweep her into his arms and pledge to protect her heart.

“Ah, it’s nothing, I’m sure. Phillip gave his ring to you, not another girl.”