Dovetail: A Novel(79)

“Let’s go join Howie and Edna,” she suggested to Pearl, who begrudgingly followed her and John across the room.

“Pearl. Alice. Mr. Lawrence.” Mrs. Donohue looked each of them in the eye. “Since I am responsible for you, I’m glad to see you have arrived safely.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me, Mrs. Donohue,” Pearl said, her voice assured. “I know how to behave at a dance.”

“Don’t tell me who I need to worry about, Pearl. If the truth be told, you’re the one I’m most concerned about.” Mrs. Donohue rested her hand on Howie’s arm. “I see right through you, Pearl Bennett. If your father and Alice didn’t watch over you, there’s no telling what you’d do.”

Pearl laughed. “Alice does watch over me, ma’am, but I would be fine on my own. I wouldn’t do anything too bad, although I have always wanted to dance on a tabletop.” She mischievously eyed a nearby table. “And I just might before the night is through.”

Alice cringed, knowing that Pearl’s brashness could be taken the wrong way, but luckily, Edna—dear, sweet Edna—stepped forward with a grin. “This is one of the things I’ve always admired about you, Pearl. I never know what you might say. You make merry at every opportunity, and your teasing lifts my spirits.”

Howie joined in with a chuckle. “You can’t take Pearl too seriously, Mother. She likes to have a little fun, but she never overdoes it. I have never seen her be anything but a perfect lady.”

“Well, she’d best be a lady tonight.” Mrs. Donohue caught sight of a neighbor’s arrival and excused herself to greet them. “I’ll be watching all of you,” she cautioned before walking off.

“Yes, ma’am,” a chorus of voices answered.

Edna explained that the three of them had helped set up the hall. “Howie climbed the ladder to hang the decorations,” Edna said. “I brought a cake and helped light the lanterns.”

As they talked, more people poured into the place, and the murmur of voices echoed off the ceiling. One of the chaperones kept a careful eye on the punch bowls to prevent them from being spiked. The band began to play, and the music muffled conversations around the room.

“I’m bored,” Pearl announced. “Howie, will you dance with me?”

Howie’s face fell. “My mother made me promise I would dance only with Edna.”

“Then John!” She patted his arm. “You’re staying in our barn. A dance with me is small payment for the privilege.”

Alice could not suppress a grin. Pearl, poor thing, was never content. She always had to shine a light on herself because she didn’t understand how to light herself from within.

John looked awkwardly at Alice and then said, “I asked your father if I could accompany Alice, and it would be rude of me to—”

Alice broke in. “I don’t mind, John, if you don’t.”

“See?” Pearl said, lifting her chin. “Alice doesn’t mind at all!”

“I see,” John said, uncertainty in his voice.

“On one condition, Pearl.” Alice waited until she had her sister’s full attention. “Since you get to dance with John first, I am claiming him for the rest of the night. One dance is all you will get, and I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

“But this dance is mine!” Pearl triumphantly pulled John onto the dance floor. Once they’d stopped in the middle of the crowd, he held her as far away as possible, shooting a miserable expression back at Alice as they swayed back and forth.

“That’s not like you to be mean, Alice,” Edna said, sidling up to her. “Poor John looks like he’d rather be slaughtering hogs.”

“There was no way around it,” Alice said with a slight shake of her head. “Once Pearl gets an idea in her head, there is no stopping her. She would have been hanging on John all night and crowding in on my time with him. Better to give her what she wants and put an end to it before it even begins.”

When the music ended, everyone clapped politely, and Pearl and John returned. “That’s hardly fair,” Pearl said grumpily. “The song had already started, so I didn’t get a full dance. Don’t you think I deserve another to make up for it?” She batted her eyes at John.

He answered before Alice could say a word. “I’m sorry, Pearl, but your sister was very clear, and I intend to respect her wishes.” He held his arm out. “Alice, would you honor me with this dance?”

“I’d be delighted.”

He twirled her around the dance floor, mindful not to hold her too close. Alice felt a wellspring of emotion fill the space between them: it was no longer air alone but a connection of love and longing. Whoever had invented dancing had known the yearning of a young lady’s heart. She was transformed, no longer the same Alice she was at home, the one who wiped noses and hung laundry and solved the family’s problems.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“I was thinking how lucky it was that of all the places you could have worked this summer, you came to me.”

He nodded and leaned in a bit to talk quietly. “I have had that same thought myself. I have thanked God every night ever since you said you loved me. And when you said it didn’t matter about my family background, I knew you were an angel.”