At Your Request (Apart from the Crowd 0.5)(25)
Switching her gaze to her mother, who was standing directly beside her father, Wilhelmina smiled over the fact that her mother no longer looked as if she carried the weight of the world on her slender shoulders. That look had disappeared almost the moment she’d learned that Wilhelmina was marrying Edgar and learned that her days of being a pauper were over.
“My parents did not do well with the whole being-poor notion,” Wilhelmina said right as Edgar touched her sleeve, drawing her attention. Her smile immediately turned into a grin when she found Permilia standing beside Edgar.
“I’m so delighted you could make it,” Wilhelmina said, leaning forward to accept Permilia’s kiss on her cheek.
“Of course I made it,” Permilia returned before she lowered her voice to a mere whisper. “And while I would normally make the claim that this is certain to be the event of the season, I’ve recently learned that Alva Vanderbilt has let it be known she’s going to host a spectacular costume ball in that new mansion of hers on Fifth Avenue—a ball in March, no less, after the season is officially over.” She let out a bit of a sigh. “Since I’m very much afraid Alva is going to do her very best to make sure her ball will be spoken about a hundred years from now, I do hope you won’t be disappointed when everyone discontinues talking about this ball.”
“That won’t bother me in the least, since I’m more concerned with marrying Edgar than making an impression on society, but . . .” Wilhelmina leaned closer and dropped her voice to a whisper quite like Permilia had only recently done. “How did you learn about Alva Vanderbilt’s ball?”
“I have my ways,” Permilia said rather mysteriously. “Now then, since I don’t want to monopolize your time, I’ll leave you to your other guests, but do make certain to come find me when you’re done with the receiving line.” She winked. “I’ll be one of the ladies lounging in the wallflower section.”
Before Wilhelmina could respond, Permilia glided away, leaving Wilhelmina to face Miss Lucy Webster, Permilia’s stepsister and the young lady who’d been responsible for Edgar proposing in the first place. Swallowing a laugh when Miss Webster took to gushing about what a lovely couple Wilhelmina and Edgar made, Wilhelmina threw herself back into the process of extending the proper pleasantries to the guests who followed after Miss Webster.
Blowing out a satisfied breath an hour later, when she finished greeting the last guest, she turned to Edgar again.
“Do you mind if I go off to speak with Permilia and the rest of the wallflowers for a bit?” she asked.
Edgar smiled, kissed her cheek, and shooed her away, saying something about searching out Mr. Rutherford to enjoy a celebratory toast.
Making her way through the crowded house, Wilhelmina discovered that she wasn’t in the least upset to be leaving the social world of New York City behind. She and Edgar had agreed that with his mills being where they were, it would make more sense to live in Pittsburgh. Even though society had wholeheartedly accepted her with open arms after it had become known her father’s fortune was being restored, and that she was soon to become Mrs. Edgar Wanamaker, Wilhelmina had discovered that the New York social world no longer appealed to her as it once had done.
Coming to a stop when she reached the back wall of the ballroom, she simply stood there for a moment, watching Permilia, Miss Gertrude Cadwalader, Miss Temperance Flowerdew, and a few other young ladies she didn’t know well, chat with each other—although Miss Flowerdew seemed content with merely listening.
The mere idea that the wallflowers were engaged with each other was an enormous change from just a few weeks before, and that warmed Wilhelmina all the way down to the tips of her toes.
Lifting her chin, she moved to join the group, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that these wallflowers, all of whom society had relegated to the sidelines, were soon to break free from those sidelines and hopefully claim their happily-ever-after just as she’d been able to do.
She couldn’t wait to see how they went about accomplishing exactly that.
Keep reading for a special sample of Behind the Scenes by Jen Turano.
Chapter
One
MARCH 1883—NEW YORK CITY
Pressing her nose against the glass of the carriage window, Miss Permilia Griswold felt her stomach begin to churn as she took note of the throngs of people lining Fifth Avenue. Even though darkness had descended over the city hours before, the lure of witnessing New York society trundling down the street in their fancy carriages, on their way to Mr. and Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt’s costume ball, was apparently enough of a spectacle to keep people out and about on a chilly spring night.
That her father’s carriage was still blocks away from their destination of 660 Fifth Avenue and yet crowds were pressed three deep in and around the sidewalk, gave clear testimony to the importance of this particular ball and to the interest New Yorkers had for its highest society members.
Even though Permilia was included on the invitation list for the most important societal events in the city, she’d not grown up within the cosseted inner circles of society, which exactly explained why her stomach was churning.
She was uncomfortable in social situations, had yet to master all the rules that went with being a member of New York society, and . . .
“You’re fogging up the window, Permilia, which is obscuring my view and making all the people outside our carriage appear to be little more than ghosts wobbling about. It’s a most unnerving sight.”