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Danny Connor. And if Teddy had left anything hidden, surely he would have told me.
New York City was a special place for Teddy and me. I should be happy I was heading there; of all the places on earth, it was the one in which he was most likely to reappear. And I wanted more than anything for him to come back and help set things right.
But at the moment all I heard was the humming of the bees outside my window and the distant shouts of children out in the fine weather, and my pops in the kitchen talking to Ma in a voice low and rumbling like the thunder that rolls across the Hudson before a summer storm.
CHAPTER 5
Lou
I was so proud to be with Danny Connor—yes, Detective Smith, whatever you might think of him, I was proud—that I held my head up like a queen.
Danny bought me an entire wardrobe. Took me right over to Herald Square to Macy’s and outfitted me from head to toe in the latest styles. Right from Paris and only the best. Slinky velvets, chiffons, and silks—even silk unmentionables—and a swell coat with fur at the collar and cuffs and even around the bottom. As if my calves needed to keep toasty. And such shoes! Sweet little patent pumps with straps and heels, and silk pumps, too, that were to be dyed to match the two gowns he bought me. Gowns! I was putting on the Ritz.
I walked into Macy’s one girl and came out another girl altogether.
I thought it was kind of sweet when Danny asked the saleslady to burn my old shirtwaists and wool skirts, for fear they carried nits or fleas or such.
“We aren’t bringing anything from that dump”—he meant the apartment I had downtown when I met him. “We aren’t bringing old trash with us, Louise. Leave it all behind.”
I confess it made me a little teary when I had to leave my ma’s wedding portrait because the paper might carry bookworms, but Danny was a stickler for cleanliness, and I wasn’t about to argue with a guy who gave me everything. A guy who made me over, like new. Who made me feel like I was floating above the clouds.
He took me to the finest hair salon and had my hair done just the way he liked, bobbed and curled over one eye. Had the ladies show me makeup. Eyeliner black as ink. Lipstick in a shade called Killer Red.
“You look lovely, honey,” the hairdresser whispered when Danny’s back was turned. “You take care, now.”
“I’m the happiest girl on the planet,” I said, in a voice that brought Danny around.
I thought he’d smile, but instead he frowned and said, “Feelings are best kept inside, Louise. See you remember that.”
That hairdresser’s eyebrows went up, but I wasn’t going to let that wet blanket spoil my day.
He set me up in this hotel, the Algonquin. He’d been looking for a proper house and wanted something grand, he said, but in the meantime, while he was still on the hunt for the right place, we had a whole suite to ourselves on an upper floor so high it made me giddy to stand at the window. So high I was truly floating. A suite with walls as white as snow and fresh sheets daily and fluffy white towels and a monogrammed robe.
And he took me over to Tiffany’s and bought me a diamond necklace and earrings, although he never let me wear them except when he took me out. He’d unlock his little safe and clasp that necklace on me, and Iwanted to faint at the touch of his soft, manicured hands on my neck. Of course, in my heart I kind of hoped for a ring to go with that necklace, but I wasn’t about to say anything like that to Danny.
Yes, sir, Danny treated me like I was the Queen of Sheba, and I was sure we were set forever and always.
CHAPTER 6
MAY 20, 1925
New Grand Central Ceiling Has the Heavens Turned Around
—Headline from The New York Times , March 23, 1913
Jo
Pops dropped me at the train station at noon the next day. It was a forty-minute ride in to Grand Central. “I’ll see you in a couple of weeks,” he said as we stood side by side on the platform.
“Listen,” I began, but he
New York City was a special place for Teddy and me. I should be happy I was heading there; of all the places on earth, it was the one in which he was most likely to reappear. And I wanted more than anything for him to come back and help set things right.
But at the moment all I heard was the humming of the bees outside my window and the distant shouts of children out in the fine weather, and my pops in the kitchen talking to Ma in a voice low and rumbling like the thunder that rolls across the Hudson before a summer storm.
CHAPTER 5
Lou
I was so proud to be with Danny Connor—yes, Detective Smith, whatever you might think of him, I was proud—that I held my head up like a queen.
Danny bought me an entire wardrobe. Took me right over to Herald Square to Macy’s and outfitted me from head to toe in the latest styles. Right from Paris and only the best. Slinky velvets, chiffons, and silks—even silk unmentionables—and a swell coat with fur at the collar and cuffs and even around the bottom. As if my calves needed to keep toasty. And such shoes! Sweet little patent pumps with straps and heels, and silk pumps, too, that were to be dyed to match the two gowns he bought me. Gowns! I was putting on the Ritz.
I walked into Macy’s one girl and came out another girl altogether.
I thought it was kind of sweet when Danny asked the saleslady to burn my old shirtwaists and wool skirts, for fear they carried nits or fleas or such.
“We aren’t bringing anything from that dump”—he meant the apartment I had downtown when I met him. “We aren’t bringing old trash with us, Louise. Leave it all behind.”
I confess it made me a little teary when I had to leave my ma’s wedding portrait because the paper might carry bookworms, but Danny was a stickler for cleanliness, and I wasn’t about to argue with a guy who gave me everything. A guy who made me over, like new. Who made me feel like I was floating above the clouds.
He took me to the finest hair salon and had my hair done just the way he liked, bobbed and curled over one eye. Had the ladies show me makeup. Eyeliner black as ink. Lipstick in a shade called Killer Red.
“You look lovely, honey,” the hairdresser whispered when Danny’s back was turned. “You take care, now.”
“I’m the happiest girl on the planet,” I said, in a voice that brought Danny around.
I thought he’d smile, but instead he frowned and said, “Feelings are best kept inside, Louise. See you remember that.”
That hairdresser’s eyebrows went up, but I wasn’t going to let that wet blanket spoil my day.
He set me up in this hotel, the Algonquin. He’d been looking for a proper house and wanted something grand, he said, but in the meantime, while he was still on the hunt for the right place, we had a whole suite to ourselves on an upper floor so high it made me giddy to stand at the window. So high I was truly floating. A suite with walls as white as snow and fresh sheets daily and fluffy white towels and a monogrammed robe.
And he took me over to Tiffany’s and bought me a diamond necklace and earrings, although he never let me wear them except when he took me out. He’d unlock his little safe and clasp that necklace on me, and Iwanted to faint at the touch of his soft, manicured hands on my neck. Of course, in my heart I kind of hoped for a ring to go with that necklace, but I wasn’t about to say anything like that to Danny.
Yes, sir, Danny treated me like I was the Queen of Sheba, and I was sure we were set forever and always.
CHAPTER 6
MAY 20, 1925
New Grand Central Ceiling Has the Heavens Turned Around
—Headline from The New York Times , March 23, 1913
Jo
Pops dropped me at the train station at noon the next day. It was a forty-minute ride in to Grand Central. “I’ll see you in a couple of weeks,” he said as we stood side by side on the platform.
“Listen,” I began, but he
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