Gus laughed. “Yes, well, I wouldn’t class you as the average housewife. You’ve run your own business. You’ve moved in a man’s world. You’ve faced danger many times. Most women are content to stay home. They want to be protected and cossetted.”
“Do you think that’s really true?” Sid asked. “Is it perhaps that nobody has offered them alternatives?”
“Look at the other girls who were at Vassar with us,” Gus said. “They were receiving a first-class education, but most of them couldn’t wait to be married and become mistress of their own homes.”
“Not all of them have given up the cause, Gus,” Sid said. “I’ve been mining the Vassar alumnae list and have rounded up four of them for our meeting tomorrow night. Two were before our time, one after, but one of them will be familiar to you. Does the name Minnie Bryce ring a bell?”
Gus looked up, frowning. “Minnie Bryce. Wasn’t she a senior in our dorm when we were freshmen? Tall, and rather imposing-looking.” Gus’s eyes lit up as a memory came to her. “I remember now. She was the one who gave us a talking-to after we climbed the ivy to get in that open window one night.”
“Of course. I’d forgotten that.” Sid chuckled. “She threatened to report us to the house mother, but she never did. Must have been a good sort at heart.” She took a swig from her wineglass. “Well, she’s now Minnie Hamilton, married with four sons. She’s just the sort of person we need in our sisterhood. She can influence the next generation of young men.”
I must have yawned. Gus glanced across at me. “Molly, you’re looking tired. You’ve been sitting up too long and we’ve been boring you with our diatribes. Off to bed with you.”
I stood up. “I’m not at all bored, but I really am feeling like a limp rag at the moment, so please excuse me. I must accept that it will take a while to get over what happened yesterday.”
“Of course it will,” Gus said. “There is the matter of delayed shock, as well as the bump on your head and your poor ribs. Do you need me to bind them for you again before you sleep?”
“I’ll be just fine, thank you,” I said. “I’m leaving the doctor’s binding in place as long as possible. But perhaps I will take another of the sleeping powders you offered me. It helped me to sleep well last night, and I am aching all over at the moment.”
Soon I was lying in the comfortable bed and fell asleep. But this second night was not as successful. In my dreams I was back in that confined, dark space, trying to get out, searching for my baby, and when I awoke my head was throbbing. I lay there in the dark, listening to the night noises of the city—cats yowling on some distant rooftop, the revving of an automobile engine, a police whistle. They were unsettling noises, reminding me that I was in a city of danger, that even in my friends’ house I could never feel truly safe.
Nine
In the morning I felt hollow-eyed and groggy as Sid brought Liam in to see me. He, in contrast, seemed remarkably healthy and happy, giggling when Sid pretended to bite his toes.
I forced myself to get up and dress in preparation for the visit from the representatives of Wanamaker’s. They came around noon—two of them, a very superior-looking young man in a black frock coat and a harried young woman, who was carrying the parcels. Actually I was not enthralled with anything they had brought, and I told them that I’d come to the store with my husband as soon as I felt better.
I had a nap in the afternoon, in preparation for the evening meeting, and heaved a sigh of relief when Daniel came to visit me around five o’clock, before the suffragists arrived. I could only imagine his feelings if he’d found me surrounded by militant women making inflammatory banners.
“Well, that’s settled then,” he said, looking pleased with himself. “I received a telegram from my mother. She will be with us tomorrow. It’s very good of her, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yes. Very good,” I tried to say with all sincerity.
“And no doubt you’ve ordered enough linens to furnish the most splendid beds?”
I shook my head. “There was nothing that really took my fancy. The quilts and eiderdowns were rather too ornate for my taste. So let’s hope your mother arrives with enough sheets and blankets for both beds.”
Daniel shot me a questioning look. I could tell he was wondering whether I was trying to play games—to make sure we had nothing to sleep on, because he had expressed his disapproval of Wanamaker’s coming to the house. Now that I thought about it, I was rather pleased with this unplanned outcome. But I maintained a serene expression.