Page 22 of The Queen of Roses

“As it happens, Mrs. Barnes has a well-built house on Raymond Avenue that she is happy to give us the use of for a modest rent,” said Mama.

Adele swallowed. “Mrs. Barnes is to become our landlord?”

“Provided that she does not choose to rescind her kind offer based on your behavior this afternoon.”

Suddenly she saw the entire whist party through new eyes. Had Mrs. Barnes been generous because that was her nature, or had the lady watched Adele and her mother and laughed to herself as Adele had expounded on the virtues of a true gentleman compared to those bothered by business, knowing full well the genteel poverty the Pearce family faced? The idea that the Pearces might become a figure of fun mortified her, twisting her stomach into knots.

“I am sorry, Mama,” she whispered, chastened and embarrassed in equal measure. “I did not know. I will apologize to Mrs. Barnes.”

“That is the least you can do,” snapped Mama.

“How else can I help, Mama? Tell me.”

Mama’s eyes narrowed and a small smile tipped her lips, almost as though she had been waiting for Adele to ask just such a question.

“You must marry.”

“Of course, Mama, but—”

Mama held up a hand. “You must marry here.”

Every instinct screamed at Adele to protest, but the truth of what her family was facing rose up in front of her like a wall. In the space of a single conversation, everything she had known to be true had changed.

“You have no dowry,” Mama continued, making no effort to hide the brutality of the truth. “Even if you were to return to London in the spring, the chances of you receiving a proposal will be even more diminished when everyone learns of your father’s folly. However, an American man might agree to take you with no dowry purely because of the English polish that you can apply to his rough edges.”

Mama reached across the gap between them, clasping Adele’s hand in a rare moment of tenderness. “It is true that I once wished for more for you, but we must face the reality of our situation. There is money in Pasadena—money that could be yours to do with what you wish. If your husband provides security, you could make him into something that you would be proud of. You could teach him how to be a gentleman.

“You do not need to become engaged to Mr. Whitley or Mr. Lochery or anyone you do not like, but I urge you to reconcile yourself to allowing a man to court you before it is too late. Take advantage of the opportunity that is in front of you, Adele, and marry someone who will provide for you and for your father and me so that we never have to worry about your father’s profligacy again.”

Adele stared at their clasped hands, burning with shame and anger at the fact that her darling father had landed them in this mess but unable to see a way out of the predicament she found herself in. Her family needed a lifeline, and she was the only one who could secure one.

She took a deep breath. “Tell me what I must do.”

chapter nine THERESA

May 1960

Theresa reached for her lemonade glass but found that the last of the ice cubes had long melted and even the sides were dry of condensation. She’d been so enraptured by Miss Pearce’s story of Pasadena as it had been that she hardly noticed the passage of time.

“You must have been furious with your mother,” she said.

“Oh, I was,” said Miss Pearce, leaning back in her chair as though tired from her storytelling. “You must remember that, at this time, those of us in England had an idea that the West of America was all cowboys and Indians. I was ignorant of what society here was like, and I was too arrogant yet to understand that the purpose of good manners is not to use them to judge others. Instead, a lady is defined by her ability to always make those around her comfortable.”

“I can’t imagine how different it would have been here. I would have been terrified if I had to face the prospect of leaving everything I knew.”

Miss Pearce’s brow arched. “Really? And were you born and raised in Pasadena?”

“No. I’m from Washington, DC, originally. My mother and I moved out to the suburbs after my father died.”

“And did you attend university?”

“Yes. Barnard and then Columbia,” she replied.

“And then you moved all the way out here for a man? A job?”

“A job,” Theresa said firmly.

“Then you know a little of what it was like to leave a world behind,” said Miss Pearce. “It can harden some people, and it can be the making of others.”