Show, The (33 page)

"Did you say goodbye to Lucy, Penny? She won't be back for at least three weeks."

Within seconds the girl opened her far-side door and raced around the front of the vehicle.

"I want a hug! I want a hug!" she cried as she ran toward Lucy. She smothered her target with body and arms. "I'm going to miss you."

"I will miss you more," Lucy said. "I want you to be good for your mother and father. If you are, I may just have to bring you something back from Minnesota."

Penny squealed, gave Lucy another hug, and ran back to the car.

"Now, you've done it," Alistair said as he returned to Margaret, Lucy, and Grace. "She will be on her best behavior through March."

"Consider it my going away present."

"You
will
be back by the end of the month, will you not?" Margaret asked.

"I will unless Bill sweeps me off my feet and takes me to one of those exotic lands in dire need of Protestant missionaries," Lucy said. When Alistair and Margaret returned wide-eyed expressions, she smiled and gave each a hug. "I'm just teasing. Of course I'll be back."

"Good," Alistair said. "We will have another dinner in honor of the bride-to-be upon your return. Please give our best to William and his family."

"I will. I promise. Now, if you'll excuse me, I should probably attend to my sister one last time. I don't want her spoiling your trip."

Grace stepped aside, allowed Lucy to pass, and watched her teenage mother walk from one set of relatives to another. When Lucy reached the Oldsmobile and the disgruntled college freshman in the back seat, Grace turned to Alistair and Margaret.

"Have a safe drive," she said.

"You can still join us, Grace," Margaret said. "It might do you some good to get away from the house for a while. My sister has plenty of room at her place."

"Thank you for the offer, but I already have plans. John and I are going to see a movie tonight. In fact, we are double dating with Bill and Lucy. Lucy wants to see the Palladium before she takes off for the wilds of the Midwest."

Alistair placed a hand on Grace's shoulder and looked at her with concern in his eyes.

"Are you sure you want to go back so soon? Your history with that facility has not been a happy one."

"I'm sure. I can't live my life in fear of buildings or movies or even cities filled with angry young men. If I don't move on now, Uncle, I may never be able to."

"What's playing this evening?" Margaret asked.

"It's a double feature:
Little Women
and
Virtuous Wives
," Grace said. "We're going to dinner first, so we will probably only have time for
Virtuous Wives
, but that's the movie the men want us to see."

Margaret laughed.

"You're going to have fun."

"Yes, we are," Grace said with a mischievous smile. "Now, run along. Enjoy your trip and don't give me a second thought. I'll see that Lucy is ready for Bill when he comes for her in the morning. Give my regrets to your sister, Margaret."

"I will."

Margaret opened her purse and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Here is Emma's number in case you need to reach us. We'll be back by noon."

"Thank you," Grace said.

"See you tomorrow, Grace," Alistair said.

"Bye."

Grace watched the couple walk to the Oldsmobile, give Lucy one last embrace, and enter the car. She waved when they closed their doors and again when Alistair started the car and drove slowly down the driveway toward the access road.

When the vehicle finally moved out of sight, Grace thought again about Alistair's question and asked herself if she had given him an honest answer. In fact, she
wasn't
sure about going back so soon. She wasn't sure about going back at all. She considered the Palladium a house of horrors and wondered whether she would ever be able to enjoy another night within its walls.

As she followed Lucy back into the house, however, she thought less about time travel and trauma than about what, if anything, she would do with a bit of knowledge that had been swirling in her head for weeks. Monday morning was just around the corner. In less than forty-eight hours, the fifth largest theater in the world would burn to the ground.

CHAPTER 64: GRACE

Grace flinched when the unnamed stranger kicked her in the stomach but wrote off the assault as a predictable reaction to the Chinese food she'd had for dinner. Ginny and Katie had not been fans of spicy cuisine and it appeared that their sibling was no different.

"Is something wrong?" John asked. He divided his attention between the road and the woman in the front seat of his Cadillac. "I thought I saw a grimace."

"You did," Grace said. "The baby just kicked."

"Oh, how exciting," Lucy said from the back seat. "Does it hurt when it kicks?"

"Not yet. It won't for a while," Grace said.

She quickly moved her eyes forward when she realized the slip. This was her first pregnancy, not her second, and painful kicks were still a few weeks away.

"Have you picked out a name?" Bill asked.

"I'm still undecided, but I'm leaning toward William if it's a boy and Lucille if it's a girl."

Lucy beamed.

"I'd be honored," she said.

"I'd be honored as well," Bill added. "But surely there are more deserving namesakes. Have you considered naming your child after one of your parents?"

"I have. I still like Bill and Lucy," Grace said with a smile.

Lucy elbowed Bill and gave him a scolding glance.

"I think it's a lovely idea, Grace. Too many mothers these days pick daring, trendy names like Clifford and Mildred. If you want something tried and true like Bill or Lucy, then you should pick Bill or Lucy."

William Vandenberg laughed and looked out his window.

Grace studied the couple in the back seat. What a pair they made. She could see why their marriage had been a happy one. Even when they bickered they did so with love and tenderness. She wondered yet again what the future, the new future, had in store for them.

"I like your dress, by the way," Grace said.

"I borrow only from the best," Lucy said.

John turned his head away from the road.

"Did I miss something?"

"She borrowed one of my gowns, one that I'll never wear again," Grace said, referring to a three-tiered lavender tea dress she had once rented from a twenty-first century costume shop.

"Never say 'never,' Grace. It is bad luck," Lucy said.

"OK. It's a dress I probably
won't
wear again."

"That's better. Besides, you'll be skinny again. I'm sure of it."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Lucy. Either way, I think the dress looks better on you than it ever looked on me. You have the right shape. I must also say that it nicely complements Bill's bow tie," Grace said with a grin. "Was that your idea?"

"It most certainly was. I borrowed it from Uncle this morning with his blessing. William resisted wearing it at first, but I impressed upon him that lavender was a color he should embrace."

John laughed.

"Be careful, Reverend. If you allow them to dress you, then you open the door to all kinds of mischief. Isn't that right, Grace?"

"Quite," she said.

She leaned over and kissed him on a cheek that no longer bore the marks of a brutal beating and put her hand on ribs that had begun to heal nicely. She greatly admired this man, who had kept his good nature despite losses and injuries that would have broken the spirit of most.

Grace smoothed the wrinkles from her green maternity dress, or camp tent, as she called it, and settled into her seat. For the first time all evening, she allowed herself to relax.

She smiled as she thought about the Western world's obsession with tight-fitting clothes. That was something that had not changed much in a century. Women had merely traded corsets and girdles for designer jeans and itty-bitty swimsuits.

Grace laughed when she thought of her first brush with itty-bitty attire. She remembered the time Joel's sister had advised her to "flaunt it" while she still "had it" because, Dear God, she'd someday have a baby (or two or three) and slipping again into a string bikini would be like slipping into a lunch sack. She had ditched what Joel had called "the orange peel" that very first year.

Thoughts of the bikini, of course, triggered other memories. Grace closed her eyes as she mentally revisited that incredible day in Kauai. She could still see her wedding dress, the morning ceremony, the beach walk that night, the picture-perfect sunset, and the picture-perfect husband and father she would never see again. When her eyes began to moisten, she looked away from the others.

She knew there would be moments like this – moments when she remembered that she had once been a happy wife and mother living in the age of televisions, computers, cell phones, and disposable diapers. Indeed, they had already knocked on her door.

Sometimes the moments were happy, surprisingly happy. She smiled whenever she thought of Ginny and Katie on their first birthday as they rubbed chocolate cake on their faces and threw their plates on the floor. She sighed at the memory of Joel – cocky, self-assured Joel – humbly asking for her hand in marriage on the corner of a busy street.

More often than not, however, the moments were painful. The memories reminded Grace of what she'd once had and could no longer have. She might always remember the twins' first birthday, but she would never see their second birthday or their third or their fourth. She would never again hold them in her arms, just as she would never again kiss the love of her life.

Grace looked at John and smiled when he met her glance. She knew that life with this man could never replace life with Joel, but she knew it could still be a good life. They would have children of their own, make new memories, and create a home filled with love and happiness.

As John turned onto Pike Street and parked two blocks from the theater, Grace took a deep breath and nodded. It was time to put the memories away and think of the evening to come. She had come to the theater to laugh, not cry, and appreciate the world around her. It was time to enjoy the present once again and focus on the people and things that mattered.

CHAPTER 65: GRACE

The great hall hadn't lost its luster. The carpet was as plush, the lighting as bright, and the architecture as riveting as she had remembered. For all practical purposes, the Palladium on March 1, 1919, was no different than it had been on November 16, 1918, or October 5, 1918, or even October 5, 2002. It was a fancy theater that showed fancy movies to fancy people at fancy prices.

"I've died and gone to heaven," Lucy said as she walked through the front doors. "I can't recall anything this nice in England."

"Wait until you see the inside, dear," Bill said. "It's spectacular."

As the two couples worked their way through a maze of velvet ropes and well-heeled ladies and gentlemen, Grace looked for the one thing she was sure she wouldn't find: the brown Braille sign on the outside of the ladies' room. It wasn't there, which was just as well. If she was going to start living in the here and now, then there was no time like the present to do so.

"Since we've missed most of
Little Women
, why don't we just explore the lobby," she said. "There are a lot of interesting things in here."

"I second the motion," Lucy said.

Grace led the group first to a gallery of full-sized posters promoting the best movies of 1918 and the coming releases of 1919, including
The Cook
,
Old Wives for New
, and
Hearts of the World
. Nearly every illustration featured Charlie Chaplin, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, or Fatty Arbuckle.

Grace tried to draw Lucy's attention to a picture of Chaplin and a Dalmatian in
A Dog's Life
but stopped when she saw she had drifted beyond the gallery to an unadorned wall. She walked over to her mother and tried again.

"Lucy, you must see this poster. It's adorable."

"Maybe later, Grace. I want to see more of this wall. It says here that it is Italian marble. The craftsmanship is stunning."

"Then you should see the chandeliers and the mosaics," Grace said. "They're even better."

"All of this imported marble and craftsmanship is making me hungry," Bill said. "Would either of you ladies like something to eat?"

"I'll have some caramel corn and peanuts, please," Lucy said.

"Grace?"

"I'm OK for now, thank you."

"Let me give you a hand, Bill. I've already touched the marble and don't want to deny others the same opportunity," John said as he stepped toward his friends.

He put a hand on Bill's shoulder and looked at Grace with smiling eyes.

Grace returned the smile, shook her head, and watched John follow Bill out of the theater to the street, where vendors had set up popcorn and candy stands. When the men disappeared from view, she wandered over to Lucy, put an arm around her shoulder, and pulled her close.

"So are you ready?"

"Ready to see the movie?"

"No. Are you ready to marry Bill?"

Lucy smiled.

"I was ready to marry him when I saw him walk to the pulpit."

"You don't know how much it means to me to hear you say that."

"Why?" Lucy asked with a suspicious glance. "Are you trying to get rid of me?"

Grace chuckled.

"That's the last thing I want to do. I've become quite attached to you – and Edith as well. I just want you to be happy. This is all kind of sudden and I'd feel better knowing that you have thought this through."

"I have," Lucy said. "I was never as enthusiastic about college as Edith. I just wanted a good man to love – one who would be a good husband and father. I think I've found him."

"I think you have too."

"What about you and the captain? You two have progressed rather quickly."

Lucy flashed Grace an impish grin.

"We have. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I've known him only four months. That's not very long, but it's long enough. I too think I've found the right one. I couldn't ask for a better, more understanding man, particularly given my circumstances."