“At his retirement dinner, he looked out at the sea of faces in the ballroom of the Plaza Hotel and said he was grateful for his years at the bank, but he still missed the paper route. There’s nothing like ending the day with a pocketful of coins and a hunger in your stomach.”
Pandora wanted to reply, but she was afraid of hurting Harley’s feelings. Even though Milton was talking to her, she guessed he was addressing Harley.
“There are other ways to work up an appetite,” Harley said sharply. “And I know plenty of actors who practice their lines for ten hours a day. You can’t learn Shakespeare by reading it once.”
“No one works harder than Harley at his schoolwork,” Adele cut in as if she was used to being the referee between her husband and son. She changed the topic. “Pandora is interested in fashion. She wants to be a fashion designer.”
Milton studied Pandora thoughtfully.
“I don’t know anything about women’s fashions except that Adele looks beautiful in everything she wears,” Milton said. “There’s nothing wrong with women having hobbies, as long as home and family come first.”
Pandora flinched inwardly, but she didn’t say anything. Harley caught her eye, and in that moment, she knew that he was on her side. Milton was of the older generation; he wouldn’t believe in women having careers.
The rest of the dinner passed more easily. Archie was seated in the middle of the table, in between two pretty girls. Pandora had to laugh. The girls kept interrupting each other, trying to get Archie’s attention. The entrée was cranberry-orange roasted duckling with creamed spinach and duchess potatoes. For dessert they had lemon-filled coconut cake and vanilla ice cream.
After Milton and Harley had a few glasses of wine, they both relaxed. Pandora wondered if it was always like this between father and son. A push and pull like a playground game of tug-of-war and then a truce. At least Milton seemed to care about Harley, and he was obviously in love with his wife. He hung on Adele’s every word.
Pandora could tell that Milton and Adele Enright liked her. Conversation bounced easily between the four of them. Pandora couldn’t help casting the occasional glance at Lillian, who was trying to engage her dinner partners with a story about a Cordon Bleu cooking course she took in Paris. Even being near Owen didn’t faze Pandora. She couldn’t help but notice that he seemed slightly bored and kept refilling his wine glass.
After dinner, Harley led her into the ballroom. The band had started playing, and guests were already dancing. Harley was a wonderful dancer, even better than Archie. He led her in a spirited Charleston, and then took her in his arms and twirled her around in a tango and a foxtrot as if they had been dancing together forever.
Other men asked her to dance too. Archie and George Baker St. George, whose grandfather, George Fisher Baker founded the First National Bank of New York City. Even Milton claimed one dance. Owen approached her, but to her relief, Harley cut in and said that Pandora had promised him the next three dances.
It was hot inside the ballroom, and she needed some air. She slipped outside, down the steps, and into the garden to enjoy the cool breeze and the sky full of stars.
She allowed herself to reflect on the day. Her triumph over Lillian at the pool house that afternoon and being seated opposite the Enrights at dinner. Harley’s attention, and the way every young man on the dance floor seemed to take a new interest in her.
She heard a rustling sound and turned around.
Harley stood on the lawn, two glasses of champagne in his hands.
“I thought I saw you step outside.” He handed her a champagne flute. “Do you mind if I join you?”
Pandora was surprised to see him. She accepted the champagne even though she didn’t want any more to drink. It would be impolite to refuse.
“Aren’t you supposed to be dancing?” she inquired. “You are the host.”
“Most of the girls aren’t really interested in dancing,” Harley reflected. “They’re more concerned with learning my intentions after I graduate from Princeton. Whether I intend to join my father’s bank right away, or if I’ll spend a year abroad first.” He sipped his champagne, and his eyes were dull. “They worry that if I go abroad, they’ll have to suffer through a long engagement.”
“Don’t you have to propose first?” she teased. “Or at least ask them for a second dance?”
“The girls and their mothers make these decisions.” Harley sighed. “I’m just the guy whose family belongs to the right clubs and who can provide the correct size diamond ring.”
Pandora remembered Adele’s comments on marriage. It was easy to say that kind of thing, but the reality was often different. Even if Adele was more progressive than other women of her set, she might feel differently when it came to her son.
Harley dug his shoes into the grass.
“I’m not being a good host. I’m talking about myself instead of asking about you,” he apologized. “I hope you’re having a good time.”
“I’m having a wonderful time,” Pandora said truthfully. “I was imagining how I was going to describe it to Virginia, Archie’s sister. She’s my best friend. Though we’re nothing alike. Virginia isn’t fond of house parties; she prefers literary readings and lectures.”
“You don’t always choose your friends for what you have in common,” Harley commented. “Sometimes you choose them for how they make you feel about yourself. A real friend is someone you can be yourself with, no matter what that’s like. And they won’t desert you.”
Harley was right. Pandora and Virginia disagreed on so many subjects.
But they supported each other through everything.
“That’s how it is for Virginia and me.” Pandora nodded. “We can tell each other anything. Sometimes, talking to her is the only way to figure out what I really want.”
Beside her, Harley finished his champagne. His face took on a thoughtful expression.
“The luckiest people, I think, discover the same type of friendship in marriage. I think my parents have that despite their differences. My mother was nineteen when my parents married, and they’re nothing alike. Now that their children are grown, she spends most of her time doing charity work, and my father is only interested in his work at the bank.
“My mother isn’t like other women in Hyde Park, who believe charity is hosting luncheons and attending galas. She founded the Grand Street Settlement House on the Lower East Side.”
“I’ve never heard of it,” Pandora replied.
“Settlement houses have been around for twenty years. They’re in the poorest sections of New York: Brooklyn and the Bronx and Lenox Hill. Local residents can go there and hear lectures and get advice. Or simply have a clean, pleasant place to be away from their everyday lives.
“The settlement committees help get better street lighting and garbage collection for the neighborhoods. Lately she’s been petitioning to replace tenement buildings with public housing.”
“Your mother does all that?” Pandora asked, wide eyed. Adele seemed so refined; she couldn’t imagine her arguing in front of a meeting hall. And yet, Adele had surprised Pandora with her views on social standing. Pandora had never met anyone like her.