The Social Graces by Renée Rosen

Author:Renée Rosen [Renée Rosen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

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Caroline didn’t sleep that night. The wind was howling outside her bedroom window, a tree branch scraping against the panes of glass. She tried reading, but it wasn’t the same as when Thomas read to her, and even after her eyes grew heavy and closed, her mind returned to the tug-of-war between her daughter and society.

As society’s leader she took her responsibilities seriously. The Knickerbockers were looking to her to guard their customs and values. She knew her mother would never have forgiven her for bending to the pressure. How could she let the Vanderbilts in? Especially after all the terrible things Alva had said about her and now, knowing that Alva wanted to take her place.

It was one o’clock in the morning when she got up and inched her way downstairs. That hour of moonlight and the way its shadows played off the walls had become all too familiar to her. She entered the library, and sure enough, Thomas was up. It was as if he’d been waiting for her. As he swung his feet off the ottoman, she noticed he had a copy of Wuthering Heights in his lap.

“Warm milk?” he asked.

She nodded.

After he headed to the kitchen, she rearranged figurines in her curio cabinet, placing her bronze Hercules to the right of Alexander the Great and then switched it out with a fourteen-karat-gold lion figurine. But she didn’t like that any better and put it all back the way it was.

When Thomas returned with a pot of steamed milk, she closed the curio door and sat down, gesturing for him to join her. “Children,” she said with a sigh. “They can try one’s patience, can’t they?”

“I should say so. My daughters are grown now, but there was a time when they put me through the paces,” he said, placing a delicate teacup on a saucer, pouring the steamed milk that looked thick as cream. “They were both quite young when their mother died.”

“And you never remarried?” she asked, which surprised them both, as it wasn’t in her nature to pry.

“The three of us got on just fine on our own,” he said, handing her the cup of warm milk. “I learned to braid their hair, and we had plenty of tea parties.” He smiled sadly.

“I’ll bet you were a wonderful father. I can’t imagine William ever doing any of that. Can you?”

“Well, why would he have? He had you.” Thomas leaned forward in his chair, and still smiling, he said, “I’ve seen how you are with Miss Carrie—and with all your children. If I may be so bold,” he said, covering his heart with his hand, “I have never seen a more devoted mother. Or a mother who loves her children more.”

Caroline set her cup aside, touched, maybe even embarrassed by the compliment. “Oh, Thomas,” she said, changing the subject, “what will I ever do with myself if you suddenly get over your insomnia and start sleeping eight hours a night?”

“I highly doubt that will ever happen, Mrs.

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