The Possibility of You by Pamela Redmond

Author:Pamela Redmond
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Gallery Books

15

Bridget, 1916

Bridget fixed a special breakfast tray for Maude with all of the favorites she had begun enjoying once again—pink grapefruit, strong coffee with hot milk, burnt toast with butter and strawberry jam—and carried it herself up to Maude’s bedroom, trying to keep her hands from quaking.

“You look well this morning, Maude,” Bridget said, setting down the tray and clasping her hands behind her back so Maude couldn’t see how nervous she was.

Maude was sitting up in bed wearing a violet silk bed jacket that matched the sheets, her blond hair curled prettily around her shoulders. Just tell her, Bridget thought, trying to turn her focus away from the room and toward George, toward how happy they’d be together. Just say the words.

“Maude, I’m giving my notice,” Bridget said, distressed to hear how much her voice was trembling. “I’m going to marry George McLean.”

Maude took a bite of her toast. “Why ever would you want to do that?” she said mildly.

Bridget was struck momentarily speechless. “I love him, Maude,” she finally managed. “And he loves me.”

“Oh, pooh, love,” Maude said, letting her toast drop to her plate. “And so you’re going to live on a chauffeur’s salary instead of in this nice warm house with me?”

“He’s not a chauffeur anymore,” said Bridget, aware how weak this argument sounded. “He works for the city. And you’re doing so much better now, Maude.”

“I’m better,” said Maude, “but it’s you I’m concerned about. You’ve traveled so far, dear Bridget, in the figurative as well as the literal sense. You left your home in the old country and have made your way into the new world. You’ve become a modern woman, my dear, with all the independence and strength that is your right to claim. Why would you choose to go back to that ignorant life you left behind, shackled to a man and having his babies?”

“I only want what most women want,” Bridget said. “A home and family I can call my own, people to love who will love me back.”

“But I love you!” Maude cried. “And George McLean, that big buck, just wants to get into your knickers.”

“Maude!” said Bridget. But she was scandalized only at hearing the words spoken aloud. Underneath, she worried that it was true.

“And, well, what’s wrong with that?” Maude said, lifting the second triangle of toast and licking the butter off its warm brown top. “You should want it, too! Sex needs to be separated from marriage and babies and duty and all the rest of the things that keep women imprisoned. That’s something, if you’re going to be a modern woman, that you need to learn.”

Maude was holding her delicate buttery fingers stiffly out in front of her. Bridget moved to hand her a napkin.

“You know you can have everything, don’t you?” Maude said then. “You can keep your handsome chauffeur happy, and then come home and sleep in your nice, clean, peaceful room here. I’ll even give you a nice Christmas bonus and raise, so you can take your time and save your money.

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