The Vaudeville Star Read online

  “I should go,” he said softly.

  She nodded, and he was gone.

  11

  “Ruby.”

  Ruby jerked awake when she heard her name being called. She looked up to see Bessie standing before her. She felt disoriented and suddenly remembered falling asleep on the sofa in her dressing room after Ford had left. It was now the next morning.

  “Did you sleep here last night?” Bessie asked.

  Ruby nodded and moved to her dressing table to run a brush through her hair.

  “I must have been tired.”

  “You should dress. Remember, today is the run-through for the new show. I understand King will be here to watch.”

  “Oh yes. I had quite forgotten.”

  King and Vernon had met after his decision to finance the tour and decided that everyone needed a fresh act. The Vadas sisters had been excited to try out a new seductive act with eastern-type veils and gauzy costumes to entice the men.

  Lou had added two new acts that everyone laughed at when he performed privately for them, and the mysterious Lee Chen had added another magic act. Zeta had remained top billing and added several new songs, though she refused to give up her old songs.

  “People love them! They love me!” she had proclaimed hotly.

  Bessie and Archie had added a ragtime dance to their repertoire as well as a new dance called the “tango,” which was sexy and exotic. The music that accompanied it was equally foreign. Ruby was sure the first time they performed it the audience would be stunned, and she was happy to see her friend shine.

  She pulled on a blue cotton dress that was frayed at the cuffs and slipped into her low heels. She knew she would have to dip into her savings for the tour. She would need at least four dresses for casual sightseeing, two fine evening gowns, a new pair of gloves, a hat, and shoes. She might even need a warm coat as the one she had taken from home was over five years old and looked quite shabby.

  She tallied the amount in her head that she would need for the new clothes and grimaced. It would be more than she wanted to spend. She thought about asking Ford for the money, but she wouldn’t. She would spend the money and damn the amount. Besides, if things kept looking up, she would soon be making enough money if she was second billing beneath Zeta.

  “Come on, come on!” Vern said as they all entered the stage. “Take your seats to the side.”

  Max had placed chairs for them all, and Ruby looked out into the audience and saw the lone figure seated smack-dab in the middle of the theater. He balanced a hat on his knee, and his large overcoat was thrown over the back of the chair next to him.

  Vern began calling out the new lineup so everyone would know when they performed, and then he stopped when he came upon the end of the first act.

  “We’re ready when you are, Mr. Parker,” Vernon called out.

  A curt nod from King, and the rehearsal began.

  When the rehearsal was finished, Max bounded off the stage to King’s side. He returned with a handwritten list as King donned his coat and hat and left the theater.

  “It seems our patron has some corrections and changes,” Vernon said as he scanned the paper.

  “I don’t see why I should have to bow down to his wishes,” Zeta said, scowling. “I’ve been on the stage long enough to know what works and what doesn’t.”

  “Well, by all means, Zeta. When next you see him, please relay that sentiment to him. Hopefully, it won’t be hard to find new work,” Vern said as the Vadas sisters giggled.

  “It seems he had no suggestions for you, Ruby. Only noted here that you were sublime,” Vernon said wryly.

  “Sub-leem?” Zeta said, pronouncing the word incorrectly. “What is that? What does that mean?” she asked those around her.

  “It means, dear Zeta, that our patron has a muse,” said Lou quietly.

  “Oh yes? Big surprise there!” Zeta laughed lightly. “Subleem! He made the word up!”

  Ruby quickly left the stage and tried to fight the rush of color that filled her cheeks.

  “Don’t pay her any attention, Ruby. You know where it stems from,” Bessie said as she followed her backstage.

  “I know. I just wish King wouldn’t give them cause to talk. I don’t like anyone thinking I’m here because I’ve slept with him.”

  “I know the truth. And if I hear anyone say otherwise, I will correct them,” Bessie assured her.

  They both entered her small dressing room, and she turned to her friend.

  “He’s coming with us to London, Bess. I heard it.”

  “He is? How odd.”

  “Is it?”

  Bessie surveyed her. “Well, most financiers don’t give quite so much personal attention to their projects.”

  Her meaning was clear. Ruby was the reason that King was taking a firsthand interest in the show, and it made her uncomfortable. She wanted to rise to be a star, but not at the expense of her dignity. In her heart, she had only ever loved Ford, even if he didn’t love her.

  “Yes. I’m aware of that. Little did I know that when I set out for New York I would be encountering such a lovely brother and sister as well as the King of Manhattan.”

  “I don’t think you’ve encountered him, Ruby. I think he’s captivated.”

  Captivated, Ruby thought. Ford had used the same word when talking about King’s fascination for her. She closed her eyes. Her only safeguard was that King was married, and she was pleased to no end that it was the case.

  Alice moved into the dark room that faced the garden. The curtains were drawn, and the smell of medicine and decay seemed to permeate the air. The sister they employed from the nearby abbey was garbed in her nun’s habit and sat by the bedside, reading to herself.

  Alice looked over Caroline’s small body and sighed. She was getting much worse. She looked pale and thin and hadn’t left her bed for a week. Consumption. They all knew it was only a matter of time. Alice was angry with herself. She had handpicked Caroline from all the women in their social circle.

  Even at that time, she knew King to be overbearing and demanding. He loved beautiful objects and beautiful women. Even as a small child, he had loved to hold and acquire precious objects and then squirrel them away in his room.

  With Caroline, she had thought they would be the perfect match. She was not overly educated, so she wouldn’t contradict him. She was lovely enough to hold his attention but would not flirt and attract other men. Jealousy was an ugly thing, and in King it was murderous.

  But Caroline’s fragility had been her undoing. She didn’t enjoy King’s large sexual appetite, and after the first miscarriage occurred, she all but pushed him into his current mistress’s bed.

  Alice had tried to counsel her daughter-in-law. The family needed an heir, and she had begged her to be kind and loving to her son. But she called King a monster. She said he wanted her to do disgusting things and she would not. When the second miscarriage happened, she told Alice she was glad. She claimed king had raped her in a violent rage.

  Alice had laughed at her. No husband could rape a wife. It was impossible. Alice was a Victorian woman through and through and always deferred to the man of the house, be it her son or husband.

  After the second miscarriage, things grew worse between the couple, and Caroline’s health deteriorated. Another pregnancy that ended in another miscarriage had been the final straw. King demanded Caroline be placed in the back of the house and watched over by a nurse. He never visited her, and he wanted nothing more to do with her.

  The sister nurse caught Alice’s eye and nodded. She placed the book aside and left the room. Alice often visited in the afternoon, so it was nothing out of the ordinary. She sat in the vacant chair and looked down at Caroline.

  Once so fragile and pretty, now she was wasting away. It was no way to live, and her son needed an heir. She took the small vial from her skirt pocket and opened it. She poured the contents into the pitcher of water. It was a clear substance, and it mixed well with the water.r />
  When she looked down at Caroline, she saw her eyes were open. She was staring at her. Alice smiled kindly.

  “I’ll call the nurse, Caroline. You need some water. Come. Let me help you sit.”

  “Nurse!” Alice called out. “Help Mrs. Parker with the water.”

  Lourdes moved down the length of his body. She moved slowly, taking her time as she knew he liked this best. There were many women that didn’t like the act of fellatio. Some viewed it as demeaning. The act of taking a man’s cock into their mouth while on their knees was viewed as subservient, but Lourdes enjoyed it. Some felt that sex was for creation only, and if the seed was ingested by mouth, there was no chance of a child, and thus it was a vile act.

  Lourdes disagreed. And she was rewarded handsomely. King had given her jewels and furs. He had purchased a small town house for her and furnished it completely, and in return she gave him her body. It was a simple exchange, and he was not the first.

  Lourdes had been born on a tropical island and traveled to New York with her family when she was five. She had dark eyes, dark hair, and a darker skin tone that men of a certain class seemed to be fascinated by. She had worked in a brothel at sixteen before she had caught the eye of an older gentleman and become his mistress.

  When he tired of her, there had been another man, who had been a friend of King’s. She had met King at a party, and that had been it. They had been instantly attracted to each other, and she had ended up with her skirts flung up over her head as King had taken her from behind on a billiard table.

  He was a man who liked to be in control all the time, and Lourdes understood that. He liked his women submissive and docile, and Lourdes did as he wanted. He wanted her always at his beck and call, and that was the reason he purchased the town house for her. He was also jealous and controlling and did not allow her to have any lovers besides him.

  Lourdes accepted all of this. She allowed him the control he needed, and she gave him access to her body. If the acts he performed were degrading, she didn’t complain. She knew that if he found something that displeased her, he would do it all the more. But he was fascinated by Lourdes and her dark skin tone and her thick, wavy hair.

  Lourdes’s only wish now was to conceive a child for him. She knew that his wife had become pregnant several times but never carried a child to full term. So obviously the blame was not with King.

  She had no bargaining chip to hold over his head. He had wealth, power, and control, and she had nothing. But a child. A son. That would give her everything she needed.

  She moved her lips expertly over the pink head of his cock, and he moaned. When she moved her lips along the shaft, she felt him buck.

  She had grown increasingly worried about his attachment to the young singer. It was widely spoken of. She was fresh and innocent and everything she was not. If ever she did become his mistress, King would probably spend weeks alone with her in a bedroom somewhere far away, pumping her until her belly swelled.

  Lourdes moved her hands to the base of the shaft as her mouth took more of his cock. She moved up and down until he was finally spent. She never liked to swallow the seed, but King demanded it. She did it now because his eyes were on her.

  He smiled and settled back into the bed while Lourdes thought again of the young singer. Ruby. She must find a way to get rid of her rival or at least provide King with an heir. She knew what they said. That any child of hers would be an outcast. He would never fit in either world because of his dark complexion. But that was ridiculous. King longed for an heir, and she would provide him with one.

  Alice clutched the white handkerchief tightly in her hand. She looked at the sister nurse, who sat with her hands together in prayer, and at the doctor, who was bending over Caroline.

  “Doctor? Please! Tell us what happened!” Alice said in a broken voice.

  The doctor listened to her heart with his stethoscope and then turned to Alice. “I am deeply sorry, Mrs. Parker. It seems her heart gave out. Too much for her,” he said quietly as he pulled the sheet up over her head.

  Alice gasped while the sister nurse crossed herself and then brought her hands together again.

  “Oh no! It’s dreadful! My son will be so distraught. We had thought she might recover,” Alice told the doctor.

  He came toward her and laid a hand upon her shoulder. “Let’s go downstairs. The deathbed is no place for a lady. A glass of brandy will help you.”

  Alice nodded, leaning on the doctor slightly as they walked from the bedroom. “I cannot believe dear Caroline is gone,” she said, dabbing at her eyes with the handkerchief.

  Downstairs, the gray-haired doctor poured a brandy for himself and Alice. “I can stay and break the news to King if you like.”

  The doctor had been their family physician for many years and knew King personally.

  “No. I’ll do it. I’m his mother. He should hear it from me,” she said softly. “But thank you for offering. You have always been good to our family.”

  She walked the doctor to the door, and he smiled kindly at her. When she closed the door behind him, she smiled broadly. At last, she thought. Now they could begin to live again.

  King handed his coat and hat to the butler as his mother greeted him warmly.

  “Ah, there you are. You’re late this evening,” she said as she followed him into his large library.

  Almost like clockwork, he poured himself a whiskey and his mother a small glass of sherry. Taking a sip, he eyed his mother.

  “Is there something you wish to discuss?” he asked. “You seem to have something to say.”

  “Nothing to discuss. Caroline is dead.”

  King had his glass halfway to his mouth before he stopped.

  “Caroline is dead? You’re sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. The doctor was here. He pronounced her dead. I’ve already contacted the funeral home.”

  “How did it happen? I thought she might linger on for years,” he said, twirling the liquor in his glass.

  Alice shrugged her shoulders. “Her heart. You know she was never strong.”

  “Well, this is most unfortunate.”

  “Unfortunate?” Alice’s voice rose. “You’ve been waiting for years. I daresay hoping for it.”

  “Yes, Mother. But now I must mourn. In fact, the whole house will be in mourning. You will need to don black—”

  “Oh, William! Surely not!” Alice objected.

  “Yes, of course we will mourn, Mother. It’s a nuisance, but we all must seem to mourn, including the servants,” he proclaimed.

  Alice rolled her eyes. “Oh no.”

  “The blinds must be pulled down, the front door knocker tied with a piece of crepe,” King dictated.

  “Yes, yes.” Alice nodded. “I’ll place the death announcement in the newspaper.”

  “And you must write to all our relatives and friends—” King instructed.

  “You as well,” Alice interrupted.

  “I will write to our close friends and her family.” King nodded.

  Alice tried to stem the irritation she felt at the entire prospect of mourning. Six months of mourning for a daughter-in-law. It was ridiculous! The servants would also mourn, and their mourning items would have to be provided by the family. Outrageous!

  “To the outside world, we must appear to mourn,” King said solemnly, staring into his liquor. “Even if secretly we will now finally begin to live,” he said, echoing his mother’s thoughts exactly.

  12

  Bessie and Ruby exited the streetcar together.

  “Are you sure you know where you are going?” Ruby asked her friend.

  “Yes. I’ve been here several times,” Bessie said self-assuredly. “Most people I know shop here. It’s convenient.”

  “What is the name of the store?” Ruby asked.

  “It’s called Bloomingdale’s. They’ve been here at this location for almost fifteen years. They sell all sorts of garments that you can purchase ready-made.”


  “Purchase and then wear?” Ruby asked. “Ready-made?”

  “Of course, Ruby. You sound exactly like the Southern belle you are.”

  “Well, back home, we had everything made for us,” Ruby declared.

  Bessie tried not to smile. “Of course you did. Your family had money. But when money is tight and people work, they can’t afford a dressmaker. So stores like this provide garments already made and ready to be worn right then.”

  Ruby thought about it and then smiled. “That sounds exciting!”

  “Back home in Kansas, we ordered from the Sears catalogue all the time! My Momma loved ordering new things about as much as my Daddy hated paying for them.”

  Ruby laughed. “I’ve seen the catalogue, but I never ordered from it.”

  “I remember those catalogues coming in the mail, and my Momma turned those pages so many times she wore a hole in them. She loved to look at the pictures and tell my Daddy what she wanted. A new dress, a pair of gloves. Archie wanted a pistol one Christmas, and Momma said no.” Bessie smiled at her. “Here we are.”

  Ruby looked up at the impressive building and watched several people enter the store ahead of them.

  “You’ll love it, Ruby. They have nice things and worth the money. Everything I buy from here lasts.”

  Once inside, Ruby was caught by surprise. Though she had spent time in Connecticut, her school had been situated in a small town with no grand stores such as this. In Mississippi, their dressmaker had come to the family, or they visited her small shop in town. But the Bloomingdale’s department store quite overwhelmed her.

  There was a wide array of items being sold for ladies. Plush wraps trimmed with silk, heavy woolen jackets, ladies’ suits, underskirts, drawers, and nightgowns as well as a wide selection of corsets and dresses.

  She lingered longingly over the fur muffs, which were satin lined. She had never even heard of American lynx. She ran her hand over the fine Siberian beaver. Immediately, she was asked if she required assistance, but she declined.