Diva (20 page)

“You’ve got talent and more charisma than any leading lady I’ve seen on Broadway,” Forrest said. He looked at Ruby, who stood gossiping with Glitz and Glamour while Marty moved toward the door. “Don’t you think, Ruby?”

Instantly Ruby was at Forrest’s side. “Absolutely,” she said. But she was looking at Forrest, not Gloria.

“Ruby, are you coming?” Marty called from the doorway impatiently.

“You go ahead, Marty,” Ruby replied dismissively without even looking at him. Before, Ruby had at least pretended to care about her husband, but now she only had eyes for Forrest. Was she really getting up the courage to leave Marty?

Forrest smiled dreamily at Ruby for what felt like a full minute before he looked back at Gloria. “Sorry, what were we talking about?”

“You were saying how Gloria could be on Broadway, and I was agreeing,” Ruby answered, her eyes glittering with delight.

“Right, right. Anyway, the other stuff can be learned easily
enough,” Forrest said to Gloria. “You’ll have plenty of opportunities in your life to sing your heart out on the Great White Way—there’s no doubt in my mind.”

Gloria paused to think. This adventure into the city would mean she wouldn’t get a chance until tomorrow to call Hank. But she couldn’t hide her excitement. Jerome would
want
her to seize this opportunity, wouldn’t he? She could meet producers and other people in the industry. That way, once she was free of the charges against her for good, she’d have a way to support them both.

Gloria had been eager to see a show since she’d arrived in New York. She couldn’t think of a better introduction to the wonders of Broadway than doing so as the producer’s personal guest.

“Thank you, Forrest, I’d love to!” she replied.

“Fantastic!” Forrest said. “Then put on your glad rags, girls, and do it fast! I expect to see you outside in half an hour.”

“Half an hour!” Glamour exclaimed. “That’s barely enough time to get my eyelashes on!”

At five-thirty, the group gathered around Forrest’s black Lincoln and Marty’s surprisingly rusty old red Model T.

Gloria had never seen a smart set dressed more smartly than Forrest and his friends. He and Marty both wore gray suits, but the similar outfits only exaggerated the differences
between them. Marty looked short and pudgy in his ill-fitting suit and bright red shirt—what had Ruby ever seen in him? Forrest’s suit was like an expensive second skin that accentuated his trim, muscled build. He wore a pale yellow shirt with a white collar that looked delicious against his tanned skin and made his dark eyes even more arresting. His hair looked carelessly tousled; the effect was sexy enough to make Gloria wonder why so many boys bothered with slicking their hair back.

Glamour was a ray of sunlight in a gown of gold brocade. Glitz’s outfit coordinated well with her friend’s—she wore an ivory dress with a gold lamé hip band.

Ruby looked possibly the most beautiful Gloria had ever seen her. She wore a full-length burnt-orange dress with Grecian-style beading on the shoulders, and diamond earrings dangled from her ears. Her dark, wavy hair was parted far on the side so that a wave fell over one sparkling dark brown eye. Her dress was easily the longest of the four girls’. But Ruby was a girl who didn’t need to dress sexy to be sexy—her sheer essence gave her all the sex appeal she would ever need.

Gloria knew she didn’t look too bad herself. She’d chosen a Jeanne Paquin dress made almost entirely of sea-green lace, with two satin panels on the sides. The dress brought out her eyes, especially with her matching jade earrings.

“So I guess we should figure out who’s driving who?” Ruby asked. There was something a little strained and nervous about her typically musical voice.

“What?” Forrest asked. He’d been staring at her in stupefied silence since she’d walked out the front door.

Ruby smiled. “I was just about to say that Gloria could come with me in Marty’s jalopy and you all can have Pembroke drive you. You don’t mind, do you, Marty? Gloria wanted me to give her some advice on auditioning and I just don’t want to bore you.”

Gloria hadn’t even noticed Forrest’s manservant near the marble steps to Forrest’s front door. Wearing a black suit, he stood with his hands clasped behind his back like a silent but horrifying ghost. Just
looking
at the older man gave her the shivers. She’d be grateful not to be stuck in a car with him.

Ten minutes later, Pembroke didn’t seem so bad. Ruby was a gorgeous girl of many talents—but driving was certainly not one of them.

“Um, how long has Marty had this car?” Gloria asked lightly. She wasn’t sure if talking would help Ruby’s swerving or make things worse.

“About a hundred years,” Ruby replied. “He’s rich as they come, but he won’t replace this car until it stops dead in the street. If I knew more about cars I’d probably try to speed up that process somehow.”

Gloria laughed. “So, have you seen
The Cat’s Meow
?”

Ruby took her eyes off the road for a horrifying moment. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?”

“About auditioning, you mean?”

Ruby snorted. “I know you’ve been snooping around here.”

Gloria felt the blood drain from her face. She stared out the windows as rain began to fall. “I don’t know what you’re—”

“Save it, honey.” Ruby honked the horn and hollered, “Get outta my way, nutty!” then dashed into another lane.

This is it
, Gloria thought.
I’m going to die
.

“Forrest is as good a man as God has ever created,” Ruby went on. “If there’s anything dirty in that house, it’s not him.”

“Are you implying that somebody
else’s
dirty laundry might be hanging somewhere in Forrest’s house?” Gloria asked. Had the inheritance story been a lie after all? But why would Forrest lie if he really had done nothing wrong?

“It’s complicated,” Ruby said after a few moments. “But how about we make a deal: It’ll take me a few days, but I’ll get you the information you need.
And
I’ll make sure you snag the lead role in
Moonshine Melody
. In return, you’re going to make sure no coppers come after us when Forrest and I disappear on Saturday night.”

“I’m listening,” Gloria said in a measured voice. It sounded too good to be true. Freedom for her and Jerome, and the lead in a Broadway show? Sure, the show clearly wasn’t great, but it was still a
Broadway
show. Thousands of girls would kill for that kind of shot, and those were girls with tons of experience.

But if Gloria had learned anything in the past year, it was this: If something seemed too good to be true, it probably was.

“Forrest and I were in love a few years ago,” Ruby explained. “I was in the choir at my church back then, and
Forrest always used to walk me home. He was so handsome, and smart, and … well, he was just the same as he is now. Only he was poor, and my father was set on my marrying Marty. Forrest and I talked about eloping, but in the end I was too afraid.”

Interesting. That made sense—their chemistry was too deep to have only developed over just these past few weeks. No wonder Forrest had been so fixated on Ruby! She was the one who got away. Now he finally had the money to get the girl, but it was too late. Or was it?

“Why are you telling me this?” Gloria asked.

“Because I know your story,” Ruby replied. “I’ve read all about you. You could’ve married that Sebastian Grey, had a horrible life—like mine. But you followed your heart. And now it’s time I did the same thing. Only I’m gonna need your help.”

Gloria watched the road blur by through the window, the trees combining in a mass of deep green through the rain. She’d wondered before what might’ve happened if she had stayed in Chicago and gone through with her marriage to Bastian. Living with Jerome in their closet of an apartment in Harlem, she’d even wondered if she’d made the wrong choice by running away from her easy, hassle-free life.

But looking at Ruby, Gloria could see that the hassles were what made life worth living—so long as love was waiting on the other side. Ruby was married to a wealthy man, had a dream of a career, was young and beautiful. All she could see,
though, was the absence of the one man who had ever made her truly happy.

This was something Gloria understood herself. It was the same way she would have felt if she hadn’t picked Jerome. She
had
to help Ruby.

And also … the prospect of taking over Ruby’s part didn’t hurt.

“All right, Ruby, I’d say we’ve got a deal. You get me proof of where Forrest’s money comes from—something tangible I can show to the FBI—and I’ll help you get away.”

Gloria gasped when Ruby swerved out of their lane, nearly crashing into a honking blue Cadillac. She parked on the shoulder of the road, twenty feet away from the tollbooths into New York City.

Ruby turned and gave Gloria an exhilarated smile. She extended her hand. “A deal isn’t a deal without a proper handshake.”

Gloria shook her hand. “I really hope you’re right about Forrest and that things work out for you two.”

“Thank you. I hope the best for you and Jerome, too.”

Jerome
. Gloria’s stomach swirled at the sound of his name. Now that she had a clear path to some professional success, she had to turn her focus to reuniting with the love of her life—before anything else terrible happened to him.

CLARA

It was Clara’s first visit to a bridal salon and she was here with Lorraine Dyer.
By choice
. Life certainly was full of strange surprises.

Lorraine nudged her side as they passed by the first rack by the door. “You see the third one from the left? With the halter top and the lace?”

Priscilla’s Bridal Salon had looked elegant enough through its expansive front windows, but it was posilutely gorgeous inside. Embossed lavender wallpaper covered the walls, and glass tables topped with fresh flowers were sprinkled throughout the shop. Several floor-to-ceiling windows let in tons of natural light and illuminated the racks of dazzling white dresses.

“Umm … I think so.” Clara looked around and saw dresses
in every shade of white, from the blinding snow to nearly pale yellow. The tastefully placed silver racks were a riot of stunning lace detailing and luxurious silk. Clara recognized the Coco Chanel gowns by their short hemlines and long tulle trains.

“You think my dad would get angry if I bought it now?” Lorraine bit one of her fingernails. “I mean, of course I’m going to get married
eventually
, right?”

Clara couldn’t help but share a little of Lorraine’s enthusiasm. She pointed to a dress on her right with beautiful little cap sleeves and some of the most intricate beadwork she’d ever seen. “That one’s my favorite.”

Only a few months earlier, she’d fantasized about wearing a dress just like that opposite Marcus. She’d never imagined a big, swanky event—certainly not the Plaza. It had always just been the idea of looking deeply into Marcus’s too-blue eyes throughout the ceremony and knowing she’d get to keep doing it for the rest of her life.

But now his gaze belonged to someone else—the very someone Lorraine and Clara had been following from Barnard’s campus since she’d gotten out of her one and only class. (Which was
French
, by the way. What kind of French girl needed to take French?)

“Where is she?” Lorraine asked, craning her neck.

“I don’t know,” Clara said. “Maybe you shouldn’t have tried on so many shoes across the street.”

“You said we had to bide our time! I was simply biding my time trying on shoes!”

Clara rolled her eyes. “
Twenty
pairs?”

A woman in a tailored gray suit appeared next to them, startling them both. Her gray hair was pulled into a severe knot at the nape of her neck, and her drawn-on eyebrows were downright terrifying. She stood with crossed arms and scowled at Lorraine and Clara. “Can I
help
you?”

Clara smiled at Lorraine and looked back at the woman:
Marguerite
, her name tag said. “My best friend, Julia, here is about to get married!” Clara exclaimed. “It’s so exciting.”