A Lady Never Tells

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

New York, 1920

Lillian was sitting on the couch in her grandmother’s parlor staring an old photograph of her parents and her. In this picture, Lillian was four years old. Her black hair was short and brushed nicely, so it hung on her shoulders. John, her father, looked proud. It was as if he was grateful to have Marie as a wife and Lillian as a daughter. Honestly, that was probably true. John never took anything for granted.

Lillian heard the clicking of heels coming her way. Lillian looked of and saw her grandmother walking with another young man. He had short blond hair and was wearing an elegant suit.

Lillian rose as the two came closer.

“Oh dear Lily, this is Joseph Clark. His father is an investor for Jacobs & Weber,” Grandmother said as if this piece of information should have meant the world to Lillian. Actually, it proved that Joseph was a very wealthy man. Lillian was sure that she knew where this conversation was going to go.

“It’s nice to meet you Mr. Clark,” Lillian said.

“Likewise Miss McCarthy, actually I am honored to meet you. I have heard so many rumors about you, and I am glad to see if they are true or not.”

Oh yeah, Lillian knew where this was going.

“I’m sure time will tell,” she said.

“Actually, I have spoken with your grandmother and she has agreed that with your consent I will be allowed to court you.”

Even though Lillian was sure that this was where the conversation was going, she was still shocked. Sure, Lillian was nineteen and she knew that suitors would be showing up at her door because she was of marrying age. But the idea that someone would want to spend forever with her was foreign.

“Lillian, are you going to say something?” Grandmother asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry. My mind was somewhere else again.”

“You’d think that you would have outgrown that,” said Grandmother before she looked at Joseph. “Lillian always did that when she was young, ever since she was a baby; although, it seemed to get worse after her parents passed.”

“Oh, that’s interesting,” Joseph said.

Lillian spoke up, “I would be honored to be courted by you.”

Joseph remained at Grandmother’s mansion for the rest of the afternoon. Lillian ate lunch with him, they talked, and both had a lovely time. By the time that Lillian was dressed in her nightgown for bed, Grandmother knocked on her door.

“Come in,” Lillian said and her grandmother did so as Lillian sat down on her bed.

“What are you thinking, Lily?”

“I don’t know,” Lillian said as Grandmother took Lillian’s brush that was located on her nightstand. Grandmother started brushing Lillian’s long black hair.

“What do you think about Joseph Clark,” Grandmother pressed.

“He’s a very nice young man.”

“And very handsome too?”

“Yes, he’s handsome.”

“Do you think he will be a worthy husband to you?”

“Possibly, if not to me than to someone else.”

Just then Grandmother stopped brushing Lillian’s hair. “Are you going to try your hardest with this? Are you going to even be nice to Joseph?”

“Yes Grandmother,” Lillian said insistently. Mother would never push me like this, she thought.

“Then you need to be positive.”

“Yes Grandmother,” she muttered. With that, Grandmother left Lillian in her bedroom to collect her thoughts.

Perhaps I don’t want to marry him. Perhaps I will fall in love with someone else. Perhaps Joseph secretly hates me and just wants to court me because I have a fortune from my parents. Perhaps if I do marry him I will secretly hate him because I’ll have the thoughts that he was pretending to love me because of my money and that I’ll feel that there’s someone else out there who really is my soul mate, not him.

Lillian fell asleep with tears in her eyes and thinking these thoughts.