A Home for Her Heart Read online

  Elizabeth gave a short nod while Millicent let go of her nose long enough to take a quick picture. Then they followed John up the stairs.

  “If anyone asks, we can say we’re looking for someone,” he said in a low voice.

  But they met no one in the halls. Everything was shut up, tight as a drum, the hallways dark from unwashed windows at the end of them, except where the broken windowpanes let light through, and only a dim lightbulb here and there. The stair railings were loose, just asking for an accident, and the trash in the hallways added to the odors that had them all holding their noses.

  “Get a picture of that, Millicent.” Elizabeth shuddered and pointed to a rat getting his fill of something in a sack in a dark corner. “I hate to think children live here.”

  Millicent let go of her nose and quickly took the picture. “Do we have enough?”

  “For now,” John said. “Come on. Let’s get you both out of here. I shouldn’t have let you come inside in the first place.”

  “We had to know what it is Kathleen was talking about, John,” Elizabeth said.

  Just then a door cracked open. Millicent slid the camera into her bag and they all froze where they were.

  Elizabeth held her breath and her heart seemed to stop beating as a big man backed out of the room. “You have one more day to pay your rent, Miss Hardin. If I don’t have it by tomorrow, you’re goin’ to be out on the streets.”

  “I don’t know where I’m going to get it—I don’t get paid for another two days,” a woman’s voice said.

  Elizabeth’s heart went out to her. How awful it would be to have to live here—and to pay good money to do so!

  “Then you’d best be packing now.” The man turned and slammed the door behind him. He was big and foreboding as he realized strangers were in the hall.

  “I don’t recognize the lot of you—who are you and what are you lookin’ for up here?”

  John stepped forward. “Are you the landlord”

  “I am. Mister Brown to you, and from the looks of ya, you aren’t lookin’ for an apartment. So just what is it you’re up to in my building?”

  “We’re visiting.”

  “Who is it you’re visitin’?”

  Elizabeth hurried to the door he’d come out of. “Miss Hardin.”

  “You’re friends of hers?”

  Elizabeth had a feeling they were about to be. “We are.”

  “Well, if you are, ya might help her with the rent, as she’s about to be thrown out on the street.”

  “And how much does she owe?” John asked.

  He named a figure and John dug in his pocket as Elizabeth and Millicent opened their pocketbooks.

  Together they quickly came up with the amount Miss Hardin owed and John handed it to the man. “We want a receipt for it so our friend has proof that she’s paid up.”

  “I’ll get you one. Come with me.”

  “You two go on in and let our friend know she doesn’t have to move anywhere for now. I’ll be back once I get the receipt.”

  John and the landlord started down stairs, the man saying, “If you’re such good friends with Miss Hardin, why aren’t you helpin’ her get out of here?”

  “If you’re the landlord, why aren’t you doing something to clean up this building?”

  “That ain’t any of your business, mister.”

  Dear Lord, please don’t let anything happen to John, Elizabeth prayed as she hurried to knock on the door. “Miss Hardin?”

  “Yes? Who is it?”

  “We’re the women who just helped pay your rent,” Millicent said bluntly. “Please open the door.”

  The door cracked open and a young woman about their age peeked around the door. “Why would you pay my rent?”

  “We don’t like the landlord,” Millicent said.

  “Or how he talked to you,” Elizabeth added. “And we wanted to help.”

  The young woman looked totally confused as tears rushed to her eyes and she opened the door to let them in. “I didn’t know how I was going to do it. I have barely enough for food until payday. I was sick a week ago and couldn’t work. I— My name is Lacy and I don’t know how I can repay you.”

  “We aren’t worried about that. We just didn’t want you thrown out.” Elizabeth dug in her pocketbook for one of Mrs. Heaton’s cards. “If you have problems—ever need a place to stay for a while, come here. You’ll be welcomed.”

  The young woman turned the card over in her hand. “Heaton House.”

  “Yes. It’s where we live. And our landlady takes in temporary boarders from time to time.”

  There was a knock on the door and John said, “It’s me, Elizabeth. I have the receipt.”

  “That’s our friend, John Talbot. He got a receipt for you from the landlord.”

  Lacy opened the door and John handed her a piece of paper. “Keep that with you.”

  She looked at the paper. “I really don’t know what to say.”

  “Thank you is enough,” Elizabeth said. “And keep that receipt handy in case you need proof that your rent has been paid.”

  The woman nodded as Elizabeth and Millicent headed out the door. Just as they were about to leave, John turned to the woman. “You wouldn’t happen to know who owns the building, do you?”

  She shook her head. “No. The only person we ever see is Mr. Brown and then only when we pay the rent or he comes to collect. He’s not here half the time. Can never find him when we need anything.”

  “Is it always in this condition?”

  She sighed. “It is. I— Thank you again. I’ll try to repay you one day.”

  “Keep safe and lock this door,” John said.

  “Yes, I will.”

  Elizabeth led the way back downstairs, wondering if the other two were as glad to get out of there as she was. She could hear the click of Millicent taking pictures along the way and hoped they would be good enough to use in the Delineator or the Tribune.

  Once they were back outside, all three took deep, cleansing breaths—or they would be if the neighborhood had any clean air in it. It appeared that in spite of efforts to clean up the tenements, there was still much to be done.

  “Do we want to find the next building?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Maybe we should save that for another day?” Millicent suggested. “That was awful. I had no idea what it was like inside these buildings.”

  John looked from one to the other. “We can come another time. What do you think, Elizabeth?”

  She nodded. She had no desire to go into another building as bad as this one today. “Yes, let’s save it for another day.”

  It was a quiet walk to the trolley stop. Elizabeth didn’t know about the others, but her heart was heavy at the conditions they’d seen and it made her admire Kathleen even more. “When I think of Kathleen and her family living in similar surroundings, my heart breaks all over again for her. I am so happy she and Luke have found each other.”

  “I knew she’d lived in the tenements, but I never knew what kind of environment that meant until now,” Millicent said.

  “Her building wasn’t quite as bad as the one we just saw, but the living conditions aren’t good in any of them. Some of the landlords are better than others, though.”

  Millicent sighed and shook her head. “What a shame. I’m going to get off at Michael’s office and develop these photos. Hopefully I got some you can use. I’ll bring them back with me.”

  Mrs. Heaton’s son, Michael, had cleared out a large storage closet near his office in the building he owned and was letting Millicent use it for a darkroom until she could afford to set up her business elsewhere.

  “That’d be great, Millicent,” John said.

  “Yes, and thank you. You were a great help today.�
� Elizabeth couldn’t deny she had been.

  The trolley stopped a block away from Michael’s office and Millicent stepped into the aisle.

  “Do you want us to wait for you?” Elizabeth asked.

  “No need to. I’ll see you both later.” She gave a little wave and hurried down the aisle.

  John had been sitting across the aisle, but he quickly moved to the empty seat beside Elizabeth, filling the seat up much more than Millicent had. Elizabeth caught her breath as his shoulder touched hers when he leaned near to say, “I think she did get some good shots. Hopefully we’ll be able to use one or two for our articles.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Although I’d like to do a little more investigating before handing my article in. All we really have is the pictures, if they turn out, and a tenant who’s being harassed by a bully of a landlord. And that’s pretty normal for the tenements.”

  “Yes, sadly, it is.” She thought about how John hadn’t hesitated at paying Lacy’s rent. “That was very nice of you to take up for Miss Hardin. And to offer to pay her rent.”

  John shrugged. “I hate seeing people bullied like that. Besides, you and Millicent helped with the rent, too. And it’s a good thing. I didn’t have the whole amount with me, but either way I was going to make sure Brown gave her a little more time.”

  John was so aloof at times it was easy to wonder if anything really touched him. But obviously, someone about to be evicted did. His quick action had warmed Elizabeth’s heart. He’d always made it plain that his goal in life was to break a big story and to get promoted to lead reporter at the Tribune. But with his actions today she began to think there might be more to him than that. Was it possible John wasn’t quite as full of himself as she’d always believed?

  Chapter Three

  It was after dinner before Elizabeth and John got a chance to look at the photographs Millicent had taken that morning. John had disappeared downstairs as soon as they arrived back at Heaton House, and Elizabeth and Kathleen decided to go window-shopping at the Ladies’ Mile, trying to get a better idea of what kind of trousseau she wanted.

  Going shopping with Kathleen made Elizabeth realize how much she’d taken for granted over the years. A.T. Stewart’s Dry Goods, Macy’s and Hearn’s—all of those along the Mile were the kind of stores she’d always shopped in, but for Kathleen, it was new and an adventure.

  Elizabeth had never had to check price tags to determine if she could afford something, and watching Kathleen do so now humbled her.

  “I love this wrap, but oh, my, the price is quite dear.” Kathleen touched the silk fabric as if it were a piece of gold.

  Elizabeth had to fight the urge to tell her she’d buy it for her—Kathleen had a lot of pride and wouldn’t appreciate it, especially now that she had a decent position. Instead, she thought she might give it to her as a wedding gift if she didn’t find something she liked at a more reasonable price.

  “Why don’t we try Macy’s? They might have something a little less expensive.”

  “Yes, let’s go there. I do remember seeing something similar to this in there a while back,” Kathleen said.

  “I like going to Macy’s. They do try to keep their prices down a bit. I always enjoy finding something I like at a better price.” And she did. She’d found she could use more of her allowance to help others early on, if she shopped wisely and had money left over. Her father hadn’t liked her spending her money on the needy, saying he gave enough to charities.

  Now she and Kathleen proceeded to search the sales at Macy’s, finding exactly what her friend wanted for less money in short order.

  It’d begun to stress Elizabeth that her friends in the city didn’t know that she could afford to buy anything that caught her fancy—didn’t know she didn’t have to work for a living. Even though she wasn’t trying to hide the fact, she’d not made an effort to let them know she was wealthy in her own right from her grandmother’s inheritance—not to mention what she stood to inherit from her father one day. But she didn’t like living the life of the wealthy, other than being able to help at different charity functions.

  When she’d moved to New York City, she hadn’t wanted to be hired because she was the daughter of Charles Edward Reynolds of Boston and she’d been honest with her editor, who agreed to let Elizabeth use her mother’s name for her articles. Mrs. Heaton and her son knew who she really was, but she’d asked them to keep it private. She’d wanted to be known as one of the boarders and didn’t want to be treated differently because she didn’t really have to work. She wanted to be one of them. Only now that she’d lived at Heaton House for several years, she wondered if she’d done the right thing.

  She didn’t know how to tell them she didn’t need to work for a living. What would they think of her? Would they think she lied on purpose? Would they be disappointed in her? Think less of her? How would it affect her friendships with them? Much as she longed to quit feeling she was keeping secrets about herself, she was very afraid of the consequences of letting the people she cared about know she wasn’t exactly who they thought she was.

  “Are you upset about anything, Elizabeth?” Kathleen asked. “You seem a little down in spirit.”

  “Oh? I’m sorry. My mind was wandering.”

  “No need to be sorry. Perhaps you’re tired. We did stay up very late last night and you were out and about early. Do you think Millicent got some good photos?”

  “I hope so.”

  “I suppose we should be going back or we’ll be late for dinner,” Kathleen said. “Thank you for coming with me.”

  “You’re welcome. Thank you for asking me to come. I think you’re right, however, and we should be getting back.”

  When they saw the line for their trolley, they decided to ride the El instead. Hurrying up the steps of the nearest stop, they got in a shorter line, bought their ticket and boarded while people still waited in the trolley line. They found a seat and looked out the windows at the city.

  “I love riding up over the streets,” Kathleen said.

  “So do I. It’s a different view altogether.”

  They pointed out different sights to each other as they rode along. “Look, you can see the building Matt is working on from here. I don’t know how those men work so high up in the air.”

  “Neither do I,” Elizabeth said. “But I love the way the skyline is changing with the taller buildings.”

  They were at their stop in no time and walked the rest of the way to Heaton House. The aroma drifting through to the foyer told them Mrs. Heaton had planned a great meal, but it was quiet downstairs as no one had come down to the parlor yet. Happy they weren’t too late, Elizabeth and Kathleen rushed upstairs to their rooms to change clothes.

  They never dressed for dinner during the week—Mrs. Heaton said it was just too much trouble for working people and it made it much easier on the boarders. But on the weekends and special occasions they did dress up and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

  Elizabeth chose one of her favorite dinner gowns, a sleeveless green silk with a sweetheart neckline. It felt summery and cool and she felt pretty in it. She pinched her cheeks in the mirror and pinned up an errant strand of blond hair before leaving her room. She met up with Millicent in the hall.

  “Elizabeth! I’m glad you’re back. I can’t wait to show you and John the photographs. I think they turned out very well.”

  “I can’t wait to see them. Perhaps after dinner—”

  “What are you doing after dinner?” Kathleen asked, coming up behind them and following them down the staircase.

  “Millicent has the photos she took this morning and she’s ready to show them to me and John.”

  “Oh, I’d love to see them, Millicent!”

  “And you should,” Elizabeth said. “This was your idea after all.”

  Th
ey entered the parlor, but John wasn’t there. She felt a small stab of disappointment that he wasn’t. Had he been called out on an assignment? And why did it matter? She had no idea why she should care.

  However, just as dinner was announced and the boarders headed toward the dining room, footsteps were heard from the staircase leading down to the ground floor and he hurried to join them all in the hall.

  “Sorry I’m late. I’ve been working on the article about the building we saw today.”

  “I thought you wanted to do more research before starting it,” Elizabeth commented. Of course he would get a head start.

  John shrugged. “I do, but I’ve already talked to my editor about it and he’s eager to see the first one. Said there was a possibility of a series. He asked if I had pictures. Did you get them developed, Millicent?”

  All thoughts that somehow she’d misjudged John earlier in the day went flying out the window. As always, it was all about him and his career. It was as if she hadn’t even been along that morning.

  “I did,” Millicent said as she took her seat at the table. “Elizabeth suggested we look at them after dinner.”

  “Wonderful.” John pulled out Elizabeth’s seat as usual, but it wasn’t until he’d sat down beside her that he acknowledged her at all. “Have you spoken with your editor yet, Elizabeth?”

  “No, I haven’t. I’ll talk to him first thing on Monday, but I’m certain he’ll want to do a series of articles, too.” At least she hoped so. Something about John’s attitude tonight made her feel competitive.

  “I’m sure he will. But perhaps from a different perspective than what I’ll be doing for the Tribune.”

  Elizabeth clamped her mouth shut before she made a scathing comment about his hard-hitting article on what Mrs. Vanderbilt had worn at the last social function he covered. Instead she tried to enjoy the meal and listen to the conversations going on around her.

  “How is Rebecca doing?” Ben asked Mrs. Heaton.

  Rebecca was Mrs. Heaton’s daughter whom she’d been recently reunited with, having been missing for several years. Rebecca had a young daughter and was living with her brother, Michael, and his wife until after Kathleen and Luke were married.