“They didn’t seem to mind,” he said, seeming relaxed about it. “Except the grandmother, of course. But she probably won’t approve of us tonight either.” And then he shook his head again. “Listen to us. They’re real to us, Syb. Has everyone forgotten they’re ghosts?”
“Very real ghosts,” she reminded him. “And we happen to be living together. I was thinking about it today, when I finished Bettina’s book about the family history. There’s so much we know that they don’t, about what’s going to happen to them. It doesn’t seem fair. Why can’t we warn them?”
“Because you can’t change destiny, life isn’t fair, and they’re already dead, for whatever reason, no matter what we tell them.”
Sybil nodded and knew it was true. “They probably have more to teach us than we can teach them, even though they don’t know our future. But we can use them as examples. It’s so strange being trapped in a time warp, yet when we’re with them, it feels so right,” Sybil said as she headed for the bath to get ready for dinner.
“I hope they show up,” he called after her, as he took his dinner jacket to his dressing room, and then realized that the space had once been Bert’s. He wondered where Bert dressed now. He had looked impeccable the night before.
They were both in their evening clothes when they rounded up their children, who had grudgingly gotten dressed up for the evening to indulge their mother. Magnus had left Charlie an hour before, dazzled by playing with the PlayStation. Charlie told his mother that Magnus had been good at it, for a beginner. And they all headed to the dining room at seven-thirty, guessing it was the time for dinner. The room seemed quiet at first, as they approached it, and Blake suspected no one was there, but as they reached the door, they saw that the Butterfields were getting seated. Bert and Gwyneth smiled broadly when they saw the Gregorys and waved them into the room. Augusta examined each of them closely when they walked in, and Sybil and Blake and their children greeted her formally. Angus teased them about how respectable they looked.
“Bought some decent clothes, I see. Lovely dress,” he said to Sybil, nearly fawning over her when he saw the low back and admired her slim figure, and his sister gave him a wicked look and told him to sit down.
All the young people were delighted to see one another, and the Gregorys took the same places as the night before. Phillips bowed politely to Sybil and held her seat for her. She felt like a queen as she sat down and Bert complimented her on her dress, as Augusta made a comment about their being informally dressed for dinner. At the time, white tie and tails were the appropriate dinner dress, and black tie was considered informal, but they passed muster with everyone else.
The talk that night turned to the war in Europe, and whether or not President Wilson would allow the United States to get involved. The war had been raging in Europe for three years by then, and America had stayed out of it so far, much to everyone’s relief, and particularly Gwyneth’s.
“You must be worried about Andy too,” she said kindly. And Sybil didn’t know what to say. It was a hundred years later, and there was no risk to him. Only to Josiah.
“He’s applying to college for the fall,” Sybil said and changed the subject. He had three more weeks to apply, and then they’d have to wait till March for the results. He had applied to Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth. He was thinking of applying to Stanford too, but didn’t think he’d get in. Two of his friends and he had become interested in the University of Edinburgh, which was an unusual choice. Andy liked everything about it except the weather, and going to school in Europe appealed to him. Andy mentioned it at dinner and Uncle Angus heartily encouraged him.
“Wonderful school. I went there myself. Much livelier than Oxford or Cambridge. You should apply. Use my name if you like.” Andy smiled at that, and couldn’t imagine they’d remember him unless he had built the school, but decided to look at it online again that night. He was considering Oxford, but the University of Edinburgh sounded like more fun.
“Thank you, sir. I’ll read up on it again tonight,” Andy promised.
“Good lad,” Angus said, and complained that his sister hadn’t allowed his dog in the dining room, since Rupert was in disgrace for the napkins he’d destroyed.
Caroline flirted with Josiah, and Andy was extremely attentive to Lucy, who had worn a gauzy pink dress that made her look like an angel with her fair skin and pale blond curls. Blake watched his two older children carefully. However agreeable this was, he didn’t want them losing track of reality and falling in love with ghosts. He was going to mention it to Sybil later that night.
The adults enjoyed a lively conversation, and Gwyneth and Sybil got to chat for a few minutes. Gwyneth was fascinated that Sybil had studied both architecture and design, curated museum shows, and wrote articles for newspapers. Blake had been bragging about her dedication during dinner, and Gwyneth was wide-eyed with admiration and in awe of Sybil’s talents. She was artistic herself, but had no real outlet for it.
“It must be so wonderful to work,” Gwyneth whispered, and her mother stepped in immediately, having overheard her.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Gwyneth. What would you want to do? Take in washing? Be a governess? Leave work to the men, and do something more useful with your time.” Augusta added that Gwyneth used to do lovely watercolors but had stopped when she had the children. And Gwyneth added modestly that they weren’t very good.
“I don’t have time,” she said to her mother.
“Nonsense, they’re old enough now. You should take it up again.” But Gwyneth was much more excited to hear about what Sybil did. She thought it remarkably brave of her, and she was impressed by the way Sybil expressed her opinions without offending anyone, and remained feminine at the same time. She thought her very modern. The two women had formed an almost instant rapport, and Gwyneth thanked her for allowing Magnus to come and play that afternoon. “He had a wonderful time,” she told her new friend, and Sybil said he was welcome whenever he wanted to visit them.
They all lingered over coffee and dessert that night, not wanting the meal to end. Gwyneth told Sybil that at formal dinners the women normally went into the drawing room at the end of the meal and left the men to their cigars. But with close friends, they no longer did. It was a practice Sybil had heard about but never seen, except in old films.
Bert said they might go to their home in Woodside soon for a few days to ride their horses. They kept them there, and he was thinking of getting a new motorcar, a Cadillac, and asked Blake’s advice about it, who admitted he knew very little about cars but would love to see it when Bert got it, and then realized he never would, because it was long gone.
“I’d love to learn to drive,” Bettina whispered to Andy, and he smiled at her.