Marina’s Robert, or Bob as he preferred to be called, took Liddy onto the floor and they tromped along, taking turns with the lead to keep from crashing into any of the other couples.
When Alan met Liddy back at the table, he put his arm on the back of her chair and leaned to her and asked, “These friends of yours, they don’t have any mob connections do they?”
Liddy looked at him quizzically and grinned. “That depends on what mob you’re referring to,” she said and gave him a sly eye.
Marina had taken care of business, and all was now well between her and Alan. The two couples talked and laughed and swapped dance partners for the rest of the night. When the club staff lined up at the rail of the mezzanine, they took their cue to leave.
Before she got into a cab with Marina, Liddy said goodnight to Alan in front of the club. “Goodnight, Crazy Man.”
“Goodnight, Sweet Cakes.” Alan kissed her and smiled. The two men stood on the sidewalk and watched the car pull away with their fly girls. “Well, Bob, how about a drink?”
Marina’s apartment was lovely and simple. The first time Liddy had seen it she was surprised it wasn’t more done up, but glad of it too. Marina always made sure the guest bedroom was ready for her when she ferried in, and Liddy felt at home there. Both gals had shed their party clothes and changed into their nighties. They were sprawled out on the two matching chaise lounges in the living room.
“Robert seems very nice,” said Liddy.
“He is,” agreed Marina.
“So is it serious?”
“Are you serious?” Marina sat up a little and looked at Liddy cross-eyed. “It’s me you’re talking to here. I don’t get serious.”
“And why is that?”
“What a waste.”
“What does that mean?”
“There’s too many fish in the sea, sister.”
“I’ve heard that somewhere before. So you’ve decided you’re never getting married, huh?”
“I come from bad blood in that area, Liddy Lou. My mother was married five times you know.”
“Really, she was? I always thought you were kidding about that.”
“No joke, five husbands. I’m not even sure the first one was my father, even though that’s what I was told. She was the hottest gossip of New York society. Somehow she stayed in the fold though, despite her many ‘life transitions’ as she called them. She was born pretty high in the social chain and then kept moving up with her marriages.” Marina rested her head back on the chair. “The upper class is a unique set, you know? Their blood is like gold to them. Too, my mother was a magnificent looking woman and she used every inch to get what she wanted. Problem was, what she wanted changed like the direction of the wind, and her drinking didn’t help her judgment very much.”
“You’re not your mother, Marina.”
Marina lifted her head and looked at Liddy. “No, but I’m her daughter, and the Roth name is mud in this town. That’s my name, Roth. George is my grandmother’s maiden name.”
“Why do you stay if it bothers you so much?”
“Did I say it bothered me? This is my town, Miss Hall. California’s sunny and fun, but New York is where my heart beats. I love city life. No social mucky-mucks are going to scare me off.”
Liddy saw Marina’s face go little girl sad. “What is it, honey?”
Marina shook her head and bit her lip. “I want a drink. Do you want a drink?” She got up and walked to the buffet. “Scotch?” she asked Liddy and held up a bottle.
“No, thanks.”
“Oh, that’s right, you never touch the stuff. Soda pop, water, milk.” Marina tried to be silly.
“No, I’m fine.”
Marina dropped ice cubes in a glass, splashed in some scotch and walked to the window where she stared out silently for a long time before she said, “I lost my inheritance once,” Marina kept her back to Liddy. “My mother walked in on number four with his hands all over me and called me a little tramp. It didn’t matter that I was struggling to get away from the creep and was only fifteen.” She spun around and sat back against the window sill. “I think once she saw it with her own eyes, she just couldn’t deny the truth anymore that some of her ‘transitions’ had their way with her little girl. And she had never done… she could sure pick ‘em.” Marina shook the ice in her glass before she took a swallow. “Some people just can’t live with the truth, so she kicked me out and cut me out of her will. Now that was juicy gossip on the Avenue.
That’s why I worked for the airlines before the WASP. I lied about my age and became a stewardess when I was sixteen. When my mother passed away, my brother cut me back in. I was twenty-one by that time. I didn’t give up my job until I was accepted into the WASP, though. I couldn’t get myself to touch the money for a long time. Still makes my gut wrench sometimes.” Marina stood up and set her glass on a table. She wiped her eyes and patted her cheeks as if to slap on a happy face. “But it’s just money, right? There’s nothing living in it. It’s just money.”
Liddy got up from the chair and wrapped Marina up in hug until Marina grabbed Liddy’s shoulders and held her at arm’s length. “Hey, how did you get me talking about all this? Are you some kind of snake charmer or something? And by the way, Joy Lynn knows, but if you could keep it to yourself I’d…”
“Of course,” assured Liddy.
“So tell me about Alan Bradon, is it serious?”
“Marina dear, I think so.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Joy Lynn’s wedding wasn’t cancelled or postponed, so the baymates flew to Georgia the first week in June of 1945 to celebrate the nuptials of Joy Lynn Calbert and Lieutenant Phillip R. Mason, in grand Calbert style.
Marina picked Liddy up on the way down from New York, and they relished the nostalgia of flying a cross country with another gal. Joy Lynn’s parents insisted on flying Louise in from Colorado. So she took Bonnie and Tommy to her parent’s and packed up to have rare, if not non-existent, time for herself.
A week before the wedding they all arrived. Joy Lynn drove to the Atlanta airport in her daddy’s big Packard to pick up her bridesmaids. It would be their first time all together since Bet’s funeral.
They all stayed at Granddaddy Calbert’s big house by the Chattahoochee River, and it was like being roommates again, without the drill. For a week they reminisced, giggled, gossiped and laid around in their bras and panties, drinking sweet tea to cool off from a strong start to the Georgian sweat season.
Calli’s Steven was hoping to get his discharge in time and be home for the wedding. The temporarily single mommy packed up James Lee and they moved in, too, for the week. The baby toddled up and down the halls and was loved on by everyone. When he went down for his naps, Calli would steal away to be just one of the girls.
With the radio playing softly in the background, Joy Lynn’s wedding dress hung from the top of a floor mirror and the sister-friends were lounging around the bedroom staring at it. Joy Lynn sat on the sill of an open window, puffing on a cigarette and blowing the smoke onto the roof of the back porch. Her mama said a lady shouldn’t walk down the aisle smelling like a chimney, and she would come into the room on occasion to conduct surprise inspections, and take a whiff of the dress.
Louise was perched in the window seat and Liddy leaned against a mountain of pillows on the bed. Marina and Calli had multiple copies of Vogue magazines opened on the floor that Miss George had been using to give Miss Duncan a fashion tutorial. Now they were both leaning up against the window seat below Louise, admiring the gown.