Elizabeth 07: Before the Storm

"I assure you, our management loves your work," Mr. Franke continued. "Your gender is not an inconvenience; it's very much an asset. You understand the struggles of a generation that is changing the world very quickly. If war is as imminent as we fear, those changes are likely to come more quickly than ever."

"You would not want the emotional stress of worrying about your husband while you were potentially in harm's way yourself, as well," Mrs. Franke added. "Really, it is only fair to you."

Sure it is, you old fashioned fools, I thought to myself. But I knew better than to voice any such objections. In the weeks since the Frankes had first approached me about joining their international press service in the event of war, I had progressed from wanting nothing to do with the whole operation to pondering the wisdom of not sitting around Westfordshire City in constant fear of bad news about all my male friends to being eager to do my part if it should come to that. With that thought in mind, I took a sip of tea and gave them an answer on my own time. "Very well, then, yes. I'd love to join the war effort if necessary. And yes, I am most definitely unattached. For over a year now, actually."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Mrs. Franke said.

"Why are you sorry, if you wouldn't hire me otherwise?"

"Oh, well, no one ought to be alone in this world, is all," Mrs. Franke replied. "But I imagine I might just as soon not be in love with a man your age just now."

I thought of Jonathan and Gregory and Benjamin - and James - and I nodded. "Indeed," I said. "There is a certain benefit to being on my own just now." I found my eyes drawn to the table a few rows away where James and I had eaten lunch just before our outdoor tryst those few long years ago, and I found myself laughing lightly at the absurdity of being glad I was single in that very room.

"Have I missed a ladies' joke here?" asked Mr. Franke.

"Not at all," I said. "It is only that it feels rather queer to say I am glad to be on my own in this restaurant. The young man I was involved with until a year ago, his name was James; he and I had a memorable date once in this restaurant. It can still bring back memories."

"I'm sorry," Mrs. Franke said, and almost looked it for once.

"Oh, it is quite all right," I reassured her. "We had some lovely times, but we grew apart. It happens."

"Will he be joining up?" asked Mr. Franke.

"I don't know. He moved to London after we parted and I haven't kept in touch with him."

"Well, I suppose -"

"Walter!" Mrs. Franke interrupted her husband, "Perhaps she does not wish to talk about him!"

"Right, then, point taken," Mr. Franke said. "Welcome aboard, though I am sure you will join me in hoping we may not require your services in the end." We stood up and, to my pleasant surprise, he shook my hand firmly as he presumably would a man's. I could not help laughing as I realized I might even have been directly responsible for that. As if reading my mind, he said, "Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, I read your column about how one should not greet a professional woman as one would a lady at a ball. And I confess that is a mistake I would have made before I read your work."

"Well, thank you!" I was delighted; such positive responses to my column from men - other than Jonathan - were all too rare.

"Shall we send the paperwork to your office?" Mrs. Franke asked.

"Please, no!" I said. "Thank heavens you asked first! Mr. Thompson has no idea I am considering leaving. The sexist old codger has it coming, but now is not the time to tell him."

"Very well, we'll have them sent to your home," Mr. Franke said. I thanked him, and was off to explain my late lunch to Mr. Thompson.

That proved unnecessary, as he was already into his afternoon sojourn at the bar when I returned. It was Jonathan's turn to watch the girls, and he had Margaret asleep on the impromptu mattress we had constructed out of spare blankets behind his desk and was preparing a bottle for Catherine. "The one and only thing Elizabeth can do that I cannot," he quipped in lieu of a proper greeting.

"Yes, aren't we the lucky ones in that regard," I mused. Elizabeth had not yet told me of her and Jonathan's own recent nursing experience, so I was spared the awkwardness of pretending I did not know about it (and was very, very grateful for that when Elizabeth did tell me the story later on!).

"Yes, I suppose you are," Jonathan said. "That and a few other ways. So, I am to understand you and the girls are escorting Alexandria to the baths tonight? That ought to be interesting!"

"Oh, yes, I had nearly forgotten that." I could have smacked myself as soon as the words were out of my mouth. But it was too late.

"Forgotten? Weren't you going to have lunch with Elizabeth and Irene?"

"I..." I had no time to concoct a lie. I thought briefly of telling the truth, but I did not yet want even my dearest friends to know. Finally, a revolutionary idea dawned on me. "I had someone else I needed to talk to, I'm afraid. I'd rather not discuss all that right now; it's a bit sensitive."

"All right, I understand," Jonathan said. "I am sure Elizabeth was disappointed that you could not join her, though; I know this is highly awkward for her."

I could have kissed Jonathan for being so understanding! But I was immediately relieved that I had opted not to do so, for Mr. Thompson burst in through the office door at that moment. "Agnes!" he proclaimed. "You're looking lovely this afternoon!"

"Thank you," I said, "But this is the same dress I was wearing this morning, Mr. Thompson."

"Well, that is most interesting," he said, eyeing me up and down from close enough for me to smell the whiskey on his breath. "Something about you appears to have changed, in any event."

Silently I wondered, could that be true? Had the outcome of the meeting at Miles inspired me to look as nervous and excited about the opportunity as I felt? I had but a moment to wonder before Mr. Thompson's alcohol-addled boisterousness woke Margaret up and she began to wail. Mr. Thompson looked pityingly at her and then at Jonathan. "Good job you're such a good worker, Jonathan, this arrangement is awfully unorthodox, isn't it?"

"Elizabeth and I are very grateful you were willing to accept it," Jonathan said, setting Catherine down on his office chair; then she began to cry as well. I stepped in to pick Catherine up and calm her, something I had done enough times before that she welcomed it.

"Yes, well, it is a changing world, old chap." Mr. Thompson turned to retreat into his office. "I must say, though, had someone told me one of my lawyers would be bringing babies in to the office, I shouldn't have guessed it would be you, Jonathan."

Jonathan looked expectantly at me, and mouthed the words, "Do it!" I grinned and nodded. It was a bit of struggle while holding Catherine, but I was able to get her into the crook of my left arm. This freed my right arm, and with it I yanked my skirt up and flashed my panties at Mr. Thompson, who as usual was none the wiser.

"Just how many times have you done that, now?" Elizabeth asked me late that afternoon as we loitered outside the bathhouse waiting for Alexandria. She and Irene were both laughing uproariously as usual at my antics with Mr. Thompson.

"Every time he's asked for it," I said. "I can't count that high!"

"I do hope Jonathan doesn't get into any real trouble for bringing the girls in," Elizabeth said. "We just can't afford a nanny, and besides, I really don't want someone else raising my children."

"I don't think he will," I said. "Mr. Thompson will whinge about it, but he whinges about everything. Besides..." I smiled with a shyness I rarely felt in the presence of Elizabeth or Irene. "I love helping out with them."

"Any hope of you having one of your own one of these days?" Irene asked.

"With whom, exactly?" I could only hope I had masked my irritation at my friend, who knew perfectly well that there had been no serious prospects on the horizon since James and I had gone our separate ways.

Elizabeth, perhaps taking note of my annoyance, changed the subject deftly. "Do you suppose there is any chance Alexandria will get cold feet?" she asked.

"I doubt it," Irene said. "You saw how thrilled she was when we agreed to accompany her."

"Much as I did not wish to," Elizabeth admitted.

"Elizabeth, I don't understand," I said. "Normally you are so very confident and poised in there, and Alexandria is not the little brat she used to be. Besides, if she says anything out of line, she will be the one to suffer for it, not you!"

"I know, I know," Elizabeth conceded. "Do you know what I think it is, though? Agnes, you are quite right: she's not the little brat she used to be. I suppose I do not care to share our private and adult pastimes with someone I knew as a young little thing. I suppose...I suppose I am reminded of when I moved out of your family's house. That was a stark reminder that a wonderful era in my life was over. This is an even starker reminder that now it was really quite some time ago!"

Wordlessly at first, I took Elizabeth in my arms. "Do you know, my dear, how very many times I have had that same thought?"

"Me too," Irene added. "Lately more than ever, with, you know, Gregory."

"You still haven't been able to talk him out of it, then?" Elizabeth asked as she and I disentangled ourselves from one another.

"Quite the contrary," Irene said. "You see, the other night -"

Irene would later tell us all about the altercation with Gregory and her ensuing guilty reminiscing about Benjamin and about me. But that needed to wait, for at that moment Alexandria stepped down from a streetcar and greeted us with a lusty hello. "Terribly sorry I'm late!" she said before kissing us all on the cheek in turn. "Had a bit of angst over what to wear, I confess."

"Well, you do know you won't be wearing anything in there, don't you, dear?" I couldn't resist asking.

"Of course I do, Agnes! But it just...only seemed right to make some effort to look good for the occasion." She did indeed look good, but she had chosen a similar outfit to the one she had been wearing on her arrival earlier in the week. I immediately suspected there was another reason for her tardiness - perhaps a late attack of nerves, just as Elizabeth had been hoping for? But none of us commented on that.

"Well, then," Irene said. "Now that the gang's all here, I don't know about you, but I am well past ready to get in the water!"

"As am I," Elizabeth said, though rather less enthusiastically than the belle of the baths usually sounded about such things.

"Ooh, I confess I am nervous, but I can hardly wait!" Alexandria said, surprising us all by hooking an arm affectionately through Elizabeth's. "Growing up here, you know, you hear so many stories about the wonderful intimacy in there and the tight friendships it inspires, and I got to watch that happen up close with the three of you. You'll never know how desperately I wanted to join you!"

"You are quite right, Alexandria, we never knew," I said. "After all, your demeanour in those days..."

"Oh, I know, I know!" Alexandria said. "And I am ever so sorry for every last bit of all that! It was jealousy, nothing more. Jealousy of how grown up and lovely and free you all were, and all the taboo topics I was sure you were talking about all the time in here," she added, looking around the bathhouse lobby in wonder as we entered. The lobby was plain and utterly uninteresting, showing no signs of what awaited the members back in the bath chamber; but I could still recall being every bit as fascinated on my very first entrance several years before. That, of course, had been accompanied by Elizabeth and Irene as well.

"Oh, we were talking about some very private things," Irene acknowledged. "That much is true. You'll have to forgive us, Alexandria; remember, none of us grew up here."

"No, but I heard of the place as early as my first term at Yarmouth Girls'," Elizabeth said. "And like you, Alexandria, I could scarcely wait until I was old enough to join. That there could be a place so accepting seemed too good to be true back then!"

"Oh, my, yes, Elizabeth," Alexandria said in a somewhat quieter tone than she had used up to that point as we presented our cards to the desk attendant. "Yes, you were bullied there, weren't you? Still none of my business, I know, but I do hope someday we shall be close enough that you will be willing to tell me why."

The desk attendant, a regal woman in her forties, was also a frequent visitor to the baths when she was off duty and, of course, knew the answer to Alexandria's mystery. She and Elizabeth shared a quiet laugh at the knowledge of just how soon the poor dear's question would be answered.

Alexandria squealed like a schoolgirl a few more times as we made our way down the hall to the locker room. It was mostly empty, with just a pair of older women I didn't know who were getting dressed to leave. "This is most fortunate, Alexandria," Elizabeth said. "On a colder day, this room would be bustling and you'd have quite an audience as you undressed."

"I don't suppose that really matters, does it?" Alexandria asked. "I mean, if we're all going to be naked together in there anyway?"

"Excellent attitude, dear," I said, quietly impressed; perhaps she would fit in after all.

Although her sense of impending embarrassment was absolutely palpable, Alexandria bit her lip and made a point of being the first to remove an article of clothing: her hat. She took her time hanging it carefully in her locker, making sure it was secure on its hook, so that by the time she was free to turn her attentions elsewhere, the three of us all had our shoes off and Elizabeth and I had our satchels squared away in our lockers. None of us begrudged Alexandria for peeling her blazer off quite slowly, or for stealing a glance at us as I unbuttoned my skirt and Irene her trousers. By the time she had the blazer hung safely in her locker and had no further outer clothing to remove, all three of us were down to our brassieres and panties.

"Would you rather we go on ahead and let you undress on your own, Alexandria?" Elizabeth asked.

"No! No, thanks. I knew what I was getting into when I came here, and I did - and still do - want the full experience. I guess it is only that the first time is rather intimidating."

"It certainly is," I said, and as I said it I resumed undressing. "I remember being absolutely terrified on my first time here. But everyone was so wonderfully accepting and welcoming!"

"I was terrified as well on my first time," Elizabeth confessed. Also down to her panties by then, she kept them on for the moment to address Alexandria. "I was just like you: dying to come here for years, but when the day finally arrived, I had my heart in my throat all the way down that hall. I still remember the locker room was quite crowded that day as well: it was late winter and everyone wanted to escape to the baths!"

"And you feared you would have an unwelcome audience as you undressed, did you?" At last Alexandria had given in and slipped her skirt off; now she was unbuttoning her blouse.

"Oh, I did not fear that I would," Elizabeth corrected her. "I knew I would."

"But why, Elizabeth?" Alexandria had, I noted, stubbornly looked Elizabeth only in the eye, as though she were just as shy about seeing as about being seen (which perhaps she was!); and so she had not yet taken notice of our friend's secret that no pair of panties could ever hope to keep. Looking her up and down now, Alexandria did take notice, just before Elizabeth pulled her panties down and solved the mystery on which Alexandria had pondered all those years.

"Oh my," Alexandria, herself down to her underwear now, murmured. Like dozens of women before her in that room, she found herself utterly unable to resist gazing at Elizabeth's huge, thick bush. At last looking up at Elizabeth's face - and then in turn at Irene and myself, both of us having been nude for some time - she continued. "Now I see why you never wanted to tell me why you were bullied. Totally inappropriate of me to ask, as well. I'm sorry!"

"If I hadn't forgiven you, I wouldn't have agreed to accompany you here, dear," Elizabeth reassured her.

"Thank you. But what an absolutely bizarre thing to hassle another girl about! Of all the things I imagined might have been the cause of your problems, this is one I never thought of."

"Didn't you ever notice her eyebrows?" Irene teased.

"No one ever does!" Elizabeth said. "You would think, wouldn't you?" She did have thick, heavy eyebrows, almost like a man's. "But even Jonathan never noticed that, before I brought it to his attention. And he had seen me in the nude by then."

"Would he notice them, though?" Alexandria asked, as at long last she removed her brassiere. "It hardly seems the sort of thing a man would pay attention to."

"Alexandria, we have a lot to teach you," I said, firmly but with a smile.

"Not least about the history of us all," Elizabeth added. "Welcome to the inner circle, I suppose." She was, she would later confide in me, immensely relieved at Alexandria's nonchalant reaction to seeing her in the nude for the first time. At that moment the last of her own apprehensions faded away, and she became determined to return the favour. As Alexandria bit her lip and finally slipped her panties off, Elizabeth pointed out the modesty cloaks that were available at the end of each row of lockers. "You will have to take it off for the bath of course, but no one will blame you if you prefer wearing it on the way there."

"Oh..." Alexandria looked down at her pert breasts and dainty triangle, only a bit more prominent than Irene's, and looked back up to see us all admiring her in polite silence. "There hardly seems to be any point to that now, does there?"

"That is just as we three have always believed," Irene agreed. She took Alexandria's hand and guided her to the bath chamber door, with Elizabeth and me following.

If Alexandria had any lingering concerns, she hid them well as Irene opened the door and ushered her into the chamber. "Oh, this is beautiful!" Alexandria exclaimed as she stepped inside. "Even better than I imagined!"

"Ah, I see we have another first-timer," came a familiar voice from the far end of the bath.

I was immensely amused upon hearing that voice, as I realized Alexandria's long-awaited discovery of Elizabeth's secret was to be followed immediately by meeting the only woman we knew who rivalled that secret. "Frances!" I exclaimed. "What a lovely surprise!"

As I entered, with Elizabeth just behind me, I saw I was correct: Frances, who had moved to Westfordshire City shortly after Elizabeth's wedding and had become as much a mainstay of the baths as we were, was holding court with two young ladies I had never seen before. She looked positively delighted to see us as well. "Good afternoon!" she declared. "I see you've brought a new friend?"

"Alexandria is actually a very old friend, Frances," Elizabeth explained as the four of us descended into the delightfully hot water. "But this is her first visit to the baths."

"You certainly found the perfect companions for that!" Frances said. "I think Elizabeth is probably responsible for more pleasant introductions to our little world than anyone else who's ever been here."

"And to think I wasn't even here to witness your first visit," noted Elizabeth, who had been off on her honeymoon on the day Irene and I had accompanied Frances to the baths for the first time.

"You were certainly here in spirit, though," Frances said. "I knew I could depend on being welcomed here thanks to your own experience." To Alexandria she added, "You see, Elizabeth and I have a certain something in common," and she looked down at her own big bush.