Jane Goes Batty (30 page)

“Hello, Jane.”

Jane thought she heard Walter’s voice. Then she turned around and discovered that in fact she had. He was standing behind her, dressed in a handsome pair of tan breeches, a cream-colored waistcoat, and a jacket of royal blue velvet that was cut away in front and ended in tails at the back. His cravat was tied in a small bow at his throat, and his hair was tousled, as if he’d just come in from riding. He was breathtakingly handsome, and Jane
found herself staring into his blue eyes and unable to look away.
It’s as if he’s glamoring me!
she thought.

“Walter!” Byron said jovially, putting his arm around Walter’s shoulders. “It’s a pleasure to see you.”

“And you,” said Walter.

“Where is your
delightful
mother?” Byron asked.

Walter looked around. “Over there,” he said, pointing toward a spot as far away from where Jane and her friends stood as it was possible to get. Miriam had her back to them as she looked over the various plates of cookies and pies laid out on the table before her. Then, apparently finding none of them to her liking, she turned and fixed Jane with a steely stare.

“Such a handsome woman,” said Byron. “I see that, like Jane, she’s opted not to dress for the occasion.”

“No,” Walter replied. “Mother isn’t really one for costumes.” Looking at Jane, he added, “I hope it’s all right that we came.”

“Of course it’s all right,” said Jane. “I’m very pleased to see you, Walter.”

Walter smiled shyly. “I should go keep her company,” he said, nodding slightly in the direction of his mother. “Perhaps we can talk later.”

Jane nodded. “I look forward to it,” she said.

As Walter walked away Byron came close to Jane. “Have you asked yourself why it is you keep falling for unavailable men?” he asked.

“First of all, there have only been
two
men,” Jane said. “And you don’t count, as I was a silly girl who didn’t know any better. As for Walter, he pursued
me
. So I hardly see how I can be blamed for that.”

“I suppose you’re right,” said Byron. “Still—”

“Still nothing,” Jane snapped. “And that’s the last we’ll speak of that subject.”

Byron opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly the air was
filled with a crackling sound that came from speakers on either side of the bandstand. All heads turned to see what was happening. Beverly Shrop, a microphone in her hand, stood on the stage.

“Hello!” she said. “And welcome to what I know will be a magical evening. I’m sure you’re all anxious to begin, so please join me in welcoming our musicians for this evening, the wonderful Haymeadow Trio, as well as English country dance expert Katherine Threadgood.”

As the audience clapped, four people—two men and two women—mounted the steps to the bandstand. One of the women held a flute in her hands, one of the men had a violin, and the second man seated himself at the piano. The second woman took the microphone from Beverly.

“As Beverly told you, my name is Katherine Threadgood,” she said. “I don’t know that I’m an
expert
on English country dancing, but I’m certainly a great fan. Tonight we want to give you a taste of what a typical night of dancing might have been like in the time of Jane Austen.”

“Oh, joy,” Jane groused.

“Cheer up,” said Byron. “It’s going to be fun. Perhaps they’ll have us do Buttered Pease, or maybe All in a Garden Green.”

Jane groaned. “I couldn’t remember the steps to those when they were all the rage,” she said. “How am I supposed to remember them now?”

“To get us started, we’re going to do a simple circle dance,” Katherine Threadgood announced. “If you would please pair up into couples and form circles with even numbers of couples but no more than twelve couples to a circle, I’ll walk you through the steps.”

As couples began forming, Katherine added, “Don’t be shy. I promise you this is very simple.”

Jane moved to take a seat on one of the couches, but Byron took her hand. Before she could object she found herself standing
in a circle in the middle of the dance floor. Also in her circle were Ben and Lucy, Chloe and Ted, Beverly and Ned, and several couples she had never seen before. To her surprise they were joined a moment later by Sherman Applebaum and Posey Frost.

“All right,” Katherine called out. “Now within each circle form two circles, men on the outside and women on the inside, facing one another.”

Jane took her place between two women she didn’t know and waited for the music to begin. She detested circle dances. They involved touching numerous hands, all of them sweaty, and inevitably someone broke the pattern and it all ended badly.
I’ll just do this one
, she promised herself.
Then I’ll go home
.

“Excuse us.”

Two men to Byron’s left parted, and Jane saw Walter and Miriam enter the circle. Miriam looked annoyed, but Walter had a gleeful expression on his face as he took his place. Jane could tell that he’d forced his mother to participate, and she imagined he was getting no small amount of satisfaction from subjecting her to the indignity.
Good for you, Walter
, she thought. She smiled at him, but he was not looking in her direction.

“This should be interesting,” Byron said to her, grinning.

“One more thing before we begin,” said Katherine. “I need you to count off in pairs. It doesn’t matter where you begin, so one couple in each group volunteer to be couple number one.”

“We’ll be couple number one!” Beverly said excitedly.

“Once you’ve decided who the first couple is, count off starting with the man to the left of the man in the first couple,” Katherine continued.

Beverly looked at Sherman and Posey. “That makes you number two,” she said.

They continued to count off. Jane and Byron were couple number six.

“Don’t forget your number,” Katherine announced. “It will be important later.”

“Do you think you can be trusted to remember?” Byron teased Jane.

“I’ve written it on my hand just in case,” Jane joked back.

“Here’s how this dance works,” Katherine said. “For the first four bars you link left arms with your partner and swing around two times. This will put you back where you started, facing each other. Stay in place and clap for a count of eight. Then each lady links arms with the gentleman to her right and they swing around two times. You do this until each woman has danced with each man. When you’re back with your original partner stay in place and clap hands. I’ll call out further directions when we get there. Now when the music starts, I’ll count you off and tell you when to begin.”

The three musicians began playing a lively tune Jane recognized as “Jack’s Maggot.” She had danced it often as a young woman, and it was a favorite. It was not entirely appropriate for the kind of dancing they were now doing, but that did not diminish her joy at hearing it again.

“Here we go!” Katherine called out. “One, two, three, four, and swing!”

Jane locked left elbows with Byron and the two circled each other. “This brings back some memories,” Byron remarked.

“It does indeed,” said Jane.

“Now clap for eight!” Katherine reminded them.

Jane dutifully clapped for the count and then moved to her right to dance with a gentleman she did not know. He smiled but said nothing as they turned twice around.

Her next partner was Ben. On their first swing he said, “Have you decided what to do about Walter?”

“No,” Jane replied. “But I have fifteen bars to think about it.”

“Good luck,” said Ben as they finished their second swing and parted to stand facing each other and clapping.

“Well,” Jane said to Ned as she took his arm for the next measure. “How do you like being Beverly’s boy toy?”

“I’m Ted,” the young man replied. “Ned couldn’t take it anymore. Besides, he wanted to dance with Chloe.”

“Sneaky,” said Jane. “Let’s just hope Beverly doesn’t try to take a bite out of you.”

Ted paled as he let go of Jane, and as she stepped back she felt obligated to say, “I’m just teasing.”

This seemed to do little to make things better, as Ted appeared rattled and mistakenly clapped on the up beat. But there was no time to apologize again before Jane found herself with Sherman.

“Just the woman I wanted to see,” said Sherman. He pulled her close in to his body and whispered, “They found a note in the pocket of Jessica Abernathy’s jacket, asking her to meet at the fairgrounds.”

“Do they know who sent it?” asked Jane.

“Someone called Violet Grey,” said Sherman as he released Jane’s arm.

Jane stifled a gasp, almost forgetting to clap. Violet Grey? Did that mean Charlotte was in town? Had she killed Jessica—her sorority sister—to send a message to Jane?

“Isn’t Chloe’s costume
fabulous
?” her next partner asked as they began their swing.

“Don’t bother,” Jane said. “I know you’re Ned. You have some nerve, leaving your brother with that jackal.”

“I’m sorry,” Ned told her. “I just couldn’t stand it anymore. She keeps trying to hold my hand.”

“You’re lucky that’s all she’s trying to hold,” said Jane. “But you won’t have to do it for much longer, so don’t worry. We won’t let her savage you.”

During the two bars of clapping she looked to her right. Walter was dancing with a woman Jane didn’t know. But he kept stealing glances at Jane. Moments later they were arm in arm.

“I thought you’d never get here,” Walter told her.

“I’m sure your mother is thrilled about it,” said Jane.

“Can we not talk about her?” Walter said. “At least for the next count of four.”

When he let go of Jane it was reluctantly. As their arms parted his fingers grabbed hers. Just for a second he held them tightly. Then Jane stepped back and the connection was broken. She looked into Walter’s eyes as they clapped.
I can’t keep doing this
, Jane thought.

Her final partner was a stranger, a short, jolly man who swung her with such vigor that she was almost swept off her feet. She was relieved when their turn was over and she was once again dancing with Byron.

“Did anything interesting happen?” he asked as he and Jane did their final swing.

“Our Gloomy Friend may be in town,” Jane informed him. “I think that qualifies.”

There was no more time for discussion as they parted and clapped down the final bars. But the music kept playing as Katherine’s voice came over the speaker. “Gentlemen, stay in place and continue clapping,” she instructed them. “Ladies, your job is a little trickier. Remember your numbers?”

A chorus of laughter and yeses filled the room.

“I hope so,” said Katherine.

Jane wished she could sneak out of the circle. But it was too late. Not only was the circle of men keeping her inside, there was simply no way to do it without causing a commotion. Also, it would leave the circle with an odd number of couples, which would make the dance impossible.

“Ladies, turn and face inside the circle.”

Jane turned her back to Byron. Across the circle from her was Posey, moving back and forth as she kept time with her feet.

“When I say go, I want the odd-numbered ladies to walk forward and meet in the middle of the circle,” said Katherine. “You’ll join hands and circle to your right for a count of eight. If you do it right, you should end up back where you started. Walk backward
to your starting position. Then we’ll repeat those steps with the even-numbered ladies. On the next bar, we’ll begin!” said Katherine. “And two, three, four, go!”

Jane watched as Beverly, Chloe, and the two unknown women walked forward and joined hands. As they circled she counted down the bars until she would have to move forward and take Miriam’s hand. She comforted herself with the knowledge that Lucy would be on her other side.

The women on either side of Jane returned to their places. At the beginning of the next bar Katherine called out, “Even-numbered ladies!” and Jane willed herself to move. When she reached the center she gladly reached for Lucy on her left. She hesitated a moment and then extended her hand to Miriam on her right.

Miriam’s hand was cool and dry. But seconds after Jane grasped it she felt a wave of emotion wash over her, a sickening wall of fear and rage. Instinctively she dropped the woman’s hand and stepped away as if she’d been stung. Miriam stared at her, her eyes blazing.

“I’m sorry,” Jane said, letting go of Lucy’s hand. “I have to go.”

Turning, she ran toward Byron, pushed him aside, and ran as quickly as she could toward the door.

“Y
OU COULD HAVE MENTIONED THAT
J
ESSICA WAS DEAD,
” B
YRON
said. He sounded hurt.

“I’m not apologizing for that,” said Jane. “I didn’t know Our Gloomy Friend might have had something to do with it, not until Sherman told me at the dance. And anyway, I only found out this morning. I was still basking in the joyous news.”

They were in Jane’s living room. Jane was stretched out on the couch, an afghan covering her, and Byron was seated in one of the armchairs. He still wore his dancing clothes, but Jane had swapped her dress for a pair of pajamas made from lightweight pink flannel printed with images of small gray mice. They each had a glass of merlot, and the almost empty bottle sat on the coffee table.