A Cup of Tea - Amy Ephron [42]
And then they took Rosemary away, as well. Jane insisted that they let her change her dress. She’d put her hair up. Her hands were handcuffed behind her back. There was a policeman on either side of her. She didn’t say a word, just went along with them as though she were an actor acting out a final scene.
Eleanor gave Tess a bath and put her in a velvet dress. She spent a long time brushing her own hair, put on a dress she’d never worn before, gray silk, a little low in front with lots of buttons. She made a simple dinner and set the table with what good china they had and lit two ivory tapers.
Josie had agreed to spend the night at a friend’s. She poured herself a glass of white wine and told Tess a lot of silly things about the way she thought their life would be. And when it got late, she thought a number of other things, that she was a fool for believing him. Of course, he’d never leave for her. That he just hadn’t known how to tell Rosemary and tomorrow it would all be fine. It would be fine, wouldn’t it? In the distance, she heard the sound of a siren. She couldn’t bring herself to eat.
She put Tess in a nightgown and put her in her crib. She was cold. She looked at the clock. It was after ten. She took the silk shawl Philip had bought for her from a drawer and wrapped it around her shoulders. Outside, she heard a carriage. She ran to the window but it continued on. She shut the curtains to the room. She walked back to the baby’s crib and sang to her—
Hush little baby, don’t say a word.
Papa’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.
And if that mockingbird don’t sing,
Papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring…
She realized that he wasn’t coming. It was only when she saw the papers two days later that she knew the reason why.
About the Author
AMY EPHRON is a novelist and screenwriter. She is the author of One Sunday Morning, White Rose: Una Rosa Blanca, Cool Shades, Bruised Fruit, and Biodegradable Soap, and lives with her family in Los Angeles.
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Praise for A Cup of Tea
“With deceptive simplicity and appealingly uncluttered prose, Ephron weaves a morality tale that moves inexorably from mannered start to jarring finish.”
—People
“A jewel…. This novel will plunge you into New York City in the turbulent year of 1917 and will keep you enthralled…. A page-turner from start to finish, Ms. Ephron’s spare novel has classic proportions.”
—West Coast Review of Books
“A fine book.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Compelling in its tightness but never lacking proper development, this is a sterling novel.”
—Booklist
“Ephron excels in re-creating the aura of an era…. [A] careful evocation of the period.”
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“A graceful writer with a good eye for period detail.”
—Arizona Daily Star
“Ephron tells this sentimental tale simply and directly, with an old-fashioned touch that anchors it firmly in its time frame.”
—Anniston Star
“This book most assuredly will be any woman’s cup of tea.”
—Oklahoma City Oklahoman
“All of the period detail is correct right down to the last streetlamp…. Ephron gives us a rich situation and a carefully drawn setting.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A little trinket of a story…with pretty period details and an appealing spareness to her prose.”
—Baltimore Sun
“Ephron weaves a solid tale of love and betrayal.”
—Hartford Courant
“This book is smooth and seamlessly written with a screenwriter’s sure hand for manipulation in short spaces.”
—Los Angeles Times
Also by Amy Ephron
One Sunday Morning
White Rose: Una Rosa Blanca
Biodegradable Soap
Bruised Fruit
Cool Shades
Copyright
Suggested by the short story “A Cup of Tea” by Katherine Mansfield, © 1950 J. Middleton Murry.
A CUP OF TEA. Copyright