Sharing Corrie

Chapter Six

"Pants," Oliver exclaimed, gesturing to the baggy silk pants Jack wore. "You're wearing pants to a dinner party?"

Corrie was wearing her finest dress, a cornflower blue satin with an empire waist, and her mother wore a similar dress in dark burgundy. Oliver as well was dressed to the nines in a pinstriped, double breast pocketed suit with a black bowler hat and cane. In contrast, in complete defiance of the carefully chosen attire of the rest of the family, Aunt Jack had entered the Walker house in nothing short of a pair of pants, a plain blouse, and a hat.

Jack looked surprised at Oliver's abject horror at her apparel. "Why, yes! They're called harem pants, and they're quite the rage in Paris. I read in a newspaper a few weeks ago that Parisians are wild over Middle Eastern styles of all varieties, and when I heard that they'd developed pants for women, I just had to buy some!"

Corrie covered a smile; she couldn't deny that the pants looked comfortable and even appeared to be finely made. They were loose from the waist to the ankle where they gathered tightly above a pair of boots rather than evening slippers. She should have known that Aunt Jack would manage to upset the Walkers' best laid plans.

"Well, it doesn't matter now," Anita interrupted with a scowl. "There's no time to change. Come along, girls."
Seeing the disappointment on Jack's face, Corrie took her aunt's arm and whispered in her ear, "I think the pants look marvelous, Aunt Jack."

Jack beamed a grin and brushed away a strand of dirty blonde hair that had already come loose from her hastily pinned hair. Following Oliver and Anita, Corrie and Jack climbed into the carriage and Mr. Bricker drove them to the Brendons' house. Though the Walkers had an automobile, Oliver preferred to travel by carriage around town. In the more rural parts of the country, automobiles weren't quite trusted yet.

A few minutes later, they arrived outside the Brendons' brick house and Mr. Bricker handed them out. Anita took Oliver's arm and Corrie and Jack, the old spinsters, joined arms to enter the house.

Inside, music played softly and the members of the upper echelons of Irvington society milled about, gossiping behind fans and casting judgmental looks at whomever they pleased. Corrie sighed, certain that between her college education and Jack's pants they would be the subject of much conjecture and hearsay.

"Mr. and Mrs. Brendon," Oliver exclaimed, clasping the hands of the genteel couple at the door. "We are delighted to be here. You know my wife, Mrs. Walker, and I believe you remember my eldest daughter, Miss Cornelia Walker." Corrie curtseyed obligingly. "And my sister-in-law, Miss Jacqueline Harrison."

Aunt Jack curtseyed as well as she could in the billowing pants, and Corrie caught the look of judgment in Mrs. Brendon's sharp gray eyes.

"It's a pleasure. Miss Walker, I understand you've been attending university in New York City. I take it you are still unwed?" Though Mrs. Brendon offered a smile, Corrie saw the cold yet curious light in her eyes.

"Yes, I'm pursuing my degree though I'm currently on hiatus due to the war," Corrie answered, refraining from responding to Mrs. Brendon's nosier question.

"And Cornelia is courting a very eligible young man," Anita intervened on her behalf, "a Mr. Edwin McAlister, an up and coming law student from one of New York City's most distinguished families."

Mrs. Brendon's supercilious expression faltered. "Is that so?"

"Yes, ma'am," Corrie answered with a nod of her head, not wishing to stir up more gossip.

"I believe you know my son, Miss Walker? Mr. Charles Brendon? He has been recently married to Miss Travis from White Stone."

"Congratulations," Corrie said, squeezing Jack's arm. "If you'll excuse us, we're going to get some refreshments."