Page 57 of Shelter from the Storm

“Probably close to your age,” Edith responded. The two of them were sitting side by side on the couch. They’d intended to watch a movie together, but that plan changed when Gretchen spotted the photo album on the bookshelf.

They’d spent the last couple of hours turning through the pages as Edith recounted stories of her younger years, which was way better than watching a movie.

It was the night of the mayoral election, so they were staying up, awaiting the results. Because Gracemont was a small town, Edith said the ballot counting didn’t run super late, so they hoped to know the results by ten or eleven p.m.

Theo had promised to call as soon as he heard.

“That was the summer I traveled to Myrtle Beach with a few girlfriends for a week. Oh my,” Edith exclaimed. “Didn’t we think we were all the rage, smoking cigarettes and drinking Old Fashioneds around the pool, while the boys circled us like flies on honey.”

Gretchen looked at the picture again. “If your girlfriends were even half as pretty as you, I’m sure you all were the center of attention.”

Edith pressed her shoulder against hers. “Oh, go on with you. I made a lot of bad decisions on that trip, but damn if I didn’t enjoy every single one.”

Gretchen laughed. “Bad decisions, huh?”

“Sometimes those are the best ones.”

They turned another page, Gretchen pointing to another photo, this one of Edith standing in front of the Washington Monument, surrounded by hundreds of other women.

“A protest?” Gretchen asked.

“A march for the ERA,” Edith replied. “One that worked, as we were successful in getting the House and Senate to approve an extension of the amendment. I’ve attended quite a few protests and rallies in my time.”

“Good for you.” Every time Gretchen learned something new about Edith, she loved the woman even more.

Gretchen laughed when they turned the page, and she spotted a picture of Edith draped over the hood of a car.

“God, I loved my Ford Mustang. Used to drive that thing everywhere,” Edith confessed.

As they continued turning the pages, she watched as Edith got older.

“This was the first property I ever bought on my own.” Edith’s parents had owned several rental properties in and around Gracemont that she inherited following their deaths.

“How many have you bought since then?” Gretchen asked.

Edith tapped a finger against her lower lip. “That’s a good question. I’d say at least twenty.”

“Twenty?” Gretchen wasn’t sure why she was surprised. Edith was a shrewd and clever businesswoman.

“Property is a good investment,” Edith said. “Though I’ll admit, it took some time for the older generation in town to accept a woman investing in real estate. Especially a woman who was still single in her thirties. By the time I turned forty, I’d acquired a tidy fortune, thanks to some very good stock market investments, so I guess some people around here considered me quite the catch.”

“You would be quite the catch without money. You’re smart and funny and,” Gretchen looked back down at the photo, “gorgeous.”

Edith smiled. “Maybe so, but at the time, I was considered an enigma and even a little eccentric. Quite a few of the local men started suggesting I was a lesbian.”

“What?”

“It was the only way they could explain why I kept turning them down for dates. God forbid they have to accept that they weren’t smart enough to capture my interest.”

“What assholes.”

Edith waved her hand. “Oh, I didn’t care about that, because it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with their inability to see a world that wasn’t based on the patriarchy. They were threatened by an independent woman capable of making her own money and decisions. They didn’t like it.”

Gretchen laughed. “So no torrid romance with another woman?” She was joking—until she saw the smug expression on Edith’s face. “There was?!”

“I wouldn’t call it torrid. One of the friends I traveled to the protests with was a lesbian, and one night she confessed her love for me. We kissed, but…”

“No sparks?”

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