They found an empty table and were sipping their punch when the music stopped. They noticed Edna, up on the stage, talking to the bandleader. “The fiddle player is Edna’s cousin, so she knows all the men in the band,” Alice explained. No doubt Edna was requesting a favorite song or letting the band know they should announce a birthday or anniversary of someone in the crowd. She was always thinking of others.
The middle-aged bandleader helped Edna step off the stage, then had the drummer tap several times in succession to get the crowd’s attention. “Good evening, everyone,” he called out. “Welcome to Pullman’s annual Barn Dance. I am Chester Larson, and this is my band.” A smattering of applause rose up from the crowd. “Miss Edna Clark has just informed me that we have a songbird in our midst, and that if we hear her sing, we will know heaven here on earth. I am talking about Miss Alice Bennett. Are you out there, Alice?” He shielded his eyes with the flat of his hand.
“Oh no,” Alice whispered, her heart sinking. She and Edna sang the night away when they were together doing kitchen chores at Edna’s house, but the idea of singing in front of other people was unthinkable.
“Alice, would you come up and grace us with a song? Please?”
Voices rang out:
“Come on, Alice.”
“Sing for us, Alice!”
And then Pearl’s voice, above all the others. “She won’t do it. Alice is a scaredy-cat.”
John leaned toward her. “If you don’t want to . . .”
“No, I will,” she said, suddenly pushing back her chair and walking defiantly up to the stage. The sound of clapping spurred her on.
Chester helped her onto the stage and asked, “What would you like to sing, Miss Bennett?”
“I don’t know.” She wrung her hands and glanced out at the crowd. In the softness of the kerosene glow, the mass of people looked less intimidating, their faces encouraging and friendly. Members of the audience yelled out suggestions:
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band!”
“By the Light of the Silvery Moon!”
“Alice, sing ‘Steamboat Bill’!”
“I don’t know the words to any of those songs,” she told Chester apologetically. “I only know church music and little ditties that I sing to my baby sister.”
“Church music.” He looked thoughtful. “How about ‘In the Sweet By-and-By’?”
She nodded. With only the violin to accompany her, she began to sing. To her surprise, she settled easily into the song, singing loudly enough to be heard throughout the barn. She kept her gaze on John, who stood at her feet, staring up with admiration in his eyes.
It helped that it was such a beautiful song and one that she’d sung since she was a little girl. She especially loved the refrain:
In the sweet by-and-by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore
And when she got to the end, she sang the words right to John.
For the glorious gift of His love
And the blessings that hallow our days.
When the song was over, the inside of the barn filled with the roar of applause. Sheepishly, Alice gave the crowd a wave of thanks before John helped her down. When the band started up again, her time was over, and dancers streamed back onto the floor.
“Are you having a good time?” John asked when they’d resumed dancing.
“I am having the loveliest evening.” Alice looked up at him, eyes sparkling. “I can’t remember ever having such a good time.”
“And this is only the beginning. Just wait.”
She gave him an inquiring look, but when she asked him to explain, he only repeated himself. “Just wait.” And then he added, “You’ll see.”
John didn’t mean to let the cat out of the bag by telling Alice there was more to come. He just couldn’t help himself. He’d already kept the secret for more than a week and was bursting with the knowledge. Without intending to, he hinted at it when he told Alice that he’d had a long talk with her father at the mill. He’d said, “We discussed my life and my future at length,” but there was so much more to it than that.
There had been a lull between customers that day, and John, seeing his opportunity, had asked if he could accompany Alice to the dance. When he was granted permission, he summoned up all his courage and told Mr. Bennett, “I pride myself on being honest and forthright, so I need to tell you that I have fallen in love with Alice.”
If he’d expected the older man to pummel him or toss him out the door with a kick in the pants, he would have been wrong. Mr. Bennett just nodded and said, “I thought as much. The two of you have that look. I know it well.” A slow smile came across his face.
With that bit of encouragement, John felt free to say more. He told him about his father’s imprisonment and was relieved to hear that the older man already knew of it and didn’t seem unduly alarmed. Swallowing his trepidation, John continued, telling him the family secret, that his great-grandfather had been a Negro.
“I knew that piece of information as well,” Mr. Bennett said. “And I also know that your family name is Robinson.” There was a long pause, during which John’s insides curled in fear as he waited for the judgment that never came. Instead, Mr. Bennett said, “None of this changes my opinion of you. I judge a man by his actions and words, and over this summer, you have proved yourself to have a fine character.”
John nodded, letting out a sigh of relief.
“Besides,” he said, leaning in conspiratorially, “in my own family, there’s some Indian blood, so I’m not one to talk.” He waved a finger. “Now don’t go repeating that to anyone.”
“No, sir, of course not.” John cleared his throat, tapping his toe nervously.
“Was there something else?” He studied John quizzically.
“There is one more thing. I would like to have your permission to propose to Alice.”
“You’d like to marry my daughter?”
“Yes, sir. I love her and want her for my wife.” He held his breath, knowing it was one thing for Mr. Bennett to accept John as an employee, another for John to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage.
Mr. Bennett nodded thoughtfully. “I would be proud to welcome you into the family, John, but I am sad to say I can’t spare Alice, so my answer is no. I know that sounds harsh, but the two of you have known each other only a short while. It might make you feel better to know that first love is often fleeting, and you are both young. In time, you will meet another girl and find love again.”
“With all due respect, Mr. Bennett, I am not that young. Many men my age are already married, and I can say with certainty I will never love another girl the way I love Alice. She is unlike any other.” Wanting to convince the older man, John said, “If you would reconsider, and Alice will have me, I have planned for a long engagement while I finish medical school. I would write to her every single day and visit when I could. By the time we marry, some of the younger girls will be capable of running the household in her stead.”
Mr. Bennett nodded. “It sounds like you’ve thought this through, young man.” He stared into space, his mind elsewhere. “Oh, how I envy you, John. You’re in the prime of your life, just starting out, with so many years lying ahead. These are glorious days for you.” The older man’s eyes got misty, presumably thinking of his own youth.