The Vaudeville Star

King stood. “My God, woman! Who made that dress? They should be whipped!”

“Why is that?” Ruby asked, smiling.

“Because we poor mortal men can only take so much beauty,” he said, kissing her hand and then waving to get the waiter’s attention.

Vernon also stood and smiled a greeting at her, but Ford didn’t. He seemed riveted to the spot, and she felt his eyes take in the cut of the dress, the curves of her body, and her breasts that could just be seen above the low neckline. It was a dress to entice. To taunt. To torment. They both knew it.

“Damn that waiter!” King said and went in search of him.

The ragtime song ended, and Bessie and Archie joined them.

“I say!” Archie said when he neared them and spotted Ruby.

“It’s just a dress,” Ruby said coyly.

“It’s quite a dress,” Bessie admitted.

The orchestra struck up “Harlem Rag,” and Archie immediately pulled Ruby onto the dance floor. The dance was a simple one-step, and Ruby marveled at the way Archie took control. He was a graceful dancer and light on his feet.

As she moved with him, she saw Bessie and Ford come to the dance floor. Bessie looked pretty in a light pink gown, and Ford looked handsome in his black-and-white evening clothes. She admired the width of his shoulders and felt the sting of jealousy at seeing Bessie in his arms.

“You do look lovely, Ruby. But then, you always do,” Archie said as he leaned forward so she could hear him.

She smiled. They had never been as close as she and Bessie, but he had always been kind. She looked at him as an older brother.

“Thank you. You’re a wonderful dancer,” she told him.

Ruby moved across the room gracefully and noticed many of the older couples were not dancing. Though she enjoyed ragtime, she knew that many viewed the music as distasteful and brash. She noticed that older people seemed to view it as a sort of nonsense noise to be tolerated but disregarded.

When the song ended, there was applause from the older crowd as the orchestra struck up “Die Schönbrunner" by Joseph Lanner. Lanner was a Viennese composer who had taken the waltz from being a peasant dance to something high society enjoyed. Several more couples joined the dance floor.

“Do you waltz?” Archie asked.

She was about to answer when Ford approached them and asked Ruby to dance. She could think of no reason to say no, and Archie disappeared into the crowd.

“You waltz?” Ruby said as he took her in his arms.

“I have many talents.” His voice was ripe with innuendo.

“I’m sure.”

She felt his right hand on her left shoulder blade as she placed her left hand on his shoulder. They clasped hands much like they had done with the ragtime dances, but the waltz was smoother and seemed more intimate as he held her.

“I thought it best to cut in on young Archie. I wouldn’t want people to talk about you two,” Ford said.

As they made the turn about the room, she saw Archie dancing with one of the Vadas sisters.

“Very thoughtful of you.”

She could feel Ford’s eyes on her and the heat from his body. His hand at her shoulder seared into her.

“You haven’t said anything about my dress,” she said softly.

“What should I say?”

Ruby shrugged.

“It is a beautiful dress, Ruby, but then you know that. It hugs your curves in all the right places. And I seem to remember all those curves very vividly.”