The Trouser Game

He stood at the opposite end of her mother’s parlor, unblinking. He was as handsome as Jillian remembered, with his light features and sky-blue eyes—perhaps a little more mature in the face.

“Aren’t you going to welcome me home, Miles?” Jillian Kelley, having just arrived from a university in the United States, addressed the man whom she’d been intrigued with in her youth. Standing here with him now, she felt the familiar stirrings in her breast of the unrequited love she’d harbored for him for over half of her twenty-three years. She supposed, if pressed, her determination to win him could be considered an obsession when viewed in a harsher light.

However, none of that mattered now. The status of their association was indubitably about to change.

A reticent smile he obviously intended for her alone caused soft creases beneath his eyes. “I—” Almost imperceptibly he shook his head. “I am in awe,” he offered in lieu of a greeting.

Granted, Jillian was wearing trousers.

Jillian had denied her mother’s request that she change into a proper gown in which to receive her guest, but thought nothing of it at the time.. Mrs. Kelley now sat in her chair wringing her hands, either in disappointment or anger at her daughter— more likely, a combination of the two.

In view of the fact that no one made an effort to initiate conversation, Jillian took the task upon herself. “How have you been occupying yourself, Miles?”

“Er,” he glanced at her mother and then continued. “Reading, mostly. Visiting my father’s tenants.”

“Reading?” Now here was a promising occupation. “Novels?”

Miles took a breath before he spoke, as if mulling over his answer. “No. The classics.”

“Oh.” An uncomfortable silence fell upon the threesome, the second in the minute and a half or so since she’d come into the room.

Jillian felt everyone jump as she broke through the non-existent din. “If you are so inclined, I’ve brought back some entertaining books and a few fabulous plays to read as well. Have you heard of Oscar Wilde?”

She could have sworn she saw Mile’s eyes widen momentarily. “Wilde is—not read in the finer circles.”

“Why, because he’s a homosexual?”

Moving with much more agility than Jillian thought possible, her mother shot to her feet. “That will be all the time we have for a visit today, Mr. Bassett. Would you be so kind as to dine with us tomorrow evening?”

“Of course.” Miles bowed, his manners always impeccable. “I shall see you then.”

After Miles had been shown out by the butler, Jillian’s mother whirled on her. “Have you lost your mind?”

Jillian’s gaze flew to her mother’s. “Wha—?”

“Is this what sending you abroad to school four years ago achieved? A young woman who dresses scandalously and speaks of things which should be beneath her notice?”

Jillian’s chin lifted a notch. At university, she’d been warned of impending encounters by traditionalists about the contemporary way of thinking. “M’ma, you must understand. My eyes have been opened. There is a brand new century looming before us, and we must progress along with our surroundings.” Jillian prayed her mother couldn’t detect the absence of a corset under her trouser and blouse combination. That would put a real tear in her tea bag.

“I should like to protest vulgarity if I live until the century after the next, and so should you!”

“M'ma, there is nothing vulgar about being a modern woman.” Jillian’s arms folded across her chest.

“Don’t you dare take that stance with me!”

Jillian lowered her hands to her sides contritely as her mother continued her tirade.

“I raised you! I provided you with money to attend Bethlehem Female Seminary! I—”

Holding up a hand, Jillian interrupted her mother. “On that note, there is something I need to tell you, m’ma, and I don’t think you are going to like it.”

A huff of air escaped from her mother in lieu of laughter. “I don’t think anything could disappoint me more than the display you’ve shown since your arrival this morning.”

Clenching her fists and then releasing them just as quickly, Jillian readied herself for a championship match between herself and her mother. “Then you’d better sit down, because you are about to endure an atrocious setback.”