“You owe Mr. Niven an apology,” Loretta told her.
“Sorry,” said Georgie.
“It’s quite all right, Georgiana. I’m incapable of holding a grudge. One of the positive side effects of a pickled brain.”
Ruby brought a serving dish of okra to the table. “Sally always leaves the okra. Just because you don’t have a taste for it doesn’t mean the rest of them don’t.”
“Sorry, Ruby.” Sally passed the okra to Niven.
“Thank you, Ruby. Dinner is delicious,” Loretta said, and her sisters chimed in.
“Better than any of the restaurants on the strip, Ruby,” Niven agreed.
“Why of course, Sir Niv. I know my talent. But the way you people act, you’d think I only serve food out of the can around here.” Ruby sniffed as she returned to the kitchen.
“Oh, no, Ruby,” Niven called after her, “we don’t take you for granted. I know food out of a can. This is gourmet.” Niv looked at Georgie. “That’s French for homemade.”
“Big deal,” Georgie said under her breath.
“Have you thawed out yet?” Niven asked Loretta.
“Almost.”
“While you were gone, something wonderful happened, Gretch.” Polly turned to her sister. “Carter asked me to marry him.”
“Polly! How thrilling!” Loretta hugged her sister.
“We’re going to be married. Very small. We’ll have a mass at church, then a dinner here at home.”
“Do I get to be in the wedding?” Georgie asked.
“Of course.”
“I’ll have to scrounge up a date,” Sally said.
“That won’t be hard,” Niven told her. “There’s always me.”
“You won’t have to go very far.” Georgie reached for the chicken.
“That’s right, Georgie. I’ll roll out of bed and come in my pajamas.”
The girls had a good laugh, but Loretta felt tears sting in her eyes. Her oldest sister was getting married. Carter Hermann and Polly Ann Young would have a high mass at the church; their union, a sacrament, would be blessed by the Holy Roman Church. The good news made Loretta feel worse about her own life, but she wouldn’t ruin Polly’s moment. Loretta would be happy for her. Polly had done everything right.
11
The top was down on Clark Gable’s forest-green Jaguar convertible as he sped under the heavy purple blossoms of the jacaranda trees on Doheny before turning onto Sunset. Loretta lived in close proximity to him, yet he saw her so infrequently that she might as well have been on another continent.
Gable didn’t spend much time in solitude, healing his romantic bruises or business dustups. Women of late, however, in all corners of his life, were a source of irritation. Loretta had disappeared from his life since the wrap of The Call of the Wild. Minna Wallis, his agent, despite his protestations, had stepped aside after he won the Oscar because she felt he could do better, so Gable had signed with a new agent. Ria was dragging out the separation agreement, which attenuated the divorce proceedings to a crawl.
Clark Gable had regrets.
He flicked his hand-rolled cigarette onto Sunset at the stoplight and took a deep breath. As Gable drove up to the portico of Sunset House in his Duesenberg, Alda waved to him from the front steps.
“Is Gretchen here?” Gable asked through the open window.
“No.”
“It’s just the mother?”
Alda nodded.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“I can’t.”
“All right. Maybe you want to tell me why Gretchen still won’t return my phone calls after she said she would.”
“I don’t know.” Alda looked away, uncomfortable.
“She’s back with Tracy, isn’t she?”
“No, she isn’t.”
“Then what’s this about?”
“Could you park in the back?” Alda motioned to the service drive off the side of the house. “I’ll meet you at the kitchen door.”
Gable chuckled to himself. He was making his first entrance into the Young house not through the front door but through the kitchen. If that wasn’t a message, he didn’t know what was. When it came to Loretta Young, he was on par with the gardener.
Gladys Belzer was waiting for Gable at the kitchen table. When he walked into the room, she immediately understood why her daughter had been captivated by him. While Gladys had seen Clark in the movies, she wasn’t prepared for the impact of his presence in person. Gable translated from the silver screen to real life in a Panavision all his own. He resembled John Earle Young, Loretta’s father and Gladys’s ex-husband. Both men had star quality—but Gable had used his allure to worldwide effect, while John Young used his to seduce the laundress.
“Clark, this is Mrs. Belzer, Loretta’s mother.”
Gable took Mrs. Belzer’s hand and smiled. “It’s a pleasure, Mrs. Belzer.”
Alda excused herself as Gladys poured Gable a glass of ice tea, and one for herself. He toasted her and took a sip. Gable was well mannered and appeared to be a man who would own up to his responsibilities, unlike Loretta’s father, who was cowed by any serious demands made upon him.
“Are you southern, Mrs. Belzer?”
“North Carolina.”
“I can tell. Sweet tea.”
“Are you from the South?”
“Of a fashion. Southern Ohio.”
“Large family?”
“I’m an only child. My father and stepmother live with me now.”
“That’s a hallmark of southern people. We take home with us wherever we go. We live with our families all of our lives. It’s a gift to take care of our parents as they get older.”
“It’s my responsibility.”
“There aren’t a lot of young people who feel that way.”
“Mrs. Belzer, I have no idea why you called me here today, but if I may, I’d like to share something with you. I’ve tried to communicate with Gretchen, but she ignores me. She doesn’t answer my letters or return my calls. I explained that I was separated from my wife, but that the divorce proceedings were slow going. That’s not an excuse, it’s a fact.”
“How do you feel about my daughter?”
“I’m crazy about her.”
“Well, we have a dilemma.”
“I’ll stop badgering her if she doesn’t want me. I get it. I make a lot of movies, and an on-set romance rarely sustains itself once everyone is back home. We’re all grown-ups, we understand the game.”
Gladys realized that Gable must have told Ria that a romance blossomed on Mount Baker, and that’s where she’d gotten the information to sic her press pack on Loretta.
“Your wife came to see me while you were on location.”
“I had no idea.”
“She accused Gretchen of stealing you away. She wanted me to intervene. Since Gretchen came home, she’s been calling her incessantly. She wants her to give an interview and tell the world that you and Gretchen are not in love.”
“I will speak to Ria about this.” Gable thought about it; perhaps this was the reason Gretchen avoided him.
“Gretchen is getting it from all sides, Mr. Gable. We can navigate it on our end but all of this is beside the point.”
“If Gretchen is hurt by my actions, or anyone that I’m associated with, I’m sorry.”
“I will tell her. Thank you.”
“I’d like to tell her myself.” Gable was frustrated with Loretta. He hadn’t seen her play games, or hard to get, as they shot The Call of the Wild; in fact, he believed she was a straight shooter. The current twist in her behavior made him think that he had pegged her wrong. “But there will come a moment, and it’s soon, Mrs. Belzer, that I will stop trying.”
“Mr. Gable, she has good reason not to contact you. Gretchen is pregnant with your child.”
Stunned, Gable sat for a moment, taking in the information. His mind went clinical whenever he was hit with something so deeply emotional that his heart could n
ot withstand the information to process it. He would appear stoic when inside, his emotions raged. He felt many things in that moment. He had clarity about Loretta; he understood why she might not want to contact him or be seen with him, but he was also afraid of what could happen if Ria found out, and he was sad that he could not be happy about the news due to the circumstances. All of these feelings added up to a state of confusion and frustration.
News of out-of-wedlock pregnancies was nothing new to Gable. He’d been hit with paternity suits, which the studio settled quietly and efficiently, the same way he exited most of his love affairs. But this was different; he cared. This should have been joyful news because he loved Loretta.
Gable stood up, went to the sink, and looked out the window. He was a married man with a wife who refused to let him go. He had married a woman beyond her childbearing years; there was no possibility of a baby of his own with her, and he’d known that when he married her. He had three stepchildren with Ria, and was, in his fashion, good with them. Gable had settled on the notion that if there were to be children of his own, they would come in the future, down the line when his career had ebbed, after he had milked Hollywood for all he could, and could leave it altogether with enough cash to last the rest of his life. He had a simple dream. Gable planned to buy a ranch and farm, raise children, love their mother, and be happy. Ria was not a part of his long-term picture.
Gable leaned against the sink. “Gretchen was married. I thought she knew how to protect herself.”
“If I had to guess, I would say that neither of you was thinking clearly on Mount Baker. And as for protection, we’re Catholic.”
“I know all about that, Mrs. Belzer,” Gable said wearily. “Where we take our communion doesn’t do us much good now.”
“No, I suppose it doesn’t. What do you propose we do?”
“What can I do? I’m still married to Ria. My lawyer tells me that I have to remain separated from her for a year, and beyond that, the divorce could take another two years.”
“So your answer is nothing.”
“Mrs. Belzer, you’ve just hit me with an enormous bit of news. I am trying to figure out what to do—not so much what to say to you, but what to do.”
Gladys looked at him. “You agree that we have to keep this situation private.”
“Absolutely.”
“You must not tell anyone. Your wife calls here constantly, and we ignore her. She must not find out about the baby.”
“She won’t.”
“We have a plan.”
“What is it?”
“She’ll finish her work on The Crusades, and then we’ll go to Europe.”
“She’ll have the baby there?”
“We’ll tell the press that she’s been working nonstop since she was four years old, and she’s exhausted. Our physician will diagnose her with an illness. We’ll stay in Europe long enough for any rumors to die down.”
Gable was frustrated. He wanted to do something, but he wasn’t sure what. Loretta had sidelined him; he felt powerless. “Is there anything I can do?”
“I don’t know.” Gladys eyes filled with tears. “I would rather that you were my son-in-law and that this had happened within the sacrament of marriage. I want to be happy about this—I want the whole family to be happy.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Belzer.”
“Gretchen has a big heart. I knew it would get her in trouble someday, but I never thought this would be the trouble.”
The blue sky over Bel Air was strewn with wispy clouds that floated overhead like white feathers. The light streamed through the trees behind Sunset House in threads of gold. David Niven sighed as he looked out the window of the pool house, sad to leave the place that had been home as he transitioned from a day-rate extra to an employed actor with an agent and a brand-new studio contract.
David Niven had enjoyed his time in the Belzer/Young compound. He had been comfortable, his laundry washed and pressed, his room kept spotless. Hot meals were on time and delicious, and when he took them in the dining room, Niv was surrounded by gorgeous women. The pool house was his notion of Shangri-la.
As he folded the last of his clothing into his suitcase, Loretta knocked on the door.
“Must you go?” Loretta sat down on the bed, surveying Niv’s belongings.
“I must. Merle Oberon has a terrible temper, and she has decided that I can no longer retain my membership in the YB Sorority. She thinks there’s a conflict of interest between my friendship with you and her sexual needs. She can’t understand how I live here and keep things platonic. And frankly, neither can I.”
“You have to go, then.”
“Either that or she’ll kill my family. My sister Grizel can be a pain in the arse, but death is too steep a punishment for a lousy personality, myopia bordering on blindness, and a congenital neediness.”
Loretta laughed. “Poor Grizel.”
“Don’t worry about her. Worry about Merle. I live in fear of her, you know. She’s a pistol, and she owns several. I do what I’m told. She insists I move to the beach and live with the boys—too much temptation at Sunset House for her liking. She’d rather me live with a couple of actors. Thinks I’ll be safe.”
“Will you?”
“Of a stripe. I’m hoping it will be fun. I’ll be pickled by autumn, but I will have a roof over my head.”
Loretta began to cry. Niv dropped his pressed shirt and went to her.
“Oh, no, you’re not in love with me too?”
Loretta laughed through her tears.
Niv knelt next to her and took her hand. “Is this going to be one of those awful Jeanette MacDonald farewell scenes with all the weeping and none of the screwing? Must I sing my way out of your pain?”
Loretta wiped away her tears. “No, no.”
“What can I do for you, my dear girl?”
Loretta laughed.
“Why in God’s name is that funny to you?”
“It just is, David. Your eyes. They get like big blue golfballs when you care.”
“Big and bulging like a blowfish. Hmm. That’s attractive.” Niven stood and went back to his packing.
“Will you be my friend always?”
“You don’t even have to ask. You have been so kind to me, Gretchen, it’s as if I was your long-lost brother. And the irony is: you already have a long-lost brother, that phantom Jackie. So you see, I take my role in your life very seriously.”
“I’ve gotten myself into some trouble.”
“Go to confession. It’s the only reason to be Catholic. You have the joy of sin and the instant relief of contrition. What a system!”
“I’m serious. I’m in trouble.”
“I hope you stole. Stealing is one of the great sins. You get something out of it, and the theft itself is an art form, like a dance. What did you take? You were on loan to Warner’s recently. Let me guess. A bracelet from Bette Davis’s paste collection? You could have done better. Bette isn’t known for her jewelry.”
“No, nothing like that. It involves your friend, Mr. Gable.”
“What is it?”
“I’m having his baby.”
Niven, who could find the humor in any situation, suddenly couldn’t. He was speechless, sobered by the news because he knew what this meant to Loretta.
“You must keep this secret until you die,” she said softly.
“I will.” Niven sat down.
“I trust you because you’ve been loyal and kept my secrets.”
“And you mine.”
“And I always will.”
“What are you going to do?” Niven need not list the options. Young women in Hollywood terminated their pregnancies, or they hid for the duration, had the baby, and later gave it up for adoption, or they had a shotgun wedding. The choices in an out-of-wedlock pregnancy were very clear-cut; everyone knew them, and every girl had to choose, or the choice was made for her.
“My family keeps asking me what I’m going to do, when in fact
it’s already done.”
“What are you going to do, Gretch?”
“I’m going to have the baby.”
“Your sisters?”
“Pol and Sally cried. We won’t tell Georgie.”
“Does Clark know?”
“My mother told him.”
“How did he react?”
“He says he loves me. David, even if he does, he’s married. Ria won’t let him go.”
“She’ll have to.”
“It won’t happen. Besides, he’s moved on.”
“Elizabeth Allan means nothing to him.”
“There are others.”
“There will always be others. Hollywood is a candy store, and everybody is wearing a topcoat of powdered sugar. You can’t take it personally, Gretchen.”
“I want a man who will love me and be true.”
“Oh, dear, that only happens in the movies. Wait. I know of one exception. I believe there is one man in Encino who has been faithful to his wife, and he died at the age of twenty-two after six hours of marriage. They consummated their union, he had a massive heart attack, and that was that.”
Loretta laughed. “Is it that bad?”
“Worse. I’m a man, so I can vouch for it. So how are you going to do this?”
“I don’t know. My sisters will be there for me. Mama. But can I count on you if I need you?”
“For anything. You have my heart and my life. Gable is my good friend.”
“He just plays the tough guy. He’s really very sweet. He’ll need a good friend. Will you look out for him?”
“I can do that.”
“You see, I love him, but I can’t be with him. It will ruin everything. Our careers would be over. I can’t risk it, and neither can he.”
“Wait, Gretchen. The studios are powerful. They can get him a quickie divorce.”
“We signed morals clauses.”
“Oh, you can rip those up.”
“Maybe he could—he would be forgiven, but not me. They’d run me out of town. I can’t afford to lose my job. I have too many people who rely on me. I have to work. Mama and I will figure out the logistics. Alda will help us.”