The Chaperone

Joseph and Greta accept Cora’s offer to live with her in Wichita, and the three of them return there without Louise, who continues her career in New York. Cora maintains the cover story that Joseph is her brother and Greta is her niece. Cora tells Alan the partial truth—that Joseph is not her brother, but her lover—and proposes the arrangement of everyone living in the house together. However, Cora doesn’t tell Alan she reconnected with her birth mother in New York, indicating that her sense of intimacy with Alan is already diminishing in favor of her newfound intimacy with Joseph (Joseph knows about her attempt to form a relationship with Mary). Cora makes sure Alan realizes that she expects him to accept the domestic arrangement in return for her secrecy about his homosexuality. The adults continue to play along with the brother-sister story so that Greta sees Cora as her aunt, not her father’s girlfriend who is married to another man.

The rest of the chapter is an overview of the family’s experiences from 1922 to 1929. Louise becomes a silent movie star and tabloid celebrity. Greta goes to school and thrives with the love and attention of the adults in the household.