A Good Woman by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online Page A

with Robert. Her brother had often escorted her to parties, although they had been small ones before her debut. And Hortie was having a gigantic wedding. Eight hundred people had been invited, and more than likely, most were coming.
    “We’ll have to find you something to wear,” her mother said thoughtfully. Annabelle would have to wear a suitable black gown, and she had nothing formal in dark colors.
    “It’s going to be so much fun!” Annabelle said, clapping her hands, looking like a child as her mother and Josiah smiled at her.
    “It’s all going to be fun from now on,” her mother said to her with a loving look. She was so relieved by Josiah’s intended proposal.
    And with that, Annabelle put her arms around Josiah’s neck and hugged him. He looked particularly delighted. “Thank you for taking me,” she said happily.
    “It’s one of those sacrifices one has to make in life,” he teased her. “I’ll muddle through it.” He could hardly wait for the next six months to pass, and then, with luck, they’d be going to their own wedding. Her mother had the same thought at the same moment, and she and Josiah exchanged a knowing look over Annabelle’s head, and smiled. Annabelle didn’t know it yet, but her future was secure now. It was all her mother had ever wanted for her since she was born.

Chapter 5
    A nnabelle was almost as excited as Hortie herself, as she dressed for her best friend’s wedding. Her mother had called her dressmaker, and she had whipped up a beautiful black taffeta gown in record time. The bodice and hem were bordered in black velvet. And there was a matching black velvet jacket and hat trimmed in sable, which softened it as the fur lit up her face. Annabelle looked like a Russian princess. And bending the rules about no jewelry during a period of mourning, her mother had loaned her a pair of diamond earrings. She looked exquisite when Josiah came to get her. And so did he, in white tie and tails, and an elegant top hat he’d had made in Paris. They were a spectacular couple, and Consuelo had damp eyes as she watched them. She only wished that Arthur were there to see it. But if he were, perhaps it would never have happened. Josiah had only begun visiting them out of sympathy in their bereavement. So destiny took strange turns and pathways.
    Consuelo had urged them to take her car, and Thomas the driver, and they drove to the wedding in the impeccable Hispano-Suiza that had been her father’s prize possession, and was only used for important occasions. As far as Consuelo was concerned, this was an event of significant proportions. It was the first time her future son-in-law would be seen in public with her only daughter. How much more important could it get, except their wedding?
    She watched them lovingly as they went out the door, and then went up to her bedroom, lost in her own thoughts. She was remembering the first time she had gone out with Arthur, after he had asked her father for her hand. It had been to a friend’s coming-out ball. And she had been only a year younger than her daughter at the time.
    The car drove them to St. Thomas Episcopal Church, on Fifth Avenue, and the chauffeur let Josiah out first. He turned and handed Annabelle out of the car. She was wearing her blond hair pulled back, under the velvet and sable hat, with a small face veil. She looked as stylish as any woman in Paris, and older than her years, because of the opulent black gown. Josiah had never been prouder.
    “You know, for a girl who’d rather be scrubbing floors in a hospital and dissecting cadavers, you look very nice when you get dressed up,” he said lightly, and she laughed, which only made her look prettier, as her mother’s diamond earrings sparkled behind the thin veil. She looked elegant, sensual, and romantic, and Josiah was bowled over by the woman he hoped to marry. He hadn’t fully realized how truly beautiful she was, because she made so little fuss about herself, and while