The Pirate's Widow by Sandra DuBay Read Free Book Online Page A

the door and the young dressmaker stepped inside followed by three other
young women all laden down with boxes.
       “Good morning, Madame,” she said with a
bright smile for Callie.
       “What is all this?” Callie asked, as the
boxes soon covered every available surface in the parlor and the three
assistants went back to the cart for more.
       “Your new winter clothes, Madame.”
       “I bespoke one gown,” Callie reminded her.
       “Yes, I know, Madame.”
       Mademoiselle La Salle went from box to box
pulling off the lids and the room was soon awash with silks and wool and damask
of every color, some beautifully embroidered some trimmed with exquisite lace,
as well as frothy undergarments, corsets and petticoats and shifts and delicate
nightdresses.    One of the assistants
struggled in with a larger box that held two capes, a long one in deep burgundy
velvet and another in a rich royal blue both sumptuously lined in fur.
       Callie went to one box and ran her hand over
a deep blue velvet gown with a jeweled clasp at the center of the neckline
whose stones looked suspiciously real.   She turned back to the dressmaker and her assistants who stood before
her, expectant smiles on their faces.
       “Sir Thomas,” she said simply.
       Mademoiselle La Salle nodded.   “He came into my shop the same day you
bespoke your gown.   He was delighted that
you were coming out of mourning, Madame, and said you must have more than one
gown.   He looked through my fabrics and
chose these.   As you see, I had to take
on assistants to have them all ready by now.   We’ve been sewing night and day.”
       Callie sighed.   “I am sorry, Mademoiselle, but you will have
to pack them all up again.   I cannot
accept such a gift.”
      To her surprise, the dressmaker burst into
great, heaving sobs and collapsed into the arms of her assistants.
       “But you cannot refuse them, Madame, I beg
you!   What would I do with them?   Sir Thomas will be so angry and if he is
angry with me no one in the village will patronize by shop and I shall be
ruined!”
       Callie went to Gemma’s side as she stood in
the doorway between the parlor and the small dining room.   “What am I to do?   If I accept such a gift Sir Thomas is certain
to think I welcome his attentions.   If I
refuse them, it is true; Mademoiselle La Salle will be ruined.”
       “I think you have to take them, ma’am,”
Gemma reasoned.   “Sir Thomas is not a man
you want as an enemy.”
       Callie sighed.   “Well, I’m not going to marry the man just so
he won’t be angry with me.   But I don’t
want to be the cause of someone’s ruin either.   Very well, Mademoiselle, I will accept the gowns.”
        The
young dressmaker smiled through her tears.   “Bless you, Madame.”

 
      The following Sunday, Callie went to church
with the Miss Sophie and Miss Penelope. Both were surprised and pleased to see
her out of mourning.   As she scooted
aside to make room for Callie in the pony cart, Miss Sophie asked
excitedly:   “Is it true, my dear, that
Sir Thomas has commissioned Mademoiselle LaSalle to make you a new
wardrobe?   Is this one of the gowns?   Everyone is talking of it.   They are saying it is a wardrobe fit for a
queen . . . or at least the wife of a baronet.”   She giggled.
      Callie had worn the blue silk damask gown
which was the one she herself had chosen.  
       “It is true that Sir Thomas had Mademoiselle
LaSalle make me a new wardrobe,” she admitted, “but this is the gown I bespoke
myself when I went decided to come out of mourning.   I wish he had not.   There is no understanding between us, Miss
Sophie.   I do not know why Sir Thomas
should have made such a gift to me.”
      “Don’t you, my dear?” Miss Penelope asked.   “Perhaps he has plans.   In any case, they say his mother-in-law is
mightily out of humor over it.”