Waiting for Spring by Amanda Cabot Read Free Book Online Page A

there?”
    Surprised that Miriam had arrived a day early for her appointment, Charlotte hurried to the front of the store. “I don’t have your gown ready for a fitting, but . . .” Charlotte stopped abruptly, shocked by the sight of Miriam carrying four dresses. There was no doubt about it. They were the first four frocks Charlotte had made for her less than a year ago.
    â€œIs something wrong?”
    Miriam wrinkled her nose. “No. Yes.” She sighed as she laid the dresses on the counter. “Mama wanted to burn these. She insisted that I can’t wear them again because they’re last season’s style, and she won’t let me give them to the servants. It wouldn’t be seemly, she says.”
    Charlotte could imagine Amelia Taggert pronouncing those very words. Miriam’s mother had spent a year in England and had come home convinced that if she followed every rule of etiquette, she would be regarded with the same esteem as the British aristocracy. Far less pretentious, Miriam chafed at her mother’s restrictions at the same time that she tried to be a loving and obedient daughter.
    â€œI don’t want them destroyed.” Miriam fingered the brown calico that had been her favorite everyday dress. “Can you do something with them?”
    Charlotte grinned. “Indeed, I can.” It would take only a few hours to convert Miriam’s elegant frocks into dresses better suited for the women at Mrs. Kendall’s boardinghouse. Even before the new shipment of fabric arrived, Charlotte could provide a few dresses. “Your timing is perfect.”

    â€œThis is the most beautiful gown I’ve ever had.” Gwen turned slowly in front of the long mirror, admiring her reflection. Though normally they would have dressed in their apartment, tonight Charlotte insisted that they use the shop’s dressing room, largely because she wanted Gwen to have the experience of being a customer of Élan. The woman who did so much for her had admitted that she’d never been able to afford fancy evening clothes. Tonight was different. Even if they weren’t seated in one of the elegant boxes, Gwen would be as well-dressed as any woman at the opera house.
    Her blue eyes sparkling with pleasure and perhaps a bit of astonishment, Gwen ran her hands over her hips. “This style makes me look almost thin.”
    That had been the plan. Charlotte nodded as she fastened the last of the thirty-four buttons that closed the back of the dress. “Simple lines are slimming.” When she had designed Gwen’s gown, Charlotte had forgone the intricately draped overskirt and pronounced bustle that were popular, instead choosing vertical panels to give Gwen the illusion of more height and less width. Even the choice of midnight blue silk had been deliberate. Not only did thecolor flatter Gwen’s blue eyes, but the dark color made her appear pounds lighter.
    â€œYou have beautiful shoulders,” she told Gwen. “The gown draws attention to them.” And to the strand of pearls her husband had given her. When Gwen had told Charlotte how long Mike had saved to buy her only piece of jewelry besides her wedding ring, she had decided to give the gown a low scooped neckline that would highlight Gwen’s creamy skin and her necklace.
    Gwen’s expression turned wistful as she fingered the pearls. “I wish Mike was here to see me. I miss him so much. I miss being married.” She blinked back tears before forcing a smile. “You understand.”
    Charlotte nodded, because she knew it was what Gwen expected. The truth was, she didn’t miss being married. Marriage hadn’t turned out the way she had expected. As a child and then a young woman, Charlotte had dreamt of falling in love with Prince Charming. In her dreams, they married and lived happily ever after. Reality had been far different. She had been wed less than a year and a half,