The question knocked Selina out of her thoughts, though it couldn’t knock the confusion from her mind.
“I think… they are all very lovely,” she replied.
The five gowns could not have been more different from one another: an emerald green with silver spangles; a summery marigold with ornate golden embellishments; a pale blue withfine beading; a pretty lavender, the simplest of the five; and one of ivory silk with gold spangles and beading.
Mary withdrew to the edge of the room, right there in Selina’s periphery. Mocking her, almost.
“You do not like them?” The Dowager Duchess seemed crestfallen. “It is just that everything is happening so quickly. If I had more time, I could have taken you to the modiste, and you could have designed the dress you have always imagined for your wedding day. Oh, is it the colors you do not favor?”
Selina forced her distracted attention away from the maid and focused entirely on the old woman. “The dresses are absolutely beautiful, Your Grace. Exquisite. I adore them, I promise. It is just so difficult to choose.”
The Dowager Duchess relaxed. “Oh, I am so glad. Please, take a closer look.”
All of the women got up and approached the display of gowns. Lizzy was the one who knew the most about fashion, but Melody seemed unusually drawn to the glittering spangles and fine fabrics, almost shy as she lightly touched her fingertips to the dresses.
“Darker colors become you well,” Lizzy said, “but I think the lighter colors would be better for a wedding.”
Melody nodded. “Thisone is exceptional.” She gingerly touched the ivory gown, as if worried she might mark it.
“It is very beautiful,” Selina agreed, glancing at the maid out of the corner of her eye.
“Am I late?” The door opened, and her mother hurried inside. “I lost my way.”
Selina should have been comforted by the reinforcements—all of her friends and her mother in the room, on her side. But how was she meant to think about her wedding and what to wear when Philip’s former lover was right there when she should not be?
“Oh, these are wonderful,” her mother cooed, her hands clasped together. “You would look beautiful in any one of them.”
Selina blushed. “Maybe you can choose for me, Mama.”
Her mother turned to her with misty eyes. “You would grant me that privilege?”
“I trust you implicitly,” Selina replied, meaning it.
And I cannot think with that woman in the room.
“Well then,” her mother said, “I think you should wear the ivory gown. You would look remarkable in it. The others are lovely too, do not mistake me, but the ivory one is so… perfect.”
The Dowager Duchess nodded her head. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Perhaps some additional embroidery?” her mother suggested. “It is missing something on the neckline and the hems. I do not know what, but it needs… more.”
“Yes, I agree,” the Dowager Duchess replied.
Seeing an opportunity, Selina smiled at the two older women. “Perhaps you two could take the dress to the modiste and give her your thoughts. I am entirely hopeless when it comes to what suits me best, but I trust you both.”
“Iwaswondering what I might do with the rest of my day,” the Dowager Duchess mused, leaning forward on her cane. “What do you say, Charity?”
Selina hadn’t realized that the Dowager Duchess and her mother were on a first-name basis. It cheered her up to see it, for it had been a long while since her mother had had someone that she could call a friend.
“I think that is a fine idea, Aurelia,” her mother replied, a note of excitement in her voice. “Yes, I should like that very much. I shall have to speak to my husband first, but?—”
“Nonsense. You do not need his permission,” the Dowager Duchess insisted, somewhat crossly. “You are your own woman, Charity, and this is of vital importance. It is not long at all until the wedding, and your daughtershallhave the most perfect dress in Christendom. If we wait for the opinion of gentlemen, Selina will have nothing to wear on her wedding day but what she already has.”
A frown creased her mother’s forehead. A frown that hardened her expression into something Selina had never seen before: strength. Determination.
“Of course, you are right,” her mother said with a sharp, decisive nod. “Let us venture into town. Let usnotwait for permission.”
Selina’s heart swelled, and she suddenly felt the urge to embrace her mother. But her mother was already taking down the chosen dress, leading the way out of the room.
