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Sissy stood up and shook her dress out but struggled to withhold her tears. Mariette’s hatred of her was obvious to all of them. It was clear that Mariette had made no mistake. She had meant to ruin Sissy’s dress.
‘You had better go home and change. I will arrange for the carriage to be brought around to the front,’ Mariette offered with a cold smile of triumph.
‘No, you will not,’ Alicia snapped. ‘You had those new dressed delivered yesterday. Sissy is a little thinner than you but they will still fit her, probably even better than they do you. She can wear one of those.’
Mariette’s whirled around to glare at her mother. ‘But those are my dresses.’
‘You aren’t going to need them where you are going, are you? I mean, who is going to see you in them? Besides, like Morgan said, you have more than enough already,’ Alicia drawled. ‘If that wasn’t enough, they aren’t really your dresses. Morgan paid for them so they belong to him. I am sure he won’t hesitate to agree that Sissy should make use of them.’
With a warning glare at her daughter, Alicia tugged on the bell pull. Boris arrived within seconds. ‘The dresses Mariette had delivered here yesterday, are they still here, Boris?’
‘Yes, ma’am. I put them in the blue guest chamber like you told me to,’ Boris replied.
‘Good. Sissy, come with me and I will show you the dresses. I am sure there must be one you like. You must accept it from me as an apology for Mariette’s clumsiness. She always was clumsy. Norma, if you wouldn’t mind waiting here for a moment, I will be back shortly.’
Alicia positively shoved Mariette out into the hallway because she didn’t trust her daughter to be alone with the older woman either. She wished there was a way she could lock the door and stop Mariette getting back in. Instead, she speared Boris with a look.
‘Stay here, Boris. Make sure Norma isn’t interrupted,’ she growled.
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘Go and see to your guests, Mariette. It is time they went on their way,’ she bit out with a nod to the library door she passed.
Mariette shoved the door open and sailed into the room. What she saw put another delighted smile on her face. Carefully stepping to one side, she purposely gave Sissy a clear view of Morgan, who was standing beside a stunning blonde woman. They were deep in what appeared to be intimate conversation. Doralee had one hand on Morgan’s arm in a proprietary manner which, with her head tilted toward him and a look of adoration in her eye, made it clear that theirs was a close friendship. He was smiling down at her as she regaled him with some recent exploit or other in hushed tones that only he could hear. It looked a cosy scene of intimacy that was enough to give Sissy a better understand that no matter how many dresses she borrowed she could never look as gorgeous as Doralee, or belong amongst the group of people
chatting happily in the library.
Sissy felt her heart break. If she had been able to, she would have turned and left. It was only manners that dictated she follow Alicia, who was already half-way up the main flight of stairs. Painfully aware of her own dishevelled state, Sissy felt it wrong to go upstairs into the main body of the house. She didn’t belong and knew it even without having seen Morgan just now.
Each step she took made the house become quieter, until an almost hushed reverence settled between her and Morgan’s mother. She had no idea why. Sissy didn’t bother to contemplate it too much. What she did was remain miserably quiet as she followed Alicia into one of the bed chambers lining the long hallway at the top of the stairs.
‘Now, there are several dresses in here. Let’s have a look at them, shall we?’ Alicia murmured more to herself than to Sissy. She sailed across the huge bed chamber toward the boxes positioned neatly on the huge four-poster bed in the centre of the room. Lifting the lids of each box she shook out the dresses and draped them side-by-side on the bed.
‘This is pretty,’ she announced, lifting a cream muslin dress liberally adorned with delicate lavender roses.
‘I am perfectly fine wearing this, although need to go home,’ Sissy whispered.
Alicia sighed and looked at her a little sadly. She knew then that no matter how much encouragement she could give her she could do little to persuade Sissy that the obstacles in her pathway toward a happier life with Morgan were breakable. Right now they looked as if they were huge mountains neither of them would be able to climb and that made her incredibly sad, not least because she suspected her son was already in love with the woman before her. The woman he could never have.
Damn you, Mariette.
Alicia suddenly became coldly furious, and utterly disgusted with her headstrong and wildly selfish daughter. She made herself a mental promise to herself that she would do whatever it took to get Mariette away from the estate for a while, and keep her away, if only to give Morgan a chance of finding happiness with Sissy. Hopefully, by the time Mariette returned, Sissy and Morgan would have presented their marriage to the world, been accepted, and Mariette’s spite would be unsupported by scurrilous gossips.
If only life were that perfect, Alicia thought before briskly returning to the problem of persuading Sissy to change.
‘Try them on. Choose the one you are happiest with. You are welcome to them all if you want them. They aren’t Mariette’s no matter what she thinks. Anything that you don’t use will be returned to the shop because she was wrong to order them,’ Alicia said although why she was babbling was beyond her.
Sissy murmured her thanks. While she didn’t want to wear any of them because she felt as if they were Mariette’s, Sissy saw herself in the mirror. Her dress was not just ruined, it was practically transparent and not something she should wear even to leave the house. She had no choice but to change into one of the new dresses if only to preserve her dignity.
‘Thank you.’
‘Come on downstairs when you are ready,’ Alicia urged with a smile before she quietly let herself out of the room.
Sissy studied the dresses. They truly were beautiful and something she could see Mariette wearing. Now that she was alone, Sissy relaxed and, consequently, was a little bolder about inspecting the fashionable cut of the fine material. They were truly wonderful, and so tempting that she couldn’t resist trying at least one on. Quickly divesting herself of her ruined dress, Sissy picked up the dress Alicia had suggested she wear mostly because the other dresses were evening gowns. It fitted as if it had been made for her. The delicate material felt like silk as it slid over her slender frame. It was a little looser than she would have liked but felt heavenly. So much so, she twirled in front of the mirror and inspected herself from every angle.
Her delight slowly faded, though, the longer she looked in the mirror. She knew that no matter how she dressed she could never feel equal to the woman Morgan had been talking to just now. She felt as if she was borrowing someone else’s life.
‘She won’t embarrass him,’ she whispered aloud as she contemplated the woman he was with.
