Jade Lee - Wedded in Scandal

“Well, yes. Here I am, and I believe we desperately need your opinion.” Then she turned to the dowager baroness, forcing the woman around to face Robert. “There you go. Now, Lord Redhill, what do you think of this gown?”

He arched a brow. He was supposed to give a polite answer to that? “Um, I am not really counted a leader in fashion.”

“Nonsense!” snapped Helaine from where she stood behind the baroness. “You can give your honest opinion of this.”

He looked back at the gown, then up to Helaine. It took him a moment to realize she was grimacing at him. Trying to tell him something. But what? Oh! She was grimacing. He was supposed to say it looked ugly? But how could he say that about a woman’s gown?

“Well,” he began, “I do think…I mean…it is not really to my tastes.”

“It is the bows, isn’t it?” asked the baroness.

He glanced at Helaine, who was nodding. “Oh, yes,” he said. “The bows are—”

“The wrong color, aren’t they? Too dark. What about an orange? Would that be better?”

Behind her, Helaine was shaking her head.

“Er, no,” he said. “I’m afraid I don’t think the color is the problem.”

Helaine smiled.

“Perhaps it’s the size—”

Helaine’s eyes widened in horror.

“No, no!” he gasped before the baroness could say anything. “It’s not the size. It’s that…well…”

Helaine was mimicking something. Her hands were rising up. As if getting taller? Looking to the sky? Oh! Lifting off!

“Do you know, I believe no bows would be perfect. Can I see the gown without the bows?”

Helaine gifted him with a beaming smile. Good Lord, but she struck him dumb when she did that. Meanwhile, another woman began unpinning the bows, only to reveal a wrap of lace underneath.

“What about the lace, my lord?” asked the baroness.

He glanced at Helaine, who again mimicked taking something off.

“Oh, no,” he drawled. “I’m afraid that’s much too…too…”

“Too little?” asked the baroness hopefully.

Helaine was shaking her head.

“Too much,” he said. “Pray remove that as well.”

The baroness actually pouted a bit, but she dutifully lifted her arms while the lace was removed. And then there she stood, an elegant woman in a simple gown of deepest red.

“Absolutely stunning,” he breathed. Only to be stopped short as Helaine furiously shook her head and pointed to the hat. “Oh, wait!” he cried. “Take off that hat. It’s hideous, you know.”

Helaine’s mouth dropped open in shock. Beside him, Gwen gasped in horror. Even the ladies behind him tsked like clucking hens. He looked desperately at Helaine. Did she want him to say the hat was lovely?

“Er, perhaps it’s growing on me.”

If his love looked horrified before, now she was practically apoplectic.

“No, no! Not growing on me. I mean…well, I…I don’t like hats! Not at all!”

Helaine stared at him as if he had lost his mind. As did, coincidentally, everyone else in the room. He didn’t dare look behind him to see what the maids thought.

“That is, er…”

Thankfully, Helaine was able to help. “I believe his lordship is saying that as a rule, gentlemen don’t like hats on ladies. They’re usually taller, you know. And so spend a great deal of time avoiding the feathers and such.”

“Yes,” he said much too enthusiastically. “That’s it exactly.”

Then, lest he feel he had successfully navigated the treacherous waters of female fashion, Gwen was there to puncture his ego. “Oh, leave off, Robert. You have said quite enough, thank you.”

Robert turned at his sister’s sharp tone. It wasn’t unusual for her to poke fun at him, but there was an extra bite to her words. “Gwen,” he began, but she waved him away.

“Go, go. You have no business being here anyway.”

“I…,” he began. He could hardly say that he wanted to talk to Helaine. That he wanted to see her again, then whisk her away to another glorious night of exploration. In the end, he executed a stiff bow. “Ladies, I can see that I am de trop.”

Meanwhile, the baroness turned back to him, her eyes as tragic as her tone. “Do you truly not like any hat, my lord?”

He glanced back to Helaine for guidance, but she was occupied with avoiding the flop of what he believed were ostrich feathers and so could not guide him. In the end, he opted for simple honesty.

“Baroness, your skin is clear, your eyes quite pretty. And even your mouth, if I may be so bold, is very expressive. Without you even saying a word, I can tell when you are happy or sad or disapproving or delighted. Why ever would I want to look at ostrich feathers or lace or bows when I could see your face?”

The baroness gaped at him. Helaine, too, straightened up with a look of shocked gratitude on her face. And even Gwen released a gasp of surprise. He didn’t know if he had stuck his foot in it again or not, but he had done his best. So with another bow he took his leave, only to be called back a moment later by Helaine.

“My lord!”

He stopped and leaned back in the room. Nothing on earth would induce him to walk farther inside. “Mrs. Mortimer?”

“I’m afraid I was occupied last night and so missed our discussion. Would you perhaps be available tonight? I am, of course, at your service whatever time you need.”

He almost grinned. Was there ever a more perfect woman? “Oh, yes. Directly after dinner would be ideal. Thank you for reminding me, Mrs. Mortimer.”

Then he bowed again before escaping with all the other men in the household. Indeed, he found them all downstairs with Dribbs, discussing the latest horse races. Thank heaven at last for rational conversation!

Helaine was dropping with fatigue. After countless hours of discussion and sketches and ridiculous changes, all the women had gone back to the original gown designs with the exception of a half dozen tiny bows. The dowager baroness did love bows, so Helaine had added the decoration to her gown for the wedding. And Penny had to add bows to all of the women’s shoes.

But now it was done, the fabrics were put away, and unlike Wendy who now had to sew all those dresses, Helaine’s work was finished. She could have her discussion with Robert, and was already thinking about other things they might do, when she was stopped cold in the hallway.

She was leaving the upper parlor, passing by what she was sure was Gwen’s room. The sound was muffled because the door was shut, but some noises were hard to miss. The sound of a girl sobbing was quite distinct and all the more alarming because it was probably Gwen in there. Gwen of the sunny disposition. Gwen who was filled with love for her fiancé and excitement about their coming wedding. Gwen who was now sobbing as if her heart would break.

Helaine hesitated, unsure whether or not to intrude. But who else could the girl talk to? Not her mother, who was right now back in her bedroom and, by all accounts, had stopped bathing again. Not any of the future in-laws, who were well-meaning but as dense as rocks. Which left no other female but her or perhaps a maid. So Helaine took a chance and knocked on the door.

The gasping sobs stopped immediately. Then there was a long pause. And just as Helaine was tapping again, she heard Gwen speak.

“I’m fine, Robert, really. Just let me rest.”

Well, if that wasn’t a lie, then Helaine was deaf, blind, and dumb. The girl’s voice was stiff with false cheer and had none of the life Helaine was accustomed to hearing from her. So, taking the risk, Helaine turned the knob and was pleased to find that it wasn’t locked.

“Forgive me,” she said as she entered the room. “But as your dressmaker, it’s part of my job to make sure you’re looking your best in my gowns. And right now, it sounds like you’re not quite feeling the thing.”