Chapter 23
“Ican’t believe you’re going to spend the season with us after all,” Caroline enthused as the three sisters walked along the path in front of the shops. “I truly thought we would have to go through it without you this year.”
“And what a hardship that would have been,” Prudence teased, taking Caroline’s arm.
“Ever since you married, you’ve loved balls.
I don’t even recognize you as the sister I knew before your wedding.
Didn’t you use to be a wallflower? And now, you’re more excited than any of the rest of us for the coming season. ”
“Well, certainly,” Caroline said. “Now I have a husband to attend it with! Now I don’t have to worry about what kind of impression I’m making on society because I’m already married—I can just enjoy myself.
And for the first time, that can be said of all three of us.
We’re going to have the most splendid time of our lives, you just wait and see. ”
“I’m not so sure,” Prudence said. “You may not have to make a good impression, but I do. Leonard says it’s vital that we show everyone what a brilliant success our union is.”
“Oh, well, we’ve all been there,” Arabella said, falling into step beside the two of them. “It isn’t so surprising, Prudence, nor will it be very difficult for you. You’ve always been the actress of the family.”
“Actress? I’m no such thing,” Prudence said indignantly. “You make me sound like a liar.”
Caroline met her eyes and raised a brow significantly. “I suppose you’re going to tell us you’ve never pretended to be something you’re not?”
Prudence felt heat fill her cheeks as she was forcibly reminded of her ventures into town in the garb of a commoner. “Well—that’s different.”
“Oh, yes, that’s different,” Caroline agreed with a smile. “Much easier than pretending to care for your husband, I suppose.”
“Well, yes!” Prudence said. “I like him. He’s proven to be a good friend. A good companion. I’m glad to have married someone I can get along with. But love? I’ve never been in love in my life. How can I pretend at something with which I have no experience? I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
“All you have to do is stay close by his side,” Arabella said. She was clearly distracted, looking in the windows of the shops as they walked past them. “If you can do that, it will give people the right impression. No one will expect anything is wrong between the two of you.”
“Nothing is wrong between the two of us.” Prudence couldn’t have put into words why that comment got under her skin, but it did.
“I’m not suggesting there is,” Arabella said. “All I’m saying is that as long as you behave normally, you’ll give people nothing to gossip about.”
“I don’t know if that’s true,” Caroline said. “People will look for any excuse to gossip, Arabella. You know that as well as I do. Prudence’s behavior could be beyond reproach, and they would still find something to say about it.”
“Well, there’s only so much we can control, isn’t there?
” Arabella said. “I suppose what I meant was that the gossips won’t be able to get their hooks into any story if they aren’t given any evidence.
Look, shall we go into this shop? I’ve never been in before, but the gowns in the window look very nice. ”
“I think it’s new,” Caroline said. “I don’t recall seeing it here before, anyway.”
The sisters went inside, arm in arm, but Prudence detached herself from the other two as quickly as she was able and wandered off to look at different fabrics.
It was hard to believe that she was shopping for gowns to wear to balls with her husband.
Every part of that was so unfamiliar to her.
Growing up, she had rarely had new gowns thanks to her parents’ finances.
When something new was purchased, it was usually for Arabella so that all three sisters would have the opportunity to wear it and the most use could be gotten from it.
Later, when Arabella and then Caroline had married, there had been money for more luxuries, and gowns had been sent to Prudence so that she would be sure to look her best in public.
But even then, she’d rarely had the opportunity to choose for herself, the way she was clearly going to be able to do right now.
Her eye was drawn to a bolt of lavender silk. She traced her fingers over it. It was cool and soft, and she imagined what it would feel like to wear. For a moment, the idea of going to a ball, twirling in a ball gown made just for her, felt impossibly romantic.
“May I help you?”
She opened her eyes. The woman standing next to her wore a scarlet gown with a great deal of lace and a smile so big that Prudence couldn’t help smiling back. “Is this your shop?” she asked.
“It is. I am Madame Olivier, the modiste.” The woman spoke with a French accent, but her English was clear. “What can I help with? Gowns for the upcoming season, I suppose?”
“Yes, I’ll need a few things. And I was just admiring this.” She held out the lavender silk. “I’d like something in this if that’s possible.”
“Of course. I don’t know why more people haven’t chosen this one yet. They haven’t, so you’ll stand out, but this is one of the finest fabrics I have.”
Prudence pondered for a moment. Her purse was so full after all, and her needs so few. “I don’t suppose you would sell me all of it?”
“All of it?” Madame Olivier raised her eyebrows.
“I’ll pay you what it’s worth, but I like the idea of being the only one to wear it,” Prudence explained.
Madame Olivier laughed. “A lady after my own heart,” she said. “I wish I could offer to simply not sell the fabric to anyone other than yourself, but I do have to keep food on my table.”
“Oh, no, I would never ask that of you,” Prudence assured her. “I only want to know whether you’ll let me purchase it.”
“I can hardly say no though it won’t come cheap,” Madame Olivier agreed, naming her price.
“That’s perfectly fine,” Prudence agreed. “You can have the rest of it sent to Desford Manor once you’re finished with what you need to make my gown.”
“You’re the Duchess of Desford, then?”
“I am,” Prudence confirmed.
“It will be an honor to have you wearing my gowns this season, Your Grace—and you are such a beauty, too. Why don’t you step over here so that I can begin to get you measured?”
Prudence followed Madame Olivier and stood to begin having her measurements taken. A moment later, her sisters joined her.
“Have you already seen something you like?” Arabella asked her.
Prudence decided not to report the fact that she had bought the entire bolt of fabric.
Both of her sisters were so practical minded that they might not think it a good idea, and at best, they simply wouldn’t understand why she had done it.
They wouldn’t be the sort to appreciate the idea of having a beautiful fabric that no one else could find anywhere in London.
They would think she had wasted her money on something frivolous.
The way she would feel walking into Staffordshire knowing that her gown was special… no, they wouldn’t be able to relate to that feeling.
“You’ll look lovely in one of the styles I have in mind,” Madame Olivier said to Prudence as she continued to take her measurements. “You may have seen it on display on your way in. It’s the one in the center place in the window.”
Prudence hadn’t taken any notice, but both Arabella and Caroline gasped.
“That one was lovely,” Arabella said. “Madame Olivier is quite right, Prudence. You’ll be stunning in it.
I can’t wait to see how it comes out. And I’m sure everyone else at the ball will be having absolute fits when they see you.
You’ll have every eye on you, make no mistake. ”
Prudence couldn’t help smiling at that thought. “It might be fun,” she decided. “I never thought this was something I’d get to do after I was married.”
“Yes, how lucky that your husband has decided…” Caroline began.
Arabella held up a hand quickly to silence her. “We won’t discuss it here,” she said.
Caroline’s face flushed. Prudence understood.
They didn’t know Madame Olivier well enough to trust her with the details of any of their personal lives and especially not the things Prudence and Leonard were going to such lengths to keep secret.
She wondered briefly how it would have been if she had spilled the truth then had to go home and let Leonard know that everyone was going to discover his secret after all.
Not that I care about protecting Peter! I don’t care what happens to him. But I have come to realize that Leonard’s priorities matter to me, in spite of everything, and I don’t want anything to happen to him that he wouldn’t like.
She gave her sister a nod of thanks for her quick thinking, and Arabella nodded back.
Once Prudence’s measurements were done, she stepped down to allow Caroline to take her turn and wandered over to the window to look out at the street and the people passing by outside.
I don’t feel any different than I ever have. I feel like the same girl who daydreamed about balls and dresses and a gentleman who would choose me—someone I would love. And now, nearly all of those things have come true, but it doesn’t feel as though anything has changed.
Watching the people go by outside, she was acutely aware of the fact that they were all members of society in just the same way she was.
As a duchess, she probably outranked most of the ladies she saw, but in her innermost heart, she was nothing but the daughter of a poor baron and still not sure of her place in the world.
This season will be what I need to help me answer that question—to finally let me figure out who I am and where I belong.
At least, she hoped that was true.
Her sisters finished having their measurements taken. “Shall we be off, then?” Caroline asked. “I’d like to stop over at the bookshop before we return home.”
“You always want to go to the bookshop,” Arabella teased her.
“I’m not going to apologize for reading,” Caroline shot back.
“You ought to try a little more of it, both of you. There are some fascinating works of literature out there, if only you would take the time to explore them. And then just think of the conversations you would be able to have with your husbands!”
“Our husbands!” Arabella laughed. “I don’t think William cares at all about what I read. Does Leonard care what you read, Prudence?”
“I suspect he would care if I told him I had read something I wanted him to know about,” Prudence decided.
“That’s a good man you’ve got,” Caroline told her admiringly. “I always knew there was something I liked about him.”
Prudence laughed. “You didn’t always know that. You were as appalled as I was when we learned I was going to have to marry him.”
“Well, perhaps,” Caroline allowed. “But you must admit, it’s all worked out for the best in the end, hasn’t it?”
And though Prudence didn’t really want to admit to any such thing, she knew that it couldn’t be denied. Her sister was right.
Though it was the last thing she would ever have expected on the day she had said her vows, her marriage did seem to have been the best thing she could have hoped for.