Chapter 17 #2
“Oh yes,” she said clasping her hands together with delight.
“I’ve thought about that and I’ve discussed the problem with Lady Melbourne, and I have come up with the most delicious idea.
We shall be the brave and tragic de La Brou women.
I shall wear only black to express my grief at the loss of your father and the misfortunes of the Bourbons.
” She smiled gaily. “Black is such a wonderful compliment to my skin and hair, it will be so dramatic, and I shall never dance, or at least not for several months. The season is not truly in full swing until March anyway. You, however, are young. I think you should wear only gray, it will look wonderful with your eyes. We can trim it up with silver and black, perhaps some green or lavender for effect, but always gray. Oh, we shall be such a sensation.”
Alix closed her eyes, thinking of the sensation she would cause when it was discovered that a married woman was husband-hunting during the London season.
She couldn’t imagine Rafe’s reaction, but she could guess that it would not be sympathetic.
She hadn’t been able to come up with a discreet way of contacting him without the servants informing her mother or the duchess, and she wasn’t yet ready to face the uproar it would cause.
Madeleine was out of her chair again and rummaging through Alix’s armoire.
“You must get up and get dressed now,” she said, tossing garments onto Alix’s bed.
“We have an appointment with Lady Melbourne’s dressmaker this afternoon, then we have supper at Lady Albright’s this evening, then cards with the Percy’s.
I’ll have a maid sent up to help you dress and style your hair and off we’ll go. ”
She departed in a swirl of silk and lilac, leaving Alix stunned. A round-faced maid, freckles liberally sprinkled across her snub nose, entered Alix’s room and began bustling about, her rapid-fire conversation quickly filling the vacuum created by Madeleine’s abrupt exit.
“I’m Guinevere, but you can call me Ginny miss.
I’ll be the one helping you dress most times.
And I’m good with hair, too. Lady Melbourne’s hairdresser’s been teaching me.
You’ve got lovely hair, if you don’t mind me saying so, miss, and a lovely figure, too.
I’ll just help tie your stays for you now, if you’d like. ”
As she pulled the laces tight, Ginny continued to chatter.
“It’s a good thing you’re tiny like your mother, most of her dresses will fit you.
Sure we may have to let the hems down a tad, but nothing that can’t be whipped up in a moment.
She’s got lovely taste, your mother. Should you like the yellow with the flowers and the ribbons or the rose stripe?
” Alix gestured toward the yellow floral and Ginny slipped it over her head.
“Course I could never wear me mum’s clothes.
We Potters tend to run stout as we age. My mum is the housekeeper here.
You may have seen her about. Lord, there’s been Potters serving the Melbournes forever.
” She stopped and took a breath. “Forgive me miss, I tend to rattle on when I’m nervous and I do so want to do a good job for you. ”
Alix smiled, a slight smile, but the first genuine one since she’d discovered Rafe was an earl.
“It’s quite alright, Ginny. Indeed, you remind me a bit of my maid Solange Chaumier.
We practically grew up together.” Alix fell silent, wondering whether David had made it safely back to Solange and how she’d fared without her identity papers.
She looked up at Ginny. “I’m sure we’ll get along fine. ”
Alix emerged two hours later, dressed and ready for her mother’s series of appointments.
As they rode in Lady Melbourne’s coach to the dressmaker’s (not, Alix breathed a sigh of relief, Madame Guenard’s) her mother continued to chatter excitedly about her plans for their entrance into London society.
Alix began to think that perhaps Madeleine had the right idea.
She did need to get out more, see what the world had to offer.
Moping about in the dark certainly wasn’t going to change anything.
With this in mind, she found herself enjoying their shopping spree.
Madeleine offered advice, but did not dictate Alix’s choices.
It was a novel experience for Alix. She’d never had much interest in clothes before, since someone else had always decided the cut and color.
Assessing the look of a large gray hat with a deep green plume in the looking glass, she considered that her mother was right.
Grays tinged with just the right shade of blue or green suited her well.
It felt good, she thought, as she tilted the hat at a rakish angle, choosing styles that reflected how she saw herself, rather than how others wanted her to appear.
She wasn’t an innocent young girl anymore, she mused as she waved away the modiste’s suggestion of adding more flounces to the bottom of one of her gowns.
Not that she considered herself a woman of the world, but she liked the idea of appearing a bit more sleek, a bit more elegant, a bit more daring than a pink gown smothered in rosebuds might suggest.
As the footman piled their purchases onto the back of the coach, Alix considered that perhaps things would turn out all right.
She didn’t have to think of the season as “husband hunting.” She could think of it as a time to learn more about English society, to meet some new people, to learn her own mind.
And if she encountered Rafe, she told herself as her heart began to pound at the mere thought of his name, the new Alix would greet him cordially.
Perhaps they would dance, exchange a few words, agree that it was all a strange adventure that should best be put behind them.
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat as her skin recalled the hot traces of his touch.
Surely if she threw herself into her mother’s planned schedule of activities, this longing to see him, to touch him, to be with him would fade.