“I promise this is nothing to weep over,” she assured her gently. “I will fix it and no one will know.”
Elle’s lower lip trembled. “But everyone is arriving,” she said, sniffling. “I should be down with Curt greeting our guests, but instead I am here because I’m too fat for my dress.”
She broke down in soft tears, and Dustin put her arm around her, hugging her gently. “Not to worry, my lady,” she said soothingly. “I told you I will fix it. I promise I will.”
As Rebecca ran to find a kerchief for the tears, Elle struggled to wipe them away. “I was so excited for this garment,” she said. “I’ve never had anything so beautiful.”
“It is still beautiful, and so are you,” Dustin said, waving quickly to Olivia Charlotte. “Watch, now—Liv is fetching my thread. See? I will fix it right now. Please do not weep.”
Rebecca returned with the kerchief, and Elle took it gratefully, wiping at her eyes. Dustin had her stand up tall so she could see where she could let the seam out just a little more, and Elle lifted her arms again.
“I think I can let the fabric out just a little right here,” Dustin said, looking at a spot under the arms. “But not too terribly much or it will ruin the sleeve.”
Elle sniffled, wiping her nose with the kerchief before raising her arm again. “It will not show?”
“Nay,” Dustin said, concentrating on removing some thread from the seam. “No one will be able to see it.”
“And you’ll be able to take it in again when my breasts are not so large?”
Dustin shook her head. “It will be taken in easily,” she said. “But do not think you must reduce. You have a lovely figure, Elle.”
There was that secret again. She and Curtis had planned to tell his parents that she was expecting, though he wanted to do it when they were all together. Elle supposed that Dustin had a right to know why she was asking about taking the dress in. Any further talk of reducing and body shape and Elle might end up lying to cover up the reason, and she didn’t want to do that. Dustin was going to find out anyway.
“I did not mean when I reduce,” she said quietly. “Forgive me, Lady Hereford, but my breasts are full because… Curt and I were going to tell you and Lord Hereford tonight… But the dress does not fit because I am with child.”
Dustin nearly stabbed Elle in the armpit. She gasped, her eyes wide, as she looked at the woman in shock.
“You are pregnant?” she asked.
Elle nodded, a weary twinkle in her eye. “I am,” she said. “Please do not tell Curt that I told you before he had a chance to. He will be very disappointed if he knows I have.”
Dustin threw her arms around Elle, a woman she had only met hours earlier, but now there was something to link them. Not only had the woman married her son and, by all accounts,seemed to have made him very happy, but now she was pregnant with what could presumably be the heir to the de Lohr empire.
She was overcome with joy.
“Of course I will not tell him,” she said, kissing Elle on the cheek. “I cannot tell you how happy I am, my lady. So very, very happy.”
Elle smiled weakly. “Then you will understand why I weep because my garment does not fit,” she said. “I seem to be weeping at every little thing.”
Dustin laughed softly as she cupped Elle’s face. “Well do I remember those days,” she said. “I have been through it many times, so if anyone can sympathize, it is me. But I am so delighted. I know my husband will be as well.”
She kissed Elle on the cheek again, happily, before returning to work, but not before she looked to her daughters, who had heard everything.
“Not a word to anyone,” she said sternly. “Not to Papa, not to Curt. You do not know anything.”
Rebecca nodded solemnly, but Olivia Charlotte went to Elle and took her hand again. She was a lovely girl, clearly affectionate, and she had no problem demonstrating that with a woman she had only just met.
“I hope to have many babies,” she said. “What does it feel like?”
Elle wasn’t quite used to a lass who was so overly friendly. “It feels like my clothing is getting tighter every day,” she said. “It feels like I am hungry all the time.”
Olivia Charlotte grinned. “Is he moving in your belly yet?”
Elle shook her head. “Not yet.”
“When he does, will you let me feel him?”
Dustin chuckled at her curious daughter as Elle smiled timidly. “Of course,” she said. “But I will be here and you will be at Lioncross. That is a long way to come just to feel him move.”
