“I love all of it,” Evangeline told her. “Everything fits and it’s all so beautiful.”
“My mom will love to hear that,” Ana said warmly. “She made most of those pieces.”
“She’s so talented,” Evangeline said, amazed, before her stomach twisted at the thought of what handmade clothing like this must cost.
“You have to tell her that yourself when you check out,” Ana said with a smile in her voice.
“I, um, don’t see any price tags,” Evangeline ventured.
“Well, since you need so much, we’re going to give Grayson a special deal,” Ana said mysteriously. “So anything that fits that you like, just bring it out.”
“Okay,” Evangeline said, feeling sick.
If you have to ask, you can’t afford it,Grandpa was fond of saying about any item without a well-displayed price tag. And the fact that Ana didn’t give her a quote probably meant it was even worse than she’d been thinking.
But she hadn’t passed any other clothing shops and according to Grayson, the whole town was only two blocks, so it wasn’t like she had a whole lot of options.
As she folded up all the clothing, she remembered about the coat and boots. She left the neatly folded items on the bench and opened the curtain to find a pretty red coat and the cute brown leather granny boots from the front window.
They’re probably a fortune,she thought to herself, as she grabbed them to try on.
Even if she couldn’t afford to buy them, wasn’t it okay to just treat herself to a little fashion show?
“Oh wow,” Ana said, approaching just as Evangeline spun in the mirror.
“Everything is amazing,” Evangeline said. “I wish I could buy it all.”
“I talked with my mom,” Ana said. “We’ll give Grayson a good deal for all of it.”
She went on to name a price so reasonable Evangeline was pretty sure she couldn’t have even gotten just the coat for it in the city.
“Are you sure?” she asked softly.
“We really need the rack space for new inventory,” Ana told her. “I was honestly thinking about taking a carload over to the charity thrift shop over at the church. You’d be helping us out. But no pressure, of course.”
“Yes,” Evangeline said. “I’ll obviously take it. Thank you so much.”
“Our pleasure,” Ana said with a big smile. “Do you want to wear some of it home?”
“Oh wow, yes,” Evangeline told her.
“Great,” Ana said, pointing to a spinning rack with underthings. “Help yourself to anything you need.”
“Thank you,” Evangeline said. “You’ve thought of everything.”
“That’s our job,” Ana said with a smile.
A few minutes later, Evangeline was dressed in one of her beautiful new outfits, and carrying the rest to the counter along with her old stuff.
“Ana tells me that you’ll be taking care of little Leo?” Mari asked as she began folding Evangeline’s purchases in tissue paper and placing them in bags.
“Yes,” Evangeline said, unable to believe the lady was wrapping her purchases with so much care.
“His daddy is an angel,” Mari said, a big smile on her face. “Isn’t it wonderful that you’ll be working for him?”
“You know him?” Evangeline asked.
“Everyoneknows him,” Ana put in. “He’s a total sweetheart. He’s been volunteering all over town ever since he got home from the service.”
