“You’d be fashionable and beautiful in a sack, I think,” Marianne said, and stepped in to spread the dresses out along the bed to show them off more fully. “Oh, how I used to envy how lovely and confident you were.”
“Did you?” Esme shook her head. She had put all those memories away to protect herself.
“Of course I did, Charlotte,” Marianne said.
Esme flinched. “I go by Esme now.”
She waited for that sentence to be questioned or her request to be refused, but Marianne only inclined her head and squeezed Esme’s hand. “Forgive me,Esme. I used to stand on the wall with my friend Claudia and we’d always talk about how you were one of our favorite diamonds of any season. Not only did you shine, but you were never unkind.”
Tears suddenly stung Esme’s eyes and she turned away so Marianne wouldn’t see. “Th-thank you. I remember Claudia. How is she?”
Marianne’s lower lip wobbled. “She…she died very recently.”
“I’m so sorry,” Esme whispered.
There was a moment’s pause and then Marianne gently filled the silence. “That first gown you admired is such a pretty green. It almost perfectly matches your lovely eyes. Would you like to try it on? I could help you.”
Oh, Esme hadn’t thought of that. Someone would need to help her with her gown. With just the one exception, she had made gowns that were easy for her to manage herself. When Jane wasn’t present, she had no one to depend on and she didn’t want to have to do so. But in her old life, in Marianne’s life, there were maids and friends to help.
“I’d be grateful for the assistance,” Esme said, and began to unhook her dress.
She realized she still had her leather corset beneath and her cheeks heated. It was for fighting, a layer of protection during sparring and the like. But to a woman like Marianne, especially when she had seen what she’d seen in the ring earlier, it must have seemed scandalous. She unlaced it hurriedly and set it aside.
“You—you must be shocked by everything you encountered today,” she said softly as she stepped into the gown while Marianne held it.
Marianne’s little laugh as she moved behind Esme to fasten the dress surprised her. “I won’t say Iexpectedto find my brother like that, no. But as Sebastian said, it makes us even.”
Esme bent her head, her cheeks heating further. After all, she knew exactly what Marianne meant. Finn had told her about his shock in finding his sister and best friend in a highly compromising position before their engagement.
“I can see by your expression that Finn told you about it,” Marianne said, finishing the last button and coming around to look at her. “Oh, that fits you perfectly, Esme. Like it was made for you. Look at yourself.”
She stepped aside and Esme stepped to the mirror and caught her breath. She could almost see herself five years ago, entering a ball on her father’s arm, her greatest care then was if she could avoid some gentleman who wasn’t her favorite dance partner.
“It is beautiful. Are you certain you wish me to wear it?” she asked with a quick glance toward Marianne.
“I wish you to have it if you’d like. It’s been sitting in my wardrobe for years, and I never looked half so fine in it. It should be on the shoulders of a woman who looks so well in it.”
“I couldn’t—” Esme began.
Marianne waved her hand. “Would you like to try on any others?”
Esme glanced at the other gowns. There was a lovely powder-blue dress, another in raspberry pink that caught her eye, but she didn’t want to be greedy. She also didn’t want to open the door to the past too much. She didn’t want to miss this when it was over, or always stare in the mirror when she was back to herself and wish she had fine things. It was best not to wish for items…or people…that were so out of reach.
“This is perfect,” she said.
“Good. Now I’m not the best at fixing hair, but I am tolerable. Would you like me to try? If not, I can find a maid, though I doubt Phineas has anyone on staff who has much practice since I left.”
“If you don’t mind,” Esme said.
Marianne motioned to a seat at her old dressing table and began opening drawers. “I think I left some things…oh yes, a brush, some pins, it will all do nicely. How clever of me to have done so.”
Esme tried to relax as Marianne began to brush out her hair. It had been a lifetime since someone else did that and she almost purred at the glorious feeling.
After a moment, Marianne said, “I suppose when you said I must be shocked, you weren’t just talking about finding my brother and you so…entangled. You mean seeing you after all these years.”
Esme opened her eyes and looked in the mirror so she could examine Marianne’s expression behind her. There was no unkindness or morbid curiosity to her face. But then, she didn’t think this young woman could feel those things. She truly was compassionate and nothing more. No wonder her brother and her fiancé so adored her. She was lucky, and so were they. It made Esme’s heart ache.
She swallowed past those thoughts. “It must have taken a Herculean effort to wait so long to ask me.”
