Wishes Read online

  She’d been so busy she’d completely forgotten that Nellie had been invited to the ball as well.

  “Let me see the dress,” Terel whispered.

  “Of course,” the dressmaker said, smiling as she stepped behind a curtain into her workroom. “I am very proud of it. I consider it one of my finest creations. I never knew Nellie had such excellent taste in clothes. Of course, the whole town is saying that there is a great deal that they never noticed about Nellie. I for one never realized she was a beauty.” She stepped back through the curtain, a gown of ice-blue satin across her arms. “Nellie looks lovely in the dress, really lovely.”

  The gown was very simple, off the shoulder, low-cut, and Terel knew that Nellie would indeed look lovely in it.

  The dressmaker looked at Terel’s stricken face. “Have I said something wrong? Perhaps Nellie meant this as a surprise, and now I’ve spoiled it.”

  “Yes,” Terel said, trying to recover. “I think it was meant to be a surprise. I was hoping Nellie could go to the ball, but I wasn’t sure she’d be able to.”

  “Nellie said something about that. Actually, what she said was quite odd. She said that since both you and your father were going to be out that evening, she didn’t think that her going to the ball would disturb your comfort. Wasn’t that strange? ‘Disturb your comfort.’ That’s just what she said.”

  Terel turned away from Nellie’s beautiful gown. “Perhaps you’d better send the dresses separately, so when I see Nellie’s dress I can be properly surprised.”

  “Yes, of course. That’s a good idea.”

  Later, when Terel was on the street, she knew what she was going to do. She stopped at the five-and-dime and bought a large bag of children’s marbles.

  Nellie smoothed the ball gown as it draped across her bed. There was a flutter of anticipation inside her as she touched the blue silk. She knew that tonight was going to be very special. For a moment she closed her eyes and imagined waltzing with Jace.

  A knock on the door brought her back to reality. Her first thought was to hide her dress, but Terel entered before Nellie could move.

  “Nellie, I wondered—” Terel began, but then she saw the gown. “How beautiful, how utterly beautiful.” She gave Nellie a look of surprise. “Why, it totally slipped my mind that you are going to the ball tonight, too.”

  Nellie could feel her face turning red. “Mr. Montgomery invited me, and I thought that since both you and Father would be gone this evening that you wouldn’t mind if I went out. I wouldn’t stay for the whole ball. I…” She could feel her hopes for the evening fade as she saw anger on Terel’s face.

  “Nellie, you act as though Father and I are monsters, or worse, jailers. I don’t like being thought of as an ogre.”

  “No, of course not. I didn’t mean to offend you. I just didn’t want to interfere with your…your comfort. I don’t have to go to the ball. I can—”

  Terel took a few steps across the room and kissed Nellie’s cheek. “How silly you are. My comfort, indeed. Your comfort is what’s important.” She picked up the gown from the bed. “This is beautiful, and when you’re wearing it you will be beautiful also. Oh, Nellie, we’ll be the two prettiest girls there.”

  Nellie smiled. “Do you think so?”

  “I’m sure of it.” She held the dress up to the light. “This really is the most exquisite silk, and the color is perfect for you. Did you choose it yourself?”

  “Yes,” Nellie said, beginning to relax, and she wondered what she had been afraid of. She had purposely hidden the dress from Terel, had kept secret the fact that she was going to the ball.

  Carefully, so as not to crease the dress, Terel put it across her arms. “We have to get dressed together. I’ll help you with your hair, and—Nellie, my opal necklace would look divine with this dress. Come on,” she said when she was at the door. “Don’t just stand there, we have work to do. Tomorrow everyone in town will be talking about the Grayson girls.”

  Nellie felt so happy she wanted to cry. What in the world had she been worried about? Smiling, she followed Terel out of the room.

  Three hours later Nellie stood before the long mirror in Terel’s room. Her dress looked even better than she’d hoped it would, and the opal necklace was perfect with it. Her hair was fuller on one side than the other, and the curls over her forehead were scorched from the curling iron and a little odd-looking, but Terel admitted she wasn’t very good with hair. Nellie didn’t mind. For the first time Nellie thought the reflection staring back at her was pretty, and, along with feeling that she looked good, Nellie felt warm inside because of the pleasant three hours she had spent with her sister. This afternoon it had seemed like they really were sisters, rather than, as Nellie often felt, mother and daughter. They had arranged each other’s hair, pulled each other’s corset strings, and profusely admired each other’s gowns.

  “You’ll have to choose fabrics for me,” Terel said, looking at Nellie in her cool blue gown. “Maybe you would have chosen a different ball gown for me.”

  Feeling almost lightheaded with joy over the coming evening and for once not feeling old and frumpy, Nellie spoke before she thought. “Fewer roses and not that shade of pink.”

  Terel’s smile left her face. “Oh?”

  Some of Nellie’s joy fled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I just meant that…” She couldn’t think what to say.

  Terel smiled again and sat down at her dressing table. “Perhaps you’re right. Next time I want you to choose my dresses for me. Oh my, look at the time! The men will be here soon.”

  Nellie’s breath quickened at just the thought of seeing Jace again.

  “Oh, heavens,” Terel said, “I’ve done it again. I’ve left the cap off the bottle of ink. I was writing thank-you notes and forgot the cap. Nellie, would you hand me the bottle? And be careful, don’t spill it.”

  Smiling, still thinking of Jace, Nellie went to the table by the bed and picked up the bottle of India ink. She did not see Terel open the bag of marbles and dump them on the floor. As they began to roll across the floor Terel covered the noise by going into a coughing fit. Nellie, concerned, ran to her sister. She had not taken three steps before she stepped on a marble and slipped, falling sideways against Terel’s bed.

  “Nellie!” Terel exclaimed. “Look at you!”

  To her horror, Nellie looked down at her beautiful gown, at the ink saturating the skirt. The dress was ruined beyond repair.

  “Quick, get it off. We’ll soak the ink out and—”

  “It’s ruined,” Nellie whispered, standing, then bending to pick up two marbles.

  “Where did they come from?” Terel asked.

  “They were on the floor.”

  Terel put her hand to her mouth in horror. “Oh, no, Nellie, is that what caused you to slip? I bought the marbles to take to the Taggert children. I thought it might help the Taggerts to forgive me for what happened last year. I never thought—”

  Terel said more, but Nellie wasn’t listening. Part of her was telling herself that she should have known that something would happen to ruin this evening. She had wanted it too much for it to have come about. Another part of her was enraged. How could Terel have done this to her?

  “It was an accident,” she muttered to herself.

  “Of course it was an accident,” Terel said, indignant. “You don’t think that I—that I could have…” She put her hands over her face. “Nellie, how could you hate me so much as to think that I could have wanted to ruin your dress? Why would I have wanted to hurt you?”

  Nellie’s anger left her as she hugged Terel. “I’m sorry. Of course it was an accident. Of course you wouldn’t have done something like this.” She looked down at her dress. Now she wouldn’t be able to go to the ball, for she had no other dress at all suitable.

  Terel pushed away from Nellie. “We must hurry and find you something else to wear. The men will be here soon.”

  “I have nothing else,” Nellie said tiredly.