Second Chance Sister Read Online Free PDF

and shook her head. Louis had come out here just to warn her about Nadine. He was curious about this new job, and the university. He was curious about the dress, which he shouldn’t see until the wedding. He was acting so damn normal, and enjoying his chance to just wallow in it.
    The young couple was still watching her. She grinned at them, too, and got return grins. This university felt comfortable. She would be all right here.
    Bishou made her way to the front gate, and waited for the bus. “Bonjour, Papa Armand!” she greeted the driver, climbing on and paying him. “How many children do you have working the bus routes?”
    “Five now,” chuckled the Creole, also accepting a cigarette. “Friday is the day, eh, mam’selle? And you are marrying a rich man. You will not need this job, then, after all?”
    “I’m going to do it anyway,” Bishou answered, seating herself comfortably in a forward seat. “Good to have the practice, you know — and I will have ‘pocket money,’ a little money of my own that my husband won’t need to provide for me. Fair is fair.”
    “You know about Monsieur Dessant’s wife, how she cheated him?” Armand asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Man’s made some mistakes,” Armand said. She recognized a euphemism for prison time.
    “Lots of good men do,” Bishou replied.
    “Ain’t scaring you,” said Armand.
    Bishou made another inspired guess. “
You
don’t.”
    Armand glanced at her, looking a little surprised. Then he chuckled. A while later, he chuckled again, a deep throaty chuckle. Sure enough, Louis Dessant wasn’t the only jailbird on the island who was now working hard to make things right. Louis hadn’t been mistaken when he said the Père issued dispensations in packets. “Where you going today, Mam’selle Bishou?”
    “Rue Marché. Nadine’s.”
    “Wedding dress!”
    “And another fancy dress, too.”
    “You getting all your clothes from her?”
    “Non. There’s another shop I like better. When you look at me, do you see a dainty little Frenchwoman?”
    Armand chuckled again. “Non, mam’selle, God made you good.”
    “
Merci
. But you see I must wear a little bit of this, a little bit of that.”
    “Oui, I see. But you’re
étrangère
to the island. You let me know what you need, Mam’selle, and I’ll see if I can find you the right help.”
    “I’ll remember that, Armand, I promise.”
    Bishou walked down Rue Marché from the bus stop, carrying her tote bag and her purse. In the tote bag was her work portfolio, but also her new shoes.
    Nadine and the other saleswoman were both waiting for her, this time. Bishou had an uncomfortable flashback of the other married couple, the other day, as they were fawned over while Bishou was ignored.
    As Bishou had said, the blue dress fit fairly well. She donned the elegant shoes. Nadine fiddled with a side tuck, and her assistant pinned the hem. “It must be fairly easy for me to get in and out of, alone,” said Bishou, “because I will very likely be changing my clothes in a ladies’ room off the college entrance.”
    Nadine sighed. “You may need help with the hooks.”
    “I will get help.”
    “And those are the shoes you will be wearing, and that is the jewelry.”
    “Oui.”
    “All right, they will go together well enough with the blue dress.”
    “And with the white?”
    “That too. One problem at a time.”
    “It is all one problem,” said Bishou. “I am la deuxième Madame Dessant.” She emphasized “second,” and met Nadine’s gaze steadily.
    “I understand,” said Nadine, but her assistant dropped her pincushion in consternation and grabbed it hastily before it rolled under the stool. “Neither you nor Monsieur are made of stone, are you?”
    “‘If you prick us, do we not bleed?’” Bishou quoted, obligingly translating Shakespeare into French.
    “Not on
my
fabric,” said Nadine intently — then realized what she had said. They both burst into laughter.
    • • •
    Bishou was