The Bad Luck Wedding Dress Read Online Free PDF Page A

her eyes. “And what point is that?”
    “I believe you are waiting for love, am I right?”
    Jenny didn’t want to talk about this with her mother any more than she’d wanted to talk about the Bailey girls with Wilhemina Peters. “Mother—”
    “That’s your problem; you can’t expect too much too soon. True love isn’t something that occurs overnight. True love takes time to build; time and shared experiences to strengthen the bond between two people.”
    “Like the true love you built with Papa?” Jenny asked sarcastically.
    “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Of course we didn’t have true love from the first. We had great passion. Love grew from that.”
    “I don’t think we should be discussing this.”
    The older woman gave a frustrated snort. “And who better to discuss such matters with than your own mother? Listen to me. This is important. You do not need love to lust for another, Jenny, and sometimes lust can lead to something deeper. You are twenty-three years old. Have you ever surrendered to a man?”
    Jenny’s back snapped straight. “No, Mother, and I never will.”
    Monique waved a hand. “Perhaps surrender was a poor choice of words, but you know what I’m asking. Jenny, are you a virgin?”
    “What a thing to ask your daughter!”
    “Well, you asked for my advice, and I’m simply trying to help. Marriage is the ideal solution to your problem and you’ve always been so set against it. I’m thinking a little experience might prove to you what pleasures you are missing.”
    Jenny hung her head. This conversation was a perfect example of just how different her upbringing had been. Most young women were cautioned against surrendering to passion by their mothers; Jenny was being encouraged. She closed her eyes. “I appreciate your point, but I’m afraid I can’t view marriage and love and … relations with a man in the same light as you. I’ve never been the free spirit you are.”
    “Your father’s influence, I fear,” the artist replied, sniffing with disdain.
    Conviction rang in Jenny’s voice. “Nevertheless, I’d rather be a spinster than be trapped in a loveless marriage.” With that, she stood and walked regally to the dressing room, suddenly feeling the need to be free of both the wedding gown and her mother.
    “Ah-hah.” Monique followed her, shaking a finger. “But that’s not the question, is it? The question is whether you would rather be your father’s assistant living at Thicket Glen than be married and run your own business.”
    Jenny grimaced. “I’ll solve my problems another way.”
    “Marriage would be the easiest.”
    “Marriage is never easy. I’d think you of all people would admit that. And it would not work. A marriage made for such reasons is bound to fail.”
    “Now, Jenny—”
    “I know what you’re going to say,” she interrupted, her frown deepening as she noticed a tear in the dress’s trim. The taffeta rustled as she lifted the skirt to check for damage. “You know how I feel about divorce.”
    Monique waved her hand. “Oh, all right. I don’t have time to waste time with that old argument, anyway. I do have a train to catch, you remember.”
    “I can fix this.” Jenny murmured, then breathed a sigh of relief that had nothing to do with the rip in the trim. She simply didn’t have the energy to debate the merits of divorce with her mother this afternoon. As the product of such an on-and-off-again union as that of her mother and father, Jenny’s views on divorce differed substantially from Monique’s. They’d argued the question on numerous occasions.
    The older woman’s brow lifted as she gave her daughter a pointed look. “You did ask for my opinion.”
    “My mistake,” she muttered under her breath.
    “I heard that, and I want to say you are being terribly unkind to a mother who wants only the best for her child. Proving the dress to be free of bad luck is a good idea, and I think you are foolish to dismiss