THE Prairie DREAMS Trilogy

by Susan Page Davis

  “I am not sure. I don’t think it would look well for you to buy my wedding dress.”

  “What of the other gown you had in your bag? The one that belonged to Anne?”

  She glanced up. “Would you really wish to marry me if I were wearing that?”

  “Why not? I expect that Anne will consider it a good joke when we tell her someday.”

  Millie caught her breath. “Do you think we shall have that opportunity?”

  “I dearly hope so. One of the first things I intend to do when we get home is to write to Anne and invite her and Daniel to visit us at Stoneford, with young Richard in tow of course. I want to see my little grand-nephew.”

  “That would be wonderful, if she found she could forgive me.”

  “I’m sure she already has, my dear, and I should tell you that I’ve mentioned you to her in my last couple of letters. In fact, I apprised her that I’d met up with you shortly after Sam died. I shall probably find at least one letter from her waiting for me in New York.”

  “I…I don’t know what to say.”

  David smiled gently. “Just say you will marry me today if it’s possible.”

  She looked up at him and smiled. “All right. That doesn’t seem too difficult, since you are going to make the arrangements.”

  “Yes. And if we find it’s impossible, we’ll work out when we can—the soonest opportunity.” He stood and pushed in his chair. “Shall I go out now and see what I can learn?”

  “I suppose so.”

  She rose, and David stepped closer and stooped to kiss her. “You’ve made me very happy, Millie.”

  “I hope you still feel that way a month or two from now, when all your connections, as you call them, have met me.”

  “They will love you as I do. But just to give you some confidence, we’ll find a tutor in New York, and you shall have a couple of weeks of lessons.”

  “Lessons on being a countess?”

  “Well, on fashion and deportment and protocol—what to call a duchess and stuff of that nature. You know—how to curtsey to the queen when you are presented.”

  “Oh,” she said in a small voice.

  David chuckled. “My dear Mildred, you look as though you’re headed for the gallows. I promise you, we shall have excessive fun together. I’ll buy you a horse, and when we have guests you may join our shooting parties if you like. And you will never have to wash dishes or do laundry again, or to cook unless you wish to.”

  “That sounds lovely.”

  “Good.” He had no doubt she would roll up her sleeves and show the cook at Stoneford how to make American biscuits. “And I’m sure there’s much more that I haven’t thought to tell you. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.”

  “I shall badger you all across the Atlantic.”

  “I can hardly wait.” He kissed her again and reluctantly left the sitting room.

  “Do you, Mildred, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

  Millie sucked in a deep breath. Standing here with David, in the hotel’s sitting room, wearing Anne’s gown, was incredible enough, but a minister was lining out the marriage vows for her. Two simple words, and her life would never be the same.

  David squeezed her hand. She glanced up into his blue eyes and knew that she wanted to make this change. Though she might find some muddy weather ahead, she would happily leave behind the Evans name and her past associations. She turned to the minister and said gravely, “I do.”

  Five minutes later, she was irrevocably Mrs. David Stone, and her husband was jubilantly kissing her. Nothing was said of the title, as David had felt there was no need to tell the minister about it. The preacher’s wife and a bellboy had come as witnesses. David paid the minister and gave the bellboy a large tip.

  “Won’t you join us for a piece of cake?” Millie asked them, blushing. David had stopped at a bakery on his way back to the hotel on a whim, and she was glad that he did. To her surprise, he’d also asked for tea to be sent up. She’d almost expected him to buy a bottle of wine, but she was relieved he hadn’t. Memories of James Evans’s drunken state after her first wedding had brought on some apprehension, but she ought to have known David wouldn’t do such a thing.

  At last the three guests left them, and David gathered her into his arms.

  “Happy?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “This is the happiest moment of my life.”

  “I believe it is for me, too. And I trust there will be many more.”

  CHAPTER 35

  A week later, David saw Millie off for a day of shopping with Lady Ashton, the wife of a man his own age whom he’d known in his misty youth in England. They’d met in the Astor House’s dining room two nights previously and again at the ballet, and Millie seemed to like Ashton’s wife, so David had presumed on the marchioness’s good nature and asked if she’d like to shop with his bride for suitable clothing for their upcoming voyage. Lady Ashton had jumped at the opportunity.

  He’d supplied his bride of seven days with a fair amount of cash and a letter of credit from his bank. Poor Millie had looked a bit at sea, but Lady Ashton would know exactly what to do, and he wouldn’t have the embarrassment of watching his blushing wife pick out undergarments and question every expenditure. He’d only succeeded in persuading her to buy one new dress so far, and she probably needed a dozen, but Millie had laughed when he said as much. He would have to do something extremely nice for Lady Ashton later, in exchange for this huge favor.

  After the ladies had left the hotel, David got his hat and prepared to go out for a stroll. As he left the chamber, someone called to him, and he turned. One of the bellboys approached quickly from the stairway.

  “Mr. Stone, I hoped I’d find you in. This was just delivered for you.” He held out a folded sheet of paper.

  “Thank you.” David reached into his pocket for a coin and gave it to the young man. He took the message and opened it.

  “Do you wish me to wait for a reply, sir?”

  David frowned as he scanned the note. A gentleman named Perry Walmore has been arrested for vagrancy and claims you are his relation and can vouch for him. Sgt. T. H. Moore, 1st Precinct. “No, thank you. I shall tend to this myself.”

  The bellboy nodded and left. David sighed. It seemed he would have to make a stop at the police station. But it wouldn’t hurt Walmore to sit there for a while. David decided to shop for some new shirts and linen first, and to order flowers for Lady Ashton while he decided how much money to withdraw from the bank. Because he had no doubt that extricating Peregrin Walmore from the police station would require cash.

  Millie tried to add up the prices of all the clothes she was buying, but her head began to spin when they topped $250.

  “This is too much!”

  “Nonsense,” said her shopping companion, Lady Sarah Ashton, known inexplicably to her intimates as Hoppy. “Your husband said the sky was the limit, and he charged me with seeing you have clothes appropriate for everything from a gallop in Hyde Park to a palace ball.”

  Millie gulped. “I had no idea. I mean—forty dollars for one gown? Really?”

  Hoppy laughed. “Not just any gown. An elegant one worthy of the most exclusive ball. And really, my dear, that isn’t so extravagant. You’ll pay much more in Europe.”

  Millie shook her head in disbelief, but Hoppy was already fingering the skirt of another dress. “I haven’t had this much fun in years! Now, if my husband gave me carte blanche for an entire new wardrobe, I’d buy out the stores without blinking. But Ashton is so tight-fisted, I’m lucky to get a few new gowns for the season and a promenade dress each spring. Now go try on that lavender poplin. It would be perfect for an at-home dress, though I’m not sure it’s your best color.” She eyed Millie critically. “Perhaps they could do it up in green.”

  “Oh no,” Millie cried. “I can’t have them doing special dressmaking for me.”

  “Why not? Still, with a bright-colored fichu, that dress would look swee
t. Perhaps the modiste can find something.”

  They spent another hour in the exclusive shop. The owner was only too happy to bring out garment after garment for Millie’s inspection. The newlyweds had been in New York nearly a week, but Millie was still shocked at least six times a day by the sights she saw, the extravagance David surrounded her with, and the cost of it all.

  She and Hoppy moved on to a millinery shop, where Millie would have swooned if she were the swooning kind of woman. Hoppy insisted she needed at least five hats for the voyage.

  “Big hats are all the rage now, especially for promenades. And the sun is unrelenting on deck. Of course, you’ll need a carriage bonnet and an opera bonnet—oh my dear, how thrilling to be able to buy multiple hats without guilt!”

  “But I do feel guilty.” Millie eyed the array of headgear in dismay. “Do you think David realizes how much hats cost?”

  “I’m sure he does,” Hoppy replied with a mischievous smile. “If not, we shall educate him. Oh, and it’s fine to call him ‘David’ to me, but when you are in polite company, you must refer to him as ‘Stoneford.’ ”

  “Stoneford? But that’s not his name. That’s his house.”

  Hoppy brushed that aside with a wave of her hand, which bore a pink kid glove with a row of pearl buttons on the cuff. “It’s his title, or will be within hours of your landing in England. Such a bore. Now, come, this is serious business. And we haven’t been to the cobbler yet. You’ll need kid boots and dancing slippers and—oh Mildred, shopping with you is so entertaining! But if we don’t proceed with it, our dear menfolk will be wondering where we are. And you’ll need at least an hour to dress for dinner this evening.”

  Although Millie returned to the hotel with trepidation, David seemed pleased with the plethora of parcels that had begun to arrive in midafternoon. Millie could hardly move about the bedchamber, but one of the hotel’s maids assisted with unpacking everything. At the end of an hour, Millie’s booty was all properly stored.

  “Would you like me to draw you a bath, ma’am?” the maid asked.

  “Yes, that sounds delightful, if there’s time. Thank you.”

  Millie still wasn’t accustomed to the luxury of bathing daily if she wished, or having another person dress her hair and help her put on the complicated clothing she had acquired, but she thought, with a little practice, she could get used to it. The full crinolines that were coming into fashion were a trial, but Hoppy had given her an impromptu lesson in one of the dressmakers’ shops on how to manage the full skirts and petticoats.

  She followed David’s practice of tipping the hotel staff generously, using the ample supply of cash he’d given her for the purpose. Her own days of poverty hung close in her memory, and she didn’t scruple to reward those who served her.

  At last she was ready to go down to dinner, but she felt exhausted. She stepped out into the sitting room, and David leaped to his feet from the velvet-covered armchair where he’d been reading a newspaper.

  “You look lovely, my darling.” He walked toward her with gleaming eyes, his hands outstretched to her, and Millie was glad she’d made the effort and not suggested they take a quiet supper in their room. He was dressed in formal clothes—or at least, the most formal attire she’d ever seen him wear. How would she ever learn all the subtleties of fashion? Even David’s choice of neckties seemed critical now that they were “in society.” The other guests at the Astor House seemed overly preoccupied with appearance.

  “Thank you.” She accepted his kiss. “Hoppy was tireless, but I confess I’m a bit fatigued.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Well, the scented bath helped.”

  “We shall not make a long night of it. Ashton wanted to go to the theater, but I declined for us—I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all.” Millie had enjoyed the ballet the previous evening, but in attending she had realized that David was right about her need for new clothes.

  “I told Ashton perhaps we’d go with them tomorrow evening, if you felt so inclined. Apparently there is a new musical comedy program that’s the talk of the town.”

  “It might be fun.”

  He stood back and looked her up and down. “That gown suits you.”

  “Thank you.” Millie fingered the braid that trimmed her bodice. Hoppy had instructed her to wear the apple-green dress this evening, and so she felt confident it was appropriate, but what would she do when they left New York and Hoppy? David had said she would have a personal maid in England, and she supposed she needed one to help her avoid making social mistakes. That thought brought on a new anxiety. “And am I to call Ashton ‘my lord’? I think that is what you said.”

  “Yes, darling. I’m sorry this is so nerve-racking for you.”

  “I don’t wish to embarrass you.”

  David smiled. “If you make a mistake, we shall all laugh and set you straight, but it will all be good-natured. Come.”

  He drew her hand through his arm, and Millie raised her chin. She would study harder than she ever had in school, and somehow, by the time they reached England, she would know at least the basics of aristocratic manners. The odd thing was that, in spite of her apprehension, she was deliriously happy. One glance at David told her that he was, too. She wished Sam could see her as Lady Stoneford—but that thought flew from her head as David led her down the grand staircase.

  Merrileigh greeted the caller—Mr. Iverson, from the solicitor’s office—with her husband in the drawing room and took her seat on the sofa. She hoped this visit was occasioned by dire news. If Peregrin had done his job, today’s tidings should be momentous, and she could begin packing up her household for the move to Stoneford.

  Iverson bowed to his host and took a chair near the fireplace, while Randolph sauntered over and sat beside her.

  The solicitor smiled at them. “You’ll be happy to hear that we’ve had a new message from David Stone. He says he’ll arrive in England later next month…with his wife.”

  “Wife? What—” Merrileigh stared at him.

  “Well now,” Randolph said, smiling, “when did this happy event take place?”

  “Recently, I gather,” Iverson said. “They are honeymooning in New York and plan to embark the second week of October on a steamship. We can expect them to dock by the twenty-fifth.”

  Merrileigh tried not to show her dismay. The last thing she’d expected—or wanted—to hear was that David was enjoying newly wedded bliss. The second-to-last was that he was alive, but she hadn’t allowed herself to totally discount the possibility.

  “There’s time to direct congratulatory messages to the couple at the Astor House.”

  “I think we’ll just wait until they reach England,” Randolph said. “It will be interesting to meet the bride, I’m sure.”

  “Is she American?” Merrileigh asked.

  “I assume so. He didn’t give any details.”

  Merrileigh sniffed, thinking of Peregrin’s message stating that David had a woman he’d met in the wilderness traveling with him. No doubt this was the one he had married—a person of questionable morals. The idea sickened her—that a coarse American doxy would take her rightful place as mistress of Stoneford. It was unthinkable. She would never forgive David for this, nor her brother for not preventing it.

  The carriage drive at Stoneford was illuminated on Christmas Eve by two long rows of lanterns. Though the temperature outside hovered just above freezing, David had insisted that the front gardens be lit as well. All the rooms on the ground floor and second story glowed bright, and every fireplace held a coal fire that the servants replenished often.

  The extravagance awed Millie. Though David was not one to waste money, he didn’t stint when he had a purpose in mind. She knew that tonight his purpose was to impress the hundred guests and to prove that the Earl of Stoneford had indeed returned. She thought a small part of his show of ostentation had to do with his cousin, Randolph Stone. Randolph and his wife had accepted the invitation, an
d indeed were staying two nights. Most of the guests were leaving after tonight’s festivities, but a select dozen would spend Christmas with Lord and Lady Stoneford. All of those staying had arrived and were settled in their rooms, preparing for the party.

  Millie was terrified that she would make her husband look bad. But in the last two months, she had received a great deal of help from her staff, especially her housekeeper, Mrs. Lane, and her lady’s maid, Briley. These women had been hired by the solicitor’s office before the master and mistress arrived, and Mr. Iverson had assured Millie that if she was not completely satisfied with their performance, she could let them go and hire other domestics. Millie doubted she would have the heart to do so, but happily she liked both women and was thankful for their skill and their willingness to aid an inexperienced mistress.

  She was confident at least in her outfit—Briley had dressed her for the evening in an elegant moiré gown of shimmering green. Though she’d purchased a full half-dozen dresses in New York, it seemed that wasn’t nearly enough. This gown had been made especially for her in London. David had suggested a quick trip to the continent so that she could visit a famous dressmaker in Paris, but Millie had gently but firmly declined, reminding him of all they needed to do at home before the holidays.

  She examined her gown in the long mirror in her room. She wasn’t sure about the multiple flounces that graced the skirt, but the dressmaker had assured her that this style was the height of fashion.

  “Our first guests are arriving, dearest. Are you ready?”

  She turned toward the doorway. David stood there, resplendent in his evening clothes.

  “I think so.” She took a last glance at the mirror. Her hair, in a simple upsweep, looked fine to her. She lightly touched the emerald-and-gold necklace at her throat. It was finer than anything she’d ever seen, let alone owned, and she was certain David had spent a great deal of money on it, though she would never ask. He’d brought it to her their last night in New York, along with a gold ring bearing a sizable diamond. “To make up for the engagement present I should have given you,” he explained, and she couldn’t make him return the jewelry. He’d have been too disappointed.