Little Black Dress with Bonus Material (18 page)

He looked at me and the stony set of his jaw softened. Such tenderness showed in his face that I knew he meant what he'd said: he would give me the stars and the moon if he could.

“It is what I want,” I said to him, a catch in my voice, my heart near to bursting.

“Then it's settled.” Anna wore the same self-satisfied smile I'd seen when the black dress had shown me the vision. “We're all on board.”

“Do you have a plan?” Jon asked.

“Well, of course, we must do this quietly,” Anna said, “without anyone suspecting the baby isn't Evie's.”

I wondered if the dress could make us both invisible for a while. How else could we do it without someone finding out that Anna was home and that, while I was no longer pregnant, she was?

“If you stay in Blue Hills for the next five months or more, it'll be impossible to keep you out of sight,” Jonathan stated, his concerns not appeased any more than mine. “Our house is small and just up the road from your father's. There are people who come and go this way without warning, workers from the vineyard who've been around here for years. If just one person sees you, the news will be all over town within minutes.”

“And it's not just about hiding you, Annabelle,” I dared to speak up. “What about my part? How are we supposed to convince everyone that I still carry a child?” The mere idea had me panicking already.

“Evie darling, you always did worry too much,” Anna cooed. “Who knows about your recent loss? Anyone besides the three of us?”

I shook my head. Jon and I hadn't called Dr. Langston's office when I miscarried most recently. So, as far as he and his staff knew—and my father as well—I was nearly three months along.

“That's good, very good,” she assured me. “Then it shouldn't be difficult to convince Daddy that you're still carrying his grandchild.”

I shifted in my seat, not as confident in her plans as she. “In a few months, I would be showing and growing steadily bigger after that. How will I fool them then? By stuffing pillows inside my clothing?”

“At least only Jonathan will see you naked and know the truth,” my sister said, and Jon spit coffee back into his cup. “Father might as well be made of marble, he's so reserved. It's not like he'll want to rub your belly. And everyone knows how modest you are, Evelyn, plus you're hardly a social butterfly. You can play the recluse until you deliver. Tell everyone within earshot that you're seeing a specialist in the city and plan to give birth up there.” Anna paused, fiddling with the beads around her neck. “It won't take much to convince Daddy. He'll see what he wants to see anyway. We'll just have to find a prop for your belly, like they use in the movies.”

“And where can I buy such a thing?” I asked, because I wasn't aware of any catalogs or shops that dealt with women faking pregnancy.

She casually set her elbows on the table, as Mother and Charlotte had scolded us so often for doing as kids. “Oh, Lord, Evie, you're the most intelligent person I know. And, Jonathan, you fiddle with machinery, don't you? Whatever it is, I'm sure you're good with your hands,” she remarked, her smile tight. “I imagine you two can figure out something she can wear beneath her clothes, like padded under-things.”

“You want me to make padded under-things for Evie? Christ Almighty.” My husband pushed back from the table, the legs of his chair grating on the wooden floor. I thought he might walk out, but he came to stand behind me and set his hands firmly on my shoulders. “I get why you want to do this, angel, I really do. But it doesn't seem decent.”

I reached up to touch him. “You're wrong about that. It's the only decent thing we can do.”

“Evie can go on bed rest for most of her pregnancy, and no one will be the wiser,” Anna said, a brittle edge to her voice. “If anyone gets nosy, Jon can run interference. It'll only be for a few months, not years.”

It could work. The timing was right. If Anna was at least three or four months along, her baby would come by Christmas. No one would even blink if I were to “deliver” a little early, not with my history, something I'm certain the gossips in Blue Hills had made common knowledge since everyone in Dr. Langston's office knew I'd miscarried twice.

“We'll figure it out,” I said as much for Jon as for myself. “Any sacrifice will be worth it. Antonia is worth it.”

“Why did you say that?” Jon gave me a funny look. “Why did you call the child that name?” He walked slowly away from me, moving around the table, his gaze darting between me and Anna. “How can you even be sure the baby is a girl? You act like that's a given, or are you both fortune-tellers, too?”

I fell mute, not sure of how to answer without spilling the beans about the dress.

“Call it intuition,” Anna coolly replied and met my eyes. “Sometimes women have a way of sensing these things.”

“It's true,” I got out, despite the dryness of my mouth, because that wasn't a fib.

And if not coming clean about the dress to my own husband was a sin, then the dress had made me a sinner long ago, well before Anna had appeared on our front porch this afternoon.

Jonathan stopped his pacing, long enough to look at me. “Evie,” he said my name like a plea. “This is crazy.”

“Please,” I begged. “I know it won't be easy, but in the end, we'll have a daughter.”

He shook his head. “If we slip up, we'll look like fools. What if Ingrid or Bridget find out what we're doing? They're with your father at the Victorian much of the time. If either of them saw something, how would we explain? How could we keep it from Franklin?”

“My God, you worry more than my sister,” Anna snapped, her blue eyes darkening. “Don't give Bridget and Ingrid a second thought. They're on our side.”

“What do you mean?” my husband asked, and I wondered suddenly if they already knew.

“They're good at keeping secrets. Almost as good as Evie,” my sister said, and I heard a threat in her voice. I prayed she wouldn't say anything about the black dress now. Jonathan was upset enough.

My husband didn't seem to know what to think. He sighed deeply, as though the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. “I have to consider this. Alone,” he said and glanced at me. “So if you'll excuse me, I need some fresh air, desperately.”

“It'll be dark soon,” I said and rose from my seat. “Don't be gone long.”

“I know my way well enough.”

“Jon?” I worried about him and how he was taking this. The last thing I ever wanted to do was run him out of the house.

“I'll be fine.” He waved off my concern and went to the door.

I winced as the screened door slapped shut, and I sank down again, fatigued by the tension and the cyclonic spinning of emotions in my heart. I hated myself for putting him through this so soon after the miscarriage. It was a lot for him to digest at once. It was a lot for me as well.

“Antonia's father, he's married, Evie,” Anna said out of nowhere, and the fight went out of her eyes. I noticed the shadows below them as if she rarely slept through the night. “The man I thought I loved, who I thought loved me, was never mine to begin with.”

“You didn't know?” I asked, shocked by her revelation.

“Not at first.” She crossed her arms, her posture defensive. “Not until it was too late. He already has children, and he doesn't want to leave his wife.”

“Where is he?”

“An ocean apart from here,” Anna said, her plump lips pressed into a thin line. “I doubt he even misses me or wonders where I am. I was just another girl.”

“I'm sorry he hurt you,” I told her and crossed the room to crouch beside her. I stroked her arm as she stared at the wall, seeing someone or someplace that I couldn't. “It isn't easy to let go of someone you love, is it? No matter the reason.”

If she understood what I'd implied, she didn't let on, and I didn't rub it in.

“I just wish the dress had warned me about him, too.” She sighed.

“He gave you Antonia,” I said to console her. “She is worth everything, and I promise I'll never let anyone harm her.”

A slim eyebrow lifted. “Or drive her mad or break her heart?”

“Not if I can help it.”

When I saw her tears, she turned away. “I should go,” she said hastily. “It's getting late besides, and I'm tired. We're all tired.”

“Anna?” She brushed off my hand, and I scrambled to stand. “Go?” I asked. “Go where?”

Because I had no idea where she'd even come from, or how she'd arrived at the house, or where her bags were if she had any. Although I was around back when she arrived so I saw no car and no suitcase, only her. I doubted anyone else knew Anna was here, and she had no friends left in Blue Hills to speak of. But perhaps I was wrong.

“You can stay with us,” I said. “In fact, I insist.”

“I don't think your husband would appreciate it.” She slipped out of her chair and left the table. “Don't fret about me, Evie. I have a place to live until Antonia comes, somewhere safe and very much out of sight.”

“What place?” I felt myself growing more impatient with her every second. Anna had always seemed to enjoy keeping secrets far more than I.

“I've been with Ingrid and Bridget these past few days while I worked up the courage to come here.” Anna tossed the words over her shoulder on her way to the door. “I don't know what I would have done without them.”

Ah, so that explained her remark that the two were “on our side.”

“Why couldn't you have trusted me?” I asked and followed as she scurried out to the porch. I felt as I did when we were teens and she slipped out at night, never sharing where she'd gone or what she'd done. “Why did you go to them first?”

I stood with hands on hips, waiting as she retrieved her hat from the glider and held it like a shield across her middle.

“I went there because I need Ingrid's help,” she replied crisply, though her eyes weren't on me but on the road ahead of the cottage. “I want her to deliver Antonia.”

“Ingrid?” I repeated, frozen in place.

I thought of the quiet, plainspoken woman who'd cared for my mother and who'd cooked for Daddy. For as long as I'd known her, she'd worn her long hair in a single braid down her back, and she'd smiled only rarely because of crooked teeth. She'd delivered other babies in Ste. Gen County, and the women in these parts trusted her. I did as well, and I liked her, too; but I envisioned driving up to St. Louis before the birth, renting an apartment near one of the large city hospitals, where no one knew us and Anna could take my name and use my identification for the paperwork.

For Anna to remain here until the baby came and deliver it at Ingrid's tree house across the river didn't sit well with me. What if something should go wrong? What if Anna required medical attention? If we had to call in Dr. Langston, everyone in town would know of our charade.

“Oh, Anna, no,” I said. “You can't be serious.”

“It's too late,” she insisted, and her face closed off. I felt her withdraw to a place I wasn't welcome. “I've made up my mind, and it can't be changed. Ingrid has always been good to me, and I trust her completely,” she said as she leaned against the railing, looking off in the distance.

The sun had set beyond the trees, and the sky had turned deep shades of pink and purple. I may have enjoyed the beauty of the moment if not for the growing knot in my belly.

“All right,” I said, because I couldn't fight her. “I won't try to change your mind.”

But I don't know if she even heard. She had her gaze fixed on the road, and she ignored me quite thoroughly.

I tried to imagine the sister I'd known living with Ingrid and Bridget halfway across the river, and I felt like crying. I wanted Anna with me so I could watch over her and make sure she didn't do anything risky. Then I thought of the kindness Ingrid and her daughter had shown to Mother when she was ill, and I knew they would provide a safe cocoon for Annabelle, away from prying eyes and away from Daddy.

“Ah, there she is!” Anna waved her hat like a flag.

I saw a cloud of dust rise from the gravel, stirred up by the wheels of a wood-paneled station wagon that had seen better days. I knew just whose wagon that was. I had seen it parked at the rear of the Victorian so many times throughout my life.

As it approached, I heard the rattle of the engine growing louder and louder. I trailed my sister down the steps and toward the drive, where she stood and waited for the car to arrive. Gravel popped beneath the tires as it pulled up in front.

Anna opened the door, and I ducked my head to see the driver.

“Hello, Bridget,” I said.

“Hey there, Miss Evie,” replied my father's young housekeeper. She took her hand off the steering wheel to push unruly copper curls from her forehead. The same freckles that she'd had as a kid were splashed from cheek to cheek. “Don't worry about Miss Annabelle. Ma and I will watch over her as ever, and the babe, too, until she comes. And never fear. I won't tell a soul, not as long as I live,” she added with a solemn nod.

“When will I see you again?” I asked as Anna slid onto the front seat.

“Don't worry, miss, we'll be in touch,” Bridget answered for my sister.

Then Anna closed the door, effectively shutting me out.

They drove away as I stared after them, and I felt uneasy to my toes, knowing that Anna and I weren't the only ones keeping secrets.

When Jon returned from his walk, the pastel sky had washed out and the dark had settled in. I called to him from the glider, and he ambled over, plunking down beside me. He said nothing at first, just took my hand and laced my fingers through his, holding on tight.

I set my head on his shoulder, the glider creaking as he gently pushed it with his legs, rocking us to and fro. “We're okay, aren't we?” I asked, my heart noisily thumping.