Page 57 of Lady Waldrey’s Gardening Almanac for Cultivating Scandal

“Let’s go, then. I wish to see.”

When Vera returned to her bedroom nearly an hour later, she found the door standing open, with many exclamations of female joy emitting from within.

“What is—” Vera's words died off as she pushed the door open.

“Come in,” Candace called, nearly bouncing on the balls of her feet in her excitement.

“Very kind of you, to invite me into my own room,” Vera said, but her eyes twinkled and there was no heat in her tone.

Candace grinned and extended her arm theatrically toward the bed, where she and Hortense had smoothed four of the dresses out side by side for dramatic effect. “You must try one on.”

“You must try them all on, Miss Vera,” Hortense added, nodding toward the wardrobe.

The door stood open, showing the shoulders of many more elegant gowns, hung upon hangers with Hortense-precision. In the corner, the edge of a mustard-yellow gown peeped from where it had been thrown to the ground behind a screen.

“What—” Vera stepped forward, then stopped once more. “What are these?”

“They’re yours.” Candace couldn't wait any longer; she darted forward and gently tugged her friend closer to the bed, as Vera seemed reluctant to approach on her own. “They just arrived from London.”

“But how—” Vera reached out and touched the embellished edge of a peach morning dress. The contact seemed to render her mute.

“Madame Aubert has your measurements. And you know she has exquisite taste. Of course, I did have some input on the general colors. I believe that cotton lawn was my direct request, but⁠—”

“I can’t possibly accept these,” Vera said, even as she smoothed her hand lovingly over a navy dress with a matching jacket trimmed in ribbon.

“I won’t hear such nonsense. You must. It gives me great pleasure to give them to you. In fact, I shall be offended if you don’t accept them.”

“If you'll be offended…” Vera said in a tone that made it plain she was willing to be convinced. She trailed her fingertips over a line of gorgeous jet buttons.

“Try the green one first.” Candace thrust the gown into Vera’s hands as Hortense fairly herded her into the adjacent dressing room.

Half an hour later, Mrs. Penn delivered a tea tray just in time to see Vera step from the dressing room wearing a pale-blue dinner dress.

“Lovely, Miss Vera,” Mrs. Penn said.

“That will go perfectly with the lace gloves,” Candace added from where she lounged on the settee at the foot of the bed. She snagged a tea sandwich from the tray.

Vera turned this way and that before the mirror, then gave a shy smile that Candace thought was worth the entire purchase.

“You look lovely, as you have in everything you’ve tried so far. Just as I knew you would.”

“Everything feels so light,” Vera said.

“When a dress isn't fashioned from seventeenth-century curtains, it tends to feel lighter.” She winced. “Sorry; that wasn’t kind of me.”

“I’m not irritated in the least with your description of my wardrobe.” Vera turned and looked over her shoulder at the line of silk-covered buttons down her back. “You know those dresses weren’t of my choosing.”

Candace frowned with the sudden thought that these dresses weren’t of Vera’s choosing, either. “If you don’t like these, you don’t have to wear them. I promise I won’t be offended in the least. I was only saying that to get you to agree to them.”

Vera arched an eyebrow. “Surely you’re joking. You have beautiful taste—you and Madame Aubert, both. They’re all so beautiful, I cannot decide which dress is my favorite.”

“Still, it’s completely up to you. I don’t want you to feel as if you don’t have options.”

Vera’s forehead crinkled; she studied Candace for several moments. Then, her expression cleared with sudden understanding. “You’re worried that I’ll see this gift as controlling? Candace, you’re nothing like my mother. Your motivations with these dresses are nothing like hers. Surely you must know I see that.”

“I don’t want to do the same thing to you that she’s done.”

“Not at all. These make me look like a different person—in a good way.”