Sabbath Day

Defending Myself

PART 4

SHORT PART BUT I'LL START UPLOADING TWO AT A TIME!!

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Eleanor untied my corset carefully and I looked at new dresses. My closet was full of plain day dresses so I can study comfortably. I needed something different. Something that will show Father that he changed me.

"Bring me one of the dresses my mother wears, a dark long one that covers my ankles."
"And I'd like my hair to be pinned up and decorated with a black bow."

Will this be enough? Will he see that I never wear dark clothes?
He'll notice that I'm not his little girl anymore. He'll realize the way I've become someone he cannot recognize.

"Yes, Miss Beth." Eleanor knows exactly why I asked for all these things.

I waited in my room and listened to the conversations of the maids cleaning. Then Eleanor brought me a delicately made navy blue dress.

It covered part of my neck with lace. The sleeves were long and had puffs on them, and the jewelry she brought with the dress was scarce.
"Thank you." I smiled.

I called for the closest maid and asked her to do my hair. Once I put on the dress everything was perfect. I looked exactly like my mother.
Right on time too, because my governess came crashing in.

"Miss Bridgette." She quickly curtsied.
"What is she wearing?" Everyone went quiet.
"Isn't it perfect?" I admired myself in the mirror.

"Governess, I'm getting married." I smiled.
"You always said I needed to grow up! So I did just that."

She stared at me in shock of what I had become. All the maids were now looking. I turned around.
"Will one of you help me with my jewelry?"

Just then I heard the doors creak open. It was my mother. The maids lowered their heads and my governess left my side after curtsying. She was wearing the same dress she was when I saw her in Fathers office.

"Everyone leave the room, please." She said.
Everyone scurried away like mice. Eleanor hesitated but I nodded and she quickly left.

"Mother..." seeing her made my voice shaky. Like I had been given permission to finally break down.

"What has become of you my bridge?" She knelt beside me and brushed the dust off my dress.
The sun had now brightened the sky. It was now the time I usually woke up. I looked down, slightly ashamed.

"You remind me of your Aunt." She smiled.
"Aunt Mary?" I asked.
"No, Aunt Eliza."
"Your father despised her. She was everything he thought a woman should not be."

"And I suppose you didn't like her either?" I knew the answer to that. Mother never talked of her.

"No I didn't." she looked up at me. "I loved her. She was my best friend."
I brightened up at her words. She always knew how to cheer me up.

"And I see every bit of her in you."
She sighed and got back up.

"Now, if you're done getting dressed, your first guest will meet you in the drawing room."
She opened the doors to my room and we walked out together.

My first guest was the tailor, Katherine Margo. Mother had told me that the Charles' family had sent the best one over to get my measurements.

She was a woman a little on the strong side. That didn't stop her from dressing very feminine. I stood on a slightly elevated podium and my governess and mother chatted.

Eleanor was observing Ms. Margo and making sure I felt comfortable. My mind was wrapped around the idea that I'd soon be a wife. The entire time I just moved automatically.

"Will many dresses have to be made once I become apart of the Charles family?" I asked the tailor.

"Considering how most of your dresses look childish, im sure we will have to make more, yes." She measured my shoulders.

I didn't take much offense to that because I was very well aware. Eleanor however, was clearly bothered by her tone.

Her eyes said, "Of course her dresses are childish, because Bridgette is indeed a child." But she didn't say that aloud.

"If it's alright with my mother, i'd like to keep wearing dresses that go above my ankles..." I looked back at her.

My mother nodded, "You still have a few more years before you grow accustomed to large dresses."

"I'm afraid that's up to your future husband my lady." She muttered.
Just then Eleanor reached her breaking point, and I allowed her to.
"I don't know why you think her husband can decide what she can and cannot wear.

It is her mother who has gave birth to her and raised her who is the only one she will obey." She huffed.
I stepped off the podium and my governess finally looked up.

"How dare you, a maid, speak to me like tha-"
My mother put down her embroidery and stood up instantly.

"That's enough. Eleanor is not just anyone, she is Bridgette's personal maid and we took the liberty of educating her ourselves."

"She is also correct. You cannot come into my home and tell my daughter what to wear. That is for me and my husband to decide, as we are her parents." She sighed.

"I don't want to hear another word unless it's about her measurements... continue."She sat down and everyone went quiet.

My mother. The woman that nobody speaks against, especially if it's a topic about her family.
The tailor continued with my chest measurements.

"I can see we need some extra work here..."

As soon as I got to my room I collapsed onto my bed. The big fluffy sheets were a comfort to me after a long day of meeting the tailor, the accountant, and the Charles' family wedding planner.

Usually well off family's have their most high-ranking woman take over but considering that the Charles family has enough money, they must have hired someone to do the planning for them.

"Some tea with your dinner Miss Beth..?" Eleanor asked from across the room. I nodded while snuggling up to one of my pillows.

"So what is the point of meeting everyone the Charles family has sent over, but not the Charles family themselves?

I mean I've seen them at the church hundreds of times but now it has been decided I'm going to be them." I allowed myself to ramble. I was too distracted to notice anyone else's presence.

"Miss Beth..."
"And can you please take this corset off of me. These things are hardly good for walking let alone breathing for a couple of hours."

"Miss Beth!"
"What!?"

I looked up.

F***