Second-Hand Dresses

Chapter 2: A Moment of Quiet

The tears of answering to a title that strikes deep into the gut must remain hidden. It is part of the show that cast-off actors must continue to play until they can slip off stage.

—The Forgotten Daughter (Act 3, Scene 9)

When the Kasins left, they were bubbling with excitement. Any concerns over the high price or Djulian's insults had faded with a few sweets, a bottle of red wine, and the casual conversations as Lily measured the younger woman.

Lily hoped they would come back to her for the outfits in the later weeks of the Social Season, the summer weeks. If Nirih presented well on the first few weeks, they would probably return to have Lily make the remaining dresses for the season. If two of the debutantes did that, Lily would be comfortable until the next season.

Most of the time, when there was a poor presentation, it was blamed on the dress, makeup, and everything but the young lady wearing it. A strike like that would make it hard for Lily to pay her bills.

She sat down on the chair and let out a sigh. Djulian calling her kudame and not using her mother's family name hurt more than she thought it would. She was still a bedame, a woman capable of being betrothed, but there was only a few months left of that. Then she would become a kudame for the rest of her life, a spinster incapable of being married and doomed to spend her days sewing for the young women of High Society.

The excitement of the sale faded quickly. With a hiss, she reached over and pulled the last wine bottle from the ice bucket. Between the three of them, they had finished almost three quarters of it. No reason to let the rest go to waste. She refilled her narrow wine glass and breathed in the scents of the mid-vintage wine.

Outside the front door, she saw pedestrians strolling by. It was late afternoon, which meant most of them were heading to their final stores before getting in the carriages to return home for a rest before the formal dinners started. Very few people ordered dresses in the latter part of the day, not after eating and walking, but she couldn't afford a single missed customer if she closed early.

Instead, she leaned back in the chair and sipped at her wine. As soon as the sun touched the horizon, she would be heading to her mother's home for a night of dinner and then quiet reading. There were no more suitors or parties in her life. In many ways, she was already a kudame.

A group of women walked across the front of Lily's store, their dresses and bags fluttering in the wind. In the center was a young girl wearing a cream dress. She had the same hopeful and excited look that Lily had nine years ago.

Back then, Lily was seventeen and ready to find her husband. Her mother and her aunt had gone with her, picking out the perfect dresses for every week of the Social Season, each one with brilliant color and a perfect fit.

They were so excited then, going from store to store as they argued over the patterns and the trim for her outfits. Stories of the formal events, games, and concerts had swum in her head. She was going to be married to a rich husband and enjoy the bounty of the Kasin family's connections for the rest of her life.

And then on the day of her presentation, there was a brawl between two men fighting for her hand. Instead of gracefully putting in a bid for her hand with her father, they had a bloody fist fight on the horse track. It didn't matter that Lily wasn't involved, everyone knew they were fighting for her and her reputation suffered. The event also tarnished her family's reputation but she managed to dance and laugh her way through it.

The next party sealed her fate when two men dueled over her. If it had just ended with one man slinking away, she could have used the incident to show her desirability. Instead the loser refused to acknowledge defeat and started a brawl that had to be stopped by the family heads while Lily's mother's manor burned. The party ended as did her chances of finding of ever finding a husband.