The Bad Luck Wedding Dress by Geralyn Dawson

the clothes on their backs, and although Trace now made it a practice to buy his daughters’ birthday gifts, they continued the exchange of favors among the girls. From Maribeth, Emma received two weeks of dishwashing and a promise of a three-week respite from being begged to play ball. Katrina’s gift was bed making for one week and the vow not to cry and embarrass her sister on the first day of school.
    Then it was Jenny’s turn to offer a gift. She lifted the package tied with hair ribbons and handed it to Emma with a smile and good wishes. Trace leaned forward, curious as to what the dressmaker had chosen. He’d been surprised earlier when he saw the package for his daughter ready and waiting on the shelf in her shop. Her thoughtfulness about Emma’s big day both touched him and reinforced his decision to hire Jenny Fortune to be a stand-in mother for the girls.
    “Be careful, now,” Jenny warned as Emma lifted the lid from the box. “It’s made for show rather than play.”
    “Oh, Miss Fortune!” Emma exclaimed, lifting the item from the box.
    Trace’s jaw gaped. “A doll? You gave her a doll?” He couldn’t believe it. That’s what he had wanted to give her, and Jenny Fortune had been the one to tell him not to do it. Of all the nerve. He folded his arms and scowled. “I can’t believe you gave her a doll.”
    The tolerant grin that appeared on her face ruffled his feathers even more. “It’s a fashion doll, Mr. McBride. A dressmaker’s tool.”
    “See, Papa?” Emma said, fingering the tiny skirt of green foulard. “This is a model of a visiting dress.”
    “I made that one for Wilhemina Peters.” Gesturing toward the box, Jenny addressed Emma. “I included a few other samples if you’d like to study them and see how they’re put together.”
    “You gave her a dress-up doll with doll clothes,” Trace declared, the peevishness he was feeling seeping into his tone. Her doll was somehow all right for a twelve-year-old, but the baby doll he’d bought for Emma wasn’t?
    Jenny gave him a puzzled look, then said, “The doll and samples are just things to look at. My real gift to you, Emma, is similar in nature to your sisters’.” Leaning over, she removed a miniature pinafore from the box. “I’m offering to teach you how to make this, if you’d like.”
    “You’ll teach me how to sew?”
    Jenny nodded.
    “Just like a real mother,” Maribeth breathed.
    The words hung on the early evening air. “That’s it,” Trace said, standing abruptly. The time had come to get this matter settled. “Girls, I’d like to talk for a bit with Miss Fortune. Can y’all keep yourself occupied for a few minutes while we take a walk?”
    Emma and Maribeth exchanged a look Trace couldn’t quite interpret, and then the older girl said, “Certainly, Papa. You go on. I’d like to try the other costumes on the doll, and I’ll let Mari and Kat help me choose which ones.”
    Katrina stuck her thumb in her mouth and said, “No. I want to go with Papa.”
    Maribeth eyed her father, then said, “I’ll bet we could have seconds on cake if we stay behind.”
    Trace nodded, settling the question in everyone’s mind. Everyone’s but Miss Fortune’s, that is.
    She ignored his outstretched hand and bent her attention to brushing a nonexistent smear of dirt from her skirt. “It’s getting late, Mr. McBride. I think it would be best for us to head back to town.”
    He nodded. “We’ll go soon, I promise. But first, I’d enjoy a little walking and talking, and besides, the girls told me they left their shifts drying on a bush and we need to get them before we leave.” Reaching down, he grasped her hand and gently pulled her to her feet. She didn’t protest as he led her down the hill, back toward the creek and the swimming hole.
    Jenny had difficulty breathing. He was holding her hand, just like a suitor. She thought her heart must surely be lodged in her throat and her thoughts were in a whirl. She