Free A Love For Keeps (Truly Yours Digital Editions) by Janet Lee Barton

necessary. Miss Snow is very good about scheduling the fittings for when it is convenient for me.”
     
    “I see.” And she didn’t like what she was thinking. Not one bit.
     
    “That’s very nice of her,” Abigail’s mother said, handing Abigail her plate. “I’ve heard she is just a lovely woman.”
     
    Abigail made up her mind right then and there that it was time for her to get to know Miss Snow. And she would start tomorrow.
     

     
    Meagan couldn’t be much happier with the way her business was growing. Mrs. Richardson had ordered several things from her, and through her word of mouth, two of her friends had come in and ordered new afternoon dresses. Occasionally, someone would see the sign outside and come in.
     
    She was just finishing up the trim on a dinner dress she’d made for Mrs. Sinclair, one of the ladies who had come in the day of her opening, when she looked out the window and saw a woman approaching the shop. She came up the steps and around to the door. Meagan had a sinking feeling as she got up to greet her.
     
    Abigail Connors swept into the shop as if she’d been coming for years. Meagan would know her anywhere. She saw her each Sunday, sitting on the same pew that Nate and Natalie used … often next to Nate. That she had a proprietary air toward Nate and Natalie was a big understatement. Now, here she was, in the one place Meagan had begun to weave dreams about herself and Nate.
     
    Meagan forced a smile to her lips and held out her hand. “Good afternoon, Miss Connors. How nice to see you. How may I help you?”
     
    “Thank you.” The expression on the woman’s face didn’t match the tone of her voice at all. “How do you know who I am?”
     
    “I’ve seen you at church with Mr. Brooks and Natalie. I’ve been doing some sewing for her.”
     
    “Ah, yes. I know,” she said in a dismissive tone. “I’ve been hearing about your work. I’d like to see some samples of it if you have any to show me. I might decide to place an order with you if I like what I see.”
     
    Meagan could feel her face turn hot with indignation. How dare the woman take that tone with her? For a moment, Meagan thought she’d actually spoken aloud, and oh, how she wanted to. Instead, she silently prayed, asking for help not to lose her temper. This woman was Natalie’s aunt and the daughter of the man who owned the bank that gave her the money to start this business. She could not afford to make her angry.
     
    “I’d be glad to show you some of my work.” She opened the wardrobe she and her mother had decided to put in the shop for just that reason. They used it to store some of the things Meagan had made for herself and other family members, rotating them with other outfits.
     
    “Are you interested in anything in particular? An afternoon dress? Dinner dress?”
     
    “Just show me what you have,” Abigail said, pulling off the gloves that matched her afternoon dress of blue taffeta trimmed in gold. Meagan knew it was of the very latest style and fabric.
     
    Thankful that she could show Abigail several things that were of just as good quality as what she was wearing and in the latest styles, as well, she pulled out an afternoon dress to show her. It was made of red- and white-striped serge with matching red trim at the neck and wrists. A solid red overskirt gathered up and draped to the side.
     
    Abigail turned it this way and that, looking closely at the stitching. “This is very nice,” she said. “What else do you have?”
     
    Meagan showed one of her morning dresses and a walking dress that belonged to her mother. She also pulled out a dinner dress and a Sunday dress. Abigail went over each one as if she were buying them for herself or perhaps, given the way she was inspecting each one, the Queen of England! Meagan had never had her work scrutinized quite so thoroughly.
     
    When she’d hung them all back, she turned to Abigail. “I hope you are satisfied that I do my best