Free Not the Marrying Kind by Christina Cole

owned the mercantile in Sunset,
so Lucille had easy access to soaps, beauty creams, and
sweet-smelling eau de toilette .
    “I’m not sure where to begin.” Lucille took
a few steps back, then indicated that Kat should also get to her
feet. “Turn around, slowly. Let’s see what we’ve got to work
with.”
    Kat obliged and held her breath as she moved
about in an unhurried circle. The expression on Lucille’s face was
anything but encouraging.
    “I don’t know,” the girl said, shaking her
head and looking away. “It’s not going to be easy.”
    With sagging spirits, Kat sank onto her bed
again, shoulders hunched again, head down.
    “I suppose it’s hopeless. I’m hopeless,” she amended.
    “No, of course you’re not.” Lucille had the
good grace to rush to Kat’s side, even though her words held little
conviction. “Maybe we’re going about this from the wrong direction,
that’s all.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Why don’t we take a more positive approach
and focus on what you already know about being a woman?”
    “I don’t know anything!”
    “Yes, you do. Grooming, for example. You do
know the importance of cleanliness.” Lucille smiled, obviously
pleased to have found a good quality within Kat, one worthy of a
compliment.
    “Of course. Cleanliness is next to
godliness. Mama’s stressed that fact from the time I was toddling
around.” Kat truly enjoyed bathing. Even though Pa complained that
she wasted too much water, she looked forward to scrubbing the dirt
from her body at the end of each long day. She delighted in washing
and rinsing her hair, too. The scent of the sweet-smelling shampoo
her mother concocted from imported coconut oil always brightened
Kat’s mood. Just the thought of it put her in a more hopeful frame
of mind. “I need a bath now,” she said, glancing down at her
mud-splattered trousers and rough chambray shirt. “While I’m in the
tub, maybe you could go through my wardrobe and pick out something
suitable, something feminine.” Of course, Joshua would not be there
to see her fancied up. Only Virgil Kendrick. “On second thought,
just grab whatever you find.”
    Her bath did refresh her, both in body and
in mind. Afterward, wrapped in a light, cotton robe, Kat sat at her
dressing table, staring at her reflection in the mirror as she
slowly pulled a comb through her long, wet tresses. She wished she
could leave her hair down, but Pa said a proper young lady should
always keep her crowning glory neatly pinned upon her head.
Something about loose, unbound locks being too tempting for a good
man to resist. Remembering the previous Thursday and how she’d let
her hair spill down across her shoulders, Kat cringed. The last
thing she wanted to do was tempt the virtuous reverend.
    “Help me with my hair, will you, please,
Lucille?”
    “What do you want me to do with it?”
    “Pin it up, anyway you can. And what did you
find for me to wear?” Nothing too attractive or too feminine, she hoped. Of course, she didn’t have too many garments
that fit that description.
    “I’m afraid I didn’t find much,” Lucille
said. Standing before the open doors of the wardrobe, she pulled
out a few simple dresses. “Nothing but gingham and calico, but I
suppose simplicity is the best approach. If you’re going to be a
minister’s wife, it won’t do to be too showy. People would frown on
too much finery.”
    Kat whirled around. “I’m not going to marry
that man, for goodness’ sake. Where did you get an idea like
that?”
    “From your mother,” Lucille said. “From the
way she talked, I thought it was all settled.”
    “No, it’s not settled. I refuse to marry
him.” Kat grabbed the comb again and hastily began pinning up her
hair.
    “But your mother said—”
    “She’s wrong!” Kat cried out, slamming the
comb onto the dressing table. At once she regretted her outburst.
For all she knew, Mama might be close by, or if not Mama, there was
always Emily Sue to