An Heiress to Remember (The Gilded Age Girls Club #3) - Maya Rodale Page 0,87

is exclusively his and that declares in no uncertain terms that the battle between you two is over.”

“Exactly.”

The dress would be the easy part. She had just the right offer for him, too. She was certain enough that he would say yes. But it was the realities of after that had her in a state of stomach-aching anxiety.

Beatrice still had qualms about the after.

“But first, before I make this monumental and irrevocable step, I need you to tell me something.”

“Hmm.” Adeline was already stretching the measuring tape, recording the exact length of her arm and the span of her wrist. She’d been waiting weeks to make dresses with this silk, she would not waste a second now.

“You have found love with an impressive, important, and powerful man and you are going to marry him. But you are also not giving up your own dressmaking empire, or your friends. So I need to know, how do you do it? How do you have a relationship with a man without losing yourself?”

Adeline smiled and sighed and put down her measuring tape.

“It’s not easy. You have to know your own heart and mind. You need to own your heart and mind. But never forget that hearts and heads can expand if you let them. There is room for so, so much love. You can love him and love your work at the same time, Beatrice. Remember, it needn’t be either/or. It can be and/and.”

“I think we can do that . . . now.”

“Also,” Adeline continued seriously, her hand on Beatrice’s arm. “You need to be able to leave at any time and support yourself respectably. Because if you can leave at any time, you can freely choose to stay. For love.”

And with those words, Beatrice thought that perhaps her work wasn’t an obstacle to their life together after all. It gave her another purpose besides a marriage and money in her dress pockets; it meant that she could afford to choose to stay with Dalton or leave. Maybe it meant they could have a fighting chance at being together simply because of love and not of need.

Especially if her head and heart could expand enough for both. There was no good reason why her head and heart could not expand infinitely.

“But, Adeline, don’t you feel the tug? The tug between work and home, and yourself and your lover?”

“Of course I feel the tug.” Adeline laughed. “I don’t know that someone will never feel it. I just damned well hope that my duke feels it just as strongly. Look, Beatrice, love is messy. It’s hard and complicated and it’s not easy. But if we don’t embrace that hard part, then we don’t get the good stuff.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“We could probably make it far more complicated but honestly, who has the time? We have things to do.”

Beatrice finally let go of the breath she had been holding and it came out in a burst of soft laughter. It would be a mess! It would be complicated! But with real love and their determination, they could fashion themselves a happy-ever-after.

She was going to do the thing she was scared of most in the world, for the thing she loved most in the world, with the man she desired most in the world. If there was ever a man she would take this chance on, it was him.

It could be a disaster. But she had already survived disasters, hadn’t she?

It could also be glorious.

“How soon can you make the dress?”

“I can do it before you change your mind if that’s what you’re asking.”

Chapter Thirty-five

Dalton’s Department Store

His office

Dalton was packing up the few personal effects of his office on the top floor when Beatrice, a vision in pink silk, strolled in like she already owned the place. His heartbeat quickened like she hadn’t refused him.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said by way of greeting. Ever since he’d placed that advertisement in the newspaper, he’d known he could expect her to waltz in with an offer. She wasn’t one to accept defeat or stay home for the rest of her life. She was too ambitious, too determined for that.

So, he’d expected her.

“Here I am, at long last. How do you like my dress?”

She did a slow turn to show off every flutter and fold of the Wild Rose Pink silk grown. He had an appreciation for women’s fashion and noted the artistry. But what really had his heart stopping was an appreciation for what it