An Innocent Affair

III

"No, this trick won't work... How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? " Albert Einstein

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III.

"I think a little tighter, perhaps a half inch there ... at the bust," Mrs Martin mused as she inspected Cressie's gown, or what would be her gown when Belle Desjardins was finished with it.

Cressie could not believe how quickly Miss Desjardins, or Mrs Denham, she supposed, had worked, to create the bones of her debutante gown. The Season's opening was imminent, and Mrs Martin had visited nearly every modiste in Town to procure a gown, but she was unable to get any credit. The news that Belle Desjardins was opening a shop for couture gowns was fortuitous, and the kind-hearted lady had done them all a great service. Mrs Martin was certainly paying for her services, but Belle Desjardins had not charged them anywhere near what a gown such as this would usually fetch.

"Are you certain, Madame?" Miss Desjardins asked with an uncertain brow. "Her measurements are correct. I would worry that tightening the bust would make the gown ... indecent."

Cressie felt her cheeks flush a crimson red. What was her mother thinking of? Such a request stank of desperation. Cressie understood her mother's desperation, certainly, but she did not want to walk into the Season dressed like it! Having to debut and marry in itself was horrid enough.

Miss Desjardins worked diligently during the fitting, managing Mrs Martin's requests with gentle professionalism as she refused them. Cressie couldn't help but admire her tact. It was obvious to anyone that Miss Desjardins knew what she was doing. She was certainly an incredibly talented dressmaker whose eye was second to none. She did not need external opinions, especially from anxious mothers.

Cressie, however, still felt the sense of shock in her stomach as she saw the thin gold band on Miss Desjardins' ring finger. Cressie remembered her standing beside the elder Mr Denham at the Winter Assembly last November. She then, of course, saw the newspapers that spread her awful experience about the country for the next month. If she suffered, or if she was still suffering from the pain of it all, it did not show on the flawless face of Belle Desjardins. Hearing Miss Desjardins reveal her marriage had startled Cressie.

But thoughts of the Winter Assembly, and thoughts of the name 'Denham', sparked another memory in Cressie. She thought of the boy who danced like a newborn fawn, but whose eyes and smile were filled with youthful vibrance. Cressie's thoughts often drifted to Mr Jem when she was sitting idly. How could they not? It was not very often one received a proposal, especially in the way that Cressie had received it from Jem Denham.

The whole ordeal still confounded her, and to this day she certainly had no idea what Mr Jem had been thinking of proposing to her after such a short acquaintance.

Cressie's initial shock regarding Mr Jem's proposal had faded. She still vehemently maintained her position that someone his age ought not to be marrying if he did not need to, just as Cressie had no desire to. Cressie was not at all certain that love would even persuade her to marry, not that she had much say in the matter. What she felt mostly now when she thought of Mr Jem was sadness and regret at how she had rejected him. Cressie had never been proposed to before. She had never been the subject of romantic interest before. She could blame her youth and inexperience, but she still knew how to behave, and turning her back on a young man who had done nothing remotely cruel to her was wrong.

Cressie wondered if she might ever see Mr Jem again. In meeting with Belle Denham, here and now, the idea was at the forefront of her mind. Should she ever meet with him again, Cressie would apologise and be done with it.