Chapter 10: The Green Dress

"Absolutely not," Wren said, and pulled the red dress off the hanger and put it back.

"I didn't say anything."

"You were about to say it was fine."

"It is fine."

"It's a tablecloth. Try the green."

We were in the only dress shop in Port Merrow, on the Tuesday after the storm, with the saleswoman hovering by the register.

I was twelve weeks pregnant.

The green dress I had worn to the chapel no longer zipped easily at the waist.

Nobody else would notice, but I did.

"I'm not going to the gala looking like a hostage," I said.

"Then don't."

"I'm going to the gala looking like a woman who has never once been sorry."

"That's the spirit."

Wren held up a long gown the deep green of a pine branch.

It had a high waist and a wide skirt that fell from just under the bust.

It would hide everything, and it would show the woman wearing it.

I put it on in the fitting room and turned slowly in the mirror.

My hair had grown past my shoulders.

My face looked different, rounder at the cheek, and warm.

"Okay," Wren said behind me, and her voice went odd. "That's the one."

"It's too much."

"It is exactly enough."

She paid for it before I could stop her, and she would not let me pay her back.

"Consider it a baby gift," she said. "From the best aunt in the county."

"You've been saying that for a month."

"I'll say it until it's on the birth certificate."

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