He Paid a Million for One Night, and the Contract Was Signed by My Mother novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: Her Own Chair
"Pins in your mouth," I said. "Not a word about the past."
My mother looked at me over her glasses.
I stood on the cutting table in my slip with my arms out, in her sewing room, on Tuesday afternoon.
She held a bolt of plain ivory silk against my shoulder.
"That's the term?" she said.
"That's the term," I said. "I want a dress, Maman, and I want you to make it. This isn't forgiveness."
"I understand."
"If you talk about the past, you stop. I take my measurements to Baton Rouge."
"Then I'll keep my mouth full of pins," said my mother.
She put eleven in it, one by one, and I laughed.
It was the first time I had laughed in that room since the dock.
She worked in silence for twenty minutes.
She marked the hem and the bust with chalk.
She ran the tape across my waist and my hips and down my back, and her hands were warm through the slip.
Once she said, around the pins, "Stand straight."
Once she said, "Turn."
At the end of it she had the whole front pinned to my body.
She stepped back and looked at me with her head on one side.
I looked in the long mirror.
My own face looked back, hazel-green eyes and a small scar, a woman I knew.
The dress had no lace and no bead.
It fell from my shoulders in a straight clean line and moved when I moved.
"It's the best thing you've ever made," I said.
She took the pins out of her mouth.
I saw her start to speak, and I saw her stop and put the pins back.
I said nothing.
I stood in the mirror and let her put her hand against my back.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of He Paid a Million for One Night, and the Contract Was Signed by My Mother are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 22 · All chapters · Chapter 24 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend