Page 60 of The Duchess’ Modiste

“A party.” Maeve seemed to alight on the idea. She whipped round to face them all. “That is what we must have too. A party!”

“Maeve, I think Nathan’s talking about the puppets,” Leo said, prompting them all to laugh. Chloe even managed to smile, something that Leo clearly noticed, for he was still looking at her.

He’s constantly looking at me right now.

She longed to go back to that morning on the promenade, to have the opportunity to ask him what she had been so nervous of asking him before. Yet the question seemed a world away now.

“No, I mean a ball.” Maeve stepped forward, looking between them all. “We must have another ball.”

“Lovely, more cost,” Benjamin said with a gentle laugh as he took a seat nearby. “What is this one for?”

“To rescue Chloe!” At Maeve’s insistent words, she placed a gentle hand on Benjamin’s shoulder, and he nodded a second later.

“I’ll pay any cost for that, but how are you hoping a ball will accomplish this, Maeve?”

“We do as we did before. It worked, did it not? Why would it not work again?” Maeve turned to face Chloe, who had paused with the paper puppets in her hands. “I will wear one of your designs, Chloe. Lady Shrewsbury could come too, and the seamstresses. We will all wear your designs, the affordable ones in particular, and we will sell the event as a celebration of you and this new collection. It will be a chance to reset your reputation.”

“Would people even come?” Chloe thought it an odd idea. If people had avoided her this morning in the park, it was very possible they would avoid her completely at an event such as a ball.

“Of course, they will.” Maeve nodded, stepping forward with her eagerness. “It will be a chance for you to explain how you really make the dresses affordable. We can set the story straight, re-write it to tell your side of the tale.”

“Then we can forget aboutthis?” Leo sounded hopeful, holding up the scandal sheet that was somehow still in his grasp.

“Just so.” Maeve took the sheet along with the one she had been reading and began to tear them up into little pieces. Nathan jumped to his feet and danced under the pieces.

“It’s snowing!”

“Not quite, dear, but dance away,” Maeve said sweetly, and tossed the last pieces into the air, much to Nathan’s delight. He tried to catch as many pieces as he could. “It could work. I truly think it could.”

Chloe wasn’t sure. She fidgeted with the puppets, preferring to give them her focus than anything as serious as what was happening in real life at the moment.

“Benjamin, what do you think?” Maeve asked, turning to face her husband.

He seemed deep in thought for a moment, scratching his chin. Eventually, he spoke, breaking the silence in the room.

“It could work. We would have to be careful about who we invited though. Any great gossipers should be avoided, as I can imagine they would come just to fuel the flames of this gossip.” He nodded another time. “It would be a chance to tell your story, Chloe. To undo the damage. What do you say?”

Chloe couldn’t answer at first. She was still too busy looking at the puppets, until she found one of them taken out of her hands. Looking up, she felt a shock as Leo’s fingers brushed her own as he took the puppet.

“Time to join the real world for a moment,” he whispered. “What do you think?”

“What doyouthink?” Chloe asked, longing to have his opinion first.

“I think . . .” He paused, looking around the room before giving her his answer. “It’s a risk.”

“Leo!” Maeve said in objection, placing her hands on her hips.

“Let me finish,” he pleaded with his sister. “I think it is a risk, but it is one that is worth taking. I saw the way the ton were in the park today and my God . . .” He grimaced, as if in physical pain. “I never want to see that again. So, as Maeve says, perhaps we should set the story straight.” He placed the puppet down on the toy theater. It was a dapper gentleman, bowing to some invisible companion, until Leo took the second puppet out of Chloe’s grasp and placed it alongside the first. This one was a young lady, curtsying. “What do you say, Chloe? Do you want to take the risk?”

She tore her eyes away from the puppets and thought hard. She was miserable, afraid of what would happen to her business and that she might have to abandon it completely, turn home with her tail between her legs like a lost lamb.

I’m not done yet. It wasn’t easy to get here, and I don’t want to let it go without fighting for it.

“It’s worth a try,” she declared, lifting her chin high.

Chapter 22

Chloe

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