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Surrendering to Love

By Paulette D. Marshall

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1895
Christine didn’t know what to do. She had gone to stay with Sassy, who was expecting her first child in a month. Their mother was going to come and be here with Sassy, but she came down with a cold. Christine had volunteered to come until mother felt better and could travel. Much to her mother’s disappointment, the baby decided to arrive a little early. Thank goodness her mother was feeling better and arrived just after the little one was born.

However, Christine didn’t want to go back to Van Buren, where she grew up. Although she still lived there with her parents, she was ready for a chance to start her own life.

There was nothing there for her to go back to, besides her parents. The men she had dated were more interested in her younger sister, Faith, than in her. Faith was much prettier than she was by far, and she didn’t have a slight limp like Christine did when she walked.

The men were just using her to get to Faith. Of course, it took Christine awhile before she figured that out. Faith wasn’t interested in anything serious, with a man. She wanted to go to school and become a lawyer like their father.

Christine also didn’t really have anything in common either with any of her suitors, or at least very little in common. She wanted to find true love. It was time for her to be on her own.

Some had called her a spinster, but she was only seventeen. She wanted to marry for love like her parents did, and not many men were interested in a cripple. She wasn’t really crippled, the limp was from when she broke her leg as a child, and it never healed right.

Christine had also always dreamed of opening her own dress shop. She had loved fashion from a young age, but she had to wear hand-me-downs from her two older sisters, Josephine and Sassy.

Even though their father was a lawyer, Mother felt there was no need to waste a good dress when it could still be worn to play in. Once Christine learned to sew, she would take a dress from her sisters and change them, so no one would know it was a hand-me-down. She would add lace to it or ruffles. She even sketched out new designs.

If Mother couldn’t find her, she would send someone to the mercantile to look for Christine and they would usually find her looking at fashion magazines.
Christine would save her allowance for ribbons, lace, or other fripperies to add to her dress.
Christine usually tried to fashion her dresses in whatever the latest fashion style was at the time. Her sisters would sometimes ask for advice on the lasts fashion too.

She and her sisters usually had new dresses for church and special occasions. However, when it came to after school play time, they all would be in hand-me-down dresses, except for Josephine who was the oldest. If Christine had been taller, they would have had to add some lace to the bottom of her dress or even ruffles, but since she was shorter than her two older sisters, the hem had to be raised.

Christine went on a walk trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life now when she passed a small empty shop. She stopped and looked into the window. This would be absolutely perfect for her dress shop. She didn’t need too much space since she was just starting out.

There was only one other seamstress in town, and she was on the other side of town. The town was growing enough that it should be able to support two seamstresses. She walked to the address that was listed on the shop window. Hopefully she wouldn’t have the same issue her sister, Sassy had when she tried to rent a shop. She was not married at the time and the man would not rent to a female. Christine whispered a prayer as she walked, “Lord, please guide me. If this isn’t meant to be, please shut the door. Please guide me each step of the way, Lord.” She prayed the person would rent the shop to her.

An older lady answered the door. “Good morning. May I help you?” she inquired.
“Good morning. I was out walking this morning and noticed an empty shop for rent. It had this address on it. I was hoping to talk to the owner and see if I could rent that space,” Christine nervously asked.

“Won’t you please come inside, so we may discuss this over tea?” the lady said to Christine.

Christine followed the lady into the living room.

“Please make yourself comfortable. I will bring out some tea. I was about to sit and have a cup of tea just before you knocked.”

The room was very pretty, yet elegant, with a red velvet couch and two chairs that matched. It reminded her a lot of her grandmother’s house. Christine sat down in one of the comfortable chairs. The room had lace doilies on the tables and the backs of the chairs. The outside of the house was very plain, so it was a surprise to see the elegance inside.

“I am so glad you stopped by. I enjoy a lovely chat while I drink my tea.” The lady set the tray down on the coffee table. It was a flower porcelain teapot with two matching teacups. “I should introduce myself. My name is Myrtle,” she said as she sat and poured the tea. “My husband Harvey and I own that shop. Harvey went out for a walk, but he will be back soon,” she said as she handed Christine a cup of tea.

“My name is Christine. I could come back later when your husband is here also,” Christine suggested.

“There is no need to come back later. Harvey should be back soon. What do you have in mind for the store?” Myrtle inquired with a smile.

“I would like to open a dress shop. I know we have a seamstress in town already, but I would like to open a shop and sell a few premade dresses too. Of course, I can and will take orders for dresses and I can do alterations too. But I believe that if I offered a few premade dresses, people would like to buy them, and they could be altered, as well,” Christine explained.

“I see a spark in your eyes when you talk about your shop. That is good. Your dress is quite lovely. Did you make it yourself?” Myrtle inquired with a smile.

“Yes, I designed this dress and made it myself. I do pay attention to the latest fashions from the big cities, but I also make dresses that ladies can wear every day. Comfortable and yet still fashionable. There is no need not to look our best when we dress. Your dress is quite lovely too,” Christine observed.

“Thank you, that is sweet of you to say. It is a little bit older, but I like the style,” Myrtle stated.

“The style compliments you. It is a classic style. If you don’t mind, could you please tell me how much the rent is on that shop?” Christine inquired.

“It is three dollars a month, which includes the upstairs apartment. That is, if you are interested in apartment too?” Myrtle questioned.

“An apartment too? Yes, ma’am, I am interested in the apartment. That would save me looking for one,” Christine stated as ideas started running through her brain. She originally had no idea that there was an apartment included, but that would solve another one of her problems.

“I can see that you have lots of ideas going through your mind already. How long have you wanted to open a dress shop?” Myrtle inquired.

“Since I was a little girl. My grandmother and I used to talk about my dream of opening a dress shop. She not only encouraged me to dream but to dream big, and she gave me advice. My grandmother gave my sisters and I all advice on our dreams. She passed away a few years ago, but she left us each some money to invest in our dreams. She also gave us sound advice on how to run our businesses,” Christine stated.

“Do your sisters all have a business?” Myrtle inquired.

“Yes, my oldest sister is married with children. She and her husband along with my cousin own a ranch. They co-ranch it. My other sister opened a bakery,” Christine replied.

“Does your sister own the bakery in town?” Myrtle inquired.

“Yes, she does,” Christine admitted, although she didn’t want to tell her about Sassy and Victor. She wanted this to be all based on her merit. Not because of her family or her uncle. She wanted to start her dream and her life.

“I do love to get goodies from the bakery. In fact, these cookies are from the bakery. I can see in your eyes that you want to do this on your own, and not because your uncle is a judge here or because your sister has a bakery. There is nothing wrong with help, but I understand where you are coming from. You see, I had a very influential family too. Now it is just my sister and I left, but our name still has influence,” Myrtle stated.
“You are right, I do have a very influential family, but I want to do this on my own if I can. Is that going to be a problem?” Christine asked.

“No. I can see the spark in your eyes, along with your excitement, even hunger and I can tell you have ideas too. I can see by your dress that you have talent and I have seen your sisters’ dresses. I am sure you have made a few of their dresses, too. You have poise and ambition. Shall we take a walk over after we finish our tea and look at the shop?” Myrtle asked.

“I would love to see the shop, but shouldn’t we wait for your husband?” Christine inquired.

“I could, but I don’t have to wait for him,” Myrtle stated.

Christine and Myrtle talked a little more about their families and found they had a lot in common. “We could sit here all afternoon and chat, but I know you are anxious to see that shop. I want to thank you for humoring an old lady. I did so enjoy having tea with you and chatting. Now let us take a walk and look at that shop, shall we?” Myrtle asked.

“I would like to go look at it, but first, please let me take your tea pot to the kitchen. I can wash it out for you so that it is ready to use later,” Christine stated. Myrtle reminded her of her grandmother in so many ways.
“That is sweet of you, but don’t worry about it. I can take care of it later,” Myrtle said, but Christine had already picked it up.

Christine asked, “If you just lead the way to the kitchen, please?”

Myrtle led the way to her kitchen. Christine quickly washed the tea pot and cups while Myrtle dried them. “Thank you, Christine. Now let’s go look at that shop and the apartment, although I believe you have already made up your mind to rent them,” Myrtle said as they walked to the door. Myrtle picked up a very fashionable sun umbrella to keep the sun off of her before they walked out the door. Once outside she opened up her sun umbrella.

“Your sun umbrella is very beautiful, and I am sure it will keep the sun off of you,” Christine said as she admired it.

“Thank you, and it does keep the sun off of me. That has helped my skin not age as fast as it could. My husband purchased it for me as a gift and it is something that I treasure,” Myrtle said.

“He has very good taste,” Christine commented as they walked the short distance to the store.

They entered the shop, and
Christine felt peace flow over her as she pictured what the shop would look like in her head. “It does have potential,” Christine commented.

“I agree with that statement,” Myrtle voiced, as she stood in the store looking around at it.

Christine looked around and then went through a doorway into a little back room. There was a back door and a stairway leading to the upstairs, which she assumed would be the apartment. Christine looked at Myrtle, as if silently asking her.

“Go ahead and go up. It is the apartment. I think you will like it and feel free to look around it all. Here is the key to the apartment. I will wait right here for you, so you have a few minutes to look around and think,” Myrtle said with a smile.

Christine smiled as she took the key and slowly walked up the stairs. The apartment door was locked, so Christine put the key in and turned it. When the door opened, she caught her breath for a moment. It was beautiful to her. The light poured in through the front window just like downstairs, which was perfect for sewing. There was a wood- burning stove upstairs too, just like downstairs. A metal bed had a mattress that was rolled up on top of it.

With one last look around the room Christine turned around and walked back down the stairs to where Myrtle was waiting. She looked at the stockroom. There was light in there from a couple of big windows. It would be a perfect spot for a sewing machine, and someone could work in the stockroom too.

“It is quite cozy up in the apartment. It is perfect,” Christine stated. “I believe it will work out just fine. Are you interested in selling this in the future?”

“We might be, but not at this time,” Myrtle stated as they stood looking around.

The other two bigger windows, and one smaller one, you could barely see out of. The windows were absolutely filthy, yet there was a small spot on one to peer through. Christine peeked out that small spot to see what was outside the window when a dirty, angry face appeared. He had salt and pepper hair that was sticking out and up all over.

Christine jumped back with a startled scream, with her hand to her heart. What a frightful sight. It almost scared her to death.

“What was that?” Myrtle asked with her voice trembling a little bit.

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