Outside the building Nancy quickly hailed a cab and ushered Giselle and Morgan into it while simultaneously dialing her cell phone.
"Robert, hi. I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Nancy said. She paused, "Good. I just wanted to let you know that Morgan and I are going to spend the afternoon together so she won't be at the apartment. Mm hmm. Yup. Grown up girl bonding time." At this she looked over at Giselle and rolled her eyes silently mocking Robert's terminology describing Nancy and Morgan spending time together. "Great. I'll drop her off by 5 or so in order to give me time to get ready. Why won't you be there? Well, good look with that. Are you sure the babysitter will be there and able to get in, or should I be heading up there with Morgan? You're sure? Okay. Will you pick me up or should I meet you there? I'll see you at my apartment then. Love you." Snapping her phone shut and replacing it in her purse, Nancy turned and addressed Morgan. "All right, your dad knows where you are now so we don't have to worry about him and can just enjoy ourselves." Settling back on the seat, Nancy spent the rest of the ride chatting with Morgan about school and Morgan's friends. She occasionally tried to draw Giselle into the conversation, but Giselle's lack of knowledge of Morgan's life made it hard for her to contribute.
After about 10 minutes they pulled in front of a building that Giselle recognized as where she and Robert had met Nancy before after Giselle and sent the flowers to her as an apology from Robert. The three of them entered the shop and Nancy immediately pulled Giselle over to a rack holding over two dozen dresses of varying colors and styles.
"Unfortunately there is nothing here that would work for a fairy tale princess gown," Nancy lamented. "And with the ball tonight the costume shops will most likely be all out. So I though we could make you a modern day princess. What do you think Giselle?"
"A modern day princess," Giselle whispered reaching out to stroke the fabric of one of the gowns.
"Giselle? Are you all right?" Nancy asked worriedly.
Shaking herself out of her reverie Giselle forced herself to focus on what was happening. "Of course. I'm fine. I was just thinking. A modern day princess would be wonderful. Thank you for everything you are doing for me Nancy. I know our initial meeting was less than favorable."
"Oh well, I know now nothing happened. It was just a bit of a shock." Nancy responded, her cheeks coloring slightly. "And anyway, every girl should be able to look beautiful when they go to a special event like this with the man they love. So what dresses look good? I can have one of my staff do any alterations real quick if the one you like doesn't fit."
"Oh, I can't even being to choose one. They are all so beautiful." Giselle murmured admiring one dress and then the next.
Nancy smiled, "Thanks. I designed most of them."
"Oh, so you make your own clothing too?" Giselle queried, excited to find a kindred spirit.
"Only some special outfits. Most of the clothes I design I try to sell. Hopefully one of these will be your dream dress. But I think we need a new opinion." Turning around she beckoned to Morgan who was avidly watching one of the seamstresses cutting out pieces of fabric. "Which dress do you like for Giselle Morgan?"
A look of intense concentration came over Morgan's face as she began to sort through all of the dresses. After going through the rack once, she stared at the dresses with a small frown of concentration on her face. Finally, she reached out a small hand and grabbed hold of a silky, plum colored dress. "This one is perfect," Morgan stated seriously.
Nancy reached out and removed the dress and then held it up in front of Giselle, examining the two critically. "I think you're right. Giselle, why don't you go put the dress on and then we can see if any alterations need to be made. There are some rooms over there where you can change," Nancy said handing the dress to Giselle and pointing to a small hallway about ten feet away.
Giselle took the dress and began stroking the fabric but as she examined the construction of the dress her face fell. "It's lovely Nancy, but, but, but how do I put it on?" she asked worriedly.
"Don't worry. I'll help you Giselle," Morgan said confidently as she started leading Giselle towards the fitting rooms before Nancy could wonder why a grown woman wasn't sure how to use a zipper. Shaking her head in confusion Nancy moved off towards her desk in order to sort through some messages as well as answer questions from her staff before Giselle and Morgan emerged.
She has just finished returning her first phone call when Giselle and Morgan appeared. The dress fit well but was far too long for Giselle's five and a half foot frame. Nancy beckoned her over to the desk. Circling Giselle Nancy eyed the dress, looking for areas that didn't fit as well as they should.
"All right, I think this will work. We just need to raise the hem because even with some great heels this will still be far too long for you," Nancy concluded. Turning to Morgan she asked "Why don't you start looking through some of the shoes we use for photo shoots. Michelle, over there in the green sweater and brown hair, can show you where to keep them. Find some that you think will go with the dress so that I can get a better idea of where the hem should be."
"Okay!" Morgan cried, her eyes lighting up with excitement as she rushed off to start looking for shoes. Smiling at the retreating figure Nancy turned and started rummaging through her desk drawers.
"Can I help you Nancy," Giselle asked, feeling slightly awkward to just be standing there.
"Oh no, I'm just trying to find the pins I keep here so that I can pin the hem the right length."
"Oh, I'm very good at finding things. Let me look," Giselle exclaimed as she knelt down next to Nancy. Giselle carefully knelt on the floor carefully arranging her skirt around her so as not to damage the fabric and began to dig through a drawer in Nancy's desk.
"No, no, that's okay I'm sure I can find it," Nancy protested hurriedly trying to shut the desk drawer.
"What's this?" Giselle asked in awe as she drew a hardcover book out of the drawer. There was no title on it, just a white background with a watercolor painting of an overgrown forest. To Giselle, looking at the painting was just like being back at home in Andalasia.
Blushing, Nancy reached out and took the book from Giselle's hands. "It's just Morgan's birthday present. It was delivered here this morning and since I was picking Morgan up from school I didn't want to have it with me."
"It's very beautiful," Giselle said seriously. "What is it?"
Nancy absentmindedly pushed a lock of hair behind her right ear as she flipped open the book. "It's a book of fairy tales in the first half but the second half just has blank pages so that Morgan can write her own stories too. I figure that way I could convince Robert that it's a way for her to learn reading and writing skills as well as come up with stories with strong women characters in them."
"It's a lovely idea Nancy. Does Robert really hate stories like this so much?" Giselle asked worriedly. "I was telling Morgan some stories about my chipmunk friend Pip and Red Riding Hood and he didn't seem to mind."
"He didn't?" Nancy asked in disbelief. "Thank God. Morgan is only six years old. She should be getting to enjoy fairy tales at this age, not being forced to read about Marie Curie. That has its place but she should also be learning how to believe in the impossible. Robert is a wonderful dad but this was something I wanted to whack him about. Or rather his ex-wife if I knew where she was."
"Why would you want to hit anyone?" Giselle asked horrified as her hands rose to cover her mouth in shock.
Sighing Nancy glanced around the room to make sure that no one was within hearing range. "Because she's the one who has made Robert so unwilling to let go and trust anyone anymore. I didn't meet Robert until after Marie left him and Morgan but I can see how it's affected him. He's has trouble opening up to me and trusting that I'm not going anywhere. And he tries so hard to make Morgan, and everyone else around him, see the world has a cruel place because that's how he sees it. And he doesn't want others, especially Morgan, to get caught unawares. After 5 years of waiting for him I know just what that witch did to him and it makes me very sad and angry at the same time."
After a pause Giselle asked, in a very small voice, "Why are you still waiting then?"
Nancy paused for a moment and gave Giselle an assessing look. At that look Giselle felt a feeling of guilt pass through her as she remembered the moment with Robert last night as she remembered that this was the woman Robert was courting, and that he had been planning on asking her to marry him. Finally Nancy answered, "Because I know that he's worth it. I love him, and I love Morgan, and I'm willing to wait until Robert is ready."
Giselle didn't know how to respond to that. She and Edward and agreed to marry within moments of meeting each other and the idea of waiting to get married until both people were ready was a new idea, like the idea of a date. She kept pondering the idea as she idly continued to dig through the drawer and find the pins Nancy had been trying to find earlier. An awkward silence ensued between the two women until Morgan came running up with a pair of shoes.
"Giselle! Nancy!" Morgan exclaimed, skidding to a halt in front of them. "I found the perfect pair of shoes. Look!" Morgan stretched out her arms, one shoe in each hand. Giselle took both shoes and cradling them to her chest she looked at them. They were clear peep-toe pumps with purple fabric lining the edges and silver soles and heels.
"They are beautiful. They remind me of Cindy's glass slippers. Although I hope these are more comfortable than hers. Glass looks pretty but it doesn't bend very well." Giselle said to Morgan.
"Great then," Nancy said feeling more and more confused. First chipmunk friends and now glass slippers. "Giselle put on the shoes and stand up so I can see how much this needs to get hemmed."
Nancy worked quickly while Morgan kept up a constant stream of chatter. Once she had the dress hemmed, Nancy asked one of the seamstresses still there to sew the hem for Giselle. Once that was done the dress was placed in a garment bag along with the shows and Nancy herded them outside for a cab to take them to a local salon for hair and makeup.