Some days later I went to Gwen's quarters where the tailor was in attendance to do a fitting of my wedding gown. She had showed me samples of fabric to choose from and asked me how I would like it to look and Gwen had helped coming up with ideas and I was quite excited to see the result. When she showed it to me I hardly knew what to say. It was not quite as I had pictured it in my head – it was even more beautiful. When I tried it on and Gwen pinned up my hair I could hardly recognise my own image in her large looking glass. I looked forward to the moment when Percival would see me wearing it.
When the tailor had gone I sat down and talked to Gwen. We were done cleaning the house and I had moved in there. But a lot of furnishing and decorating still had to be done. It took a lot of work because neither I nor Percival owned anything. Stuff that we needed to buy kept popping up. Gwen and I had gone into town to buy all kinds of items, but we were not done yet. Now we made a list of what we wanted to buy tomorrow.
When we could think of nothing more to put on the list, Gwen rose from her seat saying "I have something for you." She went over to a chest and took out something wrapped in cloth.
"Gwen, you don't have to give me anything," I protested anxiously. It was so hard for me to accept gifts, probably because I did not know how to repay the favour.
"I know, but I wanted to make you happy. Let's just say it's an early wedding present."
She handed me the parcel. I untied the string that held the coarse cloth together and pushed it back to reveal a beautiful, gem-studded hair pin that matched the wedding gown. It lay on top of three sets of the most lovely, soft undergarments and three everyday dresses, ordinary looking like I would have chosen for myself, but of very good quality, with little decorative stitching at the cuffs and along the neckline.
"Gwen, you already know me too well! Thank you so much."
"I thought you would feel more comfortable if you wore better clothes."
That was true. I was sick of wearing the same old undyed linen dress I had had for years and had wanted to get new things for some days, but not had the time to do it.
When I came home, I poured myself a nice hot bath in the new bathtub and changed into one of the new sets clothes. It made me feel like a whole new person. The old things I burned in the fireplace.
Just a few days before the wedding, the house was finally well enough furnished and decorated to live comfortably in. Percival was just as happy about it as I was. He kept praising me for doing such a good job of it, but I thought he praised me far too much. Gwen, Sophia and Jocelyn had all done their fair share of the job. It was a fantastic feeling, though, to have my own home and keep it neat and orderly, without anyone else interfering. While I did the decorating I had thought a lot about my mother, my family and the house we'd lived in in Clunsdale. This house was quite different, but it still felt like home.
