Fashionable hairpieces, bolts of the finest silk fresh from the southern looms, and all manner of rare curiosities, until they spilled across my courtyard in heaps.
I stared at the mountain of offerings, lost in thought.
My mother took my silence for hesitation. "Norma dear, are you having second thoughts?"
"Lester is clearly still devoted to you, and you haven't been selected yet. There's still time to fix things. Just say the word and we'll set a date, have a proper wedding..."
I knew my mother had always been fond of Lester.
Growing up, anything she made for me, she made a second one for the Vance residence.
Winter coats, summer shirts, nightclothes, shoes and socks.
All sewn by her own hand, stitch by stitch.
She'd loved him like a second son.
She never could have imagined that Lester would prove so heartless, that he would bring ruin on every last member of our family.
I wrapped my arms around her and said softly, "He has feelings for someone else."
She asked who.
I shook my head. "All you need to know, Mother, is that he is not the right man."
Worry creased her face. "But Les... but Lester has made it known that anyone who dares propose to you is making an enemy of House Vance."