Allard was right. Lucy felt much better the next morning. She slept later than she intended, a full belly from the late-night meal aiding her slumber. It was past ten when she woke to find that Dr. Crane had gone to purchase a dress that was laid out for her to wear.As she gratefully lifted the dress from where it lay across a chair, she realized the style was reminiscent of what she wore when she was in the care of the pastor. When she’d arrived at Judge Bonham’s, she’d been surprised to be commanded to change into a dress the people who raised her would have considered immodest.“It’s the latest fashion,” the judge had boasted. “From Paris.” He’d leered at her as he continued. “You will behave in a proper fashion, but I want you dressed in a manner that has every man seething with jealousy over what is mine.” She could still remember looking down then, uncomfortable at how her breasts swelled over the bodice that barely seemed to contain them.This dress was different.
