_OceanofPDF

She flicked on the light. The space was bigger than it should have been
for a closet-within-a-closet. Three full mannequins lined the room, each
wearing an exquisite gown.
“Holy—” I stopped myself.
“Shit?” Doreen said, finishing my sentence.
“This is a Jeremy St. James,” I said, eyes wide before a wedding gown
with two-inch wide seams that curved around the body, undulating with the
form under it. The seams were impossibly perfect and flattering.
“I don’t think I could fit into it now,” she said. “Six children will do
that.”
“And this?” I pointed at a column gown that looked simple but wasn’t.
“Barry Tilden?”
“It stands up on its own. Wore it to two presidential inaugurations.” She
sighed, touching the sleeve. “By the time I wore it for the second one, I
wanted to burn it.”
“Did you not like the president?”
She laughed. “Nothing like that. It was…” She tilted her head. “Ted and
I were having a hard time. The children, I always wanted a full house, and
they were my life, but it was hard. I had all the help a mother could want,
and I still felt… well, I was angry with him. He had a life. A purpose
outside the house. We were just one more thing he had to do and…” She
shook her head. “I already said I was angry. But I chose that life, so I
couldn’t complain, right? I knew how Teddy was and I married him
anyway.”
I knew what she was getting at.
She was a smart woman.
“Logan’s like him,” I said.
“He is.”
“How did you stop being angry?”
“I had a secret.”
I wanted to cover my ears and shout la-la-la-la. If she was sleeping with
the pool boy or snorting meth, I didn’t want to know.
“When did you wear this one?” I changed the subject, but she didn’t
take the bait.
“I have a Master’s in literature. Poetry was my first love,” she said. “But
I never presumed to have any talent. I started writing poetry and submitting