Eugenia's Embrace

Eugenia awakened with a start, at first not remembering where she was. Then one fast look around her told her the answer. The room was one of loveliness. She could even smell

the freshness of the wallpaper that Dawn said had just been hung. Its small specks of rosebuds shone back to Eugenia in soft reds, to match the red brocade draperies closed at her one bedroom window. The slight flickering of a gaslight on the wall beside her bed lighted the room enough for her to compare it with what she had left behind the day before. It wasn't as magnificent, and the colors were much bolder than the lilac that she had grown accustomed to, but the dark red wine of the mahogany bedstead, bureau, and bedside table was what she would have least expected to find in the room that Dawn would furnish her with.

Feeling a chill, Eugenia climbed from the bed. Clutching her arms around her, she went to the small coal stove at the far end of the room. She opened its front door and threw in a few coals, then draped a gown around her shoulders. Her thoughts went to Drew and how fast he had disappeared from her life once again. And Frederick? What had he done when he had found her gone? She had to wonder if he would come searching, but she knew that surely he wouldn't guess where she had gone. Unless Clarissa described Dawn to him, then he would go from there. A light tap on her door drew her attention. "Yes?" she asked, waiting.

"Eugenia, it's me," Dawn said, sounding more raspy this morning than she had sounded the night before. Then there was that cough. Eugenia cringed inside when she heard Dawn laboring for breath as she opened the door, facing her with a frown.

"Are you even worse this morning?" Eugenia asked, taking Dawn's hand in hers, guiding her in by the now roaring fire. "Here. Take off the chill. Sit down and let's talk."

"I've let you sleep later than the girls," Dawn said, covering her mouth with a lace-trimmed, white handkerchief, coughing once again. She sat down and placed her feet up next to the stove. "But the girls are now downstairs waiting to have tea with us."

"I'm afraid they'll resent me," Eugenia said, sitting opposite Dawn. "Especially Alison. She seemed so surprised by the announcement last night. Had she possibly been expecting to be made madam? Remember how you had worked under Madam Valerie with such hopes?"

Dawn laughed hoarsely, but again covered her mouth. Only the emptiness of her blue eyes peeked above the handkerchief. "Yes. Possibly," she answered. "But she'll just have to be a madam elsewhere, if being madam is really what she wants. She's a bit too sullen for a madam in my establishment. One must be sparkling at all times. Full of vitality. The lust for life. That's where I'm failing now. That's why I came to you. Because none of my other girls could fill my shoes either. We'll just have to ignore anything they might say against you."

"All right." Eugenia sighed. "Anything you say. I'll try. That's all I can promise right now."

"You'll do just fine, Eugenia. Now hurry and step into something comfortable for our tea. None of the girls are yet properly dressed for gentlemen callers. I just told them to wear something light and easy. To relax, while they can."

"But, Dawn. I left all my clothes behind. I don't have anything but the dress that I arrived in."

"Take another look in the closet." Dawn laughed.

"What?"

"Surely this morning you heard the maid bring in the dresses."

"No. Nothing," Eugenia said, going to the closet. She swung the door aside and gasped openly. The dresses she was now touching were even more beautifully breathtaking than any she had ever worn while living with Frederick.

"Why, they're beautiful," she sighed. She hated to let her fingers leave the touch of softness. She had grown used to such attire, but yet never tired of marveling over it. She had gone for so many years without such things. On her parents' homestead, she had felt lucky to have a new dress once a year. Even then it would probably be made from cloth from flour sacks.

She pulled one from a hanger and wrapped it around herself, and went to the mirror. Its flared skirt of silk crinkled as she ran her fingers over it, and the lace that draped the skirt and bodice was a soft beige against the dark brown of the fabric.

"It'll match your hair beautifully," Dawn whispered.

Eugenia swung around and faced Dawn, her eyes full of wonder. "But they do look my size. How did you know?"

A laugh followed a cough as Dawn arose. "I knew you'd come. Sooner or later. I knew you'd have to get away from Frederick Heinmarch. My seamstress only had to take a few tucks here and there, and they were you, perfectly."

"But they are all so beautiful."

"They ought to be. They're from Paris, my dear," Dawn laughed. "I hated to have to alter them in the slightest, but you have lost a bit of your previous weight."

"But if you ordered these for me when I was heavier then you must have done so long ago. When we first met."

Dawn went to Eugenia and ran a finger over Eugenia's full, pouting lips. "I only hoped for your return. That's all," she said, then moved toward the door, lifting her own silk skirt up into her arms. "Coming soon?" she asked, as she turned and smiled warmly in Eugenia's direction.

"Shortly," Eugenia answered, then watched in silent awe as the door shut, leaving her with her confused thoughts. Dawn had known. All along Dawn had known that she would return. But how? Had it been because she knew the ways of Cripple Creek so well? The way it treated the unmarried, lonely women? The way it led most of them to Myers Avenue? But Eugenia shrugged. No. Surely not all women met with such foul play as she had on her first day in the town. Surely it had just been fate that had led her to the position that she now held… madam. But no matter. She was going to make a good life for herself now. And she was going to treat her girls good.

Laughing at herself for thinking of the girls as "her girls," Eugenia pulled the dress over her head, stopping once to admire its beauty, how its swooping neckline revealed the magnificence of her bosom. She sucked in her breath and held her back straighter, proud still of her newly acquired figure. But what good had it done her with Drew? He had just left her behind once more. She wasn't sure if she could ever trust another man's touch. She wasn't even going to think about the way such a touch could make her feel, so lost from her own body, so warm. She could not think about it. From here on out, she would make this new job of madam her way of life. She would try and make Dawn comfortable through her illness, and learn the ways of being a madam so she could be known as the best madam in Cripple Creek. She wanted only the best clients to visit her establishment. She wanted it to be one of good taste.

She brushed her hair until it shone. She pulled it back, then placed her Papa's combs on each side. She didn't want to open the drawer of the bureau to see the watch once more. The less she looked at it, the less she would think of him.

She just pushed the thoughts of Drew aside and hurried down the steep staircase. It was quite evident to Eugenia that jealousy was thick in the air when she entered the parlor. She didn't know what to look at first. The girls who were sitting proper, almost like school children, around the room. Or should she wonder more at the furnishings, the large fireplace roaring with a blaze on the wall opposite the windows, or once again at the chandelier twinkling back at her in blues, golds, and purples? She chose the first. She couldn't help it. She felt all eyes on her, assessing her worth to have been chosen above each one of them as the madam of this house. And Eugenia couldn't help but feel a blush rise, and hated herself for it.

"Come. Sit beside me," Dawn said, suddenly seeming to sparkle, with even the blue of her eyes deeper in the brightness of the morning's light. Eugenia's eyes took a fast sweep of the red velveteen drapes on each side of the curtains, wondering if they were ever pulled close, maybe to not reveal to the public what truly went on inside this house.

Sitting down, Eugenia smiled sheepishly toward Dawn, then let her gaze move slowly around the room, trying to keep her composure, with her bosom thrust out, and her back straight. The eyes of the girls were the hardest to look at. They all seemed to be snapping back at her. Maybe even wanting her to feel the coldness they were radiating. But she wouldn't let herself be moved by this. She had to show that she was going to reign supreme. She was going to be their madam, whether they like