Starting Over

After that day, everything had completely transformed. Eleanor didn’t understand why, but she just couldn’t get that strange man out of her mind. What was his name again? Frank? Felton?

She knew it started with an F.

She found it peculiar that even though she couldn’t remember his name, he had left the biggest impression on her in her entire short lived life. She guessed that that was just how the world worked.

It would play its dirty tricks on you, and then leave you gasping for breath in the end.

It had been three weeks since Eleanor had last seen him. Whether she was hanging clothes on the line or cleaning the dishes with her dry hands, it didn’t matter. Eleanor couldn’t seem to get that handsome young man out of her mind.

~~*~~

It was two months before the wedding when Eleanor stood in the bridal store down the street by her home. The shop was small, carrying not more than fifteen women at a time. But the prices were cheap and the fabrics were beautiful.

“What do you think of this one?” Eleanor asked the clerk that had helped her into the fitted gown. It was a beautiful dress, really, with a bodice that hugged her tightly. It was conservative, the smooth material wrapping over her shoulders and neck. But something was erroneous about the otherwise perfect dress.

The clerk smiled and nodded approvingly, complimenting Eleanor about the length and color, and how it made her glow. But Eleanor just wasn’t sure.

“I’m going to take this off,” Eleanor said, biting her lip and shaking her head. “This just isn’t the one.”
She walked to the dressing room and closed the door, sighing in hopelessness. The wedding was so close, she could almost feel it. But if she couldn’t find a dress, she’d be walking down the aisle in her casual outfit, which was not very pretty.

Eleanor finally managed to yank the dress off without tearing it. She set it to the side after hanging it up, and looked at herself in the mirror.

She didn’t look very happy. Her usual smile had faded, and instead of her typical easy going appearance, she was nothing but stressed. Eleanor blamed it on the wedding, but she knew deep down inside that that wasn’t the real reason. It couldn’t have been.

But before Eleanor could further investigate her almost expressionless visage, a knock on the dressing room wall rang through her ears. “Miss. Crowe?” The clerk called. Eleanor opened the door slightly, just enough so her head could poke through.

“Yes?” Eleanor asked.

“What about this dress?” She questioned, handing it to her and smiling satisfactorily. Eleanor smiled and guided the woman in, allowing her to help pull the dress on over her head.

The gown was tight at the waist, but flared out ever so gracefully at the bottom. The beading was beautiful, with lace encrusting all over the bodice. It was simple, and not very modest, but she loved it. It was her.

Eleanor walked out of the dressing room and into the main hall, with all of the mirrors surrounding her. “Oh my goodness. I love this! You are brilliant!” Eleanor exclaimed, so elated that tears began to spread over her cheeks.

“Oh, don’t thank me darling. It was your fiancé who picked it out,” she said, fixing the dress in the back.

Fiance?

But Robert was at work until six. He didn’t even know she had gone shopping for dresses. He probably would have had a fit, actually. That was Robert. If he didn’t know about something, he would blow it out of proportion and get angry about everything and anything.

“But he’s not here,” Eleanor mumbled, furrowing her brows and trying to figure out who that heroic stranger was.

“Oh really? It must’ve been someone else then. He was a very handsome man. Blonde hair, dark blue eyes,” she rambled on, fixing Eleanor’s hair and smiling at her appearance. “I’ll be right back with your veil.”

Eleanor sighed and walked back into the dressing room. It didn’t sound like anyone she had met. But obviously this man knew her.

As Eleanor was taking her dress off, she heard a couple of knocks being tossed lazily on the wall near her. She opened the door widely, but then quickly pulled her gown up when she realized it wasn’t the clerk.

“I knew you’d look beautiful in that gown,” the man said, smirking and gazing at her curvy body.

It was then that she remembered the man’s name.

Fenton.