“I considered changing my name for a while, I was thinking Ford, because Harrison Ford was just so it at the time, but I couldn’t get it to stick. I don’t know, maybe if I had run around carrying a lasso with a brown wool fedora atop this fine head of hair of mine it would have worked. Well, c’est la vie.”
“That’s a great story. And it all worked out. Buford is really such a…a unique name.” Madeline smiled.
“All right then, nice chat,” Buford said. His gaze skimmed down Madeline’s body with shrewd precision, then flicked back up to meet hers. “Size four, yes? Six, tops. Now that we’ve met, and I have professionally assessed your personal style, I’ll go gather a few things that I think you’d like while you two just sit back, relax, sip some champagne, and enjoy.” With a little wave of goodbye, Buford sauntered out of the room, leaving Bea and Madeline alone in the large lounge-like dressing suite.
“Thank you for helping me pick out something to wear. This is all just so new and overwhelming.”
“Oh, think nothing of it, honey. My brothers seem to have really taken a shine to you.” Bea took a sip of champagne before leaning back on her elbows on the circular bench they sat on in the center of the room. She tapped the tip of her shoe against the corner of the small glass coffee table in front of them. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them quite so happy. They’ve certainly never flown someone they’re interested in to our home in Argentina.”
Hearing that made Madeline feel special at the same time it unnerved her. She so wanted them to feel for her what she felt for them, yet the intensity of that emotion also frightened her. She decided overanalyzing her relationship and feelings was only going to make her feel more crazy, so she changed the subject.
“Bea, how did Male Order get its name? It’s certainly…different.”
Bea snickered. “Funny story. You know there were five original founding families, yes? Well, it was five sets of brothers who had all met out West after they’d made their riches during the gold rush and they all decided to start their own town in one of the vast stretches of homesteads they’d heard were available in Texas. That way, they’d be able to live and spend their money however they wanted in a town of their own making.”
“That sounds like quite the plan.”
“Yes, but not as well-thought out as it could’ve been. See, when they finally got here and settled in, they realized their town wasn’t going to get very far without women to start families with. No women means no babies, and with no one around for miles, they decided to get mail-order brides.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, you can’t make this stuff up. And it sounds a little crude nowadays to order a woman to make babies with, but it was very common at the time, and it was a sound decision for those women who didn’t have a lot going for them wherever they were. But anyway, isn’t it every girl’s dream to marry a rich man?”
“I guess that’s true,” Madeline responded hesitantly. She couldn’t recall ever having that dream. She’d always dreamed of saving the world and winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Of course it is, honey.” Bea took the last swallow of her champagne and then waved someone over to refill it before she continued. “And so, these five pairs of rich brothers decided to name the town Mail Order so that their ten brides to be would know where their future husbands were in all of the vast state of Texas. The thing is, though, that the county clerk misspelled it, hence the male in Male Order.”
“How did it become a ménage town?”
“You mean not all towns have more than one man for every woman?”
Madeline stared at her blankly before she felt Bea push her in the shoulder.
“I’m only kidding. Small town doesn’t mean small minds. Anyway, it was another mix-up, of course. They only sent one bride per family, going by each surname, and not taking into account that there were multiple brothers for every family. It would’ve taken months to get more brides sent, which, I imagine would’ve been quite awkward for whichever brother was the third wheel. So, being enterprising men who had become successful by making do with what they had, they decided to share their wives, and that’s how it all came to be, and they made sure that within the city limits of Male Order, their way of life would never be threatened.”
Madeline nodded her understanding as she continued to wrap her brain around such an unconventional start to a town.
“And every year, to commemorate the town’s mixed-up founding, we have a cotillion where the men are auctioned off, partially to make fun of it but also respecting our unique history. So, in the end, the name and spelling of Male Order makes complete sense.”
Before Madeline had time to question the logic of that statement, Buford came in, pushing a rack brimming with dresses.
“Ta-daa! Here we are.” Buford practically squealed with excitement as Bea bounced in her seat, clapping her hands in delight.
“Finally!” Bea said.
“I have plucked the crème de la crème of evening gowns and have carefully edited the selection down to just a few choice items.”
Madeline swallowed hard. There must have been more than a dozen dresses on that rack. She pushed down the anxiety bubbling in her stomach. “A few choice items?” Madeline murmured.
“Oh, how fun! I could try on dresses all day, and probably would except I already picked my dress out. Honey, do I look green because I am so envious right now.”
“So, scoot your little butt into that dressing room.” Buford lifted her from her seat and gently nudged her into the dressing room as another salesperson pushed the rack of dresses behind her.” We want to see every dress you try on, too.”
Madeline got a flashback of shopping with her mother for a prom dress and shuddered. It had been a nightmare fueled by teen angst and too much taffeta and was probably the impetus for her current aversion to shopping. This was going to be a long day.
* * * *
Madeline took a breath, fearing it might be her last one, and stepped out of the dressing room. She would have breathed a sigh of relief that this was the final dress on the rack if she could breathe at all. She would’ve been fine with the first dress she tried on. Classy and sophisticated, the ivory and gold gown had made Madeline feel like a lady. The bottom flared out from the waist and had a vintage, almost ’50s, quality to it. And most importantly, it fit well and felt right. She thought she looked like a princess in it, but Bea and Buford insisted she try on the other dresses, saying it was perhaps too simple or understated for the cotillion. Madeline thought that was nonsense, but saw no point in arguing with two lionesses ruling their domain.
The bottom of the dress she now had on flared out at her knees and was incredibly poufy but it made a wonderful crinkly sound as she walked. So hypnotized by it and perhaps a little exhausted, she had walked out the dressing room without looking up.
“How’s this one? I think it’s a bit too tight and—” The silence startled her into finally looking up. Both Bea and Buford had their jaws dropped, hand on faces, as if stunned. “What’s the matter? Is something wrong?” Madeline quickly turned and looked in the three-sided mirror to make sure the back of it wasn’t tucked into her panties somehow. When she found everything appropriately covered, she turned back to Bea and Buford.
A belated gasp finally escaped Bea’s glossed lips, and she fanned her face as if she were going to cry. Madeline would’ve shifted uncomfortably, except the gown’s constricting bodice made it nearly impossible to move. Nearly the entire gold and ivory dress was covered in fine lace shaped in half circles and layered to look like sequined and beaded fish scales. At the flared bottom, the lace stopped about halfway, allowing the ivory tulle and crinoline to stand out as it swished to and fro when she walked.
“Something wrong?” Buford said in a tone heavy with sarcasm. “The only thing wrong is that you didn’t put this one on first. Of course, I only have myself to blame. It’s my job, after all. It’s just so hard for most girls to pull off
a dress with so much drama.” As he continued talking, he walked over and bent down to the hem of the dress, fluffing it so every inch of fabric looked picture perfect.
“Oh, will you stop mumbling to yourself about yourself?” Bea elbowed Buford aside and took over fluffing and primping duty. “Today is about Maddie and finding her the perfect Cinderella gown for the ball.”
“So you like it?” Madeline didn’t know what to make of the bewildered look on Bea’s face.
“Oh, honey, like doesn’t do it justice. This dress is the one,” Bea said, sounding nearly breathless. “You are a vision, an absolute vision, and I just can’t believe you’re having such a hard time seeing this yourself.”
Madeline studied herself in the mirror, unsure at first of what it was that Bea and Buford saw that had them so enamored. With such intricate detail and precise cut, the dress was undoubtedly beautiful. The strapless bodice revealed her shoulders and pushed up her breasts until they were so round and high she could have tapped one with her chin if she tried. The tighter than tight fit hugged her every curve.
Yet, it didn’t feel quite right. The person she stared at wasn’t the Madeline she was used to, not necessarily a bad thing, but it made her squirm a little bit. Neither Bea nor Buford seemed to notice, though. She stood there while the two played dress-up with her as their doll. She felt almost like one of those ridiculously pampered pets that was carried around in purses, and she wondered if that’s how Dalton and Garrett truly felt about her. Was she just something they kept around for their own amusement, dressing her up, easily impressing her with their lavish lifestyle, and it was all just a fun game for them? She didn’t think they meant any harm by it, though she knew that when they tired of their new plaything and tossed her away, it would break her heart.
“I think I know just the thing, the piece de resistance to take this look from pow to ka-pow!” Bea swept up Madeline’s hair into a loose chignon. “Buford, get that necklace I’ve been ogling. You know the one.”
“I thought you’d never ask!” Buford squealed and left the room, quickly returning with the most exquisite, opulent piece of glittery goodness Madeline had ever seen in her life. She loved costume jewelry, and this was the finest example she’d ever laid eyes on. She sucked in a breath when Buford wrapped the necklace of blue and crystal jewels around her neck.
“Give me a minute to secure it—a necklace as precious as this one isn’t going to have a simple clasp that can be easily undone.”
Madeline’s hands almost trembled as she fingered the array of vivid blue cushion-cut jewels interlaced with brilliant marquis-cut and cushion-cut diamonds. Well, they looked like diamonds, but she knew they couldn’t possibly be. The jewels were of varying sizes arranged symmetrically all the way around to the clasp. When Buford secured the clasp and let go, the weight of the necklace surprised her.
“What do you think?” Buford ask as he unfurled his fingers, palms up the way a magician would after pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
“It’s beautiful. I love it.”
“You are stone-cold stunning, Madeline!” Bea said with a delighted squeal. “I am a genius. How did I know this would be perfection?”
“It really is fabulous, the way the sapphires bring out the brown of your eyes so everything just pops! And with the dress, the way the bodice presses up those magnificent tater tots of yours so the necklace just barely hovers over them. Ooh, girl, Dalton and Garrett are going to cream themselves when they see you!”
Then someone brought out boxes and boxes of shoes, and she remembered all the shoes the men had surprised her with. She knew they had intended to buy all this for her too, but it was simply too much. Never one to take handouts, Madeline found this to be completely exorbitant and entirely out of hand. The Ellises always emphasized that all this was their pleasure, that she didn’t owe them a thing by accepting their generosity, but she couldn’t help but feel like perhaps they were buying her too. She couldn’t let that happen.
“How much is this dress?”
“I don’t know.” Bea looked at her puzzled and then laughed. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever asked that question in my life.”
Buford walked in, holding a box full of clutches and evening bags.
“Buford, Madeline wants to know how much that dress is.”
Buford stopped in his tracks, just about to set the purses down and then promptly straightened. “I’ll have to check. You’ve never asked me that before, so I stopped looking at price tags long ago.”
Picking up each purse that Buford had set down before he walked back out the room, Bea set three aside and looked up at Madeline expectantly. With barely a second glance, Madeline chose the one in the middle.
“That’s exactly what I thought, too.” Bea smiled brightly.
“Okay, I’m back!” Buford waltzed in holding a piece of paper with his slender fingers and cleared his throat. “The dress is twenty-five, and if you’re curious, the necklace is about three hundred. Isn’t that fabulous?”
Madeline fought down a tickling suspicion even as it prodded at her mind. Did she just so happen to luck out by choosing a dress on the discount rack? Even then, what a discount, she thought to herself. The necklace seemed a little pricey for faux jewels, but she had to admit they looked flawless. “Wow, I can’t believe what a great deal the dress is. I didn’t think Jacqueline’s had such amazing bargains.” Madeline gleamed as she modeled in the mirror, posing and admiring herself. “Is there some kind of clearance sale or something?”
“A what?” Bea looked as if Madeline were speaking a foreign language and then shared a look with Buford as look of understanding washed over his face.
Madeline’s heart started sinking.
“Oh, sweetheart, no.” Buford giggled. “You thought I meant twenty-five dollars. No, I meant thousand. Twenty-five thousand for the dress, three hundred thousand for the necklace. And while I’m at it, the purse you picked out is almost four thousand, but the shoes are a steal compared to everything else. They aren’t even a thousand dollars. Just three digits.” He held up three fingers and smiled warmly at her, but Madeline felt like a fool. She could feel Bea and Buford watching her. Was it with pity? Embarrassment?
A cool hand landed on her shoulder. “Honey, why ever would you want to know how much this all costs anyway?” Bea looked sincerely perplexed, and Madeline wondered what planet she was on. She had never in her life purchased anything without looking at the price first. She only rarely bought anything at full price, but if she did, it was cheap to begin with.
“This…um…I can’t possibly. This has to cost a—” Madeline did a vague calculation of the total cost of her evening dress with all of its glittery and fabulous accouterments, but her stomach turned at just the price of the necklace. Her fingers grazed it, and she let out a laugh to keep from crying. They were real sapphires and diamonds. Real and really big to boot.
“But what if it falls off and I lose it? I’ve never had anything this nice before and—”
“Well, it’s about time you’ve had something this nice.” Bea smoothed a wisp of Madeline’s hair over her ear as she spoke. “Every girl deserves a diamond or two or three dozen.”
“And besides,” Buford said, “you aren’t going to lose it. Once you got the clasp on tight—and I’ll show you how it works later—it ain’t going anywhere, honey. Plus, it’s got top-notch construction so you couldn’t rip it off if you tried.” He quirked an eyebrow at Bea and planted his hand on his slim hips. “So don’t you get any ideas, Ms. Bea. No, this is a strong piece of jewelry, and I don’t think you could lose it if you tried.” Bea stuck her tongue out, and Madeline managed a chuckle.
“By the look in her eyes and the drool forming around her lips, I’d say wild horses couldn’t take that thing away from her now.” Bea grinned.
“I don’t know, it’s simply too much, and I’m not used to having others pay for me or buy things for me. You and your brothers have already been so generous to m
e, and it would just make me feel better if I could pay for something myself.” As she made her offer, Madeline’s stomach churned and she felt sweat prickling on her lower back, probably ruining the lining of the dress. Forget maxing out a credit card or two, her first plan. She’d have to mortgage a house, which she couldn’t even afford to buy, to pay for the shoes and dress alone. The thought of buying the necklace had her stomach reeling. That was out of the question.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Maddie. We’d never expect you to pay for any of this. In fact, we wouldn’t even allow it.”
Something about that statement hit Madeline hard in the gut. Or maybe it was her pride. “And why not?” Madeline realized her tone sounded almost accusing, which wasn’t fair to Bea.
“Well…” Bea struggled to come up with an explanation, but Madeline knew the reason. Because they knew unquestioningly that she couldn’t afford it, that all of this would be well above her means, which she hadn’t thought were particularly meager until that moment.
“Maybe I could try to find a dress on my own? And I already have all these shoes that Dalton and Garrett got for me. There’s really no need to buy another—”
“Oh, no, that won’t do. How do I phrase this…” Bea motioned for one of the attendants to hand her the glass of champagne. She downed the whole flute in two gulps.
“Sweetheart, I think what Bea is trying to say is that this dress is just too perfect for you to pass up. It looks to die for on you and hits just the right combination of standing out while fitting in. Everyone at the cotillion will be wearing thousand-dollar dresses.”
“Thousands,” Bea interjected, emphasizing that it was plural. “No one would be caught dead wearing a dress that was less than a thousand dollars. Honey, it’s just not done in Male Order. Especially not for the cotillion.”
“I see.” What Madeline saw was that a future with Dalton and Garrett meant having to keep up with the rest of the Male Order elites whom the Ellises rubbed elbows with on a daily basis. Wearing clothes that she could afford, being herself, clearly just wouldn’t do in this town. Madeline hoped her nodding would divert their attention from the glassiness of her eyes as they prickled with tears, tears from anger, frustration, and sadness. She felt foolish enough as it was without having everyone in Male Order’s toniest department store know that not only was she fucking like an animal, but she was a crybaby as well.
Mitchell, Ava and Holiday, Sydney - A Bride for Two Tycoons [The Male Order, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 5