On the way home, Morgan stopped
off yet again, at another second-hand store, though this one claimed to
be, and to some degree was, more an antique store. She picked up a set
of beautiful dishes from pre-war Japan...gray and rose with raised dragons,
full service for 12. They were surprisingly inexpensive, and she felt that
this was due to misinformation on the design. In some sources they listed
as worthless, in others, marginally valuable...either way, she thought
them beautiful.
She had always wanted a real set of
dishes, something for guests. She also picked up a few pieces of silver...also
surprisingly reasonable...a fluted dish, solid, and quite old, in very
good repair, cost her only $6. It seemed that the shop owner had marked
it off as plate. She also picked up a sugar and cream set, some adorable
mismatched silverware...then on to Macy's, where she purchased a stunning
holiday dress in the perfect shade of emerald to go well with her red hair
and make her pale gray eyes look greener, a hat and glove set that matched
her favorite black hooded coat...wool, ankle length, with a cloak-like
design, and velvet trim. She stopped at the estee lauder counter and bought
one of those Christmas gift sets...$20 with the $35 fragrance purchase.
It came in all the perfect shades of
brown and cinnamon to highlight her coloring. The perfume was something
light and fresh. Before she left, she also picked up table cloth, napkin
rings, place mats, and a set of christmas dishes, adorned with decorated
pine trees, and somewhat old-fashioned seeming.
Her final stop, after dealing with the
crowds in the department store, was an equally crowded craft and fabric
store, where she purchased several yards of varied material, yards of ribbon,
fake pearls, glue guns, and many of the other necessities for one of her
favorite hobbies...the type of hobby she had been unable to practice in
many years.
On the drive home, she viewed the many
festive lights, and hummed along to a Christmas tune on the radio. It had
been nearly three months since Rowan's last request to enter the city (That
she was aware of) and life was just so wonderful without him constantly
breathing down her neck. Now she would just have to make some friends.
That was a luxury she had been unable to afford since her teens.
She pulled her Durango into the attached
garage at her town house apartment, unloaded all the goodies into the house,
stowed away the food, put the table cloth and candles, place mats, napkins
and napkin rings, all in seasonal colors that went so well with the old-fashioned
wood in the apartment.
Next, she hung the various decorative
boughs, bows, and silvery ornaments atop the wainscoting in the dining
room, higher in the living room, and the lovely octagonal room she'd been
using as an office. She set the candles in holders on every table surface
she could find, then sat down at a long table she had put in in the laundry
room and worked on lacy little handcrafts, studded with pearls and rhinestones,
for a couple of hours. Then she went into the kitchen...it was just after
8 pm, and began putting together half a dozen different dishes, and slicing
apples for apple crisp. All the while, she hummed along to yet another
set of religious tunes, these decidedly less Christian...
