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“Good idea,” Edith said. “But never worry, darlin’, all eyes will be on the gorgeous bride.

We should be going.” She pulled a velvet bag of money from her purse and laid it on the table.

“This will be the down payment for whatever all this costs. Just tally up anything over and above it, and I’ll take care of that later.

Oh, and I’ll want my dress made from the light green taffeta up there on the shelf—maybe a skirt and shirtwaist, with a nice little dark green jacket.

That way I can wear it to other events that might come up, or even to church after the wedding is over. ”

“Yes, ma’am,” Daisy said. “We will take down what y’all have picked out and set it aside.”

“Thank you, and we’ll both see you at the meeting on Monday,” Edith said as she stood up at the same time Sally Anne did, and the two of them looked at the work Lily had laid out on the table.

“Who ordered a calico dress?” Sally Anne asked.

“No one yet,” Lily answered. “I’m just going to make a couple of day dresses for Beulah to sell in her store.”

“Good idea,” Edith said, and with that, the ladies departed.

Daisy was about to lock the door that evening when a man poked his head inside. “Hello. I have mail for Lily Boyle. Do I have the right place?”

“Yes!” Lily hurried across the room.

“And a letter for Daisy Lindberg. Miz Beulah from down the street said that you were the newcomers in town. These came today, and I’m on my way home for dinner, so I figured I’d just bring them to y’all.

I’m Stanley Harris,” he said, bobbing his head in almost a bow.

“I take care of the post office. It’s located over by the courthouse, if you want to check in every few days to see if you have mail or maybe send letters out. ”

“Thank you so much.” Lily took the two letters from his hand. “We’ll be writing letters back to our friends and bringing them to you real soon.”

Stanley acted as if he was afraid to take a step inside the shop. “Okay, then.” He quickly closed the door behind him.

Lily locked it and held the letters to her chest for a moment before handing Daisy’s off to her. “I can’t believe we’ve already got mail. It’s only been a week tomorrow since we arrived.”

Daisy sat down on the sofa, carefully opened her letter, and read it out loud:

Dear Daisy,

We have been very busy since landing here in Nechesville.

Holly has landed a job as a schoolteacher and will begin teaching on Monday of next week.

The former teacher is getting married over the weekend, and rumor has it that there’s a shotgun involved.

I’m sure that, if our secrets were known, Holly wouldn’t have been hired.

We’ve found a nice little house on the edge of town and have hung out our shingle to do seamstress work.

We already have a few women who want things custom made, and we have fabric on order.

I have to admit, we are a little bored while we wait on customers and on product to work with, but we are doing the best we can to make friends and settle in.

We are waiting to hear from Poppy and Rose as well as from you two. An acquaintance of a woman named Maudie said that she was coming over your way to celebrate Independence Day with her sister. I almost sent this letter by her, but I don’t know her well enough to trust her with mail.

All three of us are well, but this heat is worse than it was in North Texas. It’s like a blast from a stove most days, and when it rains, it just brings steam. I miss the cool breezes and the mint juleps in the middle of the morning when we all sat out on the porch.

Let us hear from you soon. We miss you both. Please let Lily read this also. We didn’t have much news but wanted to share what we did have with you both.

Love,

Holly, Iris, and Jasmine

She folded it and carefully put it back into the envelope. “I will keep this forever. It’s the first mail I have ever gotten in my life.”

“Me too. I expect mine is from Poppy or Rose ... but I’m wrong,” she said once she had opened the envelope.

“Who is it from? Please tell me that your fiancé hasn’t tracked you down,” Daisy said.

“It’s from Miz Raven,” Lily whispered.

Daisy grabbed her chest. “I can’t believe that a letter has already made it here. I wish she hadn’t moved so far.”

Lily took a deep breath and read:

Dear Ladies,

I trust that you have arrived at your destination and are adjusting to a very different lifestyle.

Jems and I will board a ship tomorrow morning for England.

By the time this reaches you from New York, we should be well underway.

I’m eager to arrive in my old environs and get to work, but I have to be patient and careful, as I suggest you be as well.

I will be going back to my family home. My father is gone now, so he can’t scold me on a daily basis for my choices in life.

My sister has been quite active in the movement, and so I will be helping her.

Things seem to be moving faster for women in London than in the US.

I’m looking forward to the salt air for the next days, but I do miss you ladies so much. I’m sending a letter to the others also and will include my address so you can write back to me. Your letters will take a while to arrive, but I will be so glad to get them when they do.

Love,

Raven

“I can’t believe that we got a letter from the queen herself, or that Holly and the others already have made acquaintances,” Daisy whispered.

“We’ll cherish this mail forever and ever.” Lily wiped a tear from her eye. “Do you know how often I went into the post office in Spanish Fort and asked if there was mail for me?”

Daisy shook her head. “I never even checked. My folks left Texas going north not long after I married and moved again the next year, from the news I heard. I didn’t figure they’d ever try to find me or even know that they needed to.”

“I went once a week for more than a year before I finally gave up,” Lily said in an icy tone.

“When I told my mother that I was running away because my fiancé had forced himself on me, she told me that he wouldn’t have done such a thing if I hadn’t given him the wrong impression.

And then she said that no man would want damaged goods, so I might as well marry him. ”

“Thank God once again for Miz Raven,” Daisy said with a long sigh.