Saturday's Child Read Online Free Page B

death. She liked it even less now. Automobiles were nasty, smelly vehicles, little more than playthings for the rich and not likely to be anything more.
    Looking both ways, she hurried across the street. It must be nearly seven o'clock, and Mrs. Ferriweather believed in punctuality the way others believed in the power of prayer.
    Katie had never been late. In fact, she made it a point to be the first one to arrive more often than not. And she knew that her efforts had not gone unnoticed, which was exactly what she wanted. Mrs. Ferriweather's assistant was to be wed in the summer. Naturally, she'd be leaving her position then and Katie had hopes that Mrs. Ferriweather might consider her as a replacement for Miss Lewis. Her age would be a strike against her, even though Mrs. Ferriweather thought she was twenty-two.
    Still, she'd done her best to prove herself indispensable over the past few months. As an assistant instead of one of the seamstresses, she'd make more money and get the experience she would need if she was ever to open a shop of her own.
    When she'd come to San Francisco, she hadn't known anything beyond the fact that her future wasn't on the stage. She'd taken a long, hard look at her skills and put to use the only talent she had besides song and dance.
    Mrs. Ferriweather's establishment was much too elegant to be called a dress shop. She catered to only the very finest clientele, turning lengths of silk and soft woolens into sophisticated gowns in the latest fashions. At first, she'd refused to hire Katie, saying she didn't need another seamstress, but Katie had persisted, using every acting skill she'd acquired to make it seem as if Mrs. Ferriweather needed her more than she needed Mrs. Ferriweather. That had gotten her foot in the door and her talent with a needle had gotten her the job.
    So, for the past six months, she'd spent ten hours a day, six days a week plying her needle. The pay was better than she might have made elsewhere—nearly thirty-five dollars per month. And if she could take over Miss Lewis's position in the summer... Well, maybe she and Colin could afford to rent a little house somewhere. A real home.
    By noon, Katie's back ached. On one side of the room, several sewing machines hummed as the girls worked the treadles back and forth. Sometimes Katie worked at one of the machines but her talent for fine embroidery meant that she spent most of her time working by hand.
    Today, she was applying an elaborate design of soutache braid to a pale green jacket. The design had been traced onto the garment but it required hours of careful stitching to tack the braid into place.
    "Ladies, I have some wonderful news." Katie looked up as Mrs. Ferriweather stepped into the room, her ample frame fairly quivering with excitement. She waited until all eyes were on her, the hum of the sewing machines halted and every needle stilled.
    "We have been asked to provide a seamstress to assist in preparation for one of the season's biggest weddings. Miss Ann Sterling is to wed Mr. Jonathon Drake in less than three weeks. It seems that the seamstress the Sterlings had hired has fallen and broken her wrist. Such a pity," she added dutifully.
    Katie heard little beyond the name. Sterling. Was it possible that they were any relation to her Quentin Sterling? Not that he was really hers, of course, but she couldn't help but feel a bit possessive. There were probably several Sterling families in San Francisco, and there was no reason to think that he was a member of this particular one.
    "Since we have provided several gowns to Mrs. Sterling and she has been gracious enough to express her satisfaction with our work, she has requested that we provide her with a replacement for Miss Smith. Naturally, it is of utmost importance that our work be of the very highest quality. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that providing even a part of the trousseau for Miss Sterling would be quite a feather in our cap."
    She paused, beaming at