Elizabeth and Catherine finished the sky blue dress with ruffled white sleeves. Then they undressed the wooden mannequin, exposing its hourglass shape. The lovely dress was folded and taken to another room.

The caravan stopped at the village square, only a block away from Elizabeth's household. At least the beer helped Marvin loosen his tongue to end the silent treatment. "Now here is the plan... I distract your aunt while you get the crate." Marvin suggested.

"You are just saying that because you want to woo her. I'm just going to enter, grab the crate and leave." Barbara stated.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you-"

"Watch me!" Barbara was only a step away from leaving the caravan before grabbing her arm.

"Think about it Barbara, what if you start another fight with that girl again in your aunt's house?" Marvin coaxed her, and it made her think.

"How would you know?" Barbara scrutinized him.

"All I'm saying is that you need to plan carefully what you are going to do."

"I know that I hit my head, but yer acting queerer than usual." Barbara told him before releasing his grip.

"I'll tell you the details, but for now, you need to wear this." He threw a transparent cloak, landing in her arms, as it became invisible. "You will need this cloak to avoid being seen while I handle the distraction."

Inside Elizabeth's abode, the two ladies are searching for a verdant fabric and yellow trimming to design another dress. Upon seeing a bushel, she couldn't help express her concern for her niece. "Catherine, I'm starting to worry. Barbara hasn't shown up today. I hope she is doing alright."

Catherine recalled the incident from last night. When she grabbed her by the neck and drained the life out of her like a leech. Barbara's eyes flaring a ghastly white, as if she were a monster. She would've died last night if it wasn't for Edwin.

She still felt the creases on her neck, and worst of all. Elizabeth believes that it was Edwin hurting her which was the complete opposite. She warned Elizabeth what Barbara was capable, but she dismissed it as another banter between the two.

"Relax, she must've gotten sick and couldn't come to work today."

Come to think of it, she hasn't seen Barbara today. Edwin was the last one to see her, after he rescued her from Barbara he had not mentioned her afterwards.

She wasn't dead was she?

The back door opened and creaked shut, footsteps were heard. Only a shadow was seen on the floor the owner of the shadow could not be seen, only a face could be seen through the magic fabric of the invisible cloak. Elizabeth and Catherine heard ringing from the bell. They came out of the storage room to see who it was. "A customer..." Elizabeth walked up to a bearded hunched man. "How may I help you?"

"I would like to find the right gown for my daughter, since her birthday is coming up. I want to give her a present but I don't know what to give her. I was hoping that you ladies might help me." The man said in a jolly voice, as he looked around stroking his beard in mild curiosity.

"Splendid! I'm going to need your daughter's measurements and everything will go swimmingly." Elizabeth chirruped.

The man thought and thought, stroked his beard then looked at Elizabeth again. "Of course." Catherine heard creaking from the floorboards and she was only 3 feet away from her. When the customer laid eyes on Catherine, he had an idea. "Now that I think about it, she has the same shape and size as my daughter."

"Catherine?"

"Me?"

The customer nodded.

"I uh- sure... I'll see what I can do." Elizabeth muttered before she signaled Catherine to follow her.

Barbara unveiled part of her cloak.

"Did you find it?" Marvin murmured. She shook her head in response. He made a hand gesture for her to scram, Barbara covered her face with the invicible cloak and headed upstairs. Meanwhile Catherine and Elizabeth were taking out the gowns while they talked about the strange customer in the storage room.

"I don't like that man one bit, he gives me the creeps." Catherine confessed.

"He may be an odd fellow but there is something interesting about him."

They heard creaking coming from the staircase. Elizabeth quirked an eyebrow. "Did you hear that?" She asked the blonde, hoping that she wasn't becoming paranoid at her age.

"Yea, it sounds like it came from upstairs." Catherine commented.

So she wasn't imagining things.

Barbara entered into Elizabeth's room, rummaging through her things to check if she left the crate there. No, it wasn't there. She checked the other rooms and it wasn't there either. "I already searched under the counters, behind the mannequins, inside the barrills, under auntie's bed. Nothing." The last room that she hadn't check was her old room. "Of course. Why haven't I thought of it sooner?" Barbara sprinted to her old room.

Elizabeth and Catherine cane out of the storage room to show the *customer* the gowns. Marvin shook his head in disapproval after they had shown the first two dresses.

"How about this one?" Catherine suggested, showing a red gown with a rosie pattern and fine embroidery. He still wasn't convinced.

"What about this one?" Elizabeth showed a pastel yellow gown. He narrowed his eyes, examining the dress.

"It looks nice, but I'm still not convinced." The customer admitted as he stroked his gray and white beard.

"How about this one?" She showed a fucshia dress with peach-colored lace. It looked lovely, but he needed to make sure that his indecisiveness was not to be shown as stalling.

"That looks nice, but since I am not certain how will my daughter looked like dressed in that gown. I beseech you to wear it to make sure." The customer requested, giving his ol' puppy dog eyes.

"No! No no no, I cannot-" Catherine refused but when she saw Elizabeth give her signature stone cold glare. Both Elizabeth and the customer were becoming impatient. The blonde sighed before accepting. "Fine. Give me a minute." She took the fucshia gown and went to another room to change.

Barbara opened the door and saw that her former bedroom was still in tip-top shape. It was redecorated, only the bed remained the same. Then she looked at the shelf and found the crate and stretched her arms to grab it.

Marvin took this opportunity to woo the widow. "They grow up so fast. It felt as if were yesterday, my little girl tugged my beard. Now she is a grown woman with her own children." He lied.

"Is the circle of life." Elizabeth commented.

Barbara carried the crate up held to her waist while she covered it with the cloak.

"I didn't have the blessing of having my own children. My husband and I have been married for nearly ten years before he died of an illness. I raised my niece after my sister died giving birth." Elizabeth said.

"I thought that young lady was your daughter." The customer pointed towards were Catherine went with his thumb.

"Catherine? No no, she is not-"

"Elizabeth! A little help." Catherine hollered.

"She is having trouble with the corset again." Elizabeth left the customer to help her.

Marvin gritted his teeth, he was so close. He straightened his back to his natural height. Barbara walked down the stairs as he heard the stairs creak. She stared at him while she showed the crate in her hands.

LOOK AT IT!

Marvin was glad that Barb finally found the crate, on the other hand, he was this close to wooing her.

"I already got the crate. Let's get outta here."

Marvin hushed her. "Shhhhh. Quiet." He half yelled, half whispered. "They could hear you." Barbara was about to protest but she heard footsteps.

Barbara turned to look at the wall, embracing the crate hidden within the cloak while Marvin lurched to maintain his hunched position.

Catherine came back wearing a beautiful fucshia dress while Elizabeth trailed behind her. The blonde twirled as the hem of the dress swished clockwise before she walked towards the merchant.

"How do I look?" Catherine queried. Barbara rolled her eyes, she didn't have to look at her to know that she's being ostentatious.

Marvin looked at her up and down. "It looks lovely. But not what I'm looking for."

"What?!" Catherine yelled.
"Catherine." Elizabeth chastised her.
"I want something special for my daughter. Something unique that I could give for her birthday, a gown no other woman has. I'm not asking for something fancy, just something different." The customer requested.

"Like a custom made dress?" Elizabeth suggested.
"Yes! That's it!" He approached her before holding her hands. "I entrust you to make a lovely gown for my daughter, she means the world to me. I want this gift to be made by the best hands." He looked into Elizabeth's light blue eyes. The widow couldn't help but blush, she let go of his hands to maintain her composure.

"Oh stop, you're making me blush." After Elizabeth said this, Barbara and Catherine shivered, their faces creased in disgust.

Ew! They thought.

"Very well then, if that is the case, the dress will be finished in five days." Elizabeth notified.

"Just in time for my daughter's birthday. Thank you, miss." The customer grabbed her hands and kissed them out of gratitude, as for Marvin, it was purely intentional.

Elizabeth was speechless and blushed, that made Catherine and Barbara recoil in disgust yet again. After Elizabeth and the customer negotiated the price, the customer waved goodbye and bid adieu. When the customer closed the door, Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief which Catherine mistook for swooning.

"Ew! Elizabeth, you're not serious?!" Catherine protested while Elizabeth uttered a sigh, this time, in annoyance.

Meanwhile, at the village square. . .

SMACK!

"Ow! What was that for?!" Marvin queried as he rubbed the back of his head.

"For flirting with Aunt Elizabeth! What were you thinking?!" Barbara reprimanded him, irate.

"I can't help it. Is not my fault that your aunt is so alluring, besides, you were taking too long!" Marvin admitted.

"At least I got the crate, you old fox! I had to look around the rooms carefully to not alert them, and you took advantage of the situation too woo her! That wasn't part of the plan! You were lucky that I couldn't do anything to stop you." Barbara yelled at him while rolled his eyes.

"Jealous?" Marvin implied with a smug expression.

"Don't flatter yourself."

"Well, the important thing is that we got the crate."

"Speaking of which, since you're such a gentleman, you take it." Barbara held out the crate. Marvin glared at her as she gave a smug face.

"Fine," he snatched the crate from her hands, "now let's go, we don't have time to waste."