谢天谢地，我的担心都是多余的。礼服仍跟以前一样，不过现在我穿上正合适，仿佛它是为我度身定造的一样。我谢过那个高兴的女裁缝，并付了钱。
然而这只是解决了一个小问题，更大的问题在后面。情人节那天，未婚夫打来电话。
“桑迪，我决定了，我还没有对婚姻做好准备，”他宣布，语气一点也不温柔。“在成家之前，我要到各处走走，享受几年生活。”
他对把取消婚礼的所有麻烦留给我表示歉意，然后很快离开了这个城镇。
我的世界被颠覆了。我愤怒，心碎，不知道如何撑过去。然而随着日子一天天，一月月流走，我熬过去了。
这个秋季的一天，在超市排队结账的时候，我听见有人叫我的名字。一扭头，看到那个女裁缝。她很有礼貌的问起我的婚礼，得知被取消她十分吃惊，但随后同意未知的也许是最好的。
我再一次感谢她成功修改了我的结婚礼服，并向她保证，礼服被我安全的放起来了，等待我穿上它挽着我真正的“白马王子”走上红地毯的一天。她眼睛里闪过亮光，开始跟我谈起她的单身的儿子蒂姆。尽管我对重新约会没有兴趣，我还是听任她给我安排跟她儿子的约会。
我的夏季婚礼最终成为现实，只不过是一年以后。站在蒂姆身旁，我终于穿上了我梦中的结婚礼服。在随后的十八年里，我们相亲相爱，相濡以沫。如果不是因为这件特殊的礼服，我们永远不会相遇。
When Love Was the Adventure
On a cold January morning in 1936，George V was given a king’s burial.Following his coffin was his eldest son，the handsome，much loved，Prince of Wales.He was about to be proclaimed the next king of England.He was that exceptional thing：a model royal.He was at ease in every company.Everyone expected him to shake the stuffiness out of the monarchy.But as time passed，as he span between the royal duties，people began to remark that the prince was approaching 40and still unmarried.Only a privileged few knew that he’d been stepping out with the mysterious American，a woman who was cheating on her husband with the future king of England.This was the lady known as Wallis Simpson，whom he was determined to marry.
So now he was king，but no one could persuade him to give up Wallis.Not even Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin who spoke for the nation when he said Britain did not want an American divorcee for a queen.Ministerial car shuttled between Westminster and Buckingham Palace but the king could not be budged.He was forced to abdicate and all over the country flags flew at halfmast.
In the summer of 1937there was a quiet wedding in France.The couple looked a bit nervous，especially the groom，but only a year before he’d been a king.Now he and his wife would be called the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
So now the man who’d given up a kingdom and a woman who’d given up two husbands embarked on their endless round of fun and gaiety.In the war years they’d been trapped in the Bahamas，but emerged every now and then to attend the great cultural festivals where they startled the locals with the brilliance of their attire.But the man who’d been a king found he was now only a celebrity.There were even rumors that he and the duchess were breaking up so they had to parade their devotion for the cameras.
Four years later it was the nation’s turn to mourn the Duke and to reflect on one man’s decision to trade the crown of England for the love of Wallis and the price they had both had to pay.
爱的艰程
1936年1月一个寒冷的早晨，英国王室为乔治五世举行国葬。跟在他灵柩之后的是他的长子——英俊而深受爱戴的威尔士王子。他将被宣布成为英国的新国王。他是个模范的皇室成员，卓尔不群又平易近人。人人都期望着他会一改王室拘谨沉闷的形象。但时之以日，在他履行王室职责的同时，人们开始注意到王子已年近四十却仍然形只影单。只有少数几人有幸得知他一直在和一位神秘的美国女子约会，她瞒着丈夫和未来的英国国王来往。这位女士就是沃丽斯·辛普森，是王子决意要娶的人。
等他成为国王后，没人能说服他放弃沃丽斯。连首相斯坦利·巴尔德温也不行——他代表国家说英国不想让一个离过婚的美国人成为王后。大臣们的汽车在威斯敏斯特教堂和白金汉宫之间穿梭往返，但国王丝毫不为所动。他被迫让位，为此举国降下半旗。
1937年夏天，他们静静地在法国举行了一个婚礼。两人看起来有点紧张，尤其是新郎，一年之前他还是个国王。现在他和妻子被称为温莎公爵伉俪。
放弃了江山的他和曾经两度离婚的她开始去尽情地享乐。战争时代他们被困在巴哈马群岛，但偶尔会出席一些盛大的文化节庆，他们的华衣美服让当地人惊叹不已。不过曾为国君的他发现自己现在只是个名人。甚至有传言说他和公爵夫人将要离异，于是他们不得不在镜头前表现恩爱一面。
四年后，全国哀悼公爵的逝世并深思他的抉择——他为了对沃丽斯的爱情放弃了英国王位，他们两人都为此付出了代价。
Detour to Romance
Located in the checkroom in Union Station as I am，I see everybody that comes up the stairs.
Harry came in a little over three years ago and waited at the head of the stairs for the passengers from the 9∶05train.
I remember seeing Harry that first evening.He wasn’t much more than a thin，anxious kid then.He was all dressed up and I knew he was meeting his girl and that they would be married twenty minutes after she arrived.
Well，the passengers came up and I had to get busy.I didn’t look toward the stairs again until nearly time for the 9∶18and I was very surprised to see that the young fellow was still there.
She didn’t come on the 9∶18either，nor on the 9∶40，and when the passengers from the 10∶02had all arrived and left，Harry was looking pretty desperate.Pretty soon he came close to my window so I called out and asked him what she looked like.
“She’s small and dark，”he said，“and nineteen years old and very neat1in the way she walks.She has a face，”he said，thinking a minute，“that has lots of spirit.I mean she can get mad but she never stays mad for long，and her eyebrows come to a little point in the middle.She’s got a brown fur，but maybe she isn’t wearing it.”
I couldn’t remember seeing anybody like that.
He showed me the telegram he’d received：ARRIVE THURSDAY.MEET ME STATION.LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.—MAY.It was from Omaha，Nebraska.
“Well，”I finally said，“why don’t you phone to your home？She’s probably called there if she got in ahead of you.”
He gave me a sick look.“I’ve only been in town two days.We were going to meet and then drive down South where I’ve got a job.She hasn’t any address for me.”He touched the telegram.
When I came on duty the next day he was still there and came over as soon as he saw me.
“Did she work anywhere？”I asked.
He nodded.“She was a typist.I telegraphed her former boss.All they know is that she left her job to get married.”
Harry met every train for the next three or four days.Of course，the railroad lines made a routine checkup and the police looked into the case.But nobody was any real help.I could see that they all figured that May had simply played a trick on him.But I never believed that，somehow.
One day，after about two weeks，Harry and I were talking and I told him about my theory.“If you’ll just wait long enough，”I said，“you’ll see her coming up those stairs some day.”He turned and looked at the stairs as though he had never seen them before.
The next day when I came to work Harry was behind the counter of Tony’s magazine stand.He looked at me rather sheepishly and said，“Well，I had to get a job somewhere，didn’t I？”
So he began to work as a clerk for Tony.We never spoke of May anymore and neither of us ever mentioned my theory.But I noticed that Harry always saw every person who came up the stairs.
