“Oh my God, what am I going wear!”
Grace exhaled, trying to calm herself while the dark haired woman seated on the
bed rose to hug her.
“It’s fine. You have something
here, I know it.” Grace cocked her eyebrow. “Okay, okay, you might be able to
raid my closet if you want to.” Both women laughed, knowing that Grace would
never fit into the shorter, thinner woman’s clothes.
“Thank you for the offer, it was
thoughtful.” Grace let herself be hugged again, and the smaller woman went over
to Grace’s closet.
“Hmmm let me see. They are well to
do financially, and have a high social standing.” She clapped her hands
together and turned back to Grace. “They gotta be uptight then!”
“Rachel!” Grace was appalled at how
fast her best friend could jump to conclusions, even if she had the same
suspicions herself.
Rachel on the other hand just giggled
and turned back to the closet, methodically moving the riding clothes out of
the way. She stopped, and turned back to Grace, “You do have something to wear
other than your riding breeches or jeans, right?” there was a light teasing
air, but a serious undertone. Grace lived in her jeans and riding apparel, it
was going to be hard to find something.
“Well, yeah.” It was weak, and they
both knew it. Rachel returned to her sifting through hangers, while Grace
seated herself on the bed. Her small room didn’t offer very much storage, or
elbow room and therefore Rachel was only an arm’s reach away.
“What am I going to do?” she knew
she was whining, but it was how she felt.
“Oh, come off it. You are a great
catch.” Rachel’s voice was muffled as she slowly disappeared behind clothes.
“You are smart…beautiful…you have your own career…and…” she finished pulling
out the garment bag she had been digging for, “what do we have here!” Rachel
smiled triumphantly as she laid out the bag on the bed.
“No, please don’t…” but she was cut
off by the sound of the zipper opening and Rachel’s poorly stifled cry of joy.
“Ohmygod! Ohmygod…Grace you have
been hiding this!?!” Rachel rose and pushed her friend in the shoulder, “And
you said you had nothing to wear.” Grace just stared at the dress streaming
from the opened bag. The black fabric still had its original luster, and all of
the crystals were still in their place, none hung on thread that had been
caught on something like older dresses are wont to do.
“This is perfect!” Rachel could
barely contain her excitement, and dove back into the closet. She came back a
minute later gloriously holding a pair of black heels each with a set of
crystals in a circular pattern over the toes.
“Rachel…” she caught her friends
tone and turned to find Grace solemn. Her friends’ once mirthful eyes had
turned a flat color as she stared at the dress and now the matching heels lying
on her bed.
“Rachel, I can’t wear this.” It was
barely above a whisper, it was all she could manage without bursting into
tears. Grace was trying to hold it in, but a single tear found its way down her
cheek to land on her shirt. “It was my mother’s.”
Rachel looked like she had been hit
in the face with something. Grace had never told anyone other than Rachel what
had happened to her mother, and Rachel felt the full ramifications of her best
friend’s admission. Grace just stared at the dress, “I don’t know why I haven’t
gotten rid of it, after all these years. She passed when I was ten, you know.”
Rachel came over and stood next to
Grace, “I know.”
“No, you don’t.” Grace took a deep
breath. She hadn’t really told Rachel everything. “She didn’t really “pass”,
she was murdered.” Rachel looked up sharply at her friend. Grace had her poker
face on; Rachel wasn’t going to learn anything from her friends’ face. Nothing
moved; it was as if Grace had turned to stone until she moved to touch the
fabric.
“Yes, and it turned my father mad.
He hid in a bottle and never came out of it.” She sighed, her shoulders
dropping.
“Grace, did you ever think that
your mom would have wanted you to wear it?” Grace’s head whipped around to look
at Rachel, her brown eyes wide. “A-and
you did save it all these years. It would look wonderful on you.”
Grace looked back at the dress in
question. It was beautiful, and her family had always told her she was exactly
like her mother in size. Rachel saw her friends mask slipping and took
advantage, moving fast she took out the dress and hung it on the back of the
door and she slipped out.
“Just try it on; I will be back
with some jewelry from my room.” Grace followed the sounds of Rachel’s
retreating footsteps as she walked down the hall to her own room.
She knew Rachel would never drop
the subject until she tried on the dress. And maybe her mother would want her
to wear it anyways. Her mother had bought it the day she had died. She never
even got to wear it. But Grace had for some reason kept it.
Grace ran her fingers over the
seemingly delicate fabric, loving the feeling of it on her fingertips, and
unzipped the dress. She changed her undergarments so that there would be no
stray straps or unsightly lines. The dress fit like it was meant for her, Grace
realized this as it seamlessly fitted itself up and over her hips. She had just
slipped the single wide strap over her shoulder as Rachel came back into the
room.
Grace turned around as she heard
the door open. Rachel, for the first time that Grace could remember, was
speechless.
“Can you zip me up?” Grace turned
around, and held her hair up for Rachel to finish pulling the zipper up and
hook the little clasp at the top of the zipper.
As
Grace twirled around, Rachel gasped again. “You look beautiful.” her hands flew
her mouth, then to the small box that she had placed onto Grace’s desk.
“I have
the perfect earrings for you to borrow. And the matching bracelet.” Her eyes
gleamed in impish delight as Grace affixed the shiny baubles in place.
“Well?
Does it complete the picture to satisfy “higher society”?” Grace couldn’t hide the
pleasure that the pieces had elicited in her.
“Yes,
it most definitely does.” Rachel signaled for Grace to turn so she could get a
good 360 view. “You look the very picture of perfection.”
“Well,
I had a little help.” Grace bumped Rachel and in turn and they hugged.
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