Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [53]
In the end she simply wrote that the day had gone reasonably well and that she was well and happy, but that she missed them all.
‘Oh, darling!’
Vi dabbed at her eyes with the lace-edged handkerchief she had removed from her handbag, whilst Bella ignored her mother’s emotions, pursing her lips and studying her reflection in the mirror.
They had arrived at the exclusive modiste’s on Bold Street just over an hour ago, having had to make an appointment, as Madame Blanche only ‘received’ one bride at a time.
Her ‘salon’ was on the first floor, its décor very pink and supposedly ‘French’. Everything that could be was swagged in pink silk, even the changing cubicles, and the chaise-longue and chairs on which mothers waited, handkerchief in hand, for that moment when their daughter appeared from behind the mirror screens, magically transformed by Madame and her staff into ‘the bride’.
Initially Madame had been inclined to be slightly off hand. She was busy. Everyone wanted to get married because of the war. She had even – although very discreetly – added a bit extra to the prices of her gowns because of the high demand. But then she recognised what an excellent advertisement for her gowns Bella would be, especially when she had measured her waist and found it to be a mere twenty-two inches, and she had thawed slightly.
‘And the bridesmaids – will they be dressed by us?’ she asked Vi once Vi had got over the emotion of seeing Bella looking everything that a bride should be.
It was Bella who answered her, saying carelessly, ‘Oh, no. I’m having only two bridesmaids, after all, and we’ve already got them something.’
Madame incline her head. She wouldn’t have expected a bride as pretty as this to insist on her having her bridesmaids dressed to their disadvantage and her advantage, but quite plainly in Madame’s opinion that was what she intended. So far as the bride herself went, though, Madame doubted she’d seen a better one the whole year.
Bella preened and posed in her gown, the most expensive one they had been shown, and she had known immediately that she wanted it. Plain heavy satin trimmed with thick lace, and designed to show off a small waist, it might have been made for her. The only alteration necessary, as Madame had said, was a fraction reduction of the waist because hers was so tiny. That would show Alan’s mother and stop those cold angry looks she kept on giving her. It might have suited Bella to have both sets of parents believe that Alan had ‘forgotten’ himself, in order to expedite their marriage, but it certainly did not suit her ambitions for her future to be talked about behind her back by the Tennis Club set as someone who had ‘had to get married’.
She certainly wasn’t going to have either Grace or Trixie wearing an expensive dress either. Why should she? If Grace had had any consideration at all she’d have waited until after the wedding to go and start training to be a nurse. It was ridiculous, her doing something like that anyway, trying to show off and get herself involved in nursing because of this wretched war. And as for Trixie … well, the only reason Bella had wanted to have her as her bridesmaid was to show Trixie and Mrs Parker that she was the one who was marrying Alan. Trixie wasn’t even one of her friends, and she wasn’t going to become one either. Why should she want to make a friend of a plain dull girl like Trixie? Of course, she was another one involving herself in this wretched war fuss, as well.
Vi tried not to look too appalled when Madame informed her of the cost of Bella’s dress. Edwin wouldn’t be pleased. She tried to suggest that Bella have a less expensive wedding gown but the truth was that her heart wasn’t really in it. From the moment she had seen her darling standing there in it, looking a true vision of beauty and modesty, her heart had swelled with so much maternal pride that she had agreed with Bella that it was impossible for her to wear anything else.