𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐒

Chapter 32

"OH MY GOODNESS, THIS IS terrible, what am I to do?" Lady Rebecca Seymour wailed as her hold tightened on the skirts of her cream engagement dress and she spun around from the tall looking glass to face her cousins, Lady Diana Beaumont and Lady Alicia Kirkpatrick, that bright Friday afternoon in the west wing of the Mansfield estate. The ladies maids at the hems of her dress backed away as the heavy dress whooshed against their faces.

"It isn't even noticeable, I promise," Diana consoled her, her eyes observing the dress carefully. The bodice of the dress was perfectly fitting, cascading down the empire waist line as though it were snow rippling down a slope. Rebecca Seymour tended to make too much of too little, and Diana could not help but agree on that most heartily at the moment. But then again, it was her engagement ball, surely one cannot be blamed to dream of a perfectly flawless event to remember forever. Diana wondered whether she herself would be this fussy when her special day came, a thought that immediately ventured painfully far as she halted the train and put on a bright smile to turn towards Alicia. It seemed to her that the best way to overcome her problems and the painful thoughts they gave rise to, was to just ignore them and hope they go away. 

Lady Margaret Seymour had, much to Diana and Alicia's slight dismay, appointed the ladies as Rebecca's entourage for her dress fitting, an event every lady in their family had claimed to be regretfully busy for.

"I agree," Alicia nodded, "The dress is really admirable, and you look perfect in it. Nobody would be able to tell if anything is amiss."

"Oh, but what if they do? I couldn't possibly bear it if one those wretched Fisher sisters came to me only to tell me that my dress has an extra button in the back! I would be mortified," Rebecca exclaimed, her supposed doom lining her voice, "I can already see their ugly smirks in my mind and I hate it. How I wished mama would've for gone inviting them, I could do with less snakes at my engagement ball out of all places, at least." 

Diana stifled a giggle, before she wondered if the term snakes included her too, and that thought immediately burned out the laugh clean. 

"That horrid french woman, I trusted her with this dress! Oh, mama is dreadfully right for her contempt against the french. They are so utterly unreliable," The bride concluded, huffing as her arms dropped to her sides in defeat. 

"Surely it isn't Madame Carp's fault, Rebecca," Alicia expressed, folding her arms across her chest and narrowing her eyes, "She designed the dress for you, it was her seamstress' job to put it all together. I dare say, the entire french definitely aren't to blame. Besides, Madame Carp's emporium is known for such beautiful dresses, and a single extra button cannot change how your dress looks in its entirety."

"That is easy for you to say," Rebecca counter spoke, her tone still full of frustration, "I bet this wouldn't have happened if it were yours or Diana's dress." 

"That's not fair," Alicia trailed off, her arms dropping to her sides. Even though Rebecca meant it in a counter sort of way, Alicia could not help but agree. Only because she knew that if this were her dress, she would've trusted the Madame with it entirely. She wouldn't have pestered the designer with every little detail and she certainly would not have had wrote to her every day reminding the woman of the urgent deadline. Perhaps, not doing those sort of things guaranteed favorable results, but Alicia thought better than to take a seat and explain Rebecca of all of it in detail. 

"Perhaps I could fix it? I can take the button out neatly," Diana suggested quietly and Alicia turned to look at her in surprise. It was an abhorrent suggestion, to tamper with someone's engagement dress, despite how talented Diana could be with the needle, and especially if that someone was Lady Rebecca Seymour. Diana shrugged nonchalantly towards Alicia in response, conveying how totally unaltered she'd be were Rebecca to refuse her offer for help.